Chapter 11: The Shot

The first shot broke the dining room window.

Matteo pushed Ada behind the heavy sideboard.

I caught his sleeve before he reached the door.

"Carlo wants you outside."

He turned toward me as another window burst.

We dropped together behind the table.

A guard pulled the cook into the pantry.

She refused until Ada ordered her to go.

A water glass rolled off the table and burst beside my hand.

The sound held me still for one dangerous second.

Matteo gripped my elbow and brought me lower.

"Look at me," he said.

I did, and the room came back into focus.

"There are two at the courtyard wall," he told the guard.

"One by the kitchen," I said.

He had not seen that one yet.

The kitchen door had a dark gap beneath it.

Someone's shoes shifted on the other side.

The guard nodded and moved toward the pantry entrance.

Matteo could have sent me with the others.

He saw I would only return for Ada.

"Stay beside me," he said.

"Then stay low," I answered.

Another shot cracked above us.

It hit the plaster portrait over Ada's chair.

She looked at the falling dust with open offense.

"That wasn't cheap," she said.

The elders crawled toward the kitchen with the guards.

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