this conversation can wait a few more minutes.
I wait quietly, though not patiently, as we travel two more stops. When Barclay nods toward the platform, I follow him off the train and from the platform to a long window-covered hallway. We’re still high up, walking on some kind of elevated pedestrian bridge between buildings, and when I glance out the window, all I can see is sky, crystal buildings, and a city that looks like it’s been built on the clouds.
If I weren’t suddenly worried about ending up dead, I would think that New Prima was just a little bit beautiful.
But I am worried. And I’m terrified.
About Ben and his family. About Cecily, wherever she is. And now I’m worried about myself, too, because I promised Struz and myself that I’d come back. I mean to honor that.
The walkway takes us directly to what must be Barclay’s apartment building, because he unlocks a door that leads us to another elevator.
We get off on the thirty-fifth floor and head down a hallway of apartment doors. I remember the last time I was here and suppress a shiver. One moment we were in Ben’s basement, facing off against each other, the next an earthquake hit and the house was starting to collapse. And after that, Barclay opened a portal and pulled us through into his living room.
I think of how it felt like my insides were melting as I traveled through the portal for the first time, and I’m glad that at least this time I’m not going to need a sedative.
Hopefully I’ll make it home alive, too.
Barclay unlocks his door and lets me in the apartment.
Once we’re inside, he pulls off his hat and sets the alarm over his apartment door. I drop my backpack on the floor, peel off my jacket, and throw it on his couch. Then I fold my arms across my chest and wait. Because we’re not doing anything else until I get some answers.
“I’m not exactly leading you into this blind,” he says, turning to me. “You think I want to see you executed?”
“Please, I know I’m just collateral damage to you.”
“Let’s get one thing straight, Tenner. We’re both using each other. I came to you and asked for your help. But you want help from me, too. That puts us on even ground. It means you aren’t collateral damage, because I need you, so stop making me out to be the bad guy. We’re on the same team.”
“Fine.” He’s right. We’re on the same team, not because we like each other or because we want to be stuck together, but because everyone else is on the other team. Fighting with each other is stupid, and it’s going to get one of us killed—probably me. “So what’s the plan?”
“Here’s the deal. I can’t talk to Elijah because I’m not on the case,” he says. “The clearance level to talk to a prisoner charged with unauthorized interverse travel, conspiracy to commit treason, and human trafficking is way above my pay grade.”
“So how are we going to talk to him?” I say. But as soon as the words are out of my mouth, there’s a sickening feeling in my chest. Because I think I know what he’s going to say.
“You’re going to have to talk to him,” he says, putting a hand through his hair. Something about the gesture tells me he’s not happy about what he’s about to say. “You were right. IA is looking for you. You’re important to Ben, and they know that.”
That hits me harder than it should. The air seems to get siphoned out of the room, and I take a step backward as if I’ve been pushed.
IA is already looking for me.
So there’s no turning back. Even if I wanted to go home now, I can’t. I have to see this through. I have to solve this thing. Or someone from IA is going to portal into my earth and snatch me out of my bed and bring me back here to be executed.
They’re just as bad as the traffickers. I wonder if that irony is lost on Barclay.
“The plan is that I’m going to bring you into IA to be detained,” Barclay adds. He speaks slowly, his words come out even and soft, as if he’s expecting the worst from my reaction. “You’ll get put in the same cellblock as Elijah, the same cell if we’re lucky.”
“And then what?” I’m not about to let him leave me to rot in some