Midnight Beauties (Grim Lovelies 2)

The witch coolly slid the sunglasses up into her hair, squinting at the double moons with a distrustful glower. She dusted a few snowflakes off of her coat. Then she caught sight of Anouk and grinned. She stepped off the skylight, shifted the box to one arm, and held out her palm.

The ruby.

“Thanks,” Petra said, folding her fingers back over the ruby, “for the ticket into the city. We got your message from Saint. Congratulations on walking the coals, my fellow witchie.” Something glittered in her eyes, a deep pride. She leaned close to kiss Anouk’s cheek and whispered, “Ash.”

Anouk raised an eyebrow. “Ash?”

“The Ash Witch. That’s my moniker. Born of fire, heart of coals, cozy but dangerous if you get too close. I told you that I’d tell you my moniker when you survived.”

Anouk grinned. “It’s perfect.”

Petra slid her sunglasses back down. She turned to the others. “Rennar sends his regards along with something that I think we’ll find exceptionally helpful. Who’s in the mood for a present?”

She shook the mysterious box tantalizingly.

Chapter 38

They used Anouk’s enchanted doorway to pass directly from the roof to the basement, bypassing the museum’s floors overrun by the dead. (Even frozen, Petra said, mummies were creepy.) Once they’d settled in amid the artifacts and half-finished dioramas, Petra devoured a few slices of pizza, then set Rennar’s box on the clock-repair table and removed the lid with a flourish.

“Voilà,” she proclaimed. “Our problems are solved. Well, one of our problems.”

Anouk held her breath. The last time Rennar had given her a gift, it had been her wedding dress. She twisted the ring on her finger anxiously. Curse him if it was some other trinket meant to tempt her or mock Beau—?but she frowned when she peered into the box. It contained two ancient brass doorknobs and a collection of rusty hinges carefully tucked into silk handkerchiefs.

Anouk picked up a screw. “Rennar sent hardware?”

“Not just any hardware.” Petra reverently unwrapped a hinge. “They’re Objekte.”

Anouk’s eyes widened. One of the long nights studying in the Cottage library with Marta, Anouk had come across a reference to Objekte. Now she considered the hinge in her palm with more awe.

“What are Objekte?” Beau seized a doorknob and poked around at the latch to see how it all fit together.

Petra gasped and knocked the doorknob out of his hand. “Careful, imbécile!” She sighed toward the ceiling. “Objekte are permanently enchanted objects. They’re rare and fabulously valuable. Each one is worth more than ten of your lives, Beau.” She shooed him away from the box as she nestled the doorknob back into the silk and explained, “Most objects, like doors or brooms or motorcycles, can be enchanted, but only for a few minutes. Enchantments have a short half-life. But over the ages, a few casters have figured out how to imbue certain items with deeper magic. Judging by the style, this set of door hardware comes from the Prussian Empire. Used correctly, the knobs can open doorways to anywhere in the world, bypassing border spells and other protection enchantments. Once we got your message, Anouk, Rennar consulted with Duke Karolinge and they went poking around in the cellars of Castle Ides and came back with this. They made me promise on the fate of my oubliette not to lose any of the pieces.” She shot Beau another warning look.

Anouk peered closer at the hinge in her palm. Now that she knew it was Objekte, it felt almost alive in her hand. “How does the spell work?”

“Well, for starters, we need to get to Omen House.”

Omen House. Anouk had heard of it, of course. In each of the most magical cities in the world, there existed a facsimile of the exact same building, a stately eight-story edifice of stone and brick. In Paris, it was called Castle Ides, and the Parisian Royals claimed the honor of inhabiting the penthouse. In London, the building was called Omen House, and the Court of Isles had their offices on the fourth floor. Not long ago, Anouk had peeked into a fourth-floor boardroom when the elevator accidentally stopped there. She’d met the irresistible Tenpenny, with his broken-heart tattoo and his pet rat. Thinking of him brought on a stab of sadness. Tenpenny had fought hard to regain the Goblins’ hold on London. He should have been with them, plotting to take back his city.

But he hadn’t made it. Neither had the rat.

“Omen House is near Piccadilly Circus,” Anouk said, still feeling mournful. She set the hinge back in the box. “I saw it from the fourth floor of Castle Ides. Beyond the windows, there were double-decker buses circling the square.”

Petra closed up the box of hardware. “Then we’re taking a walk.”

Luc had been leaning heavily on the corner of one of the sarcophagi. Now he stood, but the effort seemed to cost him. He leaned back and pressed a hand to his heart.

Anouk felt his forehead. “Maybe you should stay here.”

He waved away her hand and stood up straight again, this time more steadily. “I can make it.”

But Anouk knew him better than that. There was a knot of fear in his face. He wasn’t telling her everything. Was this about his deal with Jak? The impending kiss? Her thoughts began to spiral someplace dark, and before Luc could see the worry on her face, she turned to the box of hardware.

What if she lost Luc like she’d lost Tenpenny? She’d known the Goblin for only a few days but had found much to admire in his quirks and mettle, so losing him left her feeling unfinished, like a dish in need of salt and pepper. How would it feel if she lost Luc, who’d been with her almost every day of her life?

Petra poked around through the odd assortment of tools on the clock-repair table and found a screwdriver and a wrench. “We might need these for the spell. And who knows what else we’ll encounter out there in the city.”

They made their way up the basement stairs. Cricket pushed aside the crates they’d used to barricade the door, eased it open, and, head cocked, listened for any activity. After a second, she gave the others a nod. “It’s quiet. But stay on the alert, just the same.”