Page 155

“What are you doing here?” Then he saw James’ cane in Darrigan’s hands, and everything started to come together. “It was you, wasn’t it? The fight in the saloon. You made it happen, didn’t you?”

Esta’s eyes went wide. “Please, Logan. You don’t understand—”

He stepped more squarely into their path. “What the hell have you done, Esta? Do you have any idea what’s happening in there? They’re destroying the place.” Then another thought occurred to him. “Where’s James? What did you do to him?”

Her features hardened. “Get out of our way, Logan.”

“That’s all you have to say to me?” he demanded. “After the mess you made? After you left me here?”

“Please, just step aside and let us go,” she told him. “I don’t want to fight you.”

“I don’t particularly care what you want.” He crossed his arms. “I’m not moving an inch until you agree to take me back.”

“Back?” Her brows drew together.

“Yes, back,” he said, then considered. “Or forward. Whatever you want to call it. The bottom line is that I want out of here. I want to go back to my normal life in the normal world. You have no idea— You can’t understand how terrible it’s been for me here.” She was frowning at him, but he didn’t care. “I miss reality. I miss television and iPhones and reliable running water. I miss penicillin. Hell, I even miss the streets only smelling like piss and garbage instead of like horse shit on top of that. You want to get out of here? Fine. But I’m going with you, and the only place we’re going is back to where we belong.”

Esta glanced at Darrigan, who still looked murderous. They seemed to exchange a silent conversation between them.

“I am where I belong, Logan,” she told him. “Here, with my friends. Fighting with them for what’s right.”

Panic inched along his skin. He’d practiced this conversation a million times in his head. He’d thought of every possible variation, but he hadn’t considered that she’d want to stay here in this hellhole of a time. “These aren’t your friends, Esta. And you don’t want to stay here. There’s nothing for us here.”

The pity in her eyes made his skin crawl. “I can’t take you back,” she said.

“Can’t?” he asked. “Or won’t?”

“Does it really matter?” she asked. “Either way, it’s not happening. I don’t have time for this right now, Logan.”

“Really?” he said, feeling suddenly furious. “You don’t have time for it? You have all the time in the world, Esta.”

“Not now I don’t,” she said. Her jaw went tight, and he knew she would dig her heels in harder.

“Esta, you have to listen to me—”

“No, Logan,” she snapped. “You need to listen. The world you knew doesn’t exist anymore. When you brought me back here? That changed everything.”

He ignored the tremor of unease he felt at her words. They had to be lies. She’d been turned by the Magician, and now she’d say anything to keep Professor Lachlan from winning.

“I don’t believe you, and I also don’t care,” he told her. “So what if it’s a different world? As long as there’s indoor toilets and the internet, it’s where I want to be.”

“You don’t get it,” she snapped. “I’ve been back—or close to it—and no amount of indoor plumbing can make up for what it’s like. It’s not the world you left. You’re safer here.”

He thought of the battle raging in the saloon and knew she was insane. His heart was pounding in his ears. “You just don’t want to help me. He’s twisted you, changed you.”

“She’s not lying,” Darrigan said, as though anyone could believe a con man like him.

“Get out of our way, Logan.” Esta adjusted her grip on Jianyu. Her gaze shifted to the door behind him and then back. “I’m warning you. Step aside. You don’t need to get hurt.”

“No,” he said. “You’re not going anywhere.” He squared his shoulders and prepared to do whatever he had to so she couldn’t slip away again.

COLLATERAL

Viola did not kill the boy, though Jianyu could tell from the fury in her violet eyes that she wanted to. But she did use her magic to remove him from their path. One minute, Logan Sullivan was standing against them and issuing demands, and the next, the warmth of old magic coursed around them, and Logan was on the floor.

“Come,” she commanded, beckoning them forward, toward the open door. “Cela is waiting with the wagon.”

At the mention of Cela’s name, Jianyu felt a flash of panic. “She should not be here.”