EARLY THE NEXT morning, Margo woke up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee. “That smells heavenly,” she called out.
“Warehouse blend,” replied Lamont from outside their alcove. “Only the best.” For a second, she imagined that she was nestled in Lamont’s four-poster bed on Fifth Avenue. Instead, she looked down to see that the quilted pattern on the packing blankets had left a matching impression on her thigh.
“Terrific,” she muttered. “I look like a waffle.”
Lamont poured a cup for himself and took a sip. Satisfied with the strength, he poured another for Margo, then added four and a half—not five—teaspoons of sugar, just the way she liked it. With a cup in each hand, he walked slowly back into the sleeping area. He handed the cup to Margo and settled beside her on the pile of wrinkled blankets. Margo cradled her cup in two hands, inhaled the steam, and took her first sip.
“Not heaven. But close,” she said, tugging a cushion up to her neck. Then, lowering her cup, she said, “Lamont, darling, you know you can’t keep me in this place forever. I’m not some princess in a tower. We need to find Maddy’s grandmother. I can help. I’m a good detective, remember? But I need to get out of this warehouse and into the city. I know it’s different. But I have to see it for myself.”
She was right, of course. But, as always, Lamont’s first instinct was to protect her. He didn’t even want to think about losing her again.
“You can’t believe how dangerous the city is,” said Lamont. “The rich have gotten richer, and they all have their protected estates, but the rest of the city is in total chaos. Uncivilized. Evil everywhere.”
“Is it really so different?” Margo asked. “We dealt with some pretty evil things in our day, remember?”
Lamont did remember. He remembered ruthless crime lords, weapons dealers, mad scientists, and international spies. He and Margo had defeated them all. But all of them put together didn’t come close to the evil that he knew was controlling the world right now. The same evil that came close to killing them both. He’d been revealing things to Margo in small doses, but now it was time to tell her the truth.
“There’s something else you need to know,” Lamont began.
Margo set her cup aside. “Don’t tell me we’re out of macaroni soup.”
“Khan,” continued Lamont. “He’s here.”
“Khan?” Margo tugged the cushion up to her neck again and shifted under the covers. Even with the warmth of the coffee, a chill shot through her. “I thought we outlived that bastard! I thought that was part of the plan—to wake up in a world without him. Better. Safer.”
“I thought so too,” said Lamont. “But it’s almost like he’s been waiting for us to come back. And from what I’ve seen, he’s more powerful than ever. He’s got the whole damned world under his thumb. And people have no idea what he’s capable of. None!”
They heard scratching on the floor, and then Bando hopped around the partition and into their space. He trotted over and crawled up onto Margo’s covers until his head was nestled under her chin.
“Your replacement has arrived,” said Margo.
“Maddy!” Lamont yelled. “Come retrieve your beast!”
“Lamont, it’s fine,” said Margo. “He just needs a little morning attention.”
Margo and Bando had known each other for less than forty-eight hours, but they were already very close.
“Maddy!” Lamont shouted again. He walked across the wide-open floor to Maddy’s alcove. Morning light was streaming in from the window and dust particles were dancing in the bright rays. He tapped on the partition that separated Maddy’s sleeping space from the rest of the room.
“Hello?” he said. “Maddy? I think Bando needs to go out.”
Lamont peeked around the corner of the partition. He saw a pile of blankets. Rumpled. Empty.
He walked briskly to the bathroom just behind Maddy’s sleeping area. He knocked on the door.
“Maddy? You in there?” Nothing. The hairs on his neck stood up.
“Margo!” shouted Lamont. “She’s not here!”
Margo peeked out of the bedroom in her slip. “Maybe she went for a walk.”
“Then she should have told us!” he said, sounding like a grumpy parent.
Margo started scanning the loft for clues. She looked along the wall. The scooter was gone. As she passed the crate that served as their dining table, she noticed a scrap of yellowed stationery sitting on top.
“Lamont!” She held up the paper. “Look!”
Lamont grabbed the paper out of Margo’s hands. It was Maddy’s scrawl for sure. But with a very unexpected message.
“Good morning!” it said. “Went to school.”