“Don’t! I’ll shoot you, and I don’t want to do that, Daya, so stay the fuck back!”
“Prasun.” She reached toward him, her fingers trembling but not close enough to touch. “You weren’t supposed to be involved in this part; I told you to stay home!”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do!”
“I guess not.” She caught my eye and tightened her jaw. “Well, you passed the inadvertent entrance exam with flying colors, Mr. Dinges. Now if you don’t mind letting go of my brother . . .”
Her brother? Well, that explained why he was fighting the paranoia I’d shared with him so hard. “I mind. I’d rather not be shot.”
“He won’t shoot you. Maggot doesn’t want him to.” A whole-body shudder rocked Four-Arms—or Prasun—and for a moment it was a war of wills between the fear I was feeding him and the fear he felt for Maggot. “I promise you’ll get to the boss without any further delay.”
I didn’t trust her, but my brain was pulsing behind my eyes, the pill I’d taken earlier barely holding back the migraine I had coming. If I was going to be good for anything later, I needed to ease off now. “All right.” I stepped back from Prasun, who looked to his sister desperately.
“Daya . . .”
“Go home, please,” she said. “I’ll be there soon.”
“But . . . See what I . . . And the Silverbacks need help—”
“It’s being taken care of. Go home!”
Prasun cast a final glance at me, his expression one of utter betrayal, before he staggered away.
Vibro smiled at me, but it only made her appear angrier. “I thought you didn’t do mind control.”
“I don’t.”
“Then what the hell was that? Because Maggot thought he knew what was going on, but if you can mind control someone, all bets are off.”
She couldn’t have considered this before? “It’s more emotional than mental, and I’d have to be touching him to make it work.”
“Ah.” She glanced down at my trembling hands, then back up. “You know, you made my little brother shoot his best friends.”
I felt bad about that, I did, but I couldn’t be distracted by the guilt churning in my gut right now. “At least I didn’t make him shoot you.”
Vibro studied me for another moment, then shrugged. “Fair enough, I suppose. This way.”
She turned, and I followed her down the street, which had miraculously cleared of rubberneckers since my confrontation with the welcoming committee. She led me along cracked umber paving stones to what used to be the front of #5, and the only wall still mostly standing. Most of the paint had long since peeled away, and the bricks beneath it were pockmarked with burns and bullet holes. The floor inside was nothing but dirt, and at the end of the burnt-out main hall was a makeshift gazebo cobbled together from steel beams and sheet metal.
Underneath the gazebo, in a chair that looked like it had been stolen from the set of Downton Abbey, sat a heavyset man in a white suit, presumably Maggot. Sitting beside him were two Villains I recognized: Eldritch and Corvid. My attention, though, rested solely on the person slumped at Maggot’s feet wearing nothing but his briefs and innumerable bruises, his wrists and ankles held firm in Eldritch’s leathery tentacles. I froze, barely able to breathe until I could see Raul’s chest move ever so faintly. He was alive, if not well, and certainly not mobile. Eldritch had been in the Abattoir for so long that no one remembered what he’d done to get there, but I knew enough to know that when he got a hold of someone, there was no getting away. That didn’t stop me from wanting to go over there and yank Raul out of his grasp.
“Raul—” I finally broke out of my paralysis and started to run forward, but Vibro grabbed my elbow and pulled me back.
“Some free advice for dealing with the boss,” she hissed in my ear. “You act polite, you listen quietly and you prove you’re worth his time. He hates disrespect more than
“Prasun.” She reached toward him, her fingers trembling but not close enough to touch. “You weren’t supposed to be involved in this part; I told you to stay home!”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do!”
“I guess not.” She caught my eye and tightened her jaw. “Well, you passed the inadvertent entrance exam with flying colors, Mr. Dinges. Now if you don’t mind letting go of my brother . . .”
Her brother? Well, that explained why he was fighting the paranoia I’d shared with him so hard. “I mind. I’d rather not be shot.”
“He won’t shoot you. Maggot doesn’t want him to.” A whole-body shudder rocked Four-Arms—or Prasun—and for a moment it was a war of wills between the fear I was feeding him and the fear he felt for Maggot. “I promise you’ll get to the boss without any further delay.”
I didn’t trust her, but my brain was pulsing behind my eyes, the pill I’d taken earlier barely holding back the migraine I had coming. If I was going to be good for anything later, I needed to ease off now. “All right.” I stepped back from Prasun, who looked to his sister desperately.
“Daya . . .”
“Go home, please,” she said. “I’ll be there soon.”
“But . . . See what I . . . And the Silverbacks need help—”
“It’s being taken care of. Go home!”
Prasun cast a final glance at me, his expression one of utter betrayal, before he staggered away.
Vibro smiled at me, but it only made her appear angrier. “I thought you didn’t do mind control.”
“I don’t.”
“Then what the hell was that? Because Maggot thought he knew what was going on, but if you can mind control someone, all bets are off.”
She couldn’t have considered this before? “It’s more emotional than mental, and I’d have to be touching him to make it work.”
“Ah.” She glanced down at my trembling hands, then back up. “You know, you made my little brother shoot his best friends.”
I felt bad about that, I did, but I couldn’t be distracted by the guilt churning in my gut right now. “At least I didn’t make him shoot you.”
Vibro studied me for another moment, then shrugged. “Fair enough, I suppose. This way.”
She turned, and I followed her down the street, which had miraculously cleared of rubberneckers since my confrontation with the welcoming committee. She led me along cracked umber paving stones to what used to be the front of #5, and the only wall still mostly standing. Most of the paint had long since peeled away, and the bricks beneath it were pockmarked with burns and bullet holes. The floor inside was nothing but dirt, and at the end of the burnt-out main hall was a makeshift gazebo cobbled together from steel beams and sheet metal.
Underneath the gazebo, in a chair that looked like it had been stolen from the set of Downton Abbey, sat a heavyset man in a white suit, presumably Maggot. Sitting beside him were two Villains I recognized: Eldritch and Corvid. My attention, though, rested solely on the person slumped at Maggot’s feet wearing nothing but his briefs and innumerable bruises, his wrists and ankles held firm in Eldritch’s leathery tentacles. I froze, barely able to breathe until I could see Raul’s chest move ever so faintly. He was alive, if not well, and certainly not mobile. Eldritch had been in the Abattoir for so long that no one remembered what he’d done to get there, but I knew enough to know that when he got a hold of someone, there was no getting away. That didn’t stop me from wanting to go over there and yank Raul out of his grasp.
“Raul—” I finally broke out of my paralysis and started to run forward, but Vibro grabbed my elbow and pulled me back.
“Some free advice for dealing with the boss,” she hissed in my ear. “You act polite, you listen quietly and you prove you’re worth his time. He hates disrespect more than
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