Page 169 of Iris
But one word floats out as a couple of young Alpha women pass, and it turns everything in me into ice.
Nightshade.
I grit my teeth.
As time passes and the shadows grow and deepen, I realize that this long wait hasn’t been just some kind of power play by the Monarch.
I haven’t even seen Fredrick, the little man in blue. And I definitely haven’t seen Sophine.
Others go back and forth with files and phones in hand, all full of harried whispers.
My heart starts to thump, and I pull out my phone.
“They kidnapped him?” a woman says into her phone as she passes. “But he’s not even in the top three…”
Another three Alpha men hurry in the other direction.
“Nightshade?” one says. “Who even are they?”
“Riffraff. Rebels trying to scare the Council,” the second mutters.
“I heard they’re the ones starting fires, burning things down in the Lower Side.”
Lower Side?
Panic rises in me.
Things are burning? Kidnap?
“What do you expect of the lower class? And now they’re trying to bring chaos here,” the man next to him says. “Barbarians.”
My mind races to the Alpha guy and the Delta girl I bumped into.
I check my feeds, and my heart sinks to my toes. A spate of fires, of people protesting about the crack downs.
And then I click on the Stitch app, and the Queen Bee, her avatar, now a sexy bee detective, dances around. She spits fiery words about the Monarch, about me, and how one of the Council candidates has been kidnapped. There’s a girl’s missing now, too.
Fuck. It can’t be coincidence. Last night…
My stomach turns.
The QB’s still squawking.
Nightshade is out to riot, she says, and they’re lighting buildings on fire in the Lower Side.
Right then, the wail of fire engine sirens come from outside.
My mind rushes straight to my mates, myrealmates.
I have to get to them.
I try and send a text, but nothing goes through. Just a blaring tone answers. I even try and call Vi, but that’s dead in the water, too.
Someone’s blocked cell service. And that means…
I dig out my mini. It’s dead, too.
“Shit.”
