They are no different.
I put up my hands and close my eyes.
Guns cock in a full circle around me.
“Dimitri!”
It takes me a minute to realize Karl is speaking to me. I force my eyes open.
I'm in the summoning chamber. I didn't even notice when he called me. My arms drop to my side.
He sits on his throne. His face is tense, and so is his voice. “What is going on?”
The panic hits my brain. “They found out about Zoe!”
Karl grimaces. I shouldn't know Zoe's name. I shouldn't know anything about her.
I shake my head. I don't care anymore. It's all falling apart.
“They came to my house and surrounded me in the desert.” I try to reel in my panic, but without success. “They saw you summon me.”
He gestures to a nearby guard. The guard leans down, and Karl speaks to him in a low voice. Then the guard nods and marches out of the chamber.
Karl turns back to me. “I'll handle it. For now, you are to stay at the mansion. Do you understand?”
I nod. I'm sure in a few days, I'll be angry and bulldoze my way back into the world. But for now I can't think of a better place to be. I might despise the Walkers, but I'm safe with them.
The side door bursts open. Karl sits straight.
Guards enter, someone twisting in their grasp.
My heart and jaw drop.
“I told you!” Syd says, breaking free from the guards and shooting them a glare. “I told you I knew someone here.” She looks at me. She's stunning. She's always stunning. Even when she's pissed. “Tell them they have to let Zoe go!”
Who the fuck does she think I am?
She growls. “Come on, Dimitri!”
“Syd,” I say, and then I can't find any other words.
Karl's stare nails onto her. Then he narrows his eyes at me.
Clattering erupts from the side. I jerk around. Five guards have guns trained on Syd's head. She stands so still I doubt she's breathing.
My fist clenches, but I resist lunging at them.
From the corner of my eye, I catch Karl make a discreet move with one hand resting on the arm of his throne.
All five guns lower.
Syd blinks. She's digesting what just happened.
Then she finds her anger again and storms toward Karl. “If you hurt Zoe, I swear to god, I will string you up myself and perform surgery on your testicles with—“
I spin around to face her. “Syd, stop talking!”
She doesn't shut up. Doesn't even pause.
“Syd! Stop talking! Stop talking! Stop! Talking!”
“Dimitri,” Karl says.
I have never known true icy dread until this moment. I can't bring myself to look at him. I know I shouldn't ignore him, but I am unable to respond. My body is frozen.
Syd quiets down, but she's glancing between me and Karl. Scowling. She's confused, but not afraid. Not yet.
“Dimitri,” Karl says again. “Look at me.”
I force myself to turn to him, but I can't see him. I can't feel anything, either, not my hands or legs. My mind fixates on willing him from speaking.
“Dimitri, I have a request.”
I shove my hands to my ears, stumbling back a few steps. I shout. Just shout. Not words.
My arms are grabbed, forced down. Two guards hold me up. My knees are weak.
Karl says, “I want you to kill her.”
I tip my head to the ceiling and yell at the top of my lungs.
I can still hear the bastard. His words are clear, like they're coming from within my own brain.
“This … I … wish.”
The roar fills my skull.
I turn my head just enough to see Syd a few yards away, her eyes wide.
I want to scream at her, but I can barely speak: “Run.”
She glances between me and Karl. Realization—and then terror—registers on her face. She turns on her heels and flees.
A guard reaches for her, but Karl puts up his hand.
“No, let her go.” He glances at me and smirks. “All yours.”
I look in the direction she ran, her footsteps thudding down the hallway.
The hunt has begun.
Chapter 11
I take the Corolla and head toward Phoenix.
The roar in my head isn't any louder than when it normally starts, but I can't tune it out even for a moment. It's no longer just my personal time bomb. It's Syd's, too.
I am still rational. For the moment. I grapple for an idea, an angle, something to work toward. Some way to stop this before it evolves.
I got nothing.
Unfortunately, contrary to what Karl might think, I'm a pretty heavy opponent.
In a sick way, I'm sort of relieved Syd knows the truth now, since I wasn't allowed to tell her. She knows I'm the Walker's jinn. She knows I have murdered and kidnapped. She knows I'm going to kill her.
I shake my head.
No. Not kill her. I have to find the loophole.
My brain goes two directions at once. Half of it tries to come up with a plan for Syd to use against me. The other half is that default part, the one that hears the hum and stars whirling. It drives the wishes. It plots the kills. It is terrified of failure.