“Hey!” Part summons, part protest, it yanked her wandering attention back to the alcove.
“Right. The Rules. The uh, the Rules impose order on the chaos of metaphysics. Magic,” she amended catching sight of bravado becoming impatience. “Right here and now, the biggest Rule to remember is that the Otherside is neutral ground, so neither good nor evil can control it.”
“Why would evil give a shit?”
“‘Because when you break the Rules, you sow the seeds of your own destruction. That’s also in the Rules.”
Kris snorted. “I think I read it in a fortune cookie.”
“Could have.” The lineage liked to spread the platitudes around.
“Although I’m sure it would be all awe inspiring or something if we weren’t chained to a fuckin’ wall.”
Diana thought about it for a moment, squinting up at the flakes of rust raining off the eyebolt as she yanked her chain against it. “Probably not,” she admitted.
“So what about that whole ‘bad guys gotta gloat’ thing?”
“Just basic psychology according to my mother. What’s the point of being an evil genius if there’s no one to tell?”
“No point, I guess.”
They hung in silence for a few minutes, then Kris muttered, “That dude on the throne, he didn’t seem like the genius type.”
“He didn’t seem like much of anything,” Diana agreed. As far as a meeting of good and evil was concerned, it was kind of a nonevent. “The bugs were cool, in an oh, gross, get it off me, get it off me kind of way, but he was bland. Boring. Disappointing, even.”
“Except that, you know, he won.”
“Yeah. Except for that.”
Off to the left of their alcove, claws skittered against stone, evoking an interlude of panicked struggles to be free. After a while, when the claws came no closer, both girls relaxed.
“It’s the fuckin’ waiting,” Kris snarled, kicking at the wall with the heel of her cross trainers. “Why didn’t they just whack us and get it over with?”
“I think they need us for something.”
“What? Getting their rocks off while we get peeled?”
Diana considered that for a moment. “No,” she decided at last, “that’s too direct for the Otherside.” The first time she’d crossed over, Claire had tried to make her understand that the shortest distance between two points was usually the long way around. Then she’d added that Diana was never, ever to think about the Smurf village again. Their mother had been furious about all the blue gunk on their shoes. “Plans on this side are always a lot twistier.”
“Okay, so if you breaking a Rule lets them break a Rule, then maybe they’re putting you in a spot where you gotta break a Rule to get free. You know, so they can break a Rule.”
Diana turned to stare at the other girl. “That’s brilliant.”
“Don’t sound so fuckin’ surprised,” Kris snorted. Her eyes widened. “Wait; you mean I’m right?”
“Probably.”
“Wicked.”
“Although it’s insulting that they think I’d break the Rules just to escape torture and death.”
“’Cause that’s not a good reason?”
“No.”
’Keepers could lie to Bystanders without breaking a sweat. To balance that, they could speak the kind of Truth that went straight to the heart.
Kris stared at her for a long moment. Then nodded. “Right.” And another long moment. “Okay. So, now how long have we been here?”
“Since the last time, about another eight minutes. Fourteen minutes all together.”
“Seems like longer.”
“Yeah.”
“Looking on the bright side, it’s a lot cooler down here.”
“Cooler than what?”
“Than it is back home.”
“Your home?”
“Yeah.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Right.”
One of the torches sputtered, almost went out, then began to burn steadily once again. They could hear nothing but their own hearts beating. Smell nothing but themselves and each other.
“What’s your mother like?” Kris threw the question out like a challenge.
“What?”
“Your mother. You said she was into that psychological shit. What’s she like?”
Diana shrugged as well as her position allowed. “She’s a Cousin.”
“Your mother’s your cousin? That’s got a whole unexpected squick thing goin’.”
“Not my cousin. A Cousin. It’s kind of an auxiliary Keeper. Less powerful.”
“You’re more powerful than your old lady?”
“I’m more powerful than the entire lineage. All the Cousins. All the Keepers.”
“And how’s that workin’ for you?” Kris snickered.
Bugs. Chains. Torture. “Not real well.”
“You look like her?”
“Not really, Claire and I both look like our dad which is kind of funny in a way because Claire’s so little and he’s n…”
“He’s what?”
Diana chewed on her lip. She almost had it. “You’ve been fighting the darkside in this mall for a while now, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Have you seen any women, human-looking women, fighting on their side?”
“No. Sexist bastards. They think a sister can’t be evil enough? They never met my Nana, that’s for sure.”
“Do they ever take any of the elves prisoners?”
“No.”
“So if they’re going to chain something up, they’d be chaining up their own guys.”
Kris glanced up at the chains, then back at Diana. “Okay, but why would they do that?”
“They’re evil.”
“Right.”
“And all of their guys are a lot bigger than we are.”
“Yeah.”
“And these manacles are two solid halves of iron. Not adjustable. In order to hold their guys, they’ve got to be a certain size.” Diana folded her thumb in against her palm and slid her right hand free. “They’re too big to hold us.” Sliding out her left hand, she beckoned to Kris. “Come on.”
“But…”
“I’m out, aren’t I?”
Frowning, Kris worked at her lower lip with her teeth and
