Maclan suddenly stops talking—Zhukov curses in shock.
A polemist,Ari thinks fervently as he rushes toward them. They’ve trained her in combat.
Maclan falls to his knees. Zhukov pursues her—but she has darted behind the scaffolding again, and Ari sees him halt, looking bewildered. Then terrified. It’s clear that Zhukov knows he saw someone go this way, but he doesn’t seem capable now of remembering which way she went. She emerges from the other side at a normal walk, her coat pulled up, and when she comes back into view, Zhukov looks like he’s having trouble deciding whether she’s the one who attacked Maclan or whether she is simply another partygoer heading away from the hotel.
Ari breaks into a sprint. He reaches Sam right as she finishes rounding the corner—and spots him rushing toward her. Instantly, she ducks back against the wall.
She swipes against the wall and pulls a gun out of the brick—
—but Ari ducks to the ground before she can point it in his direction, then presses his hand firmly against the pavement.
The ground cracks in a jagged line before bursting up into a wall of glass right in front of her. She flinches away from the barrier to go around it, but then Ari’s reached her. He shoves her against the wall, his hand tight around her wrist.
She narrows her eyes at him and brings up her other hand. Ari pulls a steel cable out of the wall and wraps it around her second wrist, then makes it drag her arm back until it’s pinned against the building.
But she is quicker than him—she’s already shrinking the cable around her wrist, thinning it by stretching one finger down to run along its edge. The cable turns into paper and tears apart. Her hand free, she lunges at Ari. Suddenly he’s the one pinned to the wall as Sam weaves metal around his arm. Ari grits his teeth and yanks his arm out from the closing cables right before they can ensnare him. He seizes her other wrist and pushes her against the wall. This time, he manages to weave iron across her wrists like cuffs. Then he reaches out to sense the organic chemistry in her body—weaves calm into her anger, doubt into her conviction to attack him.
She shudders and looks away from him. He could do more, something truly harmful, but instead he pulls back his bioalchemy and focuses on tightening her bonds. She exhales.
The two glare at each other, their faces only inches apart. It’s clear to Ari that Sam isn’t used to combat where her opponent can focus well on her. Around the corner, he hears Zhukov calling for him, shouting for help for Maclan, who is still able to talk, albeit hoarsely.
Ari hesitates for a split second. If he keeps her trapped here, Rudra will want her taken back to Lumines for interrogation and as a valuable hostage. Or, they might just kill her right here and deal Grand Central a blow. Constantine and Mozart, both in one night.
But Ari looks at her and can’t do it. Her hair glints dark silver in the night. He thinks of sea daisies pinned into those locks, drifting down into his lap as she leaned her head against his shoulder. The ache for her ripples through his body.
He straightens. The metal cuffs around her wrists pull back into the wall, releasing her.
“Go,” he tells her harshly. “Quickly. Before Rudra gets here.”
Sam’s glare wavers. She blinks at him, as if trying to gauge whether this is a trick, and for this small moment, she looks like the Sam he once knew.
“Why?” she demands.
He can’t bear the look on her face. When his lips part again, the words spill out angry and hoarse. “The secret beach. Full moon. Nowgo.”
She breaks into motion. One second she’s before him—the next, she’s gone, melting into the night, sprinting around the bend and heading toward the car Will is in. On the sidewalk, Zhukov looks over from where he’s crouched beside Maclan as the engine roars to life. Sam reverses the car in a single move, backing out onto the side road before hurtling through a yellow light and down the street.
Ari watches them disappear, his last words to her ringing in his ears.The secret beach, full moon.It had burst out of him as instinctively as breathing, and now he feels a simultaneous pang of anticipation and guilt. Had he said it because he wants desperately to see her again? Or had he said it because she is his target, because he knows they will need information on her? How deep is his loyalty to Lumines?
Why had he helped her? Why did he let her go?
“The hell was that!” Zhukov exclaims as Ari joins him and inspects Maclan’s wound. Rudra arrives behind them, melting out of the shadows with his smooth stride and dark expression.
“A ghost,” Ari replies.
“Grand Central’s ghost?” Zhukov mutters incredulously.
Ari doesn’t want to say more than that, but Rudra’s eyes are already fixed on him, seeing right through his reluctance.
“You recognized her,” the man says.
It’s no use to lie. Ari stares down the street in the direction their car had gone, knowing in the pit of his stomach that he is now destined to hurt her again and again.
“Yes,” he finally forces himself to answer. “Her name is Samantha Lang.”
Lovelace:There is a direct correlation between long-term use of sand and a deterioration of the soul for alchemists, wouldn’t you agree?
Darwin:Well, sand has only been around since the mid ’80s, so alchemists don’t have enough data from—
