Page 83 of Locked in Wonderland

“You’re gay,” I blurted.

Warren/Victor laughed. “Bisexual, actually.”

“But you said—”

“I said a lot of things.” His smile widened. “Mostly whatever you wanted to hear.”

Then something happened that felt worse than everything else combined. His entire demeanor shifted. His shoulders. His expression. His voice.

Suddenly, Warren was sitting there again. Wide-eyed, earnest, and innocent. “Will you be gentle with me, Lysander?” he asked in a soft voice. “I might not be a virgin, but I don’t have much experience. I want things to be perfect between us.”

The exact words he’d used the first night we’d slept together.

Acid flooded my stomach.

Seeing my expression, he laughed. Just like that, Warren vanished again. “Poor Lysander.” He sounded delighted. “You look like someone’s taken your favorite toy away.”

“Just tell him no one kidnapped you,” Nico said.

“No one kidnapped me,” Warren repeated obediently.

“I don’t—”

Nico grabbed my arm before I could finish. “We’re leaving.”

Warren/Victor’s laughter followed us as we headed to the door. “They won’t like this, Nico! You’re going to be in deep shit. Maybe I’ll even tell them myself.”

Nico stopped at the door, turning back. “You won’t.”

Victor grinned. “Why not?”

“Try it and you’ll find out.”

The smile melted from Victor’s face. He recovered quickly, laughing again. “I love it when you’re butch. Why don’t you spank me and then maybe I’ll be a good boy?”

Nico tugged me through the door and let it slam shut. I was vaguely aware of walking through the apartment and back down the stairs, but everything felt distant and muted. Like I was moving through water.

By the time we reached street level, Nico was practically dragging me.

“Give me the watch.”

I blinked. “What?”

“The watch.”

He was already reaching for my wrist.

I yanked my arm away, shaking my head. “No. It was a gift.”

“It’s a tracker.”

My breath caught.

“How do you think I could always find you?”

I looked down at the watch, everything starting to click into place. Percy and Lola had taken everything from me except the watch. Why had I never found that strange? Then there was the way people’s eyes had strayed to it, their expressions changing once they’d clocked it. Even the auction house had left it on me.

I went back further. All the way to Nico commenting on it when we had breakfast. And the boat to Wonderland. My face had never been my ticket. It was the damn watch.