Page 91 of A Barista's Guide to Love & Larceny
What does that mean?Dani asked.
Dr. Rodriguez and her dad were finally heading for the edge of the stage, but they were taking their time about it, luxuriating in the admiration of the audience.
It’s a security measure, Katya said.A charm that triggers when the object leaves a certain radius and calls it to the owner. I think we just made a really big mistake.
Can you disarm it?Silva asked.
Trying, Wyatt said.But it activated when we ported out, and I don’t think—
The connection over the shell crinkled with sudden static, and Silva and Dani looked at each other, united in their fear. A collective gasp from the crowd turned their gazes back to the center of the room, where Dr. Rodriguez was stepping down from the dais—and just above her head, the air seemed to shimmer and then tear apart, a transdimensional hole slicing open in the middle of the gala, in front of everyone. As the hole widened, Dani caught a glimpse of what looked like a voidy blackness pinpricked with stars and oscillating wavelengths of neon light. Then, from the heart of the rift dropped three people, one after the other, landing in a rough-and-tumble pile of dark clothing on the floor at Dr. Rodriguez’s feet: Wyatt, Oliver, and Katya.
“Oh, fuck,” Dani said, and she knew now beyond a doubt that they were well and truly, royally screwed.
Thirty-Three
The gala erupted into pandemonium. People were screaming, scattering in all directions, as if someone had lit the fuse of a firework in the middle of the museum. Dr. Rodriguez gaped down at the unforeseen deposit of students at her feet, as bewildered as anyone else. The two bodyguards for her and her father rushed to the stage, one leaping up to shield Mr. Gianakos while the other grabbed Dr. Rodriguez by the elbow and practically airlifted her off the dais.
“What the hell?” Kass said. “What just happened?”
They’d fucked up, that’s what. As Wyatt, Oliver, and Katya disentangled themselves, Dani saw that Wyatt was still holding Dr. Rodriguez’s laptop. In all the confusion, she doubted Dr. Rodriguez had even realized it was there, or that it was the thing that had caused this in the first place. She was already gone, spirited away from the fracas with Mr. Gianakos close behind. A number of the gala’s own security guards were fighting upstream to reach the dais, presumably to seize the three interdimensional interlopers who had fallen out of nowhere and launched a perfectly respectable event into total chaos.
“Hecate’s bones,” Dani breathed. She didn’t know what to do—to run, stay put, or try to help her friends.
Miss Amari!Silva cried, her voice deafening in Dani’s skull.We need you—NOW!
Say no more, McKenna thought.
What the fuck do we do?Wyatt asked. The three of them were ontheir feet now, backed against one another and looking around desperately for an escape.
“Dani,” Kass said, making her jump; she’d almost forgotten he was there. “I’m thinking we should bounce.”
“I,” she began. “I can’t—” He traced her gaze to her friends and understanding dawned on his face.
“Got it,” he said. “But maybe it would still be a good idea to leave?”
He wasn’t wrong. There was no chance that Wyatt, Oliver, or Katya wouldn’t be implicated in what was going on here, especially if they were caught while they still had Dr. Rodriguez’s laptop. The event’s photographers were snapping pictures like their lives depended on it, and the guards would be on top of them in minutes. If Dani wanted to save her own hide, running away now would definitely be the wiser choice.
But she couldn’t abandon her friends like that. Especially not after what she’d learned about Silva. She glanced up at the woman, wondering what her next move would be. The apparently-not-a-professor was scanning the room, her jaw clenched.
“Professor,” Dani said, even though it didn’t feel right to call her that anymore. “Beatrice.” Silva looked down at her, eyes flashing at the use of her first name. “What should we do?”
It’s done, it’s done, it’s wilderness, McKenna sang gleefully through the shell.You best be quick about yourselves, because the horde is coming…
“The horde?” Dani repeated aloud. She turned to ask Silva exactly what McKenna was about to do, but the start of her question was drowned out by a sound so unexpected, so anathema to this setting of high society and evening gowns, that she was certain she had hallucinated it. But the crowd panicking around them froze, listening, like someone had pressed pause on the collective freak-out. The noise rang out again, unmistakable this time: the howl of a wolf.
Kenz. What did you do?
But if McKenna heard her, she didn’t reply. In any case, it didn’t matter; Dani’s answer was coming fast. From somewhere on the other side of the museum—exactly where, she couldn’t pinpoint—some unknown dam had broken, and animals spilled into the exhibition hall. It was a veritable battalion of woodland creatures: dozens of them, maybe a hundred, on claws and hooves and paws and wings. For a second nobody moved, like they couldn’t believe what they were seeing, until a herd of deer went stampeding toward the buffet of hors d’oeuvres, knocking over a sign for one of the exhibits on their way to the feast. Someone let out a bloodcurdling screech, and just like that, the abrupt arrival of three Fox’s Leap students from seemingly nowhere was utterly forgotten. Somehow the gala came even further apart at the seams.
“Holy shit.” Kass grabbed Dani’s hand and guided her back through the tables, heading for the safety of the sidelines while it seemed like everyone else fled for the front doors, creating an instant traffic jam. After a moment, Silva joined the two of them by the wall, her head whipping back and forth as she tried to evaluate the absolutely unhinged situation.
The deer were grazing from the buffet now; raccoons invaded the trash cans while squirrels chittered at them angrily from atop display cases. Birds of all colors and songs pecked at the crumbs of appetizers and swooped down to harass the guests, dive-bombing the hats and jewelry of those who were making a run for it. A cyclone of crows swirled into the center of the room, focusing its eye on a point just next to the dais—directly over Katya, Oliver, and Wyatt, obscuring them from view. Squinting, Dani thought she caught a flash of turquoise in the black-winged tempest.
The hall looked and sounded like the precursor to a world-ending animal takeover, or perhaps a fairy forest uprising—chilling, but also kind of cute. And it was all McKenna’s doing.
Dani realized she was smiling as she watched everything dissolvebefore her eyes. The night had gone to total shit, and there was something cathartic about the parallel descent of the gala into animal anarchy. For a brief moment, it almost felt good.
Where is everyone?Silva asked through the shell.Sound off!
