Chapter 29
"Dammit!" Hot coffee spilled everywhere, and I scrambled to soak it up. I'd missed the coffee mug by a mile.
"Let me." Lorenzo reached to pour me a mug while I cleaned up my mess.
I abandoned my cleaning and yanked the coffee pot away from him. "I can do it myself."
"Rafael—"
"I'm half-blind, not helpless."
I poured again, moving the pot slower this time. The coffee hit the edge of the mug and splashed across my hand, hot enough to burn, but I didn't pull away. I gritted my teeth and kept pouring until I had something resembling a full cup.
Lorenzo just stood there watching me like I might break.
"Stop looking at me like that," I said.
"Like what?"
"Like I'm fragile." I set the pot down and turned to face him. "I can't judge distances anymore. My left side is just gone. But I'm not going to shatter if you stop hovering."
"I'm not hovering."
"You are." I grabbed my coffee mug and took a drink, grimacing at the bitter taste. "And we can't keep doing this."
His eyes narrowed. "Doing what?"
"Staying here. Hiding." I set the mug down too hard. Coffee sloshed over the rim. "Constantine's looking for us right now. Every day we stay puts everyone here in danger."
"You're not ready—"
"I'll never be ready!" I snapped. "That's the point, Lorenzo. I can't adapt to this fast enough. Learning to function with one eye takes months. Years. We don't have years. We don't even have days. If Constantine finds us here…"
"Then we’ll fight.”
"How?" I gestured at the mess on the counter. "I can't pour coffee without spilling it. I can't catch things. I can't see attacks coming from my left. How am I supposed to fight beside you when I'm more liability than partner?"
Lorenzo opened his mouth, then closed it and looked away. He didn’t have any answers either.
A knock on the front door interrupted us. My shoulders tensed, staring at the closed door.
What if it was Constantine? The sadistic bastard was exactly the kind of polite fucker who would knock before killing us all.
Lorenzo grabbed the knife from the counter and positioned himself between me and the door. I grabbed for a knife but decided against it. Didn’t want to cut myself. Instead, I opted for a cast-iron frying pan. Lorenzo raised an eyebrow, and I answered with a scowl.
Another knock.
Footsteps thundered down the hallway. Diego appeared with Eight right behind him, both armed with knives. I didn’t even ask how Eight had gotten one. Florica came down the stairs, moving faster than I'd seen her move all week.
“On three,” Lorenzo mouthed, hand moving to the doorknob. “One. Two…”
He yanked it open.
Judge Rhadamanthys stood on the porch, dressed in his usual cowboy hat and dark suit. “Ciao, Piccolo,” he said and then removed his Stetson. “May I come in?”
"How the fuck did you find us?" Diego demanded from behind me.
Rhadamanthys shrugged. “Does it matter?”
Diego swore under his breath.
"If you found us, Constantine can find us," I said.
"Precisely why you should let me inside," Rhadamanthys agreed. "I’ve cleared the street so there’s no one watching…for now."
Lorenzo stepped aside, and Rhadamanthys swept in, glancing around the room. His gaze settled on Florica, and he approached, hat against his chest. “Grazie, signora, for your hospitality. You have a lovely home.”
Florica’s expression remained stone cold as she went to the coffee pot and poured another cup for the judge. When she returned, she offered it to him, meeting his eyes. “Come and sit.” she said. “Mind your boots.”
We moved to the living room. Rhadamanthys took the armchair while the rest of us arranged ourselves around him.
Eight climbed up onto the stairs and peered at us through the rungs.
I sat on the couch where I could see everyone with my right eye.
Florica remained in the kitchen doorway, arms crossed.
"You have a few hours at most," Rhadamanthys said after taking a sip of coffee. "Constantine knows I’ve come, but he won’t risk a direct confrontation, not while I’m here. He wants evidence of my bias so he can have me removed from my position as a judge."
"Evidence you're giving him by being here,” I pointed out.
Rhadamanthys conceded the point with a small nod.
"Why?" I swallowed, the now mostly healed nail wounds in my palms throbbing. I knew all too well how difficult it was to violate such a sacred oath.
Rhadamanthys considered his coffee. "When I took my oath, I swore to uphold the values and laws of the Pantheon. It never occurred to me that those two things could exist in opposition to each other. Yet here we are. I believe in the system that was built. I believe in honor among thieves, that rules and consequences are what separates us from the animals. But I also believe… Ade would want me to help you.” He lifted his eyes from the coffee to meet my eyes. “He’d never forgive me if I didn’t.”
"Jesus Christ," Diego muttered. "No wonder Constantine's been patient. He doesn't need to manufacture evidence. He just needs to catch you."
"Precisely, which is why we don't have much time. I can shield you for a few hours, but no more." Rhadamanthys leaned back. "But before then, I need to get you to Montana. Hades is already there with your third seal. He wants to see what you risked to earn it."
Diego pushed off the wall. "You're going to lead Constantine straight to those kids."
"Constantine already knows where they are. He's known since the extraction." Rhadamanthys met Diego's glare without flinching. "He hasn't moved against them because Hades is there."
"Then why do we need to go at all?" Lorenzo asked. "Why not have Hades bring the seal here?"
"Because if Hades leaves, those kids are fair game," I answered.
Rhadamanthys nodded. “We’re playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse. We’re in the endgame now. We must be careful. Every move of a piece across the board means sacrificing another.”
"How long do we have?" Lorenzo asked.
"We need to leave now while I can still shield you." Rhadamanthys set his cup down and stood.
“We’re ready.”
I stood up. The movement made my head swim, but I ignored it. "What about you?" I nodded to Diego, Jasper, and Eight.
Diego and Jasper exchanged a glance. “This is the end of the road for us,” Diego said carefully. “We’ve got our own adventure to go on now, thanks to Eight.”
I nodded. It was better that way. Eight had seen enough violence for one lifetime. Better that Diego and Jasper get her somewhere safe.
Diego swore under his breath and crossed the room. He pulled Lorenzo into a rough hug, then me. "Don't die, you stupid bastards."
"We'll try not to," Lorenzo said.
Jasper stood and nodded. "Udache."
Coming from him, that was practically a blessing.
Eight climbed down from the stairs. She walked straight to me and held out her small fist. I bumped it with mine. She did the same to Lorenzo, then climbed back up to watch us from between the rungs.
Ten minutes later, we stood on the porch with our bags.
Florica appeared in the doorway. She looked me up and down, then grabbed my chin and turned my head to examine the eyepatch. She clicked her tongue.
"Mulo," she muttered. "You walk with death now."
"I've been walking with death for a while."
"No. Before, you carried death for others.
Now it walks beside you. In you." She released my chin and pressed something into my hand.
A rosary. The beads were worn smooth from years of use, and the cross at the end looked heavier than it should be.
"My grandmother's. She wore it through three wars and died in her sleep at ninety-seven. "
"I can't take this—"
"You can. You will." She tapped the cross with one weathered finger. "Twist here.”
I did as she instructed and flinched when a plume of fire shot out of the bottom. My eyes widened, and I looked to Florica for an explanation.
“God protects you,” she explained. “Fire helps.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
"You want to survive this, Mulo?” she asked, voice firm. “Then pray like a saint and fight like the devil.”
I swallowed the tightness gathering in my throat and nodded. “I will.”
She grunted her approval and looked at Lorenzo. "And you. Keep him alive. You owe my nephew that much."
"I’ll get him out alive or die trying," Lorenzo said.
She snorted. "If you die down there, I will find you in hell and make you wish you stayed dead." She stepped back into the doorway. "Now go. Before I change my mind about helping you."
"Thank you," I said.
"Don't thank me yet. Thank me when you come back." She crossed herself. "If you come back."
Rhadamanthys led us to a black SUV parked at the curb. He opened the back door and gestured for us to get in.
Lorenzo went first. I followed, sliding across the leather seat until I was pressed against his side. I couldn’t see him thanks to my missing eye, but feeling him, knowing he was there beside me? It settled me.
Rhadamanthys got in the driver's seat and started the engine. "We'll be at the airfield in twenty minutes. From there, it's a two-hour flight to Montana. Rest while you can, amici. This time tomorrow, you’ll wish you had.”
I thought about the seven kids from Project Icarus, Eight and the way she'd fought when we first found her.
This was always how it was going to end, with me and Lorenzo against the man who'd destroyed both our lives. Chained together in the dark, fighting for something bigger than either of us.
I reached for Lorenzo's hand and found it on the first try.