no idea it had taken on a human shape, or that it could talk; that’s new. But even without that, it’s been smarter, more subtle, more malevolent. The last two cities to awaken before you, New Orleans and Port-au-Prince, were stillbirths—and neither should have happened. But the elder cities, and more than a few of the younger ones, didn’t believe me. They implied that we young cities of the Americas might simply be awakening prematurely, before we have the strength to survive the process.” His lip curls as he says this.
Hong shakes his head, restlessly and angrily. The exchange has the feel of an old argument, to Manny. “The process has not changed for centuries. Millennia! Longer than recorded human history! Why would it change now?”
“I don’t know. Maybe something’s happening that we don’t know about. Something beyond this world, some catalyst which has spurred the Enemy to evolve. But we should have started investigating this before now.” Paulo’s hand has become a fist on his knee; his jaw is tight. “I should have done it myself, if you weren’t going to. But I let you talk me into joining your complacency.”
Hong glares at him for a moment, a muscle flexing in his jaw. “I just wanted you to be safe,” he says finally. Softly. Manny blinks in surprise at the shift in his tone. For a moment, Hong sounded almost human. But is that…?
Paulo smiles bitterly and spreads his arms. His meaning is clear, although his arms have healed and he’s looking much better than when they first met him. He will not leave New York unscathed.
“What we are,” he says to Hong, with the same softness, “is not a safe thing. No city is—even we whole ones. We can be sacked and set ablaze, drowned when a new dam is built, bombed into craters. We live for as long as our cities, and we have great power… but you were the one who told me to study history. And I did. I saw that very few cities have died peacefully.” Hong winces. Paulo presses on, relentless. “And I, for one, will not live with my back to the wall, ruled by fear of death. Or of that creature.”
Hong just glares at him, but. There’s an undercurrent. Manny finds himself exchanging a sidelong glance with Bronca. Is this what I think it is? Bronca raises her eyebrows and purses her lips. It sure as fuck ain’t what we thought it was.
When Hong does not reply, Paulo lets out a long, steadying sigh. Then he gets to his feet. He seems stronger, but he’s still holding a hand to his lower ribs—where Padmini shoved him earlier. She notices this, Manny sees, but sets her jaw and lifts her chin; not sorry.
“Blame Hong and me for your misfortune,” Paulo says to them. “Blame the other cities, too, if that comforts you. But unlike all of you, I’ve seen a living city die. I don’t want to see it again.”
“New Orleans?” Manny guesses. He’s been wondering about Hurricane Katrina.
Hong is the one to shake his head. “I handled that one. There are often complications with smaller cities, so the Summit was concerned enough to send someone more experienced in that case.” He looks pointedly at Paulo. Then he sobers. “So much went wrong there, however. Its avatar was shot in an attempted robbery. Before the birth; indeed, before I even arrived. Pure bad luck, I thought—but then the hospital mishandled her chart and nearly killed her in surgery, and then they turned her out before she was fully recuperated because she was indigent…” He shakes his head, muttering in Cantonese about barbaric American health care for a moment before resuming English. “I gave her a place to stay, but she had no strength when the city tried to rise, and the Enemy came. The levees broke after she died, and rather than help, your media and incompetent leadership compounded the catastrophe at every turn.” Then his frown deepens. “But if the Enemy was at work there, interfering somehow even before the city chose its champion…” He trails off, visibly troubled.
Paulo looks bleak. “Port-au-Prince was mine to oversee.”
Manny winces despite himself. “The earthquake.” The one that killed a quarter of a million people, then thousands more from cholera and mismanagement and foreign interference.
Paulo nods, but does not elaborate. Then he lifts his chin. “New York is much bigger than Port-au-Prince. It’s surrounded on nearly every side by satellite cities and massive exurbs. This