Ace of Shades (The Shadow Game #1)(68)

Lola cursed and opened the door. Her white hair was tied into a high bun at the top of her head. “I didn’t expect to see you again,” she said flatly, tucking her hands into her trousers. She glanced at Levi and Jac. “And you’ve brought the Iron boys back. What exactly is this?”

Enne met Levi’s eyes hesitantly, and he nodded, urging her to speak. It didn’t matter what Enne came up with—her self-preservation was entirely transparent.

“I came to New Reynes to find someone,” she started. “And after what you told me the other night...we think you might be able to help us.”

“I’m no private eye.”

“The names you gave me—they’re our only leads. If we could find more information about my families, maybe even guess who my birth parents are, it would give us a clue.”

“Who are you looking for?” Lola asked.

“My adopted mother.”

Lola stared at her disinterestedly.

“Please,” Enne added.

Lola made a face like she had a bad taste in her mouth. “Fine. Let me get my knives.” She turned and grabbed a belt off her desk; it was covered—every inch of it—in blades. As the group returned to the Mole stop, Lola removed several knives and hid them in strategic places around her body. In her left boot. Secured in a holster on her right thigh. Several up her sleeves. Three around her waist. One she even slid into a pocket in her top hat, which she wore to cover her white hair.

“Where are we going?” Levi asked uneasily.

“The South Side,” Lola replied. “The National Library. It doesn’t close until eight o’clock. They have all the census records there.”

“And will we need so many knives?” Jac asked, poking at her belt. “I’m not much of a reader, so maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think the books will attack us.”

Lola rolled her eyes. “It’s not the books I’m worried about.” She shot Enne a dark look.

Enne flushed and cleared her throat. “Are you sure we’ll find the records there, even for my family?” The wigheads had certainly destroyed all the Mizer records after the Revolution. The Dondelair records might exist, but the chances were still slim. The wigheads believed the only way to defeat a villain was to erase them.

“The records will be hard for you to find, yes,” Lola answered. “But not for me.”

They hopped the gate at the Mole station and waited several minutes for the next train. Advertisements lined the tunnel walls for cabarets, the Regallière seasonal sale and Tiggy’s Saltwater Taffy.

“So,” Enne began, attempting to make polite conversation with the girl who had tried to murder her only two nights earlier, “are you from New Reynes?”

“Yep.”

“Have any family?”

“I had two brothers, once.” She kept her sentences purposefully curt and never eased her glare on Enne. “We don’t need to be friends, missy.”

“I’m just being polite.”

“I don’t want to get to know you.”

“Then don’t,” she snapped, and turned to Levi. He looked at her red face and flared nostrils in amusement.

“We should’ve brought your guidebook,” he said. “Check off some sightseeing.”

Before Enne had arrived at New Reynes, she’d read all the guidebook’s chapters on the South Side. There were a few places she would even have liked to visit: the famous university, the glamorous department stores and boutiques of Guillory Street, the national art museums. Before the Revolution, the city of Reynes had been primarily confined to the North Side, so the wealthy had fled the chaos of the uprisings and built anew across the Brint. But while they were busy constructing skyscrapers in the South, the North was left rotting from within.

The train arrived, and it was, once again, empty. Lola took a seat by the window, with Jac sitting opposite her, watching her in case she made a break for it. Enne and Levi hung near the door. Every few moments, Lola turned to glare at them or at Jac, but mostly, she kept her gaze trained out the window, playing a jazz tune on her harmonica.

Levi slapped the metal railing above their heads. “If St. Morse falls through,” he said, as if Enne could simply abandon Vianca whenever she pleased, “you could do tricks on the Mole. Put out a volt meter.”

Oh, how the lady would’ve fallen, Enne thought. “Everything in New Reynes is a show. You can’t even ride to work without witnessing a performance.”

“I like a little entertainment.” He grabbed the same bar Enne was holding and swung himself around. Their faces were only inches apart, and the corner of Levi’s mouth was turned up into one of his classic smirks. To Lola, they probably looked conspiratorial, even if they were only talking nonsense. Jac probably knew better.

Enne blushed and turned her head away, trying not to think about how hopelessly obvious she was around Levi. Considering the events and many convoluted feelings between them during the past few days, adding attraction into the mix seemed a hopeless and unnecessary complication. She might’ve cared about Levi, might’ve liked the way he looked and the way he looked at her, but her focus needed to remain on finding her mother.

“My life has enough entertainment at the moment,” she breathed.

“I don’t know,” he teased, speaking softly into her ear. “You could always use a little more.”