the darkness so suddenly that he actually slammed into it and then stumbled backward a few steps, forehead smarting from the impact. He fumbled for it again and, this time, his fingers wrapped around the cool metal of a doorknob.
He pulled, and the entire door snapped off at the hinges, creaking forward and slamming into the ground before him with a thud that vibrated through the dirt.
Ash hesitated, staring into the black. He tried to calculate where he was standing based on where he was relative to the old Fairmont hotel and realized, with a start, that he must be standing on the docks outside of the Dead Rabbit.
It felt like he’d only just been sitting at the bar inside, watching the bartender build a tower out of matchboxes. The thought sent a chill through him. Should he even go inside? Would it be safe?
He looked over his shoulder, into the eerie darkness of this dead, futuristic world. At least, inside, he might find something to burn.
Swallowing hard, Ash ducked through the door. The smell of something old and musty rose up around him. He tried his best to breathe through his mouth but, still, the smell persisted.
And something was dripping. The sound came at even intervals, like it had been timed. It bounced off the walls and echoed over itself until Ash didn’t know if it was coming from right beside him or deeper inside.
And then, from outside, a light.
Ash stood, frozen, as the light came closer.
45
Dorothy
MAY 2, 2082, NEW SEATTLE
Roman landed the Black Crow on the docks outside of the skeletal remains of the Fairmont. Dorothy found herself morbidly curious, her gaze drawn to the old hotel’s rotting walls and broken windows. And so it was a relief when the ship kicked up a plume of black ash that blackened their headlight, sending them plunging into darkness again. Anything to block her view of the Fairmont.
Her eyes flicked, instead, to the rearview mirror. Mac’s face was bathed in shadow, but the silver gun on his lap reflected the green light of the control panel. It glowed, menacingly, in the dark.
Dorothy was staring at the gun when his voice reached out for her from the darkness. “Well. This doesn’t look like the 1700s.”
There was a beat of silence, and then Roman said easily, “There must be a problem with the ship’s navigational controls. Let me go take a look.”
And then, with a heavy sigh, he pushed the door open and stepped outside.
Dorothy threw her door open, too, and followed him. She didn’t want to spend a single moment alone with Mac.
Roman was waiting for her in the circle of the time machine’s headlights. Cold wind bit into her cheeks and blew through her coat as she came to stand beside him. She gritted her teeth, pulling her collar tighter around her neck.
Roman looked terrified. He dragged a hand over his sweaty forehead and whispered, “I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess I thought it would be easier to take him out here, where no one could interrupt us.”
“Stay calm,” Dorothy hissed back. Her daggers rustled inside her sleeves, restless.
Mac’s shadow reached the circle of the headlights a second before the man himself, and this was how Dorothy knew he had his gun out and aimed at them. The shape of it stretched across the ground, larger than it was in real life.
In an instant, Dorothy’s hands were on the daggers hidden up her sleeves. She spun around, her heart crashing wildly inside her chest.
“Hands where I can see them, Miss Fox,” Mac said, and she froze, fingers twitching. He had his gun aimed at her face. She was fast with her daggers, but she doubted she was faster than a bullet.
“I don’t think you’ve thought this through,” Roman said. “It’s two on one, old man.”
“I’ve done the math, thanks,” Mac said. “According to my calculations I’m the only one holding a gun.”
There seemed to be a smile playing at Roman’s lips, as though the thought that they could be so easily disposed amused him. “You have to know we won’t go down without a fight.”
“Fight?” Mac laughed, swinging the gun around so that it pointed at Roman now. “Who said anything about a fight? I could just leave the two of you here to rot. I was planning on doing that once we all got to the past, but this works, too.”
And, with that, he took a step toward the time machine’s cockpit. He was closer than