“Yeah, yeah. I know. I’m just gonna keep bitching about it.”
“Why?” Bitty seemed honestly curious.
“Because I’m bitter that I’m stuck here?” How did Bitty not understand why Ava was pissed about this?
“Oh.” That really did seem to blow Bitty’s mind. “Huh. I guess I never thought about being upset about any of this. It’s just how things are.”
“Right…” The conversation trailed off, and Ava couldn’t stop trying to compute Bitty’s total blind acceptance of the situation as they navigated around a massive fallen statue. Half-buried in vines, it depicted some kind of many-armed creature with too many faces—a reminder that this place had never been built for humans.
She glanced down at her arm, at the unfinished tattoo peeking out from underneath her sleeve. At the Book under her arm, its secrets still mostly hidden from her. At the tiny fae walking beside her, powerless but somehow still surviving in this impossible place.
“Bitty?”
“Yeah?”
“Why do you keep going?”
“I mean, we’re going to the Broken City.” She blinked in confusion.
“No I don’t meanright now.”Ava pinched the bridge of her nose. “I mean in general. In life.”
“Because life is worth living?” Her confused answer made the whole thing sound so obvious. “Because I want to live my life.” She gestured at the world around them. “Because anywhere can be beautiful, if you want it to be. And because it’s my life.” She went back to guiding them forward.
Ava fell back into silence. And let out a sigh.
The weird powerless little fae bug lady was right.
Ava squared her shoulders and continued forward. Whether this was the right path or not, it was the one she’d chosen. Her path. Not Serrik’s. Not Nos and Ibin’s. Not the Web’s.
Hers.
And for the first time since she’d entered this nightmare, that felt like something worth fighting for.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
They walked for another few hours before Ava was finally too tired to continue. Not that she was looking forward to sleeping, mind you. Because she knew what was going to happen when she did.
Serrik.
And she would have to deal with what she knew. And how that clashed with what she wanted when she was around him.
They found an area that was pretty secluded—an alcove that was tucked off to the side of the long, overgrown hallway, shrouded by two ash trees that had flanked the doorway and created a natural archway. It was beautiful in the fading sunlight that drifted in through the leaves, creating dancing patterns of amber sunlight on the broken marble floor.
Setting down her things on the ground, she leaned Book up against the trunk of the tree inside the alcove, and got ready to hunker down.
“Can you summon us food or bedding?” Bitty was arranging sticks in the center of the alcove to make a fire.
“I…I mean, I can try.” Ava cringed, remembering the time she made apple trees explode through space. “My magic tends to be a little—um—large.”
“Large.” Bitty furrowed her brow and looked up at her, clearly not understanding what in the blazes Ava could possibly mean by that.
“It’s—” Ava gestured aimlessly. “Hard to control. I tend to do things with it that aren’t suited for smaller tasks like, well, food and bedding. But dropping gigantic house-sized objects on people? Or blowing holes through reality? I’m your gal,apparently.”
“O—oh.” Bitty’s eyes went a little wide. “Maybe you should not do that, then. I can forage for us. I’m very good at that.”
“I skipped the Girl Scouts, sadly.” Ava sat down by the pile of sticks, and helped Bitty stack them up into a cone shape. “But I learn fast.”
“Once I get the fire going, if you can keep it alive, I’ll go get us food.” Bit was just so damncheerful,despite their current situation, it was hard not to feel a little bit of it wearing off. “I hope you don’t mind eating fruit for dinner.”
