Bright Blaze of Magic (Black Blade, #3)(17)
We slowly maneuvered through the crush of people, made it over to one of the cobblestone paths, and wound our way through the large park that took up the center of the Midway. Fountains bubbled up into the air, with kids laughing, shrieking, and running through the cool, arching sprays of water while their parents looked on from their perches on nearby benches. The heat of the day had finally broken, but the air was still as thick and sticky as one of the caramel apples you could buy from the food carts.
But I looked past the running kids, tired parents, and busy vendors at the other people in the park—the guards.
The Families had long ago divided up the Midway like the sections of a pie, and every Family’s guards patrolled their respective area. It was easy to tell the tourists with their matching, neon-colored T-shirts and baseball hats from the guards, who were dressed in black boots and pants, along with cloaks and feathered cavalier hats that boasted their Family’s colors. Of course, the tourist rubes thought that the guards, their old-fashioned clothes, and the swords and daggers belted to their hips were all just part of the fun, and many of the rubes stopped to snap photos of the men and women who were patrolling through the park. What the tourists didn’t realize was that the guards and swords were more than just cheesy decorations. The guards all took their jobs very, very seriously, watching out for everything from shoplifters to pickpockets to monsters who might wander out of the shadows and slither a little too close to the crowds.
I grew especially tense as we moved through the Draconi section of the park and started seeing men and women wearing red cloaks and hats, along with gold cuffs stamped with that dragon crest. Of course the Draconi guards knew that our black suits and shirts marked us as Sinclairs, and they all turned to follow our movements as we walked through their territory.
The guards didn’t make a move to attack, but they all glared at us and dropped their hands to the hilts of their swords. My own fingers twitched, itching to feel the security of my own sword strapped to my side. Beside me, Devon gripped my hand a little tighter, as tense as I was. Even Felix and Mo stopped talking and picked up their pace, wanting to get through this section of the park as quickly as possible.
Still, the deeper we moved into Draconi territory, the more something bothered me, something about the guards. I don’t know exactly why or when I started counting the ones we passed, but I did. One, two, three.... Just like up at the Draconi mansion last night, it didn’t take me long to figure out what was different.
There weren’t nearly as many Draconi guards patrolling here tonight as there usually were.
With their blood-red cloaks and feathered hats, the guards were easy to pick out of the crowd. Given how many tourists were out on the Midway, I would have expected at least three dozen guards to be patrolling, if not more, but I only spotted a handful of them. I scanned the food carts, the bubbling fountains, and the grassy areas beyond, but I didn’t spot any other Draconis. Weird.
Last night, Victor had had too many guards up at the Draconi mansion, and now there weren’t enough down here on the Midway where they were truly needed. What was he up to? Maybe he thought that doubling the guards at the mansion would keep all of his black blades safe and secure inside his secret room until he was ready to use them. Of course, that wasn’t the case, but still, I wondered why he’d changed the guard rotations so much.
“Something wrong?” Devon asked.
I shook my head. “Still wishing I had my sword, that’s all.”
“Don’t worry. In a couple of hours, we’ll be back at the mansion, and this dinner will be nothing but an awkward memory.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” I forced myself to smile at him.
Devon grinned back at me, then turned to keep an eye on the Draconi guards as we hurried past them.
A minute later, we finally left their territory behind. Devon, Felix, and Mo all relaxed and started talking back and forth to each other, but I remained quiet, still scanning everything and everyone around us, and still feeling like something was seriously wrong.
Fifteen minutes later, we made it to the far side of the Midway, walked down another cobblestone path, and entered one of the shopping squares. A single building made out of gray stone took up the back of the square, with a neon sign spelling out the words THE WHITE ORCHID in beautiful, flowing script. An orchid also burned at the end of the sign, slowly lighting up one white petal at a time as though it were blossoming over and over again. The Salazars had hosted the last dinner for the Families several weeks ago, and now it was the Ito Family’s turn. Devon, Felix, Mo, and I hurried over and entered the restaurant, which had been closed to the public for the night.
The White Orchid was as beautiful and elegant as its name suggested, with shimmering silver cloths and white candles covering all the tables, as well as the booths that lined two of the walls. Fountains made out of gray stone gurgled in all four corners of the room, each one surrounded by potted orchids of all shapes and sizes, but all in hues of white, from the palest, purest snow white to a rich cream to a silvery shade that almost looked blue under the lights.
Mixed in with the orchids were crystal vases filled with large, fragrant clusters of purple wisteria—the Ito Family crest. Still more orchids and wisteria were nestled in alcoves and nooks carved into the walls, as well as lining the mirrored shelves behind the bar that ran along the back wall of the restaurant.
A large round table covered with a neutral white cloth perched in the center of the restaurant. That’s where the heads of the Families would sit, eat, and talk when the dinner started. Smaller tables were evenly spaced around that center one, with booths hugging the walls on either side and padded stools running along the bar in the back. Soft, soothing music that sounded like a mix of rain, wind, and chimes hummed in the background, and the wisteria clusters perfumed the air, along with sweet notes of vanilla from the lit candles.