I responded.
“Look,” Orson said, his expression dead serious. “We don’t know as much as we should about Magnum, you proved that. But we do know he’s the head of the snake. Lop it off, and the rest will die. You understand what I’m saying?”
Hunt piped up into our private chat.
He and Brady were now lined up behind Griffin, Layla, and me.
“Yeah, we understand,” Brady said aloud. “Of course we do. Keep our eye on the prize. Kill Magnum.”
Orson’s eyes drilled into us. “He’s the priority. Everything else hinges on him going down. No matter what else happens, you go after him.”
Porter bent at the hips to reach a hand down to Layla. She didn’t take it.
He allowed it to drop with a sigh. “Magnum has power of some preternatural sort, something beyond our science, we just don’t know what. He’s always been tight-lipped about it. Even with our traditional weapons, we likely aren’t equipped to end him. But you are. Or, at least, you are far more equipped than we are. You must be. Beyond your immortality, Magnum wants what you have. He wants it beyond reason. And to make extrasure we’re being really clear: There’s no way out of this but for him to die.”
“Precious. Our fake parents telling us to go forth and murder,” Layla said. “Got it. After this is over, we should pick up a chisel. Modify those silly Ten Commandments.”
“That’s enough,” Celia said to Layla, but also to the rest of us. “We’ve used up time we didn’t have. Whatever else comes between us all will have to wait. Magnum’s almost certainly gathering his troops right now. We have to go.Right now.”
I felt like there was still so much to say. And yet there wasn’t. None of it would make a difference.
With the engine idling, my dad once more turned around. “Remember, your focus is on him and no one else. You get in. You kill him. And you all get out in one piece.”
He wore his down-to-business, obey-me-or-else expression. I’d seen it only a few times in my life. Of my two lie-rents, my dad had always been the softy.
“And also,please, never forget, we love you all. Joss, honey, I love you the most.”
The other lie-rents offered similar assurances, none of which I was certain we could believe. The only real thing we’d proven when it came to them was that they were superb liars.
“Now. Everyone.Move,” my mom snapped.
With a burdened sigh and downturned lips, Orson pulled the doors closed with a clank that sounded of finality and doom and all the other things I didn’t want to ponder.
Like how nothing stood in the way of my crew and imminent danger. Like, death-level danger.
Knowing that we were immortal, and likely to return from death, did little to dull the edge of my worry.Likelywasn’t the same as one hundred percentcertainty.
The only thing my life had proven thus far was that nothing ever went to plan.
All sorts of things could go wrong.
“Joss,” Griffin said from beside me, dragging me from my worries. “You good?”
I looked at him—really looked at him. I memorized his gorgeous face, his beautiful lips, his amazing smile, even when it was worried.
I accepted the hand he offered me. “Yeah, I’m good.”
His sad smile grew bigger, sadder. “Liar.”
He kissed me on the lips, fast but hot and possessive, then led me to Clyde.
Before I could better ready myself for what was coming, my dad pulled the armored truck onto the road, and Brady, then Griffin, lined up behind him.
There were no more encouragements, and definitely no platitudes.
Shit was bad and about to get worse. Much worse.
And we all knew it.
