“Don’t ask. You don’t want to get involved in my issues.”
I looked at the light.
Then at him.
“There’s something wrong with it. Your Mark.”
His mouth curved without humor.
“Very good, Instructor.”
“It hurts you.”
“Everything hurts someone.”
“Kieran.”
That got his attention.
His smile thinned.
“Yes, it hurts,” he said.
“My Mark answered too.”
“I figured.”
“Then we are both having apoor evening.”
He laughed once. It wasn’t a sound with humor in it.
“I came here because I knew you would say things like that.”
“You came here because you were going to go to her.”
His face told me the truth before his mouth could improve it.
“So were you,” he said.
I looked at the center line. “I thought about it.”
Kieran snorted. “Right.”
“But I stayed here.”
“So did I.”
“For now.”
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
A pipe clicked in the wall.
Somewhere above us, a footstep crossed the ceiling and stopped.
Marsh looked toward the upper corridors.
Then the Pull hit again.
