“Not a moment went by that I wasn’t dreaming you were back,” I said.
“And when I finally get back and I finally see our parents,” she said, shivering. I didn’t need to ask where this was going. “I ruined everything.”
I stared at her, wondering if I misheard. Maybe I did need to ask. “Rose, how … how can you say that? You are the last person to blame. You were with me at the ball. You saw what I chose.”
“A choice my power made for you.”
My stomach sank; everything was so muddled up. First Sebastian holds himself responsible, now her. Her tears were beginning to spill over now, and she wiped them away with her sleeve.
“He turned all our powers off, yours included,” I argued, getting up to kneel by her bed, taking her hand in mine. “That’s how he was able to hurt you without any remorse.”
“It was off at the moment,” she said. “But I don’t think that removes years of lingering effects.”
“There were also years of loving you without any power, long before it developed as we got older. You’re my sister.”
“And they were our parents. And friends.” Tears were rolling down her cheeks, and she wasn’t bothering to wipe them away anymore. “Why else would you pick me over so many?”
Because I didn’t believe Captain Goode would do it. Because I hoped someone would save us at the last minute. Because I was selfish and couldn’t bear to lose her again.
There were plenty of reasons. Too many. And even if there weren’t, this long and complicated chain of fault still traced back to me. I brought Sebastian and Rose back. I put them in the Society’s path. The fact that they blamed themselves for my mistakes only ground my heart to smaller pieces.
I closed my eyes, feeling the familiar guilt and the grief rising inside me, filling my lungs. That same heaviness from the days after I lost Rose. That darkness that rendered every direction indistinguishable. That raw sensitivity across my entire body. The feeling that the only way I could stand the pain was to never move again. Back then, I had family. I had guidance. Mae had experienced the same loss and managed to keep living. Miss Grey gave us a hopeful and selfless purpose, despite all the horrors she had suffered. Even my parents, at the very least, helped me find my bearings by serving as a reminder of what not to do.
But now they were all dead.
I hugged Rose tightly and climbed up to my feet, thinking, breathing, refusing to let myself sink into those depths again.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
The one thing that gave me a clear sense of direction. “Figuring out how to kill Captain Goode.”
Chapter Five
GIVEN THE INHERENT pleasantness of Mrs. Tuffins and her boarding house, not much could be done to render Mr. Adeoti’s room intimidating beyond closing the drapes and restraining him to a chair. Even so, I didn’t expect such a pleasant greeting from our prisoner.
“There you are. Hello!” Mr. Adeoti said when the door opened. His eyes were bright, alert, and very eager.
“Yes … here we are,” I managed to respond.
Catherine went to the windows to let some light in, while Mr. Kent pulled Mr. Adeoti’s chair into the center of the bedroom. They joined Sebastian, Miss Chen, Rose, and me in a stern-faced circle around the tracker.
“Now, Mr. Adeoti,” Mr. Kent said ominously, “we have some questions for you.”
“Thank heavens, finally!” Mr. Adeoti said.
“I…” Mr. Kent paused and gestured to Mr. Adeoti’s restraints. “You do realize you are our prisoner, yes?”
Mr. Adeoti replied that he did.
“Then … why are you happy?”
“Captain Goode made you sound very threatening,” Mr. Adeoti replied. “But you don’t seem dangerous at all.”
“Are you sure about that?” Mr. Kent asked, cracking the knuckles on his metal hand.
“Yes.” Mr. Adeoti smiled. Upon seeing our silent frowns, he stopped smiling. After a fraction of a second, he smiled again. “Yes, I am sure. I read the restraints Miss Chen used.”
Our circle couldn’t help but glance at Miss Chen in confusion.
She kept her gaze on him. “Ask him about his power.”
“What is your power, Mr. Adeoti?” Mr. Kent asked.
“Oh, it’s called psychometry,” he answered. “It’s how I track people. If I touch an object that a powered person has touched, I can experience some of the memories they had while they were making contact with it.”
“So when we tied his hands for the ride,” Miss Chen said quietly, “I used fabric from my dress to show him how miserable our last three days have been.”
“I’ve tried to help people leave the Society myself,” Mr. Adeoti explained with exasperation. “But no one ever trusts me because of my power. They think I’m a spy for Captain Goode. But you can get the truth from me. Please, ask me all my secrets!”
Again, our circle couldn’t find the words. Most of our interrogations led to vicious arguments and angry answers. Not pleas for more questions.
Mr. Kent finally sighed and cleared his throat, giving up his intimidation game. “You don’t want to hurt, capture, or kill us?”
“I don’t. I swear it.”
“Then why are you following his orders?”
“If I don’t, he forces me to record the history of the Society’s weapons for the library.”
“That … doesn’t sound so terrible,” Catherine put in.
Mr. Adeoti shuddered. “Normally, I can only see a week into an object’s past, but when he enhances my power, it gets rather … overwhelming. I can see much further back and the most powerful memories come first and … I can practically feel them myself. Sometimes they can be moments of love and happiness, but when it’s a weapon, it’s usually quite the opposite. One never gets used to it.”
“Why didn’t you run away?”
“They could recruit another psychometer like myself, or a dreamer like Miss Grey, and find me anywhere and ruin whatever life I create. So I decided to stay and work against them subtly, by tracking people too slowly or pretending to lose their trail.”
“Are there other psychometers?” Mr. Kent asked.
“No, I’ve been the only one,” Mr. Adeoti said.
“Then is there no one else with a power that can track us?” Catherine asked, her eyes bright. Mr. Kent repeated the question.
“As far as I know, there isn’t.”
I could feel the entire room latching onto that information. There were a few glances in Rose’s direction. Sebastian looked at me with a resigned expression that hurt more than a pleading one. But he knew it as well as I did. There was a reason we stayed in London. Even if we weren’t being followed, we had to stop Captain Goode.
“What are Captain Goode’s plans for tomorrow?” I asked.
“I don’t know much,” Mr. Adeoti said, sounding more apologetic than he really needed to. “He only gave orders to those involved.”
“Then what do you know about it?” Mr. Kent asked.
“The Queen is planning to address the murders at the recent ball. They are going to launch an attack during her speech tomorrow.”
The room went still. So that was Goode’s big plan. He got his revenge against everyone who wronged him. He took over the Society. He got the power he wanted. And now all he can think of is to kill the Queen?
“Since no one wants to say it, I will,” Mr. Kent said, breaking the silence. “I think the Queen can defend herself, and it’s presumptuous and condescending of us to plan to swoop in and rescue her.”
“Right, we’ve got to consider her feelings,” Miss Chen said. “And the feelings of her guards.”
“The target may not even be the Queen,” Catherine said, ignoring the quipping. “There’ll be plenty of other influential people there. The Police Commissioner, the Home Secretary, the Prime Minister.”
“I’m sure one of them has a useful power for defending the Queen; there’s no need for us to get involved,” Mr. Kent suggested.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You still want to run away?” I asked.