I frown. “I don’t want to miss the Harrow Gates.”
“We have nine hours,” he repeats. “We have plenty of time to make it there. The quest isn’t even a hard one. We just gotta bring the green light back.”
I hesitate. “Cipher? Do we have enough time to make it back to the Harrow Gates?”
“There is an eighty percent chance you can finish the quest and make it back to the Gate with an hour to spare. As long as everything goes according to plan.”
I worry my bottom lip. “I’m not sure I want to risk that.”
“Maybe it gives us enough loot to share with Dox, though,” Locke points out. “She’s coming in with no Glitch. We’re gonna have to protect her for a while.”
“But we can literally do the quest after the Harrow Gate,” I remind him.
“But it doesn’t make sense to go all the way to the Harrow Gate and then all the way back across the river and then again, back down to the Speakeasy Sprawl to find the Major Boss. This would save us a lot of time.”
“He has a point,” Cipher says. “And you have an eighty percent chance of completing it with plenty of time."
"I'm more worried about that twenty percent chance of not getting back,” I reply. “There’s also the chance that she doesn’t even come to this Gate you said.”
Cipher hums. “I will do everything in my power to get her to this gate. It will take . . . a bit of code?—”
“You have no idea how much I appreciate you trying for me,” I tell him.
“I do,” he answers. “That is why I am doing it.”
Locke chuckles. “It’s a good thing Cipher is just a machine,” he says. “I’d be worried about the competition otherwise.”
Just a machine. I chuckle halfheartedly along with him, knowing that Cipher is anything but just a machine. Everything about the system is almost as human as we are. He has emotions, wants, needs, hunger.
“You should still be worried about the competition,” Cipher declares. “If not from me, at least from the Warden and the Leech.”
Locke snorts. “Vesper wouldn’t be insane enough to give the Leech a chance.”
“Why not?” Cipher asks. “She gave you one.”
Locke stops laughing real quick, his eyes flicking over to me as he clamps his lips shut. He doesn’t ask me and I don’t give him anything to go on. I could lie and say that’s not going to happen, but . . . I’m at least a little intrigued by the Leech, even if I know how bad of an idea it really is. He’s collared for now, but there’s nothing saying he won’t drain me if given the chance. In fact, I’m certain he would. It’s his nature, and nature often can’t be changed.
But then that’s what everyone said about Bone Breakers.
Cipher is right. So, I don’t lie. I don’t say anything at all about the Leech.
“Havoc clearly isn’t interested in me,” I point out. “I’m pretty sure my mere presence is annoying to him.”
Locke rolls his eyes. “Even I can see the Warden wants you. If he admits it, that’s a different thing entirely.” He shrugs. “It doesn’t matter.” He presses tighter against me. “As long as I have a piece of your heart, I don’t care if anyone else does, too.”
My throat grows thick with emotion and I hold onto him just a little tighter, just a little longer, before we have to step outside and risk our lives yet again.
“Are you sure we have enough time to complete the quest?” Havoc asks. “I thought you wanted to be at the Harrow Gate early?”
“Cipher says we have an eighty percent chance of completing it on time,” I point out.
His brows raise. “And did he also tell you it’s at least a six hour walk from our current position to the Harrow Gate?”
I open my mouth and close it. “No,” I finally admit. “He did not.”
Havoc nods. “I thought so.”
“We could take one of the mechanical boxes,” Locke offers helpfully. “We’ll make it there a lot faster with one of those.”
