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Evie snorted at that.
“Americans have short memories,” Marlowe said. “Revolutionaries become Founding Fathers. Outlaws become legends. It’s who we are.”
“You don’t think we’ll survive anyway,” Ling said. “There’s a lot of radiation coming off your machine.”
“All perfectly safe, I assure you,” Marlowe said.
“What’s to keep us from just destroying the Eye once you strap us in?” Jericho asked.
Marlowe smiled. “I thought about that, believe me. There’s iron in each of your helmets to recalibrate your poles. You won’t be able to use your powers to affect it.”
“Each of our…?” Jericho’s eyes widened. “You really are a monster.”
Marlowe glowered. “All great men are denigrated by people who don’t understand them in their time. By people who fear greatness.”
Theta blew a Bronx cheer, startling Marlowe. Her heat moved through her with nowhere to go. The iron in the handcuffs kept her power on an invisible leash. “When have you been denigrated?” she said. “Looks to me like you’ve been given everything you ever wanted, pal.” She wanted to light up Marlowe, and all the men like him, and watch them burn.
“I’ve had to make terrible sacrifices for progress,” Marlowe answered.
Henry clucked sympathetically. “I, too, hate it when my tea gets cold while I’m plotting destruction. Such a sacrifice.”
Marlowe stared at Henry. “How would you like it if the whole world knew about you and those degenerate clubs you haunt in Greenwich Village?”
“How would you like it if I used you for kindling?” Theta shot back.
“Your village didn’t like it much,” Mr. Jefferson interjected with a snort.
Jefferson’s comment, a confirmation, was like another slap to Theta. Tears sprang to her eyes. These men had robbed her of so much. One terrible moment that lit a fuse leading to so many others. These men never thought about the consequences of their actions. They never thought about the people on the other end of an order.
Evie jumped up from her seat and kicked Jefferson in the shins, hard. “That’s for Theta.” She kicked him again, higher up. “And… and… that’s for Theta, too.”
“You still got a good kick on you, Baby Vamp,” Sam said admiringly.
Mr. Adams picked Evie up and forced her back into her seat.
“Thanks, Evil,” Theta said, and it seemed to her that she had never been so grateful for a friend.
“You and me,” Evie said back to her. “If they come for one of us, they come for all of us.”
“How sentimental,” Jefferson said in a strained voice. He’d gotten back to his feet with murder in his eyes. He moved toward Evie.
Marlowe held him back with his hand. “Your department can take over once we’ve secured the land of the dead.”
Jefferson eyed Evie. “You’re mine.”
And Evie mouthed back a phrase for which she was certain her mother would still wash her mouth out with soap. Beside her, Sam grinned. “Oh, Baby Vamp. Let’s get married tomorrow. Promise?”
Evie softened. “Promise.”
Marlowe peered out the window at the barren landscape below the clouds. “Looks like we’re here.”
The plane pitched left to right on its approach. It sailed down and screeched to a stop in the desert, and Evie thought that she might have enjoyed her first airplane ride had it not been this one.
There were several fighter airplanes lined up across the desert floor. Men in aviator suits stood at attention beside them.
“What are they for?” Evie asked.
“We’ll send them into the breach once you’ve stabilized it,” a general explained.
