“There,” Anouk cried in relief. “The elevator’s just ahead!”
But she heard the start of a whisper behind her. Not just any whisper, but one she recognized. One to shut doors—?permanently. And ahead, the wide-open doors of the elevator gave a sudden shudder and began to close. No. Her muscles burned. Her face felt hot. She ran as fast as she could, Cricket on her heels, Beau and Hunter Black practically carrying Viggo between them, but it was too late. The doors were closing.
Nearly shut.
They wouldn’t reach it in time.
“No!”
Then a shadow moved in the elevator. Someone was there. Inside. She couldn’t see who—?but whoever it was, that person was their last chance.
“Hold the elevator!” she cried.
The doors continued to close. All that remained was four inches.
Three.
Two.
“Please! Hold the elevator!”
At the last possible second, a hand shot into the narrow space between the doors. A hand with black fingernail polish and a tattoo of a broken heart on the back. A bell dinged. The elevator doors paused. Then, slowly, they began to open again.
It was the Goblin, Tenpenny, his rat still on his shoulder. He grinned at them with his maniacal smile, but then his eyes shifted to the army of Royals pursuing them and he frowned. Anouk crashed against the half-opened elevator doors and shoved her way between them enough to slip in. Cricket pushed the doors open wide enough for Hunter Black and Beau to help Viggo hobble inside.
“Close it, close it!” Cricket yelled once they were all on board.
Anouk threw herself against the buttons, pounding on anything that would ding or light up, but the doors didn’t close. No lights came on. She felt panic clawing beneath her skin. The Royals were almost on them. Close enough that she could see the smeared blue powder on Countess Quine’s scowling lips.
Tenpenny inserted his master key in the controls. “Going down, I assume?”
“Yes! Dieu, yes!”
He twisted the key and at last the doors began to close.
Chapter 29
Six Hours of Enchantment Remain
Anouk slumped against the closed doors, her flushed face reflected in endless succession in the mirrored walls. She’d never been so thankful for a brief moment of peace. The elevator descended slowly, rumbling beneath her. Beau rested his head against the mirror, face tipped toward the lights that illuminated the bruise across his face, which was turning a nasty shade of plum.
“Look, man,” Viggo said to the Goblin. “I know you wanted us to go to your party and all, but—”
Tenpenny grabbed Viggo by the collar and jerked him downward until they were eye to eye. “Look, boy. You can’t possibly be stupid enough to think this is about a party. I wouldn’t risk incurring the ire of the Royals so that you could cut a rug.” He released Viggo’s crumpled collar before smoothing a hand over his own blue cravat. “We’ve had our bright little eyes on you, beasties. Wondering, like everyone else in the Haute, if you’re as powerful as the rumors say.”
Bright little eyes . . .
Anouk gasped as she remembered where she’d seen him before, though his hair had been covering the tips of his ears. “You were the waiter at the café in Saint-Désirat. You’ve been following us!”
“Naturally.” Tenpenny replaced the golden key in his left breast pocket, then sorted through his dozen or so other pocket-watch chains, muttering to himself, until he found the one he was looking for. It connected to a monocle, which he cleaned with his cravat and held to his eye. The swipe of gold eyeliner on his upper lid glittered beneath the magnification. “We had to be certain of two things. First, that you could indeed do magic. Second, that you weren’t a puppet of the Royals.”
“We’re nobody’s puppets,” Cricket asserted. “And the Royals can va se faire foutre.”
Tenpenny turned his monocle on Cricket and inspected her from head to toe. “What positively foul words from such a beautiful mouth. I’m of a mind to fall in love with you, my dear.” He put away the monocle and consulted the elevator’s floor dial. Its brass arrow dropped to the fifth floor. “Time is short. As soon as we disembark, the elevator will return to the penthouse to collect the Royals. We have only a few minutes’ head start on them. I can get you to safety, but there is a cost for my assistance.”
The elevator dial’s arm dropped to the fourth floor. Then the third. The more distance between them and the Royals, the more Anouk felt the tightness in her chest ease, but they were far from being out of harm’s way yet.
“We’ll pay whatever it takes,” she said, “if you can keep us human.”