“But you’ve never admitted that you wanted to stay, either,” Hiro shot back. “If you wanted to fight for this campus, then we should have fought for it.”
“And let him tear you apart?” Laurentius said.
“Oh, beloved.” The term of endearment held a heavy warning. “If after all that about how ‘neither of us are a match for him,’ if what you were worried about the whole time wasme—”
“I wasn’t saying anything that wasn’t true,” Laurentius said. “Neither of usarea match for him. But you’re the one who insists on antagonizing him.”
“Of course I do!” Hiro said, with an expansive gesture. “I agreed that I wouldn’t physically fight him! I said I’d leave, if that’s what you wanted! I never said I wouldn’t make his life here hell on the way out! Rollins is ours. Even if we leave it. It’ll never be his like it was ours.”
It was faintly absurd, Lucy thought. The man who had outlived the divine rule of kings was at a loss for words. He opened his mouth. But if he even had a retort, he didn’t share it.
So it fell to Lucy to be the next one to speak. If she didn’t, she was fairly sure Athena was going to object to this idea of Rollins beingtheirs. “Listen,” she said, “it’ll be light outside soon. If you two are leaving, now’s your chance. I appreciate your help, but I’m offering you an out. Are you taking it?”
“I am not,” said Hiro, directly to Laurentius. “And you shouldn’t, either. Unless you’ve grown so ancient that you’ve forgotten all your pride.”
That was what finally cracked him. Though not in the way Lucy expected it to. Laurentius ran a slow hand across his face. When he dropped it again, she saw that he was laughing. It was a soft, controlled sound. But all the hard lines of his face vanished into it. “You’re nearly as ancient as I am.”
“You’re only as young as you feel,” Hiro said tartly.
Laurentius of Rome scowled. But there was something strangely warm in it. “Then I won’t take the out, either,” he said to Lucy. “But I’m warning you: I was not being modest about my chances against that brat.”
“Oh, that’s fine,” Lucy said. “Because I don’t want you near him. Any of you.”
Lucy had finally achieved what she set out to do. Everyone in that room was suddenly on the same page. Even if that page was “utterly nonplussed.”
“What do you mean by that?” Athena said.
Lucy smiled as she surveyed the room. Maybe it was Natalie’s blood in her system, thatyes, andmentality of hers. But a to-do list was starting to come together in her mind. One that she was fairly certain none of them would like.
“I’m going to do exactly as he asked,” Lucy said. “I’ll come home to him. And I’ll go alone.”
Disliking her plan was one thing. But the disagreement was so vehement, Lucy felt as if she was being heckled.
She waited out their protests with as much patience as she could muster. That patience had started to run low, though. She couldn’t keep Mila waiting much longer.
“I don’t understand why you’re being stubbornnow,” Laurentius said. “You did it. You’ve convinced me. I’ll go with you.”
“And you’ve convincedmethat if you try to fight him, it’ll be a bloodbath,” Lucy said. “Also, it’s officially too light outside for you to leave this studio. There’s no steam tunnel access in this building. You’re here until sunset.”
Laurentius gave her a look like he couldn’t decide whether to pull out his own hair or hers. Even Hiro looked perturbed. “Then we’ll wait until sunset,” he said. “I don’t think this is smart, Lucy. You can’t fight him alone.”
“We’re going to need the light, if this all works out,” Lucy said. “And if it helps, I never said I was going to fight him.”
“So you’re, what,” Laurentius said, “just going to wander the tunnels until you find him?”
“I don’t think I need to,” Lucy said. When the red voice had been in her mind, she felt as if she’d known exactly where “home” was. But she’d known where it was even before that. “I had a dream yesterday. One where Sadie and Addison showed me a spot on that steep hill leading up to the library. I don’t think it was entirely a dream. Which means that if there aren’t any tunnels connecting to the library itself, the closest entrance is—”
“The Goldwell building,” Athena said softly.
“Exactly,” Lucy said. The same building where she’d first noticed the tunnels. She’d been so close that day. And she felt it, even if she hadn’t quite understood it at the time.
“All that time, he was just feet away from the library?” Laurentius said.
“To be fair, beloved,” Hiro said, “that sounds like something he would do.”
Laurentius’s glare could have withered a field of daisies. “All right, then. All of that aside. If we’re not meant to fight, whatarewe meant to do?”
This, Lucy thought, might go over even worse than a battle royale with Vanya. She let the borrowed audacity from Natalie’s blood carry her through. “It’s like you told me. Someone is enabling Vanya to be here. It would be really helpful if someone could make sure she stays well out of our way today.”
