Good.
“Hey, Sam,” I say, “did you know that your wife wants to kill Juliette?”
Castle gasps.
Sam’s body goes slack. She stares at Nouria, stunned.
“Yeah,” I say, nodding. “Nouria wants to murder her right now, actually, while she’s still comatose. What do you think?” I tilt my head at Sam. “Good idea? Bad idea? Maybe sleep on it?”
“That can’t be true,” Sam says, still staring at her wife. “Tell me he’s joking.”
“It’s not that simple,” says Nouria, who shoots me a look so venomous I almost feel bad for being petty. I don’t actually want Nouria and Sam to fight, but whatever. She can’t casually suggest murdering my best friend and expect me to be nice about it. “I was just pointing out th—”
“Okay, enough.”
I look up at the sound of Nazeera’s voice. I have no idea when she showed up, but she’s suddenly in front of us, arms crossed against her chest. “We’re not doing this. No side conversations. No subgroups. We all need to talk about the impending shitstorm headed our way, and if we’re going to have any chance of figuring out how to fight it, we have to stick together.”
“Which impending shitstorm?” I ask. “Please be specific.”
“I agree with Nazeera,” Sam says, her eyes narrowing at her wife. “Let’s all go back inside the room and talk. To each other. At the same time.”
“Sam,” Nouria tries again. “I’m not—”
“Bloody hell.” Stephan stops short at the sight of us, his shoes squeaking on the tile. He seems to tower over our group, looking too polished and civilized to belong here. “What on earth are you lot doing out here?”
Then, quietly, to Nazeera: “And why’ve you left us alone with him? He’s being a proper ass. Nearly made Haider cry just now.”
Nazeera sighs, closing her eyes as she pinches the bridge of her nose. “Haider does this to himself. I don’t understand why he’s deluded himself into thinking Warner is his best friend.”
“That, he might well be,” Stephan says, frowning. “The bar is quite low, as you know.”
Nazeera sighs again.
“If it makes Haider feel any better, Warner’s being equally horrible to just about everyone,” Sam says. She looks at Nouria. “Amir still won’t tell me what Warner said to him, by the way.”
“Amir?” Castle frowns. “The young man who oversees the patrol unit?”
Sam nods. “He quit this morning.”
“No.” Nouria blinks, stunned. “You’re kidding.”
“I wish I were. I had to give his job to Jenna.”
“This is crazy.” Nouria shakes her head. “It’s only been three days and already we’re falling apart.”
“Three days?” says Stephan. “Three days sincewearrived, is that it? That’s not a very nice thing to say.”
“We are not falling apart,” Nazeera says suddenly. Angrily. “We can’t afford to fall apart. Not right now. Not with The Reestablishment about to appear at our doorstep.”
“Wait—what?” Sam frowns. “The Reestablishment has no idea where we—”
“God, this is so depressing,” I groan, running both hands through my hair. “Why are we all at each other’s throats right now? If Juliette were awake, she’d be so pissed at all of us. And she’d be super pissed at Warner for acting like this, for pushing us apart. Doesn’t he realize that?”
“No,” Castle says quietly. “Of course he doesn’t.”
A sharpknock knock—
And we all look up.
