“You’re free to try to stop me, of course,” Nora replied, but as she slipped from the room and back into the shadows, no one did.
Chapter 63
JAMESON
Jameson was capable of thinking multitudes of things at the same time—about the art of the cascade; about Alice and her plans; about the Kyrie, short forValkyrie; about the scars on Nora’s arms and entire families wiped out to purify the judgment of the Monoceros.
About the Crucible. About Avery. More than anything else, above and beyond everything else,Avery.
Jameson tried and failed to imagine what she would say if she were here. His mind was layered with racing thoughts roaring down twisting, parallel tracks as he stared at the constellation on the whiteboard.The constellation Lyra.
“You know what I’m going to say.” Lyra’s husky voice managed to break through the din in Jameson’s mind.
“And you know how I’m going to reply,” Grayson told her.
Jameson tore his gaze from the board to look at the pair of them, and this time, it didn’t hurt the way it should have to see Lyra and his brother standing so close to each other, to watch as Grayson cupped Lyra’s face, to know that the two of them were having a silent exchange because they’d already reached the point where they didn’t even need words.
Lyra was here, and Avery wasn’t, and thatshouldhave hurt but didn’t, because if there was one thing that Jameson recognized, it was a person who was thinking about doing something a little reckless.
Maybe even a lot reckless.
That was what this silent argument was about: Lyra being ready and willing to sayScrew Nora and her plan, to put herself out there, to try to draw the Omega out… and Grayson, pulling her back. Without words. Without issuing a single order.
And Jameson knew, just from the fact that Lyrawouldhave taken the risk for them, for Avery, Jamesonknewthat his brother was right.
Some risks could not be taken.
Grayson tilted Lyra’s face up toward his, and Lyra responded by cupping his jaw, like turnaround was fair play.
After a small eternity, Lyra spoke. “Fine,” she said, but her tone told Jameson there was a catch, and sure enough, she continued, “I’ll stay at Hawthorne House, safe and sound and hidden away, but only if you promise me that you won’t, Grayson. I know you. I know that Nora saying she’d like tothinkthat Avery will survive her plan is nowhere near good enough for you. If I have to stay here, if you won’t put me on the chopping block, fine. But if you reach the point whereyouneed to go, you go. You don’t get to stay here for me.” She raised her chin. “Those are my terms. Take them or leave them.”
Grayson narrowed his eyes at Lyra. “I don’t like this.”
“You wouldn’t beyouif you did.”
“Fine,” Grayson told her. “If I need to go, I’ll go.”
Jameson’s throat tightened, because he knew that if Grayson went anywhere, it would be with him. That thought in mind, Jameson threw the obvious question out to everyone in the room. “Go where?”
Nora’s plan, whatever it was, wasn’t good enough. Neither was Alice’s cascade.So what’s next?
“There are still the keys to solve,” Zara said after a moment.
“And there’s this.” Xander tapped the timeline—more specifically, the point where they’d marked the Crucible before this one. “Calla. Zella. And a third mystery Candidate who, assuming Calla really isdead, became the Watcher. We know that when Calla disappeared six years ago, she was sent to the Kyrie to train for an indeterminate amount of time before she was chosen as a Candidate. And we know that after the Crucible, Zella wasplaced. If we can figure out when that happened, we should be able to narrow in on a range of dates.”
Dates during which the last Crucible might have taken place.
Dates during which the present-day Watcher haddiedor disappeared.
We should have asked.That thought was bitter in Jameson’s mind.When Nora was here—we should have asked if Calla was still with the Kyrie when Nora left five and a half years ago.
“On it,” Max announced. “As it happens, internet stalking of the only mildly invasive variety is a specialty of mine.”
Soon enough, they had their answer. It had been just under four years since Zella had appeared on the social scene, arm in arm with her duke.
“The last Crucible took place sometime between four and six years ago,” Jameson summarized. “And we know Crucibles can last a week or a year.” Gigi had said as much. Slowly, Jameson looked from the timeline—to Toby. “And five years ago, Hannah died.”
Died—and left you that postcard.Avery’s mother had already received one invitation. They had to at least consider the possibility that Alice had returned to her. Again.