Page 110 of The Shattered City

Esta looked up at the sky above at the roofless room where they were standing. Then she tucked the covered Book back into the satchel and slung it over her shoulder. “We have to get out of here and find some cover.”

The sound was even louder now, a steady mechanical chuffing that pulsed ominously as it grew in volume. Harte wasn’t sure what the sound was, but he sensed that he didn’t want to find out. Without hesitating, he took her hand, and together they hurried out of the fort and down the uneven stone steps into the park.

“This way,” Esta told him, leading him onward.

“Why don’t you use your magic?” he asked as the sound grew louder.

“I can’t. Not if it’s the way that they’re tracking us.” She picked up her pace. “And slowing time has never stopped Thoth. If we get far enough away, maybe we can lose them in the park.”

He had no idea where they were going. He’d been to Central Park plenty of times, but never this far north. And even if he had, everything looked different now.

Esta led them from the path into more dense overgrowth, but the bare trees provided little cover. Their empty branches exposed them to the heavy gray winter sky above. They were moving as quickly as they could through the drifting snow on the forest floor, but they didn’t get far before the source of the sound was upon them.

Harte felt the wind picking up as it had in the station, but this time it had nothing to do with magic. When he looked up, he saw an enormous beetle-like creature hovering over them.

No, not a creature. A machine.

He’d known that people had discovered flight. In San Francisco, he’d seen the silvery bodies of what Esta had called airplanes swimming through the sky, like minnows in a pond. But this was different. More horrifying and immediate. The dark metal insect loomed over them, and the sound it made was deafening. Thunderous. The pulsing, thumping beat echoed the frantic rhythm of his own heart as he and Esta raced along.

As though there was any chance of escape.

It happened so quickly. They were running hand in hand. Harte took one step, trying to navigate the snow-covered forest, and the next, the ground was gone. Suddenly, the world was turning itself inside out. Harte was falling. He felt himself torn apart, shattered into a million pieces, and then pressed back together. His head spun and he stumbled, barely catching himself before he went down.

Everything had changed. The snow was gone, and the forest was carpeted with moss and vines. The sky above was a brilliant blue, and the trees were green with fresh growth. The air no longer held the bite of winter. It hadn’t yet warmed to the sweltering heat of summer, but the promise was there.

But they weren’t far enough back. In the distance, he heard the blasting of a horn and the rumble of engines. Through the branches of the trees, he could see that the future city still loomed, enormous and impossible.

“When are we?” he asked, as Esta’s steps slowed.

“I don’t know?” She looked as shocked as he was.

“You didn’t take us back?”

“I was going to,” she told him. “I started to, but—I don’t know. I hesitated. And then I saw this moment, and I just thought—” Her eyes were wide. “I didn’t mean to… But I couldn’t. Not yet.” Her voice broke.

He understood. How could he not? She didn’t want to face the choices that were coming any more than he did. Neither of them wanted to face the fate that waited for them in the pages of that damnable diary.

“It’s okay,” he told her, wrapping his arms around her. Because he could. Because the future hadn’t unfurled yet in all of its terrible inevitability. His stomach still felt as though it had been turned inside out, but at least they weren’t dead. “You stole us some time.”

“I screwed up,” she told him, trying to pull away. But he didn’t let her. “I meant to go back. We’re ready—”

“We’re not.” He brushed a piece of hair back from her face. She looked tired. Exhausted really. More worried than before. “We might have the stones tucked away, but simply having the Book and the artifacts doesn’t mean we need to rush into whatever traps Nibsy has waiting for us. You made the right choice. You gave us time so that we don’t have to run back unprepared.”

She looked up at him, and the emotion swimming in her golden eyes felt like a punch to his gut.

“I know it’s selfish of me,” she told him. “But I want more time.”

“So do I,” he told her. “I want forever.”

The glimmer of a smile tugged at her full mouth. “Me too, but I think we should probably settle for a day or two. We can find another room, rest, and make a plan.”

“If we find another room, I’m not sure a day or two is going to work for me.”

She did smile then, clearly amused despite herself. “We’d just be delaying the inevitable, Harte.”

“Maybe.” He wrapped an arm around her. “But I don’t think anyone would blame us.”

“Harte—”

---