Brody gave the other man a mulish look, but he hopped down off the ladder, making the entire stagecoach rock from side to side at the sudden loss of his weight. “Whatever,” he muttered.

   Ira stared him down a moment before turning to Roxy. “Now, why don’t you two go search somewhere else and let me do my job? I need to take a look at the stagecoach wheels and make sure that everything is ready for the next show. Whenever the two of you get your act together and finally decide to hold it.”

   Roxy glanced at Brody, who shook his head, telling her that I wasn’t hiding on top of the stagecoach. For once, I’d gotten lucky, and Ira had distracted the giant before he could actually look on the roof. A small favor, but I’d take what I could get right now.

   “Well?” Ira snapped. “Are you going to get out of my way and let me do my job? Or are you just going to stand there all day?”

   Anger sparked in Roxy’s eyes, but she wanted to find me more than she wanted to deal with him right now. “Sure thing, Ira,” she said. “C’mon, Brody. Let’s see if the others have had better luck finding that pickpocket.”

   She smiled at the dwarf a final time, then she and Brody left the stagecoach behind, walked through the pavilions, stepped into the back of the saloon, and shut the door behind them.

   “Good riddance,” Ira muttered.

   I breathed a soft sigh of relief. Roxy and Brody were gone, and all I had to do was wait for Ira to look over the stagecoach and leave. Then I could climb down from the roof and find someplace better to hide until my body flushed the sedative out of my system.

   I really should have known better than to even think that I was in the clear.

   Ira looked over his shoulder, making sure that Roxy and Brody were gone, then scrambled up to the top of the stagecoach ladder, tipped his black bowler hat back on his head, and stared down at me.

   “How did you get down in there?” he said. “Determined little thing, aren’t you?”

   All I could do was stare up at him, my body feeling cold, heavy, and numb, and my mind growing foggier and foggier as the sedative swept through me.

   He shook his head. “Now I’m going to have to slice through all the ropes and move all the trunks just to get you out of there. . . .”

   The dwarf kept muttering to himself about how much trouble I was causing him, but I could do nothing to stop him, so I tuned him out.

   My fingers felt as cold, heavy, and numb as the rest of my body, and I fumbled in my jacket pocket, trying to pull out my cell phone. It took me three tries, but I finally managed it.

   I squinted at the screen, trying to see my contacts. For once, I was glad that Silvio had programmed my phone with a special spider rune beside his name. Like the Bat Signal, but in reverse, for when you wanted to summon Alfred instead of Bruce Wayne.

   Ira was standing on top of the stagecoach, and he reached into his jeans pocket, drew out a switchblade, and flicked it open.

   I hit the screen, determined to make my call before the dwarf cut through the ropes and then used that knife to cut into me. A second later, the call went through. True to form, the person on the other end answered almost immediately.

   “What’s up, Gin?” Silvio’s voice filled my ear. “Do you need something?”

   “I—” That one single word came out as a garbled croak.

   “Gin?” Silvio’s voice immediately sharpened. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

   “I—” I tried again, but the sound was as garbled as before.

   The balloon of my mind seemed to be drifting farther and farther away from the rest of me, higher and higher and faster and faster all the while. I needed to tell Silvio what had happened. About Finn, Bria, and Owen being captured. About me being drugged. About the man looming over me with a knife.

   But only one thought filled my mind, along with those strange, crazy giggles.

   “Don’t eat the barbecue,” I whispered, giggles punctuating each and every word. “Don’t eat the barbecue. . . .”

   “Gin? Are you drunk? Are you hurt? Where are you? What’s happening?” Silvio’s voice sharpened with every single word, and I could hear his fingers flying over a keyboard.

   I wondered if the vamp was already trying to track my phone. Probably. He was extremely efficient that way. The thought made me giggle again.

   Ira leaned down and pried the phone out of my fingers. “I don’t think you need to be making any calls right now.”

   “Gin? Gin! Who is that talking? Are you still there? Gin!” Silvio’s voice continued to sound through the phone.

   Ira rolled his eyes at Silvio’s frantic cries, ended the call, and stuffed my phone into his jeans pocket as though it were his own. I really was out of my mind because, instead of being concerned, I focused my gaze on the white lights flashing on the dwarf’s snowflake Christmas sweater. Such pretty, pretty lights . . .

   Ira frowned and leaned down again, the switchblade glinting like liquid silver in his hand.

   Mercifully, the drug finally pulled me under before I saw or felt him stab me with the blade.

17

   My mom’s annual holiday party was in full swing.

   I peered through the railing that lined the second-floor balcony, staring down at all the elegantly dressed people filling our large living room below. Men in classic black tuxedos, diamond cuff links winking on their shirtsleeves. Women in colorful ball gowns, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds hanging from their ears, necks, and wrists. Even up here, above the soft, trilling carols of the harpists, I could hear the whispers of all those precious stones, each and every one vainly singing about its own sparkling beauty.

   Waiters clad in red and green tuxedo vests moved through the crowd, handing out dainty appetizers and tall glasses of golden, bubbly champagne, and everyone was talking, eating, laughing, drinking, and having a good time. Mistletoe, tinsel, and soft white lights were strung up along the mantel, with potted poinsettias flanking the fireplace with its cheery, crackling flames. Still more greenery, lights, and poinsettias were clustered in the corners of the room, and the air smelled like pine sap mixed with a hint of woodsmoke. The pretty scene reminded me of one of my mom’s snow globes. All it needed was some fake flakes and glitter swirling up into the air to make it complete.