Page 57 of Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World
“I can handle myself.”
“Not against—” He stopped and shook his head with a low growl. “That’s not the point. I want you to explain to me why you’re still here. Why you’re not trying to escape.”
“My job is—”
“Screw your job!” he shouted. “It isn’t worthdyingfor!”
The echoes of his voice rebounded from the walls to either side of us, startling the birds into silence. I stared at him and he stared back, fists clenched in his lap.
“Where is this coming from?” I finally asked, bewildered. “You sound like you’re taking my choices personally.”
Visibly agitated, he ran a hand through his hair. “I’m frustrated. You’re traipsing along without a care in the world while terrible things happen all around you.”
My bewilderment gave way to a spark of outrage, but I kept my voice level. “I don’t need you to tell me what’s happening out there.”
“Colin—”
“No,” I interrupted sharply. “I love that you care, Eric, but I’m not going to explain myself to you.” He tried to speak again and Ilifted a hand to stop him. “If you want to leave the city, then go. Take Amira with you. Her parents live in Connecticut. You can both stay there until things here return to normal.”
He watched me for a long time, jaw set. Then he shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”
Exhausted, I closed my eyes. “Just go. Save yourself.”
His chair scraped against the ground as he stood. “Don’t ask me to do that. I’m staying.”
“You’re being stupid,” I snapped, opening my eyes again.
“I’m not the one making stupid choices here, Colin.”
We stared at each other in tense silence. Finally, I rose to my feet as well. “I’m late for work.”
His shoulders slumped in defeat. “I’ll walk you there.”
“No,” I said, more harshly than I’d intended. I couldn’t let him get anywhere close to Dark Enterprises. “No,” I repeated, softer. “I’ll be fine.”
I left him standing there and hurried to the office, my emotions veering all over the place. Eric was still hiding something from me, I was sure of it, but he’d been right about one thing: New York was dying. I still had a chance to save it, though. Before leaving the apartment, I’d made sure to slip the second pamphlet I’d taken from Ms.Crenshaw’s office into my pocket. Now, as I pushed through the revolving doors and into DE’s lobby, I noticed for the first time how tense the mood in the building had become. There were no bulls being sacrificed today, no acolytes begging ancient deities for their protection, just low-level employees standing around scrolling through their phones or whispering to one another. They were scared.
Don’t worry, I wanted to say as I strode confidently toward the elevators.I’ll save you. And then I’m going to fix things with my boyfriend.
Almost immediately, my plan torescue New York hit something of a snag.
“No.”
“Please?”
“No.”
“C’mon.”
“No.”
I was trailing behind Lex in a far-flung corner of the Repository while they pushed a rickety metal cart piled with books. It had taken me a long time to track them down, and once I did, they weren’t exactly thrilled to see me. “This is important,” I insisted now.
“Look,” Lex snapped, rounding on me, “if I don’t finish reshelving these goddamned books in the next fifteen minutes, Gertrude is going to send me on the next corporate retreat where I’ll have to spend two weeks doing fucking trust falls while the company brainwashes me back into compliance. Can you imagine me doing trust falls?”
Looking down at the books on the cart, I rearranged one or two of them as I let out a disappointed sigh. “Fine. I get it. You probably wouldn’t be able to help anyhow.”
Silence. I peeked over and saw Lex staring at me.
