“Are you going in there?” Naomi still had her hands on the steering wheel despite the fact that we’d been in park for a few minutes.

  “Yeah.” I tried to steady my breathing.

  “Um, you’re not stealing an animal, are you? Because I just vacuumed my car.”

  “Don’t worry. What I’m getting is small enough to fit in this.” I showed her the gallon-sized freezer bag Lilura had given me.

  “Ew, it’s not a rat or something, is it?”

  “It’s not an animal.” I pulled a woolen hat over my head and tucked my hair under it, then slung the heavy black satchel Chase had given me over one shoulder and across my chest.

  “Stay here, keep quiet, and if you see a security guard or police car, text me SOS.”

  I got out of the car and closed the door on Naomi’s sputtered exclamations.

  I followed the curve of the fence as it twisted away from the road, stopping only when I reached the cluster of trees and bushes Chase had pointed out. I was glad the ground was dry; it would suck if I left muddy footprints all over the place for the police to find. I wove through the bushes. Branches and twigs scratched at me, but my clothes were skin tight, so I didn’t get stuck or tangled. I followed the fence for another couple feet, until it connected with a brick wall. On the other side of the wall was an outdoor café.

  I scaled the tree closest to the wall, trying not to think about bugs. A thin but sturdy branch jutted out toward the top of the wall, pointing to a line of barbed wire. Wrapping my legs around the branch, I used my hands to scoot to the top. The branch creaked. I ignored the sweat that dampened my brow and pulled a pair of bolt cutters from Chase’s satchel. I snipped at the wire and was surprised when it sprang apart. The tension pulled the wire apart and created a gap more than big enough for me to fit through. I tucked the tool away and inched closer to the wall.

  Eyeing the distance between me and the brick, I held my breath and prepared myself. I had to tell myself to jump three times, but I finally managed to leap, landing more on my stomach than I intended to. I gasped, forcing myself not to cry out in pain, and pulled myself to perch on top of the wall.

  I looked down over the back of the café, where the garbage bins were. They were large and metal and dirty, but the tops were closed, and one was close enough for me to jump onto. It was a better choice than hopping the ten feet to the ground. I took a deep breath and jumped, aiming for the center of the closest bin.

  I landed with the biggest bang I’d ever heard. I froze, my head down and my gloves gripping the edge of the garbage bin. I waited for ages, until I was sure no one was coming to check on the noise I’d made. I bounded down onto the pavement.

  I slipped out of the café, passing through a lovely Chinese garden that provided some cover. The rocks crackled beneath my shoes, but not enough to make me worry. I counted to three and sprinted from the last tree in the Chinese set-up to the nearest conservatory wall. I paused at the wall, panting and wondering if Naomi was still waiting for me. Chase had included a hand-held electric screwdriver in his goody bag to open the large vent he’d showed me along the wall. I dropped to all fours and crawled to the vent. After only a few minutes, I got all the large screws out.

  Now came the worst part: crawling through the air duct. It was wide enough for me to fit through, but not wide enough that I wouldn’t brush against walls I figured hadn’t been cleaned since the place was built. According to the little plaque Chase and I had seen out front, that was 1977. I swiped in front of my face with every advance to make sure I didn’t get hit with a cobweb. Or something worse.

  The duct led me to a washroom. It was one Chase had snuck into from the inside during our visit, so the screws were already removed from the vent. The metal gave easily, and I crawled out, grimacing as I caught sight of my grime-coated self in the washroom mirror. Next time, I was totally switching jobs with Chase. Lilura promised me the cameras would be “on the fritz” during my mission, thanks to a little magic of her own. Something about water in the electrical wires. Still, I checked each camera I passed on my way to the conservatory, to see if the little red light was on.

  I had to pass through the indoor zoo before I could get to the plants. At least I didn’t have to go outside, near the big animals. If I spooked one of them, I’d probably freak out and abort the mission. The indoor section housed an aquarium, a hall of nocturnal animals, and a huge room with glass walls for the indoor/outdoor monkey habitat. Some chimpanzees and squirrel monkeys watched me race by, but they were the last animals to pay witness to my trespassing.

  I stopped at the glass doors that led to the long hallway connecting the indoor zoo to the conservatory. I hoped there wasn’t an alarm set to it. Biting my lip, I pushed on one of the doors and waited. Silence. I did a happy dance, then ran down the hall to the next set of doors. These were labeled, noting that due to climate-control in the conservatory, the doors should be kept shut. I pulled on one and immediately started sweating.

  I zigzagged through foliage under the hazy glow of emergency lights. It was so quiet, my ears were ringing. I found the place Chase and I had visited and squinted at the cluster of plants. The smell was horrible. I selected my target—a fully bloomed Stink Lily, not too close to the path, one no one might even notice was missing—and pulled the Ziploc bag and shears from my satchel. Faster than I’ve ever moved, I snipped it, bagged it, and zipped it. Then I heard rocks clatter against each other.

  I whirled toward the noise. A dark figure approached me. I held my breath, reaching for the shears again, ready to strike. But as he stepped closer, I did a double-take. What the—?

  “Gavin? H-how did you get in here?” I whispered. I eyed him suspiciously as I tucked away my tools and stuffed the bagged plant into the satchel.

  “The same way you did.” He came closer, studying the flower bed.

  “Why are you following me?”

  He faced me, silent at first. I could barely make out his eyes flitting over my face.

  “I was at the Fairmont; the original Body Snatchers was playing. I just couldn’t help but think about you. After the movie, I found myself driving to your house. Sat in my car for a while on your street, telling myself I was stupid for wanting to talk to you, and maybe even more stupid for letting you go. That’s when I saw Naomi’s car pull up. When you got into her car and drove off, I had to know where you were going in the middle of the night. And this is where I ended up. So … what are you doing here?”

  I shook my head. He had the worst timing. “You need to get out of here. You can get into a lot of trouble if you get caught.”

  “Don’t you mean if we get caught?”

  Impatience nagged at me. “Yeah, we.”

  “Okay, then let’s go.” He headed for a nearby door. An alarmed door.

  “Gavin, don’t!”

  Too late. The rest of my warning was drowned out by a high-pitched alarm.

  He cringed. “Wrong door?”

  I let out a frustrated sigh, ran up to him, and pulled his arm. “This way.”

  I didn’t know the way out through Gavin’s door, so I ran back the way I’d come in. We made it to the long hallway between the conservatory and the monkey house before flashlight beams cut through the windows, headed our way. We only had a few moments before they made it to our building. Gavin yanked open the door to the monkey house. The chimps and squirrel monkeys freaked out and shrieked, jumping around and swinging from ropes in their habitat.

  I looked behind me, through the glass. The guard lights were gone. That didn’t make me feel better; it just meant they were probably already inside. “They’re coming. We might be trapped.”

  Gavin came to a halt. “I have an idea.”

  “What?”

  “Give me your bolt cutters.”

  I blinked. I didn’t realize he’d watched my every move. “You saw that, huh?”

  He shrugged. “We’re in kind of a hurry here.”

  I handed them to him. He went around the side of the squirrel monkey house, and cut through the padlock.

  “What are you doing?”

  He gave the bolt cutters back to me. “You better hide. Security’s coming.”

  I hesitated. “Hide with me.”

  “No, I’ll cover for you. They can chase me. You take whatever it is you took to wherever you need to bring it.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Lead them away from you, with a little help from the monkeys.”

  “What if they shoot at you?”

  “They won’t shoot at me. I’m a kid.”

  I stared at him, unsure.

  “Okay, they might shoot at me,” he conceded. “But we don’t have time to argue about it. You’ve got to get out of here.”

  I didn’t know what to say, so I kissed him on the cheek instead. Then I turned to hide.

  “Zadie,” he called right before I ducked behind an observation bench.

  “Yeah?”

  “Don’t forget about me.”

  I smiled at him. “Never.”

  I ducked behind the bench and watched from the floor as he opened the door to the monkey house. Some of the monkeys hid, but some of them ran for the open door. The security guards burst into the room. Gavin froze, then threw his fists into the air and screamed, “Free the animals! Free the animals!”

  He took off, darting past the guards and through a fern tree. The guards turned and chased him down the hall, shouting at him to stop as squirrel monkeys scurried between their legs.

  The next few minutes of rushing to the washroom, climbing through the vent, and running from the conservatory to the back of the café was an adrenaline-filled blur. I was soaked with sweat and breathing heavily as I pulled open the door to Naomi’s car. Before I jumped in, I spotted Gavin’s car a good distance down the street, partly hidden beneath a tree. I hoped he would get to it without getting caught.

  I slipped into the car and shut the door, my heart beating faster than I’d ever felt it. “Drive!”

  “You don’t have a rat with you, right?”

  “Drive, Naomi!”

  Naomi’s hands flailed above the steering wheel. “Okay, okay!”

  When we were half a mile away, I finally let out a relieved breath. Was Gavin all right? Did he escape, or was he being handcuffed and dragged into custody at that very moment? I was tempted to call him, but I didn’t want his ringing phone to give him away if he was hiding somewhere. I had to wait until later, possibly the next day.

  “Did you see Gavin?” I asked.

  Naomi looked confused. “No. Gavin was there?”

  “Still is, I think. He created a diversion so I could get away.”

  “No way.”

  “Yeah.” I sighed.

  Naomi tilted her head back and forth. “Hmm, that’s awfully sweet of him. Methinks he still has feelings for you.”

  A smile crept to my lips.

  “Okay, I did what you asked,” Naomi said. “So now are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

  I wondered if she was ready to hear it. But I’d promised her, and I didn’t want to keep her in the dark any longer. “Do you promise to keep an open mind and not freak out?”

  “I’ll even pinky promise.” She laughed and held out her right hand, pinky extended. I hooked my pinky—the unscathed one—with hers. “Okay. But you might want to pull over. It’s kind of a crazy story.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Lilura eyed me as she answered the door. “Did you bring the lily?”

  I reached into my purse and pulled out the bagged plant. Lilura shuffled me into the house and took the plastic bag from me. When we reached the dining room table, she held the bag to the light with two hands, canting her head to study the plant.

  “What about the knife?” I asked.

  “Chase got back late last night with it.” Lilura cradled the bag and headed for the kitchen. “I just need to treat it in the mixture he brewed.”

  I followed her. “Can I … see it?” I figured I should get familiar with the weapon since I would be the one to use it. Or try to use it, anyway.

  She opened the freezer and pulled the mythical weapon from between a box of fish sticks and an ice cube tray. She balanced the weapon between us with both hands. It was thin, but longer than I’d expected, the total length about the same as the distance between my elbow and the tip of my thumb. It was anything but shiny, the grooves in the handle encrusted with black, the silver a matte gray. I rubbed my shoulder as I thought about the training I would need to handle the weapon.

  Lilura put the knife back in the freezer. I gave her a puzzled look, and she patted the freezer door. “It’s safer in there. Let’s get to work.”

  Spotting the tea and the glass of water on the table, I sighed. I didn’t know which I least looked forward to. We both sat in our spots, and Lilura slid the water in front of me.

  “Let’s go for something more than bubbles this time,” she said.

  I focused on the water. Water. Water. H2O. Lilura had said I wasn’t so bad with air. I tried using that. Could I get the oxygen in the water to change color? I leaned forward a little. The water sloshed. I squeezed my eyes into slits. The glass shook, then tipped as if I had hit it with my hand. I gasped.

  Lilura jumped up, cursing, and ran into the kitchen.

  “Sorry,” I called out, setting the glass upright again.

  She came back with a dish rag and mopped up the spill. “Let’s just try the candles.”

  After retrieving the candles and refilling the glass, Lilura dropped into her chair. Was she as aggravated and disheartened as I was? This probably wasn’t her idea of a fun way to spend the weekend.

  Lilura lit the candles with a match and pointed her yellowing fingernail at the flames.

  I took a deep breath and watched the flames dance. Half a minute passed with no sound but the ticking of the clock. Then, the flames grew smaller. My eyes widened as the fire diminished. The flames were replaced by thin wisps of rising smoke. The corner of Lilura’s mouth inched up. Was that a smile?

  Without a word, she slid the candles to the side of the table and pushed the water toward me. So much for celebrating my progress.

  Careful not to tip the glass over again, I focused on the wavering water. I placed my hands closer to the glass without touching it, my fingers rubbing the table. First, the bubbles appeared, as if the water had become carbonated. Then the bubbles turned white, almost foam-like. Figuring this was probably not what Lilura was aiming for, I pulled my hands back and blew out a slow breath. The water settled. And remained a murky white.

  I glanced up at Lilura. Before either of us could speak, Chase’s footsteps thundered down the stairs.

  “We’ve got a trespasser on the front lawn.” He stomped to the window and pulled the curtain to the side, glaring at whoever was out there.

  Lilura pushed back from the table and hobbled over to him. “Who is it?”

  Chase stepped away from the window, his eyes darting to me for a moment before he answered his grandmother. “Gavin Murray.”

  I stood and joined them, catching a glimpse of Gavin on the front walk. He paced and wrung his hands. Chase and I looked at each other.

  “What’s he doing here?” he asked.

  “I don’t know.” I headed for the door.

  Chase followed me. “You want me to get rid of him for you?”

  “No, it’s okay. Let me talk to him.” I zipped my hoodie up to my chest and opened the door. Gavin stopped pacing and looked at me.

  “Hey.” I stepped out to the porch and closed the door behind me. “What are you doing here?”

  He hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and shrugged. “I, uh, figured you might be here. I was trying to decide if I should wait or ring the doorbell.”

  “So you didn’t follow me this time?” I teased.

  He shook his head. “No.”

  I stepped off the porch and closed the distance between us. “You got away all right last night? I mean, I was going to call or text you, but I didn’t know if it was a good time.”

  “Yeah, I got away. I’m a fast runner.”

  A grin snuck onto my face. “So I’ve heard.”

  “I still don’t know what we were doing there, but I was kind of hoping you’d fill me in.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and studied him. “Are you sure you’re ready to hear the truth?”

  He swallowed. “Yeah. Hit me.”

  Could I really tell him? Naomi had surprised me with how well she’d accepted what I was and what I had to do. That is, after I proved my magical abilities to her by making her hair fly up from her shoulders. She thought it was cool and spooky at the same time, then got all happy about having a magical best friend. Even asked if I could perform love spells. I didn’t know why I’d been so afraid to tell her. On the night I’d performed the spell, Gavin had said a world where magic existed would give him hope that things didn’t have to be so bad. Unless he was just using a line on me, maybe he’d be okay with the truth.

  “Okay,” I said, planting my hands on my hips in challenge. “I’m … a Vila.”

  His eyes scrunched up, and he blinked. “A what?”

  “A Vila. It’s like this cross-breed of witches and faeries. Only I don’t have wings. Or warts.” I bit my lip and waited.

  Eventually, he nodded. “And that means you can do magic, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you really did get your sister out of the coma.”

  “I did.”

  He motioned to Chase’s grandmother’s house. “And you’ve been coming here for …?”

  I sighed. “Training.”

  “Training for what?”

  I ran a hand through my hair. “How much time do you have?”

  Half an hour later, we walked into Lilura’s house. Gavin looked like he’d just stepped off a rollercoaster, eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open. At least he hadn’t run away. It was an incredible feeling, having the weight of secrecy off my shoulders. With Naomi and Gavin no longer in the dark, my private little circle seemed more serene.

  Lilura and Chase eyed Gavin suspiciously as we approached the table. He swallowed hard when he took in Lilura’s appearance. His reaction didn’t go unnoticed. I hoped it wasn’t a bad idea to bring him inside.