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Achilles got to his feet again.“What if someone else wishes that the chief—and the prisoner—would be zapped back here?”
“Unlikely to work,” said Dee.“It’s really hard for a wisher to affect a third party so directly, and when they try, the results aren’t pretty.”He was thinking specifically of several love charms gone very wrong, to such an extent that he’d refused to make any more even when he was broke.
“Well, fuck,” said Achilles, which summed things up succinctly.
Dee, however, had a solution.“I’ll go with the chief.”
Now everyone looked shocked.Dee was slightly stunned too, even though he’d made the decision himself just a few moments ago.He was not the type to throw himself at danger.But he didn’t regret making the offer.
Achilles limped over to Dee’s chair and squatted so he could look into his eyes.“You don’t need to atone for past sins.It doesn’t work that way.And Dee, you donotwant to go to that place.”
“I don’t want to,” Dee agreed with a sigh.“But I’m going to.And not to atone.It’s the right thing to do, and I want to help.I really do.”He chuckled.“Maybe I’ll be the one with the short but storied life.”
Achilles stood up straight and looked away, as if the entire subject pained him.Surely he couldn’t be that concerned about Dee’s welfare.Dee was nothing to him… even though Dee was slowly coming to accept that Achilles was definitely not nothing to him.
And then Achilles crossed his arms and made a soft grunt.“Okay, well, not to steal Dee’s thunder or anything.But Chief, you’re staying put.I’m joining Dee for the rescue operation.”
CHAPTER19
Interestingly, both Grimes and Dee loudly opposed Achilles’ plan to dive into the black hole, but not because they thought he’d fuck things up.Grimes kept insisting that he couldn’t ask anybody else to undertake such a hazardous mission, and Dee kept saying that Achilles was being a reckless idiot.To which Achilles replied, in turn, “You’re not asking, I’m telling,” and “Takes one to know one.”
The only one who didn’t say anything at all was Tenrael, who stood there with his wings slowly fanning, his red eyes bright.Only when the three-way argument had devolved into snarls and curses did Tenrael step into the middle, his arms held out to silence them.
“Agent Spanos’s plan is the most logical.He is the only person we know with experience in this so-called black hole, so he will be less disoriented and quicker to act when he arrives there.And Charles, your skills would be put to better use by continuing to organize what remains of the Bureau.”
“Also, I’m more expendable,” Achilles added, almost cheerfully.
But Tenrael shook his head.“Nobody is extraneous or expendable.”
Grimes swore once more, but the wind was clearly gone from his sails, and Achilles sat down again, trying to suppress a triumphant grin.Winning meant that he would willingly return to the worst place he’d ever been, and quite possibly something awful would happen to him.He felt pleased nonetheless.
“Let’s go,” he said to Dee.“What’s something you can use as a charm?”He looked around for something suitably small, but before he had a chance to find anything, it was Grimes’s turn to cross his arms.
“Not now.Give yourself another day to heal.And in the meantime maybe Agent Afolabi can find useful information about genies.Anything to make success more likely.”
Everyone agreed that this made sense.Grimes and Tenrael departed, leaving Dee and Achilles staring at each other across the table.
After a while, Dee said mildly, “That was a damn fool thing to do.”
“Funny—I was just going to say the same to you.But it’s my job.What’s your excuse?”
Dee lifted his chin.“It’s not your job anymore, is it?Nobody’s paying you for this.”
“Do you think I became an agent because it pays well?”Achilles snorted.“I’m not exactly living in poverty, but I could have found lots of careers that would have made me richer—and where I’d more likely survive to enjoy my retirement savings.”
“Why did you join the Bureau, then?”
This was sending the conversation off-topic, and Achilles wasn’t sure he wanted to talk about this.He’d never discussed these things with anyone except Townsend, back when Achilles had first been recruited.He’d tried to tell Orson once, when he’d been high-pressuring Achilles to quit the Bureau.But Orson had refused to listen, claiming that Achilles’ past was irrelevant to their future.It hadn’t been the only thing that doomed their relationship, but it played a major part.
Now, though, Dee genuinely seemed as if he wanted to know the answer to his question.
“It’s all because of a fucked-up childhood.I mean, isn’t it always?”Achilles tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling, hoping the lack of eye contact would make it easier to speak.But it didn’t, and it also made him feel like a coward, so he faced Dee again.“My parents were immigrants.It’s an old story: they came here with nothing, worked like dogs, and eventually saved up enough to open a little shop.Very basic.They sold sandwiches, pastries my mama baked, a handful of food and sundry items they imported from the old country.There weren’t a lot of Greeks in our town, but they’d all gather at my parents’ place, sitting around little tables with cigarettes and cups of coffee, gossiping.”
He paused for a moment, remembering the scents that had surrounded him since birth, the way the conversations had ebbed and flowed like the Aegean Sea, the hands that had reached out to tousle his hair or feed him a small treat.
“My parents worked incredibly long hours, seven days a week, and they made it crystal clear that they were doing this for our benefit: my sister’s and mine.In exchange, we were supposed to be… legendary.They named my sister Atalanta.She was?—”
“A mythical hunter.”Dee grinned.“I read, sometimes.”
