innocent. Hopefully, he thought she was a harmless idiot.
“If you’re sure,” she said. “You’re such a tall one. You’ll have to bend down a little.” He didn’t resist when she put her hands on his furry cheeks and angled his head down. “And I think we’re supposed to close our eyes.”
She closed hers for a couple of seconds, then peeked to make sure he’d fallen for it. Then she reared back and gave her first Glasgow Kiss ever, putting her weight behind it to make sure she got it right. A half-hearted head-butt would only get him mad.
The impact surprised her, but she was most surprised by the fact she was still able to stand. Everyone in the castle had to have heard it, like someone hitting a coconut with a hammer. She was just grateful her head got to be the hammer. Her forehead was numb, but at least she wasn’t falling to the ground, like the sentry was.
Unfortunately, he crumpled forward without time for any reaction whatsoever. She had to ignore the gong sounding in her own head while she broke his fall without them both pitching over the side, onto the steps. It wasn’t easy getting out from under him.
She’d been trying to leave a trail of breadcrumbs for the hitter, and Kissy-face was going to be the last crumb. His body, with his arm dangling over the edge of the walkway, was well lit. Anyone looking toward the gate would see it.
Perfect.
She walked carefully to the center of the gatehouse—carefully, because she was pretty sure she’d just given herself a concussion—and found the mechanism for raising the metal gate. It was much easier than she thought it would be to turn the gears to bring the thing up. Unfortunately, she couldn’t figure out how to keep it suspended if she let go. In the end, she jammed the handle of a torch between cogs and it held.
It had taken so long, she was expecting the hitter to meet her at the bottom of the steps, but he wasn’t there. Of course, there was a chance Ewan had managed to get the man locked up again, but she couldn’t risk going back to find out.
She ducked beneath the nasty-looking spikes along the gate’s bottom edge and started running. The hitter would have to have pretty poor eyesight to miss the fact that it was open, but it was the last bit of help she was going to give him. Once he was away from all those people, what he did was no longer on her head.
I’ve done what I could. Now I have to start protecting myself.
She knew the crescent hill pretty well after three days. She could think of a few places to hide. And when Gabby’s man got far enough away, she would run back to the castle and have Ewan help her get into the tomb. After that, she planned to click her heels as many times as it took, but that friggin’ tardis would take her home. If she didn’t return soon, she’d miss the trial. In a text, she’d warned the DA that she had some business to take care of, but she’d be back in time to testify. She’d be damned if she was going to miss it. They were idiots if they called it off.
Her FBI babysitters had drilled it into her head that she’d have to start a new life, that she’d have to leave her old one behind. She’d played along, of course. No use ranting and raving to deaf ears. But the world was just too small a place to hide in unless you had a helluva lot of money. Luckily for her, though, she knew where she could get more than she’d ever need. And it was rightfully hers.
There were just two people she had to deal with first—Gabby Skedros and Jillian Ross. As soon as she made the two of them pay, life was going to be good. But Jillian first. In ten days, it would be Gabby’s turn.
Ten days. Plenty of time.
And by the time she’d finished that thought, she was running up into the trees—or rather, where the trees should have been. In the starlight, all she could see were stumps, and dirt, and patches of grass.
The trees had been there only hours ago. Hours ago. She’d have given her last candy bar to see that stupid squirrel and his tree again.
She wanted to sink to the ground and convince herself she wasn’t