Aerysn glared at him, then focused back on his work, continuing to tear through his flesh with the blade, down alongside the vein. Blood rushed out, and Kid wanted to turn away, but he was too curious not to watch as Aerysn fished his fingers into the cut he’d made.
“Oh, oh, oh God!” Kid exclaimed.
Aerysn cringed and groaned, clearly in pain as he worked to get something, and Kid had this horrifying image in his head of Aerysn tearing out a vein right before his very eyes. When Aerysn did manage to wiggle something out, it looked like a vein, which made Kid gag. “Holy fuck.”
“It’s a cord,” Aerysn explained, though that didn’t make it look any less a part of him as he pulled it out, dripping with blood.
Once he managed to get the end out, he set the cord on the table. It was a slim, flat piece of metal—nearly a foot long. Aerysn bent the strip and attached it at the ends, forming a circle, but as the edges touched, the strip began to bend and twist as though invisible hands were working it. The sides rolled together, folding and shaping into a sphere, which spun around rapidly as the metal shifted and moved around, taking shape.
Because it was so small, Kid had to move closer to see what was happening.
When it finally stopped spinning, it continued to move as though tiny fingers were working it like putty. Two symmetrical pieces jettisoned from the back of the sphere. They looked like miniature wings, like on a fly. They stretched out to the sides as small legs pushed out from under the object, and soon the rest took the shape of a very small fly, even moving around on the table in circles, in a pattern that made it look as though it was alive.
“A runsie?” Treycore asked.
“Yes,” Aerysn replied.
“Okay, give me this in mortal-speak,” Kid said.
“It’s how we’ll reach my colleague,” Aerysn explained. “We don’t exactly have cell service in immortal realms, so we have to develop other ways of transmitting messages. These are highly sophisticated versions that can transport messages between the realms. This variety was created during the—”
“Yeah, yeah. The War. Blah blah blah,” Kid said.
“Yes. They were made to remain disguised from the enemy. This one happens to be a fly. Some are mosquitoes, some wasps. Fuck, the wasps can even sting, that’s how realistic they’re made. It has a preprogrammed portal from Earth to Hell in its system. It’ll use that to get back. Right now, it’s circling around, recording where it is so that it can return to this spot when the recipient wants to send a message back to us.”
“And how will it know where your guys are?”
“I’m going to set it to copy the message to every runsie box that it has programmed into its system.”
“Clearly, there was a mole who ratted you guys out,” Treycore said, “so if this message gets to the traitor, they’ll know where we are. Sounds like a shit idea to me.”
“I’m sending it for one contact in particular, the one who was fighting the enemy alongside Kinzer. I know and trust him. We have our own, separate code that even those who are in our operation won’t be able to make out. Hopefully, he’ll be at one of those facilities and be able to get the message.”
“So basically, this little fella could be taking this message to no one?” Treycore asked.
“Or a lot of no ones, but I have faith in Quintz, and considering how fast these little guys move, it’ll be a few hours before we know if he made it out of there with Kinzer.”
“How fast are these runsies?” Kid asked.
“When this thing gets going, you won’t even see him. And because he’s so small, any obstacles in the way are easily overcome.”
Aerysn set his hand before the runsie, which crawled onto his finger. He pulled it to his lips and whispered something that wasn’t English. Kid figured it was the same language he’d heard occasionally in Heaven.
“What is that?” Kid asked.
“The language of old,” Treycore replied. “Although he didn’t say anything that made sense. It’s obviously some code they use to communicate in case someone manages to intercept the message.”
Aerysn petted the wings on the fly’s back, then stood up and approached the window. He unfastened the locks on either side before pushing it forward so that it angled open. He slid his hand out through the opening, and the fly flew from his finger.
Kid glanced at Treycore, who looked on edge, as though he was skeptical that this runsie would even make it to Aerysn’s contact, and considering what they’d seen go down at the colosseum, he was equally skeptical.
But he hoped…and he was surprised by his own hope because, really, after everything that had happened, how could he still have hope? Although, despite everything that had happened, it seemed he had been fortunate enough to have those who were there for him even in the darkest of times. He could have been killed back at Jerry’s, but Kinzer had saved him. He could have died at Vera’s twisted hands, but Trey had saved him. And he could have been brutally tortured and killed by those savages in the Nest, but Aerysn had been there to protect him.
Lucky is what he was. So fucking lucky.
And he hoped that stroke of luck would sustain him a little longer…until a day came when he was sure it wouldn’t, when he would find himself on the other side of luck.
But it wasn’t that day yet. Kid at least had a little more time left in this great war between the heavens.
