Since it was Saturday afternoon, the park was more crowded than ever before, with throngs of tourists meandering along the paths, getting junk food from the concession carts, and standing in lines for the rides. I also passed several costumed characters, all of whom seemed to be holding a copy of my Wanted poster and scanning the crowd for little ole me. Add that to the gems weighing down my pockets, and I felt like every single eye was firmly fixed on me. My spider rune scars itched and burned, and I had to force myself to walk at a regular pace, even though all I wanted to do was run, run, run away from all the people searching for me.

   Actually, I couldn’t have run away from anyone right now, given how the old-fashioned high heels were pinching my toes. More torture devices, along with the stupid corset. I plastered a bland smile on my face and clomped on through the park.

   People stopped me and asked me to pose for pictures, just as they had on my way up to the hotel, and I obliged them because too many other workers were around for me not to. I didn’t want to do anything suspicious to attract anyone’s attention, much less have one of the performers text Roxy or Brody and complain about the saloon girl who was giving the guests the cold shoulder.

   Finally, I slipped off Main Street and made it back to the staging area behind the saloon. A few folks were milling around under the pavilions, talking, laughing, and texting, but they were all just regular workers, instead of being part of Brody’s giant outlaw gang, and I didn’t see anyone holding a copy of my Wanted poster. Once again, I smiled and nodded at everyone I passed. They all gave me cursory smiles and nods in return, then went back to their conversations, although the costumed cowboys went the extra step of tipping their hats at me. How gentlemanly.

   I wandered through the pavilions, looking at all the costumes, fake weapons, tools, barrels full of lassos, and other supplies. As I roamed around, I made a mental inventory of things that might be useful to me later on tonight, and I also picked up the one item that I needed right now—a pair of sturdy-looking tweezers. Not exactly the precision tool I wanted, but it would have to do.

   When I’d finished with my examination, I left the staging area and went back onto Main Street. I wandered along the wooden sidewalks, peering into the storefronts, and searching for a shop that was crowded enough that the workers would be focused on the customers, but not so busy that I couldn’t roam around freely inside. The Silver Spur, the clothing shop, fit the bill, and I went inside.

   Yet again, I smiled and nodded at everyone I passed, but the tourists in here were too busy shopping to want me to pose for pictures. Lucky for me, the restrooms were in the very back of the store, well past the dressing rooms, where the majority of the foot traffic was. I headed into the women’s restroom, which was empty, slipped into one of the stalls, and locked the door behind me. I closed the toilet lid, sat down on it, and let out a deep breath.

   Then, finally, at last, I was able to pull the snow globes out of my dress pockets and examine them.

   Up close, they were cheap, flimsy things, not the expensive, heavy ones like my mother had had all those years ago. And Deirdre hadn’t done a good job of securing the gems inside either, since more and more of them started coming loose as I turned the Main Street globe upside down in my hands.

   The globe was like a mason jar, with the wooden base screwing down into the glass. I quickly took off the base, set it aside, and got down on my knees on the bathroom floor. A drain was embedded in the tile between my stall and the next one, so I held my palm up like a sieve, carefully tipped the globe over, and poured all the water out of the glass, letting it trickle out of my hand and fall away into the drain below.

   I went slowly, only pouring out a little of the water at a time, and making sure not to lose any of the precious stones. Once all the water was gone, and the gems were drying on a wad of toilet paper, I picked up the wooden base, which had the Main Street scene screwed into it, and used my stolen tweezers to gently pry the rest of the jewels out of the Bullet Pointe sign and other places where Deirdre had glued them down.

   Five minutes later, I had an impressive pile of diamonds, along with several other stones. I dropped them all into one of my black velvet bags, then repeated the process on the other two globes.

   When I was finished, I hefted the velvet bag in my hands. Without the glass and the water around them, I could clearly hear the gemstones’ murmurs, which were loud, vain, and proud enough to let me estimate their value. At least ten million dollars, if not more. Nice. While that was only a drop in the bucket compared to the tens of millions that Deirdre had owed the Circle, every little bit helped.

   Even more important, now I had something that Tucker wanted, and he was going to give me my friends in return.

   Oh, I wasn’t stupid enough to think that the vampire would honor any trade agreement we might make. I fully expected him to double-cross me at the least and kill me at the worst. But I would be ready for Tucker, Roxy, Brody, and all the others. I might be stuck in their theme park, but this Spider could spin her own traps and webs.

   I had more work to do, so I put the bag of gemstones aside, drew out some of the other things I’d swiped from Deirdre’s jewelry wall, and went to work with the tweezers again. Once I was finished with that second project, I got to my feet, opened the stall door, and threw the empty snow globes into the trash. Then I went over to one of the sinks to wash all the glitter off my hands.

   I’d just finished drying my hands when my phone beeped. I pulled it out of my dress pocket and checked the message. It was from Silvio, naturally. He’d made good time driving down here, since it wasn’t quite five o’clock yet.

   At the restaurant. Wearing a gray hat.

   Well, that was interesting. Looked like my assistant had taken my suggestion to disguise himself to heart. I texted him back.

   On my way.

   I grabbed the black velvet bag off the sink, making sure that the strings on the top were drawn tight so that I wouldn’t lose any of the jewels inside, then stuffed the whole thing down into my corset, right next to my spider rune necklace.

   It was a tight fit, and it certainly didn’t make the corset any more comfortable, but it was the most secure place I had right now. Once I was sure that everything was going to stay put, I opened the door and left the restroom.