The command made Falk bristle, and Rios glared at him until Falk grunted, stalking down the hallway back to the elevator.
“King, Ferro, with me,” Rios said, leading the way to the door next to the interrogation room. Tate and Zahide managed to squeeze in, too, but Lawless bowed out, already on a walkie-talkie with the other CDC members in the building.
When everyone was behind the one-way mirror, Rios turned on the lights. Gile was still inside the room, crouched low and tugging at his legs. Zahide’s magic was perfect, though, the sort of precision that Nick knew was straight out of a textbook.
There was never anything sloppy about Zahide’s magic, a trait that Nick admired and tried to compete with at every opportunity.
With the lights on, Gile spun, staring at the mirror, seeing all of them. “Captain Rios. You have to make them let me go. I’m not going down like this. They can’t just leave me here to die.”
“Gile, no one is leaving you here to die. You have me right here, and King and Zahide are our top SAPD alchemists.” Rios clenched his jaw, the first sign of how uncomfortable he was.
“If they’re helping me, they should be in the room with me, not…” Gile gestured and swallowed. “You don’t have a way to save me.”
The realization spread over his expression, his eyebrows going up, his eyes widening, his face losing color.
“We’re going to try to talk to the creature inside of you,” Rios said. “Just relax.”
Rios turned to Parker, his lips tight. Parker cleared his throat. A flicker of gold spun out of him, gone as quickly as Nick saw it. “Hey there.”
Gile squinted, his brows drawn together in a frown.
“Hey, I know you’re in there. I just want to talk. There has to be something you want, some reason you chosethisguy.” Parker blinked at Gile. “Not that you aren’t a perfectly fine person to choose, but”—his gaze refocused on something in the middle distance, something only he could see—“why this guy?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Gile demanded. “Are you on something?Ididn’t choose this. I don’t want this.”
“Come on, I’m right here. You can talk to me,” Parker coaxed. “I’m willing to talk terms. I’m willing to negotiate.”
“Terms?” Gile looked horrified. “Ididn’tdo this. What the?—”
His face went slack, his eyes turning a vibrant green, the sort of glow Nick knew from Zahide when she was in the middle of powering up a strong spell. He knew it from the mirror when he was in the middle of working.
Parker’s breath hitched. “There you are. You ready to talk?”
“I will talk.” Gile’s mouth moved, but his voice was something raspy and strained, air passing through a deserted desert town. “I will only speak with the god killer. Bring him to me. Here. In the room. Then I will talk.”
Gile pulled his feet out of Zahide’s circles, breaking them easily, the green magic shattering into nothing, lingering on the ground in shards of pure power.
He approached the mirror, tapping one finger on the glass. “I see you. Come to me.Now.”
CHAPTER NINE
Gile tappedon the glass right in front of them. His face was oddly expressionless, although his irises turned in slow circles, as though the parasite had eaten out his entire body, and now every part of him was an alchemy circle, kept alive by the centripetal force of the circles.
“I’m right here,” Parker said.
Nick caught the narrow-eyed look that Rios gave Parker, the confused look that turned to Tate when Parker ignored him. Tate shook his head once, mouthing,Later.
“No…” the creature using Gile’s voice said. “No, not you. I want to speak to the god killer.”
Gile dragged his nail across the glass, the scratching turning into a shriek as he scraped the one-way mirror. He stopped in front of Nick, tapping his finger once, twice, three times, until the whole pane of glass vibrated, shaking in its frame.
“I see you. I see you, god killer.” There should have been a grin, a malicious expression, something that matched the tone of Gile’s voice, but instead, his face was vacant.
His veins were turning green, pulsing.
Nick opened his mouth, and Parker grabbed his arm tight, squeezing his wrist. “Don’t you dare, Nick. Don’t youdare.”
Nick raised his eyebrow, and Parker shook his head. The expression on his face was horrified, terrified for something that Nick hadn’t even done yet. He was always so scared for Nick, his adoration of Nick the missing puzzle piece.
