“I wouldn’t look so pleased, Ember,” Aarya says, bringing back her awful nickname for me. “That location and a Regent appointment are crap news. The place will be swarming with Lions, not to mention crews brought in for extra security, and any secret passage or back entry is sure to be guarded.” Ash and Ines nod their agreement.

Aarya pulls out a cell phone and I instinctively swoon.

“You have a cell phone?” I say, glancing at Ash like he’s been holding out on me.

She looks at me like I’m a toddler getting excited about cake. “It’s a burner. No internet, no tracking capacity. Bare-bones. Did you really think I was that stupid?”

“No, I—” But before I can respond she’s crossing the room and pulling out what appears to be a large phone book. I watch as she points to a number on a page and starts dialing.

“Hello, yes, I would like to book a room this weekend,” she says in a demanding aristocratic British accent. “Booked up due to a private event? On which night?” She looks at us with a gloating grin. “Well, that is terribly inconvenient.” She presses End on the call before saying thanks or goodbye.

Aarya smirks, plopping back down in her plush armchair. “Two days. The masquerade ball is in two days.”

My stomach does a fast flip and I frown, trying to understand how my dad, who has always been the most cautious person I know, managed to send me first to Logan’s and now into the Lions’ den and with only forty-eight hours to prepare. Why this long trail of clues that require so much risk when he could have just given me a date and an address? “What’s the endgame here?” I say aloud, hoping someone will say something that will help me understand. “I mean, there are obviously a thousand safer places for my dad to direct me than to a private event hosted by Jag in a hotel overrun by Lions.”

Ash shakes his head.

“Ponder the meaning of life another time,” Aarya says with a complete absence of sympathy. “This is all we have to work with. And we have a serious lack of time to concoct a plan between now and the ball, not to mention the Ferryman, to contend with.”

I understand Aarya’s reaction. Strategia live in a world of puzzles. They are used to messy, complicated situations that require you to be unfeeling and get the job done. But I’m not. I’ve never just followed a path without questioning why it was laid out for me, even when that path was a series of clues leading to my dad.