“Ohhh,” he said, and he looked first annoyed then resigned. He knew he’d been had. “Come with me.”
“I think you know I’m not going away with you—”
“Not away,” he said, and stood up, taking a couple steps back. “Just a little ways. Back. Back to the beginning.” He flew up, out through the hole in the roof.
And me? I was after him in a heartbeat.
I did have that final duty, after all.
He was already close to sonic speed when I cleared the hole in the roof. I angled after him and took off, racing to catch up. He poured on the speed once he knew I was following him, and I heard him break the sound barrier. I followed, feeling the cold air race over my body, causing the dress I was wearing to flutter in annoying ways. This is why I don’t wear dresses. Well, it’s one of the reasons, anyway.
We shot over the 494 loop. Houses passed in a blur underneath me. He slowed and started to descend moments later. He clearly wasn’t hotdogging it, so I followed slow, making sure he wasn’t setting a trap for me.
He wasn’t.
I recognized the street when he came down. The trees lined either side, the late summer heat shining on us from above. I was about a hundred yards behind him as he set down under one of the giant maples that shrouded the house in front of us. He disappeared under the cover of it and I took my time coming down, finally landing in the middle of the street. I had to use my hands to keep my dress from billowing up like a parachute as I descended. What a pain in the ass.
I saw him waiting at the front door, and he cracked the knob and stopped there. “Like I said, back to the beginning.” And then he disappeared inside.
Great. I stared at the house, low annoyance thrumming through me.
It was my house.
I crossed the yard, halting by the front door to peek in. “I’m not waiting in ambush,” his voice came from somewhere deeper inside. “I’ll be in the basement if you want to change first.”
I couldn’t argue with that idea.
I slipped inside and found he wasn’t visible at all. I walked through the living room and stopped by the glass coffee table. “Where are you?” I called, cautious. The place smelled like it always had, minus the aroma of bad cooking that I was pretty sure hadn’t been here before mom and I moved in.
“I told you, in the basement,” his voice came back, and I could tell he was exactly where he’d said he was. I took a breath and headed toward my room, shutting the door behind me.
I dressed quickly, pulling on jeans and a t-shirt and grabbing a spare holster out of my closet to change over to. I’d been wearing an ankle holster before and, with the length of the dress I was wearing, could just about get away with it. The gun didn’t quite fit, being a little smaller than one you’d normally wear at the hip, but I wasn’t in a mood to be picky.
I exited my room, thinking briefly back to the day I’d left it, and kept going out the front door. It hadn’t been that long ago, really, but it felt like forever.
I walked toward the basement, remembering a very different day. Of all the times I’d had to fear the basement, the one I would always remember most was the day I faced Wolfe down there, sure that it was going to be the end of me.
Something about that memory gave me a spark of confidence. Because that day had not been the end of me.
It had been the end of Wolfe.
Not the end, Little Doll.
“You’re non-corporeal now, so it was kind of an end.”
“Did you say something?” Sovereign’s voice came from behind the door to the basement stairs.
“Not to you,” I replied as I opened the door.
Each step caused a clumping noise on the wooden stairs. I wore heavy-tread boots, laced tightly because the steel toe did wonders for the damage of my kicks. Aesthetically, they were a nightmare, and I’d be the first to admit that. But aesthetics were never my primary concern.
Sovereign was waiting, and he watched me as I took the turn at the L of the stairs. I paused on the wooden landing and looked at him, lurking in the dark close to what had once been the bane of my existence.
The box.
It was metal, stood about six feet tall, and looked like nothing so much as an overlarge gravestone hiding in the shadows behind Sovereign. He gestured to it in a very Vanna-White-esque way, like it was something I’d never seen before.
“Are you going to monologue now?” I asked, leaving a hand resting on the wooden rail next to me. “Because if so, I can come back later.”
“Come on,” he said, inviting me down into my own basement. “You’ve figured it out, and credit where it’s due—I thought I had outwitted you on the Ares thing, but hey, it’s not so bad.”