With that, she started to recede into the darkness. “Oh, and by the way, Erich … Sienna Nealon will be joining us.”
Winter was stone, a monolith taller than any of the others in the room. “Sienna will make her own decisions.”
Bastet smiled again, and I could sense the infuriating effort she put into it. “Of course. But her decision will be to come with us, eventually. And woe betide he who stands between us and our goals, you remember that, right?” She looked him over carefully. “Of course not. You always were a slow learner, Erich.” She snapped her fingers. “Remind him. Roughly, if necessary.” She turned and started to stride out, and the other shadows, the ones that had surrounded her, they remained, and began to move closer to the office, to M-Squad, to Zack.
I felt myself pulled out of the memory, back to a place of cold, of pain. It felt like I had fallen, and when I landed it was roughly, on the runway at the airport in Eden Prairie. I felt the searing agony of my lost hand and the cold air filled my sinuses. I remembered what had happened, where I was, and the tears streamed down my face as a presence came over me. “I’m sorry, Zack. I’m sorry I couldn’t kill him for you.”
It’s okay. I never wanted you to. I never wanted you to be a killer. I just wanted you to be you. I love you.
“I know,” I said. “I know. I’m sorry I doubted you.”
You have to get up now.
There were sirens in the distance, I could hear them, wailing loud and growing closer. You have to get up, Zack said again. You have to get out of here before they arrive.
“Yes,” I said, “okay.” I dragged myself to my knees, spasms of pain racking me in between the occasional sob. I started toward the fence in the distance, the one I had entered the airport over, and I started running, tuning out the pain. “You’re with me. You’re finally with me.”
Yeah. Sorry it took me so long. I was afraid. Afraid you’d find out what I did. How we started. I was afraid that you’d never forgive me.
“I forgive you,” I sobbed, running through the snowy night. “I forgive you.” I sniffed. “There’s only one person I can’t forgive, and it’s not you.”
I kept running until I got to the fence, and by the time I had cleared it and gotten back to my car, the wind had numbed me, numbed my pain—everything but the little bit still inside, hiding, secreted away with Zack.
22.
I made it a few miles down the road before I stopped. I pulled off Minnesota Highway 62 at the exit for Southdale Mall. I kept going down the snow-covered surface roads until I pulled into the parking lot of the mall. I figured I had gone far enough, that this was good enough for what I had in mind. Glove box, Zack’s voice told me, and I opened it to find what I needed. I swallowed heavily; we were close to the end now. We had to be.
I stepped out into the night air and let the chill wash over me. Not much farther now. I went to the trunk, ignoring the snowflakes, and let my bare hand trail over the cold exterior of the car. It made my fingers numb, which was how I wanted them. I took a breath as I stood over the trunk, not really ready for what I was about to do. It opened and I stared down.
Ariadne lay within, bound with duct tape around her mouth, her hands and her feet. She let her eyes flick open, and when she saw me, it was a thousand megawatts of SCREW YOU evident in her eyes.
“Time to go, Ariadne,” I said, and cut the tape around her hands, then her feet. The silk bathrobe that still covered her was barely adequate, but I tried to help her wrap it around herself before I pulled her out. She stared at me, huddling against the chill. I took off my coat and offered it to her as she shivered in the winter air. I saw her hesitate, and I knew she was thinking about telling me to stick it. She made the wise choice in the end, though, and put it on.
“Is she dead?” she asked me after a moment’s silence.
“Yes.”
“Are you happy now?” There was more than a little accusation in how she said it.
There was a pause before I answered her. “No. Happiness seems like a pretty far off dream at this point, like something I might have woken up to a long time ago. Not something that exists in my reality anymore.” I shrugged, and she stood there, indifferent, shivering against the cold. “What about you? Eve clubbed you unconscious and hauled you away from the scene of the crime, but I still caught you with her. You even saved her life—for a little while, anyway.” I leaned in closer and I saw her flinch. “Are you happy, Ariadne? Did being with her make you happy enough to overlook what she did?”