Merlin's Children (The Children and the Blood) (22 page)

Cole glanced from the door to the cripples, and then headed after her.

Feet devouring the ground, Ashe strode down the tunnel, with Lily half-running to keep up. Over the distance, he could feel magic flickering fitfully around her, and despite the desire not to let Lily out of his sight, he couldn’t help but slow to lessen its ache.

“Ashley,” Lily said.

The older girl didn’t answer. She didn’t even seem to hear.

“Ashley!”

Flinching, Ashe stopped, and her gaze followed Lily’s back down the tunnel. For a moment, she didn’t move, watching him through the dim light, and he couldn’t read the look in her eyes.

Slowly, the magic faded to a shadow of what it had been. He came closer. She was still trembling and before he got within a few feet, she seemed to balk at his proximity and swiftly turned to keep going.

His brow drawing down, he followed.

The platform came into view, its bluish lights ghostly against the darkness. Grabbing Lily under her arms, Ashe quickly hoisted the girl onto the tiled ledge, giving no sign of noticing the worried look on her little sister’s face.

“Ashe,” came a voice behind them.

He looked back as debris crunched in the tunnel. Gun bouncing against her shoulder, the blonde girl from the storage room jogged out of the shadows. Stopping at the edge of the light, she held up her hands peaceably, as though between her and the wizard, she was the one who somehow needed to appear nonthreatening.

“Hang on a minute?”

Ashe didn’t move.

The girl’s mouth tightened. “Look,” she said, taking a few steps closer. “Sam was being an ass, alright? What he said…” she glanced away, irritation flashing across her face. “I’m sorry.”

Cole looked to Ashe. Nothing but typical wizard impassivity showed in her eyes. One hand on Lily’s leg, she waited, motionless and still managing to look as dangerous as ever at the same time.

The other girl didn’t even seem to notice. “What’re you doing here?” she asked, her tone vaguely incredulous.

“Saw your message outside.”

Her voice was quiet, and almost pained, and he found himself wondering again what the hell she’d seen. But at the words, the girl just scoffed, her incredulity deepening.

“And what? You thought dropping in without warning would be a good plan?”

Ashe said nothing, and the other girl’s humor faded as she glanced to the blood on Ashe’s face and arms. Silence fell over the tunnel, broken only by the patter of dust raining down as a distant subway train rushed by.

“I didn’t want to believe it, you know,” the girl said after a moment. “That you were behind all that…” she shook her head. “Didn’t make sense. Wizards being bastards, now,” she chuckled dryly, “that I’ll believe any day of the week. But the rest…” she shook her head again.

“When’d you find out?” she asked, her tone becoming serious.

“About three weeks ago,” Ashe answered quietly.

The girl paused. “Did you try to reach us?”

“They told me they killed Carter’s people.”

“They must’ve meant Serenity’s crew. She and the others died trying to reach a couple of their friends a few months back.” For a moment, the girl’s face tightened, and then she visibly pushed the memory aside. “So what about the ferals?”

Cole glanced between them, at a loss for what she meant.

Ashe hesitated. “The leaders are dead.”

The girl’s brow shrugged equitably. “And that?” she asked, jerking her chin toward the dried bloodstains.

“Taliesin. Maybe Blood too.”

“Still alive?”

“Some.”

“We’ll keep an eye out.”

Silence returned.

“Listen,” the girl said. “I don’t know what your plan is, and I know the others aren’t exactly happy you’re here, but would you stick around a bit? There’s someone who’s going to want to see you.”

He saw Ashe swallow at the words. “Okay.”

The girl nodded. Adjusting the gun strap on her shoulder, she started for the platform.

“I’m Spider, by the way,” she said to him as she approached.

He paused. “Cole.”

“Cripple?” she asked. Her gaze twitched to Ashe.

Hesitating again, he nodded, and then noted how she didn’t really seem to accept the answer till it came from Ashe as well.

He struggled to keep the bafflement from his face, feeling adrift enough as it was without letting the others know. Calmly, Spider kept walking, giving no sign she cared that a wizard the rest of the world blamed for mass genocide stood only a few feet away.

“And you are?” Spider asked Lily, her friendly tone marred only slightly by the tension he could hear beneath the words.

“Lily,” Ashe supplied quietly.

Spider looked from her to the little girl, and as he came up near them, Cole could read the questions in her eyes. But with another glance to Ashe, she seemed to push past the uncertainty to just give the kid a smile. “Nice to meet you.”

Cautiously, Lily nodded, watching her as if waiting to see what she’d do with the gun.

“This way,” Spider said, hoisting herself over the edge of the platform.

He stared at Ashe and Lily as they climbed up after the girl and headed for the stairs. None of this made sense. Ashe, Spider, the gun-wielding gladiator who’d tried to shoot her and accused her of getting some guy named Carter killed.

Every single shred of evidence Harris and his father had supplied.

The pieces didn’t fit.

His brow twitched down.

He didn’t know who to believe.

The girls were closing in on the stairway, and if he didn’t want to be left standing in the middle of an abandoned subway tunnel, he really had no choice. Drawing a breath, he climbed up onto the platform and followed, uncertain when he’d ever felt more at a loss in all the six months since he’d first met Merlin’s bloody queen.

Ashe followed Spider up the steps from the tunnel and, when the girl headed through the shadows to a maintenance stairway, she followed her up those as well.

Somewhere in the past few hours, the day had become a ride. She couldn’t stop it, couldn’t get off, and had spent most of it just trying to figure out how to hang on without crumbling so they could reach the end alive. But suddenly, she’d found herself here and, on some level, this was the most unbelievable part of all.

Her gaze trailed Spider as the girl climbed, the clunk of her boots echoing strangely from the concrete walls.

She hoped she wasn’t actually lying unconscious somewhere, imagining the one bit of amazing news in this hellish day.

Five stories up, the steps came to an end in a steel door. A broken light fixture dangled overhead, and in the dim glow of a bulb farther down the stairwell, she could just make out the words ‘roof access’ stenciled in red paint across the door.

Spider glanced back as Lily and Cole reached the landing, and then she hesitated, looking to Ashe.

“Sam would’ve called up here the minute I left,” she said quietly.

Ashe met her gaze. “Hey, Lil?” she called over her shoulder. “Stay here a sec, okay?”

Brow furrowing in protest, Lily shook her head. “No, we stick together.”

“It’s just for a second.”

The little girl’s expression hardened.

“I promise.”

Lily hesitated and then reached over, her hand finding Cole’s. Pulling him along, she retreated a few steps and then came to a stop, giving her sister a stubborn glare.

Ashe glanced to Spider. The girl’s lip twitched. Shrugging the shotgun from her shoulder to let it hang low by her side, she turned and inched the door open. Brilliant sunlight shone through the crack. Beyond the opening, heated voices fell silent.

“It’s me,” Spider called. For a heartbeat, she waited, and then continued onto the rooftop.

Light filled the stairwell and Ashe blinked against the glare. Gravel spread away in front of her, stretching to a parapet of roughhewn granite that surrounded the broad roof. Schooling her face back into impassivity, she followed Spider through the door.

A trio of stone-like gazes locked on her.

But she really was only watching one.

As she walked onto the rooftop, Bus glanced from her to Spider, and she couldn’t read anything past the guarded look in his bright blue eyes. On either side of him, the other men’s faces darkened, their hands twitching as though they wished they had weapons and not just walkie-talkies nearby.

“It’s alright, Bus,” Spider said, glancing to the adjacent buildings as she lowered her shotgun by its strap to the gravel. “It was like you said.”

The stone-like expression cracked into a slow smile. Ignoring the others, he strode across the rooftop, coming to a stop directly in front of Ashe. With rough hands, he grabbed her shoulders and, for a moment, his eyes ran over her like he was trying to decide what to say.

“Glad you’re back, kiddo,” he stated. “You look like hell.”

An incredulous noise escaped her, and his smile grew. Tugging her forward, he pulled her into a hug.

“About time you got here, girl,” he told her kindly.

He patted her back and then pushed her away again.

She swallowed hard, trying to return his grin when she felt like at any second, the people around her would shatter as she woke from this dream.

Spider cleared her throat.

Ashe glanced over, and then followed the twitch of her gaze to the stairs.

“I take it he called up here,” Spider said.

As Bus made an affirmative noise, Ashe looked past him to the other men on the roof. Loathing radiated from them, but at her glance, they returned to their surveillance of the street, as if too disgusted to meet her eyes.

She shivered, the warmth of the moment before fading away. Drawing a breath to stay focused, she turned back to the stairwell door and, with a small jerk of her head, motioned for Lily to come out.

Cole by her side, the little girl stepped from the shadows, a trace of stubbornness still hovering on her face.

“Holy…” Bus started. He cast a glance to the other men, but they seemed to have decided nothing on the rooftop behind them existed anymore. Blinking, he ran a hand over his white hair. “Samson wasn’t kidding.”

“What’d he say?” Spider asked.

Bus looked over at her. “Well,” he amended. “About…” He gestured to Lily and then paused, exhaling slowly. “Yeah,” he finished, as though answering his own thoughts. Taking a breath, he walked toward the girl.

Ashe followed, Spider coming a step behind.

“Hey there,” Bus said as he neared the door.

Lily looked to Ashe.

“Bus,” Ashe said. “I’d like you to meet Lily… my sister.”

He glanced from her to the girl and back, but whatever his confusion at her words, she could see him stifle it quickly. Bending a little, he cocked his head as though to catch the girl’s attention.

“How’re you doing, Lily?” he asked.

For a heartbeat, the girl eyed him, her brow furrowing cagily. “Bus?”

“Yep?”

“Why’s your name ‘Bus’?”

He chuckled, straightening again. “Because I’m the transport, kid. Ain’t a one of these folks could figure their way out of a paper bag without me.”

“Hey!” Spider protested.

Bus grinned. “Well, ‘cept maybe her,” he admitted with a nod to the other girl.

Spider rolled her eyes. Lily looked between them as if uncertain what to make of what she saw.

“And who’s your friend?” the old man continued.

Lily glanced up. “Cole.”

“Cripple,” Spider commented.

Bus’ eyebrows shrugged appreciatively and he extended a hand. “Good to meet you.”

Cole hesitated, and then shook the man’s hand briefly, his expression anything but warm.

“No sense in us all standing out here, eh?” Bus continued, motioning toward the door and giving no sign he’d noticed the pause, or the ice. “We’ve got food downstairs, and you look like you could use someplace to clean up.”

He directed the last to Ashe.

She couldn’t quite keep the dry look from her face, and at the expression, he grinned.

“Oh, hush, girl. You’re just lucky Memphis let himself get distracted by some car wreck a few blocks away when you showed up earlier,” he nodded toward a man by the front of the building. “Looking like that… it’s a good thing you made it to the door.”

He clapped a hand on her shoulder and then started for the stairs.

Keeping her gaze from Lily, Ashe followed, well aware it wasn’t just because of her own appearance that they’d been lucky.

The ground floor was empty when they reached it, and the sound of the stairwell door opening echoed in the silence. Striding past the entrance to the subway, Bus led them across the massive waiting room and around the corner to a hallway beyond the ticket counter’s end. Destroyed marble paneling lined the walls, though nearly every surviving surface had served as a spray paint canvas at some point. Narrow windows sat near the ceiling, pouring sunlight down on the graffiti as though lighting an art gallery. Halfway down the hall, Bus turned, pushing open a pair of swinging doors and then holding one for the others to follow.

Few chairs and tables remained in the expanse of the cafeteria, though most were broken in one way or another and looked forlornly tiny beneath the high vault of the ceiling. Columns lined the room, their marbled veneers shattered to reveal the struts underneath, and on the far wall, a long row of windows stretched to the ceiling, their surviving glass haphazardly guarded by crisscrossed boards. Letting the door swing closed behind them, Bus strode ahead, leading the way into the kitchen. Broken shelving and tapioca-colored countertops ringed the next room, with space left only for an old metal fridge and an enormous stove with generations of cobwebs trailing from its hood.

“Here you go,” Bus called back as he snagged a tattered rag from a jumble of towels on a countertop. He turned, tossing it to Ashe as she came through the door. “You can use one of the blue buckets over there.”

Catching the rag, she looked between him and the collection of five-gallon buckets just visible around the corner of the large island in the middle of the kitchen. Releasing Lily’s hand, she headed toward them as Bus continued to the refrigerator, grabbing its metal latch and succeeding in hauling the dented door open on the third try.