Tandem

“Sorry, Gloria, but I’m going to have to pull rank on you,” I said. I was trying to channel Thomas—or Juliana. I didn’t even sound like myself, but it couldn’t be helped. “There’s something I need to take care of back at the Castle.”

“Pull rank? Sasha, you don’t have a rank.”

“Yes, I do. I’m the princess. I decide where I go and when, not you.” I’d been taking orders from everyone else for far too long.

Gloria folded her arms across her chest. “And exactly what is it that you need to take care of, Your Highness?”

“I can’t tell you,” I said. “Only that it’s important. Where’s Thomas? I need to talk to him before we leave.”

“Thomas isn’t here. He left at dawn to return to the Citadel.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know. The General called him back and back he went. He’s not the ‘thing’ you need to ‘take care of,’ is he?” Gloria asked pointedly, complete with sarcastic air quotes.

“No,” I said. “I didn’t even know he was gone until two seconds ago.”

Gloria left to prepare the others for departure, giving me plenty of time to worry. The exhilaration of last night’s discovery was all but obliterated by the news that Thomas had been recalled to the Citadel. Something was wrong. Under normal circumstances, Thomas would have come to explain before he left. The only reason he wouldn’t do that was if he wasn’t allowed to, if … No, I thought. It’s not possible.

What if the General knew?

Callum pressed his ear against the door. “I don’t hear anyone.”

“Cal, that thing is solid steel.” We were standing in the hall outside the queen’s bedroom, debating whether or not we should try the Fibonacci numbers on the LCD panel. “You’re not going to hear anyone if they’re in there or not.”

“Good point,” he said. “But what are the odds? Just try it. See what happens.”

“See what happens? I bet you spent a lot of time setting off fireworks in toilets as a kid.”

He smiled at me wickedly. “There’s not a whole lot to do in a palace, you know.”

“Oh, I know.” I took a deep breath. “Okay, here we go. Giving this a shot.” I placed my hand against the console. It took a second to read my handprint, then went from the blue of being locked to the red of being really, really locked.

“Uh, that can’t be good,” Callum said.

“It’s not. Let’s get out of here!”

We sped all the way back to Juliana’s bedroom. As soon as the door slid shut behind him, Callum turned to me, breathless. “Do you think we set off an alarm or something?”

“Probably.” I’d only ever seen an LCD panel go from blue to red once—the lock on the metal box in the trunk of Thomas’s moto back in the Tattered City. That one had certainly had an alarm on it.

Callum sighed and flopped down on the foot of the bed. “It’s too bad we never got the chance to try the code in the lock.”

“It wouldn’t have worked. There’s no way the king—my father, I mean—was leading me to that room,” I said. “It would’ve been a room he knew I had access to, otherwise what’s the point?”

“So what other room do you think it could be? Does he have an office or something?”

“Yes!” I cried. “He does. He has a study. I’ve been there before.” Callum gave me an inquisitive look. “Hundreds of times,” I added. Actually, I’d only been there once or twice, for wedding preparations with the queen, but I knew it existed. “There’s only one problem.”

“What’s that?”

“My stepmother took it over when she became regent,” I explained. “She’s in there all the time. Except …” I glanced at the clock on the mantel. It was 3:35 p.m. “She visits with my father twice a day: from nine to ten in the mornings, and three to four in the afternoon. If we go to the office right now, it should be empty.”

“Well then,” Callum said, jumping to his feet. “What are we waiting for?”

I stared at the console with trepidation. It was blue, of course, and pulsing, waiting for me to put my hand on it. But what if my handprint wouldn’t give me access to the study door, either, and the KES was alerted? I’d never gotten a chance to explain to Thomas what I was planning to do, and though we were both back from Asthall I hadn’t seen him all day. Gloria promised to make some inquiries, but she’d come back empty-handed. Nobody seemed to know where Thomas was. I couldn’t help but agonize over it, but I found some comfort in the knowledge that Thomas could take care of himself. I would see him soon. It was nothing to get hysterical over.

“You’re overthinking it.”

“What?” Oh, I thought with relief. He means the door. Before I could react, Callum took my hand and pressed it flat against the console.

“Callum!” I cried, jerking my hand away, but it was too late. The numbered keypad replaced the silhouette of a hand.

“You can thank me later,” he said with a smile.

“I’ll thank you never,” I said, delivering a soft glancing blow to his arm. I punched in the code. One. One. Two. Three. Five. Eight. It wasn’t until the console turned green that I realized I was holding my breath.

“You should see your face, Juli,” Callum said with a laugh. “You look like you’re going to throw up. It’s just a door!”

“Yeah, well … shut up.” But I laughed, too. I was being ridiculous. There wasn’t anything to fear. It was just a door, and it was opening.

The king’s study was empty.

“What’s next?” Callum asked.

“ ‘Mirror, mirror,’ ” I told him. But Callum was already staring straight ahead at the wall, where a long antique mirror with an ornate gold frame was hanging.

“It can’t be that simple, can it?”

“I don’t think he’s trying to trick me,” I said, making my way toward the mirror. I felt along its left edge with my fingers but couldn’t find anything. I gripped it with both hands and tried to lift it off the wall—it wouldn’t move. “It’s bolted down.”

Callum joined me. “That sounds promising. Here, let me try.” But Callum couldn’t get the mirror to budge, either. He stood back and gazed at our reflections. “We look good together.” He put his arm around my shoulder and grinned.

“Focus.” I felt around the right side of the mirror now, searching for the hidden latch I was sure was there. If it couldn’t be removed, the mirror had to be hiding something.

Eventually I found it, a button on the back of the frame. I pressed it and heard a small click. The mirror swung forward on hinges, revealing a safe with another LCD console mounted on its door. It was exactly the same as the regular consoles, down to the TOUCH AND GO branding, but this time the keypad was already up, no handprint necessary. I input the Fibonacci code again. The console turned green and the safe was open.

“What do you think we’re going to find in there?” Callum asked.

“No idea,” I said. I tried to affect nonchalance, but my hands were shaking. Was it possible I was right? It seemed unlikely, but at the same time the only possible truth. “But it’s time to find out.”

We peered into the safe. It was almost as large as the mirror, and went very deep into the wall. It contained a variety of things: several neat bundles of money, jewel cases stacked one on top of the other, and a tall pile of manila folders. I wondered if Juliana, staring at the contents of this safe, would’ve known what her father wanted her to find. “Angel eyes” was the last phrase. It could mean anything. It could be a pair of earrings he’d tucked away to save for a wedding gift. But I didn’t care much for jewels, and for some reason I believed that the king wanted me to have information. I grabbed a bunch of folders and dropped them into Callum’s waiting arms.