Twisted - Esme Devlin Page 0,105

of the room. “I don’t know what she did to you, but I know she don’t deserve that.”

“Doesn’t,” I correct him. “She doesn’t deserve that. Speak properly.”

“Doesn’t,” he mutters.

“Better.” I nod. “Why?”

“Because she’s nice!”

I let out a hollow laugh. “I meant, why are they going to do that to her?”

“Oh. It’s a setup. Maxim’s real pissed about what you went ’n’ done to her. She’s damaged goods now. They want you to catch wind of it and show up. Then Maxim will kill you, because you didn’t pay for her, and he knows you can’t keep your end of the deal because you killed those men who wur gonna do the… uh… electricalities.”

I chuckle, not even bothering to correct his awful grammar.

My little Sapphire and her big mouth.

So not only does my meddling grandmother assume I will be so easily manipulated, now the circus freaks do, too.

I am not someone who is manipulated. I’m the manipulator.

I rest my masked face on my hand while I try to think. I’m getting better at this.

Of course I want to get her.

I’ve wanted to get her since the day I found her gone.

The only thing stopping me from going and fetching her was that Celeste forced me into it, and I will not be forced by anyone to do anything. I’ve been suffering through my spite by imagining she is still here with me.

Of course I want to get her.

But what if this is just another trap?

Is the boy even trustworthy?

I turn back around to face him. “They sent you all the way here with nothing but a scrambler?”

He shrugs, as if that’s no big deal. “Had to be me. I’m the only one that’ll fit through the gate. Plus, Hum the giant would never rat me out. I make it my business to make friends in high places.” His face breaks into a smile a beat later, and his eyes light up, as if he’s only just realized the pun. “High places.” He chuckles. “I crack myself up.”

I’m smiling at him myself, but thanks to the thick layer of metal separating us, he won’t know that.

“Still, I don’t see how you survived the ride without even a weapon on you. I think you had help.”

He shakes his head. “Nope. No help. I’m just fast is all.”

“How fast?” I flick my chin in his direction.

“Unbelievably fast. Faster than you.” He looks around at Andrei and the rest of my guards. “Faster than all of you. You might think you’re the dog’s balls with your big muscles. I keep myself lean and tight—peak physical condition.”

I snort with laughter. “Really? You look half-starved.”

The boy narrows his big brown eyes, not a hint of fear about him. “I’m going to give you that one for free, because Sapphire loves you. But the next one won’t go without payment.”

I hit the side of my chair, barking with laughter this time. I liked this little gutter rat from the moment I saw him, and there is nothing I like more than proving myself right.

“What is your name, boy?”

He shrugs and then gives me a smile. “Don’t got one. The other pups call me Thirty-two. Sapphire calls me Scout, but I hate that so don’t even think about it.”

I hold my hands up. “Fair enough. Can you read? Write?”

He looks down and scuffs his shoe against the wooden floor. “I mean, I know the letters, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“If that’s what I was asking, I would have asked that.”

He glances up at me, only to lift his eyebrows. “Why you so interested?”

I shrug my shoulders. “Well, I can’t very well let you go now, can I? You might be trying to trick me. Knowing your level of literacy will decree what is to be done with you.”

"Like I says, I know my letters. Not all of them, but most.” Then his eyes seem to light up. “But I'm good at other stuff. Useful stuff.”

“Such as?”

He lifts his shoulders as if trying to act coy, but I see through him. “Me? I could talk the back legs off a donkey. Sit me on a fence and the birds’ll come and feed me. Learned to pick pockets before I could walk. Learned to read the tarot from the great Ethelinda herself—that’s my grandmother, runs in my blood. Never been beaten on a dirt bike, I’m a fucker with a bullwhip, never lost a game of—”

I hold my hand up. “That’s quite enough.”

The boy grins at me. “Told ya.”

I eye him