“Do youwantto die?” I ask, tapping my rings and wondering why I’m not more concerned for his life. He would be in a puddle of blood right now if it weren’t for Sypher.
Maverick J. squeals in pain, loud and high-pitched. The sound transforms into a long groan that makes me want to reach for my crotch in sympathy.
Eli drags in a deep lungful of teva, taking his time releasing it in a purple puff before speaking. “You touch her, and I’ll skewer your balls with my knife and roast them over a fire before replacing your eyes withthem.” Eli lifts his knee and stabs his knife through the crotch of Maverick J.’s jeans, pinning the fabric to my mattress.
Sypher gasps and looks away. Milo smiles.
“Yes, sir.” Maverick J. nods violently, beads of sweat forming on his forehead, his face pale. “I don’t want to touch her. I swear.”
“Good answer, Mav,” Milo croons, calm as ever. He sits up, tucking his legs close and tossing his arms around his knees. “We need to talk about the elixir.”
“You going to tell me about the dead guy in the corner first?” Eli cocks his head to the side and holds the teva roll out for me.
I swing my head around the room, and sure enough, a body is tossed in the far corner opposite the bed. “What happened?” I grab the roll from him, avoiding the touch of our fingers.
Milo rubs his palms together, his tranquil demeanor shifting to one of burden. “He’s not the only one. We found eight others earlier. This one happened to be at the bottom of the staircase.”
My temples approach bursting. “And you decided to invite his corpse inside?”
Eli retrieves his knife, sheathing it again as he returns to my side. “Dead from what?”
Apparently Eli’s question is more pressing since Milo ignores mine altogether. “The elixir. It’s too strong. This other guy we saw was cutting some sort of food and just kept going. He cut his arm into slices until he passed out. We couldn’t get to him in time. And a woman with strange points on the bottom of her shoes walked right in front of one of those car things. They’re killing themselves. The new elixir was never supposed to be used on Hollows. It was supposed to be for Vaile, and only for medical emergencies. I never would have created it if I knew. This is all my fault.”
I can hardly breathe. What if I were only another Calderan mindlessly killing myself? I’m not close to anyone here, but they’re my people. My past. I don’t want to see it fall apart more than it already has. But I don’t blame Milo.
Kaleida sighs, her voice gentle. “You were doing your job.”
“And now people are dying,” Milo counters.
Sypher’s brows fold inward. “This has to stop. We can’t keep dumping the elixir into the falls. It will kill all the Hollows.”
Is he trying to make up for wanting me and every other Hollow dead? I supposeseeingthe effect of the elixir speaks louder than anything else. I won’t complain when I agree. “And we need Calderans. We can’t fix the magic cycle without them. They’re the missing part that’s causing magic to die.” I let loose a cloud of purple smoke. Eli’s hand is already waiting for the roll.
“How do we stop them?” Kaleida bunches up the belly of her shirt in nervous fists. “Every Vaile in Sonnet works in some way to make sure the elixir is produced and delivered to the Calderan water supply without fail.”
“We have to tell them what’s happening here in Caldera,” Sypher says, fiddling with his jumpsuit buttons.
Milo pushes up from my bed and paces, stepping over books and movies and blood stains. “What are we going to say? That we kidnapped the Centress, killed her guards and want to reunite Vaile with the Hollows they hate and fear? What’s actually going to make other Vaile care enough to stop?” He lifts the roll from between Eli’s fingers.
“The teva.” I squint, staring at the knife hole in the mattress as I let the thoughts knock around my head.
“Here.” Milo waves the roll in front of my face.
“No,” Sypher says. “She means the teva core used for the elixir. We have to destroy it, not only the sacks of elixir, but the plants. Every field.”
I glance at Sypher, assessing his tight mouth and half scowl. That’s exactly what I meant.
Milo’s eyes take over his face. “Destroyallthe teva plants? I don’t think I like this plan.”
“It’s just a drug,” Sypher says.
“Not for me. I don’t know how else to live.” The blue of Milo’s eyes deepens. He looks straight at me. “Don’t you ever not want tofeelfor a while?”
Yes.
“You have to feel. It’s the only way to know each day is worth it,” Kaleida says sternly, then swaps back to her planning tone with a tug on her tiny curls and a furrowed brow. “Now, how do we destroy all of them? Someone could create a secret stash.”
“Exactly.” Milo points his thumb at his chest. “Me.”
