“He led us into that trap,” Lottie said quietly, her tears drying with the realization.
A murmur of agreement came from Sayuri. “I have known he was part of that despicable group for over half a year, although it is unclear exactly when he joined them or how they got to him.”
At her side, Lottie felt Ellie tense.
“How could you let this happen?” she growled. “How could you let us spend all that time with him and not tell us?”
“We’ve been following you,” Rio replied casually, fixing his hair in the reflection of his helmet. “Waiting to see what Leviathan would do.”
Ellie marched forward. “What? Why? Are you insane? Why didn’t you just tell someone when you—”
“Ellie.” Anastacia’s voice came out cold and with clear warning. “You know it’s not that simple.”
“Chigau yō.” Miko spoke this time, narrowing her eyes with contempt. “We know about your case, and we are not like you. Sentimental!” The word had the venom of a curse.
Lottie had to do something. “How do you know about Leviathan?” she asked, gulping back her emotion.
Sayuri and Wei, who had both remained quiet, turned to each other. Lottie had seen Ellie and Jamie share similar looks in the past.
Jamie, she thought again, her whole body aching with worry.
“Two years ago,” Sayuri began, “I met a girl called Emelia Malouf. She came to one of our summer schools and became a dear friend to me.”
Lottie was sure she recognized the name.
“A year ago she was kidnapped and had her whole life torn apart by the people who came after you tonight.”
Murky images floated into Lottie’s mind, a furious girl in a hijab with dark skin and even darker eyes, the girl who was kidnapped with Percy all that time ago.
“I remember her. From the Tompkins merger!” Lottie exclaimed.
Sayuri nodded. “She took it upon herself to figure out what had been done to her long before you all came along. And the one connecting factor in everything Leviathan does is—”
“You,” Miko cut in, her little fang tooth protruding like a snarl, still ready for a fight, but Sayuri held up her hand to calm her.
“We are Banshee,” Sayuri announced, clear and precise as she extended her arms out to the other bikers.
“Banshee?” Lottie asked, fascinated by the fairy-tale connection.
“Banshee. There’s four of us—shi—and we are inspired by the wailing spirits that warn of death: banshee. We are family. We look out for one another, protect each other,” Wei said, echoing their leader’s commanding voice, glasses glinting in the harsh light. “And that means we’re going to stop whatever Leviathan is planning.”
It was hard to pinpoint what Lottie was feeling. She was in awe, but it was tinged with something uncertain. A respect for this group of kids, none much older or younger than herself, who’d taken on a task so huge.
“We need to tell someone about Haru,” Ellie said.
“You won’t be doing any such thing. This is not a recruitment mission. You’re too much of a liability, and besides we can’t,” Wei replied, entirely matter-of-fact. “He’s our eyes in Leviathan, not that he knows it.”
“Wei duplicated his phone number. It’s how we knew about tonight,” Miko said, the lime-green lights giving her a sickly, turquoise glow.
“Wait.” Anastacia stepped forward to join Saskia. “I don’t understand. How does it all link back to us? Why are we a liability?”
“No, not all of you.” Miko rolled her eyes, before pointing at Lottie. “Her.”
A sudden flash of white-hot lightning shot through the sky. The storm had broken.
“Me?”
“The princess of Maradova.” Miko’s words reminded Lottie of a furious viper, spitting and writhing in warning.
“What do you mean?”
“We are not certain yet, Miko,” Wei continued. “It’s a theory Emelia’s had for a while, that every person on their list somehow leads back to the princess. As far as we know Leviathan is smaller than they let on, no more than a couple of dozen members, so they pick them very carefully and with purpose. Purpose revolving around you.” He gestured at Lottie again. “It’s precisely why we’ve been watching you. We needed to be one hundred percent sure none of you were with them.” He spoke casually. “Everything’s about making your life more difficult, manipulating you. The fact you’re even here in Japan may very well have been their doing for all we know.”
“My grades,” Lottie breathed nervously, still sure she believed what they were saying. “But how could they know we’d come here, Saskia?” She turned to the Partizan, terrified to even ask the question. “Could the girl who gave us the information about Takeshin . . . ?”
“It’s possible. If the Hamelin Formula works, there’s no saying what they could be doing with it,” she replied.
It was a dreadful thought, and, if it was true, had they also infiltrated the media? There was no one they could trust, not even the police.
“I don’t understand; this all seems so . . . petty.” Lottie couldn’t help saying it, her head spinning. All this time they’d been trying to uncover a huge worldwide conspiracy, but the idea that it might all be about her—about Ellie—somehow made her even more afraid. It was a childlike fear, the kind you feel when the lights turn out and you need to check for a monster under your bed, only this monster is real, and it only has its eyes on you.
The four Takeshin students murmured between themselves, Rio’s gaze lingering over Lottie with playful menace.
A pitter-patter began to tap away at the window, spindly fingers of rain against the glass. Jamie was out there, somewhere.
Through a haze of freshly building tears Lottie glanced at Ellie, and her heart stopped. Her princess’s face was twisted with pain. It
