“What now, Porter?” asked one of the men in accented English. “Will you kill her and finish what Gutenberg began?”
“No.” Kill her? I wanted to
Lena snorted.
“What?”
In a low voice, she said, “You’ve just been tortured, you’re surrounded by people who wouldn’t hesitate to kill you, and to top it off, you’re standing in front of a naked woman. If I’m not mistaken, all you can think about is the history lessons you could learn.”
I flushed, then gestured to the woman with the robe. She stepped forward, her every movement as slow and careful as a surgeon’s. Lena kept her knife in place while Bi Wei slipped her arms through the sleeves and hugged the robe shut.
“Isaac isn’t the only one who will pay for your choices today.” Harrison had regained some of his composure, but his face and neck were red with barely restrained rage. “Doctor Nidhi Shah lives at 189 Depot Street, yes? Apartment C, according to the Porters’ records.”
Lena went utterly still. “Sooner or later, one of the people you’ve crossed is going to catch up with you. You should pray very hard that it’s not me.”
The woman who had carried Bi Wei’s robe hissed in frustration. “
Harrison whirled. “Have you forgotten what the Porters did to your ancestors, Crystal?”
Crystal stood like a statue. “Never.”
I would have been thrilled to see this kind of split within Harrison’s ranks under other circumstances, pretty much any circumstance that didn’t have Lena and me in the middle of that conflict.
Despite what Lena had said, I doubted she would kill Bi Wei. Lena was exceptionally protective of those she saw as victims, and Bi Wei had nothing to do with our current situation.
“Toss me the keys to the truck,” I said. Every second we stood here was another chance for the situation to explode. “I want my books back, too.”
A man tossed a set of keys on a Rubik’s Cube keychain into the dirt in front of me. “Your belongings are in the back seat.”
“Tell Bi Wei to cooperate, and we’ll let her go,” said Lena.
Guan Feng did so. At least, I assume she did. I hated being unable to understand what people were saying. August Harrison simply stared as if imagining the many inventive ways he could kill me.
Lena moved toward the trail, the knife never wavering. The circle parted to let her pass.
“Wait.” I shoved the keys into my pocket, then dug in the dirt at the base of the tree. The roots were dry and crumbled like cork. Lena had killed this tree in the process of restoring Bi Wei. One strong wind, and it would come toppling down. I just hoped it would wait until Lena and I were out of reach.
I brushed the dirt away from Bi Wei’s book. Roots passed through the cover and pages like giant worms. I grabbed the broken millipede from the ground and used the blade to saw through the roots, trying to cut the book loose without ripping or damaging anything.
“Please don’t,” Guan Feng called. Despite everything, the anguish in her words made me hesitate.
“I’m sorry.” I severed the last of the roots, jammed the millipede into the dirt, and pulled the book free. If she hadn’t hated me before, she certainly did now. But I needed time to study and better understand what we were dealing with.
Bi Wei was remarkably calm as we retreated to the parking lot, especially for someone who had been reborn only minutes before. Though who knew what she and Lena had shared during that process? If it had been anything like Lena’s restoration of me, Bi Wei would have had a nice little mind meld. She would know Lena was unlikely to harm her unless absolutely necessary.
When we reached the lot, I carefully set the book into the back seat of the truck. Harrison and the others stopped at the end of the trail. Pretty much every gun was pointed my way, and I was certain their magic was prepped to take us down if we gave them the slightest opening.
I pointed to an older woman with a black handgun. “Do me a favor and shoot out the tires on the rest of these cars. It’s nothing personal, but I really don’t want you all following us.”
It took a frustratingly long time, and we had to wait for her to reload twice, but eventually she put a bullet through the last tire. I opened the truck’s tailgate and kept an eye Harrison and the rest while Lena and Bi Wei climbed into the back.
“You promised you’d let her go,” Guan Feng said.
“And we will, just as soon as we get a mile down the road. Assuming nobody and nothing tries to follow us.” I climbed into the truck, started the engine, and opened the window to the back. “Ready?”
“Don’t drive too fast,” Lena said. “Potholes and knives don’t mix.”
I toyed with the idea of trying to take Bi Wei with us. It wouldn’t be the most honorable move, but she was dangerous. She might have the shape of a woman who disappeared five hundred years ago, but she carried something else inside. She had become the embodiment of everything I had learned to fear these past months. Of everything Gutenberg had feared since the founding of the Porters.
But she was also a refugee from a magical war that had been erased from our history. She hadn’t asked for any of this. She hadn’t known what she would bring back. More practically, I didn’t have a clue how we’d be able to hold her. Lena couldn’t keep a knife to her throat forever, and Bi Wei’s magic could flatten any spell of mine.
We pulled away at a leisurely pace. I split my attention between the road and the mirrors, watching for any of Harrison’s metal pets.
After five minutes, I stopped long enough for Lena and Bi Wei to get out. Lena walked Bi Wei to a birch tree at the side of the road. She twined the branches and roots around Bi Wei’s wrists and feet, and molded a wooden blindfold as well. Another branch held the knife to Bi Wei’s throat.
I slammed the gas pedal to the floor the instant Lena was inside. The rear tires spun out, raising a cloud of dirt as we tore down the road. I didn’t know what Bi Wei could do, but I didn’t expect Lena’s precautions to hold her for long.
I watched the rearview mirror, but nobody appeared to be following us. Not yet. But they would. And next time, they would have all of Bi Wei’s power to back them up.
13
