Daiyu studied him for a moment, then nodded. “I’ll have to discuss it with my Savants. I’ll get back to you.”
“Soon,” Warren warned. “I have other people I can talk to.”
Naomi took a package of flavored noodles from the bag she’d filled only moments ago from a grocery store a few blocks away. Although there were survivors in the city and it had been four years since the invasion, enough food remained in places to keep many people fed. All the perishable items were long gone.
She opened the package and poured it into a small pot she’d found a few days ago. She missed having proper kitchen equipment like what she’d had at Warren’s building. Within a few minutes, a small fire blazed inside the basement apartment where they’d holed up after speaking with the Cabalists under Daiyu. She poured water over the noodles and added the flavor packet.
Warren stood at the window and stared out through the dirty, cracked glass. He appeared calm, but she knew him well enough to know that the appearance deceived.
“What’s on your mind?” Naomi asked as the smell of the food filled the small apartment.
“The Cabalists.” His distracted tone told her that was only half the truth.
“Are you worried about the decision they’ll reach?”
“No. They’ll reach the right decision. They don’t have a choice. I can do things for them and teach them things they can’t do on their own.”
“I have to admit, I thought they’d be more afraid of you.”
“They are afraid of me,” Warren said, “but they’re more afraid of not ever being able to do what I can do.”
A little jealously, Naomi knew that she had the same fear. “Are you going to teach them those things?”
“Yes.”
“Why haven’t you taught me?”
He looked at her. “Do you really want to learn?”
Naomi thought about that. She was torn. Having more power, especially with all the danger around her, was a good thing. The only part that worried her was how close she’d have to get to the demons in order to have that power.
“Perhaps,” she answered.
Warren smiled a little sadly. “That’s why I haven’t taught you. Something like this, you have to want it.”
“Did you?”
“Not at first, but I knew I was going to have to learn everything I can if I’m going to survive. There’s no guarantees even then.”
Naomi stirred the pasta. “Have you seen Lilith lately?” The demon hadn’t been around in two days, so far as Naomi knew.
“No.”
“Where do you think she’s gone?”
“I don’t know.”
“Will she be back?” Naomi silently hoped not.
“Yes.”
“If the Cabalists come back to you and accept your offer, what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to teach them to fight the demons.”
“I thought you were convinced anyone who did that was only going to get killed.”
“Not,” Warren said, “if you win.”
“Do you think we can really win?”
“Hiding is no longer an option. Since the beginning of this thing, I’ve been drawn into the demons’ battles.” Warren paused. “I’ve fought for everyone but me.”
For a moment, Naomi saw the fear in him. Many times she’d mistaken it as selfishness, but she’d learned that it was fear. There was something broken inside Warren that had never been fixed.
“What about you?” Warren asked. “Are you going to stay or go?”
Naomi had been asking herself the same question. As soon as the building where they’d been hiding had been destroyed, most of what Warren had had to offer her had been lost. Without the sanctuary, he was a lightning rod for demons.
“Does it matter?” she asked.
He hesitated. “Yes.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I’d like you to stay, but it’s going to be dangerous. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I don’t want to be hurt, either. But I’m going to stay.”
Warren nodded, tried to speak, and couldn’t. He just nodded again.
“The pasta’s ready,” she said. “You need to eat.”
Together, using chopsticks they’d found in the debris of a Chinese restaurant, they ate from the bowl and listened to the screams of demons and victims out on the streets.
FORTY-ONE
Leah strained at the wall. The nanohooks on her palm locked deeply into the metal. Just when she thought the panel wasn’t going to move, metal screeched and it slid free. Instead of a passageway as she normally found, a breeze loaded with the scent of pine and fresh grass wafted in.
In disbelief, Leah stared out at the forest beyond the opening. She didn’t know how the machine she’d been buried in had ended up in a forest, and she wasn’t going to waste time questioning it. She shoved her head and shoulders through the opening and fell out onto the soft earth.
Heart hammering, she pushed herself to her feet and ran. Fog partially obscured the landscape and blocked the sunlight when she glanced up and tried to get oriented. She didn’t know in what direction she fled, but anywhere away from the demon machine had to be good.
The marshy land held water in puddles and pools. She ran through them, getting soaked and chilled almost at once. Her clothing, cold and heavy with mud, clung to her as she ran. Her breath gusted out in gray puffs.
At the top of the grade, winded and unable to run any farther, she stood in the shadow of a gnarled spruce tree and gazed back. The demon machine looked as big as a three-story building. She knew it couldn’t be because it had fit inside the Apple store.
That’s where it fit the last time you were outside of it, Leah told herself. The demons could have added to it. But how did they move it? How long have I been trapped in there?
While getting her breath back, she scanned the countryside. At the very least she expected roving patrols. There was nothing. Not even a bird broke cover.
How many other people are in that thing? She didn’t know. She was certain she’d been inside it for days, but she couldn’t be sure she’d ever
