Page 111 of Almost Midnight

He heard her shrug. “No one’s perfect.”

“I thoughtyouwere. You certainly seem to think you are––” Nick grumbled back.

“I see the kids,” Kit broke in, sounding relieved. “They’re at the door. They’re headed our way.”

Nick felt a flicker of relief.

Maybe they would get out of this. Barely.

“You’ve got Charlie?” he asked.

“Yup. Everyone butyou,numb-nuts. And Jordan. Oh, and the vampires, of course.” She hesitated, then added, “I don’t think they’re coming, Nick,” she said, apologetic.

Nick frowned. He moved his legs marginally faster, even as he used his mind to change channels on the comm. “Zoe. Where are you?”

“We see them,” she informed him coolly.

“You’re coming with us?” he asked.

He already knew the answer.

Heshouldhave known, really, even before Kit more or less confirmed it. Brick had told him. He’d told Nick what Zoe would do.

“No,” she said, her voice unchanging.

He nodded, mostly to himself.

He made his way around a left turn, and then he could see the smoke scorched walls leading out from the facility’s main lobby.

“We can provide you a distraction,” Zoe said.

“Much appreciated.” He fought to think, even as he half-jogged towards the building’s entrance. “Zoe.” He hesitated, his eyes making out the dark-paneled van up ahead. “Brick told me. About France. He told me––”

“I know what he told you,” she said calmly. “The answer is still no, Nick.”

“What if she’s still there?” he asked cautiously.

There was a silence.

In it, Nick could practically see Zoe shaking her head.

“There’s no place for me in that life,” she told him simply. “This is my world now. These are my people. And I have things I want to do here.” She fell silent, then added, quieter, “I followed him willingly, Nick. I always followed him willingly. I’m not like you.”

Nick didn’t know how to answer that.

Probably because he agreed with her.

They weren’t the same. They never had been.

In the end, he only nodded, picking his way over rubble to reach the dark vehicle.

“Anything you want me to tell her?” he asked finally.

“Miriam?” Zoe let out a low snort, as if amused at the idea of Nick passing on a message to her biological sister. She might be amused at his humanness, like Brick had always been, and his insistence on treating her like some part ofherwas still human, too. “Tell her not to take any shit from that seer she’s married to,” she said wryly.

Nick frowned. “That’s it?”

“You can tell her more than that, Nick,” Zoe said, a little softer. “Tell her I’m good. Tell her I hope she’s good, too. You can even tell her that I miss her, but that I decided to stay anyway.” She hesitated for the first time. “Tell her it’s not because of her, Nick. Tell her I have a life here. People I love. I think she’d like that.”

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