Lilah took a deep breath and let the pendant rest against her chest. “I was out there,” she said, gesturing vaguely to one of the windows, “just flying aimlessly around, trying to figure out … some things. And I sensed you. I couldn’t tell if you were searching for me, or if you just happened to be nearby. I returned to the top of Aura Tower, and you came inside. I came in through the air cooling ducts from the roof. I sensed you floating around here, and I realized you must be looking for this.”
“Yes. Are you the one who took it? From that store room of samples at the research place. I looked for it when I escaped, but it wasn’t there.”
Lilah nodded. “You told me it would heal me. You were right.”
“I—I did? I was?”
“You may not remember. You were drugged. I struggled to wake you. I think I slapped you a few times. Sorry about that,” she added, sounding genuinely remorseful. “You mumbled something about a stone with healing properties, and even though no one ever told me about this heirloom thing, I’d overheard enough conversations and hacked enough of Doc’s notes to know what you were talking about. Didn’t take me too long to find it.”
“And it actually worked,” Ridley said in amazement. “It healed you.”
“Yes. Well … sort of. Not permanently.”
“What do you mean?”
Lilah’s dark eyes, so similar to Archer’s, traveled Ridley’s face. There was something different about her. This was not the same Lilah who’d hoped Ridley would be caught. This was not the person who’d pointed a shotgun at her own brother and accused him of betraying their family. “If I take it off,” Lilah said carefully, “the symptoms come back. When I put it back on, the symptoms go away. So if I want to keep living, I’m guessing I have to keep wearing it. But …” She paused and bit her lip. “You need it.” She looked toward the window as a faint shudder reverberated through the building. “You’re trying to do what Archer was talking about on his live video. Getting rid of the arxium and returning our world to the way it used to be. And this stone will help you.”
“Yes,” Ridley said simply, a crack slowly splitting her heart. She did need it, but she didn’t want Lilah to die. She knew what she had to do—take the stone by force, if Lilah wouldn’t give it to her—but that didn’t mean she wanted to do it.
“I know my father caused the Cataclysm,” Lilah said, changing the subject out of the blue. “He didn’t tell me—obviously—but thanks to a conversation you recently had with him, and an archive of surveillance footage, I now know what he did. I know that he’s lied to me for years and that he’s the reason magic retaliated and billions of people died.” She walked closer, pulling the chain up and over her head. Her voice shook when she said, “It’s the most horrifying of all the secrets I’ve ever discovered, and it makes me sick—so, so sick—to think that I firmly believed he was right about magic and elementals all these years.” She shook her head and sucked in a deep breath. “My life always felt so trivial, Rid. I wanted so badly to be part of everything my father was doing. To be part of something bigger. I just didn’t realize until now that we were on the wrong side of that something. Archer did, and I wish he’d told me sooner. I wish he’d made me listen to him.” She held the pendant out toward Ridley. “I hope you can change the world.”
Slowly, some part of her wondering if this was a horrible prank, Ridley reached for the necklace. Lilah let her take it. She exhaled slowly and lowered her hand. Ridley’s gaze traveled down as a yellow-gold glow began to pulse through Lilah’s veins, visible just beneath the surface of her skin. Looking up again, she saw the same glow fading in and out of the veins that coursed across Lilah’s face. The same glow in her eyes.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Lilah said, rolling those oddly golden eyes and sounding more like herself. “Like you’re terrified I’m about to drop dead on the spot. I’m not going die immediately. I think it’ll take a bit of time.”
Hope surged in Ridley’s chest. “How long?”
“I don’t know. Just hurry. If you can. I know I’m a grade A bitch who doesn’t actually deserve to survive any of this, but I don’t particularly want to die.”
Ridley managed a small smile. “That’s funny. I kind of feel the same way about you.” She looped the chain over her head. “I’ll get back here as quickly as I can.”
“No. Meet me on top of the Boards24 Building. The building with the rooftop garden. There’s something else I need to do ASAP. In case I don’t …” In case she didn’t make it.
“You’ll be fine,” Ridley insisted. “I’ll be there as soon as possible.”
“Thanks.” Lilah took a few steps back, the golden glow intensifying as wisps of yellow magic rose away from her skin. “In case I don’t get to tell you later, this magic thing is actually really cool.”
Ridley grinned. “I know.”
“And Rid? I’m really sorry. About everything.” Then Lilah shut her eyes and disappeared.
Ridley’s next breath left her in a rush of air. She could barely believe any of that had just happened. She looked down at the pendant and pressed one hand over it. “Time to end this,” she whispered.
And that was when she heard a scuffle of footsteps and a grunt. She shifted to air immediately. Spinning away from the piano, she saw Archer dragging his father toward a couch. Alastair’s jacket was off, rolled into a bundle and pressed against the gunshot wound below his shoulder. “Stop fighting me,” Archer groaned. “I’m trying to help you.”
Ridley soared past them. She must have missed the sound of the front door opening while Lilah was talking. The door was still open, in fact. Archer was probably planning to leave soon.
“Get off!” Alastair shouted. “I don’t need your help.” Ridley twisted around near the front door, looking back as Alastair shoved Archer so hard he stumbled into a small table, knocked it over, and sent a giant wooden egg rolling toward the window. It came to rest against the giant glass surface. “Doctor Manly is on his way over. He’ll be far more help than you. Now get out of here. Your mother never wants to see you again and neither do I.”
“Great,” Archer said flatly. “The feeling is mutual. In fact, I should have let you die earlier. You’d probably prefer that over knowing I used magic to keep your torture facility from collapsing on you.”
Alastair, who’d been leaning on the edge of the couch, launched forward and struck Archer across the face. Archer stumbled backward another few feet, then tripped over the fallen table and landed near the wooden egg. Ridley rushed back across the room. “What disgusts me just as much is that you used magic to get us back here,” Alastair said. “What the hell was that? Some primitive transport conjuration?”
As Ridley hovered anxiously nearby, torn between grabbing Archer and leaving versus letting him have it out with his father, Archer climbed to his feet. He scraped at the air, pulling handfuls of magic from it within seconds. “This is not disgusting, Dad!” he yelled, pulling more and more magic. “Look at it. Look at it!” He stepped aside, letting the glowing mass hang between them. “This has never been disgusting!”