Page 60 of Alchemy of Secrets

Y ou never find the Alchemical Heart, because it’s not hidden in this hotel.

Holland felt haunted by pretty much everything Mason had told her, but this was perhaps the most haunting thing of all. She couldn’t believe her father would let her down. But she didn’t know where else to search if not the Roosevelt, and she had only twenty minutes left.

The party had gone from drunk to dying. The crowd had thinned, making it easier for her to keep an eye out for Adam—and for him to find her.

Holland wanted to be more shocked by Mason’s warning about his brother, but if she actually paused to think about it, she just felt incredibly stupid for ever trusting Adam. And now she only had nineteen minutes left. There had to be something she was missing.

Or maybe she was thinking about it wrong. Her father had written, You already have everything you need. You just have to see it.

What if he wasn’t saying she had all the clues? What if he was saying she already had the actual Alchemical Heart?

Holland had forgotten about her sister’s backpack, but suddenly she became very aware of the weight of it on her shoulders. She would have preferred to take it off and search through it in a bathroom, but the line she saw was out the door. A dark corner in the gaming parlor would have to do.

Carefully, she unzipped it. She didn’t know what the Alchemical Heart looked like, so she would have to go by touch. As she started to reach for the bag’s main zipper, she felt another zipper, hidden on the back. A secret compartment.

Fingers trembling, she opened it. Inside, she found an impressive stash of cash, an even more impressive fake passport, a thin golden necklace—

The noise of the party faded as she touched the chain. Magic. Holland tugged it out of the pack and instantly recognized it. This was her sister’s sulfur necklace, the counterpart to the one Holland always wore. January always wore hers, too. Why had she taken it off and hidden it away?

Instinctively, Holland put her sister’s necklace on.

For a second, both necklaces were warm, then suddenly they were burning hot.

She reached up to wrench them off. But just as soon as the burning had started, it stopped.

And when she touched the necklaces, instead of two there was only one.

The golden chain had formed a choker around her neck.

She turned, taking in her reflection in a paneled mirror.

There was still a charm hanging off the end of the necklace, but it had shifted from a delicate thing to a thick shimmering piece of gold shaped like the symbol for the Alchemical Heart.

Every inch of Holland’s skin buzzed. She was excited and scared and felt a million emotions all at once.

This had to be it. Mason was wrong. She wasn’t going to die.

She might have had a fleeting thought that the most powerful object in the world was supposed to feel a little more magical than this, or perhaps that it should do something slightly more impressive than just sit on her neck.

But Holland could worry about that later, after she got out of the Hollywood Roosevelt alive.

She had ten minutes now. She was still upstairs in the gaming parlor. If she moved quickly, she could go downstairs, go outside, and then maybe even get in a waiting cab before Adam could find her.

Holland’s heart raced as she put on her sister’s backpack and made her way to the balcony overlooking the lobby, with all its flagging decorations and tired costumes.

The band was gone, but someone was playing a piano in the ballroom—a guest, probably, from the way the song would fumble and pick up, its tempo just a little off.

Holland quickened her pace as she reached the stairs. The lights were dimmer now, shadows replacing guests who had gone for the night, although there was still a number of partygoers. She didn’t recognize anyone. She saw no sign of Chance, or Cat, or—

A hand landed on her shoulder, soft and warm. “There you are, Bright Eyes. I was worried I wasn’t going to find you before midnight. But now I can see you’ve been looking for me, too.”

The hand slid down to her wrist, sending shivers across her skin.

Then she was being turned around. Adam looked down at her with an expression she’d never seen on him.

His lips were pressed into an angry line, his eyes flat, unsmiling.

But when he spoke, his voice was pure music.

“You were worried that you weren’t going to find me, either.

But now that I’m here, you’re so relieved you don’t ever want me out of your sight. ”

“Yes, I was looking for you,” she said. Relief washed over her. She’d go anywhere with Adam, as long as he didn’t leave her sight.

His grip tightened on her, almost painfully, but she didn’t really mind, as he led her down to the lobby, which still looked like the conservatory from Clue, albeit a slightly haunted version.

More shadows, fewer guests, and the guests who remained were passed out on the chairs and couches.

Holland saw a sleeping Statue of Liberty lying on top of a passed-out skeleton.

Adam led her toward a dark corner, next to an installation that looked like one of the game’s glass conservatory walls.

It was a strange, fuzzy sort of walk. In fact, Holland couldn’t remember how it started.

The last thing she clearly recalled was entering the hotel with Adam, losing him, then frantically searching for him. But even that was fuzzy.

She must have had something strong to drink. She cursed herself. How had she wasted the entire night? Holland looked down at her watch, suddenly remembering what she needed to do. “We only have seven minutes until midnight.”

“It’s all right. You don’t need to worry,” Adam said, in his beautiful, musical voice. “Unless this building is about to crumble, you’re not going to die before midnight.”

He pulled her closer.

“What are you doing?” Holland asked. “We need to find the Alchemical Heart.”

“All you need is me,” Adam said. Then his lips were on hers.

Holland’s mouth parted easily. He tasted like brandy and citrus, and she felt a little drunk as his tongue gently touched hers.

His kiss was softer than his touch, but Holland enjoyed the rough way Adam pulled her closer.

She liked the powerful feel of his hands as his lips continued to play with hers, tasting, drinking, licking, making Holland’s head light with pleasure.

Her eyes were closed, but she imagined that if she opened them, everything would be a blur of light and midnight colors, except for the two of them.

“I’ve been wanting this,” Adam murmured against her mouth. Then he was taking the kiss even deeper, tugging her further into the dark corner of the Roosevelt lobby, pressing her back against a wall.

He brought a hand up to the front of her throat. Her heart started beating faster. This wasn’t a place she liked being touched. Then she felt his fingers on the chain around her neck. A flash of memory came back to her. The necklace. Something about this necklace was important.

She tried to pull away, but her back was to a wall and Adam’s grip was far too tight. One hand was like iron around her back, and the other was still at her throat, and he was pulling, yanking, tearing at the necklace.

“No,” Holland cried. But Adam’s harsh lips were still on hers.

The hand at her neck had moved to her scalp, keeping her lips pressed to his as he murmured, “This is going to hurt.” And then he stabbed her in the back.

Nothing in Holland’s life had ever hurt so much.

She cried out against Adam’s mouth as he kissed her one more time. She cursed and screamed, and he took it all with his lips and his tongue, pressing them one last time to hers before he finally let her go.

Her vision was swimming as he released her.

For a second, she thought he looked sad.

Then he was walking away, holding her only hope in his bloody hands.