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

ring is there. Even with all the other energy in the air right now, I can feel it, clear as day. We can’t leave. Not when we can go up there right now and take it.”

At first, though, none of them moved to agree. They all stood there stupidly, like the answer to so many of their problems wasn’t sitting right there, like a fruit ripe for the picking. Logan wasn’t sure what to make of their hesitation. It wasn’t anything he’d ever experienced. Esta certainly wouldn’t have hesitated. She would’ve closed her eyes and pulled time slow and the ring would have been theirs.

But Esta was gone, Logan reminded himself. She’d double-crossed him and left him alone in an unfriendly city with a pack of Lost Boy wannabes for company. Never mind that at the time this all happened, he’d technically been holding her hostage. But she’d betrayed Professor Lachlan and their whole mission first, hadn’t she? Every bit of this situation was Esta’s fault.

Logan looked at the two guys James had sent with him—the kid with the dirty-blond hair called Werner and the redhead, Mooch. They looked like they would cut someone without thinking twice, but now they were staring longingly at the freedom offered by the now-opened doorway. He didn’t blame them, exactly. Now that the Order knew they were under attack, it would be a lot harder to get out of the building than it had been to get in. It would be a hell of a lot easier to walk away now, while they all still could.

Too bad walking away wasn’t an option for Logan.

“You know how important this is to James,” he told the two of them. “There’s only one man up there. One. There are four of us, and I know what you all can do.”

“You can’t,” Theo said. There was a little more color in his cheeks now, but his light eyes were still unfocused from the spell that had encouraged him to climb up on the ledge. “That chamber’s protected.”

Logan looked to the west, across the city that would someday climb far beyond the height of this building. The sun was sinking below the water now, its circle of orange beginning to melt into the Hudson. “The sun’s already going down. Any minute now their protections will be worthless.”

“You don’t understand.” Theo had managed to pull himself together a little, but he still looked dazed. “If that door closes while you’re in there…” His voice was unsteady, like he was still trying to catch his breath. “No way out, except one.”

No way out except one sounded about right to Logan. It was the ring or nothing. Whatever protections the Order might have in store, Logan was ready, and he was more than willing to risk them.

“It’s right there, Viola,” Logan said, willing her to understand. “We can’t give up now. You could take out the guy upstairs without even touching him. So could you,” he said to Werner. “Besides, you can’t really be thinking about listening to this guy. He’s one of them. Of course he doesn’t want you to go up there.”

“Theo’s with us,” Viola said. “But the ring… This one, he’s right, Theo. We came for the ring. We have to try.”

“Not worth it.” Theo was shaking his head now. “If you’re locked in, you’ll be trapped.”

“Theo—”

“I know how important this is to you, Viola, and if there were any way to get the ring, I would help you in a heartbeat. But it’s not possible. Jack told me everything. If you go up there, you won’t be coming back down.” Theo took Viola’s hand. “I have to go, and so do you. I need to get out of here before Jack realizes I didn’t jump like he planned.” He seemed to be leaning on Viola more now, and her violet eyes were wide with indecision.

“Jack Grew?” Logan asked, his instincts buzzing at the sound of that name. “He’s the one who opened the door up there. We can take him.”

“You could help us,” Viola told Theo. “If you did, we could be sure to win.”

“I can’t.” Theo looked at Viola now, and there was a new desperation in his expression. “I can’t risk being trapped up there. Don’t you understand? Jack set all of this up because he wanted me to take the fall for the theft of the ring. When he discovers I didn’t die, he’ll do everything he can to pin the blame on me… and then he’ll go after Ruby. You know he will. If I don’t go now, there won’t be anyone to protect her.”

Something shifted in Viola’s expression. An emotion lit her eyes that Logan didn’t like the look of one bit.

“Viola,” Logan cautioned. He’d been waiting for something like this to happen. He’d been warned. “You know what will happen if we don’t get that ring,” he told her. “Your friends, the ones that Torrio guy is holding—what’s going to happen to them if you walk away now? If you leave now without the ring, you’ll never get across town in time to save them.”

THE PROBLEM OF THE RING

1902—New York

Viola let Logan’s threat roll off her back. She was too busy trying to keep Theo on his feet to worry about some too-soft boy with too-pretty eyes reminding her of what was at stake. She knew exactly what was at stake—the ring, to start. If they didn’t retrieve it now, while the doorway in the ceiling was open, they likely never would. Or worse, this boy would, and if he survived, he would give it to Nibsy.

Somehow, though, the problem of the ring seemed suddenly small compared to her other problems. Viola had Theo to worry about, for one. Considering the way he was leaning on her, he wasn’t going to walk out of the building on his own. If he didn’t make it out of the building, if he didn’t make it onto the