Emily would have much rather played twenty questions, but she supposed that wasn’t an actual answer she could give. “Okay, let’s go see if we can find this, uh, guy?”

Glamazon nodded. “Yeah. Male, white, about twenty to twenty-five, more or less. Five foot . . . eh, four? He looks pretty short.”

Emily thought she heard someone muttering from somewhere in the dark. “Okay, well, uh. I guess we can both go in different directions. If you find him first, call me, and I’ll come over to help?”

“Can you manage on your own?” Glamazon asked.

“I got all the way here, didn’t I?” Emily asked. She pointed off to one side, guessing that it was the direction where Jacob wasn’t. “How about you start that way, and I’ll go this way. And, um, did you call the police yet?”

“No, not yet. They don’t like false alarms. And they steal some of the spotlight, you know?”

“Right, of course.” She tried on a smile, then after a brief hesitation, set off to pretend to capture Jacob.

Or something.

Making things up as she went was not her strong suit.

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

Confidence

Emily pulled her phone out and tapped the power button to light the path ahead of her a little better. She had the impression that Jacob was somewhere around where she was, but she couldn’t be entirely sure.

If he was smart, he was sneaking his way out.

That would be the optimal solution, to find that he was clever enough to run away while she was talking to Glamazon. She didn’t think she’d be that lucky.

She moved past a pillar. It . . . felt weird to not be afraid. She should have been worried about Glamazon, but she wasn’t. The girl’s sparkles were a nuisance, but not that much of a threat. And although she was walking into a darkened factory, with cobwebs hanging off the corners and shifting shadows everywhere that her phone’s flashlight didn’t reach, the only thing Emily expected to meet in the dark was Jacob’s terrified face.

It was . . . refreshing, to not be afraid.

A lot of her life had been ruled by that, the constant fear that something, someone, would pressure her, make her act on the spur of the moment. Now that it was happening all the time, she was . . . definitely not getting used to it.

On the other hand, she had a lot more power now, a lot more control over things. It was refreshing.

Maybe the confidence wasn’t earned. Maybe she needed to sit down and wait for the adrenaline to wash away.

Or maybe it wouldn’t be entirely bad to be confident, at least when she had the mask on.

Emily’s light slid past something pale, then she brought it back and watched as Jacob blinked dumbly at her. “So there you are,” she whispered.