“Uh … yeah?”
“Um, let’s just say no. I did not.” She glanced toward one of the distant buildings. “Sparks. If I get eaten because of you, Knees, I’m never going to let you hear the end of it.”
“At least you’d come back from being eaten,” I said.
“Doesn’t make me eager to try the experience.” She sighed. “So we swim?”
“Not exactly,” I said. I swam over to her and held out my arm. “Grab hold of me.” She hesitantly wrapped her arms around my chest just under my arms.
With Megan holding on tightly, I pointed the streambeam into the ocean, then engaged the spyril. We rose on jets of water, a good thirty feet in the air. The black, glassy surface of the sea stretched out around us, the towers of submerged Manhattan rising beyond like neon sentries.
Megan breathed out softly, still holding on to me. “Not bad.”
“You haven’t seen the spyril in action?”
She shook her head.
“Then might I suggest you hang on?” I said.
She complied, pulling herself tight against me, which was a not-unpleasant situation. Next, I attempted something I’d been practicing. I leaned forward, turning the jets on my feet backward at an angle, then pushed my hand downward—not the one with the streambeam, but the one with the smaller handjet for maneuvering.
This kept us from toppling down into the water, the handjet giving thrust upward, the ones on my feet thrusting backward. The result was that we shot across the water, the jet on my hand lending us just enough lift to stay aloft. Twenty-seven and a half times in fifty-four, this stunt ended with me crashing face-first into the water. This time, blessedly, I managed it without such indignity.
Wind whipped at my face, the spray of water cold on my skin. I grinned, flying us toward one of the rooftops. Once there, I gave us a burst from below and used the guiding jet on my hand to slow our momentum forward. We shot high into the air, and another spurt of water from my hand nudged us over the lip of the roof, where we landed.
I stood triumphantly, putting one arm around Megan, looking down to see if she was beaming at me in awe.
Instead her teeth were chattering. “So … cold …”
“But it was awesome, right?” I said.
She breathed out, letting go of me and stepping onto the roof. A few people gawked at us from beside a tent on the far side of the building. “Not particularly stealthy,” she noted. “But yes, awesome. And you can stop ogling me now.”
I tore my eyes away from the way her damp T-shirt, underneath her jacket, clung to her skin and bra. “Sorry.”
“No,” she said, pulling her jacket tight and doing the buttons, “it’s all right. I mean, I teased you for looking at other women. That implies I want you to look at me instead. So I shouldn’t get mad when you do.”
“Mmm …,” I said. “So you’re gorgeous and logical.”
She gave me a flat stare. I just shrugged.
“I’m still not sure this will work,” she said.
“You’re the one who came to see me,” I said. “And if you hadn’t noticed, back in the base, that moment in my room … it seemed to be working pretty well then.”
We stood, looking at one another, and I hated how awkward it suddenly felt. As if a fat man at the buffet had suddenly forced his way between us to get at the mac and cheese.
“I should be going,” she said. “Thank you. For being willing to talk. For not turning me in. For … being you.”
“I’m pretty good at being me,” I said. “I’ve had all these years to practice—I hardly ever get it wrong these days.”
We stared at each other.
“So, uh,” I said, shuffling from one foot to the other, “want to go with me to check up on Obliteration? If you’re not doing anything else important, I mean.”
She cocked her head. “Did you just invite me on a date … to spy on a deadly Epic planning to destroy the city?”
“Well, I don’t have a lot of experience with dating, but I’ve always heard you’re supposed to pick something you know the girl will enjoy.…”
She smiled. “Well, let’s get to it then.”
35
I pulled out my mobile for a map of the area and Megan looked over my shoulder and pointed to the south. “That way,” she said. “We’ve got a walk ahead of us.”
“You sure you don’t want to …” I gestured at the spyril on my legs.
“What part of ‘spying’ involves flying through the city and drawing the attention of everyone nearby?”
“The fun part,” I said, sullen. I’d practiced for a reason. I wanted to show off what I knew.
“Well,” Megan said, “it might not matter, but I’d rather be quiet about this. Yes, Regalia wanted me to seduce you, but I don’t want to be blatant—”