Page 165 of Whispers of Wisteria

Up close, the shackles looked different from mine had been. Not that I was any expert, per se. This was just my novice opinion. The black surface was smooth and cold, and almost shiny.

“It’s no use, it’s obsidian.” Gloria’s voice rang loud in my head as she talked to Maria.

“Do you see a latch?” Maria asked.

My hands seemed to move on their own accord, pressing along the smooth, flat surface, until, barely discernible, was the tiniest of openings where a key would fit.

There was no latch.

I breathed in heavily, stumbling forward, and I pressed my face into the place below where her neck met her shoulder. Blackness began to shadow the edges of my vision.

“It’s not going to work without a key,” Ada was saying. “Unless she knows how to pick a lock.”

“I’m aware,” Maria sounded frustrated. “Why would she know how to pick a lock?”

My fingers were so numb that I could barely feel the thick coarseness of my hair, but it was clear my braids were ruined.

That was a shame. At the beginning of the night, they’d been so perfect. This was going to take forever to fix.

Why couldn’t I have silky-smooth locks like the fairies in art?

Heck, even my own past life had hair to kill for. If I had to inherit anything from Mu, why couldn’t it have been that? Butno, I’d been stuck with this wild, crazy mess. Not even a million bobby pins had been enough to hold my monster curls at bay.

I stared at the brown hairpin in my fingers, the world a blur of color around me.

Picking a lock? That was easy.

Especially when one wasn’t being zapped by evil energy metal.

“You have got to be kidding me.” I could barely hear Ada. I was already focused, tiptoeing to get a better vantage point for the most effective lock-picking techniques.

“That’s because she’s awesome,” Maria said. My hand slipped an inch at the pride in her voice. “That’s why she’s my friend.”

“Screw you,” Ada replied. “She gave me chocolate. I’m claiming her.”

“Ladies.” Gloria’s chastising hiss cut through my throbbing head. “This isn’t the time to discuss custody arrangements. I assume you have a plan?”

“Of course!” Maria chirped as the lock released. Gloria’s right arm dropped back to her side as I moved to the left manacle.

“It’s easy,” Maria said. “When the wolves come back to check on their friends, you shift and make them regret even messing with a real Alpha.”

Gloria’s breath hitched, and her reply was instantaneous, “No.”

“But…” Maria began, and my heart skipped as the second lock released. “Why not?”

“Maybe you can after Bianca opens the doors? You two shift and take on the wolves,” Gloria offered.

“That’s so unnecessary,” Maria said, sounding annoyed. “Besides, these doors are on an electric timer. She’d have to get to the controls over there.”

I glanced at the metal box near the dungeon door. It was too far away—plus it wouldn’t have mattered, our door was closed again.

“Bianca’s going to collapse in about twenty seconds,” Maria argued. “It’s not her job to get us out.”

“Plus, that’s just stupid,” Ada snapped. “You could end the fight in thirty seconds. They are rogues. They’re going to submit to the highest-ranking wolf around, and that isyou.”

“We need to think of something else!”

This was the first time I’d ever heard Gloria truly panic. How strange.