“At least?” asked Malena, giving me a sharp look.
“At least,” I repeated. “They only have the dancers in their summoning configuration, but there’s no way of knowing whether they’ve also killed audience members or local residents and not added those bodies to the circle. It’s unlikely. It’s not impossible.” Had I noticed any absences among the crew? No, but until recently, I hadn’t exactly been looking.
“How is it that this has been going on under your nose without your noticing, Brenna?” asked Osana.
“They have confusion charms all over the theater,” said Alice. “Strong ones, too. I have anti-telepathy sigils and anti-compulsion runes in my current suite of tattoos, and I was still led astray by the charms. I’m going to need to talk to my artist about that.”
“We didn’t realize our friends were leaving and then disappearing, because the snake cult was making us forget they’d ever existed unless we were actually confronted with the evidence,” I said. “We’re still trying to find them. There are a lot of tunnels under the theater, and these people seem to know how to use all of them.”
“Charming,” said Osana. She looked from Brenna to me, raising an eyebrow. “Is this where you tell me that there are strings attached to your offer to negotiate us a husband?”
“No,” I said. “I mean, I’d like your help. It’s not connected to your request. Brenna mentioned using dragons to bulk out the audience, which would also give us a lot more eyes on the ground. We know the snake cult won’t be killing anyone before next week’s show—at least not if they stick to their current pattern—but that just means we have a deadline, and we’re going to need to keep eyes on all nine of the remaining dancers in danger.”
“Nine?” said Osana.
“I’m a chupacabra,” said Malena.
“I can keep an eye on myself, and one of the other dancers is an Ukupani,” I said. “That leaves us with nine humans who don’t know what a snake cult is and don’t know they’re in danger. We need to keep them safe, we need to find the people who are killing them, and we need to put an end to this.”
“But you’re not going to make negotiating on our behalf conditional?” asked Osana.
I shook my head. “No, I’m not. I mean, technically my negotiating on your behalf is already conditional: if this snake cult kills me, I’m not going to be able to help you. But I’m not going to stand here and say that you have to risk yourselves before I’ll help you. We’re talking about the survival of a species here, not loaning me a pair of earrings.”
“Humans.” Osana chuckled wryly. “Sometimes I think I could have a wend’s lifespan and not have the time to understand you. The show’s Thursday night, correct?”
“Yes,” said Brenna.
“We’ll be there. I’ll flood the audience if that’s what I have to do. Brenna, you’ll be helping me get the tickets. We’ll pay for as many as we need to in order to avoid raising suspicion.” Osana turned back to me, looking me square in the eye. “You didn’t try to blackmail me, and I respect that. It doesn’t mean I won’t happily blackmail you. We need that male. I want you to remember, when the time comes, that we were willing to step up.”
“I will,” I said, and smiled. “Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” said Osana. “We still need to find this snake cult.”
“And I need to get you lot back to the apartments before midnight,” said Brenna, glancing at her watch. “You’ll need your beauty sleep if you’re going to dance your best tomorrow.”
“I always dance my best,” said Malena.
I didn’t say anything. I just took a deep breath and reveled in the fact that for once, I felt like we might actually get through this in one piece. It was a nice feeling. It wasn’t going to last, and that made it all the more important that I enjoy it while I could.
Sometimes it’s all about the little things.
Nineteen
“Complacency is more dangerous than cowardice. The coward sees danger around every corner. The complacent sees danger and laughs it away.”
—Enid Healy
The Crier Theater, bright and early the next day
BRENNA WAS TRUE TO HER WORD, and dropped us off at the apartments almost half an hour before midnight. The party in the courtyard was still going strong, with everyone celebrating the first day of a new rehearsal week by eating, drinking, and boogieing on the tables. The noise provided good cover as Malena and I smuggled Alice back into her apartment. We looked at each other, nodded, and vanished back to our own lodgings.