With my black buckled boot I kick a scrap of what is left of a van Gogh painting from the burning embers. The rubbish bin lies sideways on the floor, its contents spilled in a pile next to it. I pick up the small, charred fragment, the petals in the picture appearing as limp as the canvas itself. With my night-vision goggles perched on top of my head, I squint at the art.
“What a shame,” I say, addressing the soldiers. “One thing more valuable than gold or jewels is history.” I release the piece of canvas and it flutters to the floor. I turn my gaze to the shielded faces of my soldiers. They look more like automatons than people.
“But there’s no room for sentimentality. London’s rooftops burned a year ago. Today, her reincarnation, Everland, will face the same demise.”
The soldiers shift uncomfortably, flicking their goggled gazes to one another.
“Burn it down!” I shout. “Burn it all down until there is nowhere else for them to hide.” I fix my glare on Jack and clench my jaw. “And get rid of my traitorous stepbrother.”
The uniform-clad men shout orders, their voices sounding as mechanical as robots when I push past them.
“Wait!” Jack says. He struggles in the grip of an officer, his wrists bound tightly behind him. “That wasn’t the deal!”
I whirl on my heels and march close enough that Jack falters backward. “You’re right, Lost Boy: It wasn’t the deal we agreed upon. I should’ve killed you the moment Smeeth brought you to me. But no, instead I spared your life. We made a deal: You give me Gwen and I leave Everland forever. But the girl is not here, thus our agreement is null and void. Good-bye, dear brother.”
As I storm toward the entrance of the building, Jack lashes out with pathetic pleas. His words fall away, lost as my boots pound on the floor.
“What if I can offer you a better deal?” Jack shouts.
I stop, shadowed in the dark room, but don’t turn around. “What sort of deal?”
“What if I could tell you a sure way to catch the girl?”
“Why should I invest any more of my time in you? We’ve made agreements and your end of the bargain has fallen through, twice,” I say, taking another step toward the exit. “You were supposed to infiltrate the Lost Boys. Instead, you joined them and never reported back. This time you promised me Gwen. She’s not here. Why should I believe anything you say?”
“I know where Pete and Gwen are going next,” Jack says. “And it doesn’t matter if you burn all of Everland down—you’ll never find them. Not without my information.”
Intrigued, I march back up to the boy. “What is in it for you?”
Jack grimaces, holds his breath, and turns his head away, unwilling to meet my eyes.
“Those boys are more than just a bunch of orphaned kids,” Jack says quietly. He turns his eyes back to me and his glare is murderous. “They’re my family, which is more than I can say about you and your mother.”
Amused, I grin as memories of our childhood resurface in my mind. With nothing to eat but leftover scraps from supper, Jack was always a scrawny kid. While I was allowed to live within Lohr Castle, Jack was forced to sleep in a dilapidated delver’s cottage that served as a den to the forest rats. Jack joined my crusade to England in order to escape the Bloodred Queen’s wrath in exchange for labor. But I can live without him.
Cocking my head to one side, I take in the disheveled boy. “Na?ve little stepbrother. Our parents’ marriage had nothing to do with being family. My mother wanted the crown, and after your father’s unfortunate ‘accident’ ”—I gesture quotation marks in the air—“you were just extra baggage.”
Scowling, Jack spits. “She murdered him and you know it!”
“Murdered is such a harsh word,” I say, circling Jack.
Jack’s face flares red with fury. “Katherina has no right to the throne!”
Laughter bubbles deep within me and erupts in a thunderous roar, echoing off the museum walls. “Now stop wasting my time. What is it you want in exchange for Gwen’s location?”
“Because of you, the Lost Boys have nothing left,” Jack says, narrowing his eyes. “They have no families, no homes, and now they’re going to lose their lives. They are showing symptoms of the virus. They need the antidote and for you and the Marauders to leave. Forever! If we can negotiate a deal to guarantee that, I’ll do whatever I can to get you the girl.”