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"You know, if someone did see us, the masks would probably draw more attention to us, not less"
"Too late," Jack said
We reached the door, and I entered the code into the keypad The light above it turned red and flashed several tiain
I tried the handle, but it didn’t budge
"Do it again," Jack said
I reentered the code, paying special attention to the nuain it flashed red
"Crap," I said
A ht turned on at the end of the balcony I ripped off o"
Jack shook his head "We’re already here We’re not wasting this opportunity There’s only one thing to do"
"Juested hopefully
Jack smiled He took a step backward, raised his foot, and lurched at the door It cracked open, shattering the part where the lock had once been A dog barked in the distance
"Seriously?" I whisper-yelled "That was the ‘only one thing to do’?"
"We’re in, aren’t we? Besides, if we steal back your heart, Cole will definitely knoe’ve been in here, so it won’t matter that the door is broken"
We went inside and shut the door behind us Jack turned on a flashlight and tossed it gently toin both hands and held it in front of him
I wasn’t sure he’d even need the drill I wouldn’t have been surprised if he could sirab the safe in his hands and rip it clean in two
We ht until it landed on the metal box in the wall
"There it is," I said
We ran forward Jack tossed the drill onto Cole’s bed From here I could see that the drywall around the safe looked to be covered in fresh paint, as if it had just been installed I didn’t get a chance to comment on it because Jack reached an arht of the safe
"Jack!" I said
"I’m fine" He reached his arrabbed hold of the back of the safe, and ripped the entire thing out of the wall
Mymoment Moves like that only happened in superhero ht the safe over to a desk in the corner of the rooain But before he turned it on, I caught a gli scratched into the metal surface of the front of the safe We didn’t see it earlier because of the dark
"Stop," I said I pointed to the note
Turn e arrow pointing to the side of the box, where a s out of a hole in the metal
"Why does it have a crank?"
"More important," Jack said, "why does it have a note?" After a moment’s hesitation he reached out and pinched the end of the crank
"Wait!" I said
He froze
"What if it’s booby-trapped?" I said "Like with a bomb?"
He looked at me "Thathorrible inside?"
"Like what?"
I shrugged
Jack started to turn the crank
"Like a head!" I blurted out "A severed head" I put ht, and width "That’s about head size"
I could tell Jack was raising an eyebrow even under his ski mask I reached up and pulled off thean eyebrow
He tilted his head "So Cole decapitates some random person, puts his head in this safe, adds a crank, and leaves a note so that anyone who breaks in would begrossed out enough to leave without taking anything?"
I nodded again
He turned the crank one full rotation Nothing happened He turned it again, and again, and a slow tune began to play
Jack looked up at me "Is that?"
"‘Pop Goes the Weasel’" I nodded, ood could come out of "Pop Goes the Weasel"
Jack turned the crank faster and faster; and when he reached the "pop" part of the melody, the top of the safe burst open, and a clown’s head exploded out I juh I could see it was a har
On the clown’s bow tie hung another note
Jack leaned forward to read it
"It says, ‘Bet you were expecting a heart, shaped like a compass’" Jack paused and pulled the note off the bow tie "And then he drew a frowny face"
I snatched the note from his hand, looked at it briefly, crumpled it up, and threw it into the corner of the rooering hope and thrown it away
"I hate Cole," I said I looked at Jack, the full weight ofheavy onto be okay Tell ain"
Jack nodded and put his ar to be huain"
Jack held me for a few moments until his phone vibrated He pulled it out of his pocket
He read the screen and frowned
"Who’s it from?" I asked
"Cole It says, ‘No, she won’t She’s going to be a queen’"
My eyes darted around the roo our words back to Cole, but I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary I closed my eyes
"I’d rather die than be your queen," I said