“I do what I’m told. If anything will be said about me, it’ll be that I follow through.”

Jhamal unsheathes his blade. “Jelani, we’ve wasted enough time on this. He’s a pawn. Useless.”

The Loyalist’s eyes flicker with something I recognize: determination. He knows plenty. And I’m going to get it out of him.

“Don’t kill him. He goes with us.”

“Rue, Macazi don’t have the best reputation,” Bri whispers to me. “I mean, they’re not trusted with magic for a reason.”

“I said, he is going with us.”

Zora pulls the binding tied to the Loyalist’s wrists; moonlight shines bright overhead. My feet ache. Totsi’s is literally no more than a couple of blocks away, from what I remember, but we might need to make camp somewhere if we don’t find it soon.

“You did good back there.” Jhamal brushes up against me, our hands dangling next to one another. His pinky finger reaches for mine. That alleyway would have been trickier without him and Zora. I’m really grateful he pushed to come with.

“You gassing me up?” I eye his finger, dangling there for me to take it.

“I do not know what that means. I just admire how you handled it.”

“Well… thanks.” I hook my finger onto his and try to ignore the somersaults my insides are doing. He smiles at me and my cheeks burn so hot I can’t help but smile back.

“I still do not think it is worth our time, but he fears you,” he goes on while we walk, basically holding hands. What am I doing?

“And if he lives to tell this story, everyone he retells it to will fear you too. And that’s what you want. Good job.”

“As long as I get the information I need out of him, I don’t really care if he fears me.”

He tsks. “Ah, but you should care.”

A gust of wind rushes around us, and I let our conversation blow away with it. This is a sweet moment and I don’t want to ruin it. For several moments we walk in silence. Bri glances at the hostage a few times then at me.

“We could have pulled some good coding out of it to help us find out more about its origin,” she says to me, still unhappy about leaving the deactivated trap. “Like, who made it exactly. How they plan to use it.”

“Bri, we went over this. We can’t lug it with us.”

She huffs a sigh. “I mean, yeah. I don’t know.” She slows her pace, digging in her bag, and Jhamal walks so close he could be a part of me. Every few moments our bodies touch, and I wonder if he feels the adrenaline pumping through me.

“Couldn’t have done this today without y’all. Foreal.”