“Guess that makes sense,” I said.
“And Russell’s seen combat,” said Murdo. “I can tell. He didn’t panic or freeze when Lorenz showed up.”
“He has seen combat,” I said, my voice quiet. I had been there for it. During the Archon attack on Milwaukee, Russell and I had been at the Ducal Mall. An orcish mercenary had been about to kill me, and Russell had shot him dead. Russell had also kept his cool as we escaped from the Ducal Mall with Lydia Valborg in tow, and later that day when orcish mercenaries and a pair of Archons had attacked the Marneys’ house.
“I think you can trust him,” said Murdo.
“Of course I trust him,” I said, but the words felt hollow. I said I trusted Russell…but did I act like it? Had I told him anything? I had tried to keep the fact that I could use magic from him for years, but he had figured it out anyway.
“That’s not what I meant,” said Murdo. “I think you can tell him the truth. He’s not as fragile as you seem to think he is…”
“That’s the whole point of this,” I said. “That’s what I’ve been doing my entire life. To save his life. I didn’t want him to get involved in this, I…”
“Nadia,” said Murdo.
His tone wasn’t hard, but something in it demanded my attention.
“I know you wanted to protect your brother,” said Murdo, “but we came to Milwaukee by random chance. If we had decided to follow up another lead, we might have been on the other side of the country. And if we had, Lorenz would have taken Russell alive and killed everyone else in Vander’s clinic.”
“I know that,” I snapped. “Why are you repeating it? To make me feel guilty?”
“No,” said Murdo, “to make you see the truth. And the hard truth is that you can’t always be there to protect your brother. Which means you have to help him protect himself. One of the best ways of doing that is to tell him the truth. And if you had done that…maybe he wouldn’t have put himself at risk by contacting Vander and Captain Ross and Mr. Rusk and the others.”
I glared at him, but there wasn’t much force behind it.
He had a point. A really, really good point.
“Goddamn it,” I muttered. “You’re annoying when you’re right, you know that?”
He smiled, briefly. “My ex-wife used to say that.”
I blinked. “You never mentioned that you were married.”
“It didn’t end well,” said Murdo, gazing at the chain link fence. “I thought I would be alone after that, and then I met another woman, and…things changed.”
“This hostage that Nicholas has,” I said.
“Exactly,” said Murdo. He shook his head, seemed to come back to himself, and looked at me. “Are you ready to talk to your brother?”
“Yeah,” I said, wrapping my arms around myself.
Murdo nodded. “I’ll tell him to come out.” He turned towards the door.
“Rory?”
He paused. “Yes?”
“Thanks,” I said. “You really do give good advice.”
“Now I just need to learn to take it.” He nodded and disappeared into the warehouse.
Russell came out, walked next to me, and stopped, his hands in his pockets.
I stared up at him. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been alone with him. Wait – it had been the day that Arvalaeon had captured me and thrown me into the hell of the Eternity Crucible. Lydia Valborg and her family had been coming over for dinner. The Marneys’ kitchen had been out of…steak sauce, that was it. I had wanted a cup of coffee anyway, so I had volunteered to walk to the grocery store and get some.
Then Arvalaeon had found me.
That had been a hundred and fifty-nine years ago from my perspective.
“Hey,” I said, a rasp in my voice.
“Um,” said Russell. “I noticed something kind of strange.”
“What?” I said.
“It’s ninety degrees out,” said Russell. “I’ve been sweating all day.” He gestured at the sweat stains in his armpits. “You’re wearing a heavy sweater and a pea coat…and you still look kind of chilly.” He hesitated, reached out, and touched my forehead. His fingers felt feverishly hot. “And you feel really cold.”
“Yeah,” I said. I closed my eyes.
“Nadia?” said Russell.
“I really missed you, you know,” I said, keeping my eyes closed. “I…we used to talk all the time. Every day, when I was in town. And now it’s been a long time.”
Longer than he knew.
“Yeah,” said Russell, voice cautious. “But, Nadia…I wasn’t the one who left.”
I opened my eyes. “I’m sorry.”
Russell didn’t say anything, but he did swallow. “Uh…well, you didn’t really do anything…”
“Yes, I did,” I said. “No, wait. You’re right. I didn’t do anything, and that’s the problem. I just…disappeared on you. Didn’t tell you where I was going or why. I didn’t send a postcard or even a damned text message. I thought…I thought I was going to protect you.” I shook my head, tried to run a hand through my hair, and then remembered I had it tied back in a tail. I still needed a haircut. “I didn’t realize what it would do to you. I didn’t think it through. And I’m sorry about that. I’m really, really sorry.”
Russell shifted, put his hands in his pockets, tugged them out again. “Nadia, it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not,” I said. “I mean…how much time have you spent looking for me?”
“A lot,” he admitted. “I haven’t flunked out of school or anything. My grades are still good. But I did break up with Lydia because I didn’t have time for her. Her parents and her grandfather were pretty upset with me.”
“Yeah,” I said. Old Hakon Valborg was formidable when he was angry.
“But I had to do it, you know?” said Russell. “You’re the only family I’ve got. I couldn’t just sit on my hands and do nothing.”
“I thought I was protecting you,” I said. “I wasn’t safe to be around, and…damn it. I’m sorry, Russell. I wish I had done some things differently.”
I thought of Riordan, how coldly I had broken up with him, and felt a pang of regret. Grief, even. I realized that I missed him almost as much as I had missed Russell.
“It’s okay,” said Russell. “I’m just glad you’re safe. Well. Mostly safe.”
“Given that we just escaped from a couple of vans full of orcs and anthrophages, yeah,” I said.
“Okay,” said Russell. He took a deep breath. “I have to ask you something.”
I nodded. I expected him to ask what had happened to me. I didn’t know how I would answer. Would I tell him about the Eternity Crucible?
“This Victor Lorenz guy,” said Russell.
“What about him?” I said.
“He’s a high-ranking Rebel, right?” said Russell.
I started to say something glib, and then remembered Murdo’s advice. “Yeah. Extremely high-ranking. The Rebels have one leader, a guy they call the Overseer, and Lorenz is part of his inner circle.”
Russell took a deep breath and met my eyes. “Then how do you know him?”
I realized that Russell was asking if I was a Rebel. If I had become a murderer and a terrorist.
A flicker of anger went through me, followed by shame and deep regret. It was a reasonable question, wasn’t it? Russell wasn’t stupid. He knew the only reason a high-ranking Rebel would come after him was because of me.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll tell you, but it’s seriously dangerous information. If you mention this to anyone, there’s a good chance Lord Morvilind will kill both of us before the Rebels can get around to it.”
Russell hesitated and then nodded. “I never told anyone you can use magic. I won’t tell anyone about this, either.”
“All right,” I said. “There are these creatures from the Void beyond the Shadowlands called the Dark Ones.”
“Like, demons?” said Russell.
“No,” I said, “but they�
�re as nasty as demons, so it hardly matters. I think they’re kind of like superpowered locusts, and they move from world to world killing everyone they can find. The Archons draw a lot of their dark magic from the Dark Ones, and so do the Rebels. There’s a human wizard called the Forerunner. He’s an ally of the Rebels, and I think he’s kind of like a…well, like a scout for the Dark Ones, and tries to open the way for them so they can eat Earth.”
Russell frowned. “Then why do the Archons and the Rebels use the Dark Ones, if they know the Dark Ones will turn on them?”
“Because they’re morons,” I said, and Russell laughed. “No, seriously. They’re ambitious and ruthless, yeah? It’s like a guy who gets drunk and thinks he can handle the drive home. Instead, he wraps his car around a tree or drives into an overpass support. Same impulse. Except the Dark Ones are way more dangerous than booze.”
“How do you know about all this?” said Russell.
“I found out the hard way,” I said, rubbing my forehead. I was getting a headache. Hopefully, Jacob Temple had been thoughtful enough to stash some coffee in the safe house. “Morvilind made a deal with the Forerunner.”
His eyes went wide. “Lord Morvilind is a Rebel? Or an Archon?”
“No,” I said. “Morvilind hates them both. He’s working on some grand plan to destroy the Archons. Or at least I think that’s what he’s doing. Anyway, the Forerunner possesses some piece of knowledge that Morvilind thinks he needs. In exchange for that piece of information, Morvilind promised that I would steal three things for the Forerunner.” I sighed, the memory bitter in my mind. “The Forerunner let the Rebel Overseer decide what those three things were.”
Russell stared at me.
“So that’s what I’ve been doing for the last year,” I said. “Fulfilling Morvilind’s damned deal. I’ve stolen two of the three things for the Overseer. I expect he’s going to contact me about the third item any day now. And after I’m successful, once the deal is done, he’s going to try to kill me unless I can kill him first.”
“Then…you’ve been working with the Rebels?” said Russell.
I snorted. “Under duress. When I haven’t been stealing those two things, I’ve been blowing up their supplies and handing information about their organization to the Inquisition. That’s why Lorenz is here. The Overseer thinks he can kill me when the deal is done. Lorenz disagrees, and he’s tried to kill me twice before, but I’ve gotten out of it both times. Seems like his next tactic was to come here and take you captive, use you as leverage to get me under control.”
Russell didn’t say anything for a while.
I closed my eyes and sighed again. “If you think I’m a monster or you want to tell me to go to hell, that’s fine. Just…”
“What?” said Russell. “No, no, no. I was just thinking about what you said.” He took a deep breath. “Man. That is all kinds of messed up.”
“Yeah,” I said.
“And it’s my fault.”
“What?” I said. “No, it’s not. I mean, I’ll admit I’m not entirely happy about the way you tried to track me down, but that saved Jill and Felix. But nothing you did here drew Lorenz’s attention. Even if you had sat at home, he would have tried to find you.”
“No,” said Russell. “The entire thing’s my fault. Because I have frostfever. Morvilind can make you do these stupid and dangerous things because he’ll stop casting the cure spells if you don’t.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “It’s Morvilind’s fault. It’s the Rebels’ fault. Hell, it’s the fault of the frost giants. They’re the one who gave our dad frostfever in the first place. None of this is your fault.”
“But if I had died as a baby,” said Russell, “then…”
“Don’t,” I said, my voice hardening. “I made my choice. Even if I had known what was coming, I still would have made the same choice.”
I had been only a child when Morvilind recruited me. But when he had told me that I could save Russell by working for him, I had made up my mind then and there. I suppose there was nothing left of the little girl that I had been, but that determination had not changed. Nearly a hundred and seventy-five years after that conversation, my resolve had not wavered. I was going to save my brother or die trying.
And even if I had known what would happen to me, the Rebels and the Shadowlands and the Eternity Crucible and all of it, I still would have made the same decision.
“I’m sorry,” said Russell. “But…I’m still sorry you had to do this. That you’ve had to put yourself through all this.”
And he didn’t even know the half of it.
“It’s all right,” I said.
“But I still wish you would tell me the truth,” said Russell.
I frowned. “What are you talking about? I just did. I didn’t tell you everything. Knowing the Overseer’s name would be dangerous, so I didn’t tell you. But I didn’t lie about anything.”
Russell took a deep breath. “I know you didn’t lie. But, Nadia…something happened to you before you found out about Lord Morvilind’s deal.”
I didn’t say anything. He was right.
“It was the day Lydia and her family came for dinner,” said Russell. “You disappeared, and you came back the next day, and you were…different. Something awful happened to you, something that changed you. And that was before you found out about Lord Morvilind’s deal with this Forerunner person.”
My brother was a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them.
“I just wish you would tell me what it was,” said Russell, staring at the fence. “Maybe I could help.”
I didn’t say anything.
And then to my astonishment, my lip started to tremble, and I realized that I wanted to cry.
I used to cry all the time when I was younger. Sometimes after a rough mission from Morvilind, I would sit in the shower and cry for a while. I know that sounds pathetic, but I always felt better after it. Sometimes a good cry is just the thing to cheer you up, oddly enough.
I hadn’t cried in a long, long time.
I felt something inside my chest start to tremble.
“Russell,” I whispered.
He stared at me and tried to smile. “It’s okay.”
I took a deep breath. “I…”
I have no idea what I would have said next. Maybe I would have told him about the Eternity Crucible. Or how much I had missed him, or how I regretted breaking up with Riordan. Or maybe I would have just burst into tears.
Then a flicker of white caught my eye, and my emotions shut off as my mind shifted into combat mode.
I turned towards the gate, and I saw a white van drive past.
A very familiar looking white van, with an orcish mercenary sitting in the passenger seat.
“Shit,” I said. “They’ve found us.”
Chapter 8: The Riddling Dead
“That’s one of Lorenz’s vans,” said Russell. He had a gun in his hand, a Royal Arms .45 semiautomatic. I wondered where he had been carrying the thing, then I realized his shirt was loose enough that he had concealed it in a shoulder holster. I needed to pay better attention.
“Yeah,” I said, flexing my fingers as I called magic, my mind racing. My initial impulse was to tell Russell to get back inside while I dealt with Lorenz and his goons.
But I remembered what Murdo had said.
“Elephant,” I muttered.
“What?” said Russell.
“Go get Murdo, tell him to get out here,” I said. “Go!”
Russell nodded and ran back to the safe house. I waited, holding my magic ready to strike. Through the chain link fence, I saw the white van pull up to the curb maybe forty yards down the street. I guess our last encounter must have taught them wariness since it was far enough away to make it difficult to aim. Three more white vans came into sight and parked near the first one. The back doors on the vans opened, and orcish mercenaries and anthrophages started to emerge, guns in hand.
Murdo and Russell eme
rged from the safehouse and ran to my side. Russell still had his pistol, and Murdo had one in his right hand.
“Looks like they tracked us,” said Murdo.
“Yeah, how?” I said. “They didn’t follow us. We both would have noticed if we had been tailed.”
“Could we worry about that later?” said Russell.
“Can’t,” said Murdo with glacial calm. “Because if Lorenz figured out how to follow us here, he might figure out how to follow us to someplace else.”
“Yeah,” I said, flexing my fingers as my mind raced. “Rory, does this place have a back gate?”
“It does,” said Murdo. “Lorenz might be smart enough to watch it.”
“He probably is,” I said, annoyed. The anthrophages and the orcish mercenaries were forming up, and it looked like they were getting ready to head into the warehouse yard and sweep the building. “They look a little too comfortable. Let’s change that.”
I lifted my hand and cast a spell, a fireball whirling into existence above my fingers. I poured more power into it, the air above my hand rippling with heat, and then I sent the fireball screaming forward. It shot through the gate and landed in the street, exploding with a roar and a flash of flame. I don’t think I killed any of the enemy, but it put a fright into them. They scrambled for cover behind the vans, weapons raised. I tensed, preparing to cast an ice wall in front of us. I didn’t think the orcs would open fire at this distance, and the fence would foul their shots, but they might try.
An idea came to me.
“Russell,” I said, digging into my jacket pocket. I found my van keys and tossed them to him. “Get into my van and get out of sight. When you hear me shout, start the engine. We might have to get out of here in a hurry, and we can fit everyone into the van. We can’t fit everyone into Rory’s SUV.”
He nodded and took off for the van, and he didn’t argue. Like I said, my brother was smart.
“I’ve got the others getting ready,” said Murdo. “If we need to run, they can move.”
“Good,” I said, glancing at the vehicles. I was glad that we had parked so close to the door. Robert could probably carry Jill Rusk if necessary, and if…
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