A Matter of Forever (Fate, #4)

We’re back in our room, having been dragged there by a livid Kellan. Thankfully, he slammed the door behind us, but I have a sneaky suspicion everyone can hear each one of his shouted words just fine.

“I—” But Jonah cuts me off. “If I thought he was the one who killed Joey, he would not still be standing, Kel.”

“Well, how reassuring.” Kellan’s silent for a long moment before exploding with, “What kind of excuse is that?”

“Um,” I try, but they are off and arguing immediately in that maddening way they do, where half their words are out loud, half inside. I eventually sit down because it’s too exhausting try to figure out what it is they’re actually talking about.

Kellan yells, “All bets are off then, right?”

Jonah levels him a long look, which only serves to infuriate him some more. “Pardon me,” he snaps. “By all means, if it’s only out to snatch her, then we ought to roll out the red carpet for the bastard.”

Jonah says angrily, “This is rich, coming from you. I wanted it taken out immediately. You’re the one who insisted we keep it around.”

“To interrogate! Not welcome into the fold!”

Okay. This has gone on for long enough. I hate when they argue, even more so when I know it’s because of me. “Can’t you just surge, Kellan?” I snap. They turn in surprise toward me. “Get Jonah’s memories so you can see why we made the decisions we did?”

“If I could, I would,” he throws back.

It’s my turn to be surprised.

“How nice of it to make sure that whatever hallucinations you two experienced are for you and you alone,” Kellan says between gritted teeth.

Fantastic. “Fine. Then sit down and listen while I tell you what we learned from Bios.” Jonah opens his mouth, so I point at him, too, and say, “You sit down as well.”

“No matter what it told you, how are you sure you can trust the information?” Kellan sits, but he’s practically bouncing out of his seat, he’s so antsy. “I mean, for one, it said you two would simply look lifeless. It didn’t clarify that you two would actually die.”

“Hibernate,” I correct, offering the term Bios had thrown out before we’d left his room. “When animals hibernate, their heart rates go way down.”

Scientific explanations apparently mean nothing to Kellan right now.

“Look,” Jonah says. “I get why you’re upset, and if I’d been in your place, I’d be at the front of the line with my anger. Frankly, I’m not thrilled with finding out I’d been without a pulse, either—”

“Reduced pulse!” I pipe in with.

He ignores me. “But at least hear us out with what he’s requested.”

“Let me guess. Silk sheets? Caviar? Water from a spring found in the Elvin Southern Hemisphere? Oh, wait. It’s already requested those things.”

I can’t help myself. “What! Are you serious?”

“You didn’t know?” Kellan asks me. “Oh, yeah. Your pet Elder has requested plenty of ridiculous things at an escalating pace. Just last night, it asked me if I could fetch three virgins over the age of sixty for it to enjoy.”

Okay. Both Jonah and I kind of laugh at that one.

“Funny for you two,” Kellan scowls, “but not the rest of us who have to put up with its shit during Q&A time on a daily basis. Bios handles Chloe here with kid gloves. The rest of us are barely scum on the bottom of its metaphorically pricey shoes.”

“Well,” Jonah says, “rest easy, Kel, because he’s put in a request for Chloe to obliterate him and the rest of his family as soon as we get aboveground or when his orders change. And I’ve been tasked to ensure she follows through, if she weakens at the last moment.”

“When did he say that?” I ask. And then, “Also, thank you guys for using some complete sentences here. Can we continue the rest of this conversation this way?”

They’re both a little sheepish. Jonah eventually says, “I don’t know how to explain it, but he froze the moment in the memory walk and asked me to do it.”

“And you believe it?” Kellan asks incredulously.

“Actually, yeah, I do,” Jonah says. “Because he was absolutely sincere. He’s wanted to cease existing for some time now. Besides, I told him that if he steps one toe out of line the rest of the time down here, I’d encourage her to go ahead and do it sooner rather than later.”

Kellan crosses his arms. “Why?”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Jonah says. “Bios is no saint. Far from it. But the Elders are different than we are. They don’t conceptualize right or wrong the way we do. They simply were and now are. He’s taking a huge risk right now by talking to us, because he’s pretty much signed his death warrant. In his mind, though, he’d prefer to go out by Chloe’s hand rather than Enlilkian’s.”