22 Dec YOR 7
SOPHIA
“You’re not allowed to die,” Sophia told Harrison from his hospital bedside at South Side General. She meant her words as his omerta, who would die if he did. She also meant her words as his maybe daughter, who wasn’t emotionally prepared for Harrison to drop such a confession on her and then get himself killed.
The fluorescent lights of the room made Harrison appear already dead, though everyone else looked no better. Levi and Roy stood outside, speaking to the whiteboots who had seemingly only decided to follow Roy’s lead because of Roy’s expired officer badge, his authoritarian voice, and his über-respectable side-part haircut. Harvey sat in the room’s corner under the watchful glares of Grace and Tock. Delaney and Narinder had taken to the seats along the wall, both slumped down and defeated.
The doctors claimed Harrison was going to be all right, that the emergency surgery had quickly removed the bullet and patched up his abdomen. But Sophia would believe that when he woke up. When she rolled anything other than snake eyes.
Could Harrison really be her father? Harrison was, at best, a washed-up fraternity brother who’d never been held accountable for his actions and, at worst, a deplorable, corrupted politician. But Sophia no longer trusted her memories of the man who’d claimed to be her real father, who’d coddled her yet willfully ignored her complaints of Charles’s cruelty. Harrison was neither a good or bad man, but he’d already consoled her better than her father ever had.
Sophia must’ve known the truth before she’d sold her split talent to the Bargainer. She must’ve known Harrison was her father, that Leah was her mother. So why hadn’t she reached out to him? It didn’t make sense. He’d been out there, all that time. Unless the Torrens had kept this from her, the way Enne’s own history had been a secret.
Levi returned to the room, dark circles beneath his eyes. “The whiteboots and Harrison’s own staff have posted guards all over the hospital. Roy told them there’s been a threat on Harrison’s life and not to release information to anyone, especially the press. Right now, the Chancellor and the Bargainer probably don’t know where we are.”
“They’ll find out eventually,” Narinder groaned. “I can’t just sit here and wait for them to show up.”
“We haven’t heard from Poppy,” Delaney choked out. “We called the dormitory, but no one is picking up. I...” She put her head in her hands. “I can’t just sit here, either.”
“Then our next step should be to go after Bryce,” Enne said. Her eyes were more bloodshot than the others’, irritated by the smoke and her cheap colored contacts. She’d removed them now, even if it exposed the violet underneath.
“I told you,” Harvey said darkly, “Bryce won’t negotiate. Not for me.”
“I think he will,” Narinder said sharply. “Otherwise, what’s changed? Why would you go back to him?” His voice was loaded with accusation, and Sophia realized that Narinder wasn’t just upset that Harvey had tried to foil their plan: this was personal.
Harvey’s face reddened. He had no answer. And Sophia had thought her own relationships were complicated.
“But we can’t go to Bryce. Not yet,” Delaney said. “Enne, you and Levi mentioned there was another shade. And that...that doesn’t sound right.”
“Another shade?” Sophia echoed, confused. “Other than the game?”
“Levi and I have the same dream,” Enne explained. “A repeated dream, of a hallway with black and white doors.”
Sophia furrowed her eyebrows. “That sounds like—”
“That soundsshatz,” Grace growled.
“Any more shatz than the Bargainer?” Tock shot back.
“Actually, yeah, it does.”
“We know how it sounds,” Levi growled. “But it’s the truth. Zula Slyk said it was a shade.”
“Well, ifZula Slyksaid it’s a shade...” Grace said mockingly while Enne glared at her.
“I don’t know about this Zula Slyk lady,” Sophia said, “but that sounds like a hallway in the House of Shadows.”
The room quieted.
“What hallway?” Enne asked.
“You mean the one in the basement,” Delaney said. “It’s where most of the malisons in the House of Shadows live. It’s all black and white. The doors, the tiles... With big columns and—”
“That’s it,” Enne breathed, exchanging a look with Levi. “That’s exactly it.”
“Poppy and I found it when we were there. I can take you back,” Sophia offered.
“What good is touring the creepy dream hallway going to do?” Grace asked.
