“There’s coffee in the fridge.”
“So?”
“Hazard is the only Sian we know who can stomach it. It’s not just a dislike, most people have a visceral reaction to it.”
“Even you guys?”
I nod, Risk making a face that doesn’t have anything to do with the tightness of that particular stretch.
“How long do we have?” she asks.
“Hannah will know in two days.”
Risk pulls himself out of the bend. “Which means Hazard will know in three, max.”
Before I can tell him that neither of them is the reason Chrys will have to let her sisters know she’s here, she says, “Wait.”
When I look at her, she asks, “How is Hannah going to know?”
“You’re going to meet her in two days.”
“I am?”
Nodding, I look up at the ceiling. The chime that just rang through the overhead speaker—the system knows we’re all in here, so it didn’t sound anywhere else—is a message from Mary inviting her to lunch at a zurgle cafe.
“Arc is going to take you into town and you’re going to meet a lot of people.”
“Why does it feel like you’re not going to tell me what we’ll actually be doing?”
“Because that is something you need to hear from Arc.”
She glares at me, but she doesn’t ask any more questions, just twists herself in a strange knot and somehow the flow of the movement brings her to standing.
“Do you know when he’s going to be back?”
“Tomorrow, around midday.”
She frowns and then exhales. “This might sound weird, but the three of you don’t feel… right without one of you.”
“Like, obviously you’re not ‘missing a piece’ because he’s gone or anything nonsensical like that, but… it’s like you’re a matching set? You all work individually, but I canfeelthat he’s missing.”
“It makes sense,” I tell her.
It’s the reason she’s going to find a way to bond to all three of us.
I inhale sharply when the future hits me, gripping onto the door jamb when it threatens to knock me off my feet.
“You’re usually better at hiding that,” Risk says, his voice far away.
“Yeah.” I take a few deep breaths before I can look up at them. “It was a good thing, I promise.”
“You’re sure?” Chrys asks, coming to me and standing so close she almost has to tip back to look up at me.
“Yeah. But I think I need to keep this one to myself for a little bit.”
I see the movement Risk makes in my periphery. He’s concerned. Like I told Noa, the future doesn’t change once I’ve seen it, but…thisis something I can’t risk being the exception to this rule.
Shedoesfind a way to have us all. I don’t know what it is yet, but I’ve seen what comes after.
