It occurs to me how markedly different my life is in this moment. I must have walked down the street with a group of friends a thousand times in Pembrook, laughing and talking. And here I am now, walking with another group of friends, but on my way to sneak into a ball in London where the penalty for getting caught crashing is certain death.

Now only one building away from the hotel on the opposite side of the street, I can see two men dressed as security guards outside the front entrance. One is unusually large, with copper hair, and the other is slender, with a ponytail.

Hawk’s crew!

I glance at Ash, who I can tell shares my concern by the worry line in his forehead. As if it wasn’t going to be hard enough to sneak into a huge, well-lit, well-guarded property, now we have people who will not only recognize us but threatened that they would hand us over to Jag.

I pull my hoodie up, better shadowing my face, and we cross the street right at the corner of the hotel and far too close to the guards for comfort. Eddie and Willy scan the sidewalk in front of them, taking note of every person nearing the door. Eddie looks in our direction. I loop my arm through Ines’s and lean my face on her shoulder, laughing—a casual pose Emily and I often assumed and one that is typically un-Strategia. Eddie looks right past us and we continue down the street running along the side of the hotel, slipping out of his line of sight. I stand up straight once more and Ines gives me a curious nod of approval. And even though I’m fairly certain we went unnoticed, I do a quick glance over my shoulder just to be sure.

The hotel property is sprawling and takes up an entire city block, but the building itself is only about four stories tall. We circle down the side of it, around the back where the hotel presses up against a park with gardens and tall trees, and continue past it and around the other side. All the entrances save the main one are closed, with signs that redirect patrons to the front of the building. For a moment I think maybe we’ve had a stroke of luck and that there will be fewer guards to navigate around.

“Unfortunate,” Ash says. “With Hawk’s crew at a singular entrance, it will make it nearly impossible to get out if something goes wrong.”

Aarya stares at Ash from under lowered eyebrows. “That was Hawk’s crew? I guess this is what I get for pairing up with you two against my better judgment.”

I slip my hand in my pocket.

Me: All entrances blocked but front. Need distraction for guards in case we have to run for it.