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“You’re taking too many risks, Rabbit,” Abel said. “One of these times, I’m going to come home and you’re not going to be waiting for me.”
“I know you’re worried, and you’re right to be,” Cela told him, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. He meant well, and she understood his fear. She would have felt the same, would have been worried for his safety just as much if their situations were reversed. And he would have been every bit as determined as she was to stay. “But you know I can’t leave now. I promised to help our friends, and I’m going to keep that promise.”
Abel’s mouth tightened, and the shift in his features made her brother look suddenly even more tired than usual. The dark circles beneath his eyes were deeper today, and the lines bracketing his mouth were grimmer. “You can still help them when things clear up a little. But until then, it’s not safe here.”
“It’s never safe here, Abe.”
He rubbed the growth of beard on his chin. “You know what I’m saying, Cela. Things are dangerous now. Police on every corner. Patrols hunting through buildings like they own them. What if you get caught up in that while I’m gone?”
“I’ll be okay,” she said gently. “I know how to watch out for myself. I’ve been doing it for long enough.”
“What if you don’t think of it as leaving? Maybe you could just take a trip,” he pressed. “You could go stay with our uncle down on the coast. Get out of the heat of the city for a while.”
“Abel Johnson, they don’t want me there. You know that. And even if they did, I wouldn’t want to bring my troubles to their doorstep. If I’m in so much danger, I’m going to stay right here and keep that danger from touching anyone else,” she told him. “You need to stop worrying about me and get yourself ready to go. Doesn’t your train leave in an hour?”
“I feel like I just got back,” he grumbled. “Maybe I could get one of the other fellas to take this route. I’d feel better if you weren’t alone.”
“Abel…” She met his exasperated expression with one of her own. “I’m not alone here. I got people to watch over me,” she said, trying not to think of what had happened to Jianyu or why Viola hadn’t returned yet.
Her brother ran his hand over the dark, short-cropped curls that covered his head. “Too bad they’re also the ones who got you into this mess.”
She nodded. “And I trust them to get me out of it.”
Abel cocked a brow in her direction, a question and a challenge. She wasn’t stupid—she understood his worry and his point.
“They’re not going to let anything happen to me,” she assured him. Hadn’t Viola killed Kelly’s men just by looking at them? Cela knew exactly how much that single action had cost Viola. The Italian girl seemed perfectly content to kill with a knife but had some kind of strange moral code against using her magic to do the same. The fact that Viola had chosen to save Cela and Abel over her own soul by using her power? That was more than enough for Cela. Even if she was still prickly as a pincushion.
“Please, Cela—”
“I’m done talking about this, Abe.” She let out a tired breath. “You trusted me to take care of myself when you went off hiding from those union busters, so you’ll just have to trust me now. I’m not running off to the country like some scared mouse. This city is my home, and I’m not leaving it. I’m certainly not leaving my friends.” She softened her expression and her voice as she stepped toward her brother and took his familiar face gently in her hands. He looked so much like their father. Acted like him too, sometimes, come to think of it. “I’ve lost everything else—our family’s home, my job at the theater, the life I had before. I can’t leave my city, too. I won’t be chased off or sent away for my own good.”
“Rabbit—”
“You have to go, so you’ll go,” she told him, stepping back. “You’ll be gone two, maybe three weeks, and I’ll be here waiting when you come back. I’ll be fine, just like I always am. But if you lose this job—”
“I know, dammit. I know.” He closed his eyes, and she knew he was begging patience and strength. But they both understood what would happen if he lost his position. It wasn’t as though jobs that paid as well as working on the Pullman cars were just lying around like overripe fruit. It was thankless and exhausting work, but on good runs with the right kind of passengers, the gratuities he earned more than made up for the money he had to put into buying the bootblack and other supplies he needed just to do the job. With the money he earned, they could rebuild their home and their lives.
“I’ll be fine. I promise,” she said, giving him a brisk, tight hug before letting him go.
“Make sure you keep that promise,” Abe said, his shoulders falling a little—a signal she’d won the argument. At least for the time being.
She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her brother. “I know how to take care of myself, Abe.”
He pulled back. “I know you do, Rabbit. But I can’t stop myself from worrying. You’re my sister, aren’t you?”
She gave him another squeeze. “Always.”
A whistle came from the street outside, and the two of them froze, listening as it sounded again. In the days that had passed since the Order’s solstice ritual, they’d stayed out of sight as much as they could, lying low in the small basement room. They couldn’t be sure who might know about their involvement with the theft of the Order’s treasures, so they weren’t taking any chances.
“That’ll be Joshua,” Abel said, pulling back. “Hopefully, he’ll have some news about a better place.”
“You asked him to find one?” she asked, surprised.
“I had a feeling you weren’t going to bend any,” he said, chucking her gently under the chin. There was still a sadness in his eyes that he couldn’t quite hide.
“And you still bothered me with your arguing?” she asked, feigning irritation but feeling nothing but love and pride.
He shrugged. “I had to try, but if you’re set on staying like I figured you’d be, I wanted to get you settled somewhere better than this place before I go.”
