Witch's Pyre (Worldwalker 3)

Toshi rolled the cluster of extra serum vials in his pocket between his fingers, unable to tell if they could protect him and Red Leaf during an escape attempt or if it was suicide to try. He played a little game with himself. If more of the vials were facing up than down he would risk it. He pulled them out of his pocket and looked.

Half up, half down. He’d have to make his own luck.

“Are you ill?” Grace asked.

“Tired,” he replied immediately. Respond fast and be as honest as possible.

“You’ve been working too hard,” Grace said, almost as if she cared about him.

Toshi couldn’t figure out why she was still acting like everything was normal between them. He knew what she was, and she knew he knew. There didn’t seem to be any purpose to it, and then it occurred to him. Maybe this was normal for her.

Grace took the long silence as an invitation to bait him some more. “Or is it Mala keeping you up at night?” she asked with a tilted eyebrow.

“Mala?” Toshi repeated, and then he remembered. They were supposed to be engaged. He hadn’t seen Mala in days, and he was quite sure that Grace knew that. “I wish,” he said playfully. “But, no. I’ve just been working.”

Grace studied him with hard eyes, her teeth grinding together faintly. She wanted him to confess. That’s why she was playing this game. She wanted to hear from Toshi that his involvement with Mala was a lie. Red Leaf stirred and Grace turned her attention to him.

“Give him another dose,” she said.

“I don’t think keeping him unconscious is—”

“Give him another dose,” she ordered. “I don’t want him contacting anyone.”

“You’ll kill him,” Toshi said quietly.

She huffed, as if Red Leaf’s death would be nothing more than an annoying inconvenience for her. “Fine,” she said. “I may as well go under again, then. I’ll keep him in the overworld myself.” She lay down next to Red Leaf on the floor, laughing. “I know I’m getting close because he keeps insisting that he won’t show me any more,” she said excitedly.

Toshi looked at Red Leaf in sympathy, wondering what kind of emotional damage Grace was doing to him in the overworld. Grace slipped into cold stillness and the Warrior Sisters guarding her grew anxious. To them it seemed as if Grace were dying, and even though Grace had explained it to them, they still got frantic when she left her body.

One of them prodded Toshi with the handle of her whip, indicating he should attend to Grace. Toshi held up his hands, signaling that there was nothing he could do. At least he hoped that’s what he was signaling. He had to get out of this room. He had

to get to the lab.

He stood up and crossed to the door. Two Warrior Sisters barred his exit, their wings buzzing.

“I have to go get medicine,” he said, overenunciating his words. Little good it did him. He picked up an empty dose of the drug he’d been using on Red Leaf. “Medicine,” he repeated, pointing to it.

One of the other Warrior Sisters picked up one of full doses that were left on the table and showed it to him as if to say you still have more. They weren’t stupid, but what they understood and what they didn’t was still a mystery to him.

He took the medicine from her and pointed at Red Leaf, nodding. Then he pointed at Grace and shook his head dramatically, still holding up the vial. “Bad for her. Need different medicine,” he said.

The two Warrior Sisters by the door twitched their heads atop their stalk-like necks and stepped away from the door. Toshi made for the door as if walking on a tightrope. Three Workers attached themselves to him, one of them positioning her stinger right over his jugular. She clung to him tighter than usual, as if in warning.

As soon as he was out the door, Toshi walked to the lab. He had no idea how long Grace would remain spirit walking, and when she woke it was possible she’d decide that she’d had enough of toying with him and order the Worker to kill him. He took one of the vials out of his pocket, twisted it open, and tipped the few drops inside onto his tongue, figuring the illusion of safety was better than nothing.

As Toshi approached the lab he saw an orderly line of people snaking through the hallway. He glanced out a window and saw that the line went outside and all the way down the street. At the head of the line Mala was calmly distributing vials of the antidote.

“Where’s Ivan?” Toshi asked.

“Inside. Making more,” she answered. “We thought you were keeping Grace occupied.” Her eyes were wide and staring with fear, but she was breathing slowly, forcing herself to keep it together. “We need you to keep her occupied,” she stressed.

Toshi looked down the line. Tight faces looked back at him. If everyone stayed calm, the Hive would have no idea that anything was amiss, but only so long as Grace’s full attention was elsewhere. As soon as she saw people lining up outside Ivan’s lab through the Hive’s eyes, they were caught.

“It’s not me. She’s still playing with her new guest,” Toshi replied bitterly. “Are we sure about the formula?”

Mala’s face fell. “That was your job.”

“I missed meeting my contact,” he said, and she glared at him as if it were his fault Grace had kept him locked in his rooms for hours. “I’d better get in there,” he said, and brushed past her to join Ivan.