Page 141 of Our Violent Ends
Enough time had passed for Juliette’s hair to dry, but it had been a downpour outside, and her clothes were still sticking to her. In her effort to yank off her dress, it seemed she might have yanked a bit too hard, because as she shed it, there came aplink!of something hitting the carpet. Had she broken off a button? A sequin?
She squinted at the floor. No—it was something blue. It was... a smallpill, its color as shiny as a gem. Beside it lay a slip of paper, slightly damp as it fluttered to a stop.
“Oh my God,” Juliette muttered, unfolding the note. Bai Tasa’s hand on her back. The quick swipe against her when he removed it. He had put these items into her dress pocket.
Use wisely. —Lourens
Bai Tasa was an undercover White Flower.
A disbelieving laugh burst through her throat, but Juliette choked it down fast, not wanting to concern Benedikt, who already seemed to think she was a moment away from leaping off the deep end. Juliette picked up the pill, examining it carefully. When she slipped on her new dress, she put it snugly into her new pocket, dry and clean, then transferred over the rest of what had not fallen out—her little lighter, a single hairpin. That was all. She had no weapons, no valuables, nothing save the clothes on her back and a warm coat, tightened around her waist with a sash.
She hurried to the balcony. When Benedikt turned around, his hair was ruffling in the wind, expression earnest and in such resemblance to Roma that it hurt her chest to look at him.
“Let’s go.”
Forty-Six
Dimitri announced the execution to be at nightfall, so I gather we do not have much time left.”
Juliette looked up at the gray clouds, clutching her fists tight. “Yes, but for your plan to work, we must know exactly how the monsters transform. We cannot just pin our chances of success on sheer hope.Now!”
Juliette darted fast across the road, moving from the mouth of one alley to another before the soldiers at the tram light could sight her. Benedikt was fast behind her, though he winced when he slowed to a walk, the two of them picking their way through the narrow passageway.
“Are you injured?”
“Twisted my ankle, but it’s fine. I thought we already knew the monsters transformed with water.”
Juliette crouched when they came to the end of the alley, listening for sound. Soldiers patrolling along the left, but the right turned into a narrower walkway. It would take them farther from the safe house, but it was a better option than getting caught. She waved for Benedikt to hurry.
“Do we?” she questioned. “I saw one man splash something into his face on the train. We know that these monsters are different from the first, and even at the end, Paul managed to make alterations with how much water was necessary for Qi Ren’s transformation. The new ones are transforming at will. We can’t bet on it.”
Which was why they were going to the safe house to free Rosalind and demand the information she held. They hadn’t asked the right questions the first time, and then they had been interrupted by General Shu’s appearance. Now Juliette knew better; now Juliette was setting aside her own feelings of betrayal, single-minded in getting one answer.
“If it is not water,” Benedikt said, “then what?”
Juliette sighed. “I haven’t a clue. But there’s more to it—I can feel it.”
Benedikt’s plan was so strange that it seemed like it might just work. If Roma, Alisa, and Marshall were being hauled to public execution, it had to be outdoors to allow a crowd to gather. But now, after full-scale revolution, there were so few parts of the city where any gathering could be made that the only likely place was Zhabei, with armed workers standing guard.
The Communist effort—and their workers—were following Dimitri because he was supplying monetary funds and ammunition.
But they did not know how he had acquired them. They did not know he had used monsters to blackmail the gangs in Shanghai, and they did not know that he controlled such monsters. The people of Shanghai, though they had bravely fought a revolution, were stillafraidof his monsters.
“So we incite chaos,” Benedikt had explained. “The monsters must be standing guard as men. Dimitri wouldn’t miss an opportunity to bring them. He needs the extra protection if Nationalists catch wind of what is happening, but they must blend in too. Force them all to transform, and the civilians on scene will panic. They run, they collide with the armed workers, and they distract everyone long enough that no one can stop us as we swoop in, grab the prisoners, and leave.”
But what if it doesn’t work?
“We’re here.”
Juliette paused. When there didn’t seem to be activity on the street, she stepped out and approached the safe house building. It was strange—it looked so different since the last time she had seen it, but nothing had changed. It was only the city that kept changing.
“Go on,” Benedikt said.
Juliette shook herself out of her daze. There was no use standing here, staring at the door. She reached for the knob and pushed through.
Inside, as light flooded into the apartment, Rosalind straightened up immediately, blinking hard. She looked weary, having been deprived of food and water for two days. Juliette couldn’t stand the sight of this, and yet she thought she had it in her to force something out of her cousin?
She approached Rosalind’s chair. Without a word, she started to untie the bindings.
