Page 213 of Victorious

“Why not?”

“We don’t match anymore.”

A ghost of a nod. “True.”

“We should go,” said Mitch from the doorway.

Sydney looked to Victor. “Can you stand?”

“Sure,” he said, “I was just resting my legs.”

He rose slowly to his feet, resting a hand on her shoulder in a way that could have been kindness, or simply for balance.

“Serena’s dead,” she said, thinking it would hurt less if she said it quick. “And so is June. And Mitch is an EO now. Like us.”

Victor met Mitch’s gaze, brows lifting in question, and as if on cue, one man became two. Only they didn’t both fit in the doorway so one had to step back into the hall.

“Huh,” said Victor. “I guess those pills weren’t bullshit after all.”

Syd frowned. “You said those were for hypertension.”

Mitch shook his head. “Let’s just get out of here.”

They made their way through EON. It felt less like a prison than a graveyard. Every hall, and room, was empty, the floor covered in a patina of ash, like fresh snow.

“Where is everyone?” she asked.

“They died, with Gabriel,” said Victor. “He was the only thing keeping them alive.”

Syd wondered if the same was true for her, and by extension Mitch, and Victor, and Dol.

In that case, she decided, she would simply have to live forever.

XIVNOW. THEN.

DOL lay stretched across the backseat of the pickup.

Victor sank onto the bench beside him, as Mitch and Syd climbed into the front.

As the truck drove away, EON now a hollow shell behind them, the pain sharpened briefly in his chest. No longer a warning, so much as a toll. He turned the dials until it didn’t really bother him. Then rolled the window down and let the cold air slide over his skin.

“You okay, Vic?” asked Mitch, meeting his gaze in the rearview mirror. His eyes were the same warm brown they’d always been, despite his new abilities.

Mitch would look after the kid.

She would look after him.

They would be fine.

“Better than ever,” he lied.

“We’ll get you patched up,” said Syd.

“Good as new,” added Mitch.

Victor hummed in agreement. He slid his hand across Dol’s fur, and felt the dog stir, his tail thudding softly on the bench.

“Good dog,” he murmured, letting his eyes fall closed.