Free A Farewell to Charms by Lindsey Leavitt Page B

looked like Vanna. Sort of. She was a little taller, her nose a little pointier, her hair shorter…It’s like someone took each of Vanna’s features and smudged them with a rubber eraser.
    The girl smiled. “Sorry to drop in like this, but when you twisted your ankle, it kind of put a damper on things.”
    “Who are you?”
    “Vanna.”
    “No,” I said. “ I’m Vanna.”
    “No, Desi.” She let out a patient sigh. “You’re my sub.”
    “How did you…What’s going on here?” Maybe this was Vanna’s cousin, or a body double. When royals left their real life for the Façade Resort, they took on the identity of old celebrities so they wouldn’t be recognized. Vanna should look like some dead actress, not an altered version of herself. “Vanna is supposed to be vacationing on a remote island.”
    “I’m going to go release another smoke bomb in the hallway,” Janin said. “In case we were followed.”
    “Good idea.” Vanna, or whoever this girl was, beamed at me as Janin stepped out of the room. “Why are you still looking at me like that?”
    “If you don’t tell me what’s going on, I’ll run…I’ll wheel out there and find security.”
    “I needed a decoy. When I told your agency that I didn’t want to use their celebrity makeup line, they offered a new product. Image shifting. The makeup altered my appearance enough that I could still pull off this…Well, it’s kind of an audition for a new job.”
    “So you’ve been here the whole time? Why didn’t you tell me what was going on?”
    “I couldn’t risk you telling anyone—” The lights shut off again. Someone knocked Vanna to the floor. I wheeled my chair back and was just able to reach the light switch. Now there were two girls in catsuits on the ground.
    “Sora, it’s me!” Vanna cried. “It’s Vanna.”
    “That’s Vanna!” Sora pointed at me, but when she looked at me, her expression hardened. I must have transformed back to Desi already. “Wait, who are you? What did you do with the princess?”
    I usually had a few minutes once the princess returned before the rouge wore off and I was back to looking like me. Those few minutes were up. Vanna stood, finally looking like herself. “That’s my sub. I needed her to finish my assignment.”
    “What’s a sub? Where did you find a look-alike?” Sora stared at me with suspicion. “What is going on here? Your assignment isn’t for another two weeks. And why are you standing on your injured ankle?”
    “This girl is my decoy,” Vanna said. “I knew you would say I wasn’t ready to take on an assignment.”
    Sora knocked on Vanna’s forehead. “Hello? You weren’t ready. We still have to go through infiltration, interrogation, hypnosis, and advanced weaponry.”
    “Sora, I’m golden. I stole the jewels. Look, they’re in my pack.” Vanna disappeared under the desk. She frowned when she hoisted up the bag. “Wait.” She rummaged inside and looked up with wide eyes. “The jewels were in my backpack.”
    Sora pointed at me. “Did your body double take them?”
    I held up my hands. “I can’t even stand right now. I’ve been in this chair the whole time.”
    “Janin,” Vanna said.
    “Janin?” Sora’s voice rose. “You let Janin in on your assignment and not me?”
    “I needed someone to bring my sub to me.” Vanna shot me a look. “By the way, twisting your ankle really messed things up.”
    “I don’t think I’m your problem right now,” I said.
    “This just shows you weren’t ready,” Sora said. “If you’d done your research, you would have known that Janin has a criminal record under another identity. Being your tutor was a cover so I could investigate Janin.”
    “I thought being a maid was your cover,” I said.
    “Double cover,” Vanna and Sora said at the same time.
    Vanna shook her head. “That woman knows every room in this palace. It was her idea to meet in the butler’s office.”
    “She’s been dating the butler for two