“Mickey!” Lucy was there, while Priestly backed away, unsure how to intervene.
Mal would have listened to them, would have cared that they all sounded so distraught for his sake if he could think clearly, but his head throbbed and his thoughts spun, leaving only his rage and the swing of his fist.
“Cho, please!”
“Mickey!”
Ludgate didn’t have any mirrors now, and even if he could find a reflection to slither into, his belt was shorted out. Finally, he was powerless, and Mal wanted to revel in that. He wanted to tear the bastard apart, blood for blood. But when the next voice called out to stop him, he froze.
“Mal,” Dom spoke gruffly—not a yell, just his name, sharp and firm.
Mal looked up, and Dom stood over him like a sentinel despite the way she held her ribs. Slowly, Mal let his arm fall to the side as Lucy dropped next to him and clung, pleading with him to stop, while Dom looked on with that old expression, so familiar that it made Mal ache, because it was the first look she’d ever given him.
Just two dumb teenagers lost in the world with no hope and no prospects, over twenty years ago, when Dom first saved Mal’s life. She hadn’t looked tough or smug that day, protecting Mal from a gaggle of bullies with a knife. She’d looked at Mal like she was now, like she simply couldn’t bear to see some skinny kid get beaten down any further.
Why did Mal always have to be the one to get beaten? Why did Danny…?
“Enough now,” Dom said, summing everything up in only a few words like always. “You know this isn’t what he’d want.”
“You’re not a killer, Mickey,” Lucy said hushed beside his ear, holding his arm and shoulders, hugging him even as she was careful around his back. “Zeus didn’t want to cross that line again. He didn’t want you to either. Please…please, you’re hurt. There’s so much blood…” She sniffed. Only then did Mal realize how bad it must be if Lucywas crying. She would have held it together for Danny, but she always cried when she feared for Mal.
“Let me look at you,” Lynn said, cautious but insistent as she came closer.
Finally giving in, Mal let Ludgate fall to the pavement, barely breathing but alive, which was more than he deserved, but it was what Danny had asked of Mal.
Several hands descended to put pressure on Mal’s back, and he hissed at the sting of pain.
“You’re in shock. We have to stop the bleeding.” Lynn’s voice sounded far away now, though she was only just behind him, wasn’t she?
Ludgate gurgled for breath, trying to get out one more laugh as he clung to consciousness. “The mirror world…is a cosmic…construct,” he wheezed, muffled by his swollen face. “It’ll reform, it always…exists.”
“But you’ll never reach it again,” Stella said, appearing from behind Mal to crawl up next to Ludgate. When he tried once more to laugh, she pulled back one of her bloody fists and struck him as hard as Mal had, finally knocking him out cold.
He’d live, but Mal still felt satisfaction in his silence.
Andre had stopped picking at the glass again, quietly sobbing as he held Danny’s hand, the one small part of him untouched by shards. Joey kept on, pulling more pieces from Danny’s body, from his arms and legs like he was mesmerized by the task.
How was Danny’s family so strong, Mal wondered? Maybebecausethey were a family. Because they were what a family should be.
Mal hadn’t had that traditionally, but he had it now. He had Lucy. And Dom. And all these others. It just felt so hollow with Danny lying there…
“Mickey!”
Swaying forward, Mal couldn’t stop his momentum. He was just sotired. He didn’t even feel the impact when his cheek struck the ground. Facing Danny, watching his closed eyes and still chest, Mal saw Joey finally pull the last piece of glass free.
“Lay him out!” Lynn ordered. “We have to get his shirt off…stop the bleeding…get him back to the precinct…” but her voice drifted away as she continued to give commands.
Mal couldn’t feel the hands on his back anymore. He couldn’t feel anything.
Unless it’s life or death, he thought, tears filling his eyes one last time, as he looked at Danny’s broken face. He’d kept his promise, he’d let Ludgate live, but it wasn’t supposed to end like this.
As he drifted into unconsciousness only feet from where Danny lay, he could have sworn he saw the kid’s eyes flutter, but he knew it was only wishful thinking.
Chapter29
Danny gasped as he came to. Everything hurt at once, as if his body had waited for him to come to full awareness before it assaulted him with the reality of the wounds he’d sustained.
He remembered the glass, how Ludgate hadn’t been wrong—the mirror world had imploded, taking the fun house with it and impaling Danny from every angle. The pain had been excruciating for one long moment before he caught sight of Mal…and then faded into darkness.
