One hand raised, reaching out.
A silent, wordless plea.
A fat goblin caught it. Nail files at the ready.
My vision was streaked, blurry.
But I could see the words on Maggie’s lips.
A distant, primal, subconscious part of my mind processed the words.
Laird told me to.
Not an excuse. But a fact all the same.
Laird Behaim.
Behaim.
Never forgive the Behaims.
I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I was standing before Rose and Alister again.
The bell tolled, an echo of an echo of an echo, one rolling over the other, a cacophony.
Sandra had tried to control it, Molly’s Bell, using that Apple of Discord I’d heard about. Centering the conflict on the house.
In slow motion, almost, trying to get centered, and place myself in reality, I withdrew the Hyena from Alister’s outstretched right hand. Blood oozed from the hole in his palm.
I saw him stare down at it.
To his credit, when he raised his eyes to me, there wasn’t a trace of surprise in his expression.
“The bell,” I said.
“Your cousin,” he said. “I know. Grudges die hard, and history is a hard thing to ignore.”
“I didn’t,” I said. Not even a complete sentence. But the meaning was clear.
“Fuck me,” he said, backing away a step, left hand gripping the wrist of his right. “This really hurts.”
The card was right, I thought. Balance. Both sides equally unhappy.
Wait. If it was balance, or whatever the drawn card was-
“Sorry, Blake,” Alister said. “But my family is watching.”
“Your family-” I turned to look. To see staring eyes.
In that same moment. The suit of armor with the lance moved.
It didn’t move from A to B with a handful of steps. Its arm didn’t move fluidly.
It went from A to B as if it were two completely different photographs, switching from one to the next faster than the blink of an eye. In the darkness, with the armor gleaming here and there, spots on my vision made it seem to linger in the spot where it had stood before.
Where it stood now, the lance was sticking through my abdomen.
Bits of broken wood fell to the ground. Other bits got tangled in my legs and on my pants, and gripped to hold their spot.
I worked to back way, heaving myself backward, along the length of the lance.
In the process, I glimpsed Rose and Alister, grim expressions on their faces.
My eye fell on the knight as I pulled myself free. I staggered, adjusting to the fact that I had a hole someone could have fit a leg through in my stomach, and consequently very little abdominal strength.
I saw the clock on the knight’s chest. Ticking counterclockwise.
Ticking down.
A timer. Five, four-
Too late, I started to run. I was fast, I was light. Even injured, I could cover a fair amount of ground.
It hit me harder than a sledgehammer. The lance piercing my shoulder. My arm hanging on only by the scraps and fragments of the armpit. I caught my arm and held it-
Eleven, ten, nine-
I raised my injured arm to my mouth, and I bit onto the cloth. My hand still operated, and I was able to pass the Hyena to my free hand.
I twisted and stabbed the knight.
Not even a scratch.
Five, four, three–
The bell continued to tolled, out of sync, messing up my ability to count and predict. It seemed to be getting worse, moment by moment.
Betrayal.
By siding with the Behaims, we’d betrayed Molly.
I backed away. There was no winning. No making everyone happy.
The lance pierced my chest. Dead center. Grazing my heart, breaking a part of my spine.
But I was still moving backward. I slid free, landing on all fours.
A small bird flew past me, helping me get my balance and my bearings.
Circles were appearing in the snow. The snowflakes within bright and slow and glittering.
The watching Behaims.
With Evan’s help, I could navigate the traps that were unfolding around me. Break free of the snares. I practically staggered.
The Knight moved, but it could only move so far in the space between seconds. It only grazed me.
I saw Will, struggling with his mechanical people. They weren’t obeying. Weren’t coming after me. He had to duck as one nearly hit him, twisting around.
Evan and I ducked around a corner. Putting a building between us and the Behaims.
We were on a main street.
All of the Others who’d been at the house, and many of the Others that had been held in reserve, they were active. Reacting to the bell.
I found the nearest dark spot, and let myself collapse.
13.02
“I have no idea what happened there, but I can confidently say that probably could have gone better.”
“Yeah, Evan,” I replied. I’d collapsed onto my stomach, and I didn’t turn my face away from the ground as I spoke. “Yeah, it could have.”
“Are you dying? Hole in the stomach usually means dying.”