Page 115 of Outlaw Witch

“Can’t you... make sure he doesn’t wake up? Would solve your problem, wouldn’t it?”

I blink a few times. I mean, I can’t say the thought hadn’t crossed my mind. We could just chuck him off the roof, or, I dunno, block his airway and leave him here.

But I don’t think I can.

I’m a lot of things, but I’ve never killed anyone. Never chosen to hurt someone, either.

“I can’t do that,”I say softly. “I know this is probably an incredibly dumb thing to do, leaving him here. But I can’t...”

“All right then, we’ll find you a way out. Don’t worry, Sil, it’ll be all right. Get out of the building and I’ll contact you in five minutes, okay?”

“Thanks, Ember.”

“Come on,” I say out loud, half-dragging Fabian along.

We head down the stairs from the rooftop with painfully slow steps. Luckily, it’s well after midnight and the building seems to be mostly deserted as we head through the corridors until we find the emergency stairwell. It’ll be slow-going, but we can’t risk the elevator right now.

I just hope the floors don’t do their little trick and switch around while we’re making our way down.

Partway down, I spot a member of the janitorial staff and dart out of the stairwell toward him. I draw on Dante’s magic and order the guy to let someone from the medical bay know that a man on the roof needs attention.

“Wait fifteen minutes from now before you fetch them. You won’t speak of how you know this and you won’t speak of having seen me,” I order him, infusing the persuasion magic into my voice.

I don’t miss the way Fabian’s intense stare is fixed on my face as I return to his side, but I ignore him.

We get to the bottom of the stairwell without an incident. Taking a break, I prop Fabian up against the wall and wipe the sweat from my lower back.

“How are you holding up?” I ask him. He clutches the wall like it’s the only thing keeping him upright.

“I’m fine.”

“Silver? We’ve got a route for you. You’re going to want to follow my instructionsverycarefully.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“You’re heading down into the Buried Citadel. Last thing you want to do is take a right instead of a left and wind up getting lost. Even Rook would struggle to help you if you lose your way while you’re down there.”

Down beneath the city, with the ancient sewerage systems and the catacombs. With a barely conscious Fabian and a terrified teenager.

Into the Buried Citadel we go.

*

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