“It’ll work. Trust me.”
Deah and I were standing in one of the alleys close to the Midway, along with Devon and Felix. We’d left Oscar and Tiny back in the safety of the library basement. Since it was Sunday, the library was closed, and after I’d told the others what I had in mind, we’d gotten ready, snuck out, and walked over here. Now we were hiding behind some dumpsters, reviewing our plan.
It was simple, really. Deah and I would wander through the Midway, eavesdrop on the Draconi guards, and try to pick up information about where Victor might be holding Claudia, Mo, and the others. When we were done, we’d come back here, meet up with Devon and Felix, and head back to the library to plan our next move.
“Well,” Deah said, holding her arms out wide. “How do I look?”
Devon and Felix stared at her, then me, then back at her.
“Um, bright?” Felix said, trying to be nice.
I’d given Deah some clothes from my stash in the library, and she now wore gray sneakers, gray cargo shorts, and a T-shirt. But not just any T-shirt. One that was the boldest, most electric, neon blue you’d ever seen. A shirt that was so loud, bright, and colorful that it hurt your eyes to look at it for more than a few seconds. The words The Pork Pit—Best Barbecue Ever were done in sparkly silver sequins across the front of the shirt, adding even more glittering shine to it. A matching, neon-blue baseball cap perched on top of Deah’s head, hiding most of her golden hair from sight and casting her face in shadow.
Deah glared at Felix, who shrugged back at her.
“What?” he asked. “I’m not the one who made you put on that ridiculous shirt. That was all Lila.”
She turned her hot glare to me, even though I had on the exact same thing she did.
“And it will work,” I said. “Trust me. Only the tourist rubes wear matching T-shirts and baseball hats, especially ones that are this color. The Midway guards, especially the Draconis, won’t give us a second glance, and we’ll walk right by them. They won’t even think to actually look at our faces to see if we might be the people they’re searching for. Trust me. This will work.”
Deah sighed, but she finally nodded, agreeing with me.
“I still don’t like this,” Devon said. “It’s risky, especially since you two don’t have any weapons.”
I shrugged. “I don’t like it any more than you do, but only Family guards and workers have weapons on the Midway. Carrying around a couple of swords would tell the Draconis exactly who we are, and they’d be on us in a heartbeat. This way, we can nose around the entire Midway, Deah can point out the senior guards who might know something, and we can see what’s what. We’ll be fine.”
Devon still didn’t like my plan, but he didn’t say anything else.
“Now, stay here until we get back,” I said.
Devon and Felix both looked at each other, guilt flickering in their faces.
“Guys,” I warned. “I don’t need to worry about the two of you going off and getting captured while we’re gone. Deah and I will have enough problems getting through the Midway and back here again. Promise me that you’ll both stay right here until we get back. Okay?”
The guys both sighed, but they nodded.
“All right then,” I said. “Here we go.”
Devon opened his arms. I stepped into them and he hugged me tight.
“Be careful,” he whispered. “I couldn’t stand to lose you too.”
“I’m always careful,” I whispered back.
His arms tightened around me for a moment, as if he didn’t ever want to let me go. But we both knew that this was the only way to find out where Mo, Claudia, and the others were. Devon sighed, pressed a kiss to my forehead, and dropped his arms.
Felix finished hugging Deah and she moved to stand beside me. I took one last look at Devon, while Deah did the same thing to Felix.
Then together, the two of us left the guys behind and stepped out of the alley and into the hot summer sunshine.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The alley led out to a street that was on the very edge of the tourist area, and we crossed it and entered one of the shopping squares. It was after two o’clock now, and people moved from one side of the square to the other, despite the sweltering July heat. No one gave Deah and me a second look, and we moved from that square over to the next one and the next one until we had reached one of the many entrances to the Midway.
I looked at Deah. “No matter what happens, we need to stick together. Okay?”
“Okay.” Her fingers twitched. “I still wish I had a sword, though.”
“I know. Me too.” I drew in a breath. “Here we go.”