Page 57

Crew

T he balcony doors drift shut behind me, the dark sky filling my lungs. Charles has a pistol now, and it’s aimed right at Skar’s head. I freeze, spotting Charlotte standing across from them, wrist bent at a broken angle that weeps blood.

Donatello Rema lays face down in a puddle of his own blood at the table, his guards still bloodied heaps on the floor.

But Sofa is missing.

Charles motions me over with his gun. “I don’t want any games.”

His face doesn’t budge when I prowl forward, my pistol still aimed high. I can see something vicious on Skar’s face. Anger. Fear.

“All you had to do was listen. You could have prevented all of this if you just did as you’re told,” Charles taunts.

“I’m not stupid enough to believe you’ll let us live after all of this is over,” Char says, and it’s clear from her voice that she’s in pain. “I still don’t understand. This big plan. How is any of this supposed to work?”

Charles steps forward at the same time Charlotte does. Each step forward is another step back until Char is trapped between the table and the balcony railing.

“It doesn’t have to be like this.”

“You’re right,” Charlotte says quietly. “It doesn’t.”

Charles huffs. “You think I don’t know how this ends if I give up now?” he shakes his head, gun unsteady. “You and I can start over. We can rebuild things. Make it safe for any Prevyain-“

“I don’t want this life, Papa!.”

“Do you really think Skar loves you? You truly believe he’s different than his father?”

“I will not rule like Tyson did.” Charlotte shakes her head, arm still clutched to her chest. “I blamed Skar at first. For Tyson’s wrongs and his father’s before that. But things can change… You don’t have to do this.”

The gun still shakes in Charles’ hand and while I could easily take the shot if I wanted to, this isn’t my choice to make.

“Put the gun down, Charles,” I say, stepping forward. I can see just how close he is to turning that gun on me.

“Stay back,” he warns. “Or I will kill him.”

“What about Rema?” Charlotte prods. “You overthrow Westos and he just sits idly by? Papa, you know…. You know that will never happen.”

Charles is quiet, turning over the words. “Rema was right about one thing: He knew you wouldn’t be strong enough to do what needed to be done.”

Charlotte’s hands only quiver for a moment, her eyes wildly tracking over him as she tries to figure out what he’s talking about. “Why Rema?” she asks quietly.

“You’re smarter than that,” he taunts, and she shakes her head again, tears welling in her eyes.

“They’re Prevyain,” she says. “Donatello. Chase. Sofia. They’re Prevyain. Just like us, aren’t they?”

He laughs, but his humor is short-lived. “I never expected you to fall for Skar. After Eva died… I wasn’t sure we could convince you to go through with it. But we planned for it. Sofia will take your place… And Rema-“ Charles laughs. “Rema wasn’t supposed to make it this far anyways… but you took care of that for me, didn’t you?”

“They’re not dead,” Charlotte utters, eyes darting toward me. It’s a plea, a cry for help as much as it is a signal.

She’s distracting him.

“Want to know how I did it?” She challenges.

For a moment, Charles takes the bait. But then his eyes flicker toward me. Charles aims for Skar’s head, and I feel my finger tighten on the trigger as Charlotte cries out:

“Don’t! Please don’t. Papa, look at me," she cries.His eyes don’t move, but he doesn’t shoot either. He’s hesitating- which means that despite all of this, he still cares about her. “What if we can rebuild things? Just explain-”

“There’s no time.”

“This doesn’t work if we don’t walk out of here. We need to leave, Papa.”

“We don’t walk, Charlotte. They should be the ones to leave- not us!”

“So they leave. Then what? An entire country is against us from the very beginning. They already hate us-“

“They fear us. There’s a difference,” he spits, gaze cutting toward her again. I use the distraction to position myself behind him. “Maybe I should kill him. They won’t have a choice when he’s dead,”

Charles motions to Skar with the gun again, but Skar isn’t looking at him. His eyes remain on Charlotte, carefully assessing her. When he sees the dilemma- the obvious choice- in front of her, it’s almost like he’s wondering whether or not she might take it.

Charles whispers, “We can rule, Charlotte.”

With my gun aimed at his leg, I make one last attempt to look at Char… and I shoot.

Three gunshots pierce the dark, the bullets shattering concrete. One moment, Charles has a pistol aimed at Skar. The next, they’re both on the ground, Charles climbing on top of him, throwing punch after punch.

I yank Charles up by the shoulders, pulling him off. We topple back, his weight crushing me. I groan as my side splinters with pain, but I barely register that someone’s pulling him off of me until I see Ricky appear, tackling Charles to the ground.

“Get up!” Charlotte yells suddenly. “Now!” she screams.

Charles finally quits fighting, and Ricky shoves him upwards. Charles climbs to his knees as he comes face to face with Charlotte’s gun. “Char-“

“Two times you’ve tried taking everything from me,” she whispers, arm still clutched to her chest while her good hand aims strong. “Today, it ends. You and Momma and everyone who ever doubted me… I prove you wrong.”

Charles climbs to his feet carefully. “Think about what you’re doing.”

“I am.”

A final round sounds off, and Charles Orlova stumbles back a step as blood spills out of his chest. For a moment, he sways, red trickling down his shirt as he looks at his daughter. Then he tumbles over the balcony railing.

I watch as he disappears. A horrible crunching sound fills the air, and I finally relax enough to see Skar still breathing heavily from the ground. Everything’s silent for two dragging seconds. Then Ricky’s standing above me, offering a hand to help me stand.

“You okay?” Charlotte rushes out, and when I nod, she drops to her knees, clutching his face in search of injury.

He sits up, nose bloody, but looking otherwise unharmed. “I’m fine,” he tells her, and she settles enough to see the truth to his words. “I’m fine,” he coughs, a streak of blood dribbling from his lip.

“We need to leave,” Ricky is saying, and when I look back and see the plumes of smoke in the sky, I know it’s because the fire has spread.

The building is coming down sooner rather than later.

“We need to leave,” Charlotte says, motioning to the bodies around us. “Rema and the guards will be awake soon.”

When everyone nods, Ricky drags me upwards, and I groan, clasping a palm to my side. I stumble, putting all of my weight against the table so that I don’t pass out.

“Go,” I tell them. “I’m good. Just need a minute-”

“We don’t have a minute.” Ricky refuses to leave, slinging my arm over his shoulder and taking my weight. I bite my tongue to keep from groaning again, and Charlotte nods as Skar stands, grabbing hold of Rema.

Charlotte freezes. “Where’s Sofia?”

Inside.

Charlotte’s eyes widen with realization, and she winces as she holds her broken wrist to her chest.

I cough, pain reverberating through me. “Go. We’ll be right behind you. We’ll get their bodies inside.”

She checks the magazine of her pistol quickly and with one last look at the blood still staining the balcony railing, she walks inside.