Liliana the Visionary was a very put together sort of old woman, so put together it was difficult to discern her true age, too. When she said it, it also seemed obvious, although Hennessy found this statement more difficult to accept. Ronan and Bryde had tried so hard to get Hennessy to just shunt the Lace out of her dreams, and they’d told her so many times she was simply clinging to it. Whatever else the Lace was, it was also her fault. And they’d seen it, so surely they knew.

But that wasn’t what Farooq-Lane and Liliana seemed to believe.

The three women were on the second floor of a convoluted, historical teahouse, in a small room filled with overstuffed chairs, beanbags, end tables, and travel books. Plinking music played overhead. They had it to themselves. It was very intimate and safe-feeling, which was the opposite of everything Hennessy had been doing for the past few weeks. Past few years. Farooq-Lane had driven them there as Liliana, in the passenger seat, used Farooq-Lane’s phone to search for an appropriate place to talk. It was a very different experience from Hennessy’s previous travel. When looking for good places to crash and discuss plans, Bryde and Ronan would not have filtered their searches for “warm ambiance” and “free parking.” It was clear from watching Farooq-Lane and Liliana that they had traveled together a lot and that they were both comfort-loving creatures.

It was also clear they had crushes on each other.

“This is all very life-affirming,” Hennessy told them from her place in a beanbag, “enriching, and all that, but what of it? So if it’s not fair, and it’s not easy, it’s still there. There’s still this thing hanging over me every time I dream, and if Ronan and Bryde have their way, I won’t be able to stop it.”

Liliana murmured something into Farooq-Lane’s ear, which made Farooq-Lane’s beautiful face go consternated. They both looked at Hennessy.

“So I understand completely if you decide to kill me,” Hennessy said, talking fast. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot. On previous episodes, it would’ve been a very selfish decision, on account of my ladies and how they relied on me for their existence, but on this current run, everyone else dead, mostly, fate of the world in hands, well—” She spread her hands, or at least the best she could, considering she had a hot chocolate in one of them. “It’s the selfless thing to do, really.”

“We have a different idea,” Farooq-Lane said.

Hennessy narrowed her eyes. “Do you mean you both had this idea, or she has an idea, and whispered it to you just now?”

Liliana smiled sweetly. “I told you she was clever.”

Farooq-Lane’s businesslike expression didn’t change. “Can you dream something to suppress the ley line?”