Marisol's mouth twitched. It could have been the precursor of a grin. 'Coming from the daughter of a lich that might sound a bit hard to believe.'
Blood flowed out of Sarah's face. She was fighting for her life. 'Not when'not if I tell them what Gary got, in exchange! Not when I tell them how he used you like a living sex toy!'
Marisol didn't rise to it, however. 'That would sound bad,' she admitted. 'The thing of it is, though, that in the morning, I might have a lot of explaining to do, but you'll still be dead.'
Damn.
She had a point, Sarah had to admit.
Desperate, completely unable to think clearly, Sarah tore the Makarov out of her sweatshirt pocket and swung her arm in Marisol's direction'only to find herself looking down the barrel of a .357 revolver.
'Ayaan taught you about firearms, right? You're pretty good,' Marisol told her. She was breathing a little heavy. Sarah was nearly gasping. 'Jack taught me.'
Slowly, with a caution based on extensive paranoia, both women lowered their weapons. No safeties had been released, there had been no real danger, but Sarah knew she had been a moment away from death.
'We do what we have to do to keep going,' Marisol told her. 'You know that. So don't you dare judge me.'
'Killing me won't solve your problem,' Sarah demanded.
'No. But it will keep my people from rioting and making things a whole lot worse. You have a better idea?'
Sarah swallowed all the spit in her mouth and turned her head to look at the towers of Manhattan. They looked like the kind of impregnable fortresses you only read about in fairy tales. 'Maybe,' she said. 'Maybe I go over there, and find out what's doing this. And maybe I can make it stop.'
Marisol snorted. 'Yeah, and maybe you can grow dragonfly wings and fly back under your own power. Come on.'
'It's worth a shot,' Sarah said. Truthfully she didn't believe it. She just thought it would be a way to escape. 'Look'you can throw me to the wolves and maybe that will give you time to evacuate. Or I can go over there and maybe I can actually achieve something.'
Marisol stared at her, twin beams of judgment emerging from her eyes to pin Sarah to the spot, probing her, studying her. Sarah squirmed like a laboratory specimen under hot lights. Then something weird happened. Jackie coughed, a sputtering sound like a stalled engine. Marisol blinked. She seemed to lose about an inch of height and the tight muscles of her shoulders and arms drooped. 'Okay,' she said.
Sarah shook her head, not comprehending. 'Seriously?' She thought maybe Gary was taking over Marisol's body, or maybe the Tsarevich could control the Mayor's body remotely but no, there was no dark energy anywhere nearby. Sarah would have known if there were magic at work. Marisol, she realized, was just bereft of other options. She needed help that badly.
'Yeah. I'll give you a boat and whatever weapons you want. You go over there alone. You do what you can, then you come back. I know you won't try to run away.'
Sarah said, 'Of course,' meaning, 'of course I'll run, as fast as my little legs can carry me.' She didn't say that.
'I know it,' Marisol told her, 'because if you do, you'll never see your father again. I'll pull him out of that tower and I'll make him my example.'
Hope fell inside Sarah like cold liquid draining to her toes.
She had just talked herself into a nasty little corner.
Monster Planet
Chapter Eleven
She didn't sleep anymore. She would never sleep again. As the night came on Ayaan's eyes began to feel sore and dry. She rubbed and rubbed at them until her skin started coming away. After that she forced herself not to rub.