Unless—
“Curses,” she said, gripping the edge of a bench with one hand and letting her other flutter dramatically against her throat, emulating a certain witch. She needed drama to sell it, and no one was more dramatic than Linda. There wasn’t much time, so she had to make it quick and believable. “I hadn’t realized your entiregroupwas cursed.”
The words had their desired effect. The Sanguines stared at her. Bella was agape. Carlos cocked his head, confused. El Gib shoved Amina into Carlos’s arms and pointed his pistol at Risa. “What are ya talking about?”
“Haven’t you wondered why you’re having such a hard time killing us?” She gestured at Javi, heart in her throat when he still didn’t move. “You’ve got a whole criminal organization and you can’t manage to off teenagers?”
Carlos scratched at his eyepatch. “You know, she has a good point, Eto.”
El Gib scowled at her. “I saidshut up.”
Risa hurried on. “I can see curses. And I seeyours. Such terrible, awful luck. You can’t kill me. If you shoot, it will rebound or it’ll rip a hole in the hull and send us hurtling toward a gruesome death. Well—you. We’ll be fine.”
Bella reached for something tucked in her bosom and pulled out a knife rusted over with what could only be someone else’s blood.
“You could try,” Risa sighed, lurching during a particularly intense jerk of the airship. She scrabbled for purchase on the curtain. The airship controls erupted with more furious warning beeps. “Knife might accidentally sail into your eye. Can’t go around having two people wearing eyepatches.”
“Forget her!” Bella shouted at El Gib. “Grab the princess, get into the emergency ship, and let them crash!”
“She’s a witch,” Carlos whispered, shaking his head. His eye widened with terror as he backed away, heading for the back of the airship.
“I’ve never seen a witch,” El Gib spat. “And that means they don’t exist.”
“Are you kidding? They’re everywhere. And they’re listening all the time.” Carlos raised both arms above his head to form a triangle.
“There’s no such thing as witches!” Bella was fuming. Shegrabbed Amina before the princess could reach her daggers and grunted as Amina struggled in her grasp. “We need to go!”
The airship tilted to the right. Risa slid across the floor until her head knocked into the edge of a bench seat with enough force to rattle her teeth. El Gib stumbled and let go of Brunie. The cat leaped into Risa’s arms.
Before she could scramble onto her feet, the tip of a blade pressed against her neck, hard enough that she felt something warm ooze down into her collar.
“I’ll go without a fuss!” Amina shouted, eyes frantic as El Gib loomed over Risa. “Just let her go.”
El Gib dropped the blade, turned to grab the princess out of Bella’s grip, and hauled her to the back of the failing ship.
Risa pressed a hand against her wound as she watched El Gib wrench a slim metal frame open, revealing a bare, narrower airship with a few controls inset on a wall. He shoved Amina inside. The Sanguines followed her in, squeezing together in the tight space.
El Gib lingered at the threshold for a moment, his horrid smirk turned on Risa, before he disappeared.
Risa hadn’t been able to save them after all.
The airship groaned as the small emergency airship El Gib and the others were in detached from the hull. For a moment, the vehicle righted itself in an attempt to correct for the missing weight, but then it was diving nose-first again. Javi slid across the floor and Risa rushed to pull him back. Stomach heaving, she barely registered the burning sensation across her throat and the slickness that coated her neck.
His face remained slack and still as stone. His curls were matted with blood, and a few locks were plastered to his unlined forehead. There was a smudge of blood on his cheek that she tried to wipe away with a sleeve but unfortunately just smeared around. When he didn’t stir, Risa shoved his hip with a knee, lightly at first, and then with greater urgency.
Nothing.
“Please,” she begged. “Wake up.”
But he did not.
This was what happened to Bad Things. To whoever got close enough to brush against the tendrils of her curse and get ensnared in its roots. Never toher, not really, which was the real curse. Leaving her as witness to the disaster and with no way to make it better, only worse.
A knot formed in her throat as hot tears stung her eyes.
She should have told the truth and admitted her secret, no matter how angry she was at him. She should have let him be her friend. Most of all, she should have forgivenhim—
Javi groaned.