“You’re early.”
“And you’re late,” his smirk disappeared as he said this, leaving his face stony. “This place should already be lit.”
She scowled deeply and said, “I had trouble slipping away from the city. Bite me.”
“The great Enigma, master burglar, had trouble slipping away? I find that hard to believe.”
Making her way around the cave and lighting all the candles from her pack, she rolled her eyes. “Ah, I’m not Enigma in this cave. I’m the Libra, remember?”
Actually, she was sort of three people. She was the Libra, the one who pulled this whole thing together for her brother. She was the master burglar known as Enigma, who had been rumored to steal the Grand Duke’s brooch. That wasn’t true, but she liked the story regardless. She was also Marion Malone, which had been her name by birth, but she never told anyone her true name. The Libra despised her given name.
“Of course,” he replied coolly. Even though her back was turned on him, she could feel his gaze. Her skin prickled as though she had been doused with a bucket of ice water.
Soon she had all her candles set up and the cave was glowing warmly. As she and her brother waited for the others to show up, she pulled out the plans stored in her pack. They were thick and bound with twine, with knots only she could undo. As she pulled at the twine, she closed her eyes to challenge herself. Then she heard the Leo address another member of the Circle.
“Good to see you, Aquarius,” the Leo said cordially, and the Libra opened her eyes. Standing in the opening of the cave was the Aquarius. This girl was a genius mathematician and scientist who was studying with some of the smartest scholars in the city. She had been easy to lure into the Circle, because she was always trying to solve impossible problems. There was nothing more impossible than building a flying machine.
The mathematician stepped further into the cave. The Aquarius nodded once towards the other girl, but then another member arrived. It was the Scorpio, with his charismatic frown and tendency to mumble through his words. The Leo didn’t even bother greeting him, because there was an underlying tone that the Scorpio wasn’t a true member of the Circle. He was simply the builder of the machine to the others, but the Libra knew that he was much more than manual labor. That’s why she greeted him as warmly as she could.
The Circle of Stars consisted of six members, all varying in ages from eighteen to twenty-three. They were the Libra, the Leo, the Aquarius, the Scorpio, the Capricorn, and the Pisces, and they had all been brought together by the Libra. Though this plan was her brother’s idea, she did the dirty work for him. It wasn’t to say that he didn’t work hard, but she was the one who recruited everyone. She had spent months planning and practically spying, just to get him the right people for his plan.
His plan was the reason she did all that work. It was her childhood dream come to life and since it was illegal, it was all the more exciting. The Circle of Stars was put together to construct a flying machine, to fly out and away from the city. In a city where flying was forbidden, there was no way to escape except by ship, and that wasn’t going to work. Ordinary civilians weren’t permitted to board ships. Besides, sailing away had been done by a handful of rouges. Flying away had never been done.