Page 40 of City of the Lost
“What does that one mean again?” Trevor asked.
He was still getting his head around all the modern abbreviations. “Never mind.”
Noir cleared his throat. “Miss Bastion, maybe we can get back to the plan?”
Urgh, there he was with the Miss Bastion again. “Wila, remember. Miss Bastion sounds so formal, and heck, I just belched at you. Surely we’re past the formal.”
He bit back a smile. “I find you utterly refreshing.”
“Well, thank you.” I took another sip of my fizzy beverage. “Wait, that was a compliment, right?”
He chuckled. “Yes, Miss Bastion, it was, and I’ll start calling you by your first name when you call me by mine.”
Touché. “Fine,Adam.”
His lips tilted in a half-smile. “Okay, Wila.”
Trevor huffed. “Can we get on with the laying out of the plan, please?”
I tore my gaze from Noir’s baby blues. “The plan is to go for a stroll by the old football stadium and wait to be attacked. The Collective will have their elite team on site, as well as the Gateway operatives.”
The old stadium had been closed for decades, and the council had plans for renovating it and building new homes, but as of yet, nothing had come of the plans. It had become another derelict place from the time before—a time when humans inhabited the city, a time when games had mattered.
Noir pursed his lips. “I’m still wrapping my head around the whole multiverse concept being more than just a theory.”
He wasn’t the only one. “It’s kind of crazy. But it makes sense that there’s more to ... everything. I mean, I’m not so arrogant to think we’re all there is.”
“True.”
“Plus, Loraine Vincent taking on board the Lost problem is a huge weight off our shoulders.”
He grinned, and the action lit up his face. “And you managed to keep my name out of it.”
“I did indeed.”
He tilted his head to the side. “You are pretty amazing, Wila. You know that?”
“It’s one of the things they’ll be putting on my gravestone.”
He chuckled but sobered quickly. “It’s still a risky plan. I wish I could be there with you.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll have eyes on me and Azren as muscle.”
Noir sobered. “You’re lucky Loraine bought your story about him.”
“I can be very conniving, I mean convincing.”
He let out a bark of laughter and then ducked his head as if surprised by his reaction. When he spoke next, his voice was low. “There isn’t much time till the lunar eclipse. I’m worried about you.”
Anxiety flared to life in my chest. “Don’t be. Azren and I have a plan. I have a map of the undercity, and once this alien metal monster problem is wrapped up, we’re headed underground for some reconnaissance. If the Shedim are there—and I’m sure they are, because where else could they be hiding—then we’ll find them.”
“I’m coming with you.”
A few weeks back I’d have rejected this offer, but so much had changed since then. “Thank you.”
* * *
I waspartway up the stairs when the front door opened and Azren breezed in. His hair was mussed up from the ride, and his eyes were bright. He paused in the foyer and looked up.
