Page 10 of Wicked Royals
“You’re still too young for that, and it’s ten o’clock. You should’ve been asleep an hour ago.” I leaned in and adopted a conspiratorial whisper. “Besides, I know I said the party was cool, but I was just being polite. It’s really just a bunch of boring adults. Hanging out with you is waycooler.”
Jared snuggled back down into his bed, trying to hide his little smile. “Fine. Shark facts. Ordinosaurs.”
Fifteen minutes later, he was fast asleep again. I tucked him back in and left his room, shutting the door as quietly as possible so he wouldn’t wake upagain.
When I reached the ground floor, Marissa, Kate and Simone hurried over to me. “Where have you been?” Kateasked.
“I was reading to Jared. He woke up for somereason.”
“Oh,” she said, cheeks flushing. “Well, look… we’re sorry,okay?”
I arched an eyebrow. “Wait, it wasyouwalking aroundupstairs?”
She waved a hand. “No, I meant we’re sorry for being bitchy to Rowanearlier.”
“I always forget that you’re friends with him,” Simone chimedin.
“Plus we’re super bored,” Marissaadded.
“Being bored isn’t an excuse to treat people like shit,” I said, folding my arms. “Rowan is nice. He doesn’t deserve to bebullied.”
Marissa sighed. “I’m sorry, okay?” she said. Before I could respond, she went on. “Seriously, though, what the hell happened to this party? Can you blame us for beingbored?”
I looked around. She had a point. In the last half-hour, more than a third of the guests had left the party, and a few more were stepping out the door as we spoke. For an event that was supposed to be one of the hottest tickets of the season, it was turning out to be quite adisappointment.
“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “Maybe people are gettingtired?”
“It’s barelyten.”
“Well, there’s still a lot of people here. Just not as many asbefore.”
“Yeah, a lot ofboringpeople.”
Once again, despite her scathing tone, Marissa had a point. Most of the remaining guests were totalstiffs.
“At least President Rutherford is still here,” Isaid.
“Even he can’t save this party. I want to go to a club,” Simone said, pouting her thin pinklips.
I sighed. “Okay, if you really want to, we can leave. I doubt my mom will care. But I’ll need to clear it with my securitydetail.”
“Wait, no. Fuck the clubs. I have thebestidea.” Marissa clapped her hands together, eyes brightening. “Willow, you’ll know the answer to this. Is it true that there are secret government tunnels and rooms everywhere underD.C?”
I lifted my brows. “Hm?”
She leaned her head closer to me. “I heard there are a ton of them going from the White House to the Capitol and a bunch of other buildings. There’s even meant to be one here at the VP’s mansion. Apparently they lead into all sorts of secret passageways and rooms that are actuallyinsidethe White House. Imagine how fun it would be to sneak around there in the middle of the night with a few bottles ofchampagne.”
Kate nodded emphatically. “Oh my god, yes! I heard something about tunnels too. Although…” She tilted her head and frowned. “I thought there was only a short one from the East Wing to the TreasuryBuilding.”
All three girls were looking at me expectantly now. I kept my expression neutral. “Secret tunnels under the city?Really?”
“Stop avoiding the question,” Simonesaid.
I sighed. “Look, we don’t live in some sort of Hardy Boys story,” I said. “I mean, yeah, there’s the evacuation tunnel to the Treasury Building like Kate just said, but that’s it. Nothingelse.”
Marissa narrowed her eyes. “You’re lying,” she said triumphantly. “Your nose twitches when you’renervous.”
“So therearesecret tunnels?” Kate asked, dropping her voice to an excitedwhisper.
