I should have known it would be soon. They were pretty much out of time. The deadline to free the king was upon us, and whatever plans they had to put into play, well, it had to be in the next few days. “I have to tell Dad and the quads.”

If something went wrong we would need backup.

Mischa worried at her lips even harder, her teeth leaving marks along the pink softness. “The twins won’t like it. Everything is a secret to them, but … I would feel better if Mom and Dad knew.”

She was barely even mentioning the Compasses anymore.

“Girl, how long are you going to hold on to this anger toward Maximus? It’s not healthy, you have to let it go.” I clapped my hands together. “I think what we need right now is a chance to run.”

I missed my wolf, and Mischa had definitely not spent enough time learning about her animal. We got a little crazy if we didn’t shift reasonably frequently. It was time.

She jumped on the spot, emotions flying across her face so rapidly that I was having trouble cataloguing them all. But she seemed mostly excited.

I was so feeling that. Together we moved from our room. I picked up the cell phone again, and scrolling through found the right numbers. I sent off very brief texts explaining where Mischa and I were heading. Without waiting for replies, I dumped the phone on the bench again and walked with my sister out of the apartment and into the elevator.

Mischa held my hand, both of us hating this shithole-box which was our only means of escaping the building. My twin distracted us both by sharing some of her heartache.

“I’m not mad at the Compasses, Jess, I’m embarrassed that I let myself get so involved in something that wasn’t real. It wasn’t like Max made me any promises or did anything besides be a good friend. Sure, we flirted, but that seems to be the way with those boys. They flirt as frequently as they breathe. I just wanted it to be real, and trying to deal with my own stupidity–”

“Led you right into another set of stupidity. Aligning yourself with the fruit twins was not your brightest moment.”

She sighed. “They were good to me, I won’t judge them yet.”

“They threatened to leave you in Krakov!”

“They just needed a way to ensure you’d help. It wasn’t personal.”

Holy shit. Dumbass alert.

Seriously, someone needed to save us from her bleeding heart, they were playing her like a violin. And all of us had to pay now. I was probably going to be caught by the Four and locked under the sea.

It was a relief when the elevator opened again. I pulled my hand free from hers and together we strolled out onto the cobbled path.

“Where do you want to run?” Mischa asked.