Page 25 of Inside the Wicked

“I may be a desperate fool to follow you in the middle of the night, but I’m notthatnaïve. He’s the best source of protection I have.”

“Fair point. I only say because ... well, don’t let him eat Frodo and Sam, will you? I mean, between you and me, I wouldn’t cry about it, but I’d never hear the end of it from Jeremy when he gets back.”

“Who are?—?”

The doors slide open, and I’m taken away, thoughts stolen, at what expands before us. I step out, trying to take it all in.

It’s a massive tin-looking construction, a hall with so many screens and computers, desks, and chairs seating countless people. Surveillance feeds, data, websites ... I follow Rix mindlessly down the middle, trying to take it all in. For some reason, I imagined the “Den”consisted of Rix holed up in an apartment alone, surrounded by empty pizza boxes and soda cans. I giggle at that image now.

“What’s so funny?” Rix asks, walking backward. He smiles too, and I’m overcome with how much hope he gives me.

This place.

It’s real.

I’m in Xoid. And we’re going to get Rhett back.

I stop walking, and people start noticing our intrusion of their workspace. It’s so casual, but at the same time I can read the laser focus of everyone here. Feel the family they’ve found in each other, but also the gravity ofhow.

“Listen up, guys,” Rix says, clapping his hands together.

I shift with the attention of the room as he silences their idle chatter.

“This is Anastasia Kinsley, Kaiser’s girl.” He crosses over to me, slinging an arm around my shoulders. “Which means she’sourgirl.”

“’Bout time, Kinsley!” a guy shouts out. His grin is so warm and welcoming, and others begin greeting me.

I’m so overjoyed that all my reservations fade away at once. Looking over everyone, I’ve never felt such prideswelling in me. For all these people; for Rhett, who built this; for me, as I hope to do him proud.

A door at the far end opens, and I don’t expect the elderly woman who comes out. Just then, yapping echoes through the hall, and I stiffen. Shadow growls, and then I see them: two tiny Chihuahuas come speeding toward us as if the old woman set them off as fireworks.

“Frodo and Sam?” I guess.

“Part of the ‘Xoidship.’” Rix sighs, reciting his brother, I assume, with a grin.

For a second I hold my breath in case Shadow reacts badly to their obnoxious barking, but he merely watches them, tail wagging, as they snap around him like piranhas out of water, as if he couldn’t swallow them in one mouthful. You have to admire little-dog confidence.

They start to calm when Shadow doesn’t react, but the moment he takes a step forward in intrigue, the Chihuahua sirens are off again.

“That’s it,” Rix says, scooping them up, and that silences them immediately. “We don’t have time for dog showdowns right now.”

He carries them while nudging me forward. “There’s someone I think you’d like to meet.”

We head toward the elderly woman, who waits expectantly, leaning on a daisy-scattered pink cane.

“About time indeed,” she says warmly when we reach her. “I’ve been waiting to meet you, Ana.”

She heads back inside the room, which is like a small studio apartment. The scent immediately hits me: the comfort, safety, and love that any elderly person’s home embodies. It’s decorated with pastel florals over the sage-green couch and the table linen. She heads over to the kitchen area, which isn’t so much for cooking, but it has a stove where an old kettle whistles.

“Let me get that,” Rix says, putting the two dogs down, and they must feel the same sense of calm in here as they don’t immediately go for Shadow. Instead their paws tap across the hard ground, over the carpeted rug, and into a small house I don’t think Shadow would even fit his head into.

“Ana, this is our Oma.” He introduces us, pouring boiling water into three cups.

“A pleasure to meet you,” I say.Was that awkward?I wring my hands, unsure why I feel like getting this woman’s approval is important.

“Sit, sit.” She ushers me over to the four-seater dining table.

Rix brings over the tea, joining us. He begins dropping in more sugar cubes than I think anyone can take, and he adds a helping of milk.

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