I shot a glance at Vincent's direction as if to say Help! His face darkened, struggling to keep a straight face as he placed my hand on Alexis' outstretched forearm. I felt my stomach clenching at the thought that I had to endure being thrown from one Reaper's hand to another. This would be a long, terrifying night.

The whole room was as quiet as a graveyard when we walked toward the spotlight. Archie began playing the piano after we did the traditional opening gestures.

Alexis gently closed his hand around mine, intently looking me in the eyes like he was trying to solve a super complicated puzzle. His face was hard to read but it was harder not to stare. With him so close, I wanted to shrink. Disappear. No one else tried to dance with us, though at the back of my head, the sharp glares were like nails being thrust into my head.

"Can I ask you something?" I started bravely despite the ramming in my chest.

"No," he replied reflectively, leaning closer.

Well, that was unexpected. The back of my ears felt like they were burning in shame. Normally, I wouldn't have minded. I almost cringed away from Alexis when I caught a glance of Vincent sitting alone in our table gulping wine straight from the bottle. I focused my energy on hiding my disappointment. How could he be drinking like that at a time like this?

"No. Max, didn't tell anyone else but me," he continued with a distant gaze again. "But whoever sold that scroll to him may have an idea who's sabotaging the Gates in your area."

"You mean The Riddle of Chasms?" I remembered that silver scroll Max gave to Vlad several days ago—the one he used to reopen the dysfunctional Gates in Centralia.

He nodded thoughtfully, his listless eyes intense. "Yes. That one. Whoever dared to intrude into your territory used some really powerful spells, didn't he? Those spells can only be from the same scroll because there's only one that exists in earth and all of the other realms."

"Meaning that scroll had been in the intruder's possession before Max handed it to us."

"Exactly." For the first time, he smiled. His eyes came to life, reflecting the color of his suit so that now they were an ageless deep blue color.

I caught myself gawking at him. Blinking out of the daze, I gently shook my head and tried to focus on the situation he had presented me. "But Max wouldn't tell us who sold it to him."

"He won't," he agreed, slowing down his steps as his enigmatic eyes inconspicuously shifted left and right, ever changing as they caught the light. With the gap between his brows creasing as if having an internal argument, Alexis bent lower to whisper to me. "But I might."

"Why on earth would you do that?" I had unintentionally sounded dubious.

Looking down, he suddenly stopped dancing and shrugged. "Because I feel like it. And I've just decided to be on your side. Don't ask me why because I have no idea."

Broodingly, he tilted his head before taking my hand to lead me back to my cabal's table but before we could even take a step, someone was already standing behind me. It was Pierre giving me a smile as he held out a hand. Just as he was heading back to his brother, Alexis pulled me closer and whispered, "It's one of those three standing behind the cloaked old man."

I gave him a grateful nod then trained my eyes on the enemy who was staring right at me—Death—and his familiars. Sharifa, an old man and a fair-haired boy. One of them knew who the intruder was. I was about to head back to Vladimir to give him the details when I realized I had left Pierre hanging. With a rueful smile, I bowed and took his hand.

"Vlad asked me to do this, you know," Pierre whined, his thin lips puckering a bit as we danced. The mannerism reminded me a bit of Vladimir. "It's not that you're not attractive and all but I'm not really good at dancing. I don't want to embarrass myself in front of everyone."

I heaved a sigh. It felt odd dancing with someone shorter than me. "Don't worry. You're not alone. No idea how he does it but Vlad's good at that—making people do things against their will," I said purposively patting his left arm to see if he would flinch in pain. But Pierre didn't even move a muscle. Just as Vladimir had predicted.

When I found the boy master looking at me from our cabal's table, I discreetly shook my head. He nodded back. One down, four more to go.

After Rajinder—a brown-skinned, long-haired, tall young man in a gold and white tunic, Cyrus and Darius came, arguing who should go first. The intruder wasn't one of the twins either. My hunch that Cairo was the one we were looking for was growing stronger. As I circled the dance floor with Darius... or Cyrus, (not sure) I stared down The First at every chance possible like saying Let's get this over with. My feet throbbed like hell, actually. I could use a break, but that didn't seem possible with Max, Joaquim and Hector in the lineup.

Max was hard to crack. I tried to ask him many times who among Pilgrim Reaper's three familiars negotiated with him for the scroll but he kept pulling the I-am-a-businessman alibi. Joaquim or Jack as he liked to be called, on the other hand, was already dead drunk as I had guessed so we couldn't do more than lurch back and forth across the hall. Good thing his familiars were too kind as to carry the guy back to their spot before he passed out.

"There are rumors about you, Aramis Rayne," Hector said looking at me as he would to scrutinize a specimen. Something about this guy made me exceptionally anxious. Perhaps it was the wild look about his bloodshot eyes. That I hadn't notice him blink for the last ten minutes. Or the permanent amused façade. Creepy dude.

"What rumors?"

The grin on Hector's face widened, revealing a set of pearl-white teeth so perfect it was almost unnatural. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. Not all of my brothers know about it. Oh, but I do. Alessandra Clandestine was one of a kind. I bet it took Cairo some hundred years to get over the loss of his most prized familiar. Poor bloke." He didn't sound sympathetic at all.

My eyes widened. "Cairo?"

"Oh," he chuckled loudly as he made me twirl. When we were face to face again, his round eyes were already boring into mine. "Don't tell me Little Vince didn't tell you about it? Oh, yes! She was Cairo's familiar. Interesting woman. Can do a hell lot of things other familiars can't. For one, she could open Spirit Doors without incantations."

I purposively watched my steps. No one outside our cabal knew I could open Doors. Not even the intruder. That might be my trump card... my last hope so I decided to keep it a secret.

"And her scythe. Really exceptional. You know, Aramis, I was thinking maybe you have inherited a little something from her," Hector mused, not paying any attention that we were totally off the music. "It's been about a couple of hundred years since I've been into Soul research. The Ethereals, I'm partially responsible for their existence. Fascinating creatures they have become. So, you see, I'd be delighted to have a chance to examine you."

I instantly backed away from him. Examine me? Like an experiment?

Reacting quickly, Hector caught my hand. "Don't be afraid. I mean no harm."

"I want to go back to my master, if you don't mind," I said firmly so I wouldn't look weak. When he didn't yield, I tried to yank my hand back. "It has been... nice dancing with—"

"Is there a problem here?" an accented baritone voice said from behind me.

It was Irvine, his face as blank as ever. With that disturbing smile, Hector pocketed his hands and backed away, tipping an invisible hat to us. Before I knew it, Irvine was already leading me to his brother—Cairo—who was waiting for us near his father's throne where everyone could clearly see us. It was exactly what I wanted, yet my whole body shook. If for fear or anticipation I couldn't tell. I struggled to calm down. Cairo shouldn't think I was intimidated.

After the proper introductions, we danced and as we did, I was aware that Pilgrim Reaper was keeping a keen eye over us. I nodded to Archie among the musicians. Seconds later, the music livened, forcing us to quicken our steps, keep up with the beat. I watched Cairo intently as we strode around the dance floor. For someone who had his arm just about annihilated, he was pretty good at pretending like it was nothing. He must be dying to stop now. Tend to his wounds. Groan in pain. But he wasn't showing any of that.

Purposively, I bumped my knee against his. Still unsatisfied, I let go of his hand and clutched his left forearm tightly. I had expected a scream. A moan. A wince at the least. But nothing. Cairo just looked weirded out. Yeah. Weird. I knew how it must have looked to him. That I was groping him in front of a hundred people. Like I would do that. Forget that. Didn't his arm hurt? He was faking it. And he was amazingly good.

Feverishly, I searched for Vlad and shook my head. It wasn't him! How could it be not him? To my dismay, the boy just gave me a calm nod. Unacceptable!

"It's curious, Aramis Rayne," Cairo finally said in a strange accent similar to his brother's. "I'm having a feeling that your cabal is up to no good."

Edgily, I faced him. "I'm having the same feeling about you, Master Cairo."

"Oh, and why could that be?" he muttered with a fake smile, giving me a severe look.

"You tell me," I challenged.

He didn't answer. Instead his jaws clenched alternately as his hands forcefully tighten on the back of my waist like he was conveying something. It was a threat.

"Master Cairo, have you ever heard of a certain scroll?" I pressed on, ignoring his vicious look. "What's it called. Hmm... That's it. The Riddle of Chasms. Sound familiar?" I said the title of the scroll slowly, like I would to a toddler if it was just to annoy him.

For a moment, he froze. "I've never heard of such a thing," he retorted, his eyes smoldering. Like nothing happened, we resumed dancing when he recovered from the start.

"Really? That's too bad." I smiled at him. "My master owns it now. Neat, isn't it? It can totally work wonders with the Gates. You see, some idiot crossed our territory and cast a blocking spell on several of our Gates. It was a major catastrophe. You don't happen to know who that intruder is, do you?" Maybe he was thinking I was mocking him. Or that I was just an incredibly stupid familiar who couldn't keep her mouth shut. Either way would work for me.

"No. I have no knowledge of this," he answered stiffly through his teeth.

"If you say so," I trilled, curbing a smile. "It couldn't be you, Cairo, could it be?"

"You will not speak to me so disrespectfully, Aramis Rayne," he growled menacingly.

I stopped dancing and looked at him straight in the eyes like the defiant familiar I was. "Okay. Okay," I whispered to him as if we were in connivance. "Don't get so worked up just because of such a trivial thing. Besides, we can't make a scene here. People will ask questions. Or worse, your father might. The whole party will be ruined. Wouldn't he be angry if he heard about someone sabotaging his own brothers' operations? Tsk."

He looked like he very much wanted to strangle me. Struggling to restrain his rage, Cairo backed away, glowering. "I'll make you regret this."

"Yeah, I had a good time too." I beamed waving at him.

Once he retreated, I headed back to our table with spring in my steps. People were definitely looking now though it didn't bother that much. Some looked stunned. Most were amused. For some reason, I felt better. Cairo was the intruder. I didn't know how he healed so fast but he wouldn't cower like that if he wasn't guilty. I just proved something. I was absently smiling as I drew a deep breath. I totally showed him.

"What's up with you and Cairo?" Amyr asked from behind my chair, using my shoulders as his armrests. "Do you have a death wish or something?"

"Thanks for the concern." Irritably, I shoved his arms from my shoulders. I was dog-tired. My feet must be bleeding. Did I hear anyone say 'good job' or anything along that line? Nope.

Vincent slumped on his chair with his eyes half-closed. Chuckling, he caught his face with his hands. "Why do you have to do that? Why do you always do this to me? Huh?" he slurred, slamming his hands onto the table. Then he went completely quiet.

Okay, kids. Let's play Ignore the Drunk Guy.

"He's the one," I said in a hushed tone as Vladimir slid into the vacant seat next to me.

"Wow," he muttered. "I missed the part where Cairo howled in pain."

I told Vlad what happened, from Irvine's clues, to Cairo's defensiveness. When I finished, the boy didn't look much convinced but he kept nodding while rubbing his chin.

"It's a speculation. But not cold hard proof," he pointed out. "Well, this plan's coming along so perfectly. Whoever planned this? Let's set an angry mob on that genius."

"You did, Boss," Amyr said, laid-back on his seat.

"I was being sarcastic, Amyr."

"Right..."

Fantastic. I just bled my feet to death for nothing. "If it wasn't Cairo, then who?"

Warily, the boy looked at the table just across ours. There sat a boy—Kyoshiro—with two of his Asian familiars. I totally forgot about him.

I wanted to keel over. "Make me dance there again just once and I swear I'll cut my legs off."

"Relax, Aramis," Amyr said. "Someone's already on it." He tilted his chin toward Mei who was standing right in front of Kyoshiro.

The boy looked bored out his mind when his familiars nudged him to a start. Mei was talking. It seemed like the boy wasn't listening, almost half-asleep. Then his familiars took him by his arms and dragged him to the middle of the hall. Mei was smiling as she gracefully curtsied to Kyoshiro. They looked magnificent, gliding to and fro the dance floor, her sleeves, her skirt flitting with her every delicate move.

Mei must be very happy. Kyoshiro was important to her.

"It's not him," Vlad sighed after a few minutes of watching. "I feel like I'm missing something here. We need to investigate more."

"And how do you propose to do that?" I asked, feeling the rumble in my stomach.

He paused to think. "When I said 'we', I mean not you. Because you have to watch your back. Maybe hide and lie low from now on. You've chosen the worst person to anger," he breathed out, shaking his head. "Cairo's not going to let you off so easily."

"Uh, how long are we staying here again?" I gulped.

"Indefinitely."

"Indefinitely. Great."

I stared again at the lake through the window. The Glitches were now on top of the bridge, moving. Not stuck like me. The merriment went on for hours. The clinking of glasses, the soothing music, the occasional laughter that filled the hall gave a wringing feeling in my throat. What I did to Cairo was impulsive. Uncalled for. Wrong. Stupid. Though I sort of didn't regret my actions, I secretly feared the consequences. From what I had been told, Cairo was a very dangerous person. And he had Death as his backup. Top that.

It felt like I was slowly being buried just sitting here. And every minute, the dirt kept getting higher and higher. Now it was up to my neck. I couldn't breathe without forcing the air into my lungs, it stung. I might as well have just dug my own grave then plummet head first into it.

"This really sucks," Vincent murmured, eyes closed as his head fell on my shoulder.

"Pretty much," I whispered back.