Page 70 of The Only Way Out Is Up

[Relief: I am glad.]

I’ve still got your thief body. Most of it, anyway, minus the parts I used for the strange device that saved us. I’ll fix you up in it tomorrow morning.

[Approval: please do. Being carried around in your pocket lacks—]

Dignity, I know. I smile slightly.

I wake up to the sound of laughter.

My left arm is a mass of knots and pain. I roll out of bed, feeling a thousand years old, and fumble my way one-handed into some halfway-clean clothes. I hear Ky’s voice from downstairs, and more laughter.

“—and the Arbiter looks at her and says, ‘It didn’t do that the last time!’”

Spike’s cackle is particularly penetrating. It’s been a while since I’ve heard her laugh. She and Ky are sitting at the table in the kitchen while Somi busies himself at the stove.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” Spike says when she spots me. “Glad to see you’re not dead. That was a lot of screaming last night.”

“Just Ameliana having her little fun,” I mutter. “I’ll be okay. Ky?”

Somehow, completely unfairly, she looks good. She’s re-braided her hair and washed the grime from her face, and even dressed in one of Somi’s old shirts she looks poised and confident. Spike looks at her with something like admiration, an expression I’ve never seen on my sister before. It’s kind of creepy.

“Feeling much better,” Ky says. “I can see, for starters, and my head’s clearer. Your Ameliana works wonders.”

“She’s not my Ameliana,” I say, taking a seat at the table. “But she does. We’re lucky she likes us.”

“She likes Somi,” Spike clarifies. “Like likes him.”

I can see a flush creep up the back of Somi’s neck, and he bends diligently over the pan of mashcakes.

“I’m sure she has impeccable taste,” Ky says.

“Taj, did you know Ky comes from Hod?” Spike says excitedly. “They have trees up there. And runics do all the chores. And her library has so many books she hasn’t read them all.”

“Not even a quarter, I’m afraid,” Ky said. “My tutors always despaired of me.”

“She’d mentioned,” I say, with a questioning glance at Ky. She gives a little shrug.

“Mashcakes are ready,” Somi says, turning to us with four steaming plates.

Everyone is hungry, very much including myself. I see that Somi has broken out the butter and syrup we hoard for special occasions, which makes the gritty texture of mash almost palatable. Ky eats with every evidence of enjoyment, fielding the occasional question from Spike about Hod.

When the plates are clean, Somi gathers them up and catches my eye in the process. The semi-telepathy of long acquaintance passes between us, and he clears his throat and says, “Spike, I need a few things from the market before we open today. Why don’t you come with me?”

“But I wanted to ask Ky—” She stops as he gives her a significant look, then eyes me suspiciously. “Fine. But you two aren’t going to disappear again, are you?”

“I’m not planning on going anywhere for a while,” I assure her, cradling my punctured arm with a wince.

Mollified, Spike allows herself to be guided out. The front door bangs shut, leaving Ky and me alone.

For a long moment, nobody says anything. She breaks the silence first. “So. We’re alive.”

“Yeah. Glad to hear your eyes are better.”

“Quite a relief,” she says, and brushes a hand against her arm. “And now I’ve got, you know, big holes in me held together with bits of string. Kind of a new experience.”

“I’d say you get used to it,” I mutter, “but you really don’t.”

“You saved my life. Again. With that… whatever it was.”