Maybe it’s time for Excalibur to break.
“Fight back,” Percy begs. “Goddammit, Lance, fight back.”
“No.”
“They said if I kill you, I go free. They said my debt gets wiped, and so does my dad’s.”
I swallow. He lands a kick to my thigh.
“Your form’s still trash,” I say, my eyes burning. “Fix it before the next guy, yeah?”
His jaw tenses, and a tear tracks down his cheek.
I grab him, putting him in a bear hug. “Percy, listen to me.”
“You taught me everything. You’re the only person who ever gave a shit about me down there. I’m not going to—”
“Whatever happens, keep your hands up. Yeah?”
His eyes fill. “But you’re Excalibur. It can’t…it can’t end like this.”
“Hands up. That’s an order.”
He nods, and I let him break the hold. He wipes his face, and raises his fists in front of him the way I taught him.
The crowd noise swells. Brutus stands from a back table and raises a glass. Cassandra’s not here, of course. A ghost, like she always has been.
“Fight me, Lance,” Percy says. “Don’t make me do this.”
Something shifts in the crowd. The murmurs get louder. I can feel Art’s gaze on me.
“Do what you’ve gotta do. I’m not fighting you, kid.”
Percy pulls the knife.
His hand is shaking so badly the blade catches the light in uneven flashes, and he holds it out in front of him like he doesn’t know which end to point at me.
“I don’t want to do this,” he says.
“I know.”
He’s sobbing now. The knife trembles in his fist.
“I don’t want tobethis,” he says.
“Sometimes you have to choose. And it’s okay, Percy. If anyone’s about to take me out, I’m glad that it’s you.”
He breathes in deep.
“Now do what I taught you, and never let them see you break.”
“Hey!Hey!”
Both of us turn toward the noise.
There’s commotion. Shouting. The crowd shifts, bodies turning toward the entrance.
And then the world explodes.
