Ava really didn’t care.
She looked down at the tattoo that peeked out from under the black t-shirt that she wore. It had a saying on it that, at the time, had been simply snarky. But now, it seemed extremely fitting.It was a cartoon tiger prancing through flowers and in bold, cartoonish letters, it simply readPersist Out Of Spite.
“We could pretend and say ‘If you show me your cards, I’ll show you mine.’ But we all know there’s somebody else watching.” She pointed up to a spiderweb in the corner of the room. “And even if we vacuum up that little fucker we all know he’s watching and listening. So we all know we won’t be telling each other the full story, will we?”
Ibin and Nos stared at her in a mix of concerned silence.
Bitty was now mowing into her second grilled cheese, seemingly momentarily freed of her previous terror since she was distracted by snacks.
“And even if I could trust you to say you’d show me your cards in full, I repeat—why,whywould I believe you? Because both of you have a better motivation to lie to me and continue to manipulate me than to tell me the truth.” She finished off the last of her tuna melt.
More silence. Whatever either Ibin and Nos had been expecting, it hadn’t been for her to come at them with knives.
“So.” She pushed up from the table, and taking her plate, went to the sink. She started rinsing it off before taking the soap and a sponge to wash it. Manners. “Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to finish these dishes. I’m going to take a snack for the road. I’m going to leave here, and I’m going to use Book and whatever new power I have to help me find the second key.”
“Ava, no—” Ibin sounded desperate. “You can’t be serious. He’ll—you’re playingrightinto his hands.”
“Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not. But the only way through is forward. And the only way I can do anything at all, or have any control at all, is if I have access to more power. I can’t do anything on my own as I am now.” She rinsed off the plate and set it in the rack next to the sink to dry. A second plate hovered in her peripheral vision. She blinked.
Bitty was offering it to her, smiling innocently, as if everything about the situation was perfectly normal.
With a small shake of her head, Ava took it and started cleaning Bitty’s plate. The tiny, beetle-esque fae started gathering up the dirty plates and pans and started helping her…clean up after lunch.
“Unlocking another seal, assuming you are successful—which I would not be so eagerly presumptive—” Nos was attempting to keep his tone flatter, but she could hear the strain of worry hidden beneath it. “You speak of becoming an item to be wielded by others. This does nothing but further the extent to which that is possible.”
“It also furthers the extent to which I am able to dropfucking trains on people.”She put the last dish into the rack and poured some cooking oil in the cast iron skillets to keep them from rusting out. “I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t, Nos. I’m too weak to save myself right now. But I’m also too weak to be the thing that can free Serrik. What other choice do I have, but go forward? Wait to die? Wait to be cursed like Gregor? It’s the same debate I had before the first key.”
Just worse. So,somuch worse.
In a way that she had no clue if Ibin and Nos were fully aware of.
Silence.
“I’m leaving. And this time?” This was the other shoe. This was the decision she was really afraid to make. “I’m going alone.”
Ibin shot up to her feet. “No. No! Absolutely not. You arenotgoing out there alone! What if?—”
“You’re not there to spy on me anymore?” She cut off Ibin angrily. “To report whatever I’m doing to whoever you’rereallyworking for?”
Ibin’s eyes went wide, and the color drained from her face.
Even Nos looked shocked.
Fuck.
Fuck.
The Web was telling the truth.
What it’d shown her hadn’t been a lie.
“Goddamnit.” Ava ran a hand through her damp hair. “Yeah. I’m leaving. And I’m going alone. I’m sorry. I just—I can’t trust either of you, and I just…I appreciate all the help you’ve been, I seriously do. I just don’t know what your motives are, and until I do—” She picked up her bag from the floor and picked up Book. It was time to go.
“Ava, please.” It was Nos. “We must discuss this.”
“Nope.” She was already at the door to the rest of the Web. “Sorry, grumps. Just be glad you finally get what you want—I’m out of your hair.”
“Ava!” Ibin called after her.
