Page 18 of Monsters in the Museum (Defenders of the Light #1)

Chapter eighteen

N ora stood on the fringes of the party, clutching a glass of champagne in one hand while using the other to negotiate with the bobby pins stabbing her in the head. After acquiring a dress fit for a literal goddess, she had decided to use a forgotten gift certificate to get her hair done for tonight’s gala. While she had to admit the stylist admirably wrestled her hair into a twist at the crown of her head, it came at the cost of feeling as if a pack of vultures were attacking her scalp.

Catching a glimpse of her reflection in the glass of a display case, Nora decided it was worth it. Even Adam would be impressed—if he ever showed up.

Nora berated herself for being impatient. Adam was not the type to go back on his promise to come, and he had seemed excited for the event, even offering to pick her up beforehand. Nora had declined, wanting to get to the museum before the gala started, to make sure everything was perfect for the unveiling of the new display. Now, she felt as if she had been waiting for an age, even though the party wasn’t in full swing yet.

As if her thoughts had summoned him, a tall figure stepped up beside her and sighed.

“Here, I thought I was a gentleman bringing you a drink, and you already have one.”

Nora turned to look at Adam and had to suppress the urge to let out an appreciative whistle. The navy tux he wore brought out the deep golden hues in his skin, and the cut perfectly accentuated his statuesque figure.

“Oh, you must be assuming that I am a lady then and wouldn’t accept another glass of champagne,” Nora responded before throwing back the last of the contents in her glass. She reached for the full replacement in Adam’s hand before continuing, “I need more than one drink if I’m going to socialize with the paleontology department. They think they are all that just because their T-Rex is the biggest display in the museum, but I think they’re all just compensating for something.”

Adam coughed into the champagne he had just been sipping. Once he had recovered from his spluttering, he asked, “Oh, and you don’t think that spear might be compensating for something just a bit?” His eyes held a devious twinkle as he baited her.

“Not at all,” Nora defended. “Because you’d actually have to be strong to use it, making you a legitimate badass who’s not faking it at all.” She refused to let anybody malign the weapons on their special day, and she had to admit that her newfound affinity for her own practice spear had only made her more attached to the bronze masterpiece. In the past week, she had found her gaze lingering on it longingly, wondering what it would be like to use it instead of the battered wooden one she had grown accustomed to.

Just then, Nora spotted a familiar figure drifting in through the main entrance. It was hard to miss Odelle on any given day, but tonight, she had made it impossible by donning a scarlet silk jumpsuit with a dramatic overskirt attached in the back that dragged in a short train.

At the sight, Nora passed off her empty champagne glass to a passing waiter with a quick thanks.

“Before I drink too much champagne, though, I have a few professional obligations to fulfill,” she explained, taking Adam by the elbow and leading him across the room to her sister. They weaved through the glittering crowd to where Odelle stood, conversing with a cameraman she had brought in with her.

“Aren’t you dressed to kill?” Nora greeted.

“There are so few opportunities to wear couture. Might as well take advantage. It makes me feel like I’m in a James Bond movie,” Odelle said, fluffing her skirt in response.

Nora made Odelle do a little twirl to show off the whole look as she complimented, “You do look like a Bond girl.”

“Life goal accomplished. Do you want to see if there are any eligible high rollers in the crowd this evening who might want to take us on a ride in their Aston Martin?”

Nora gestured to Adam, who had been standing dutifully beside her. “I have already acquired my James Bond for the evening.”

Adam opened his mouth to greet her, but Odelle barely even glanced at him before cutting him off with a dry, “Shame.”

Trying to diffuse the bomb that this conversation was about to become, Nora changed the subject. “Are you ready to make me look like a boss on the evening news?”

“I was born ready.” Odelle stepped up to position Nora appropriately as the cameraman produced a microphone for her to use. Adam still stood at Nora’s side, but when Odelle shot him a poisonous glance, he raised his hands and took a few deferential steps away, giving Odelle space to continue arranging Nora to her liking.

“Turn slightly to the side, like this. Pop your hip and shoulders back,” Odelle instructed as she demonstrated. “Perfect.”

Odelle then positioned herself opposite Nora and said with a grin, “All right, zolotse , time to show off that big brain of yours.”

She motioned to her cameraman to roll and began asking Nora a few educated questions about the weapons, which Nora did her best to respond to with terms that wouldn’t alienate the casual viewer. It all passed so quickly that Nora wasn’t even sure if she had spoken in English, but Odelle reassured her with encouraging smiles. They wrapped up quickly, and Odelle gave her sister a wicked grin.

“Wait until that guy Leo gets a load of this. He got passed over for the promotion in favor of you, and now you’re on TV.”

Nora tried to hug her in thanks, but Odelle brushed her off. “Don’t wrinkle my outfit yet, I’ve still got to get a few more statements. Maybe I’ll find Mandy and interview her. She always did seem nice. Then we can break some hearts.”

With that, Odelle turned and pranced off through the thickening crowd, cameraman in tow, and Adam returned from where he had been hovering to the side.

“You really do the artifacts credit with your knowledge,” he complimented.

“Speaking of, we should go see the pieces of honor.” She grabbed Adam’s hand and turned to tow him through the milling crowd. When he hesitated, she glanced over her shoulder to find him wearing an expression that clearly indicated he was enjoying the view as much as she thought he might. She raised a brow at him over her shoulder, and he had the decency to blush high on his cheekbones before allowing himself to be led across the room. Still, Nora could feel his eyes on her as she walked and did her best to suppress the heat that built in her body in response.

The cluster of guests around the centerpiece of the exhibit was dense with Nora’s coworkers and impeccably dressed people whom Nora assumed were significant donors to the museum there to appreciate the fruits of their generosity. It was difficult to edge through, but Nora was taller than most of the guests in the heels she had managed to wedge her feet into, and Adam’s statuesque frame aided her in clearing a path. Coworkers who recognized Nora stepped back deferentially, recognizing her as a subject of tonight’s celebration, and she felt a bolt of pride under the thin layer of self-consciousness caused by the gesture.

Reaching the front of the crowd, Nora looked up at Adam expectantly to see him beaming down at his long-lost sword, encased in protective glass and positioned on a stand to show off its unique inscription down the blade.

“You’ve really outdone yourself, Nora.” He leaned close to speak directly into her ear so she could hear him clearly over the rumble of chatter and laughter now filling the space. His breath stirred an artfully curled tendril of loose hair framing her face as he spoke.

Nora grinned even as she teased, “Well, you know I didn’t have to do much to get them looking this good. It’s unfair to be getting so much attention when they showed up almost exactly like this.”

“Well, maybe, but this exhibit does make them shine.” Adam tilted his head pensively as he continued, “Besides, it’s nice to see them shown off for their beauty and craftsmanship instead of as tools of destruction. Antony would be pleased.”

Nora’s eyebrows pulled together. “Antony?”

“He made both of these,” Adam responded, bending down to the case to get a better look at the plaque bearing the “estimated” date of origin and location of recovery. “He always viewed his work more as art than as weaponry anyway, seeing it treated as such would be right up his alley.”

“And what about you? It’s not strange to see a personal belonging of yours in a museum?”

“On the contrary, it feels right to have relics from such an important moment in time immortalized like this. And it means more than I can say to see these two next to each other again.”

As she watched Adam stare at the weapons with reverence, something she had forgotten to ask Adam about before came to the front of her mind.

“You didn’t happen to… break into the museum to try to see these, did you?”

Adam chuckled even as he winced. “I did break in, but it was actually more of a preventative measure. I sensed Shadows in the area, and I figured they knew that the weapons would be coming. I’m sorry for giving you a fright.”

“I was wondering if you knew it was me that chased you,” she said. “I’m glad that I wasn’t just imagining things.”

They fell silent in their contemplation of the display once more.

Nora’s brow furrowed. “Who did the spear belong to?” Nora questioned, realizing she had no idea how it had ended up on the field so near where Adam’s Xiphos had fallen.

Adam kept his eyes on the spear and paused so long that Nora began to think he hadn’t heard her question. She was just about to repeat herself when his response came, his voice so low that Nora had to lean in close to hear his response over the chatter around them.

“It was my wife’s.”

Nora jolted back hard enough to slosh several drops of champagne on her dress. She distractedly brushed them away as she scrabbled to form an adequate response. She settled on, “You’re married?” She attempted to feign a casual tone but grimaced when her voice came out an octave higher than usual.

Adam turned his face back to Nora, now wearing a neutral expression of somebody trying hard to seem casual and succeeding a little too much to be convincing as he said, “I was—a long time ago.”

Nora knew that it was probably rude to ask, but she supposed that had never stopped her before. “What happened?”

“She died,” Adam answered simply. His voice was calm, but a small twitch beneath his left eye betrayed his emotion. Sympathy twisted low in Nora’s gut, and she opened her mouth to apologize for bringing up such a painful subject, but Adam continued, as if now that the subject was broached, he was compelled to share. “She was killed in the Defeat, but she was incredibly brave. She fought to the last and died a hero.”

Adam’s voice had a trace of pain in it that even millennia of healing had been unable to erase, but as he spoke, his face broke into a soft smile, as if talking about her brought him real joy. His expression made Nora inexplicably wistful.

“She sounds incredible,” Nora offered, unsure of what the appropriate response was when the man that she had been shamelessly flirting with moments before suddenly divulged the details of the death of his till then-unmentioned wife.

“She was,” Adam responded.

Nora searched for something she could say about a loss that happened two thousand years ago that Adam wouldn’t have heard dozens of times before. Adam, thankfully, saved her from uttering any of her woefully inadequate options.

He plucked the champagne out of her hand as he spoke. “And she would not want us to stand around like melancholy lumps on her account.” He passed the flutes to another white-gloved waiter and grabbed her hand. “She would most definitely want us to dance.”

Adam’s eyes were gleaming with mischief and a little something else as he began to lead her toward the center of the atrium, where there was, indeed, a dance floor. A string ensemble in the corner had begun to play at some point as well.

“Oh, uh, I really don’t know how to dance for an occasion like this,” Nora protested, caught off guard by the sudden change in subject. She glanced at the elegantly dressed couples on the floor, moving in a graceful dance that she assumed would only be practical to learn if you lived the kind of life where you attended black-tie galas on a regular basis. “In case you haven’t noticed, events like this are not a part of my normal repertoire.”

“Well, lucky for you, I am well-versed in all sorts of dancing,” Adam replied, unperturbed as he continued to usher her forward. “One of the distinct advantages of living through the Regency period is the ability to perform a solid waltz.”

By now, they had reached the outskirts of the dance floor, and before Nora could protest again, Adam had twirled her around toward him in a way that she thought only worked in movies and put one hand on her waist to pull her close. She would have been inclined to tease him about it if she hadn’t just gained a whole new appreciation for the phrase “weak in the knees.”

With that, they began to sway gently as Adam guided her around the dance floor. To Nora’s relief, he didn’t seem to mind that her only dancing experience involved jumping up and down like a fool to obnoxious pop music on the rare occasion that Odelle had managed to convince her that a few irresponsible decisions really wouldn’t kill anybody. If Adam noticed her initial stumbling, he had the decency not to point it out and simply tightened his arm around her waist so he could pull her with him around the dance floor.

As they rounded a curve, Nora caught sight of Odelle’s distinctive red jumpsuit and avoided looking at her in favor of watching her footing. She didn’t want to think of her sister’s disapproval at the moment.

Once Nora was confident that she wasn’t going to trip Adam with her incompetence, she looked up from their feet to meet his twinkling eyes. This close to him, she was able to make out a thin white scar across his forehead, as well as faint lines around his eyes, showing that he spent far more time smiling than not. While his eyes were playful now, there was also an intensity behind them that made Nora want to fidget under his gaze.

Distracting herself from her own awkwardness, she picked up the threads of their former conversation.

“You really can perform a solid waltz.”

She wished she could come up with something more engaging to say, but at that moment, she got distracted by Adam navigating her through a pivoting turn around the floor.

“I’d like to think so,” Adam responded lightly, as if carrying on a stimulating conversation while making sure neither he nor she collided with any of their fellow dancers was as easy as breathing. “I really do love to dance, although I don’t get the chance to do it very often anymore.”

“Antony mentioned that the other day.”

Adam’s brows raised as he hummed in amusement. “Did he now?”

Nora nodded, continuing to split her focus between the dancing and the conversation, while simultaneously trying not to focus on Adam’s wiry arm wrapped firmly around her waist. The warmth from the contact was spreading down her body, making Nora very aware that she was still at a work function.

Thankfully, Adam didn’t require a verbal response and continued to carry on the conversation for her. “He’s right. I do wish I had more opportunities to dance. I usually try to avoid saying things like this because it makes me feel like a walking cliché, but people really don’t dance like they used to.”

Nora chuckled. “I take it the dancing at nightclubs isn’t dignified enough for your mature tastes?”

“On the contrary,” Adam scoffed. “I can make a fool of myself with the best of them. But I miss the days when you could ask a beautiful lady to dance with you and then spend the next few minutes getting to know her while impressing her with your coordination.” He sighed dramatically. “Take that away from me and I really don’t have any good moves.”

“What are you talking about? I thought taking a woman to the hospital for blood loss was your big move,” Nora teased.

“Exactly. You understand my plight now.”

Nora giggled and Adam took the opportunity to guide her through a small twirl under his arm. She surprised herself by not tripping, and thanked Ezra for her newfound sense of balance.

“In all seriousness though, thank you for inviting me tonight,” Adam said as he settled his arm back around her. “The life of an English teacher by day, Defender by night doesn’t really lend itself to attending many galas. With everything that’s been going on, a little champagne and dancing with a pretty woman is good for me.”

Nora tried to keep from preening internally at being called pretty as she processed the rest of his statement, “Everything that’s been going on recently?”

Adam nodded. “With the recent attacks by the Shadow. We haven’t seen a series of hits in such close proximity to each other since, well, since before the Defeat really. It’s all hands on deck at the Sanctuary, and with all the research I’ve been doing to try and figure this out on top of working, well… I can’t remember the last time I had a good night’s sleep.”

Absorbing his words, Nora felt childish for complaining about Adam’s recent absence. He too had been fighting with everything she had been battling for the past weeks, working himself to the bone. And yet, when she had asked him to come to a party with her, he had immediately made himself available.

“I’m so sorry. If you want to turn in early tonight and try to catch up on some sleep, I totally understand. I can take a rain check on dancing and champagne when the fate of the city is at stake.”

“Nonsense,” Adam said with a forceful shake of his head. “This is way better than sleeping. Besides, parties are full of hope and fun.” Adam leaned in to whisper conspiratorially in her ear. “Both things the Shadow hates.”

Nora’s chest warmed, but the warmth could not manage to fully diffuse the knot of concern buried below her sternum.

“What kind of research have you been doing?” she asked, hoping to help in some way. If there was one thing she was good at, it was research.

“I’ve just been trying to come up with anything we could use to get an edge over the Shadow. We know it has to have an agent here in the city for the attacks to be so concentrated. And I have a hunch that the Eteria’s increased activity here has drawn its attention. So many of us have been coming and going, and the weapons themselves are great wells of power that the Shadow can sense in and of themselves. Hell, with your blood now being a beacon for the Shadow, its only because we’ve had a guard keeping an eye on you that you haven’t been attacked at work yet.”

Nora flinched involuntarily in Adam’s arms, and he looked down at her apologetically before continuing. “The problem is that they are so damn slippery. The attacks are so random, and the Shadows and their agent are always gone or retreating by the time we can get there, leaving a disaster for us to clean up. I’ve been trying to come up with a way to track them, but…” Adam ended his rant with a long-suffering sigh that perfectly encapsulated the struggle of every researcher stuck on a troublesome project.

Nora, however, was still stuck on his earlier statements, feeling a pang of guilt that she had brought the weapons here, contributing to all the activity that was drawing the Shadow’s eye. She pushed her guilt aside, though, feeling like there was something else she should be seeing here, turning Adam’s statements around in her head to look at them from all angles.

“There is a way to know where the Shadow will strike next,” she blurted out, stopping in their dance so suddenly that a nearby couple bumped into them.

Adam’s eyes were wary as Nora, ignoring the now grumbling couple, pulled Adam to the side so they could stand still as they talked.

“They are going to attack me at work, like you said.”

“Nora,” his voice was low with concern. “I assure you that we are keeping you safe. We’ve been extra cautious since the plane fiasco, and Ezra says you are progressing—”

Nora batted at his arm to get him to shut up as she explained herself.

“No, you can get them to attack me on purpose. Send me out without a guard to use me as bait, and then set a trap.” She continued to brainstorm out loud in her enthusiasm. “It’ll be perfect; we can do it at night so there are no civilian casualties. Control the situation.”

Looking up, Nora could read on Adam’s face that he was not quite as taken with the idea as she was.

“If I’m making you feel like throwing yourself into the worst kind of danger is the solution, then I really have failed,” he grumbled.

“Oh, come on, you’re just being bitter because you know this is a great idea, and you’re embarrassed you didn’t think of it first,” Nora said with exaggerated grandiosity, trying to distract Adam as well as herself from the fact that this was a terrifyingly dangerous plan.

“Who’s to say I didn’t think of it but was smart enough not to bring it up because I realized it was a harebrained idea?”

“Well, then, you should have known that I would also be smart enough to insist on this plan because I know that it is just obvious enough to circle right back around to being clever.”

“You know I can’t possibly like any idea that involves intentionally endangering somebody, right?” Adam said, his expression clearly broadcasting just how much he didn’t like the plan.

“You’re not intentionally endangering me; I’m doing it myself,” Nora insisted. “Besides, by not doing it, everybody else is constantly being endangered, so there.”

Adam heaved another sigh and gave her a pleading look. “I suppose there is nothing I can say that might talk you out of wanting to do this?”

Nora raised her chin and shook her head. Seraphina’s words echoed in her head.

People like you get us killed.

She would not let herself stand by when there was something she could be doing. She might still be shaken from her last encounter with the Shadows, but facing them head-on appealed to her more than living in fear of the next attack.

“I guessed as much,” said Adam resignedly. “But if we are going to do this, we should make sure we do it right. Start by running the plan by Thad to get his input.”

“Wait—really?” asked Nora. “I’ve convinced you that easily?”

Adam offered her a wry smile as he grabbed her hand and started weaving through the crowd toward an unknown destination.

“Through the years, I’ve learned to pick which hills to die on. Something tells me that trying to be more stubborn than you isn’t a fight on which I want to waste my emotional capital.”

Nora was unsure if he meant for his comment on her tenacity to be a compliment, but she decided to feel flattered anyway.

“Now come on, let’s go run your plan by Thad. See what he has to say.”

“We’re going to the Sanctuary right now?” Nora asked. “I can’t leave, I still need to do some schmoozing. And I hate to break it to you, but I don’t think I can make it all the way there in these shoes.”

Adam continued to guide her by the hand, but instead of continuing toward the exit, he turned to head up a wide stone staircase.

“Lucky for you, Thad isn’t at the Sanctuary. He volunteered to be your guard for the night.”

“Oh.” Nora paused to pick up the hem of her dress so she wouldn’t trip on it while climbing the steps. “I thought you counted as my security detail.”

Adam shrugged as he reached the top of the stairs. “I didn’t think I would make a very good guest if I was constantly looking over my shoulder for threats. And I certainly would not make an effective guard while drinking champagne.”

They rounded a corner at the top of the staircase, and Nora immediately spotted Thad leaning jauntily against a pillar, surveying the party going on in the space below him over a railing. He was, unsurprisingly, sporting an immaculate set of white tuxedo tails as he turned to them.

“And to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” he asked, pushing off the pillar he had been leaning on.

Nora ignored his question in favor of asking, “How did you get in here without an invitation?”

Thad waved his hand dismissively. “I’ve been sneaking into parties before they invented champagne. I know how to charm a doorman.”

“Stop bragging, Thad,” cut in Adam. “Nora has an idea I think you should hear.”

“You mean the idea where she uses herself as bait so we can catch the Agent?” Thad asked with an arched brow. “I was wondering when that was going to come up.”

“What?” Nora and Adam said in unison.

“I mean, it’s a pretty obvious solution, and Nora is far from stupid. As soon as she got the relevant information, she was going to come up with this. You had to know that, Adam.”

Adam huffed indignantly, but Nora pressed ahead.

“So, you think it could work?”

“It could,” That hedged. “But it would have to be planned carefully, and I think we should really only resort to it if we’re desperate.”

“I’m pretty desperate to not have to be looking over my shoulder all the time,” Nora grumbled.

“Well, if we are going to do it, we should do it at a time when the museum would be mostly empty, so Nora can come in and use the combined pull of herself and the weapon to lure the Shadow without danger to civilians,” Thad mused out loud.

Nora chimed in, “The museum closes early on Tuesday, to give workers time off after spending so much time prepping for the gala.”

“Hera’s hairy ass crack,” Adam swore under his breath. “That doesn’t give us much time to plan if we really want to do this. I’ll have to get started right away to pull it off by then, get everybody up to speed on the plan.” He rested his hand on Nora’s arm. “Will you forgive me if I take a rain check on another dance? If we are even thinking of attempting this without letting you get hurt, I’m going to need to get going on mapping out our strategy right away.”

Nora nodded, her head spinning slightly from the rapid sequence of events. “It’s fine, do what you need to. I’ll probably be spending the rest of the evening chatting up potential benefactors anyway.”

Adam paused a moment with his hand still on her arm, looking torn, before nodding briskly.

“I’ll see you soon.” Then he turned and left, his long legs carrying him swiftly around the corner and out of sight. Nora’s arm felt cold where his hand had been.

Once he was gone, Nora let out a deep sigh and let her shoulders slump. She turned back to Thad.

“I suppose you will have to leave too?”

He shook his head, offering her a warm smile. “No, I’m here to keep you safe as long as you are here. You’re the guest of honor, after all.”

Nora propped her hip on the railing beside him, looking down at the sparkling sea of party guests below her and feeling rather distant from the celebration.

“I’m not sure I feel that much like celebrating anymore.”

“Don’t be silly; you just need a fresh glass of bubbly.”

“I’m not sure champagne can fix my problems.”

Nora glanced over at Thad to find him looking at her expectantly, giving her time to continue. She took a moment to gather her thoughts, afraid that she sounded like a petulant teenager, but hoping Thad would understand what she was trying to say.

“I just… feel like my life has been split in two. One moment I’m a girl getting ready for a party, worrying about how my hair looks and what pair of heels makes my ass look the best. The next moment, I’m waging a war against the physical incarnation of fear. It’s giving me whiplash, and I don’t even know who I am anymore. Am I a nerdy historian who gossips with her sister? Or am I some sort of warrior in training with a responsibility to save the world?”

Thad snorted. “Funny, I never took you to be someone lacking imagination.”

Nora shot Thad a quizzical look, and he sat himself on the railing next to her.

“Look, take it from somebody who knows,” he continued, “Putting yourself in a box of who you think you’re supposed to be gets boring after a while. Let yourself be new things, even if you aren’t quite sure how they fit with the old things. No reason you can’t have it all, the way I see it.”

“You sound like my sister,” Nora said, finding her sister’s crimson form winding through the crowd below.

“I’ll take that as a compliment. She seems like she has impeccable taste. Do I get to meet her?”

Nora bit her lip and avoided Thad’s gaze. “I don’t know. I haven’t really… told her about all of this.”

“Well no wonder your life is being split in two. You’re hiding yourself from the people who are supposed to know you best.”

“I know you’re right,” Nora admitted. “I want to tell her. I just…”

“I get it. But she can handle it.”

Nora thought on the truth of his words.

“I’ll find time this week to sit down and talk to her about it. I won’t ruin her fun tonight.”

Thad nodded in approval. “Speaking of ruining the party, you should go down there and have fun with her. Don’t waste the evening feeling sorry for yourself with this old hermit. I’ll stay up here so I can have a bird’s eye view.”

Nora did as he suggested, making her way back down the stairs into the frivolity below. She scanned the crowd and managed to spot Gerald Krinkle. Jackpot. He was notorious for large private donations to passion projects, and he was standing alone.

Nora made a beeline through the crowd toward the man with the deep pockets, but she was interrupted before she could get there by Leo stepping in front of her. She bit back a groan of frustration and looked up into his face with the emptiest smile she could muster.

“Enjoying the celebration, Leo?” she asked with an extra helping of forced cheeriness.

He pursed his thin lips in response.

“You can quit with the sass, Nora. I came to make peace.” He offered her one of the two champagne flutes in his hands.

Nora blinked in surprise.

“Oh, well, that’s very big of you.”

“I know we both wanted the same promotion, and they are going to announce that it is going to you later tonight, and I have to admit you’ve done a very good job.” Leo looked like the words were physically paining him, but he pushed on, “I thought it would be nice if we could be on the same side for once.”

“I… that might be nice.”

Leo raised his glass to her, “To new beginnings.”

“To new beginnings,” Nora echoed, taking a small sip. She had already had two glasses, and she didn’t want to drink any more before she got a chance to talk to all the bigwigs.

Leo inclined his head and weaved off through the crowd as Nora looked around for Gerald Krinkle. Before she could take another step forward, though, a hand grabbed her elbow, and she was thwarted for the second time in a row. She turned to snap at whoever was stopping her but was cut off by Odelle.

“Don’t drink that!”

Nora froze in confusion and looked at the glass in her hand.

“The champagne? Why?”

“I saw Leo put something in it.”

“But he just came over to—oh, that little…” Nora’s face heated in anger, and she began searching through the crowd for Leo’s retreating form.

Odelle caught sight of him first, slipping through the doorway leading to the stairs down to the office.

“I’m going to go confront him about what he tried to give you,” Odelle said. “It wouldn’t look good for you to lose your cool at your own party. You go find a glass of water and a place to sit down.”

Odelle then slipped away, stomping through the crowd with a look on her face that made people jump out of her way. Before Nora could do as her sister instructed, though, Thad stepped up beside her.

“Glad Odelle got here first,” he commented, plucking the champagne out of Nora’s hand and giving it a sniff. “Hmm, interesting choice of drug. Wouldn’t have hurt you, just would have made you act embarrassingly drunk.”

Nora growled. “Probably trying to get me to embarrass myself in front of the board members. If I’m not going to keel over, I’m going to join Odelle in giving him the chewing out of his life.”

“That sounds like something I want to watch,” Thad said, gesturing for Nora to lead the way through the crowd.

Nora and Thad had just made it to the door when Nora caught the faint whiff of smoke, making her freeze, and bringing her back to the day of the fire in this very building. The moment was broken by a shriek. Nora shoved through the door and found Odelle standing at the foot of the stairs over a crumpled form. Leo lay at the bottom of the stairs, pale and lying in a pool of dark blood that spread over the white tile. Odelle’s skirt spread in a matching puddle on the floor as she fell to her knees and felt for a pulse.

Odelle cursed before overlapping her hands on Leo’s chest and beginning to pump. Thad was already halfway down the staircase. Fishing her phone out of her clutch, Nora opened it and had to try three times to dial the right number.

“Nine-one-one. What’s your emergency?”

Nora sunk down on the stairs in front of the museum and pulled Thad’s suit jacket more tightly around her shoulders as she watched the ambulance carrying Leo’s lifeless body pull away. She couldn’t feel her face, but she wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or from whatever drug Leo had slipped into her drink. She was only alone for a few seconds before a warm body appeared next to her, and an arm was draped around her. Nora let her head fall to Odelle’s shoulder and tried to let the smell of roses comfort her.

“I’m sorry they didn’t get to announce your promotion,” Odelle murmured, smoothing her hand over Nora’s hair, which had fallen halfway out of its elegant twist.

“I think that’s the least of my worries at this point,” Nora sniffed, “They’ll probably just email me about it.”

Odelle nodded against her head, and silence fell for a few moments as Odelle continued to stroke Nora’s hair.

“It’s all my fault,” Nora whispered.

“It’s not your fault that a man had too much to drink and fell down the stairs after trying to drug you,” Odelle countered, but Nora knew the truth.

She had smelled the smoke of the Shadows in that stairwell, and she knew they were there for her. Leo had just gotten in their way.

Nora swallowed. “Odelle, can we… talk sometime? Not tonight—but soon?”

“Of course. I’m free on Thursday. Want to come over for dinner? I’ll make borscht.”

Nora nodded silently into Odelle’s shoulder. Thad was right; she could no longer carry this burden alone. Odelle would help her.