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7

North Financial District

YVESWICH, STATE OF KER

“I can’t believeI let you talk me into this!” Loren hissed.

She stood beside Malakai on the sidewalk as he directed his stream into the darkness. He’d insisted she wait right beside him for her own safety while he relieved himself. But now that this was actually happening, she had never regretted anything more. The fact that she couldn’t see him was a small blessing, but as for the sound of his pee splashing on pavement…

That was a sound that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

The Reaper gave a theatrical sigh of satisfaction. “Ahhhhhhhhh.” A beat of silence passed. And then: “Want to help me shake it?” he offered, a big grin evident in his tone.

Loren rolled her eyes. “Sayonemore inappropriate thing to me, Malakai, and so help me, I will leave you here by yourself and see how you fare then.”

He wheezed a chuckle. “‘See how you fare then’,” he mimicked in a squeaky voice. “I hate to break it to you, Blondie, but hanging out with Darien has given youmajortiny dog syndrome.”

She arched a brow. “Tiny dog syndrome?”

“It’s where a small dog develops this attitude where it thinks it can beat the snot out of anything bigger than it?—”

“I know what it means!”

“Watch the tone, Tiny Dog—your Rottweiler’s not here to bite for you.” His zipper hissed through the quiet, his elbow bumping her arm as he slid his ring back on. He was lucky the magic in the bodysuit still worked enough not to have to manually strip it off.

“Alright then, Eyeglasses,” Malakai said, adding yet another nickname to his endless list as he fumbled for her hand in the dark, “lead this old dog home.”

“I think I prefer ‘Blondie’,” Loren muttered, lacing her numb fingers with his. She blinked the white into her eyes and started walking.

They’d made it north of the Avenue of the Waning Moon. The streets were calmer up here—less monsters—but they still hadn’t run into any people. Not living ones, anyway. Loren had a feeling there were plenty of dead ones, but unless they were actively being eaten by monsters with detectable auras, their bodies were invisible in the dark.

“Where are we now?” Malakai asked. “Which district?”

She scanned the block, searching for a sign bright enough to read. On the corner of an approaching intersection, there was a business calledNorth Financial Corner Store.According to the sign, it was one of those rare places that offered diesel and gasoline as alternative forms of fuel. Not many models took liquid fuel anymore; engines, like most things in Terra, had been modified to run on power from the anima mundi, though most were still equipped to take diesel or gasoline in the event of an emergency.

“I think we’re in the North Financial District,” she said, her eyes flicking with longing over the sign advertising slushies, pizza by the slice, fried chicken, and fries. Her stomach gurgled. What she wouldn’t give for a slice of cheese pizza, or some of that crispy, piping hot chicken. Better yet, make it both, and add the fries. Plus a slushie. And maybe a chocolate bar or ten.

“Finally,”Malakai said.“Nowwe’re getting somewhere.”

As they covered more ground, the spells on the buildings grew brighter and more crisp, and Loren felt a glimmer of hope upon hearing more helicopters flying nearby.

“You hear that?” Malakai asked, his tone optimistic.

“Yeah.” She nodded, nearly weeping with joy. “Helicopters.”

“Not just helicopters, Blondie.Cars.”

She strained to hear them, but the chopping of rotary blades drowned most everything else out. Was that a siren she was hearing? An ambulance, maybe? Or a fire truck.

Her heart picked up speed, and so did she, rubble clacking under her jogging feet. If those were cars Malakai was hearing, then the visibility over there was good enough to drive in without crashing. Maybe Darien was nearby. Maybe they’d run into each other on the street. Or maybe he’d made it back to Roman’s house, and was waiting for her there. Maybe she’d get to see him again, touch him again, tell him how sorry she was and that she didn’t hate him. She loved him, she loved him, she loved him…

Just before the explosion, when she’d poured her magic into the tower, she’d felt it expanding like a soap bubble over the city—weaker in some spots than others. She’d pushed it north, forcing it to stretch across the areas where her friends and family were located at the time.

She prayed her efforts had worked. Prayed that Roman’s house, the tar pits, and Caliginous on Silverway—and the tunnels that ran underneath—were still standing.

“Am I crazy,” Malakai began, “or are the security spells getting brighter?”

“They’re getting brighter,” she confirmed, her mortal lungs making her pant harder than the Reaper.