Silvio was right. The jewels were the only potential leverage I had and the only thing that would keep my friends alive.

   I knew where the jewels were. Now all I had to do was get to them.

   Like everything else in my life, that was easier said than done.

20

   I gave the guy in the rocking chair the peep show he wanted and moved away before he started drooling on me. I still had two glasses of champagne left on my tray, but instead of handing them out, I crossed the lobby and got into one of the elevators. As the car rose, I worked out the details of my hasty plan.

   There was really only one—don’t get dead.

   The elevator stopped at various floors to let people on and off, until I was the last person in the car. I watched the numbers slowly light up, and I rode it all the way up to the top floor, where Finn’s suite was.

   The elevator doors pinged open, and I drew in a breath, plastered a smile on my face, and strutted out into the hallway.

   Just as I expected, three giants dressed like outlaws were standing guard in front of the door leading into Finn’s suite, and I was willing to bet that even more guards were stationed inside, as well as in Owen’s and my suite next door. Far too many guards for me to fight my way through without getting injured, especially since Finn, Bria, and Owen were still unconscious and couldn’t help me. Even if I did manage to kill all the guards, I couldn’t have gotten all three of them out of the suite to safety. So as much as I hated to leave my friends at Tucker’s mercy—or lack thereof—it was my only option right now.

   The three guards outside the door jerked to attention at the sight of me coming toward them, their hands dropping to the guns belted to their waists. I wondered if Roxy had outfitted them all with her charming Fire-coated bullets. I would have, but I was betting that she kept them all to herself. She wouldn’t want to let anyone else use her special bullets, much less have the fun of shooting me with them.

   But instead of whipping out a knife and charging at the giants, I sashayed right on by, nodding my head politely at them. All three of them leered at my cleavage, but I kept going down the hallway until I reached the door on the opposite side.

   The one that led into Deirdre’s suite.

   I stopped in front of the door and reached for my Ice and Stone magic, using it to make my hand as cold, hard, and strong as possible. Then I knocked politely on the door. “Room service,” I called out in a cheery voice.

   Knocking on Deirdre’s door was a risk, but I was willing to bet that Roxy had told the giants to guard only Finn’s door and not the suite across from his. I was also betting that the giants didn’t realize that the suite was empty.

   I glanced at the guards out of the corner of my eye, but they kept right on leering, and none of them broke away from his buddies to approach me.

   So I knocked a second time. “Room service,” I called out in a louder voice.

   I turned to the side, so that my poofy dress was blocking the giants’ view of the door, wrapped my hand around the knob, and blasted it with my Ice magic, driving the cold shards of my power through the keyhole and into the lock. Once I was sure that it was frozen solid, I sent out another blast of Ice magic, cracking all those shards away, even as I used my Stone-hardened hand to wrench the knob. It took some effort, but the lock broke, and the door opened with an audible screech.

   I plastered a smile on my face and stared straight ahead, as though I were greeting the guest inside.

   “Hello, ma’am,” I called out for the guards’ benefit. “I have that champagne you ordered. Where would you like me to set it up?”

   I stepped inside the suite, shut the door behind me, and put the serving tray and glasses on a nearby table. I glanced around, but everything was the same as before. It didn’t look like Tucker, Roxy, or Brody had come in here and searched Deirdre’s suite again. But there was only one way to know for sure, so I hurried over to the white Christmas tree in the corner, my breath in my throat, my heart pounding, my palms itching with anticipation.

   The tree looked just as I remembered it, right down to the three cheesy Bullet Pointe snow globes that I’d lined up on the floor in front of it—snow globes that didn’t match the rest of Deirdre’s fancy designer ornaments.

   I dropped to my knees in front of the tree, grabbed the globe that featured the Main Street scene, and held it up to the light streaming in through the floor-to-ceiling windows. I shook the globe, and a few more clear stones dropped out of the letters in the Bullet Pointe sign, sparkling as they sailed through the water.

   “Hello, diamonds,” I whispered.

   I picked up the other two globes, staring at them in turn. Sapphires made up the lake scene in one, while rubies and emeralds glittered as the holiday decorations on the snow-covered hotel in the other one. And still more gemstones gleamed here and there in all three of the globes. I didn’t know if all of Sweet Sally Sue’s jewels were here, but it looked like Deirdre had stuffed the majority of them into the three globes. Then she’d stashed the globes with the rest of her Christmas decorations, as though they were just bits of glass and glitter, hiding the gems in plain sight all along, one of the oldest and best tricks around.

   “Clever,” I whispered again. “Very, very clever, Mama Dee.”

   I thought back to that memory I’d had of Deirdre in my mother’s office, shaking all those snow globes while Tucker had threatened Eira. I wondered if that’s where Deirdre had gotten the idea for her hiding place. I wondered what other tricks she might have learned from my mother, although I doubted I would ever know. But for right now, it was enough that I’d found the jewels.

   I brought the Main Street globe up to my ear and reached out with my Stone magic. The thick glass and water muted the sounds, but I still could make out the gems’ proud trills about their own beauty. I should have noticed the murmurs before, the second I’d picked up the globes when we’d first come in here yesterday, but I’d been too lost in my memories of my mother to pay attention to them.