As soon as Anouk told them her idea, both Cricket and Hunter Black scoffed.
“I told you that you wouldn’t like it,” Anouk replied, then warily eyed the Marble Ladies on the opposite side of the glass wall. “You’re sure they can’t hear me?”
“No ears,” Viggo said.
He was right—their carved hair covered the place where ears would have been.
“Well,” Anouk said, “the invitation will let in one person, the bearer of the invitation. But here’s the thing—it doesn’t specify who. So we go in one at a time, then pass the invitation back to the next person.”
“We can’t pass an invitation through a glass wall,” Cricket said. “And the Marble Ladies are too close to the turnstile for us to pass it through that way.”
“That’s the trick. It’s like Luc’s fairy tale about the girl in the thousand-foot tower. Remember how she got out?”
Cricket shook her head, looking blank. “Luc never told me that one.”
Hunter Black groaned—he clearly knew it, and he knew what Anouk was referring to.
“You and Hunter Black have to work together,” Anouk explained. “In the story, the girl is an excellent climber, but she can’t escape on her own—the glass walls are too smooth to climb down, and the trapdoor to the tower roof is too high. So she comes up with a plan, and the next time the prince comes to ask her to marry him, she drugs him with willow bark scraped from the bedposts, then leans his sleeping body against the wall and uses it to climb to the roof. She’s rescued by something, then. A dragon, I think.”
“A griffin,” Hunter Black corrected her. “At least get the details right.”
Anouk rolled her eyes. “Well, I propose the same. We can’t climb sheer glass, but we can climb them—the Marble Ladies. You’re both in excellent physical shape. Hunter Black, you go through the turnstile, then climb up the Marble Lady on the opposite wall and pass the invitation through that vent back to Cricket on the other side. We don’t dare drop it—it could get sucked up in the elevator machinery. She’ll give it to Viggo to go through, and we’ll repeat everything, and then I’ll go through, and then Cricket.”
Cricket snorted. “Climb those freaky statues? That’s a death wish.”
“You heard Viggo,” Anouk continued. “As long as we obey the rules, they won’t interfere. And we aren’t breaking any rules. Besides, I’ve seen you scale the courtyard wall just to break into the kitchen and steal a slice of cake. You’re an excellent climber.”
“Fine,” Cricket said. She ripped the veil off her head and stuffed it in her apron. “Hold this.” She shoved the feather duster into Viggo’s hands and then, after flexing her fingers a few times, she grabbed the nearest Marble Lady’s shoulders and set a foot in the stiff crook of her arm. She whispered a prayer as she climbed. She stepped on the statue’s shoulder, then on her head, and reached the vent.
Anouk took the invitation from Viggo and handed it to Hunter Black. “Your turn.”
He presented it to the Marble Lady by the desk, who smiled mechanically. “Welcome, monsieur.”
He passed through the turnstile. His grumbles were audible as he rested his hands on the shoulders of the Marble Lady on the far side of the glass and lumbered up on top of her, struggling under the bulkiness of his heavy coat. With a grunt, he took it off. Beneath it he wore a surprisingly plain shirt. He looked younger without his shell against the world. He climbed to the top of the Marble Lady’s body and reached toward the vent. He could just manage to pass the invitation through to Cricket.
She grabbed it and tossed it down.
“Your turn, Viggo.”
He passed through, and then they repeated the process, and Anouk went through.
“Welcome, mademoiselle,” the Marble Lady said.
Anouk was just handing the invitation to Hunter Black when the elevator dinged. The Marble Lady whose shoulder he was perched on suddenly turned toward the elevator, and he wobbled, barely holding on. She took a few strides toward the elevator and stopped there, waiting patiently by the controls. Hunter Black jumped off her shoulders and landed cleanly on the marble floor. Cricket’s Marble Lady turned sharply as well and returned to the reception desk. Frowning, Cricket climbed off of her.
“Um . . . what now?” Cricket called.
She was on the opposite side of the glass from the rest of them. With no Marble Ladies standing near the glass anymore, there was no way they could reach the vent to pass the invitation through.
Anouk bit her lip, thinking, but none of Luc’s fairy tales offered a solution this time.
Cricket cursed again. “Okay. The vent is too small for me to climb through, but it gives me an idea. Maybe I could make another vent. A hole. A bigger one closer to the ground.”
“How?” Hunter Black asked skeptically.
Cricket cracked her knuckles. “I didn’t learn that cutting whisper for nothing. I’ve only cast it on wood, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work on glass.”
“Even if you can, coming in any way other than the turnstile is against the rules,” Viggo pointed out. “They’ll stop you.”
“Ha, but they’ll have to catch me first. You all get in the elevator and hold it open.”
Anouk hesitated. “No. It’s too risky.” But an idea was starting to form in her mind. If Cricket could use magic, maybe she could use magic too. “I’m not powerful enough to prevent the Marble Ladies from chasing you, but there is one simple trick I can do. A diversion spell. The same one I used in the closet to keep Hunter Black from noticing us.”
Cricket eyed the glass wall, mapping out the cuts she would need to make. “Worth a shot. Ready?”
Anouk nodded. She, Hunter Black, and Viggo piled into the tight elevator, which was made of mirror that reflected back their faces. There was a glittering chandelier overhead, and a panel of brass buttons, 1 through 8, and a single button above that labeled PENTHOUSE. ESCORTS REQUIRED.
The doors started to close, but Hunter Black held them open.
Cricket closed her eyes, swallowed a eucalyptus leaf, and began whispering in the Selentium Vox. An almost imperceptible line etched itself in the glass wall, turning at a 90-degree angle and then turning again until it was a rough square.
“Get ready,” Cricket told them. She gave the glass a gentle tap with her finger.
It hit the floor and shattered, sending broken glass everywhere.
The spectacle didn’t go unnoticed by the Marble Ladies. As one, they stepped toward the glass wall.
“Now, Anouk!” Cricket cried.
Anouk hissed in a breath. She’d seen how fast the Marble Ladies had grabbed Hunter Black. If they seized Cricket with those stone hands . . . She thought of the bird she’d once seen caught under a car on Rue des Amants. Crushed.
“Non avis ila, non avis ila, spero . . .”
The Marble Ladies slowed but didn’t stop entirely, as though they had simultaneously realized they’d forgotten something important. Cricket moved fast—first an elbow through the glass hole, then her head, left shoulder, then the right, then torso. Then she was through to her waist and had to suck in a breath to squeeze her hips through.
As soon as she touched the floor, all four Marble Ladies’ heads whipped around as though they had felt the vibration. They all focused intently on her. No longer forgetful. Anouk’s spell was fading.
“Hurry!” Anouk yelled.
The Marble Ladies moved in a flash. The two by the elevator lunged toward Cricket with startling speed. The one by the desk shoved through the turnstile, coming after her. Cricket dodged the closest one, then jumped up onto the back of the other, using the momentum to spring high enough to reach the chandelier. The receptionist she’d used as a springboard reached for her but she twisted her feet out of the way just in time.
Anouk whispered again. “Non avis nos, non avis nos, spero . . .”
But they barely paused this time; the spell didn’t work the same on stone creatures as it had on Hunter Black.
Cricket swung back and forth, building momentum, and then let go of the chandelier and went hurtling toward the elevator. The Marble Ladies lunged for her again, but she crashed into the elevator; Viggo and Anouk caught her as they all fell back against the mirrors.
“Hunter Black, let the door close!”
He released it. For a few seconds the steam-powered gears clanked, and Anouk felt her heartbeat pounding harder than it ever had before. The doors were closing too slowly. The Marble Ladies were coming for them too quickly. They were three steps away. Now two. Anouk brandished her broom, her only weapon. The door was still open two inches, then one, then . . .
Closed.
Cricket let out a cry of relief, sagging back against them.
“Quick,” Anouk said. “Get ready. Put your veil back on.”
“Don’t I get an ‘Amazing work, Cricket, congratulations on doing magic’?”
Anouk granted her a nod. “Amazing work, Cricket. Now, as soon as the doors open, everyone keep your heads down, your eyes low. Viggo, you distract the escorts so that Cricket and I can slip away and join the other servants.”
“Yes, but first, my love, a kiss before we take this risk.”
He leaned in with lips pursed and she sputtered and pushed him away. “Viggo, gross! We don’t have time for this.”
“I must have one—”
“You heard her,” Cricket roared. “Hands off.” She shoved Viggo, and he fell back against the wall. A low ding sounded. Everyone froze.
“What was that?” Hunter Black snapped.
Viggo’s face went slack. He straightened, fixing his knit cap sheepishly, and turned toward the elevator controls.
The fourth-floor button was lit.
“Merde,” he cursed. “It’s Cricket’s fault. She pushed me, and you get only one try, only one floor, you can’t just bounce around from one floor to another.”
“What do you mean?” Anouk said.
“Wrong button,” Viggo said. “We wanted the penthouse.”
The round button for the fourth floor glowed brightly.
“What’s on the fourth floor?” Anouk asked with dread.
The elevator stopped. Another ding sounded, and the fourth-floor light turned off, indicating that they had arrived.
“The fourth floor?” Viggo said. “That’s London.”
“Oh, va te faire foutre,” Cricket cursed. “London? That means Goblins.”