He nodded. “Yeah. Almost done. Just . . . hang on. All right?”
He glanced at me, his eyes widened, then he quickly turned back to the building.
There wasn’t any hanging on. I was on the edge of a cliff, digging into loose soil with broken nails. I was about to fall.
I was going to bring down Rockefeller, and both Luvic and I knew it.
There were still so many people here. Maybe most of them had evacuated the building, but there were still so many people in the plaza.
A small, broken noise leaked from my throat.
Luvic reached over and gripped my hand. “Don’t worry, Mari. I’m not going to let?—”
“Hullo. What’re we doing?”
I jerked and looked over at the man who’d spoken in a cheerful baritone.
He smiled, and dimples formed in both his cheeks. He was slight, average height for a man, and his blond hair was wind-rumpled. He wore a wrinkled T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers and held two hot dogs in wax paper. They were piled high with relish, onions, ketchup, and mustard. He grinned at me, and I sagged with relief.
Thank goodness.
He’d come.
Jacob had felt my tugs, and he’d come.
He looked around at the chaos of Rockefeller Plaza, shrugged, and then took a big bite of his hot dog, leaving a smear of mustard at the corner of his mouth.
Luvic stared at him like he’d lost his mind. “Did you stop for hot dogs?”
Jacob raised his eyebrows. “Why? Do you want one?” He held out the second hot dog to Luvic.
Luvic snarled and jabbed his finger at the conjured flames shooting from the building. “We’re wreaking havoc. Murder and mayhem. Try and stop us.”
Jacob took another bite of his hot dog and chewed thoughtfully. “If you’re that desperate for attention, you could just call. Some people say I’m a good listener.” A gust of wind fluffed Jacob’s hair, and he looked up at the sky in exasperation. “I said some.”
“Ward!” Luvic gritted his teeth. “Don’t make me?—”
Jacob’s expression shifted. I don’t know how to describe it, except to say that one second, he looked like a harmless college-aged guy enjoying a hot dog, and the next, he looked like a terrifying man who knew all your nightmares and didn’t mind feeding them to you. For eternity.
“Don’t make you what?” he asked, his voice low.
“In about thirty seconds,” I said, interrupting Luvic’s jackaltooth growl, “I’m going to collapse that building.”
I pointed to the trickle of people still tripping through the exits.
Jacob shifted his attention from Luvic to me. He turned back into the harmless, friendly twenty-something. “Are you?”
He took a final bite of his hot dog—he’d devoured it in seconds—and then wiped the mustard from his lips.
I nodded. “I am.”
He sighed and handed Luvic the remaining hot dog. “All right. Do it.”
Luvic looked in disgust at the relish-covered dog. “Ward! Don’t you understand what’s happening? You’re supposed to stop us!”
“I don’t feel like it.” Jacob shrugged, and then, looking at me, the corner of his mouth lifted into an almost-smile. He tapped at the space in my chest where I’d locked all my good. It was shut tight, defending against the rush of pain and pleasure racing through me. He nodded. “Got it.”
Luvic twisted his hand, throwing a cloak of illusion around us. Then he snarled and threw a water spear at Jacob.
