“Do you know what you’re saying?” I still didn’t trust him.
He nodded. “I’m supposed to make the trade, like the Demon Queen said. My pathetic screwed-up experiment of a life for a New Order. I almost feel bad for the universe. I’m getting a bargain. Except for the fact that I won’t be around to see it.”
“But Liv will,” I said.
“Liv will.” He dropped back down in the chair, holding his head in his hands.
“Damn.”
He looked up. “Damn? That’s the best you can come up with? I’m ready to lay down my life here.”
I almost couldn’t imagine what was going through his mind—what would make a guy like him willing to die. Almost.
I knew what it felt like to be willing to sacrifice yourself for the girl you loved. I was going to do the same thing at the Great Barrier, when we faced Abraham and Hunting. At Honey Hill, when we faced the fires and Sarafine. I would have died for Lena a thousand times over.
“Liv’s not going to be happy.”
“No. She’s not,” he agreed. “But she’ll understand.”
“I think things like this are pretty hard to understand. And I’ve been trying for a while now.”
“You know what your problem is, Mortal?”
“The end of the world?”
John shook his head. “You think too much.”
“Yeah?” I almost laughed.
“Trust me. Sometimes, you gotta trust your gut instincts.”
“So, what does your gut want me to do?” I said it slowly, without looking at him.
“I didn’t know until I got here.” He walked over to me and grabbed my arm. “The place you were dreaming about. The big white tower. That’s where I need to go.”
Before I could tell him what I thought about him digging through my dreams, Incubus-style, I heard the rip and we were gone….
I couldn’t see John. I couldn’t see anything but darkness and a silver streak of widening light. When I stepped through, I heard the ripping sound again, and saw her face.
Liv was waiting for us on the top of the water tower.
She stormed toward us, furious. But she wasn’t looking at me. “Are you completely insane? Did you think I wouldn’t know what you were up to? Where you’d come?” She started to cry.
John stepped in front of me. “How did you know where I was?”
She waved a piece of paper in the air. “You left a note.”
“You left her a note?” I asked.
“It just said good-bye… and some other stuff. It didn’t say where I was going.”
I shook my head. “She’s Liv. You didn’t know she’d figure it out?”
She held up her wrist. The dials were practically exploding off her selenometer. “The One Who Is Two? You didn’t think I would instantly know it was you? If you hadn’t walked in on me writing about it, I would never have even told you.”
“Liv.”
“I’ve been trying to find a way around this for months now.” She closed her eyes.