She met his gaze with confidence. Wayne glanced toward Marasi, concerned, shying away. Like a puppy whose chew toy had bitten it back.
Marasi was more worried about Wax. He’d frozen in place, gun out and pointed at Telsin, arm straight. Expression … grim. Telsin was his last close living relative, and she’d played him for a fool. Six years ago, he’d dedicated a great deal of emotional and physical effort to rescuing her from the evil forces he’d thought had taken her. Only to find she’d been working with them all along.
Now, she’d thrown her lot in with a god planning to destroy the world.
“Why are you here, Telsin?” Wax asked.
“To warn you, Waxillium,” Telsin said from across the room. “Your next actions will be of the utmost importance. You have two days to solve this problem. Only two precious days.”
Wax cursed softly, leaning down beside Marasi and Wayne. “Speed bubble,” he hissed.
Wayne threw one up and slowed the world around them. It would also prevent Telsin from hearing, or at least understanding, what they were saying.
“What’s she playin’ at, Wax?” Wayne said. “She should look more threatened. I shot her. Me. First time in years. And she don’t even look like she cared.”
“Wayne,” Marasi said, “it’s not like you gave her your virginity.”
“No it’s not!” he said. “I give that away all the time. This was special.”
Marasi glanced at Wax. “You all right?”
“I will be,” he said softly, staring at his sister — frozen in time. “It’s … painful. Like an old injury aching again. Because it never healed right.”
“Why did she say two days?” Marasi asked. “Wax, she’s trying to wrong-foot us.”
“I agree,” he said. “She’s trying to get us to believe we have more time than we do. One of her games.” He narrowed his eyes. “Her being here says something she may not realize, though. That she’s desperate. She knows she has to stop us.”
“But she’s not afraid of us,” Marasi said.
“Not physically,” Wax said. “She’s not afraid of being captured or killed by us. Harmony said … well, she’s — at least in a small way — part god. Autonomy has Invested her with some sort of power and authority, made her the avatar of Trell on this planet. For now. Until she fails.”
“Wait,” Wayne said. “Who is Trell and who is Autonomy and who is that on the steps?”
“That on the steps,” Wax said, “is my sister. A woman representing the god Autonomy. Using the title of Trell — an ancient god from this world.”
“Right…” Wayne said. “And all three are utter knobs?”
“Utter knobs,” Wax agreed.
Marasi followed their gaze back toward Telsin, looking so proud and confident. As she watched, Marasi could swear that Telsin’s eyes began to glow a soft red. The faintest of light. It was gone a moment later.
“Rusts,” she whispered. “This feels like it’s way above our pay scale, Wax.”
“There’s no one else,” he said. “But like I said, if she’s here, she’s worried about us. She wanted to go through with her plan weeks ago, but is having problems getting her technology to work. Now here we are, sniffing about, finding things they couldn’t track down. My gut says she’s here because she wants an opportunity to mess with my mind. Nudge me the wrong direction. Risky of her, but smart.”
They all fell silent, but Marasi had that same sense of cold dread from earlier. Magnified. The Set’s plan, the danger Autonomy posed … Marasi glanced down; she was still holding the picture Maraga had dug out. Ash falling from the sky, burying cities that had been destroyed.
“What do we do?” Wayne asked.
“Let me think,” Wax said. “How much bendalloy do you have? Are we wasting it?”
“Nah,” Wayne said. “I’ve got plenty.”
“He’s been saving it,” Marasi said, “and learning to be responsible with his finances and his use of metals.”
Wax glanced at him. “Who’d you take the money from?”
“Someone worthless,” Wayne said.
“Remind me to check my bank accounts,” Wax said, “if there are any banks left after all of this. For now, the most urgent matter is the bomb. They have it ready, but can’t deliver it. So we need to find whatever device they’re setting up to launch the thing, then stop it.”
“Maraga says the Set is using the bunkers under the city as a kind of base,” Marasi said. “If we can sneak in, maybe we can find the mechanism. Or at least learn its location.”
“Hard to sneak anywhere,” Wayne said, nodding toward Telsin, “with some kind of demigod thing watchin’ you.”
Wax thought for a moment. “I need to confront Telsin, deal with her, maybe try to get information out of her. I want to find that bomb and stop it. I might be able to sort the lies from the truth. But I do agree, trying to get into their base could be valuable. Not sure how we’d manage it though.”
Marasi glanced at Moonlight, frozen outside the speed bubble. What did she make of all this? Did she have answers?
Maybe Marasi should tell Wax. Only … would that break Moonlight’s frail trust in her? The woman could easily vanish again, as she’d done after the fight at the warehouse.
So many secrets. Marasi had become a constable in part to reveal secrets — and here, in working with Moonlight, she had a chance. At something bigger. Something more important. Secrets beyond secrets. She needed more time to pry information out of Moonlight.
“Wax,” she said, “we should split up.”
He met her eyes. “Two teams,” he said. “You find a way into the caverns. I deal with Telsin and follow any leads I get from her.”
“Exactly,” Marasi said. “I think Kim is trustworthy. She and I had a chance to chat when we were at the archive, and she knows a lot about the city. With her help, I might be able to locate an entrance to the caverns. In there are secrets, maybe the location of the bomb. But an infiltration like that will take time. Maybe too much time.”
“So Wayne and I take a direct route,” Wax said. “We interrogate Telsin and locate the bomb that way.”
“She’ll play with your mind, mate,” Wayne said.
“I know. But she’s my sister. I … I need to do this.” Wax took a deep breath. “If I’m right, she’ll have to give me bits of truth along with her lies. If we can play the game better than she does, it might lead us to the weapon.”
“Right,” Marasi said. “Whatever you find, send to Steris and Captain Reddi via radio. I’ll do the same. That way, we can consolidate our information and leave notes for one another.”
Wax nodded, but seemed reluctant.
“You worry local radio operators might be compromised?” Marasi said.
“It’s possible,” he said. “But I don’t know of a better way. I’m going to send something to Steris as soon as we leave here.”
“Will you write to Allik too?” she asked. “Remind him I asked him to leave the city? It’s selfish of me, but…”
“It’s all right,” Wax said. “It’s not selfish to want to save those you love.” He paused. “I don’t know if we’ll have a chance to meet up again before the day is done. So if you don’t hear from me, Marasi, know that I trust your judgment. If you have a chance to stop the bomb, do so. Whatever the cost.”
“Same for you,” she said. “All right. Let’s split.” Wax nodded to Wayne, who dropped the speed bubble.
And just like that, Marasi had put herself in a position to interrogate Moonlight freely. She would share what she found with Wax. And he would understand. She felt she should have been embarrassed for keeping this from him, but in truth she was excited.
Wax walked over to Telsin. “You and I need to talk,” he said to her.
“Agreed,” she said, starting up the steps.
Wax moved to follow, pausing briefly to say something to Maraga. Before Wayne joined him, he took Marasi by the arm. “Hey,” he said softly. “Be careful with that Kim character. I think she’s fakin’ about somethin’.”
“I appreciate the warning,” Marasi said. “I think she knows more than she’s saying, but I don’t think she’s working for the enemy.”
“Right,” he said. “Hey, you take care of yourself.”
“You too, Wayne.”
“Don’t I always?”
He said it as if in jest, but there was something to his voice. “You all right?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Just feels off, you know? After six years together, I’ve gotta let you march away alone. Without my keen observations on life and the world to keep you on your toes.”
She smiled, then raised her fist for him to tap with his own. “I’m glad you walked out of the stories and into my life. I’d rather have a friend than a legend.”
“Same.”
“Wayne, no one is calling me a legend.”
“They will,” he said with a wink. “You take care. We’ll see you later tonight.” He slipped an old bowler hat off a rack near the center of the room. He put it on and left a stapler tied with a ribbon hanging in its place. Where had he found that?
Wax and Wayne disappeared up the steps behind Telsin, leaving Marasi alone with Moonlight, Maraga, and the whole cosmere’s worth of secrets.