Ten made an impatient sound. “We do not have time! I have opened a portal to the underworld. The longer it stays open, the more destruction it will wreak in both our realms. Come with me, brother.”
But Zizi didn’t move. He was still staring at Rui, stricken.
She forced herself to look away, turning on Ten. “If you knew it washim, why go through the charade? Why didn’t you grab him from the start?”
Zizi spoke before Ten could answer. “Those who seek me shall never see me.”
“What?”
“Ten didn’t know. It was part of the spell, the wish the Fourth King made with a powerful relic from the underworld. Anyone who was looking directly for him would not see him for who he is. They wouldn’t recognize him.” Zizi continued, “The only way to find Four was to go around his spell.”
“How do you know all this?” Rui demanded.
“He remembers what he did eighteen years ago,” Ten said with a smug smile. He extended a hand to Zizi. “We must leave now.”
Zizi ignored him. “I won’t leave without saying goodbye.”
He took a tentative step toward Rui, but there was another groaning creak in the walls.
Asphalt crashed down between them, the thunderous sound echoing through the tunnel. Cables dropped from the damaged walls, sparking and fizzing with live electricity. The air was hazy with dust.
Knocked to the ground, Rui cried out in pain. Her leg was stuck under a block of cement, and her ankle felt twisted. She could hear cars honking, shouts and sounds of panic from the streets above.
“Rui!” Zizi called.
She couldn’t see him. Couldn’t see Ten. Rubble stood between them.
“Rui!”
“Zizi,” she groaned. Her lungs felt soggier with each inhale. She thought she heard other voices. She craned her neck. Cement and rock piled up behind her, blocking that path too. The voice called out again from behind the debris.Surin?No, it didn’t make sense; the Exorcist couldn’t be here in the tunnel.
Rui closed her eyes, exhausted and ready to give up. But the rubble in front of her moved. In moments, Zizi was standing before her. He flickedhis hand. The cement block lifted off her leg, crashing to the side.
“Your leg—” he said, crouching down.
She felt her ankle and shin, turning her foot slightly. Nothing was broken, but her leg was bleeding and sore.
Zizi helped her up, brushing hair off her face, looking at her with such tenderness, it hurt.
“All this time,” Rui couldn’t help but ask, “did you know?”
“Of course not.” His anguish was sharp and clear. She wanted to believe him.
“Everything you said, everything you told me—about me, aboutus—did you mean it? Was it real? Or were you only drawn to me because you’re... you’rehim?” She couldn’t bring herself to say his real name.
“You’re asking me a question I don’t know how to answer. I don’t even rememberwhoI am.”
But Zizi had hesitated for the briefest of moments before saying that, as if a different answer had come to him first.
“Whatare you?” she whispered.
“Lost.” Then, for some reason, he grinned in that same off-kilter way he always did.
And it broke her.
Rui clung onto him. He folded her in his arms and lifted her chin. His eyes had regained their kind glimmer. But now they also held a profound sadness.
“And what am I?” she whispered.
