Chapter 47
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Kit
“Predestination?” I mumbled.
Sitting on a bench beneath the awning of the only concession stand still in one piece, I squinted in the dawning light. The morning sun had crested the horizon not long ago, illuminating the full extent of the destruction inflicted on the amusement park.
“Primer?” I mused. “Twelve Monkeys?”
A few feet away, Lienna was speaking with Vinny.
The latter kept glancing at me and gesticulating like the worst participant in a game of charades.
He was singed, splattered with blood and dirt, and missing one shoe, but most disturbing of all was that both pockets of his cargo shorts had been torn out.
I tipped my head back, gazing at the purplish-pink sky. “Not Back to the Future. Definitely not Looper. Source Code?”
A group of mythics in muddy combat gear hurried by, drawing my attention back down to earth. Hundreds of people were moving throughout the PNE grounds—tending to the wounded, searching the rubble, covering the dead, and consoling one another.
But I stayed where I was, firmly planted on the bench.
My legs would probably hold me up for all of three steps, and my brain was so exhausted that coordinating my limbs to take those three steps would be the equivalent of completing a Riverdance performance.
My capabilities—or lack thereof—aside, the knowledge that very competent people had this situation in hand and didn’t need me to save the day felt like the weight of an entire wooden rollercoaster lifted off my shoulders.
“Maybe Edge of Tomorrow?” I muttered, wrinkling my nose. On second thought, nah. I didn’t want to be caught in a time loop of that moment. Once was more than enough.
“What’s tomorrow?” Lienna asked, sinking down to sit beside me.
“Nothing,” I said with a weary smile, lifting my arm in invitation.
She scooted in close against my side. “Vinny said that everyone in the area is affected. Their magic is drained and all the Arcana artifacts are either ruined or need to recharge.”
“That’s crazy.”
She leaned forward to peer at my face. “Kit, what did you do?”
I brushed my fingertips against the worried crease at the corner of her mouth. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Hmm.” She resettled against my side. “Will you be telling anyone else?”
I shrugged my shoulders just enough for her to feel the movement without jostling her. She slid her hand into mine and curled our fingers together.
Another group, led by Agent Vigneault and Agent Wolfe, escorted a pack of SI goons with their face coverings removed and their hands zip-tied behind their backs.
There weren’t enough abjuration handcuffs for all the SI agents in the city, but since no one had any magic juice left, zip ties did the trick.
I hadn’t meant to suck every speck of energy from the PNE and beyond, but magically disarming the entire SI force in one fell swoop was a nice side effect.
Lienna and I sat in exhausted silence as the bustle continued around us. Dozens of people traipsed past—combat mythics, my former coworkers, volunteers from across the Pacific Northwest. And of course, a crap-ton of injured and arrested bad guys.
Golden beams of sunlight were warming my cheek when two figures dropped onto the bench beside me and Lienna.
I arched an eyebrow at Darius and Blythe.
“The last of the SI agents have surrendered or fled,” Blythe declared without preamble. “Once they realized they had no magic and no leader, they caved.”
“Good.” I exhaled. “So I guess that’s it for the Consilium leadership. With Griva and Kade dead, we’ve finally decapitated the snake.”
“I hope so.” Darius braced his elbows on his knees. “But the Consilium’s roots run deep. There’s still work to be done.”
“We’ll get there,” Blythe said.
A thoughtful quiet settled over the four of us.
I tightened my grip on Lienna’s hand as the rare winter sun chased the chill from my limbs.
My thoughts drifted through the past weeks and months, back to that moment in New York when I took the dagger from Darius, to the flight where he told Blythe everything, to that morning in my condo when he asked me to fight the Consilium with him, to the time I asked Blythe how she knew I wasn’t corrupt and she said “because I got to you first,” to the day I faced the judiciary council and chose Blythe’s offer instead.
A thousand small moments, a hundred split-second decisions, an uncountable number of heartbeats where everything could have all gone wrong.
But we’d made it through them all to arrive here. Together. Alive. Battered and scarred but whole.
“What now?” Lienna asked softly.
“Someone needs to clean up this mess.” Blythe waved at the disaster that used to be an amusement park.
We all looked at each other. No one volunteered.
“As for what comes next for you two …” Blythe pulled a set of keys from her pocket. “Rest. And stay out of sight. You’re still two of the most wanted rogues in the world.”
She tossed me the keys, and I stared at them with a complete lack of recognition. How would keys help us relax and stay hidden?
“The SI never found the condo,” she added. “It’s safe.”
“Ohhh,” I groaned. “Why didn’t you say so sooner? Do you have any idea how few functional brain cells I have left?”
Blythe pointed west. “I’m parked at the corner of Kaslo and Franklin. Try not to destroy my car.”
Energized by the prospect of privacy, cushioned seating, and a shower, I nodded my thanks, and Lienna and I headed west across the grounds, our hands tightly clasped. We passed more familiar faces, but we didn’t stop.
The signs of magical destruction and violence faded, and the PNE grounds gave way to neat rows of small houses, minivans lining the street and trampolines in the front yards. As the comfortable quiet of the Vancouver neighborhood absorbed us, it finally sank in.
We were home.
The condo looked more like the place I had inhabited during my KCQ days than our anti-Consilium base of operations—minus a few Kit-specific design elements that Blythe had removed when she took it over.
The computer setup where I’d sat for so many nights chatting with the mole while Lienna was in LA was gone.
The air was a little stuffy like the windows hadn’t been opened in a few weeks, but it was clean.
I had a hunch that a certain mustachioed ex-security guard had done some custodial work recently.
But all I cared about was locking the door the moment Lienna and I were inside, eating our to-go bag of breakfast bagels—I’d forgone a Sleepy Kit Special this time—and showering for as long as my legs would support my weight.
An hour later—no, I hadn’t showered for an entire hour; I’d let Lienna go first—I dressed in a pair of slightly musty sweatpants and a T-shirt from the closet and ambled into the living room.
Lienna was curled up on the sofa, also wearing one of my T-shirts, her damp hair knotted in a messy bun on top of her head and a blanket across her lap.
My feet stuck to the floor. The sight of her sitting there, comfortable and relaxed, tore me apart and put me back together in the same instant.
This moment made everything worth it. This moment was what I’d been fighting for. This moment was my victory—not getting those documents, not ousting the SI, not Kade’s death.
This. Being safe together. Being content together.
Being together.
“Kit?” she called softly.
Smiling, I walked to the TV and turned it on. Then I knelt to ponder the rows of movies lined up beneath it. What were the perfect cinematic notes to accompany our much-deserved break?
My fingers came to rest on a title. I slid it off the shelf, popped the disc into the player, and hastened to the sofa.
Lienna lifted one side of the blanket, and I slid in beside her. She snuggled up against my chest, wiggling until she had her head tucked under my chin and I had an arm curled around her waist, my other hand resting on her knee. Perfect.
Then I realized the remote was sitting on the coffee table three feet out of reach.
“Damn it,” I groaned.
“Just use telekinesis,” Lienna said through a yawn.
I closed my eyes, exhaled, then opened them again. “No can do.”
Her slack limbs tensed, her head lifting off my chest. She searched my features, a crease forming in her brow and horror dawning in her eyes. “Kit …”
Cupping her cheek, I drew her face to mine and kissed her gently. A thousand times. I would make the same decision a thousand times over to save her. Even knowing in advance what I would lose, I wouldn’t think twice. It was such a small price to pay for what I got.
Even an archmythic’s abilities have limits. And all magic has a cost.
I’d drained the magic from everyone around me to fuel my final warp. Their magic would rekindle with rest.
With enough rest, would mine?
“Let’s talk about it later,” I whispered against her lips.
Drawing back, she smiled, then sat up, grabbed the remote, and snuggled under the blanket again.
I wrapped her even more tightly in my arms as the opening of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty filled the screen.
Ben Stiller’s titular character anxiously navigated the hellscape of internet dating, unaware that he was about to embark on a globetrotting adventure.
I was fully prepared to have my heartstrings tugged.
I’d never wanted to be the most powerful mythic alive. Power had never been important to me.
What I’d always wanted—what I’d always needed—was right here. And it didn’t require any power at all.
My thoughts grew fuzzier, and when I next blinked my eyes open, the credits were rolling. Lienna was dozing in my arms, and my left leg was aching like mad. Grimacing, I slowly stretched it out.
Lienna’s breathing hitched, and she lifted her head, squinting drowsily. “Hmm?”
“Hey sleepyhead.” I brushed loose strands of hair from her face. “You stuck around this time.”
Her eyebrows scrunched. “Huh?”
“Last time we fell asleep watching a movie together, you bailed on me,” I reminded her.
“Oh.” She huffed. “I’m pretty sure I made up for that when I tracked you down in Denmark after you ditched me.”
“Then I suppose we’re even,” I allowed magnanimously, then gave her a squeeze. “I promise to never leave you behind again.”
Planting her hands on my chest, she leaned in and kissed me. “So do I.”
I cupped the back of her neck, and as our kiss deepened, she slid her fingers into my hair.
Far too soon, she drew back, her fingertips trailing across my cheek. Then she stood and walked away, mesmerizing me with the sway of her hips.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“To the bed, Kit.” She looked over her shoulder at me, her eyes lit with that mysterious gleam I loved. “Care to join me?”
A more wondrous invitation I had never heard.
I shoved to my feet and hastened to catch up with her. I settled my hands on her waist, not wanting to let her go for even a moment. We ambled into the bedroom, no hurry in our steps, no dangers on our minds, no thoughts but thoughts of each other.
And it was perfect.