I grabbed his arm, and he held out the bracelet so I could see, too. Under the raised portion was a thin line of what looked like topaz, but he was right—we twisted and pulled on it, but this was as far as we could get it open.
“We can figure out what it means later, but it’s something. We actually found something.”
“We actually found something.” Stellan’s eyes were shining. I realized I was clinging to his arm like a life preserver, and let go. Jack and Elodie appeared at the far side of the arch, and I jumped up and waved to them, any animosity forgotten for a moment as we showed them what we’d found.
“Do you think it’s the same password for both?” I said, breathless.
“No way of knowing,” Elodie said. “Maybe write down all the other underlined names?”
I immediately pulled out paper and started scribbling. “No,” I said. “Not underlined. Twins. The bracelets are twins, and that name, Gudin—there’s another Gudin over there. Look for names that repeat.”
“Here,” Jack said after a few minutes. “This one has a first initial. Maybe that means there are two.”
I wrote the name down: Boyer, and glanced over the rest.
One second, Jack looked triumphant, and the next, he was staring over my shoulder and his smile blinked off like the power had gone out.
I turned, and my whole body went hot, then cold.
Standing behind us was my sister.
CHAPTER 20
Stellan shoved the bracelet in his pocket. Cole stepped into view, too, and then the twins were striding toward us. Lydia waved.
My heart was racing. It was too late. There was no way they hadn’t spotted Stellan and Elodie.
And then, a flash of movement behind them, and this time I was sure. It was the same blue hat I’d seen earlier. The person turned so I could finally see his face—and my heart dropped to my feet.
The person wearing the blue baseball cap was Scarface.
Suddenly, explaining away Stellan and Elodie’s presence didn’t matter as much.
“Lydia!” I rushed toward my siblings, grabbing both of them by the wrists and dragging them around the corner. “Cole! We have to get out of here.”
Jack had already seen, and whispered to Stellan and Elodie, who both had hands on whatever weapons they had hidden.
For a second, I thought about confronting Scarface, even though we had the passwords and would soon have the second bracelet. This could be my chance—if I wasn’t worried about him hurting my siblings.
I didn’t have much time to consider it. Jack was shielding me and the twins, bundling us to the stairs under the traffic circle and to our waiting car on the other side.
“What are you doing?” Cole grumbled.
“Just go,” I urged him. “Trust me. I’ll tell you in the car.”
I glanced back for Stellan and Elodie, who were now loping down the tunnel. “We lost him,” Stellan said.
“Just get in the car,” I answered.
We all piled inside. “Go,” I said to the driver. “Anywhere. Away.”
When the car started moving down the Champs-Élysées, I slumped back against the seat with a sigh. “Get off the main road,” I said, and the driver turned off. No one seemed to follow us. My heart was slamming against my rib cage.
“What were you two doing there?” Jack demanded.
“What were you doing there?” Lydia countered.
“Who are they?” Cole said, pointing to the passenger seat, where Elodie sat on Stellan’s lap.
“Stellan Korolev,” Lydia said. “Dauphin Keeper. And”—she looked Elodie up and down—“Elodie Fontaine. Dauphin maid,” she said, like none of us were even here. She turned back to me. “Your friend Luc was nearly killed earlier. If none of the other attacks convinced you to help us stop the Order, that should. You need to come back with us right now.”
“I—what?” My head was swimming. Had the twins tracked me down because of what happened to Luc? “That guy at the Arc de Triomphe was Order. How did they track us?”
I pulled my shoulders out from between Jack and Lydia to swivel and peer behind us. We were skirting the river now, and seemed to be alone. “I think we lost him. Just drive us a little farther—”
“Unnecessary,” Cole said under his breath. He was crammed against the door on the other side of the car, with Lydia next to me and Jack on my other side.
“What do you mean, unnecessary?” I said. “He was right behind you. He’s been following us—we have to get out of here.”
Cole smirked out the window. “Yes. I’m very scared.”
Elodie swiveled to stare at him.
Stellan groaned. “Merde, El. That’s your knee somewhere I don’t want your knee.”
She ignored him. “What’s your problem?” she said to Cole. “What do you mean by that?”
“Cole,” Lydia said under her breath.
“What do you think I mean?” Cole said, then to Lydia, “If we have to keep our sister around, I’m tired of her being so stupid. I know you want to tell her, too. We weren’t even careful today. And the rest of them don’t matter. Look, the Dauphin maid knows already.”
“She didn’t, but now she does.” Lydia smacked him. “You idiot. I didn’t want to have to clean this up.”
“Clean what up?” I said. “What are you talking about?”
And then I saw a look on Elodie’s usually calm, bored face I’d never seen before. Pure, unadulterated terror.
“Stop the car,” she said to the driver. She was already pulling on the door handle, fumbling with the lock, even though we were still moving, her limbs tangled with Stellan’s. “Get out. Dépêchez-vous! Avery, Jack, get out!”