‘What was all that about?’ she demanded.
‘Your car is shit.’ Kira pulled away from Azrael’s grip, kicking at the junk in the footwell. ‘And it’s got rats.’
‘You bloody stupid girl,’ Leona glared. ‘There are no rats in this car.’
‘I saw a fu . . .’ Kira froze.
Leona was right. There were no rats. But there was something. Perched on Azrael’s knee. A blob of ugly orange and black.
‘Lizard. Fucking lizard. Get it off him.’ Kira waved her hands near it, not about to try to touch the thing.
‘Bradley,’ Leona exclaimed, ‘for all the Maiden’s braids, what are you doing here?’
The little critter was tiny, but Kira’d seen the way geckoes at the Facility moved. So fucking quick. You had no clue where the little bastards were going. Up your jeans, or under your bedsheets, maybe even into your earhole during the night. Kira shuddered. Disgusting. And this one looked like it had dressed up for Halloween. The folds of skin on its head gave it the look of a mini Triceratops. Its body was pitch black, save for a strip of orange down the centre of its back, flanked by two lines of paler orange dots. Eyes like lumps of coal. It stared up at Azrael, ignoring Kira’s fluttering fingers completely.
‘Don’t touch it, Az. Some of these fuckers are poisonous,’ Kira said.
And apparently hypnotising. Az stared at the thing. And the thing stared back.
Vail threw his door open and raced around to open the door alongside Azrael.
‘Bradley? Are you okay?’ he said.
The reptile turned its bulbous head and bulgy eyes and flicked a pink tongue towards the boy before turning back to Azrael, who tilted his head in mimicry. Thankfully, his tongue stayed in his mouth. He used it instead to speak.
‘What is this?’
For whatever bizarre reason, it still gave her a buzz, hearing his voice. Like a proud mumma with a two-year-old. Leona’s drawn-on eyebrows lifted. ‘So you have a voice.’
‘It’s just a lizard, Az,’ Kira said. ‘It’s not going to hurt you.’
‘No. It is not.’ Azrael’s lips did a weird snaking thing. He just wasn’t nailing the smiling thing.
Vail crouched down beside the car. ‘Bradley is a Tylototriton anguliceps, a newt. Extremely rare. But he is supposed to be in his tank in the lounge room at home. What’s going on, little guy?’
The little guy, all twenty or so centimetres of him, let out a squeaky bark, like an especially tiny chihuahua, and scurried across Azrael’s lap.
‘Shit, it’s moving.’ Kira pushed herself across the vinyl. ‘I’m out.’
But Bradley the newt had no interest in her. Or Azrael. It leapt towards the boy, landing in Vail’s outstretched hand. He whispered to the slimy reptile before placing it on his shoulder. Kira stepped out of the car, blinking. Damn it was bright. The metal of her arm did its usual thing; soaking in the sunlight, turning the glow into something flat and matte. She used the armadillo to shade her eyes and try to get some idea of where they were. Leona had parked them in a car park, disused if the weed-infested cracks were anything to go by.
‘Az, get out of the car,’ she said. ‘We need to go. Leona, thanks for helping us not die back there. We’ll catch you guys later. Az –’ She turned. He was right there, blocking the light. ‘Shit, Az –’
He took her hand. Metal hand. Kira sucked in her breath. Bracing. But it was gentler this time. A subtle jolt, a rush of all things prickly and nice, a hum that turned her to mushy, tingly jelly. She wondered briefly if her bladder would hold out, then her thoughts were all Azrael. Not sentences or even words, nothing so pronounced. It was all just understanding, certainty, like knowing that you wanted chocolate over caramel.
He wasn’t going to leave.
He was frightened.
No. Kira frowned. A different kind of scared. Not like he’d been about the Facility. This time he was frightened of loss. Kira sighed against the gooeyness. Hard to focus when your whole body tingled like it was about to come. Losing what? She didn’t know how this worked, but maybe if she threw out a thought, he’d throw something back.
Stay.
Clear as a bell.
Stay.
Azrael wanted to stay with these weirdos. And his desperation made her chest ache. Lost.
The ‘bright one’ was so damn lost the backs of her eyes prickled with tears.
‘Oh Jesus.’ Kira pulled her hand free. Screw that shit. She drew the line at tears. Kira cradled the armadillo against her chest.
Azrael stayed right where he was. Too damn close. Watching her the way a dog did when you had a bone in your hand. Leona and Vail weren’t much better. Eyes wide. Mouths open. Like she’d actually just fucked Az in the middle of the abandoned car park.
The only one who didn’t eyeball her as if she were the main act in a freak show was the reptile. Newt. Triceratops. Fucking whatever. Bradley jumped from his perch on Vail’s shoulder, disappearing into the car and squawking his miniature lungs out. As if he already knew what was going to happen next. Christ, this was a bad idea.
‘Get back in the car, Az.’
Tamas - 17
As he neared the level eleven chamber, the force of the Tier Waters rushed at him. Tamas stumbled. In danger of falling to his knees, he grabbed at the rough surface of the passageway walls, wincing as the stone jabbed the flesh of his palm. Reuben moved to assist, but Tamas waved him back.
‘I’m fine.’ He heard the rasp in his own voice but was grateful for Reuben’s discreet step back, a move so fast that no one might notice he’d tried to help at all. ‘Give me a moment.’
Either he’d grown weaker – possible – or the Waters sensed what was coming. Their energy already stirred, brutal against his raw nerves. Tamas had attempted to rest since the incident with Blake, but her screams blared through his skull, making deep
