“Doing what?” he asks.
“There’s a barrier.” She gently raps her knuckles against it.
“No.”
“Do you know what’s happening inside?” My voice is so full of nerves that each word bounces off my vocal cords.
“Not yet,” he says.
Suddenly, a blue beam spears from the mine into the heavens. A moment later, I hear a voice.
Afamiliar, feminine voice.
My heart stops so violently that I choke on my inhale. “You hear her too, right?”
Electra sighs long and deep, like she, too, has been holding her breath. “I do.”
Two bodies darken the beam just as Quinn snipes, “Serves you right, you arrogant dickwad.”
She’s alive.
Quinn isalive.
She didn’t fabricate her escape.
“So does that mean Sullivan Hayes is dead or not?” I hear Calanthe murmur.
“It means that if he isn’t, it’s not for lack of trying.” Quinn turns toward us, and I can’t help but glance at her cheek. It’s still scarred.
My disappointment that Gaea didn’t fix her face turns to guilt.
She kept my best friend alive. That’s all that matters.
“Or it could be a deep-fake planted by my ex. Trent would be twisted enough to create and diffuse something like that.”
“You said something about it serving Mal right. What did you mean by that?” Electra asks.
“Shall we show them?” Quinn chirps, her tone smacking of false delight.
Malachi grunts.
“Aw, come on, Mal. They’re bound to see our matching tats soon enough.”
“Matching?” Electra breathes out.
My ears can’t pick apart if she sounds shocked, envious, or disappointed. She says I killed her crush on Malachi, but what if I only killed it temporarily?
Quinn steps closer, only her nails poking from her too-long sweater sleeves. “Not matching,” she says, tugging her left sleeve up. “Complementary. I’ve got half a rune; he’s got the other half.”
“Which rune?” Calanthe asks.
Malachi’s mouth twists as if the thought itself hurts. “Surge,” he mutters in Atlantean.
“What do you think it means?” Quinn asks.
I repeat the word for her in English. Quinn’s left cheek dimples with a smile that no longer reaches her right one. I’m not sure why she’s smiling—maybe nerves?
“Any chance you got an explanation from Gaea, Tar?” Malachi asks. “’Cause we didn’t get any instructions.”
