We came to a section of wall that I recognized—the metal tiles were mostly melted now. “We’re close,” I said.
“There!” cried Dani, pointing.
At first, I didn’t see them. But then, I did—two bodies, collapsed amid the falling debris.
We rushed to them. They were unconscious and covered in burns. One had a bleeding gash across his forehead.
But they were alive.
Riggs bent over the dark head so much like his own, and then slid arms beneath him. Marcus’s eyes flashed as he picked up Tyrez’s son and cradled him against his chest.
A large section of the ceiling came down not twenty feet from us.
Hurry, hurry,chanted Caliel.
“Tell Riley, ‘anytime now would be nice,’” Dani hissed.
And suddenly, in a pulse of gold, she was there. We grabbed hold, and the walls, floor, and flames swirled away.
Snap!
5
Tez
Safety meant lurking on a rooftop until dark.
The sayingIf you can’t control a situation, it will control youwas drilled into me from a very young age. And at the moment, everything about this situation was beyond my fucking control.
If I wished to survive, I needed to get it back.
I descended to the market below and merged into the aisles. Coming back here was a risk, but so was hanging around in the street. The market was the only place where my mental dithering would not be immediately obvious—I joined the many being indecisive about buying another knife or an armlet.
The grim reality was that I was totally lost as to which realm to flee to. I desperately neededRealm Travel for Dummies, and I was pretty damn sure it didn’t exist. Tossing the gatekeeper a few coins and saying, “surprise me” didn’t seem a viable option.
So I followed Nemi as she flitted through the market. She landed on a rack displaying cloaks and chirped at me.
When did the hummingbird start providing fashion advice? I rubbed at the earcuff, which seemed to tingle in a weird way. Minutes later, I’d bought myself a new cloak with multiple interior pockets that I was sure to find useful. I stuffed the old, stained one into a trash bin.
Nemi must have been hungry, because she then flitted off to the food vendors. When she checked out the offerings for her sugar water, she fixed me with a beady stare. Which I expected. But after I bought her some, she moved on to another selling food not suited to a hummingbird.
Eating wasn’t always about hunger. With a pang, I bought this realm’s equivalent of a hamburger and forced myself to eat while my mind continued to buzz uselessly. My grandmother’s deathbed wish that Ifollow my heartdid not seem particularly useful. What the fuck did that mean?
My entire life had been about survival. The heart didn’t factor into it.
When push came to shove, there was only one thing that I did well. And that was the moment when rational decision-making finally kicked in.
I didn’t know how to follow my heart. But she’d trained me how to use my head.
The hummingbird hovered over me as I left the market and prowled down a side street. It took me valuable time to find what I sought. The upper-echelon thugs were somewhat wary after my recent efforts, and I had to stalk and lurk before I could pounce on one.
He was vaguely familiar, so I said, “Hello, again.”
Clearly, he remembered me. He tried to pull away, but I had one hand on his throat, and I gave him a warning prick with the knife in the other. “What do you want now?” he demanded.
I told him, and he glared. But when I carved him a new ear piercing, he relented.
He slunk off when I let him go. I returned to the market, watching for the telltale glimpse of red capes. I was treading a fine line between getting caught by the Priesthood, and found by the one I sought.
