Betrayal - By Lee Nichols Page 0,65

here. Neos must be holding him somewhere.”

“He’ll contact us soon,” Simon said. “There’s no reason to kidnap Nicholas unless he issues demands.”

“He’s going to want Emma,” Natalie said. “And she’ll agree to meet him alone.”

“We’ll lock you in the basement before we let that happen,” Lukas told me.

Clearly this was something they’d discussed. “That’s not what concerns me,” Simon said. “I’m worried about the timing. The morning we’re going to head to the Knell, we’re blindsided by all of this. Neos knew our plans when we did.”

“How?” Natalie asked.

Simon didn’t mention his fear of a traitor. He just said, “If he knew we were going to the Knell, this is all a distraction.”

“To keep us away from the museum while he snatched Nicholas,” Natalie said. “Or to keep us away from the Knell?”

“Perhaps both,” Simon said.

Then it hit me. “I know where Neos is. I know why he kept us away from the Knell. That’s the only place he can hide completely. They told me the building is shielded—so protected that even ghostkeepers can’t tell what’s going on inside.”

“He’s there already?” Lukas asked.

“Yeah, that’s why he sent us to Cambridge—and lost us in that fog, hoping we’d fight Bennett. He must’ve planted the coin that Nicholas found—that’s why I felt him. He knew we were heading to the Knell, and he needed to get there first.”

“To do what?” Natalie asked.

“Nothing pleasant,” Simon said. “Let’s go.”

I noticed Natalie biting her lip, suddenly looking young and unsure. “Maybe you should stay here, in case Nicholas makes it back,” I told her.

“No,” she answered in a small voice. “I’m staying with you.”

“Lukas?” I asked.

“My policy is, stick with the hot chicks.” Then he fiddled with the stair railing and added, “And you guys are my family now—I’m not letting you down.”

“If I could,” Simon said, “I’d make you all stay. But we’re a team. None of us can do this alone, not even Emma.”

I glanced at Coby. Can you get to New York?

He nodded. This is it, huh? After this it’ll all be over.

I hope so. And then I’ll … do what you want. Even if that meant dispelling him.

I know you will, Emma, he said, relief in his eyes.

“We are so going to blow Neos’s mind,” Natalie said, her cockiness back, “when we show up in the electric blue tin can. Now that is a threat.”

“I was thinking about that,” Simon said, and pushed into Mr. Stern’s office. He reappeared a moment later dangling keys from one finger. “I found these. A Porsche, I believe.”

“How are we all going to fit in a Porsche?” Lukas asked.

“It’s a Cayenne,” Simon said. “The SUV.”

Natalie grinned. “Now, that’s more like it.”

We were ready for battle. We were eager, we were angry, we were trained.

Then we were bored. Three hours in the car kind of takes the edge off.

Simon insisted on listening to the Bach CD that was already in the Porsche’s player, so Natalie and Lukas immediately wired up and stared out the windows, listening to their own music. Me, I kind of liked classical music, which reminded me of my dad, but I liked Bennett’s playlist more.

I cued up a song, then texted my mom and Max, though I wasn’t even sure my mom knew how to get her texts. I didn’t expect my family to help, but I wanted them to know what I was facing. And I wanted them to know that I cared. Even though they completely sucked as a family.

Then I texted Bennett. I didn’t know what to say. He already knew everything that mattered—but I guess I wasn’t trying to tell him something he didn’t know, just something true. After half a dozen false starts, I wrote: I love you. Which felt trite, but nothing else mattered.

My hands ached when I finished, the skin still tender from ghostburns. I put the window down and cooled them in the breeze until Natalie yelled at me to shut the window; then we ate trail mix and apples in silence.

I couldn’t bear for a single one of them to get hurt. And I knew they’d do as much as they could, but I kept thinking of that tapestry hanging at the Knell. It all came down to me. This was my fight. Was I strong and brave enough to defeat him?

In the front seat, Lukas said, “Get off here.”

We spent twenty minutes lost in the city, then finally found the right neighborhood. I recognized the narrow streets and quaint shops.

“Have you guys