Tearing them off of Cho’s head, Danny threw them at the discarded crumple of the suit. Cho looked startled at first but then seemed to understand.
“Danny, comeon!” Andre called again, his voice doubled from the suit and somewhere nearby, maybe only half a block away.
Danny pulled him and Cho to their feet and held the thief close. He knew it was time to let Cho go, that everything he’d once planned was over and it was time to come clean. He should end things here and now and do as Cho said—let his friends take him back to the morgue, take him home.
But he couldn’t. Not yet. He wanted one more night to pretend.
“They’ll take care of the suit,” he said, strong enough for one more feat tonight, because he had to be,he had to be. He looked at Cho’s face, discolored and tainted because of him. “And I’ll take care of you.”
“Danny!”
Willing himself to have enough stamina to make one more jump, Danny set his sights on Cho’s apartment.
Chapter24
Zeus was smart, but while he thought he was protecting himself and Prometheus, he’d given Hades exactly what he needed.
The lenses of Prometheus’s goggles were small, but they were large enough for Hades to snag the end of a piece of fabric. He reached through, gripped part of that fascinating black suit, and began to pull and pull it through the reflection, which was easy to complete once he had a good hold of it from his side of the mirror world. In moments, he’d claimed the black suit for his own.
“Where is it?” a male voice sounded from the mirror in front of Hades only a few moments later. He watched as feet stepped into view through the reflection.
“Maybe it’s still invisible,” a female voice joined him. “Are those Prometheus’s goggles?”
A hand appeared to retrieve them, and Hades got a clear view of a young man’s face when the goggles were lifted—dark skin, grey eyes, long braided hair. That must be ‘Andre’; Hades recognized the voice. Which meant the female was ‘Lynn’.
Prometheus might get credit for the diamond heist tonight, but it was doubtful the police could pin it on anyone, since most of the ice had melted, Prometheus had played things too smart initially, and all Hades had left behind was broken glass.
That’s what had given him the idea to go back for the guard before he tracked Zeus and Prometheus to the alley. All thatglass. A thief was just a thief after all. Hades wanted the peopleof Olympus City trembling at his name like they had trembled before Thanatos. And he had much better plans for Zeus as well.
“Are you going to tell me what’s been going on between Danny and Cho?” Lynn asked.
“Uhh…I think he should be the one to tell you.”
“Andre…”
“Something’s not right,” Andre said, holding the goggles at his side, giving Hades a view of the ground. “The tracker went dead. A second ago it said the suit was righthere.”
They wouldn’t find any trace of it now, not when it had found a new home in the mirror world. Staring at the fabric in his hands, Hades grinned. Breaking Zeus was going to be much more fun than simply killing him. For now, he just had to bide his time.
ß
Mal felt like he might throw up when he and Danny finally came to a stop out of the whirlwind of lightning, and he realized they were standing in his apartment. He’d lost his new comms and his goggles; he would not lose his lunch. Priestly was going to be pissed at him, especially if any of his creations could be tracked back to the shop, but for now all Mal could focus on was keeping the room from spinning.
“Are you okay?” Danny asked. Funny, considering the kid didn’t look much better than he did. Mal just wanted one chance to get his hands on Ludgate so he could bash the man’s teeth in. He didn’t usually find catharsis in hands-on brutality, but for this asshole he’d make an exception.
“Glass of water and some painkillers and I’ll be right as rain,” Mal said. He seriously hoped he was right about that. He’d had aconcussion before, which this definitely was, but he didn’t think any of the other damage was lasting, much as it hurt to move.
“Here,” Danny said and flipped on the light before leading Mal to the counter in the kitchen.
Mal steadied himself against it while Danny darted away. It was too dizzying to follow the kid’s movements, but when he looked up and saw that his curtains had been drawn, he figured he understood what Danny was doing—covering every reflective surface he could find. Assuming that would help.
Finally, Mal turned and got a glass of water. Then his ibuprofen out of the medicine cabinet above the stove. He’d downed four of them and finished off the water by the time Danny returned.
“I think that’s everything,” Danny said with a faint pant to his breath. His face had a few harsh looking dings, but Mal guessed his body had it worse.
Refilling the glass, he handed it to Danny. The pills wouldn’t work on him, but water was something at least. Danny practically chugged it.
“Come here,” Mal said once he’d set the glass aside.
