Frowning, Nate tried to catch Alden’s eye. He was missing something in the strange quiet of Alden’s words, in the way he seemed to be shrinking, all the anger drained from him.
Reed’s voice softened as if he could see it too. “Brick and Sparks will keep her safe. We’ve always kept her safe.”
Turning away, Alden steadied himself with a hand against his desk. “Of course.”
The room swooped, and Nate cried out at the sense of suddenly falling—only to realize he was being lifted up into Reed’s arms. Carried like a child.
Alden was always so dramatic, wrapping his words in finery. This time, his voice didn’t bite. “You can’t come back here,” he said, weary. “Do you understand?”
Reed carried Nate past Alden through the front room, where Pixel launched at them, crying and questioning Reed too quickly for Nate to understand. The chimes at the door rang out. It happened so fast that Nate couldn’t ask after Fran, ask where they were going—what he’d made Reed promise to do. His vision went spotty, and his grip loosened.
The last thing Nate saw, before he didn’t see anything at all, was Alden bracing himself in the doorway of his shop, black hair curtaining his face like a veil.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Nate! Stay awake, okay? Stay awake!”
Nate bobbed like trash floating in the sludge-channel, up and down on unseen waves. He struggled to get away from whatever moved him with sickening lurches.
Reed rumbled against his skin, comforting. “Hold still, Nate.”
Nate forced his eyes open. Reed was carrying him along a quiet side street he didn’t recognize.
He tried to ask where they were going, but the words came out as a low groan. It was nearly sundown, and garbage and patches of blood cluttered the empty street.
“What happened?” Nate managed to croak.
“More fighting. More fires.” Reed shuddered and squeezed Nate.
Upon closer look, some of the garbage wasn’t garbage at all. Bodies, crumpled and bloodied, lay in the street.
Pixel skipped alongside them, hopping over the worst piles of trash. Nate watched with horror as she skipped over the splayed legs of a corpse. The glass bead necklace Alden had given her clicked against the silver pendant from Reed, and she hummed to herself absently.
“Alden said. . .not Pixel. Not supposed to come.”
“It’s too rough out here,” Brick said, winded. “Have to stay together.”
“We couldn’t move until the riot cleared,” Reed said. “There’s no more time to find her a safe place to hide.”
Every wheezing breath felt like drowning. Nate coughed out a weak sound of frustration and pain, hating being carried. His head spun. Fear skittered through his veins with each sluggish beat of his heart. He let out a low whimper.
What would the stillness feel like?
“Reed.”I’m scared.
Reed shifted Nate’s weight. “Just a little longer.”
“Where’s Sparks?”
“She’s tailing us to make sure no one else is,” Brick said.
“We’re going to see Alden’s friends,” Pixel said, staying close to Nate and Reed while Brick forged ahead, kicking refuse out of the way.
“No.” The word was a moan. “Pixel. Not safe.”
“Nothing is safe. I’m not letting her out of my sight.” Reed dodged around smoldering trash and coughed as the smoke washed over them. When he cleared his throat, he was steady again. Deep and sure. “Be still, Nate. Don’t waste your breath.”
Too tired to be stung by Reed’s admonishing tone, Nate tucked his face against Reed’s neck. They wouldn’t be out here on the street if it weren’t for him. They’d be holed up safe somewhere. Reed always knew where to hide—knew hiding was the safest, smartest thing to do.
