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Chapters (47)
  1. Cover
  2. DEDICATION
  3. MAP
  4. EPIGRAPH
  5. New York City
  6. New York City
  7. CHAPTER ONE
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  24. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  25. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  42. Sunrise in Gotham Senior Living Center
  43. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  44. BACK ADS
  45. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  46. BOOKS BY LAURA RUBY
  47. ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

But this was a museum, so someone would notice at some point. And when they did, who would they call? Theo closed his eyes and imagined his mother fingerprinting this whole room, only to discover that her children were the thieves. What if the 2nd City Reliquary also called the police? What if his mother got that call, too? What if she thought the three of them were some kind of artifact-stealing gang or something? What if she was forced to arrest them and put them in jail because she couldn’t appear to be playing favorites?

Tess slipped her hand in his. “Theo? Are you okay?”

Her eyes were still red from crying over Nine. He wondered if that’s what his eyes looked like, too. But then he remembered the mirrored glasses he still wore and knew she would see her own red eyes reflected there.

He squeezed her hand. He didn’t know which one of them it was for.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Jaime

The twins were abnormally quiet on the bus back to their aunt’s house, not that Jaime blamed them. He’d be furious if someone had come into his house and pretended that Tyrone bit her. Tyrone wouldn’t bite anyone! Well, unless they deserved it. And some people deserved it, didn’t they?

But Nine hadn’t bitten that blond woman in the red dress. So what was her deal? Why did she look so much like the other blond woman, the one they saw at the library? Was it a uniform? A disguise? Even now, wearing his own disguise, the cap pulled low, he felt conspicuous, watched. Stupid, because this was a New York City bus and the passengers were making it a point not to make eye contact with anyone else. Besides, what would he do if the blond woman were sitting behind him? Yell at her? Accuse her of faking or lying or spying? Tess told him that he looked twenty-five. He’d be the one to get in trouble. And then what would happen? Would Mrs. Biedermann arrest him? Have him taken away?

He slid down in his seat, trying to shrink. Which wasn’t fair. Why should he be the one to make himself smaller?

To distract himself, he rummaged inside the coveralls and pulled out his sketchbook and a pencil. He turned to a fresh page and started to sketch without thinking too much about what he was doing. Sometimes, he liked to let his hand figure out what he was drawing before his head could catch up.