“Send me to a cell?” I ask. “You’re going to let people with magic inside your walls now?”
“We eagerly await your decision,” she says pleasantly as she stands up and starts toward the Door back to her world. The door to the room is flung open and Vero lunges in, trying to stop her exit, but the second he’s in the room, Famine appears as if out of thin air. She swings a spear down and slams it into theground, and Vero is flung back through the doorway he’d dashed in through. The whole room quivers while the walls begin to crack and the ceramic tile floor shatters. Famine steps toward Vero, but before she can touch the man who’s been thrown halfway through a wall, I rush in front of her. I’m not quite sure what I can do in this state, but perhaps she’s like Conquest and doesn’t exactly want me dead.
Before I can even open my mouth to say anything, she turns around and walks through the Door, disappearing just as Onyx and her guards did once Vero entered.
“I told you not to do it,” Mickey says, holding out a hand to help Vero out from where he’s halfway through the drywall.
Vero growls in rage as he shoves himself forward and pushes Mickey out of the way. Mickey’s not expecting it and stumbles but is unable to catch himself before he hits the ground hard, slamming down on the shattered ceramic tiles.
I rush up and shove Vero back, knowing Torin’s right behind me. “You do not harm one of ours in your fit of anger. You don’t even have enough power right now to heal yourself; did you really think you could take on Famine?” I demand.
He lifts his hand, like he wants to take another swing, but whether it’s something he sees in my expression or Torin’s, he immediately lowers it and looks away.
“You okay, Mickey?” I ask as I walk over to him.
“Who are you to speak so scornfully after all you’ve done?” Vero yells. “You’re as bad as she is!”
Seething, Torin pushes to the front but doesn’t physically engage, probably because I’ve asked him not to. “Riley doesn’t remember anything from that time. How can we condemn him for something he wasn’t involved in? He might be the same horseman, he might have the same power, but he is not the same person who hurt us. Now, if you aren’t going to play nice, then we’re not going to work with you.”
“I don’t want to fucking work with you,” Vero growls. “I want to kill all of the horsemen, including him.” He jabs a finger at me. “I want to make them pay for what they’ve done. I want them?—”
Mickey shakes his head. “As someone who has brought a lot of people back from the dead, I know the last thing the dead want is for their loved ones to tear their life apart for them,” he says as I help him up. I notice his hands are cut up from falling on the shattered tiles, but he ignores them. “Come on, we have much to think about.”
He heads into the room we were just in and slumps at the table before setting his head on it, like he’s just going to take a nap. The rest of us file in while Torin temporarily destroys the Door. Just as he’s finishing, Vero joins us.
“Lark, what do you think we should do?” I ask as I turn to where she and Story had been staying out of the fighting.
“Food would be amazing, but do you have enough spare food to feed thousands?” she asks. “We don’t need full meals. Something we could dilute with broth to feed many would be phenomenal.”
“What backlash would it cause?” I ask. “Will those in the capital target you even more?”
Lark shakes her head. “I don’t know. But at some point, we have to decide whether we’re going to starve to death or face their backlash. I’m not sure there is a better option… or even another option.”
Chapter Sixteen
Torin
I have my arms wrapped around Riley before deciding that’s not enough, so I lift my shirt which I cram over his head when he’s busy talking to Special Agent Kim. This confuses both her and Riley, but she doesn’t know how good Riley is at getting lost and abducted by the enemy.
“I am making sure he can’t be separated from me when we pass through the Door,” I explain.
“I… see,” Kim says, clearly not seeing, but I don’t care whether she sees or doesn’t see. All I care about is getting my Riley from point A to point Bwithme.
“What about me?” Mickey whines. “Do I go in Riley’s shirt, then?”
“Sure. We can’t lose either of you,” I say. Riley gives me a disgruntled noise as Mickey tries to climb into his shirt, while the agents, Lark, Story, and Vero stare at us.
“Lark… what is happening?” Story quietly asks.
“Shhh… they’ve claimed they are going to help us. Allow them to do their traditions,” she responds.
“This is not a tradition, this is an overly anxious man afraid we’re going to get separated when we pass through the Door like last time. He thinks if we’re touching, we can’t end up in different areas,” Riley says as he tries to break free, but I’ve been regaining some strength and he has no idea how hard it’d be to break from my hold in his current state. “We’re ready to go. Vero, are you ready? Have you left your grumpy pants behind?”
That seems to be a negative as he goes, “I will?—”
None of us get to hear what he will do because I step through the Door, feeling pleased when Riley is still in my arms on the other side. Mickey’s kind of just hanging on too, but I was less worried about him because that creature is still stuck to his shirt, and I would like it as far away from me as it can be.
“I’ve made it. Toast has made it, we’ve all made it,” Mickey declares as he lifts the monstrosity up and crams it near my face like he thinks I want to get a closer look at it.
