I wasn’t sure what my plan was, in fact, I didn’t really have one. All I knew was that I had to get out of here, and I had to take Kiran with me. As much as I wanted to stick around and hear about my fairy heritage, it wasn’t safe here.

            Because I mean, really, what kind of nutcase kept people’s souls in jam jars?

            Slipping the key back into my pocket I crept over the carpet and pressed my ear to the wide double doors. I hadn’t heard the lock click, but I’d bet that Rook hadn’t left me here all by myself. He pretended to trust me, but I’d wager he didn’t trust me anymore than I trusted him.

            Sure enough, I heard the rustle of fabric just outside my door as someone shifted slightly, and the creak of the floorboards in the hallway. But did I have one guard, or two? There was only one way to find out.

            I searched the room quickly, gaze falling on the heavy silver-backed mirror on the dresser. That would work.

            I slipped it into the lacy sleeve of my dress, and then shoved the door open with my elbow.

            “Hello?”

            Through the crack in the door I spied the empty hallway, and then a face loomed in front of me, one of the men who had brought me here. The second half of Rook’s bodyguard duo. At least that meant the other one was probably still with Rook.

            “You need something, miss?”

            So it was miss now, was it?

            I blinked at him, making sure my voice was wobbly, swaying on my feet a little bit. “I’m afraid I haven’t actually eaten in a little while, I’m feeling a little…” I let my eyes flutter shut with a dramatic sigh, and slumped to one side.

            I hit the ground harder than I would have liked, bruising my rib cage and knocking the wind out of myself. For a second I thought I’d been foolish enough to knock myself into a daze, but my senses were returning by the time the guard reached my side.

            Hurried footsteps, and then he was looming over me. “Miss? Miss Cassandra?”

            I stayed still, trying not to grimace with distaste when I felt his hand on my shoulder. He wrapped his thumb and index finger around my wrist, checking my pulse. My heart was hammering frantically in my chest, out of sheer adrenaline, but the bodyguard must have took it as a bad sign, because he began cursing under his breath.

            “Come on, lady. Rook is going to kill me if you die on my watch. Wake up!”

            I felt a sharp, stinging slap on my face, and then the guard yelled in shock as I launched myself up, whipping the mirror out of my sleeve. I swung it like a club, smashing the edge of the heavy frame into his temple. He slumped forward with a groan, fingers twitching, and then lay still. There was blood pooling underneath him now, soaking into his shirt collar and the carpet underneath him.

            “Okay I’m awake,” I growled at him. “Happy now?” Then I noticed how fast the blood was flowing and groaned. I hadn’t meant to hit him that hard. He’d startled me into action when he’d slapped me.

            “Damn it all,” I snapped, and ran up the steps to yank the sheets off the bed, dragging them over to the bodyguard. I wrapped them around his head the best I could, hoping it would stop the flow of blood. Once Kiran and I got out of here I would send a doctor for him or something.

            “You’re lucky I care,” I muttered at him before turning away to peek out the doorway.

            The long corridor was empty, made eerie by the flickering gas lamps in sconces along the walls. I darted one more look up and down, working myself up to make a mad dash down the hall. Rook’s room was at the far end, and there was a light on, I could see it under the door. What if the door opened the second I set foot in the hallway? What if he knew what I  was doing this very second? Did Fairies have magic that let them spy on other people? How else had he known Kiran and I were coming in the first place?

            I swore colorfully under my breath for a few seconds, and then swallowed hard before I stepped out into the hallway, trying to make my footsteps as light as possible. It was only a short stretch to the treasury room, but it felt like forever, and I kept darting wild glances over my shoulder. What if Rook had noticed his key was gone? What if he planned to check on his guard every hour? What if…

            My hand closed around the doorknob, and I pushed all the doubts away, forcing my hands to be steady as I slid the key into the lock. There was a beautiful sounding “click” and I sighed with relief, shoving the door open and hastily stepping in to close it behind me.

            The room was a lot darker than it had been earlier. In fact, there was only one gas lamp left burning high on the wall, and the light it cast was almost swallowed by the huge room.

            For a second I felt panic wash over me. How was I supposed to find one tiny…

            There. I blinked furiously, shocked and a little afraid. If I’d had any remaining doubts about Rook’s claim to have Kiran’s soul, they were dispelled now.

            I could see it, a white film floating a couple of inches above the middle shelf right in front of me. It was the soul, floating around inside its cage, curling in on itself and waving this way and that as it moved, like a jellyfish in the water. It was glowing. Eerie and beautiful at the same time.

            I staggered forward, holding my breath, half afraid to touch it. But there was no way I was leaving it behind. That was Kiran’s soul. Or at least…a piece of it.

            The jar felt smooth and cool under my hand, and I looked down at the soul, emotions mixing and crashing together in turmoil. Part of me felt a little repulsed at the thought of Rook reaching in and pulling out a piece of Kiran’s soul. Another part was awed by the glowing scrap floating in the jar. This was a fragment of who Kiran was, like his reflection had been trapped in a shattered mirror and I held a piece of it in my hands.

            What would he be like when I gave it back? Would he be changed? Would he act differently?

            For one weak, selfish moment I debated leaving it here. I didn’t want Kiran to change. What if he never looked at me the way he had when we were in the hotel room together? What if he was…I don’t know, repulsed by me? What if he never wanted to kiss me again?
            The moment passed, and I realized how horrible the thought was. This wasn’t a ruddy pocket handkerchief, this was a man’s soul I had in my hands, and it wasn’t right to keep that away from him.

            Sighing, I slipped the jar into the pocket of my dress and turned around, easing the door open just a crack. Still no one in the hallway. At the very opposite end of the hallway Rook’s door was still closed, a strip of yellow light shone steadily underneath it.

            I glanced back at the shelves behind me again, wondering if I had enough time to take a quick peek. It was too tempting to look at what else he had in here. Besides, I would need a weapon if anyone suddenly stepped out into the hallway.

            Quickly I moved to the wall sconce that held the gas lantern, finding the thin handle on the top of it, I plucked it off the wall, carrying it with me to the first shelf, shining the light over the assortment of boxes and trunks that Rook had obviously stolen. Or rather, had his thief steal for him…

            The first trunk that didn’t have a lock was my aim, and I found one sitting in the center of the middle shelf, a little silver box that reflected the light back at me, sparkling enticingly. I flipped the lid up and my eyes went wide as the gas light glittered off a handful of gold coins.

            “Can’t let that go to waste,” I muttered, and scooped the gold up, depositing it deep into the secret pocket in my dress, where it clinked musically against the glass jar. The gold had been sitting on a velvet cushion, and one corner lifted slightly when  I scooped it gold up. I glanced briefly back at the door. The strip of light underneath it never wavered. Nobody was coming down the hall, maybe I had time…

            Maybe there’s more gold underneath.

            Quickly I lifted the edge of the velvet, revealing a tiny dagger, no bigger than a pencil, the blade covered in a sheer glass sheath. Well that’s a piece of luck.

            I slipped the blade up my sleeve, careful that it was snug in the elastic of my sleeve and wasn’t about to slide out of its sheath and knick my skin. I didn’t care to accidentally slit my own wrists.

            Slipping back out into the hallway, I made for the elevator as quickly as I could, heart racing, blood thundering in my ears. Rook had said Kiran wasn’t on this floor. Of course, I had no idea where he actually was, but it was a good start to at least get myself as far away from Rook as I possibly could.

            I ducked into the elevator, a single incandescent light on the ceiling flickered eerily as the doors slid slowly closed. The mirror on the side of the elevator wall reflected my image back at me, tight-lipped and pale. I glared at the reflection, forcing myself to straighten my shoulders and keep my back stiff. I wasn’t some floppy damsel in distress,  I would find Kiran, and I would get us both out of here.

            The dagger in my sleeve was pressing against my arm, the cool glass surface of the sheath making an imprint on my skin. I was ridiculously thankful to have found it. At least my luck was holding out in that aspect.

            The elevator came to an abrupt stop, making me stagger a little, my heel almost turning sideways. I cursed under my breath, hating the utter absurdity of it all.

             I was the one chasing around after Kiran’s damn soul, knocking out guards and sneaking around in the dark, so why did I have to wear these bloody shoes? Glancing down at my feet I realized the dress was long enough to cover them anyways, so what was the point of it all? I leaned down and yanked both shoes off, just as the elevator doors slid smoothly open.

            A man and a woman, obviously both a fair ways into their cups, stood there waiting to get on, the lady swaying slightly as her companion held her up. They both stared at me in bafflement, from my face, and then over to my hand, which was holding my shoes at the moment.

            “Here,” I said, and thrust the shoes at the woman. “My gift to you. Very nice, very expensive, and very damn uncomfortable.”

            The woman took the shoes, and mumbled a thank you, probably more out of a shocked reflex than actual gratitude, and I moved past them without another word.

            There was no point going back down the hall into the lobby. I knew what was over there. It was just the gambling hall, and beyond that, the theater, I supposed. There was nowhere to keep a pissed off thief over there. It had to be somewhere else. Somewhere he could be guarded. I elected to go the opposite way, traveling down a second corridor that lead away from the noise and bustle of the lobby.

            After a minute the corridor branched out, a left passageway and a right, and I stumbled to a halt, cursing again. This hotel was entirely too big, how was I supposed to find Kiran? For the first time it occurred to me that I should probably get out while I could. Any minute now Rook was going to find his guard knocked out on the floor, maybe even dead. And here I was, totally free, with a pocketful of gold.

            The gold would be enough to get me new clothes, and a full dinner and passage to the next city. I could get out of here and not have to worry about any of this anymore.

            Just leave…with a scrap of Kiran’s soul in my pocket…

            “Bollocks!” I took the left passageway, still swearing under my breath. The corridor widened eventually, and there were a few doors on either side. I checked each one, and neither was locked. One was a supply closet of some kind, so I wagered I was coming to the staff part of the hotel. This was likely where the servants would be, cooking and cleaning and running room service up for the hotel guests.

            I nabbed a coat hanger in the supply room, twisting off the top and shoving it into my other sleeve, wrapping it as much as I could around my arm where it would stay until I needed to pick a lock. Other than that there was nothing helpful to my cause, so I moved on, checking the next door, which proved to be nothing more exciting than a large closet of linen and towels.

            It grew noisier further down the hall, and a great deal of light was falling onto the carpet around the corner of the passageway. There was the clatter of plates and cutlery, and I could hear a loud, deep voice yelling at someone for burning the mushrooms.

            The kitchen. I slipped up to the corner, pressing myself into the wall, trying to keep myself as small as possibly as I peered around at the wide double doors of the kitchen.

            There were four staff members on at night, obviously filling out the orders for the guests who wanted room service. The chef, who was the one I’d heard yelling from down the hall, had retreated to his oven, his face bright red. He was loading a raw chicken onto the rack in the middle, grumbling to himself about people demanding chicken dinner in the middle of the night.

            A tiny scullery maid was doing the dishes, her lank hair over her face, a tall skinny boy was loading more firewood underneath a spit going back and forth through a back door outside to bring more wood in, and the fourth boy, cheeks bright red, was scraping the remains of burnt mushrooms off a skillet into the rubbish bin.

            From where I was standing, I could see straight into the back of the kitchen, where a tall man in a black suite was standing, his back against a metal door. The man was dressed exactly as Rook’s bodyguard’s had been. He had both hands folded in front of his waist, and he looked grim…and bored. The door he was standing in front of, was that the ice box?

            My pulse picked up. There was no way he was standing there to guard the cheesecake. The only other option was Kiran was in there. I could feel heat prickling over my face as my anger spiked. Rook had tossed Kiran into the ice box? Did he think that was funny? You could easily kill someone that way.

            Rook’s words were echoing in my ears now, heavy with meaning this time:

            “Giving him time to cool down.”

            “That bastard,” I hissed through my teeth. My jaw was clenched so hard something in my neck was twitching. This was obviously his sick joke. If this was the type of thing he did, I could absolutely believe that he’d orchestrated Kiran’s sister’s death.

            I stood there, beside myself with anger, trying to figure out how to get him out of there before he froze to death. As much as I wanted to march in there and start cracking skulls, it was too risky. Plus the body guard and the cook were both huge. I had to get some of them, better yet all of them, out of the kitchen. I needed a distraction.

            I chewed on my lower lip hard enough to draw blood, anxiously fingering the glass sheath of the dagger through my sleeve.

            Distraction.

Turning, I crept back down the hallway, keeping my footsteps as light as possible. I had to be fast. Rook might have discovered his bodyguard by now. He’d search the hotel, and who knew where he’d search first. Would he guess I’d go straight for Kiran? Probably. He seemed to have an uncanny habit of reading people.

I stopped at the supply closet, hoping feverishly that it would have what I needed. Snatching one of the gas lamps off the bracket in the wall, I cast the light over the shelves inside, scanning the various boxes of junk. There were lots of spare parts for things, wheels from trolleys and dull metal dishes for room service meals. There at the back, I spotted what I needed, a match book.

I snatched it up eagerly, and then the search began for something that would burn easily. Luckily there were a pile of tomorrow’s newspapers on the bottom shelf, no doubt for hotel guests in the morning, but it would serve well as fuel.

            After moving stack of them to the linen closet, I took a deep breath and struck a match. To my intense frustration, my fingers were trembling so much that the first match snapped in half, and I cursed, loudly this time, and then froze in terror. Had anyone heard that? If the scullery maid went past and heard foul language coming from the linen closet…

            A second passed, it was silent, save for more yelling from down the hall. The cook throwing a fit about something else apparently. I sighed and struck another match, feeling almost weak with relief when the tip crackled to life, casting a flickering orange light around the dark closet. I waved the flame over the crumpled newspapers I’d wedged on the highest shelf. Hopefully the towels would slowly catch fire too, and make it harder to fight the fire.

            I stood back as the newspapers flared to life, smoke billowing down the hallway and around the corner, creeping forward like a black, oily creature. Ducking back into the supply closet I waited….smelling the acrid, foul stench of the cotton towels catching fire.

            Nobody yelled, nobody screamed fire, and a after a second I began to fidget. Do they not notice the smoke? I was about to lean my head out and scream fire myself, when suddenly a sharp cry came from down the hall,

            “Smoke! Cook, the hall is on fire! Look at the doorway!”

            I smiled, satisfied with myself, and waited in my hiding place, adrenaline racing through me, crouched and ready to spring out the moment I had a chance.

            “Get a bucket!” The cook bellowed, and I heard footsteps stamping. “Jessica, you run and get the desk clerk. GO!”

            There was a great stampeding down the hall, which stopped just beyond my hiding spot, and I poked my head out to see the broad back of the cook beating at the flames in the closet. The girl was running past them, and the two skinny boys were standing just behind the cook passing him buckets of water.

            Now was my chance.