Page 38 of City of Stone and Silence

“No.” My voice is too loud, and I swallow hard. “If we wait too long, Catoria and the Minders are going to demand answers, and we’ll end up fighting in three directions. We have to move now, before they get a handle on us.”

“I’m in,” Zarun says, with a lazy grin.

“I’m…” Shiara shakes her head. “I’m not sure. But…” She sighs. “The crew will follow you, Isoka. I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

I look at Meroe, and she stares back at me, biting her lip.

“Why don’t you tell them?” Meroe says.

“Tell them what?” I don’t know why I say that. She already knows everything, of course.

“About Tori.”

We’re in the corner of one of the empty chambers, made a little less stark with the addition of some blankets and a lantern. There’s plenty of room to spread out, but for the most part the crew has stuck together, turning a few of the largest chambers into a communal barracks. This one is empty except for us, a stone space the size of a small house, and it feels echoing and vast. The sun has set, and the room is in shadow beyond the narrow circle of light cast by our lantern.

Meroe is sitting on the blanket, cross-legged. Her head turns to follow me as I continue to pace.

“Is it that obvious?” I ask her.

“Only because you already talked to me about it.” She shrugs. “If there is something strange happening with the passage of time—”

“Catoria said we have at least a week until Soliton leaves. We’ve used two days of that already.” I reach the wall, and resist the urge to slam my palm against the stone. “If I can get back on board before then, and head right back to Kahnzoka, I should get there before the deadline. Barely.”

“And you think this attack on Prime is the best way?”

“It’s the only lead I have. This Silvoa thought that an Eddica adept could get control of the city by using the access points in all three ziggurats, right? That’s why she went to Prime in the first place. If I can get to that one, we might be able to talk the Cresos and the Minders into letting me use the other two. Or force them, if it comes to that. That might get me back onto Soliton.”

“That’s a lot of ‘mights,’ Isoka.”

“I rotting know.” I grit my teeth. “But what else am I supposed to do? I am open to rotting ideas here, but there’s no time.”

“I know.” She holds up her hands for peace. “I’m not disagreeing with you.”

“Sorry.” I run one hand through my hair. It’s getting longer than I like it, nearly to my shoulders. “I just … before we got here, I thought I’d have the rest of the year to figure this out. Now I have the rest of the rotting week, if I’m lucky.”

“Sit,” she says.

“What?”

“Just sit down, would you? Your pacing is making me seasick.”

I let out a breath and flop gracelessly to the blanket beside her. “Better?”

“A little.” She shifts sideways, sitting behind me, and twines her arms around my neck, head resting on my shoulder.

“I…” The warmth of her, pressed against my back, makes me shiver. “Rot. I am sorry.”

“I understand,” she says. “I just want to make sure you’ve thought this through.”

“I have,” I say. “I know it’s asking a lot of the crew. But if we win, it’ll work out best for everyone. We’ll have food, and we won’t have to worry about being attacked by monsters at night.” I lean my cheek against hers. “Honestly, if not for the walking corpses, things wouldn’t be so bad here.”

“But you still want to leave?”

“You know I have to.”

“What happens after you save Tori?”

I laugh. “I haven’t dared think that far ahead. What about you? If Soliton could take you anywhere, where would you go?”