The Rose Ransom (Girls Wearing Black: Book Three) (50 page)

And when the time came for the
students to choose if they wanted to side with Renata or the rest of the
Samarin clan, they would side with her, as would their parents. One day, when
she and Falkon were able to transform the data now hanging around her neck into
a new kind of vampire, and she declared war on her own clan, all the power
players in Washington would side with her.

At ten minutes to midnight, she
shut down the music and stepped onto the stage.

“My children,” she announced.
“We have only ten minutes left before the Ransom is over. Does anyone have a
solution to the final clue?”

*****

“We have a problem.”

It was Patrick. He was
whispering at them over the radio.

Jill and Alvin were still at
their lookout post. Nothing had happened for more than two hours. She had
assumed all was going well in there.

She didn’t want to be hearing
about a problem at ten minutes to midnight.

“What is it?” Alvin said.

“Nicky and Ryan are locked in
the room,” Patrick said. “And none of these keys will open the door.”

Jill grabbed the radio from
Alvin.

“Are you sure?” she said.
“You’ve tried every key?”

“Every single one. And I’ve
tried picking the lock. I’ve tried breaking down the door. It’s rock solid. I
can’t get to them.”

“Are you certain you’re at the
right room? The east wing, second door on the right?”

“It’s the only locked door in
the house,” Patrick said. “I know they’re back there.”

“He needs to shoot the lock,”
Alvin said.

“No, that’s a terrible idea,”
said Jill. “He’ll bring a hundred slaves down on him.”

“But time’s running out,” said
Alvin.

Jill took a deep breath. She
looked down at her legs, dangling from underneath her formal dress.

She spoke into the radio.
“Patrick, we’re going to Plan B.”

Two minutes later, Alvin dropped
Jill off at the front door of the mansion. She presented her invitation to the
doorman, and stepped inside.

Everyone was in the ballroom,
standing in rapt attention as Renata spoke from onstage.

“And then you figured out the
second clue,” Renata said. “I was most impressed. Tributes to kings, both born
and elected...”

Renata looked right at Jill.

“Ms. Wentworth,” she said. “I
wasn’t aware you were here.”

Jill felt the entire room turn
to look at her. She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself.

“You were so clever to figure
out the first two clues,” Renata said. “Please, won’t you tell us how you did
it?”

Jill looked across the room at
the grandfather clock. 11:56.

She was so nervous she could
hardly speak. She knew that the minute she opened her mouth, she was inviting
Renata to come down and kill her.

“I’d rather tell you how I
answered the third clue,” Jill said.

A collective gasp from the
students all around. Renata’s eyes went wide, but then a smile came across her
lips.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s hear
it.”

Jill pointed at the hallway
leading to the east wing. “Nicky and Ryan are in the--”

“Hang on!” Renata shouted. Her
voice thundered through the room, forcing Jill and everyone else to be silent.
A few precious seconds passed with nobody speaking at all, then Renata walked
to the front of the stage and said, “It’s no fun if you skip straight to the
answer. Walk us through it, Jill. Show us how you solved the clue.”

Jill’s eyes darted back to the
clock. 11:57. She’d have to go quickly.

“An expression of mortal
frailty,” she said, her voice quivering. “That is the first line. It is a
reference to the Rose Ransom, and the three clues you prepared. Each clue is a
reminder to us mortals that we are fragile and destined to die one day.”

Jill’s mouth was so dry she had
to stop and lick her lips. She forced a gulp of saliva down her throat. When
she opened her mouth to continue, her voice was weak.

“Death and new life made
manifest,” she said. “That is the second line. It is a reference to the Rose
Ransom play, in which Renata’s performance makes manifest both death and new
life.”

 A tickle in Jill’s throat
overtook her and she had to cough.

“Somebody give the girl a
drink,” Renata said. Mattie came rushing across the room with a glass of clear
liquid and ice. Jill took a swig and grimaced at whatever was in that glass. It
burned as it went down her throat, but at least it cured the cough.

Her eyes darted over to the
clock. 11:58.

“In the throes of agony eternal,
within and without the square,” Jill went on. “Those are the last two lines of
the clue, and they tell us where Nicky and Ryan are hidden. The poem has
already told us to think of the Rose Ransom game, and the play within it. Now,
in the final lines, you are telling us about a place where the throes of agony
eternal are stored, within and without the square.”

“You’re losing us, Jill. And
time is running out. I want a more adequate explanation before you tell us the
answer.”

“The square is a dual
reference,” Jill said. “On the one hand, it means four walls. Without the
square is a phrase telling us about something happening outside the four walls,
or, in theater terms, a time when you broke the fourth wall.”

“The fourth wall? Go on.”

“You are an actress, and in
theater, the fourth wall is a term describing an imaginary barrier between
performer and audience. You broke that wall when you stabbed yourself with the
knife. The play was no longer a fantasy. You bled for real.”

“Very nice. But what about
within the square, Jill? That too is part of the clue.”

“Within the square is a
reference to the dresses you wore onstage, and the place you keep them. Those
dresses show us the throes of agony eternal, and there is a room in your house
where you’ve stored every one of them, each inside a glass case in the shape of
a square.”

“Interesting,” Renata said. “Do
tell, Jill. Where might one find this room?”

“In the east wing of your
mansion,” Jill said. “Nicky and Ryan are there. I have solved your clue and
it’s only 11:59.”

Renata smiled.

“That is a most interesting
theory,” she said. “But remember, the Great Beyond demands the three reddest
roses in the kingdom. Just because you know where the third rose might be
doesn’t mean you have saved the princess. The rules require you to find the
third rose before the clock strikes twelve.”

As soon as Renata finished
speaking, the grandfather clock sputtered, clicked, and let out a resounding
DONG.

“It’s this way!” Jill shouted.
Pushing through the crowd, she charged into the hallway.

DONG.

“Follow me!” she yelled.

As soon as she cleared the crowd
she broke into a mad sprint, with a stampede of seniors running behind her. She
pushed past the servants standing watch at the edge of the ballroom, leading
the whole class down the hallway.

DONG.

She led them through the art
gallery, into the wide corridor, and towards the room where she had sought
shelter from Renata the last time she was here. Two enormous wooden doors stood
closed in front of that room. She grabbed on the doorknob and pushed, demonstrating
for everyone that the doors were locked shut.

DONG.

“They are in here!” Jill
shouted. “Open the door! They are on the other side!”

Renata approached slowly, the
crowd of students stepping aside to make way. As she walked, the clock chimed
two more times.

“What are you going to do, Ms.
Wentworth?” Renata said in a sing-song voice. “The door is locked.”

DONG.

“Open it!” Jill shrieked. “I’ve
solved your clue! The game is over!”

“The game is over when you find
the third rose,” Renata said.

DONG.

“Was I there to open the gates
to Meadowlark Memorial for you? No. To find the rose, you had to get in there
yourself.”

DONG.

“Did I leave the stairwell open
at the Washington Monument? Of course not. The Great Beyond doesn’t make things
easy for you. You had to find a way to get the stairs open yourself. You must
be resourceful to find the reddest roses in the kingdom.”

DONG.

“So here you are, Ms. Wentworth.
A final puzzle for you to solve. The door is locked. How will you ever get it
open?”

Jill looked at the door. She saw
scrapes and scratches all around the lock where Patrick had tried to break it.
There were no screws she could take out. There were no tools at her disposal.
There was no way for her to get this door open.

“Please!” she begged. “For the
sake of the game! Out of respect for tradition…there is a girl wearing black
behind this door. Nicky Bloom is behind this door!”

DONG.

By Jill’s count, that was chime
number eleven.

She looked around the hall and
spotted Patrick standing behind the crowd, dressed like any another slave. She
and Patrick shared a look between them. And an understanding.
Onto Plan C
.

Patrick had a gun in his pocket.
He began moving forward through the crowd, approaching Renata from behind.

As Jill watched him move, a hand
pushed her on the small of the back, and she stumbled away from the door. She
looked back to see one of Renata’s slaves yanking a key ring from his pocket.

“Frankie, what are you doing?”
Renata yelled. “Frankie, stop!”

But Frankie didn’t stop. He
inserted a key into the lock, twisted it, and pushed the door open.

Nicky and Ryan were on the other
side. They were back to back, their hands and legs tied to their chairs, duct
tape over their mouths.

A single rose lay on Nicky’s
lap.

Jill sprinted into the room,
grabbed the rose, and lifted it for everyone to see.

DONG.

Jill stood in front of Nicky and
Ryan. The slave who had opened the door for them rushed inside and pulled the
tape off Nicky’s mouth.

“My goodness, Frankie,” Renata
said. “What’s come over you tonight?”

Frankie said nothing, but
instead started working on the ropes that bound Nicky’s hands and feet. When he
couldn’t untie the knots, he lifted one of the glass cases that stood all
around and pulled out one of the bloody knives on display.

Renata, standing in the doorway,
looked on in fascination. The rest of the senior class jockeyed for position
behind her to see what was going on.

“It seems that my servant likes
you, Nicky Bloom,” Renata said. “I wonder why that is.”

Jill watched, uncertain of what
was happening or why, as Frankie used the knife to cut Nicky loose. Then he
pulled her up from the chair and pushed her behind him, as if to shield her
from Renata.

“Well what about Ryan?” Renata
asked Frankie. She had a bemused smile on her face, as if she couldn’t decide
if she was angry or pleased at her servant’s surprising actions. “Aren’t you
going to cut Ryan loose from his bonds?”

Frankie stood still, his body
between Renata and Nicky, a bloody knife in his hand.

“Well, Nicky Bloom. Your legend
grows even more,” said Renata. “Not only have you survived the Rose Ransom, but
you’ve broken my servant! I think he’s in love with you!”

Chuckles of laughter came from
the crowd behind her, who seemed just as confused as Renata at all that was
happening. The majority of the students were crowded near the edges of the
doorframe, poking their heads over the sides. It was as if all of them wanted
to see what was happening, but were scared to stand too close to Renata.

All of them but one. Kim Renwick
stood by Renata’s side, not at all intimidated to be close to a vampire. Kim
was throwing a look at Jill that was much more than angry. It was murderous.
Jill was certain that, were they not at an immortal’s mansion, Kim might have
charged into the room and tried to kill her.

“You there!” Renata said,
turning back into the hall. “Come here.”

A man in slave’s garb pushed
through the crowd. “Get in there, take the knife from Frankie, and cut Mr.
Jenson loose.”

The man came into the room,
careful to keep his head down. Any eye contact with Jill or Nicky might give
him away. The ‘slave’ that Renata had just sent into the room was Patrick Hall.
As he walked past, Jill saw the outline of the gun under his jacket.

Patrick went up to Frankie and
reached for the knife. Frankie pulled the knife away and shook his head.

“Oh my word, Frankie!” Renata
said. “This is just sad. You know I’m going to have to put you down tonight,
don’t you?” She yelled at Patrick, “Just grab another knife! There are plenty
in there.”

Patrick opened a nearby glass
case, took out the knife, and used it to free Ryan from his bonds. When he was
done, he yanked the duct tape off Ryan’s lips. Ryan winced in response.

“Alright, Jill. You have rescued
Nicky and Ryan. The Ransom money is yours,” said Renata. “How are you going to
spend it?”

Jill hadn’t prepared an answer
to this question. She hadn’t prepared at all for this moment. If things had
gone according to plan, she would still be in the pickup truck with Alvin, and
Patrick would be sneaking Nicky and Ryan out the back door.

“I will put it into the
Coronation pot, of course,” she said.

“Yes, but on behalf of which
girl?”

On behalf of which girl? Wasn’t
it obvious? Jill was Nicky Bloom’s very first supporter. She had solved all
three Ransom clues. She had begged Renata to open the door because she was
certain Nicky was on the other side.

Everyone at school knew where
Jill’s loyalties lie, and when she opened her mouth to answer, Nicky’s name
almost came out automatically.

But before she said the words,
she realized something. The mission was over.