So I held the candy bars up where all the trolls could see them, then laid the chocolate down on a flat rock off to one side of the clearing.

“Sorry if I kept y’all up past your bedtimes,” I said. “So here’s a treat to make up for it.”

The trolls’ eyes brightened with sly satisfaction and they cheep-cheeped again, but it was a far happier sound than before. I grinned, knowing that they would climb down from their nests and snatch the chocolate bars the second I was gone.

I started to leave the clearing, but my gaze went over to my mom’s tombstone at the back of the cemetery. My grin faded, and the old, familiar pain of her loss flooded my chest again, like a copper crusher coiled around my heart, squeezing, squeezing tight.

“Good night, Mom,” I called out in a soft voice.

I waited, but of course there was no response. No voice, no whispered words, not even the whistle of the wind in the trees. I blinked back a few tears, then sighed, stuck my hands in the pockets of her spidersilk coat, and trudged back to the mansion for the night.

CHAPTER FIVE

The next morning, I got up, got dressed, and went down to the dining hall as usual, as though I hadn’t spent most of the previous night skulking through the shadows and stealing things that didn’t belong to me.

Nothing that I hadn’t done before.

The dining hall was one of the largest rooms in the mansion, the place where everyone gathered to meet, eat, and more. Long tables that could seat dozens of people each crouched on top of black-and-white Persian rugs, while floor-to-ceiling windows lined the back wall, offering a lovely view of the landscaped grounds and the deep, dark woods beyond.

I’d gotten here a little later than normal, so everyone was well into their breakfasts. My stomach growled, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten anything since the mini cheeseburgers in the library last night, so I went over to the buffet tables that lined one of the walls and fixed myself a heaping plate of blackberry pancakes, cheesy scrambled eggs, grilled hash browns, and of course, bacon—lots and lots of bacon.

I crunched down on one of the crispy strips, enjoying the smoky applewood flavor, then grabbed a tall glass of orange juice and headed over to the table where Devon and Felix were sitting with Mo. Oscar was at another table, and he waved at me before turning back to his pixie friends.

Felix and Mo were both talking a hundred words a minute to each other, so I slid into the seat next to Devon.

He leaned over and bumped his shoulder against mine. “I missed you on the roof last night.”

“Sorry,” I said. “But once I got back to my room, I took a shower and went to bed. I guess all that sneaking around made me more tired than I’d realized.”

Devon nodded, accepting my explanation, although his eyes sharpened just a bit. I focused on my breakfast instead of looking at him. Devon was supersmart and it wouldn’t take much for him to realize what I’d really been up to last night. I’d have to be more careful about lying to him. I didn’t like keeping him or the others in the dark about my moving the black blades out of the mansion, but Claudia wanted it this way, and she was the head of the Family. So I’d follow her orders—for now.

Devon’s suspicion quickly melted away, and he grinned at me. I grinned back at him, and we both focused on our food, since we couldn’t get a word in edgewise with Felix and Mo both talking as fast as they possibly could. I polished off one plate of food, went back over to the buffet, and got another plate. This time, with even more bacon. Mmm. Bacon. It really was the perfect food.

“So what do you think, kid?” Mo asked, waving his hand over several paint swatches that he’d laid out on the table. “Cerulean blue or smoke gray?”

I sat down with my fresh plate of food. “You’re repainting the Razzle Dazzle? Again? Why? You just painted it a few weeks ago. Seafoam green, if I remember.”

Mo tipped his white straw hat back on his head. “I read this article that muted colors, like blues and grays, soothe people. And you know when people are calm, they—”

“Spend more money,” I said in unison with him.

He winked at me. “You got it, kid.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Mo had a bit of an obsession with interior decorating. He was always painting, cleaning, arranging, and rearranging the merchandise at his pawnshop in hopes of luring more customers inside and then getting them to buy more stuff while they were there.

He nudged the paint swatches a little closer to me. “So which color do you like?”

Before I could answer him, Claudia strolled into the dining hall, followed by two men. The older man had snow-white hair and was wearing a black tweed suit. William Reginald, the Family butler, responsible for overseeing the mansion and everyone inside it. The other man had wavy black hair and bronze skin and sported a far more casual look with his black polo shirt and khakis. Angelo Morales, Felix’s dad and the Family chemist, who grew and harvested the stitch-sting bushes and other magical plants in the greenlab.

At first, I thought the three of them were just here for breakfast, like everyone else. Then I noticed the hard set of Claudia’s lips and the worry that darkened her eyes. Devon noticed it too.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Not that she’s told me.”

Claudia strolled into the middle of the dining hall and stopped, clasping her hands in front of her. Slowly, everyone quieted down and turned to face her. Claudia looked out over the pixies, guards, and other workers who made up the Sinclair Family. She stared at me for a second, but her gaze darted past mine before I could use my soulsight to see what she was really feeling.

“I just wanted to remind everyone that tonight is the dinner for all the Families,” she called out. “As usual, several of you will be attending the actual dinner itself, along with me and the other senior members of the Family, while the rest of the pixies, guards, and workers will either remain here or man their usual stations down on the Midway. Given all the recent tensions with the other Families, I want everyone to be especially sharp and on guard tonight. Is that understood?”

Everyone nodded back at her, their faces suddenly serious.

Claudia scanned the crowd again. “Good. That is all. Enjoy the rest of your breakfast.”

She nodded to everyone, then turned on her heel and left the dining hall. Reginald and Angelo stayed behind, both of them going over to talk to the pixies, guards, and workers about their duties for the day. Mo got up and went over to the other two men. Slowly, everyone else turned back around and focused on their food and conversations again.