Glitter & Doom: A Masque of the Red Death Story Read Online Free Page B

clever girl could be good at it.”
    “As if I would tell you. Every inventor I know is already in hiding. A female would be even more at risk.”
    “Ah yes, more at risk than you or me? We’ve been captured by a crazy man, if you haven’t noticed.”
    “I noticed. And I saw the damage that he did, the other night. I was out with Elliott, surveying it. He may be your father, but he’s not a nice person.”
    “Many of my relatives aren’t.” Prospero was at the top of that list. “I’m not likely to trust him.”
    “That’s the most intelligent thing I’ve heard you say.”
    As if their relationship had been long enough for him to hear her say anything of consequence.
    “Well then, I don’t think your inventor girlfriend’s hypothetical peril is nearly as great as ours.”
    April peered over the back of the sofa. The wall behind him was made of bricks that had been plastered over. Would they hold some clue to their location? Perhaps they could pry some bricks from the wall and discover . . . something.
    “I don’t have an inventor girlfriend.”
    “So you say.”
    He shook his head angrily.
    But she’d finally captured his attention, so she pushed on. “I’m not interested in stealing her inventions.”
    She could hear something rhythmic. Maybe they were close to the sea, or beneath a factory.
    “Good, because she’s fictitious.”
    April edged herself around to the side of the couch. He was still staring at her, his expression suggesting that she was extremely stupid.
    “I could unlock that manacle on your arm,” she said. “If I wanted. For your information, my education is every bit as good as Elliot’s.”
    “Except that Elliott doesn’t know how to apply fake eyelashes,” he said.
    Exhaustion made her clumsy, so she didn’t sweep across the room as elegantly as she would have liked. But still, she felt sure that she had been more graceful than some girl inventor would have been.
    “Listen,” she said, “and tell me what you hear.” She pulled two pins from her hair. “I’m sure your inventor girlfriend has many interesting ways to use hairpins,” she said as she worked to angle the pin just right. “They probably hold all of her inventions together.”
    “Undoubtedly.” He met her gaze squarely. What had Elliott been thinking when he said that she would intimidate him? Being so close to him made her feel suddenly uncomfortable. And that in itself was strange. Hadn’t she just been kissing a boy earlier tonight? A cuter boy than this . . . .
    The lock snapped open.
    “I think the sound is water,” he said. “The harbor?” His wrist dropped to his lap. He massaged it but made no other move.
    The silence between them stretched. She stood and smoothed her dress.
    “Good luck escaping. And staying free once you’ve escaped. Inventors are very high in demand, I’ve heard. Male or female.”
    “In demand?” His tone was incredulous.
    “From Malcontent, obviously. And Prospero, always.”
    “Oh, I know all about Prospero.”
    April whirled on him, recognition flashing through her mind.
    “You were the boy Elliott dropped the hammer on!”
    “That isn’t important. Malcontent’s men are diseased. They’ve been scraping out an existence in the swamp, like animals. He sees the city—and you—and probably all of your pretty friends as some sort of prize for them.”
    There was no use telling him that she’d already worked that out. Or that she only had one friend, who was pretty but not as pretty as April herself.
    “And you’re regaling him with the difficulties of adhering sparkles to your fake eyelashes.” He didn’t try to hide his disgust.
    April went very still. “Would you rather I told him how easily I can pick a lock with a hairpin? And that once I escape, I’m going to send my brother, who is trained in the art of torture, back down here, and that Elliott will kill him very slowly? That I’m counting the hours until the two of us can stand together and