to buckle down and take one for the team the way the others always are, but I don’t. I’m underpowered compared to my father, and for better or worse, I can’t make myself follow through on my plans to leave in the aftermath of what happened with Seth. I know I should, and it still hurts to think about the possibility of any of them getting hurt because of me, but what little willpower I had left seemed to melt under his gentle touch, and now the thought of going head-to-head with Neritous fills me with dread instead of determination. This is going to end bloody—the only question is whose blood it will be.
The guys may have made the choice to fight with me, but there’s one person who didn’t choose to get involved in any of this. Like me, Ruby has been caught in the crossfire of her father’s madness for a good part of her life, without even realising it. She’s seen and experienced more than any kid her age should ever have to, and as resilient as she’s proven to be, I can tell she’s scared. Mum’s done a fine job of keeping her entertained, all things considered, but with Hugo gone, it’s clear that it’s taking a toll on her. I’m not about to let that little girl become another casualty.
Ruby is at the kitchen table when I come downstairs, drawing on a piece of paper with coloured pencils. She looks up when I arrive, smiling tentatively. “Hi, Karma,” she says, straightening up in her chair.
“Hi, Ruby,” I reply, coming to stand beside her. “What are you working on?”
I realise the minute the words are out of my mouth that it’s the wrong question to ask, and I see the grim flash in Ruby’s eyes when she holds up the piece of paper. On it is a drawing, rendered in the way only a child can: a large man dressed in black, with zig zags of red lightning coming out of his hands. Standing next to him is a figure that’s clearly supposed to be Ruby, tears falling down her face as she cowers from his wrath. She must see my reaction, as there’s a flicker of uncertainty on her face. “I didn’t mean to be disrespectful,” she says quietly. “I just…” She fidgets, clearly trying to find a way to explain herself. “I need to remind myself sometimes.”
“Remind yourself of what?” I ask her, lowering the drawing and putting a hand on her back.
“That he’s a bad man,” she whispers, and I don’t need to ask which “he” she’s referring to. “Sometimes I start to forget,” she explains, and the fear on her face makes me want to cry. “Sometimes I start to think that he really did love us, and that he wanted us to be a family. But then I remember everything he did, and…” Her little hands clench into fists on the table. It occurs to me that she witnessed Hugo’s murder the same way the rest of us did, and my heart breaks. No child should have to see something like that, especially not when the perpetrator is her own father. The scars she’s going to have to deal with for the rest of her life are unthinkable, and yet she’s steadfastly taken everything in stride, quietly watching the rest of our family fall apart in the wake of Neritous’s destruction. Maybe, on some level, she senses that more stress just might push me past my breaking point. Or maybe she just doesn’t want to bother me. Either way, I feel a pang of sympathy for her.
“I miss my mum,” Ruby says after a long pause, and it’s not until she sniffs that I realise she’s struggling to fight off tears.
“Hey, hey,” I say, kneeling down and putting my arms around her. She buries her face in my chest, and it’s all I can do to stroke her hair and whisper soothingly to her. I’m barely keeping it together as it is, but now it’s my turn to do for my half-sister what the guys have been doing for me, and be there to comfort her. “It’s okay, Ruby. It’s okay.” Ruby doesn’t say anything, just continues to sniffle as she tightens her grip on me, almost to the point that it’s uncomfortable. I bite my lip, considering, and then ask her quietly, “How would you like to go home? Back to your mum?”
That’s enough to make her pull back, staring