My gaze locked on to the food. My nose twitched and my stomach rumbled in anticipation. “Are those mini bacon cheeseburgers?”
Mo Kaminsky, my friend, my fence, and the Family broker, grinned at me. “Don’t you know it. Fresh from the kitchen.” He waved his hand over the tray of food, making a diamond signet ring flash on his hand. “Come and get ’em, kid. I saved some just for you.”
Typical Mo, looking out for me. Mo had been good friends with my mom, and he’d watched out for me in so many ways after she died, from giving me jobs to letting me hang out in his pawnshop to even setting me up with the Sinclair Family. For a long time, he’d been the only friend I had, and he meant so much to me.
Mo didn’t have to tell me twice about the food. I went over, grabbed one of the cheeseburgers, and popped it into my mouth. Like everything else the kitchen pixies made, it was utterly divine. A buttery roll, grilled meat, fresh veggies, cheddar cheese, a dollop of mayonnaise, and best of all, crunchy pieces of salty, smoky bacon. Mmm. Bacon. Best food ever.
I polished off that cheeseburger, grabbed another one, and downed it as well. I thought about swiping a couple more and sticking them in my pockets for later, but Oscar would complain about having to clean food stains out my clothes again. So I contented myself with just eating them here. Mo toasted me with his own mini cheeseburger, then chowed down on it.
Devon and Felix carefully set the two black duffel bags down on the floor. The distinctive clank-clanks of metal sliding together rang out through the library, and Claudia tilted her head to the side, interest and appreciation sparking in her gaze.
“You got the last of the black blades?” she asked.
“Of course we did,” I said, swallowing the last of my cheeseburger. “You are talking to Lila Merriweather, thief extraordinaire, you know.”
I gave an elaborate flourish with my hand and bowed low, sweeping my long blue coat out to one side, as though I were curtsying before a queen. In a way, I was, since Claudia was the head of the entire Sinclair Family and just as powerful as any queen.
She sighed at my showing off, but Mo grinned again and held out his fist. I bumped him back, then grabbed another mini cheeseburger. Stealing stuff always made me extra hungry.
Claudia sighed again, louder and deeper this time, but she also nodded, silently telling me good job. I nodded back at her and polished off the rest of my cheeseburger.
Devon unzipped his duffel bag and pulled out a few of the black blades to show his mom, then zipped up the bag again and slung it over his shoulder. “You want us to put the weapons down in the training room and lock them away with all the others?”
Claudia nodded. “Of course.”
Once we’d started stealing the weapons from Victor, we had to do something with them, since black blades were far too valuable to just leave lying around the mansion. Just by themselves, the weapons would fetch a pretty penny on the black market. But the real problem was all the magic that filled the weapons—power that we couldn’t get rid of, not without stabbing ourselves with the swords and daggers and injecting all that stolen monster magic into our own bodies.
That was something that none of us wanted to do. We didn’t know how we might react to the monster magic—or how addicted to the power we might become. Like Katia Volkov, a girl who’d also trapped and killed monsters in order to take their magic and use it for her own twisted ends. Given all the risks, Claudia had decided that locking away the weapons in the training room was the safest option right now.
Devon nodded back at his mom. Felix grabbed the second bag, and the two of them headed toward the library doors.
“I’ll catch up with you guys later,” I called out.
The guys waved back at me and left the library. I waited until the double doors had swung shut behind them before I turned back to Claudia and Mo.
Claudia sighed for a third time, realizing that I had some bad news. “What is it now?”
“When Blake came into Victor’s office tonight, he looked right at the wall where the secret room is.”
Mo frowned. “You think Blake knows about the black blades and what Victor wants to do with them.”
I nodded. “Blake barely glanced at the rest of the office, but he kept staring and staring at that dragon carving like it was the most important thing in the entire mansion. He was making sure that Deah hadn’t messed with the carving and opened up the secret room. Blake has to know what Victor’s planning. It’s the only thing that makes sense. He wouldn’t have even looked at the wall otherwise.”