“And we’ve hidden the sword, which I hope you’ll tell me all about once you’ve recovered, please, Lottie,” Binah added, pushing her glasses up her nose with a flashy grin as if nothing life-threatening had taken place.
“What time is it?” Lottie asked, peeling back the sheets and throwing her legs over the side of the bed to find they’d turned entirely into jelly from running so hard.
“Twelve,” Micky and Lola said in unison.
“You’ll need to be careful walking for a few days,” Jamie added, holding a hand out to help her up.
When she took it, light pooled around him, the midday sun holding him in its palm, but there was something strange about it; he was more like a fallen angel, perched and waiting.
Lottie’s reflection was revealed in the window behind him. Gauze covered the wound on her left cheek. It would leave a scar, and it would match the one Ingrid had given Ellie last year. It was strange and oddly pleasant to know they’d shared something so terrible.
Her hair curled at her chin with a few mismatched strands sticking out at the bottom, and her first thought was how much she looked like William Tufty. It felt right, as if for years she’d been looking at a spot-the-difference version of herself, and now she was seeing the real image.
“Lottie, apparently you have something you need to tell us all,” Saskia said bluntly. “Something about the identity of a certain Master of Leviathan?”
It took Lottie a second to realize it really was Saskia, that she was really back in the school.
The memories flooded back to her so fast she wobbled, Jamie and Ellie both leaning in to hold her up.
The pendant, the love letter, the black-framed painting, Claude Wolfson, all the crazy things Ingrid had said about the Maravish royal family, about Ellie’s family.
Looking around, Lottie realized there was one big problem. She had to choose her words carefully, knowing they still had to keep Banshee under wraps and that she owed it to Sayuri to keep the secret about Haru.
“I need you all to promise me that what I’m about to say isn’t going to change anything, that we’re all still in this together and that it’s no one’s fault.” She placed extra emphasis on the last words.
Her friends, with Micky signing for Percy, all nodded their understanding.
“I’m still confused by it myself, but we’re a team, and I know that we can work together to solve this.” Lottie held Ellie’s and Jamie’s gazes, knowing she was about to turn their whole world upside down. But even Ellie’s feelings couldn’t be spared; she understood that now. “I realized that a letter Leviathan were looking for . . . it was from my father. They most likely wanted it to discredit his right to the throne.”
A harsh intake of breath told her that Ellie had felt the words deep inside her. What an awful discovery it would be to find that your father could have done something so terrible.
Lottie pushed on. “That was my first clue. My next was when I found something that had been given to one of the members of Leviathan by the Master to take away and destroy. I thought it was just a handful of metal shards and a random gem—but there was something familiar about the gem, and I realized it was this.”
Lottie pulled out her wolf pendant, its eyes glittering with truth.
“Lottie, stop. What are you saying?” Ellie’s voice was shaking, the sparks of realization setting a storm off within her.
“Only members of the Maravish royal family are given these,” she explained, watching as Binah’s face lit up, the second person to understand. “I thought it was odd that all Leviathan’s efforts would lead back to me; I refused to believe it.” Lottie coughed, suddenly terrified of what would come next. “But I couldn’t deny it after I saw the destroyed wolf.”
“Lottie, just say it,” Ellie whispered.
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Lottie felt the power of the new information flow through her. “I believe with one hundred percent assurance that the Master of Leviathan is my uncle, Claude Wolfson, who abandoned the Maravish throne and was exiled by the family.”
The silence that followed was deafening. Only Jamie and Ellie stood unflinching at her side, the anchor of dread this news had created pulling them down, lost in an underworld of tangled emotions Lottie couldn’t begin to unravel.
“Holy chocolate biscuit!” Lola practically squealed, cutting through the silence. “This changes everything.”
Even through the seriousness of the situation, it was impossible not to smile at Lola’s choice of words, although Lottie’s cheek twinged in protest.
“Wait,” Raphael chimed in, rubbing the back of his head, “how did you get the remains of the pendant?”
Everyone turned back to Lottie, and she could feel Jamie tense at her side, knowing that if she told them about Banshee and Haru he might never forgive her.
“I gave it to her.” Saskia lied so easily. “I asked her not to tell anyone because I’d been selfishly hanging on to a clue I should have shared. I’m sorry—I should have given it to you all sooner.”
The twins, Percy, and Raphael seemed satisfied with this answer, but Jamie remained tense, while Binah watched her like a hawk, both of them making her feel like she might crumble under the guilt.
“Why would your uncle want to cause so much trouble?” Micky asked.
“I’m afraid I don’t know.”
It was impossible not to glance at Ellie as she spoke, her gaze darting toward her involuntarily. The sight made her feel like she’d been stabbed in the chest. Ellie’s face was haunted.
“I think we should give Lottie a chance to rest now so she can join us for the fireworks later,” Jamie said, although it was clearly more of a command. “And I think we all need some time to let this sink in.”
Murmurs of reluctant agreement echoed through the room, everyone mumbling “See you
