like you used to. But you wouldn’t listen!” Manny was almost crying, face slick with sweat. “Put down the gun, Ms. Daye.”
“Manny?”
“Just put it down.”
“I thought Evening was your friend, Manny. What are you—”
He gestured violently with the gun, looking upset enough that I didn’t trust him not to fire without meaning to. “She didn’t listen! You won’t listen! You want to stay alive around here, when the boss talks, you listen!”
I knelt, careful to move slowly as I placed my gun on the floor. “Where’d you get the gun, Manny?” I asked, not rising. “Did Devin give it to you? He did, didn’t he?”
“Be quiet, Toby,” Devin said. His voice was flat. Maeve’s bones, had I really let him touch me? Had I really touched him? What kind of a fool was I? “Manuel, shoot her. Don’t kill her, just hurt her. The leg, I think.”
Manny was crying now, and his hands were clutching the gun so tightly that his knuckles had gone white. I cleared my throat, pulling his attention back to my face. “Do the bullets burn, Manny?” I asked, in as conversational a tone as I could manage. “Do they make your skin crawl? That’s iron, Manny. He wants you to shoot me with iron bullets.”
“Manuel, shoot her now.”
I stood carefully, holding my hands up at shoulder level. “Can you do it? Can you torture me with iron, for him?”
“Manuel, are you listening to me?” Devin snapped. “Don’t make me take that gun away from you.”
“He won’t do it himself.” I kept my hands raised. “Don’t you wonder why?”
“Be quiet, bitch.” Devin stormed over to me, grabbing my arm and twisting it behind my back, just like I’d done to Dare on the day we met. His fingers dug into my elbow. I winced, gritting my teeth against the pain. “Don’t confuse him.”
“Why not, Devin? Don’t you want him to understand? You always told me that knowledge was power.”
“October . . .” For a second—just a second—I thought I saw the man I knew behind the blankness in his eyes. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
“Don’t you want him to grow up just like you?” I could see Dare out of the corner of my eye, creeping toward Manuel. Be careful, little girl, I thought, please, be careful . . .
His hand tightened. I could almost feel the bruises forming. “I didn’t want to kill Evening. I worked with her, for you. I let her pretend you were still alive, and so she helped us. She never did it for us. Just for you. I never wanted her dead. But she wouldn’t give me the hope chest, and I needed it, Toby, more than you can dream. You played at being a pureblood, but you know you’ll never be one. You know why I needed it. Changeling time runs out so fast.” He sighed. “She had to die.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I needed to keep him talking, if only for Dare’s sake. That girl was still doing her damnedest to turn me into a hero. “Scooby and the gang aren’t here yet.”
Devin released my arm, stepping away. “I want you to understand that it wasn’t personal. I missed you. I wasn’t lying when I told you that.”
By moving, Devin had given Manuel a clear shot at my entire body. Dare was too far away to reach him in time, and in a way, I was grateful. She wouldn’t get hurt trying to save me.
“You changed.” I turned to look at him, resisting the urge to rub the circulation back into my arm. If I was going to die, I was going to do it with something resembling dignity.
“So did you.” He sounded almost sorry. Then his eyes hardened, the moment passing, and he turned to Manuel. “Take your time, make it hurt. She’ll tell us where she hid it.”
Manuel raised the gun, whispering a prayer. I closed my eyes, hoping his aim was bad and the first bullet would do the job. That it would end quickly.
I didn’t see what came next. I opened my eyes to see Dare leaping onto her brother’s back, momentum sending them both crashing to the floor. The gun went off when it hit the floor, bullet punching through the ceiling. I dove for my own gun an instant too late, shying back as Devin grabbed it from under my hands.
“Toby, get the gun!” Dare shrieked, trying to keep Manuel pinned. He had fifty pounds and