Amy t Vaughn’s eyes. “My father said to wait ten years and if I hadn’t heard anything from him to gather together what allies I can find, and take back the kingdom if I can.”
Her voice didn’t waver, didn’t sound apologetic or uncertain. Her accent even edged toward British though it wasn’t quite. In that mont, I could completely believe that she descended from generations of royalty and supernatural guardians, and would get back what was theirs.
History wasn't as much my thing as Daniel's, but long talks with him had made it clear that historical kings and queens weren’t like the royalty in fairy tales. They had more in common with the royalty in Ga of Thrones—ruthless and effective.
“I don’t know when I’m going back, but I’m not going to wait ten years to do it. There’s got to be so way to find out what’s going on back ho. When I know, I’m going to ask all of you to help. I’ll understand if you can’t, but if I’m fighting sothing powerful enough to stand against my family, I’ll need all the help I get.”
“Man,” Vaughn shook his head, “that could get crazy… After it’s over, are you going to stay there?”
Amy stopped and said nothing for a mont. “I don’t know. They might need especially if sohow…” She paused again. “If sohow everyone’s dead and I’m the only one left alive. Then I’ll have to rebuild. If they’re alive, the sa conditions that made it easy to send away might still be true. Then I’ll stay here.”
Nodding, Vaughn said, “We said we weren’t going to take this too seriously, but I’m glad you’re not planning to disappear. I’m not sure I want to relocate to your universe—especially if there’s already another .”
Amy laughed. “Wouldn’t that be confusing? And that wouldn’t be the worst of it. Even back ho, your double’s family is only barely royal and viewed as uncultured colonists. The Bloodlords would be horrified to find that you were courting , but since the Bloodmaiden has always had a reputation for scandalous behavior, maybe they wouldn’t care.”
Vaughn leaned back in his chair. “That almost sounds fun.” He grinned, but then stopped, turning toward Cassie, keeping his voice low and beginning by saying, “I—”
Holding up her hand, Cassie didn’t let him go any further. “No. Stop. I don't want to cause problems, so I didn't bring that up. It's not as big a deal as The Thing That Eats made it sound.”
Vaughn blinked. “Okay.”
He didn’t add anything to that, and neither did anyone else.
In my head, Daniel added, That went about as well as could be expected.
It made for an odd mont, all of us sitting in the League jet, hearing the hum of the life support systems, and the background roar of the main engine. anwhile, outside, the jet hung above North Arica which was green, brown and gray, but surrounded by blue, and obscured by white clouds.
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Yet with almost everyone we cared about and maybe ever would care about below us, we found ourselves unsure of what to say in the face of the relationships right here.
Or maybe I was the only one who was unsure? Still, we didn’t say a lot after Rod interrupted the silence with the question, “So, what do you think of those Nationals?” and Haley answered, “They suck.” A few of us laughed, Cassie, in particular, but maybe you had to be there.
There’s not a lot to say about what ca next. We landed in Grand Lake where it was still day ti. Alex healed the injuries we had, which were amazingly minor considering what we’d done. Agent Lim debriefed us over the internet, listening, I’m sure, for anything we’d done that could damage the security of the United States or cause problems for the Stapledon program.
Plus, Samita seed almost disappointed that none of us had co back possessed, making her elaborate protective circles unnecessary.
Reliquary appeared during all of that to pick up The Thing That Eats’ glowing prison and left us celebrating our survival.
We had pizza. And breadsticks. With dipping sauce.
It wasn’t exactly the food of kings, but we were hungry.
After a couple hours hanging out, though, we had to bring everyone ho—well, almost everyone. Alex and his friends had flown a Defenders’ podjet. Izzy and Daniel flew back to the University of Chicago together.
That left Haley and to fly everyone else.
On a whim, we left Cassie and Rod (both in Washington D.C.) for last. That ant that we were floating above Duke University to drop off Amy and Samita at ten at night, practically invisible because of the shields, and about two hundred feet from the ground.
Samita looked out the windows, face pointing toward the ground below. “You’re absolutely certain you can carry all the way down?”
Amy smirked. “After I transform? Yes. Can I have a second?”
Samita nodded, frowning as Amy walked up to Cassie. “I did what I could to pull the focus away from... Well, you know.”
Cassie leaned back in her chair and looked up at her. “Does that an you’re not recruiting us to invade your ho universe?”
Amy’s mouth twitched. “No, that’s real. Will you?”
Glancing downward toward her gun, Cassie said, “Count on it. Mr. Sparkles’ been complaining about how he barely got to shoot the dragon since August.”
Amy laughed but then stopped. “Are we okay? I an it seriously.”
Taking her hand and squeezing it, Cassie said, “We’re fine.”
“Good.” Letting go of Cassie’s hand, she tapped Rod’s foot. Nodding toward Samita, she said, “Should I push her out?”
Rod laughed. “Definitely.”
Samita raised an eyebrow. “Don’t.”
Amy didn’t, and after the normal flash of red, she took Samita and flew down to Duke’s campus.
Cassie and Rod didn’t even go to the sa university. We dropped them off in a park in Washington D.C. that they said was near enough to a tro stop that they could get where they needed to go.
As the hatch opened, Cassie asked, “What do you think will happen to that Cabal guy?”
“No idea,” I said.
“ neither,” she said and stepped out. Rod followed her.
When they were gone, I turned on the gravitics and let the jet float upward. Out the windows, the Washington Monunt, Lincoln morial and the Capitol building dominated the skyline, all of them glowing.
Haley and I looked at each other. “I think this is the first ti we’ve been alone in days,” Haley said.
I shrugged. “If we landed at a team’s HQ in New York, we could change into street clothes and I don’t know, maybe go see a band? Or have dessert?”
She pursed her lips, obviously thinking about it. “We can’t be too late. I wanted to go to Mass with my parents tomorrow, and I’ve got an essay due Monday.”
Checking the jet’s radar, I brought the main engine online. “I’ve got stuff too.”
Sowhere over Pennsylvania, Kayla called. Haley and I shared a look. We weren’t going to be going to NYC.
“Bad news. Reliquary was driving The Thing’s prison to so kind of magical storage facility when he was attacked. The attacker shattered the device. The creature’s escaped.”
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