The Serpent's Curse by Lisa Maxwell (read an ebook week .TXT) 📕

“Of course not,” she told him, cursing herself for being so careless. She had to focus. She couldn’t make any more wrong steps, not when so much was at stake.

A few minutes later, Viola had little choice but to follow Mooch and Werner, along with the one called Logan, around the side of the building. With the Five Pointers occupying the police out front, it wasn’t difficult to slip in through the back, not when Werner was quick to suffocate the few men who were waiting in the lobby. They’d fallen unconscious before they could so much as draw their guns.

Of course Nibsy himself didn’t come along with them, the snake. He’d made excuses about his leg—he would only slow them down—but Viola saw the truth in his eyes. Nibsy Lorcan had never intended to put himself in danger, not when he had the lives of the Devil’s Own to offer instead.

The new boy, Logan, was sent to lead them. Nibsy seemed to trust him above the others, but Viola couldn’t understand why—she could tell that Mooch and Werner felt the same. Logan Sullivan had a look of fear in his eyes that made Viola nervous. She knew that fear could make people do stupid things, and she wasn’t interested in dying—not today.

Beyond the entrance, the lobby’s marble floors and walls shone in the evening’s strange golden light. The ceiling was arched as gracefully as any church’s and every bit as ornate. This wasn’t the world of dirty tenements and crowded barrooms that all of them were used to. It was far grander than the cluttered shops and businesses they frequented south of Houston. They all seemed caught by the wonder of the sight—all except Logan.

“We need to get moving before the Order realizes we’re in the building,” Logan directed. He was jittery, this one, with shifty eyes and a tightness around his mouth that Viola didn’t like. He was also carrying a lopsided satchel slung over his shoulder. For the goods we find, he’d explained when Viola had asked. But he glanced away, and she sensed there was something more about his plans that he wasn’t revealing.

“Stairs or elevator?” Mooch asked.

“Stairs,” Viola said immediately, but Logan disagreed.

“We’ll be too exposed in a stairwell,” he said. “The elevator gives us our best chance. It’s faster, and we won’t exhaust ourselves with the climb.”

Viola had heard about elevators, but the tenements of the Bowery didn’t have any need for them, so she’d never been in one herself. She stepped carefully across the threshold and into the glittering mirrored box, wary of every creak and groan. It felt too much like allowing herself to be trapped, but she didn’t fully appreciate how terrible it would be until Logan pulled a gate over the entrance, caging them in like animals. With a push of a lever, the room suddenly lurched, and Viola grabbed for the gilded railing as they began to rumble upward.

The shining mirrors reflected her face back at her, and she saw that the weeks had not been kind. Dark smudges of exhaustion lay thick beneath her eyes. Her hair was pulled back from her face, but the heat and humidity of the day had it fuzzing up around her face. She looked so much like her mother, she realized—worn and tired. She wore the same expression as the women who worked morning until night to care for their families because it was their duty and their lot in life. Because they had no other choice.

Watching herself in the mirror, Viola could not help but think of Ruby, who always looked fresh and polished. Ruby, who would no doubt be completely at home in such a shining, beautiful place as this. It was more confirmation of what Viola already knew, of how impossible Ruby’s words—her kiss—had been.

Viola’s eyes met Werner’s in the reflection of the mirror, and she saw that she wasn’t alone in her apprehension about the elevator. Mooch, too, looked nervous. Only Logan seemed at ease.

“We’re like fish waiting in a barrel,” Viola muttered, looking away from the mirrored wall so she did not have to see her own fear. She cursed softly, trying to keep herself steady as the contraption jerked, but she could not force herself to relax as the elevator rattled onward, rising to whatever waited for them above. “As soon as these doors open, they’ll be waiting. And then what will we do?”

“Fish don’t have any weapons at their disposal,” Logan said, unbothered. His eyes were focused on the dial over the door.

“I have only one knife,” Viola told him. “Libitina, she’s deadly, but she cuts one at a time, no more.”

“You have more than a knife,” Werner said, leveling a knowing look at her through the mirrored wall. “Same as me.”

Viola could only stare at him. Here was a boy who could take the breath from a person’s lungs. She’d seen how easily Werner had disposed of the men in the lobby. “It doesn’t bother you?”

“Why should it?” Werner shrugged. “When we get to the top, whatever is waiting for us on the other side of this door won’t hesitate to kill me. I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer not to die.” He grimaced, the nerves clear in his expression. “Not for a little while, at least.”

The elevator rumbled to a halt on the eighteenth floor, and Logan turned to them. It was only the four of them standing there in uneasy silence, hearts in their throats, but the moment the cage doors opened, there would certainly be more.

“Ready?” Logan asked.

“Do we have a choice?” Sweat was glistening at Mooch’s temples, and his hands were shaking.

“No,” Logan admitted. They all held their collective breath as he pulled back the inner cage before depressing the lever that opened the outer door.

They had expected an ambush, but only an empty hall greeted them. They stepped into the gleaming silence, but there were no men