I couldn’t talk for a moment because my jaw wouldn’t unclench. Wally had murdered a woman to steal spells from her. He’d claimed to be able to cure any disease or injury, when all he could really do was implant predators into people—including the oldest friend I had in the world. He’d turned my friend Jon into a monster, and God help me, when Annalise came to put a stop to it, I’d fought her.
And now he was telling people we were friends? “Rob—I mean, Fidel, the last time I saw Wally I tried to kill him.” And I’d try again, as soon as I could.
“Does he know about that? ’Cause he’s still talking about you like you’re his bestest pal.”
“Can I hear that origin story now?”
He sighed, sounding a little irritated, then turned into a silhouette. I caught a brief glimpse of the Empty Spaces, and he vanished. I held myself completely still, listening. What the hell should I do?
Before I could come up with a good idea, he suddenly reappeared in the same spot, but now he was pointing a gun at my face.
I jumped back and ducked low, my heart pounding. The door was too far for me to run to with a gun on me, and there were too many of them for me to start swinging. I had to fight an overwhelming urge to
Fidel laughed and his cousins laughed with him. Summer and Bud watched me quietly from the couch, their expressions closed. The laughter made me furious, made me want to blow myself up like a bomb, but I swallowed it. It was time to stop thinking of him as Robbie, the guy who could never beat me at Mortal Kombat but always made me laugh. This was someone else.
The jeering laughs slowly died down. Fidel seemed sorry they had to end. “Damn, Ray. Living easy up in Seattle has made you soft. You’re jumpy. I was just showing you my new piece. It’s a SIG Sauer, just like those Blackwater guys in Iraq use.” He slid his gun into the waistband of his pants. “But I’m not sure you can really appreciate it from all the way down there.”
I was still crouched down. It took all the willpower I had, but I made myself stand straight. “Guess so.”
“Are you joking about trying to kill your pal Wally? ’Cause I was hoping you could help me out with him.”
It took me a second to catch up. “I get it. You want super powers for your cousins, and you want me to talk Wally into giving them an origin story of their own.”
“Not just that, Ray. I want you on my side. Arne was right about you. You’re a sharp guy. You always got your eyes open. I want you on my team, not his.”
“What about that origin story?” I asked.
Fidel shook his head and came close to me. He still wore that broad, perfect smile. “Didn’t your boss tell you all of that? You came to town and ran straight to him. We saw you there.”
“Caramella contacted me, not Arne,” I said again.
“He was never really your friend, Ray,” he said, as if trying to convince me to stop lying. “You were his loyal guy, and look how he paid you back with Violet.”
I stepped back, startled. Violet and Arne? So Jasmin—
“That’s right, dude.” Fidel stepped close to me, but not close enough to touch. “You did everything he told you to do, and he went behind your back with your girl.”
I flinched. I couldn’t help it—the image of Arne and Vi together in her bed was sudden and sharp. Fidel could have been lying, but I didn’t believe it. Arne and Vi—I knew it was true. It was like a secret I was keeping from myself.
I closed my eyes and imagined Annalise beside me. Would she think this mattered? Those relationships were five years in the past. I’d come out of prison and turned my back on all of it. Did it matter? Of course not. It hurt, yeah, but I wasn’t here to settle that sort of score.
“Fidel,” I said. “Where can I find Wally?”
Fidel smiled and turned sideways. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Ray. You haven’t even signed up with me yet. You’re still on Arne’s side.”
“Sign up with you, Fidel? Wally King already killed you.”
He didn’t like that, but he smiled through it. “I don’t think so.”
“You think I’ve been living easy in Seattle? Wally King put a curse on my oldest friend up there, and …” I wasn’t sure how to say this next part, so I just said it. “And now he’s dead.”
Fidel’s cousins were focused on me. They didn’t like what I was saying, and Fidel didn’t like the attention I was getting. “C’mon, Ray. Don’t try that shit with me. Are you ready to make your choice? Me or Arne?”
I absentmindedly rubbed the back of my hand. The tattoos there made my skin dead to the touch. I had a new boss now, and I couldn’t talk about her. “I’m here for both of you, Fidel. Against Wally King. I’m here to save your life, if I can.” I glanced over at Bud and Summer. “All your lives.”
The short, muscular cousin stepped close to Fidel and said something in Spanish. I couldn’t understand him, but I knew it wasn’t friendly. “No, no,” Fidel said to him, then turned to me. “Ray, why don’t you go visit Arne? Talk to him about Violet and about his plans for the future. Then you can decide if you want to come back to me. Tell me what he has planned, and decide if you want to be safe with him or rich with us. Go ahead, and think about what I said.”
I started backing toward the door. “You should think about what I said, too.”
Fidel watched me with a look on his face that I’d never seen before. He looked confident and wise, like a king sending a messenger on a particularly clever errand. I wanted to hit him. His cousins glared at me, but Summer and Bud had peculiar expressions. Had I gotten through to them, at least?
I backed to the stairs, then forced myself to turn around and walk away. No one shot me. I went outside. It was still cool, and the sun wasn’t up yet, but I could see a faint glow along the horizon. Traffic had already started
