Chae Rin grabbed a magazine from the table next to her, waving it. “And you’re going to, what, have us do more photo shoots?” Making a disgusted noise, she threw it back on the table. “No way. The last one was bad enough.”
“Obviously we can’t have you get too commercial,” said Cheryl. “Otherwise you’ll lose your value as soldiers. But you can’t deny that the four of you working together can boost morale and support for the Sect. You’re a package: like the Seattle Siege Dolls, but better.”
It was Cheryl’s turn to sound like a car salesman. Even Lake was disturbed.
“Lake,” Cheryl said, making her jolt. “You explained it so well last time.”
Lake raised her eyebrows. “Uh, well, yeah, but I was just trying to get you to—”
Chae Rin kicked her from her seat, silencing her.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have a choice.” Cheryl eyed the television wearily. “I’m sure Sibyl would agree.” She gave a decisive nod. “So that’s it, then. I’ll let you guys fill Belle in on the details.” She paused. “Where is Belle, anyway?”
At the sound of her name, I lifted my head.
“Actually, I dunno.” Lake turned to the door. “Last I saw her, I was about to go take a shower. She was gone by the time I got out.”
“This is so typical.” Chae Rin shook her head while tapping her fingers on the armrest. “I am sick and tired of the special treatment she gets. You want us to be some kind of four-girl super squad, you should fix that first.”
“At any rate, we should get going,” I said quietly.
Cheryl looked at us. “Get going?”
Lake nodded. “We were going to visit the hospital before you called us here. We talked about it with Belle earlier, but I’m totally not surprised she ditched us.” Lake turned to us. “You guys ready?”
No. But I couldn’t tell them why. Gathering what courage I had left, I rose to my feet and, after a quick nod to Cheryl, followed them out the door.
• • •
Rhys had been admitted to a private hospital. He was okay, the EMTs had assured us before they’d whisked him off in the ambulance. But he’d need time to heal.
I stood in front of Rhys’s hospital room, paid for not by the Sect, but by his own mysterious family. From what I could tell, none of the members were here. Nobody was here but me, Lake, and Chae Rin. The others stayed behind me, watching anxiously as I rested a hand against the closed door. Twisting a knob had never been so difficult.
“Chae, maybe we should let Maia go in first,” said Lake.
Chae Rin agreed. I wished she hadn’t.
“That might be a good idea,” Chae Rin said. “Let us know when you’re done, kid.”
I couldn’t do this alone, but in some ways it would have been impossible to go in with anyone else. My shoulders slumped, as limp and heavy as the rest of me, but I sucked in a breath and walked inside anyway.
Rhys was asleep in his hospital bed. That in itself was a little miracle. Shutting the door quietly behind me, I approached him, the heels of my shoes clicking off time with the steady rhythm of his heart monitor.
Broken ribs, lacerations, concussion. I could rattle off every detail of his diagnosis because I’d memorized it all. And I could handle it all because of the reassurance the rise and fall of his chest gave me. Seeing him alive filled me with a groundswell of relief, and yet my heart was still hammering against my chest. And my hand . . . it still shook as it reached out for him. I didn’t know whether it would find his cheek or his neck first.
No. I withdrew it quickly, squeezing it into a fist. Whatever Natalya had shown me was a lie. Belle had said it herself: A dead Effigy could take the mind of the living only if the latter’s mind became greatly unsettled. And Lake had told me once that scrying could be unreliable. Natalya had simply shown me a nightmare to slip into my body. That was all there was to it.
I could still remember Natalya’s joy as she tried out her new body. Her desperation to stay. I almost couldn’t blame her. Natalya hadn’t wanted to die that day.
But it wasn’t Rhys who’d killed her.
My eyes followed the battle scars down his chest, faded on his sculpted arms. He’d spent years steadily collecting those scars. His whole life. One whole life devoted to the Sect, devoted to risking his life.
And following their orders.
His eyelashes fluttered. Shocked, I leapt to my feet and rushed to the door without a word. The moment I opened it, I nearly jumped out of my skin from the sudden fright.
“Belle?”
At first glance, Belle looked refined in her fitted jeans and wool sweater, her blond hair twisted into a perfectly plaited French braid. But it was obvious Belle hadn’t slept. Her dulled eyes were red and sunken, her icy beauty as tarnished as dirtied snow. It wasn’t just from fatigue.
Belle licked her cracked lips before speaking. “I came . . . to see if Aidan was okay.”
My heart gave a violent jerk. Without thinking, I swiftly stepped out of the room and closed the door. “He’s sleeping,” I said quickly. “You shouldn’t go in there.”
As Belle nodded, a nervous wave of heat rushed up my head. I could feel beads of sweat already starting to form at my hairline. I had to calm down. I’d already made up my mind, after all: Rhys hadn’t done anything wrong.
Like murder Belle’s hero.
Hiding my trembling hands behind my back, I leaned against the door.
“In any case . . .” Belle was unable to look at me. “I’m glad . . . glad I found you here.”
Belle’s gaze settled on the ground. It was the behavior of a girl whose confidence had been shattered. It wasn’t the Belle I knew . . . but then, if the past few days were any indication, I clearly never really knew Belle at all.
“I’m sorry.” The pain in Belle’s whisper was also etched across her face. “I was wrong about everything.”
Not even Chae Rin responded to that, though it would have been easier. Each of us stood solemn and silent in the empty hospital hallway.
“But you were right about Natalya,” she continued. Saying her name seemed to return a little strength to her. “Someone killed her. And her death is connected to Saul, to Nick, and to Alice. I have to know everything. There has to be more to this. Maia . . . you’ll help me, won’t you?”
Though I opened my mouth, I couldn’t find a sound to come with it.
“We’ll help you.” Lake hesitated before finally patting Belle’s shoulder. I could tell Lake didn’t know whether Belle would welcome the gesture or turn her into a Popsicle, but she took the risk anyway. “Especially since the Sect is clearly involved.”
“I agree,” Chae Rin said. “We should definitely stick together on this. Maia?”
They were all looking at me. It was like being in gym class, frozen to the spot while holding the basketball that had just been passed to you. My throat closed. Getting to the bottom of Natalya’s death meant opening the very doors I wanted to keep shut. But they were right. Saul was gone, and who knew how many members of the Sect were involved in his antics? Even if I was allowed to go home today, I’d still be haunted by the knowledge of it.
“Yes,” I said. “I’ll help you.”
“There they are. They’re right over there!”
I just barely saw the nurse’s sheepish expression and outstretched finger before the reporters swarmed the hallway.
We turned to run for it, but the press was already blocking the only exits.
“What the hell?” Chae Rin groaned.
“Nothing for it,” Lake said. “We’re just going to have to go through.” After nudging me, Lake offered me her elbow. “Come on! So nobody gets lost!”
This was my life now. Cameras and flashes. Blood and death. And somehow it all seemed to go hand in hand.
We didn’t have a choice. The flood hit. Reporters screeched questions at us from every angle, red-faced and desperate for the story.
“Do you know the whereabouts of the terrorist—”<
br />
“What do you think of the support you’ve been getting from—”
“How long will it be before you—”
I took a breath and nodded to the other girls. Then, linking arms, we disappeared into the crowd together.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Tons of thanks to my agent, Natalie Lakosil, and former editor, Michael Strother, for believing in this book and reading through countless drafts; to Sarah McCabe and the Simon Pulse team for cheering me on; and especially to my family, who remain my original cheerleaders. I also want to send a special shout-out to my oldest brother, David, who heard this idea and kept encouraging me before anyone knew who the Effigies were.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SARAH RAUGHLEY grew up in Southern Ontario writing stories about freakish little girls with powers because she secretly wanted to be one. She is a huge fangirl of anything from manga to sci-fi/fantasy TV to Japanese role-playing games, but at book signings she will swear up and down that she was inspired by Jane Austen. On top of being a young adult writer, Sarah is currently completing a PhD in English, because the sight of blood makes her queasy (which crossed medical school off the list).
SIMON PULSE
Simon & Schuster, NewYork
sarahraughley.com
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authors.simonandschuster.com/Sarah-Raughley
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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First Simon Pulse hardcover edition November 2016
Text copyright © 2016 by Sarah Raughley
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ISBN 978-1-4814-6677-6 (hc)
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