Page 95 of Savannah Royals
“You ready?” Paul asks.
I continue staring into the mirror, uncertain. The woman gazing back at me with long scarlet hair…she looks suspiciously like my mother. I swallow, tilting my head this way and that, watching her move. It’s eerie. I consider changing the wig but decide against it.
Ghosts only have the power we give them.
“Yes, I’m ready,” I finally answer, breaking eye contact with the woman in the mirror.
“M’lady.” Paul extends his arm and sweeps me from the loft with Tony and Abe on our heels. He’s holding his posture so foolishly erect, I laugh.
“Gentlemen don’t really walk like that, you know,” I tell him.
“Well, it’s like I always tell you, Kat—it’s a damn good thing I’m not a gentleman then.”
Paul and I stroll the streets of the riverfront district arm-in-arm, playacting a wealthy couple out for a late-night stroll. Tony and Abe keep to theshadows, slinking behind us. When we’re directly around the corner from the Magpie’s dock, we halt, checking for onlookers in the darkness.
There are none.
Abe has my satchel slung over his right shoulder. Paul pulls off his gentleman’s coat, revealing working-class clothes underneath. Before he drops the jacket, he pulls two glass beer bottles from the oversized pockets. Tony holds two more.
“Is everyone ready?” Paul is focused only on me.
I nod, not trusting my voice.
“Kat, I won’t let anything bad happen. I promise.” He takes my white-gloved hand and kisses it, then bends over to brush my lips.
“You got your knives?” Abe asks me.
“Yes. I’m ready.”
“Off you go then, Kitty-Kat,” Paul whispers.
I take a deep breath, step around the corner, and let out a bloodcurdling scream.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
WhenIpauseforair, Paul smashes his beer bottles against the wall. The shattering of glass rings into the night.
I scream again and start running, pounding my heels on cobblestone streets, then the wooden planks of the wharf. I let out a third scream as I rocket toward the Magpie dock like a bullet. I’m pretty close before I’m able to locate the three guards through the fog.
“Please!” I shriek and hurtle myself into the arms of the nearest man. “You have to help me.”
“Oof.” He lets out a grunt as I sock into his gut.
“Please…” I grab the lapels of his coat. “Someone’s after me. There’s a man out there.”
Another shatter of glass sounds from the corner as Tony breaks his bottles. The dense fog renders everything beyond a ten-foot radius invisible.
“There’s definitely someone out there, Ben,” one of the men says. His hand twitches for his gun.
I pant in distress and lock onto my target’s eyes, summoning a crazed fervor within my own. “I’ve been running for blocks and blocks. I need help…you’ll help me, won’t you?”
The third guard sidles over, interested. He takes in my eveningwear and prim white gloves with a smile.
“Looks like we got ourselves a lady, fellas. A pretty one at that.”
“If she’s such a lady, what the hell is she doing in this part of town so late at night?” Ben’s lips are downturned. He tries to shake my grip from his lapels, but I won’t budge. “What’s your name, lass?”
“Wendy, my name is Wendy.” The name initiates a ten-second warning code for the Royals. I begin to fake cry on cue, sagging into Ben. Instinctively, he supports my weight.
