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“Look,” Diego said, “I think you might misunderstand—”
Eliana pulled out a gun and pointed it at him.
“Baby,” he said. “You don’t have to do this.”
She didn’t answer, only stared at him with wide, fearful eyes. The gun wobbled in her hand. Diego lifted his arms over his head. She wasn’t going to shoot him. She knew how to shoot at targets, but she didn’t know how to shoot at people.
“Mr. Cabrera just wants to talk,” he said.
“No, he doesn’t,” said Lady Luna, and then she leaned over and whispered something into Eliana’s ear. Eliana nodded, short and quick.
They both turned and ran, darting down the nearby alley.
Diego dropped his hands to his sides. An alley. They’d run into a fucking alley.
He refused to believe Eliana was this stupid. But maybe she was enough in love with him to think he wouldn’t hurt her, wouldn’t hurt her friend. Even if he had walked out on her. He’d seen how badly she’d shaken when she’d pulled her gun.
Maybe they were just scared, both of them. He figured cyborgs could get scared like anyone else. They weren’t robots, like Mr. Cabrera had said.
Anything that could die could get scared.
He eased his gun out of his pocket and let it hang inconspicuously at his side. He took slow, confident steps into the alley. The lights were burned out, the shadows long and thick. He didn’t see Eliana or Lady Luna.
Diego began to think this might not have been such a good idea.
Then he heard footsteps. He lifted his gun and pointed it into the darkness. Eliana emerged, holding up her own gun. Her face was streaked with dark rivers where tears had run through her makeup. The sight of her nearly broke Diego’s heart.
“Please,” she said. “I’m sorry I’m leaving. But you don’t have to do this.”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with you.” Diego moved forward. He kept his gaze on Eliana’s face. “I mean it, babe. He just wants Lady Luna. That’s all. He doesn’t even know who you are, thank Christ, and I’m not angry at you for getting out of the city.”
Eliana took a step back. The gun caught a bit of light from the street and flashed in his eyes.
“Please,” she said again, almost a whisper.
And then a great, sudden weight slammed into him from his right. Diego went barreling across the alley and plowed into the side of the building. Pain erupted, bright and sharp in the left side of his face. He tasted blood.
Footsteps echoed behind him.
Diego whirled around and caught sight of Eliana fleeing the alley.
The weight slammed into him again. This time, it knocked him to the ground. Diego hit the back of his head, and everything went black-and-white, like film burning. He didn’t have his gun anymore. When the world settled, Diego stared up at the strip of dark dome peeking between the two buildings. His mouth hurt; when he ran his tongue over his teeth, one of them moved.
“Stand up.”
It was Lady Luna’s voice. He recognized it from the advertisements, throaty and aristocratic. He rolled onto his hands and knees, feeling around for the gun.
“You won’t find it. Stand up.”
Diego lifted his head. Lady Luna towered over him, not a single fucking hair out of place. She had his gun. Not that she was pointing it at him. Not that she needed to use it.
Diego spit out his lost tooth.
“Why didn’t you do this before?” he asked. “When we came to your house?”
“I wasn’t so desperate then.”
She kicked him, although it happened so fast that he only realized after he was laid out on his back a few feet away, pain racing up and down his spine.
Lady Luna knelt beside him. Her expression was cold. Machinelike. She put a hand on his throat, and when he tried to sit up, he struggled against her grip, his windpipe squeezing shut.
“I can keep doing this until I kill you,” she said. “But I won’t.”
“Why?” Diego choked out.
“Because you aren’t the one who wants me dead.”
Diego hardly had time to register what she was saying, what the hell that even meant. He was aware of Lady Luna drawing back her fist, and then he was aware of nothing.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
MARIANELLA
Marianella stepped out of the taxi. Her limbs felt strange—weak. She paid the driver in cash, careful to hand the money over with her left hand, the hand she had not used to beat Diego and leave him bleeding in an alley. If the driver noticed the blood splattered across the front of her dress, he didn’t say anything. She’d tried to hide it with her coat.
“You sure you want me to drop you off here?” he asked, leaning out his window. The gates to the amusement park rose up out of the cement. Eliana was sitting on the steps, her head bent down so that her face was covered by her hair.
“Yes,” Marianella said. “I’m meeting a friend.”
“Whatever.” The driver tucked the money into an envelope and sped off, leaving Marianella standing on the curb. Eliana lifted her head enough that Marianella saw the glint of her eyes. She almost didn’t want to walk across the street, almost didn’t want to face Eliana head-on.
It had to be done, though.
Marianella took a deep breath, lifted up the hem of her dress, and walked over to the park gate. Eliana watched her through the tangle of her hair. Her eyes were red from crying, and Marianella could make out an almost imperceptible vibration in her shoulders.
She stopped a few paces away from Eliana. Let the fabric slide out of her hands. They stared at each other in the shimmering, cold darkness.
“I’m sorry,” Marianella whispered.
“Is he dead?”
The question was hard, edged in ice. Marianella shook her head.
Eliana looked away, off in the direction of the smokestack district. “I couldn’t get in,” she said. “The gate was locked.”
“I know. I can open it.” Marianella wondered why Sofia hadn’t let Eliana in. Surely she’d seen her crying on the surveillance recorders. It was probably because Eliana was human. Sofia could be so cruel sometimes.
Marianella walked over to the gate and folded her hand around the lock. Energy bolted through her palm; for a moment she felt frazzled and lit up. Then the gate clicked open. She dropped her hand away and looked over at Eliana. She was crying again, silent tears ru
“Oh, sweetie,” Marianella murmured. She glided over to Eliana and knelt down beside her, not caring about the damp, oil-stained cement. For one shuddering second she was afraid that Eliana was going to pull away from her, but instead the opposite happened, and Eliana collapsed onto her shoulder, weeping loudly. Marianella held her close and stroked her hair and made calming noises as though Eliana were a frightened animal.
“He tried to kill you!” Eliana wailed.
I know, Marianella thought, but instead she said, “It was Ignacio who wanted me dead. Not Diego. We need to get inside the park before—” Eliana wailed more loudly, and Marianella didn’t let herself finish. Before Ignacio comes looking for us.
Gently, Marianella lifted Eliana to her feet. Eliana was as pliant as a doll, leaning up against Marianella for support, her steps trembling and weak. Together, they walked through the gate, leaving Hope City behind them.
Marianella guided Eliana over to a nearby bench and then went back to shut and lock the gate. She looked through the bars, out at the empty street. The streetlamps flickered, casting jittery shadows on the outside. It made her think that someone was out there, lurking, watching, with a loaded gun pointed straight at her heart. She didn’t like being in view of the street.
She turned away and walked back over to Eliana.
“Let’s get you a place to wash up,” she said softly, pulling Eliana up to standing. She would take Eliana to the Ice Palace, at least for the night. Sofia would be there, and Marianella needed to speak to her.