Rising City by Walker Megan & Patterson Janci

Author:Walker, Megan & Patterson, Janci
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: YA urban fantasy
Publisher: Garden Ninja Books
Published: 2022-03-15T16:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

Ben sat in the back of Karen’s car with his knees pressed into the back of Ellie’s seat. Mila squished in next to him—she had even less room, because Zan had his seat moved farther back so he could drive. Ben’s wrist ached from being yanked on by that tattooed zombie, and his hands were still shaking—had he really just run down zombies with a town car? Had he really just reduced former human beings to quivering masses of pulp?

They drove in silence for a few miles, all of them working their way through the shock.

Ellie surfaced first.

“What the hell were you thinking, Benji?”

What was he thinking? “I wasn’t thinking we were about to be attacked by zombies, that’s for damn sure.”

“It shouldn’t have mattered!” Ellie shouted. “How could you tell my mother that I left school? You had no right to do that!”

Now the shock was wearing off, and Ben was finding his anger again. “Maybe I’m sick of keeping your secrets, now that I know you don’t give a shit about me.”

“Excuse me?” Ellie turned and glared at him over the back of the seat. “I don’t give a shit about you? You are the one who endangered both our parents—”

“I did not endanger them!” Ben said. They were both shouting now. This had escalated quickly. “I just told them that you were lying about being in school. I still kept the rest of your secrets. I didn’t know we were all about to be attacked by zombies, which means they would have found out anyway, right?”

Ellie probably knew he had a point, because she sidestepped it entirely. “Which is why I didn’t want them to know! Now they’re in even more danger.”

“They’re in danger because you are in a magical mafia,” Ben said. There was no denying now that Ellie was part of the whole thing, not just Zan. Who, Ben noticed, was keeping conspicuously quiet, staring ahead at the road. “Not because I told them you weren’t at school anymore.”

“It was none of your business!” Ellie said.

“Are you kidding me? You’ve made it my business by dragging us all into this.”

“Oh, I dragged you? You didn’t beg me to let you keep your memories? You didn’t beg to come along every time we were in danger?”

She had a point with that last bit. But. “You don’t let people keep their memories,” Ben said. “People’s memories are theirs to keep. That is the default, and it’s kind of terrifying that you don’t remember this.”

Mila shifted, looking out the window. She could call him a hypocrite all she wanted, but that was different. Mila hadn’t known him at all when she’d erased his memories. She’d been a total stranger.

Ellie should be better than this. They were supposed to be family.

“I know that,” Ellie snapped. “I’m the one who made sure you got to keep your memories and let you come along every time.”

“I didn’t beg to come to the Doge’s Palace,” Ben said. “Remember that? When I was

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