“So why did you?” Mac asked, raising an eyebrow. “Come back, I mean.”

The exotic matter seemed to bulge beneath her cloak, announcing to the entire Black Cirkus what she’d done. She searched her brain for a good lie and came up blank.

“I—I had nowhere else to go.” Her voice cracked a little as the words left her mouth, betraying how true they were.

Mac chewed the inside of his cheek. “That so? You expect me to believe you plan on being a faithful ally once more?” He glanced toward the back windows. “I don’t need you to fly my machine anymore. So what use are you to me? You’ve already proven, more than once, that you can’t be trusted.”

Dorothy’s stomach turned over. There was no arguing with that. “What are you going to do with me?”

His smile widened, showing off two rows of cracked, nicotine-stained teeth.

“I have a few ideas,” he said. To the Freaks, he added, “Take her upstairs. I’ll be up to join you shortly.”

Dorothy felt sick as they climbed the stairs, the slow shuffle of their feet over carpet the only sound in the halls. Something musty-smelling rose up from the floor, making her nose twitch. She didn’t think she’d ever get over the smell of this city, how the perpetual damp left everything reeking of mold and rot.

Mac Murphy had taken over the hotel’s Olympic Suite. At fifteen hundred square feet, it took up the entire top floor of the hotel and was roughly the size of a small house. Unlike the lower floors, the top floor of the Fairmont was bright, lit by sconces holding candles that dripped thick puddles of wax onto the carpet. Freaks stood to either side of the double doors that led to Mac’s suite.

Something prickled, uncomfortably, in Dorothy. “I’m to have guards?”

Eliza gave her a look and escorted Dorothy into the room. Dorothy assumed that Eliza would be going, but the other girl just stood there, one eyebrow cocked.

“What?” Dorothy asked. “Are you waiting for a tip?”

Eliza lifted a key from her pocket. “I’ve been ordered to lock you in.”

“Have you?” Dorothy asked, amused.

“Order comes directly from Mac himself.”

Dorothy released a sharp laugh. She couldn’t remember the last time a simple lock had been enough to hold her anywhere.

Reluctantly, she stepped into the room, standing in silence as Eliza pulled the door shut. And then there was a click of metal hitting metal, and she was alone.