Wonder Woman: Warbringer (DC Icons #1)(30)

“He has a beard!” Diana said in wonder.

“Yeah, that’s kind of a thing now.”

Diana cocked her head to the side as the man belted out something that sounded like “concrete jungles where dreams tomato” and vanished down the path. “Are males generally tone-deaf?”

“No, but believe me when I say you don’t want to hear Jason attempt karaoke.”

Diana took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind. She could not let this place overwhelm or distract her. She had a mission to complete.

“Where can we get an airplane?”

Alia limped past her down the running path and into the park. “We don’t need a plane. We need a bath, a hot meal.” She waved at her bare feet. “Shoes.”

Diana caught up and moved to block her route. “Alia, you can’t go home.”

“Diana—”

“The people who tried to kill you believe the Warbringer is dead. We need to make sure it stays that way until we reach the spring.” Alia opened her mouth to argue, but Diana cut her off. “I know you don’t believe me, but you also know the explosion on that boat was no accident.”

Alia paused, then nodded slowly. “I know.”

Diana felt a surge of gratitude. She’d feared Alia would try to deny everything that had happened now that she was on familiar ground. “Then you have to know it’s safer for everyone if your enemies believe you’re dead.”

Alia scrubbed a hand over her face. “You’re saying if I try to go home I could be putting Jason in danger.”

“Yes.”

“I can’t just let my brother think I’m dead. He could be a target, too.”

“Once we reach the spring—”

“Stop talking about the spring. We have no way to get there. We don’t have any money, and I’m guessing you don’t have a passport.”

“What’s a passport?”

“Exactly. Let’s deal with one thing at a time. I can call Jason—”

Diana shook her head. “Someone knew how to find you on that boat. They could be monitoring your location through your brother.”

Diana could see Alia’s disbelief warring with her desire to keep her family safe.

“I guess I—” Alia began. A bicycle whirred past them, and Diana yanked her from its path.

“Jerk!” Alia yelled after him.

The bicyclist glanced back once and held up his middle finger.

“Is he an enemy?” Diana asked.

“No, he’s a New Yorker. Let’s sit. I need to think.”

They found the nearest bench, and Diana made herself sit, be still. She wanted to act, not pause to ponder, but she needed Alia on her side if they had any hope of getting to the spring.

“Okay,” said Alia, chewing her lower lip. “We can’t go to a bank because we don’t have ID. And you’re basically telling me I can’t go home or to the Keralis offices because everyone thinks I’m dead.”

“And we want to keep it that way.”

“Right. So I’m home, but if I follow your rules, I’m still completely stranded.”

Diana could hear the frustration and fatigue in her voice. She hesitated. She knew she was asking a great deal of Alia, but she had to. The stakes were too high for either of them to flinch.

“After everything you’ve seen,” she said, “after what we just dared, can you at least trust me enough to try to keep you from harm?”

Alia touched her fingers briefly to the bracelet on Diana’s left wrist, a thoughtful look on her face. Was she remembering what had happened in the Armory?

“Maybe,” Alia said at last. “At least now Jason’s going to have something real to be paranoid about.” Her head snapped up. “That’s it!”

“What’s it?”

Alia leapt up from the bench. “I know what to do. And now that I know I’m not going to die, I’m starving.”

“But you said yourself we have no money. Do we have something to barter?”

“No, but I happen to know of a bank that doesn’t require ID.”

“Very well,” Diana said. For now, she had little choice but to follow Alia’s lead. She would get her bearings, gather her resources. “I’m glad to leave this place. The smell in this part of the city is intolerable.”

Alia bit her lip. “Yeah, this part of the city. I can’t believe I just swam in the Hudson and I’m about to go barefoot on the subway. I’m going to die of something nasty for sure. Come on,” she said, offering Diana her hand. “You’re on my island now. Let’s hop a train.”

—

Diana had read about trains. She’d learned about undergrounds and metros, bullet trains and steam engines, all part of her education, her mother’s attempt to give her an understanding of the changing mortal world. But there was a difference between those vague impressions left by long hours turning pages at the Epheseum and the reality of a New York City subway train screaming through the dark.

Alia had led her across the street from the park, past the bronze statue of a bull, and two armed men in military fatigues standing at the top of a long flight of stairs who had given them the barest glance.

“Weird,” Alia had muttered. “Maybe there was a bomb threat or something.”