“Wayne,” Marasi said, “it’s not like you gave her your virginity.”
“No it’s not!” he said. “I givethataway all the time. This wasspecial.”
Marasi glanced at Wax. “You all right?”
“I will be,” he said softly, staring at his sister—frozen in time. “It’s… painful. Like an old injury aching again. Because it never healed right.”
“Why did she say two days?” Marasi asked. “Wax, she’s trying to wrong-foot us.”
“I agree,” he said. “She’s trying to get us to believe we have more time than we do. One of her games.” He narrowed his eyes. “Her being here says something she may not realize, though. That she’s desperate. She knows she has to stop us.”
“But she’s not afraid of us,” Marasi said.
“Not physically,” Wax said. “She’s not afraid of being captured or killed by us. Harmony said… well, she’s—at least in a small way—part god. Autonomy has Invested her with some sort of power and authority, made her the avatar of Trell on this planet. For now. Until she fails.”
“Wait,” Wayne said. “Whois Trell andwhois Autonomy andwhois that on the steps?”
“That on the steps,” Wax said, “is my sister. A woman representing the god Autonomy. Using the title of Trell—an ancient god from this world.”
“Right…” Wayne said. “And all three are utter knobs?”
“Utter knobs,” Wax agreed.
Marasi followed their gaze back toward Telsin, looking so proud and confident. As she watched, Marasi couldswearthat Telsin’s eyes began to glow a soft red. The faintest of light. It was gone a moment later.
“Rusts,” she whispered. “This feels like it’s way above our pay scale, Wax.”
“There’s no one else,” he said. “But like I said, if she’s here, she’s worried about us. She wanted to go through with her plan weeks ago, but is having problems getting her technology to work. Now here we are, sniffing about, finding things they couldn’t track down. My gut says she’s here because she wants an opportunity to mess with my mind. Nudge me the wrong direction. Risky of her, but smart.”
They all fell silent, but Marasi had that same sense of cold dread from earlier. Magnified. The Set’s plan, the danger Autonomy posed… Marasi glanced down; she was still holding the picture Maraga had dug out. Ash falling from the sky, burying cities that had been destroyed.
“What do we do?” Wayne asked.
“Let me think,” Wax said. “How much bendalloy do you have? Are we wasting it?”
“Nah,” Wayne said. “I’ve got plenty.”
“He’s been saving it,” Marasi said, “and learning to be responsible with his finances and his use of metals.”
Wax glanced at him. “Who’dyou take the money from?”
“Someone worthless,” Wayne said.
“Remind me to check my bank accounts,” Wax said, “if there are any banks left after all of this. For now, the most urgent matter is the bomb. They have it ready, but can’t deliver it. So we need to find whatever device they’re setting up to launch the thing, then stop it.”
“Maraga says the Set is using the bunkers under the city as a kind of base,” Marasi said. “If we can sneak in, maybe we can find the mechanism. Or at least learn its location.”
“Hard to sneak anywhere,” Wayne said, nodding toward Telsin, “with some kind ofdemigodthing watchin’ you.”
Wax thought for a moment. “I need to confront Telsin, deal with her, maybe try to get information out of her. I want to find that bomb and stop it. I might be able to sort the lies from the truth. But I do agree, trying to get into their base could be valuable. Not sure how we’dmanage it though.”
Marasi glanced at Moonlight, frozen outside the speed bubble. What did she make of all this? Did she have answers?
Maybe Marasi should tell Wax. Only… would that break Moonlight’s frail trust in her? The woman could easily vanish again, as she’ddone after the fight at the warehouse.
So many secrets. Marasi had become a constable in part to reveal secrets—and here, in working with Moonlight, she had a chance. At something bigger. Something more important. Secrets beyond secrets. She needed more time to pry information out of Moonlight.
“Wax,” she said, “we should split up.”