Calamity (Reckoners, #3)(85)

“What then?” she asked. “We can’t just give up.”

I smiled. “I’ve got an idea.”

“How crazy is it?”

“Pretty darn crazy.”

“Good,” she said. “The world’s gone mad; joining it is the only solution.” She was quiet a moment. “Do…I have a part in it?”

“Yes, but we shouldn’t need you to overextend your powers.”

She relaxed, snuggling against my side, and we sat there together for a time. “You know,” I finally said, “I really wish my father could have met you.”

“Because he’d be curious to meet a good Epic?”

“Well, that too,” I said. “But I think he’d like you.”

“David, I’m abrasive, cocky, and loud.”

“And brilliant,” I said, “and an awesome shot. Commanding. Decisive. My dad, he liked people who were straightforward. Said he’d rather get cussed out by someone who meant it than be smiled at by someone who didn’t.”

“Sounds like a great man.”

“He was.” The kind of man others ignored or talked over because he was too quiet, and not quick with something clever—but also the kind of man who would run to help others when everyone else fled for safety.

Calamity, I missed that man.

“I’ve been having nightmares,” I whispered.

Megan sat up, looking at me with a sharp motion. “What kind?”

“Persistent,” I said. “Terrible. Something about loud noises, jarring sensations. I don’t get it—I don’t think it’s something I’m afraid of.”

“Any…other oddities?” she asked.

I met her gaze. “How much do you remember from Sharp Tower?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Tia’s words. And before that…gunfire. Lots of it. How did we survive that?”

I drew my lips to a line.

“Sparks!” she said. “How likely do you think…I mean…”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Could be nothing. There were a lot of powers being flung around that room—maybe there was a leftover forcefield, or…or maybe some pocket of another reality…”

She rested her hand on my shoulder.

“Sure you want to stay around me?” I asked.

“I’d rather die than do otherwise.” She squeezed my shoulder. “But I don’t like this at all, David. It feels like we’re holding our breath, waiting to see who explodes first. Do you think Prof and Tia had conversations like this, where they decided it was worth the risk of remaining together?”

“Maybe. But I don’t see that we have any option but to proceed. I’m not going to leave you, and you’re not going to leave me. It’s like I said. We have to accept the danger.”

“Unless there’s another way,” Megan said. “A way to make sure I’m not a danger to you, or to anyone else, ever again.”

I frowned, uncertain what she meant. But she seemed to decide something, looking at me, and she lifted her hand to caress my face. “You can’t say you haven’t considered it,” she said softly.

“?‘It’?”

“The entire time he’s been here,” Megan said, “I’ve wondered. Is this my way out?”

“Megan, I don’t understand.”

She stood up. “It’s not enough to make promises. It’s not enough to hope I won’t end up hurting you.” She turned and strode, unsteadily at first, from the room.

I scrambled to my feet and followed, trying to sort out what she was planning. Salt scuffed under our feet as we walked past a table in the main room where the others sat; this building’s time had come, as it was too near to the trailing edge of Ildithia. It wouldn’t last the night.

Megan crossed the room and walked into Larcener’s smaller chamber. Sparks! I jogged after her, stumbling into the room. There was a way to make sure Megan never hurt anyone with her powers again. It was here, inside our base.

“Megan,” I said, seizing her by the arm. “Are you sure you want to do something so drastic?”

She studied Larcener, who lay on a plush couch with his headphones on. He didn’t notice us.

“Yes,” she whispered. “During my time with you, I’ve started to lose my hatred of the powers. I started to think it could be controlled. But after the things that happened last night…I don’t want this anymore, David.”

She looked to me questioningly.

I shook my head. “I won’t stop you. This is your choice. But maybe we should think about it some more?”

“This from you?” she said with a grim smile. “No. I might lose my nerve.” She strode up to Larcener, and when he didn’t notice her, she kicked at his foot, which was dangling over the side of his couch.

He immediately pulled off his headphones and scrambled up. “You drudge,” he snapped. “Useless peasant. I’ll—”

Megan thrust her arm toward him, wrist upward. “Take my powers.”

Larcener gaped, then backed away from her, regarding the arm like one might regard a ticking box with the words NOT A BOMB stenciled on it. “What are you babbling about?”