stop this.â It wasnât just for my mom anymore. Dev Rajesh, then Eli and Takumi . . . Iâd realized intellectually that the Order was killing people, but I didnât
know
them.
If I did marry somebody, though, would that stop it? The Saxons thought so, but Iâd never been sure. Maybe if it proved that the union didnât lead to the tomb after all, theyâd have no reason to kill any more boys . . . but that wouldnât help my mom. Finding the tomb was the only thing that would solve both problems. After tonight, seven days. âWe have to find it,â I said. âThere has to be something here.â
âI know.â
I took a deep breath, and felt Jackâs chest expand with one of his own. Finally, I pulled away and smoothed my hair back from my face. âWe should go.â
Jackâs hair was wild, his shirt askew. I saw his arm move, almost reach for my hand. Stop. Notice me notice the hesitation. Both of us frozen, waiting for the other to make a move. To acknowledge that the worse everything got, the more difficult it became not to have each other to fall back on.
âIââ Jack said. He stuffed both hands into his pockets.
I nodded, smoothed my skirt, and we ran out of the narrow alley without a word.
â¢Â â¢Â â¢
The fog that had settled since dinner made it impossible to see more than ten feet in any direction, but it seemed to amplify sounds echoing off the narrow alleys that served as streets for anyone not moving around by boat. I flinched at every slamming door or boat motor, and glanced over my shoulder at every set of footsteps.
Jack walked quietly beside me, lost in his own thoughts. I wondered suddenly what would happen ifâ
when
âI did get my mom back. If I stayed with the Circle, I might not have to be married off, but unless I had enough power to change the rules, Jack and I would never work, anyway. Maybe weâd leave, but then Iâd be abandoning the family Iâd just met, and heâd be leaving the only family heâd ever had. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
The only certainty was that we had to find this bracelet.
â¢Â â¢Â â¢
Finally, after ten minutes of weaving quietly through the maze, a glimmer of light shone up ahead and the alley opened up onto awide square. âOh,â I breathed. Despite everything, the square ahead looked like magic.
The fog wasnât as dense hereâit must have had more space to dissipate. But the driver had told us earlier today about the
acqua alta.
âJust be glad itâs not August,â heâd said in broken English. âIf the
acqua alta
comes in August, you can smell Venice from anywhere in Italia.â
Now I saw what he meant.
The Piazza San Marco was underwater. Tourists strolled along wooden walkways that stretched across it, but it looked like they were walking on the waterâs surface. The lights from the basilica and the surrounding buildings shimmered in the ripples, creating gleaming pinstripes in the settling dusk. Around the edges of the square, locals went about their business as usual, ducking into stores and sitting at half-submerged cafe tables in knee-high galoshes.
I licked my lips. The air in Venice tasted a little like stagnant ocean and fish, but with an overtone of fresh breeze that made it not unpleasant.
I looked around and got my bearings. Weâd emerged at the corner of the piazza nearest the San Marco Basilica, with a small cafe on one side of us and a row of shuttered shops and outdoor bistros on the other. â
La Serenissima
doesnât refer to any specific part of Venice, so that doesnât give us a lot of direction,â I said, âbut thereâs this conspiracy theory about Alexander the Greatâs bones being hidden at San Marco Basilica.â Stellan had found the book Iâd asked for from the Dauphinsâ library and told me the details.
âNapoleon might
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