“I didn’t say it like that,” Justin retorted.
“Kind of,” Ryan said.
“Thanks, babe. You’re my favorite person here, because everyone else sucks balls.” Then I frowned at Randall. “What are you doing here?”
“Rescuing the King, obviously.”
I gaped at him. “What do you mean obviously? And you can’t rescue the King. We’re rescuing the King.”
“Maybe we could all rescue the King,” Ryan said.
“Godsdammit, Ryan.”
He shrugged.
I clapped my hands. “I’ve just had a really great idea. I think we should work together, seeing as how we’re all here.”
“Isn’t that what I just—”
“Ryan, now is not the time for whatever you were about to say. We need to save the King.”
He sighed.
I ignored him. “The plan is that we need to take out whatever Darks are guarding the King. I was thinking that I should be the one to do it since I’m super cool and technically the hero of the story—”
“Already done.”
I gaped at Randall. “What.”
“The Darks,” Randall said slowly. “I’ve already taken care of them.”
“You did? But… I was going to do it.”
“Is he here?” Justin asked.
Randall glanced over my shoulder. “He is. I was in the process of trying to get the door open when I heard you bumbling fools moving like a pack of fire geckos in the passageway. You do understand the meaning of stealth, do you not?”
“I’m the stealthiest person in the world,” I said.
Ryan patted me on the arm. “That’s literally not true.”
Then, from farther down into the dungeons, came a tremulous voice. “Dad?”
“Who are—Justin? Is it really you?”
I turned to see Justin standing in front of a cell farther down the hallway. At his feet, two Darks lay crumpled on the floor. Justin took a step toward the cell in front of him, and a sturdy hand reached out and cupped the back of his neck, pulling him closer.
“Hello,” a voice said, strong and kind. “Hello, my son. Hello.”
“I’m probably going to cry,” I told Ryan. “Reunions and stuff.”
“That’s because you’re a sap.”
“Your eyes are wet.”
“Allergies. All the dust.”
“Uh-huh.”