“So what do you suggest?” I asked. “We run?”
“Of course,” Mr. Kent said. “That’s what I’m always suggesting. Running away is my favorite solution. I like it even more than hiding, believe it or not.”
“And do you think he’s going to get bored without us here and stop?” I asked.
“Maybe we need to fake our deaths,” Mr. Kent muttered. He turned to Miss Chen. “Perhaps that illusionist friend of yours can stage our dramatic fall from a cliff.”
“He’s her illusionist suitor,” I corrected.
“Regardless of what he is,” Miss Chen said, “I’d rather push him off the cliff first.”
“Fine, then we’ll have to die in a horrific fire that renders us near unrecognizable,” Mr. Kent declared. “Captain Goode is killing these people because he knows it’s bothering us. But if we simply act like we don’t care, he won’t have any other recourse.”
“We do care,” Sebastian said from his chair.
“And it doesn’t matter if we don’t care. He cares,” I put in. “You saw how much he believed in the Society when he first recruited us. He believes in it even more now that he’s in charge. It’s not just us he’s concerned with. It’s anyone whom he sees as a threat.”
“Besides, he doesn’t want us dead. He wants us captured,” Miss Chen joined in. “And I know none of you are thrilled with Miss Wyndham and me at the moment, but I still think we could cause some damage.”
“What do you mean?” Mr. Kent asked.
She looked steadily ahead. “We destroy everything of Captain Goode’s. We keep reminding him we’re here. Every building he comes from, we destroy the moment he leaves. The Tower of London. The Society of Aberrations. His homes. His carriages even. We can do it from a distance without ever being depowered again.”
“It’s a good idea, but that’s only going to escalate things,” I said. “He’s going to kill more people and we’re going to destroy more buildings … until?”
“I don’t see an end to it, either,” Sebastian said.
Miss Chen sighed and picked up another little figurine from the table, eyeing the window. I took the little fox from her, turning it over and over, the ceramic cool beneath my hands.
“I think we need to fight him a different way,” Catherine finally declared. “There’s a good reason Captain Goode went public with the powers and the Society of Aberrations. He knew he’d have more power with the public’s support. But if we can turn the public against him, he’d be more vulnerable.”
“Yes, that worked splendidly when these three visited that newspaper,” Miss Chen countered.
“But the public loves a good story, especially a true one,” Catherine said. “What if we found a way to publish it elsewhere? Or distribute it in pamphlets?”
“We could drop them out of a balloon over the city,” Mr. Kent said, an eager glint in his eyes.
“It doesn’t matter as long as the illusionist keeps framing Sebastian as the villain,” I said.
“And none of this is going to stop Captain Goode from hurting people,” Sebastian said. “That should be our main priority.”
“Of course,” Mr. Kent said. “But we are definitely not doing your idea.”
Sebastian frowned and crossed his arms. “I haven’t said my idea.”
“I barely know you, but I’m sure you want to turn yourself in to Captain Goode,” Miss Chen said.
“And we all think that’s a brave, noble, terrible idea,” Mr. Kent added.
Sebastian looked between them, at a loss for words.
“Was that your idea?” I asked.
“Yes.…” he mumbled.
“Someone else must have an idea,” Mr. Kent said to the room. “Miss Rosamund, you wanted to leave before. Perhaps you still wish to.…”
“I don’t know,” she said. “What do you think has happened to Mr. Jarsdel?”
“He’s probably in Captain Goode’s prison,” I said. “And if he’s still under your spell, I doubt he’ll be released anytime soon. Not that he knows how to find us. Miss Chen had him blindfolded.”
Rose looked a bit relieved at that. Until my next words.
“We could try it again,” I said. “We have Mr. Adeoti’s list of powers. If we find the most effective ones, track those people, and sway them to our side…”
Catherine didn’t leap to Rose’s defense again, but from my angle, I could see her hand take Rose’s under the table.
“I don’t want to start another Society of Aberrations,” Rose said, moving her hand to pour herself a cup of tea. A flash of hurt crossed Catherine’s eyes. She rose to her feet to take a turn about the room. There was … something, at least, between them. I hoped it was more than Rose’s power.
“We’ll capture a couple of people,” I said. “Murderers that we will only use to stop Captain Goode. He is forcing children to fight for him. Kids Oliver’s age, who are scared out of their wits.”
“Then why not help the children?” Rose asked.
“Because Captain Goode will figure out what we’re doing after the first one or two,” I said. “We’d need to get the most effective powers on our side.”
“Mr. Adeoti, what’s this?” Catherine asked, peeking over his shoulder. She shook him harder, breaking him out of his trance, and pointed to his notes. “Mr. Adeoti.”
He glanced at her finger and his eyes widened. “Oh, it’s … it’s nothing.”
She looked at it closer. “Miss Fahlstrom’s power doesn’t sound like nothing.”
“It’s just that I’m not finished,” Mr. Adeoti said. “I’m only halfway through the last week on the glove. I was hoping to find a solution first. I didn’t want to start another argument after you’ve all welcomed me here—”
Their conversation had caught the attention of the rest of the room.
“An argument over what?” Catherine asked.
His glance darted to me for a moment, and I didn’t like where this was going.
“What is it? I thought her power was electricity.” But as I said it, I knew that was wrong. The cannibalistic girl had used that power and there couldn’t be two.
“That may have been an illusion,” Mr. Adeoti said.
“Miss Fahlstrom’s power is the ability to foresee a powered person’s death,” Catherine read. “How is that possible?”
“I don’t know. It’s a power I haven’t seen before,” Mr. Adeoti said. “It seems all she has to do is look at someone, and she’ll have a vivid vision of their death. That’s what she did for Captain Goode the days before Miss Wyndham’s attack.”
The pieces started to shift into place. “What did she see in her vision of Captain Goode?”
“She saw Mr. Jarsdel blinding him on the street, Miss Chen shooting him, and you stabbing him in the heart.”
The room sat silent, everyone’s gazes shifting to me. Even Soot seemed aware of the revelation.
So that was how he knew the exact location, the exact time, and the exact plan of our attack. He wasn’t that clever or cautious or even lucky. He cheated.
“Then what you’re saying is…” I said, trying to wrap my head around the phrasing. “My plan failed because it would have succeeded wildly.”
Mr. Adeoti nodded. “In a sense, yes.”
“I knew it was a good plan,” Miss Chen said.
“No, it wasn’t,” Catherine insisted. “Your plan failed because you didn’t take Miss Fahlstrom’s power into account. And come to think of it, you’re lucky Mr. Braddock diverted your shot at the Queen’s address. Otherwise, Captain Goode would have been prepared for you there, too.”
Sebastian gave me a sheepish look at that.
“But now we know,” I said, excitement pushing aside the guilt. “Mr. Adeoti, what does Miss Fahlstrom see after a death is averted?”
Mr. Adeoti flipped through his notes. “Once Goode seems to be on a path where he’s no longer in danger, she warns him of his next death.”
“That sounds like a fun way to live,” Mr. Kent put in.
“And she knows of nothing in between?” I asked.
“No, that’s all,” Mr. Adeoti said.
“So if our intentions are solely to capture him,” I said, “our plan won’t be predicted.”
“Theoretically, yes,” Mr. Adeoti said. “Assuming there were no accidents.”