Into the Midnight Void by Mara Fitzgerald

Author:Mara Fitzgerald [FITZGERALD, MARA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2022-01-25T00:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

BY THE TIME WE MAKE IT UP TO THE FIFTH FLOOR, ALE IS singing. I don’t recognize the song, and I suspect this is because he invented it. One very boisterous journey later, we finally reach Ale’s bedroom, and I stop and turn back to the boys.

“I’ll take him inside and make sure he doesn’t crack his head open getting into bed,” I say to Theo. “You wait out here and keep watch.”

Theo gives me a stony look. “This is his house.”

“Yes,” I say.

“In the middle of the ninth city,” he says.

“Yes,” I say.

Theo is quiet, and I can see the calculations trying to happen behind his eyes. Despite the fact that Ale is still very preoccupied with his song, now tapping out an erratic beat on Theo’s shoulder, there’s a lot Theo is unwilling to ask out loud. And that’s good, because then he won’t realize that I don’t have answers. Yet.

“I’ll take him inside,” I say again.

Theo’s face is only getting stonier by the second. “Would he want you to help him?”

The question feels somehow weighted. Theo knows very little about my relationship with Ale, except that we were once accomplices. And I can feel what he’s assuming—that I did something horrible to change that. After all, if Ale and I were still on the same side, I’d have no reason to stay in disguise.

“Alessandro.” I reach out and grab his hand. “Come here.”

I try to pull him away, but Theo won’t let go. The look he’s giving me is full of suspicion.

“Oh!” Ale says. “This is my room—thank you so much for bringing me here—”

He wiggles away from both of us and barges into his room. I duck through the door in an instant. I’m still not fast enough to stop Theo from following me, but it suddenly felt very important that I be first.

The last time I was in Ale’s bedroom was the night I killed the watercrea. She threw him through his balcony door, smashing the whole thing to bits, and when she stepped out to finish him off, I dove at her. One little push over the railing was all it took. But here, the balcony door is smooth and untouched. The whole room is cozy and lived-in, like it’s never been in a fight. The bedsheets are rumpled, and as always, there’s a towering stack of books on the nightstand and a few scattered at the foot of the bed.

Ale is now lying facedown on that bed. He managed to get out of his pants in the two seconds I wasn’t looking. It’s probably for the best, because they’re in a rancid, vomit-soaked pile on the floor, but nonetheless, this is more of Ale than I wanted to see today. Or ever. I grab a blanket off the nearby armchair and throw it over him.

“Turn onto your side, Alessandro,” I say, nudging him.

By the time he manages it, Theo is on the other side of the bed. He neatly slips a pillow up against Ale’s back to prevent him from rolling all over the place.

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