The Conspiracy of Us (The Conspiracy of Us 1)

“Sure, a little,” he said.

I was surprised into silence for a second. “But she looks hot doing it, so it’s okay?”

“I suppose she does, but that’s not the point. It’s true she’ll have an easier time getting in than I would, but Elodie’s doing this job mostly because she knows more about art and bypassing difficult security systems than anyone else in our family.”

“Really?” I looked for signs he was joking.

He just smirked. “Who’s being sexist now?”

At that moment, Luc swept back in between us and clapped his hands. “On with our evening?”

Stellan stood. “I’ll be patrolling.” He shot a lingering glance at me, and I watched him disappear into the crowd again.

Luc offered his arm, and I slid off the bar stool. He spotted someone across the club and waved enthusiastically. “Liam and Colette are here,” he said, dragging me through the crowd toward the half-moon bar bordering the dance floor. Behind it, glowing magenta waterfalls hid nooks carved out of the wall, and behind each waterfall, a girl danced in silhouette, dry-ice steam rising at her feet.

“You said Elodie’s looking for a new clue to the mandate?” I yelled as I followed him.

“For deciphering the lines about the One. You know.” He waved a hand in the air as he steered us around a couple making out to a techno remix of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

As in, the rightful One and the girl with the violet eyes. “What exactly do you mean, deciphering?” I called hesitantly, because I didn’t know, and even if I was planning to escape, it’d be nice to learn what my fate was supposed to be.

Luc turned and jerked me to a halt in the middle of the dance floor. His brows arched practically to his hairline, and with his light brown hair styled in an exuberant bouffant, he looked like an anime character. “You don’t know?”

Uh-oh. “I just—I haven’t really been around—”

“Does that mean you don’t know about the mandate at all?”

I thought about lying, but that wouldn’t do me any good. I shook my head. “Just a tiny bit. My mom wouldn’t tell me anything.”

We stared at each other for a tense second, then Luc smiled the smile of someone letting a few drinks take the edge off his worries. He wagged a finger down at me. “Don’t let anyone hear you talking like that, cherie. It’s odd for anyone in the Circle to be so uninformed. But I understand your predicament.”

I exhaled.

He took my arm again. “We’re trying to decipher the mandate because we’re looking for something. Something very important.”

He pulled me to a stop and his eyes danced, daring me to ask.

“What is it you’re looking for?” I said.

He paused dramatically, then leaned close to my ear. “Treasure.”

CHAPTER 17

I pulled away and frowned. That was what Stellan had said on the plane. But I thought he’d been joking. “Treasure?” I said skeptically.

“Treasure!” Luc threw his arms wide, face raised to the disco ball. “Wealth! Power!” He twirled, circling behind me, and whispered, “Death.”

I whipped around. Luc laughed out loud, reading the surprise on my face. The low light threw the angles of his face into sharp relief. “And it’s the Circle’s birthright, what with it being in the tomb of our predecessor.”

“Who is . . . ?” I could tell he was waiting for me to ask.

“Alexander the Great, of course! In his tomb is everything that made him who he was. It’ll make the Circle that much more powerful, and the families of the union infinitely so.” He grinned and tapped the end of my nose. “It’s so deliciously odd that you don’t know this, cherie. Your adorable little face is priceless right now.”

Luc swooped my hand up and held me formally, like we were waltzing at a garden party instead of to trance music at a club. “Liam and Lettie can wait for a minute. I see you have more questions.”

“So the mandate’s like a worldwide treasure hunt for the tomb of Alexander the Great?” I said, keeping up with his steps to this unwaltzable music, in these ridiculous heels. One two three one two three.

“Yes and no.” Luc twirled me. “The mandate is like a prophecy. It comes from an ancient book the Circle has had for ages—the Book of Mandates. It’s a series of predictions. Many of them have come true. ‘By the follies of one and the loyalties of the rest will the world burn a second time.’ That’d be World War Two. There was one about World War One. The Crusades. They’ve been accurate all through history. This one talks about the union between ‘the rightful One and the girl with the violet eyes.’ That’s the most important line, anyway. And now that there’s going to be a girl with violet eyes—my baby sister—we’re just figuring out who the rightful One is.”

Someone bumped me from behind and sent me careening into Luc. “Sorry,” I said. My throat was starting to hurt from yelling over the music. “What do you mean, figuring out?”

Luc brought my arms around his thin neck, and my forearms glowed green from his neon necklace. “The language on who the One is, or which family he comes from, is vague, but it’s believed that only the rightful One—the single correct person—will trigger the prophecy’s fulfillment. The Book of Mandates is the main source of the predictions, but there were other writings of the Oracles that got lost over time and never made it in, and they’ve been found all over the world—in museums, or at archaeological digs, or in family memorabilia—all throughout history. We’re hoping to find something that gives us more specifics on the One. And if we don’t, since we have the girl, my family will choose the One for the union ourselves and hope for the best. So, to make a long story short and answer your original question, Elodie is seeking something more about the mandate.”

It made me feel a tiny bit better to know they still had to find something else before using the girl. “And the treasure in the tomb is more than money?”

When the next song started, they turned on a black light. Luc gave me a wide grin, and his teeth gleamed like a Halloween decoration. “Much more,” he said. “The mandate says it will make whoever has it invincible.”

That tugged at my brain, and I remembered our Ancient Civ reading from last week. It was hard to believe that class, where Jack had covered for me, was only yesterday. It felt a million years away from designer dresses and ancient prophecies.