Page 114 of Queen of Volts

Lola had come close to, but after her conversation with Tock, she wasn’t sure.

“I guess I don’t trust anyone,” Lola said softly, then she slinked back to her bedroom, ignoring her brother’s music whispering through the walls. The sound of it made her heart clench. She didn’t know why she bothered.

LEVI

In mid-February, the sea breeze spit icy water against the dunes, and the overcast skies smothered any hint of starlight. Levi had once considered the beaches a solace from the touristy, half-drunk city crowds. A place to reflect, should he ever take advantage of it. But its sense of solitude was gone, and like any place with natural beauty in New Reynes, it now felt bottled up, mass produced, and branded—a candy-coated replication of the Casino District. And though he’d been to the boardwalk multiple times—twice with Enne and often to oversee the completion of the Legendary—the loss of its old tranquility felt more palpable at night, with the lights of its piers sending reds and greens and pinks dancing over the water. The once brackish air now smelled strongly of cigar smoke.

Regardless, Levi plastered on a kilovolt smile.

“Welcome to our ultimate venture!” Levi declared, and then to a chorus of oohs and aahs, he threw open the double doors to the Irons’ new black-and-white palace. With its upstairs finally completed, it was every bit as grand as Levi described to the Irons—no, grander. Because since St. Morse lay abandoned and Luckluster lay ruined, its gaudiness was magnificent and unparalleled. The glossy floor tiles, like a checkerboard encased in glass. The intricate display of chess pieces, cards, and dice glued to the walls in a map of the city, the king’s piece painted silver to mark the Legendary’s spot. The mirrored panels along the ceiling, reflecting the dizzying decor as though the guests were stepping into a fun house.

The Irons flooded inside, their loafers slipping across the floors, whistling and laughing, waving at their reflections on the ceiling.

Enne, however, lingered behind with Levi, her coat wrapped tightly around herself, a scarf pulled over her head to conceal her hair and face. It was a risk for her, coming here together, but they had the cover of darkness, and it was important to Levi that Enne see this place.

“I didn’t want to open it until the summer,” Levi told her. “But it finished ahead of schedule. Seems a shame to let it sit, especially with the rest of the piers open.”

There was more to it than that. With the way the game was going, Levi didn’t know if he’d live to see summer. And if the worst came to pass, he wanted to leave the Irons with something that would endure. So little in New Reynes did.

He didn’t need to explain his ulterior motives to Enne, though. She warily examined the glossy black front doors as though their epitaphs were etched on them.

“I know that look,” he spoke. “What is it?”

“I can’t stop thinking about Lola,” Enne murmured. “About killing the Bargainer. About everything.”

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and held her close. “It’ll be all right,” he breathed. He was getting better at making empty promises. “There will be more times.”

She smiled weakly. “I’m glad you bought this place, and I like the name. I think Jac would’ve liked it.”

“I’m glad, too,” Levi replied. Even if it didn’t suit him anymore, maybe once the Irons were taken care of, Levi could use the casino’s surplus profits to fund other projects, more meaningful ones than a gambling establishment. He could pay off the debts of other kids trapped in One-Way Houses. He could fund rehabilitation centers for those with addictions. Jac would like those things, too.

“So I finally get to glimpse it. This is the gaudiest, most outrageous place I’ve ever seen,” came a voice from behind him. “And I’m not the least bit surprised you bought it.”

Levi turned and cocked an eyebrow at Tock. “I didn’t have a say in the design.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

Tock liked to poke fun at him—she always had—but Levi knew her well enough to recognize that the look on her face was not normal. At least, it was not her new normal: unwashed bedsheets, twice as much mess as usual, going to bed early and rising late.

She looked good. More at ease than she had in weeks.

“Why do you look like that?” he asked her.

“Like what?” she responded, grinning and running a hand through her short black hair.

“Like you just watched me slip on a banana peel or wear my shirt inside out.”

Tock beamed wider and held up a golden Shadow Card. Levi realized with a start that it wasn’t hers—it was the Hermit. Lola’s.

“How did you get that?” Enne breathed, her eyes wide.

“An Irons card trick. I swapped it out for a fake. Lola thinks I destroyed it,” Tock explained. “Technically, it still belongs to Lola. But now that we have it... She’s the Bargainer’s target. And that makes this card bait. We don’t need to find the Bargainer if she’ll come to us.”

Levi suddenly wished he’d been seated first for this news. He knew this game had to end as soon as possible, before anyone else lost their lives to it. But he hadn’t prepared himself for how fast their plans could progress. He’d wanted him and Enne to have more time, before their times could run out. Now he realized how empty his promises to her truly were.

Tock and Enne looked at him expectantly. He remembered that he was the one who usually came up with the plans. Or he had been—he hadn’t felt half so clever since he’d failed to get Enne her pardon. Even the realization that they could break the game had been her idea.

“If we bait her, we lose the element of surprise,” Levi said blandly.