Orion blanches. “—alive.”
I wipe the blood from my knives and turn to him, pushing my goggles onto my forehead and taking off my hood so I can see him with my own eyes.
He’s still tall, at least a head taller than me, but stronger and fitter than he was three years ago when he was just a skinny kid. The ultrabright lights overhead throw shadows across his face, which has lost all signs of the boyish roundness I remember. He grimaces at the dead warden at my feet, looking a little sick to his stomach. And also, just for a moment, deeply sad.
I cross my arms. “Don’t tell me you’ve started mourning assholes like this now.”
His mouth twists into a rueful expression. “He wasn’t the one I was mourning.”
My eyes narrow as I catch his implication. “I’d worry more about yourself,” I snap, gesturing at the bonds on his wrists and ankles and head. “Considering your predicament.”
“Predicamentis a really strong word.” He brings his gaze back up to me. “Of all the faces I expected to see, yours was not one of them. Are you here to rescue me?”
“Something like that.” I crouch down beside the warden’s body and flip him over onto his back with zero respect or reverence so I can get at the keys hooked to his belt. “Actually… I need your help.”
“Myhelp. Valene Bruinn, the infamous Butcher, needsmyhelp.”
“Go ahead and rub it in. I’ll throw you right off this speeding train.” I straighten, flipping through the keys as I turn back around—only to find Orion standing right in front of me, rolling his neck, rubbing at his noticeably unshackled wrists. I’m glad my mask is still covering most of my face to hide the fact that my mouth is hanging open in surprise.
“Weren’t you locked up?”
He looks back at the chair, with its chains and cuffs dangling uselessly. “Oh, that. Theoretically, yes. In actuality, it was more like voluntary captivity.”
Voluntary captivity.I scowl as I take in his expression. All casual and relaxed. “The wardens never arrested you, did they? You just let yourself get caught.”
He shrugs, a little sheepish. “If I say yes, will you be mad or impressed?”
“I don’t know,” I bite out. “Why don’t you try me.”
He shakes his head, laughing. “See, no, that’s a trap because you’re gonna be mad. I can tell.”
I didn’t calculate on Orion getting more irritating over the years. He’s weaponized that playful sense of humor that I thought was so fun when we were kids.
Bastard.
“Fine, I’ll bite,” I say as he kneels down beside the warden’sbody and starts to go through his longcoat, his belt, his pockets. “What are you doing getting yourselfdeliberatelythrown onto a prison train? And one headed for the Ninth Circle on top of that?”
“It wasn’t about the train; it was about the man on it. See, the Ministry has a lot of secrets that I’d love to get my hands on.” He pauses to pat the golden breastplate none too gently. “And Clarence here was a high warden with access to all kinds of fun places. I wasgoingto use him to get into the Ninth Circle because I heard they have some information down there I might be interested in, but that’s not really going to work now.”
He shoots me a pointed look, but I pretend not to see it, closely examining Reason as he continues searching the body. He makes a little noise of triumph, and I glance up to see him pulling two items no bigger than his hand from a secret pocket beneath the warden’s gold breastplate. One is a scarlet-red crystal about the size of his palm, and the other is a flat metal card with words etched on it. Looks like a telegram dispatch.
“Not bad, Clarence, not bad at all…,” he murmurs as he slips the crystal into his inner vest pocket and brings the telegram dispatch closer to his face so he can read it. I hear him take a short, sharp intake of breath as he skims the metal, but the next moment, he’s pocketing that, too, and turning to me with a bright, eager grin. “The whole plan for this job is really an interesting story if you want to hear it.”
I meet him with a scowl. “I don’t.”
“Right. The help thing you mentioned.” He steps toward me, close enough for me to feel the slight increase in warmth from his body heat. “What happened?”
I can’t think for a second. It’s too strange to have him standing here, right in front of me, his easy smile and the cadence of his voice so familiar. So comforting. Somehow he even smells the same as he did all those years ago. It makes my skin tingle all over underneath my kit. My throat closes up, and I have to swallow hard to make room for my words.
I take a step back to give myself a little more air. “The Gold Town Gang came for me. Blew up our lodgings, took Halle and Kelda.”
Orion’s voice is barely more than a whisper. “Took them, as in…?”
“Kidnapped them. They’re still alive.” There’s a conviction in my words that tastes like desperation. Because I can’t know for sure that they’re not dead, but I have to believe it, Ihaveto. Guess this is as close to faith as I get anymore. “But Kilpatrick is dead, and Gold Town is such a labyrinth. I don’t even know where to start looking for them. You’ve been running around above the skyline for years now, getting under everybody’s skin. You’ve cleaned out high-security homesteads and Ministry officials. You have to be able to help me shake down one leaderless gang. Just…”
I trail off as all the energy suddenly sags out of me. The car rolls and wavers around me, and I dig the heels of my hands into my eyes, trying to stave off another hallucination.
“I’m running on desperation right now and pretty much nothing else. I can’t do this by myself, the clock is ticking, and I need someone I can trust.”
