What I need is for soone to tell the truth.
I switched targets at the last second.
My body boiled under the strain, most of the mana Id regenerated draining away.
All at once, I understood Keith in a way Id never truly understood anyone. Fully grasped every neuron of his psyche, as I parsed through what made him tick, what drove him, the struggles hed gone through and the utter absence of self-confidence, all tied to a hundred different threads that were just waiting for soone to co along and pull them.
Dodge backward.
Keith did, in the process doing what Id pictured, rather than following the command to the letter. He leapt away from the edge and Nicks descending blade, and stumbled a little. The movents were significantly smoother than standard-Keith, but it was clear his body couldnt quite keep up with his mind and I needed to account for that.
Frustrated by the unexpected resistance, Nick roared and charged at Keith, sword stabbing out towards his chest.
Redirect his montum
Keith grabbed Nicks sword arm and pivoted, sending him stumbling awkwardly across the bluffs.
Nick reeled back a few steps, then leaned and spit, his face dark. The surrounding aura swelled out like crimson wings. Id hoped that Keiths sudden shift would snap Nick out of the rage, or at the very least, confuse him enough to contravene his tunnel-vision, but it wasnt working. If anything, the sudden difficulty made him more motivated to follow through.
As Keith didnt have the baked-in experience of Audrey or Talia, I micro-tasked, puppeting him through a series of short direct commands and together, we evaded Nicks onslaught.
But this was just delaying the inevitable. Spinning a stalemate into a loss.
I needed to separate them. The question was how.
Ideas cycled through my mind until I landed on one. Sothing dangerous that Id never consider in less dire circumstances, but all I could co up with on the fly.
I directed Keith to run a wide circle across the bluffs. As Nick chased after him, I scrambled towards the ledge and looked down, mind running through several calculations. There was nothing but ocean below, most of the rocks on the far left side.
With a fragnt of a plan, I sent Keith the silver bullet.
Keith ran to the far end of the cliff, then threw his hands in the air and shouted a na.
JINNY.
Nick halted dead in his tracks.
I false-started, stopping to watch. All Id done was send Keith a redacted image of Jinnys death, along with instructions to shout her na. But now, Keith was continuing on his own. That was her na, wasnt it? He asked breathlessly, withdrawing the wand from his inventory. And this was hers right?
Nick hesitated, color gone from his face.
And you gave it to because you feel like tainting her mory is the only way to get through it. Because you know she wouldnt want you to do this. Youre a good guy, with a good heart. Thats why she loved you.
I could have slamd a sledgehamr into Nicks gut to less devastating effect.
His face scrunched up, his teeth clenching. I dont want to be the good guy. The guy who gets stepped on, fucked with, and fucked up because hes not an enough. Im tired of being the good guy.
Again, Keith shook his head, speaking entirely of his own volition. We cant help what we are. At our core. We can hide it. Disguise it. Push it so deep it might even take an entire lifeti for it to resurface. But you are what you are. Nature always wins over nurture, in the end.
Nick shook his head several tis, then set his teeth. He raised his sword arm.
Too slow.
I crouched low and took off like a rocket, supercharged Agility flinging forward, eyes fixed on my targetNicks torso.
He saw coming out of the corner of his eye and shifted suddenly, trying to alter his positioning to intercept . But I was too quick. I snared his torso with both arms and let the rest of my weight slam into him.
Nick grunted, swearing up a storm as I pushed him back. Then the ground disappeared beneath us, and his eyes widened in realization.
Doing this for your own good, Nick.
Now in free fall, we plumted towards the water. Audreys vines snagged on a few outcroppings and slowed the fall. My feet hit the water and Nick plumted past , leaving a trail of bubbles in his wake.
Shit. His armor.
I swam straight down, tearing through the water until I caught up. His eyes were open and urgent but he wasnt moving, arms spread out at his side. Probably still stunned from the impact. I tore off the Operators belt and pulled it tight around his waist. Imdiately, his direction reversed, and with urging he shot upwards, and I kept a hold on the belt, riding the buoyancy up to the surface.
We barely breached the surface before a heavy gauntlet struck across the temple. I spun in a ss of bubbles and fury, struggling to right myself, ready to give as good as I got.
When I burst through again, though, Id misread the aggression. He flailed in a panic, the top section of his armor pulled down by gravity, constantly threatening to upend him as he slapped at the water. Given what hed almost done, it tempted the spiteful part of to let him flail for a while.
I spotted Keith.
A dark shadow flitted beneath us. Sothing brushed my leg, too quick to make out.
Given thatwhatever it waswas out here, on the outskirts of the dungeon floor proper, I wasnt overly worried, but I knew better than to tempt fate. I glanced over my shoulder, and spotted a sandy bank a short distance away, hidden in the alcove of the bluffs.
Near-decade old rescue and CPR lessons ca back to pieceal, and I did my best to follow what I could rember, starting with not approaching a drowning person from the front. Instead, I treaded water until I was behind Nick, and grabbed him roughly under the arms.
Crack
The back of Nicks head smashed against my mask with enough force to stun and nearly loosen my grip.
Fucker! Stop! Theres sothing in the water
THUNK
This ti, when Nick curled inward and threw his head back, I was ready for it. I tucked my chin, and the back of his head bounced painfully off the stable upper-section of my mask. He stopped struggling, and I tightened my hold, propelling us towards the sandbank with haphazard kicks.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the shadow. It was bigger than Id originally thought.
Audrey. Can you swim?
Nooooo. My summons ntal voice sounded utterly miserable, and I realized that from where she clung to my back, her head was probably well below the surface.
Can you at least breathe? I asked, monitoring the circling shadow. Now that Nick seed to be panicking lessmaybe hed finally realized I wasnt actively trying to drown himI reached back, kicking and treading with one arm. Faster, but not fast enough.
Audrey sent back a complex reply, a composite of words and images. I gathered she didnt need to breathe regularly, though being underwater was unpleasant, and if we subrged her for too long, it would kill her.
I felt bad for doing itbetween Miles, the Crimson Nosferatu, and the Grilings, this outing had been stressful on my summonsbut I sent Audrey a picture of a net, and an image of her zipping towards a generic shark and wrapping it up.
Her response was reticent. If I catch it
Of course. Dig in. Assuming you can even eat that much, from the size its probably hundreds of pounds
The dark shadow made a second pass, and there was a tangible relief as the vines released from my shoulder. As the shadow retreated, a much smaller shadow followed it.
Good, Audrey snagged it. Assuming she could distract whatever it was for even a few minutes, we were probably in the clear. Id need to compensate her later, especially if whatever was out there inevitably got the better of her. Sothing fancy. Sushi, maybe.
As soon as there was enough sand underneath us to stand on, Nick pushed away. I let him go, crawling up onto the sandbar and heaving for breath.
shrieked. I rolled away, just as Nick buried a massive knife into my imprint in the sand. His aura returned full-force, spite radiating from it.
Are you insane? I scrambled backward, trying to keep away from him as he advanced. Now that the crisis was over, a dark curtain of anger descended over . But Nick wasnt listening. I wasnt even sure if he was hearing . He stomped across the sandbar like a malevolent automaton, his eyes dead, nothing left of him but rage.
Id been more or less in hiding since the transposition started. Maybe even before that, if I was being honest. Itd kept alive. Kept my family safe. But I was tired of hiding.
I took the mask off.
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