The air in the fancy part of Grimstone felt clean and cold, not like the usual dirty air. Anya, Jaxon, and Lena stood near the red ropes, looking at the big, shiny front door of the Prosperity Tower. Inside, a party called the Founders' Ball was happening. Rich people in nice clothes walked by, laughing.
"Okay, this is it," Lena said softly. She took out the special chameleon cloth. It looked like a shimmery, liquid fabric that changed color. She carefully put one piece over Anya, then one over Jaxon, and one over herself.
As the cloth settled, Anya felt a strange tingle on her skin. She looked down and saw her body blur. She was still there, but she looked like a fuzzy shadow. She was hard to see.
"Don't move fast, don't look anyone in the eye," Lena told them, her voice sounding a bit muffled through the cloth. "It works best if you look like part of the background. And remember, we only have ten, maybe fifteen minutes before it stops working."
Jaxon, who usually moved a lot, was very still under the cloth. "Right. Time to pretend we're like the bad rich people."
They started walking slowly towards the big front door. Guards in perfect uniforms stood everywhere, watching everyone. Anya held her breath as they passed the first guard. The guard looked right past her without seeing her. It worked!
They walked through the fancy main room, past big, sparkling lights and fake plants. The air here was filled with the sound of glasses clinking, quiet conversations, and soft music. Anya felt like she didn't belong. This place, so close but so different, was where Grimstone's real power lived.
Their goal was to find a high-ranking official, someone who used the old finger-scanning system. Lena's sharp eyes looked around the big room. "We need to find a CID Commander, or a boss from a big company's security. They would be in the old computer system."
They moved deeper into the party room. Anya felt the cloth sticking to her, reminding her how risky this was. Time was running out.
Suddenly, Lena stopped short. "Oh no."
Anya looked where Lena was looking. Standing near a food table, laughing loudly with other rich men, was someone Anya knew very well. It was Commander Thorne, her old boss from the City Guard. He was the one who fired her. He was clearly higher up in the CID now, his uniform perfect, his smile big and fake.
"Thorne," Anya whispered, the name tasting bad in her mouth.
"He's perfect," Lena whispered back, thinking hard. "He's very important. He's definitely in the old system. But he's also smart. And he knows us. If the cloth stops working for even a second..."
Thorne turned and looked across the room. For a scary moment, his eyes seemed to stop right on their blurry shapes. Anya felt her heart race. Her hand almost reached for her weapon. The chameleon cloth, which had felt so safe moments ago, now felt thin and weak, like it could break at any second. They were standing very close to the man who stood for everything they were fighting against. A man who would know them right away, even after all this time. What a terrible twist!