“Or we can stay and search for the jewels. According to Roxy, Tucker thinks that Deirdre gave you some clue about where she hid them, or that I can somehow find them with my Stone magic. Maybe he’s right about that.”

   I kept my voice neutral, even though I burned to stay here. I didn’t care about the gems and how valuable they were. Not in the slightest. For me, this was all about Hugh Tucker. The vampire had been three steps ahead of me for weeks now, and I wanted to turn the tables and beat him at his own game. I wanted to take away something that he cared about, for a change. But most of all, I wanted to have him at my mercy—or lack thereof—so I could finally carve some answers out of him about my mother and the Circle.

   But staying at the resort would be dangerous—maybe even deadly. Nothing that we hadn’t faced before, of course, but we’d come down here to relax and take a break from the constant danger in Ashland. Not get ourselves into even more trouble.

   Oh, I’d be happy to take on Roxy, Brody, and every other person here if it meant getting closer to discovering the members of the Circle, but this wasn’t my choice to make. Not really. Because Tucker had lured Finn down here, had sent him the resort deed, and had gotten his hopes up about learning more about Deirdre. So he should be the one to decide.

   I looked at Finn. “So what do you want to do? This is your weekend and your resort, so it’s your call. Right, guys?”

   Bria and Owen both nodded, and the three of us stared at him.

   My foster brother tapped his finger against the side of his cup, staring down into the dregs of his hot chocolate as though they were tea leaves that would somehow reveal the future. After several seconds, his finger stilled, and he raised his head, staring at Bria and Owen, and then finally at me.

   So many emotions flashed in Finn’s eyes. Worry about the danger we were in, hurt that Tucker had manipulated him again, disappointment that he hadn’t learned anything new about Deirdre yet. But all of that melted away, hardening into a stubborn determination that I knew all too well—the same determination that Fletcher had instilled in me, as well as his son. In that moment, Finn seemed more like his old self than he had in weeks.

   “Fuck it,” Finn said, a grin spreading across his face. “Let’s find those rocks and shove them down Tucker’s throat.”

   I grinned back at him. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

12

   We left Main Street behind, walked back to the hotel, and rode the elevator up to the seventh and top floor where our suites were, like everything was normal.

   Then again, my friends and I being in mortal danger with enemies all around was perfectly normal. Vacation. Heh.

   All the while, we kept an eye out, but the theme park and hotel workers just watched us. Roxy and Brody must have told their minions to leave us alone for the time being. At least, until we found the jewels for them.

   The elevator opened, revealing a long hallway with only a few doors set into the walls. We stepped forward. The elevator doors closed behind us with a whisper, and the only sound was our soft footsteps on the thick gray carpet.

   “This floor is all penthouse suites,” Finn said. “Our rooms are over there.” He swept his hand out to the left, indicating a couple of doors on that side of the hallway.

   “And according to the room number on that key Ira Morris gave me, Deirdre’s suite is there.” This time, he pointed to the right, where a single door was set into the wall.

   Of course there was only one door and one suite on that side. Deirdre wouldn’t have wanted to share a single inch of space with anyone.

   Finn stared at that closed door for a moment, then turned away, pulled a plastic key card out of his pants pocket, and opened the door to his suite. We all trooped inside, and Finn and Owen put their packages down on a table by the door.

   Actually, it was two suites in one, with each area featuring its own spacious living room, bedroom, and bathroom, with connecting double doors in the middle. Our luggage was sitting in the foyer in Finn and Bria’s suite, although both living rooms had a table featuring an enormous fruit basket, along with platters of chocolate-dipped strawberries and other gourmet treats.

   “Here’s to your stay and our great new partnership, Roxy,” Bria said, reading the note on the fruit basket in her and Finn’s suite.

   She tossed the note back onto the table and opened her mouth, but I held my finger up to my lips in warning, and Bria bit back the rest of her snarky words.

   “Well, then,” I said, “let’s get settled and see if Roxy left us any other . . . surprises.”

   The others nodded, picking up on my real meaning, and we all went to work, discreetly checking our respective suitcases and suites for hidden cameras, listening devices, and rune traps. Just in case Roxy had coated something with her Fire magic to try to kill us in our rooms.

   “Anything?” Owen asked about ten minutes later.

   I peered a final time into the air vent that was set low in the wall and got to my feet. “Nope. We’re good.”

   We stepped through the open connecting doors back into Finn and Bria’s suite. The two of them were sitting on one of the couches in the living room, typing away on their laptops on the coffee table in front of them.

   “Any creepy crawly things in here?” I asked.

   Finn shook his head. “No cameras or listening devices. The room’s clean.”

   “So is ours,” I said. “Roxy knows that the jewels aren’t in here, so she didn’t bother to bug our rooms. She must have just told her people to watch us when we’re out in the hotel and theme park.”

   Bria hit some more keys on her laptop. “Did you know that the resort has its own webpage devoted to the treasure hunt? There’s even a place where people can post about all the places they’ve looked in the theme park. There are hundreds of comments here and just as many pictures.”