“What?” he whispered.
“He feels. Pain,” I said. “I think it’s the thread you used on him. My thread. And the scale jelly. Whatever it is, he can feel now.”
Quinten frowned, glanced back over his shoulder, then back at me. “Are you certain? Did he tell you that?”
“Yes. I don’t know how painful that procedure you just did on him is, but from the sound of it?—”
“It would be excruciating for a normal human.” Quinten wiped at his mouth with his nonglowing hand. “He shouldn’t be walking. Matilda, we need to find a safe place to leave him. He won’t be able to keep up, and running, now, will only do more damage to him.”
“I won’t hold you up,” Abraham said. He walked on his own toward us. I had to admit he seemed to be carrying himself better.
Neds followed behind him. I couldn’t see their expression in the darkness.
But Abraham looked calm, confident, and collected.
Yeah, I’d seen him put on that act before. I knew he was weak, wounded, and hurting.
“If you care for your well-being,” Quinten said, “you’ll allow us to find a safe place where you can recover fully.”
“There’s a price on my head,” Abraham said. “There is no safe place for me.”
“Then if you care at all about mysister’slife,” Quinten said, “you will put her safety before yours and leave this group behind.”
“Hey, now,” I said. “Stop it. Both of you. This won’t help anything.”
I may as well have been scolding a wall.
Abraham advanced on Quinten and glowered down at him. “I care very much about your sister. Do you understand me, Quinten Case? I know what you’ve done to make her. I know what you’ve done to keep her hidden. But she is no longer your secret alone.
“The Houses know about her; the world knows about her. And they know about you. If you think you can outrun them, you are a fool with a fool’s pride.”
“She was safe untilyouput her in danger,” Quinten snapped. “She would have stayed safe ifyouhadn’t stepped into our lives. I blame you, Abraham Seventh, for all the damage done to her. All the damage done to my family.”
“I will only tell you this once, Mr. Case,” Abraham said in a low growl. “You don’t want me as your enemy.”
“Enough!” I pushed my way between them, grabbed the sleeves of their jackets and physically pulled them apart.
Yes, I’m strong enough to do that. “We are all going to get along. Do you both understand that? I do not care one bit about who thinks they have or haven’t done enough to keep me safe. For one thing, keeping me safe ismyjob. I will not be argued over like I’m a fragile knickknack someone dropped and chipped.
“Right this second, I could wrestle youbothto the ground and make you cry uncle, so do not eventhinkof testing how serious I am about this. We travel together. Period. We keep the hate, blame, and anger where it should be kept: against the Houses who have sent assassins to kill us, and anything and anyone else who gets in our way. Are we gold?”
Neither of them said anything.
“Gold?” I repeated, shoving back my sleeves so I’d have better reach to wrestle them.
“We’re gold,” Abraham said.
“Fine,” Quinten said. “We travel together. If Abraham falls, we all fall. That should be a familiar refrain to you, Abraham Seventh, now that all the galvanized are falling because of your actions.”
Abraham lifted his head and forced himself to take a couple steps away. I noted it put him out of strangling range, which was pretty much what it looked like he wanted to do to my brother.
“We haven’t told you,” Quinten said, “but we are trying to get back to our property.”
“Why?” Abraham asked me.
Quinten answered him. “Because if we don’t, the time anomaly that has given the galvanized such a long life will end, killing all galvanized instantly.”
Abraham was silent for a moment. Just a few hours ago, I’d told him his friend Oscar was dead. Just a few hours ago, he’d found out my brother had killed his friend Robert. And now he was being told his own death was just days away.
