say something else—to try to convince him somehow—but my throat is closing up. The only thing that comes out is “please.”
But I know I’ve already lost.
I look at Ben, and he takes the gun out of my hand.
Barclay smiles. “The bullets,” he says.
I glance around. I have no idea what he means.
“Hydrochloradneum . . .” His voice trails off.
I’d forgotten. Even if we got him outside the shields, IA standard-issue ammunition is hydrochloradneum-plated bullets, which create wounds that can’t be healed by their powers. Elijah found that out the hard way when Eric shot him last fall.
“We made a good team, Tenner.”
I want to say, One of the best. I open my mouth, but I can’t get the words out.
Barclay reaches out and I clasp his hand. “I couldn’t have done it without you.” Tears spill out of my eyes, and they burn as they roll down my face.
He coughs again, his time more blood coming up. He’s pale, ghostly, even, and I squeeze his hand as if contact with the living will keep him with us just a little longer. His fingers move slightly, and then his hand is dead weight in mine.
“Janelle . . .” he says, his eyes having a hard time staying focused.
“I’m here,” I say, adjusting his head so he’s looking at me. “Right here.”
“Make sure.” His eyes close.
“What?” I say, shaking him a little.
“My monument.”
And then I’m laughing and crying at the same time. “I’ll oversee it myself if I have to.”
And then I know. He’s gone. Whatever made Taylor Barclay the conceited asshole, determined and driven to the point of obsession—whatever it was that made him my friend—that person is gone. He’s just a body now.
00:08:28:57
Ben pulls me to him, and the warmth of his body around mine is just too much to handle. We’ve both been shot, and we’re both bleeding, but we’re still here.
We’re alive.
“I thought you were dead,” I say, and I taste the salt from my tears.
“Yeah, so did he,” Elijah says.
“I would never leave you,” Ben says, his voice whispering into my hair.
“Cecily?” I ask.
“As chipper as always,” Elijah says. “And back with the Unwilling.”
“What happened?”
“I took a risk,” Ben says. “I ducked when I saw the gun, and the first shot missed me; the second grazed my arm. Two more ended up lodged in the vest. I grabbed Cecily and ran us through the closest exit: the window.”
“But the drop . . .”
“He thought it would be a good time to test these portal-opening powers,” Elijah says. “As they were falling, he thought of the hospital, opened a portal, and they fucking fell right through. You believe that shit?”
“You went back to the hospital?” I say. We should have gone back there—we should have regrouped, but I just didn’t have faith. “I thought you were dead.”
“The landing was brutal, and we were both knocked out cold on the hospital floor.”
I squeeze Ben tighter. I’m still expecting him to disappear, to wake up and realize I’d only imagined that he’s still alive. “How did you find us?”
“The guy was desperate to find you,” Elijah says. “It was pathetic.”
“I didn’t know where I wanted the portal to go, but I knew I had to find you. Instead of thinking of the location I needed to go, I opened a portal, thinking of just you. I wasn’t sure where it would take me, but we ended up in the backyard of an estate. It brought me as close to you as we could get. We tried to sneak inside but got caught by the guards downstairs. You know the rest.”
I can’t believe it. Against all odds, we might get out of this room. We’ve managed to save each other—again.
“I hate to break this up, but we have to get the fuck out of here,” Elijah says.
I nod against Ben’s chest. Who knows if or when Meridian’s guys are going to come back here?
Remembering Renee, I push back and turn in her direction. She’s crouched under the desk with her eyes closed, and I think she’s praying.
“Renee,” I say, approaching her. “Come with us, we’ll get you out of here.” I want to ask her what she’s been doing for the governor, but now’s not the time, and the governor is dead anyway. We have plenty of time to discuss that later.
Her watery brown eyes look up at me, and she looks younger than early twenties and older at the same time. I suppose being abducted can do that to a