Midnight Beauties (Grim Lovelies 2)

Anouk plucked a fistful of petals from a wilting arrangement of spider mums, pulled out one of the long white owl feathers, and shoved all of it over to Cricket. Cricket grabbed the supplies and swallowed them whole.

“What do I say? I mostly only know cutting and stealing spells.”

“Try Ax aguis.”

“Ax aguis,” Cricket repeated in a whisper in the direction of the glass wall. The right intonation didn’t come naturally to her, but she’d been practicing diligently, and it sounded correct to Anouk’s ears. The spell was one to make the nature of glass waver briefly—?

“Now! Grab the hare,” Anouk said breathlessly.

Cricket looked hesitant but thrust her hands toward the glass wall, giving a yelp of surprise when her hands passed through it like water. She swiped at the hare. It lunged away and hopped toward the curving stairs to the ground floor.

“Merde! So close!”

Behind them the restaurant doors shook violently. Anouk whirled around. Rotted bodies pressed against the glass doors three and four rows deep. The tablecloth wasn’t going to hold for long.

“Quick,” Anouk said. “Let’s go through the glass.”

Cricket grimaced. “What if my spell doesn’t last? We’ll be sliced in two.”

“We don’t have a choice . . . sorry about this!”

She shoved Cricket. Cricket tumbled through the wall as easily as her hands had gone through it, and then Anouk thrust herself through after. She patted her head and chest and hips to reassure herself that she was whole. A crash came from inside the restaurant as dozens of the dead stumbled in through the doors. They picked themselves back up with alarming speed.

“Down the stairs!” Anouk cried. “Hurry!”

She and Cricket scrambled toward the staircase. Anouk caught a flash of golden fur again—?the hare. It was scampering down the stairs, as anxious to get away from the dead horde as they were. Did she have time to catch it? The dead were already sprinting through the enchanted glass wall behind them. The spell ended abruptly and the glass returned to glass, trapping half the horde in the restaurant, but two dozen were still headed for them.

Cricket threw a leg over the banister. Anouk got the idea and did the same on the other side. They slid on their stomachs down the banisters, rushing so fast that Anouk squeezed her eyes shut. But that was even scarier, so she opened them again as she hurtled toward the ground floor. She passed the hare, still hopping down the stairs. The end of the banister came all too fast and her shoulder and then her bottom connected hard with the tiles. She winced.

The hare hopped down the last step. Anouk lunged for it on her hands and knees, gasping when her hands closed around its foot. But it kicked hard and slipped from her grasp. It hopped toward the main entrance, which someone—?Sinjin or Beau or Hunter Black—?had left aja

r. It hopped straight out of the museum.

“No!”

“That rabbit has the right idea, if you ask me.” Cricket grabbed Anouk’s arm and dragged her to her feet. The dead were almost at the bottom of the stairs. “We’re getting out of here!”

“We can’t! It’s a mess out there!”

“It’s a mess in here.”

They dashed across the cavernous entryway. The moans and shuffling feet of the horde echoed from the high ceilings. The Nutcracker banner rippled in the breeze from the slightly open door. Cricket threw the door wide open and they shot out into the city, then heaved their weight against the heavy door to close it.

Cricket ran, dodging a police officer on a motorcycle weaving in and out of stopped traffic. Horns blared wildly. Screams and sobbing filled the city.

Dizzy, Anouk looked up at the double moons. The shift in gravity had caused waves to rise on the normally placid river Thames. It looked like a churning ocean, splashing over the banks, pulling in Pretties and drowning their screams. Across the street a fight erupted between two well-dressed women; they clawed at each other, drawing blood, driven mad. Something hurtled out of the sky and slammed into a boy running away from the two women: a toad. He fell to the ground, smacking his head.

“Cricket, get out of the street!” she yelled.

If they didn’t stop this plague, Paris was next.

Cities falling one by one, White to Red, White to Red . . .

Anouk started to run after Cricket but a flash of gold caught her attention. The golden hare was at the crosswalk on the corner. Its attention was fixed on the lettuce in a half-eaten hamburger by a trashcan.

A man with blood pouring from his ears started toward Cricket. Her blades appeared in her hands, flashing in the moonlight. Anouk tiptoed closer to the hare until she was right behind it, partially hidden by the trashcan. She held her breath.

A car’s horn blared. Brakes squealed. A woman screamed and a man cried out—?he’d been hit. There was a terrible smash of metal, followed by a long string of cursing.