BY THE TIME they reached the armory, Dekka had already begun to plan, but this was a plan for defeat, for withdrawal. They could get away from New York. They could find some distant place, some cabin in some faraway, frozen wilderness. Maybe they could regroup there. Maybe they could attract more Rockborn. Maybe somehow they and the government together . . .
She had comforted Simone as a way of comforting herself. She had lost. They’d been beaten, and badly. She, Dekka Talent, had led them to a second defeat.
They filed into the armory, and Dekka began handing out orders. “Shade? Check the doors and windows, would you? And where’s Edilio?”
A door opened and Edilio appeared as if by magic. There was someone with him.
Someone . . .
Dekka’s heart stopped.
“Sam?”
“Afraid so,” Sam said, smiling.
Dekka felt the last of her strength dissolve. Her knees almost buckled, and then Sam was there with his arms around her, as she had embraced Simone.
“Oh, God, Sam.” She pulled away, brushing furiously at tears. “Sam, this is Cruz, and Malik. Francis. You know Armo. And Shade . . .” She looked around, momentarily forgetting that she’d sent Shade off on an errand. “And this is Simone Mar—”
“Simone,” the girl interrupted. “Just Simone.”
Shade’s errand had been one she could carry out in mere seconds, and she vibrated to a stop and began to de-morph.
“Hi, I’m—”
“I know who you are,” Shade said, in the kind of voice you might use on being introduced to your sports hero or a saint. “I’m Shade Darby.”
“Edilio,” Dekka said, “we need more flamethrowers; they’re all that works. Sam. Oh, God, Sam, am I glad to see you.”
“Can you bring me up to speed?”
They were in the middle of the great hall of the armory, a space that seemed almost cozy now compared to Grand Central. All the chairs were against a wall, so they sat down on the floor, cross-legged, in a circle.
And Dekka narrated. She told Sam about Vector. About the New Jersey killing field. About their first failed effort to take him down. And with bitter words she detailed her own failure to prevail at Grand Central.
Sam waited quietly through it all. From time to time, he nodded or raised an eyebrow, but he seemed to understand that Dekka needed to make this public confession.
When Dekka was done, no one spoke for a while. Even Shade had nothing to say, quiet for once in the presence of the boy, the man, who she had studied for years.
Finally, Sam said, “Tell me something, Dekka. How dangerous is Vector compared to Caine?”
Dekka frowned, confused. Was Sam so out of it he still thought this was the FAYZ? “Caine was a bastard, but his power was limited. He could never have done what Vector did at City Hall. Have you seen any of the video? He—”
“Right,” Sam interrupted. “That wasn’t just terrible, it was sadistic, cruel. It was meant to terrorize. Caine was a bad person, a very bad person, but no, he would not be capable of that, even if he’d had the power. But Drake? Drake would be every bit as vicious.”
Dekka nodded, still confused and even worried that Sam was making a fool of himself.
“Yes, Drake was evil. Sadistic and cruel. As morally sick as Vector, but with far less power.”
“So?” Dekka cried, unable to contain herself any longer.
“So,” Sam said. “Did I stop Caine?”
“What?”
“I battled Caine many times. Did I take him down?”
“Not in the end, but—”
“And Drake. Did I stop Drake?”
“You tried. It wasn’t your fault that—”
Sam held up a hand, silencing her. “I failed, Dekka. Again and again and again, I failed. I tried. I tried like hell—you know I tried; of all people you know that. But I failed.” Dekka was looking down, so Sam leaned forward and raised her chin. “Hey, Dekka: I failed. The big hero of the FAYZ? I failed.”
“But you . . .” Dekka’s lower lip quivered. “You . . .”
Sam nodded. “Yeah, I tried. Just like you’re trying. But, Dekka, my love, you are up against so much more. The stakes are so much higher. The people fighting you are so much more powerful.”
Five minutes earlier, Dekka would have sworn she wouldn’t cry. She’d have said she was way past that kind of emotion. But now she felt her throat convulsing with sobs and knew tears were rolling down her cheeks.
“What you’ve done is amazing, Dekka. If you were a soldier they’d be pinning medals on you. Listen to me. If this is you measuring yourself against me, stop it. Just stop it right now.” He swept his arm around, indicating the group, the six scared, defeated faces. “The only thing you’re failing at is not pushing everything aside and remembering that you are still the leader of the Rockborn Gang.”
Dekka’s eyes widened in alarm. “But you’re here now!”
“Yes, I am,” Sam said. “And I am offering you my services, such as they are.” He leaned in close again to make eye contact, though Dekka was again looking at the floor. “Now, I’m going to do for you what you so often did for me. I’m going to tell you to drop the self-pity right the hell now, because people need you. So you are going to turn off the waterworks, and you are going to pick your head up, and you’re going to show me that defiant, screw-all-of-you, scary Dekka look I know so well.”
Dekka wiped her tears again. She stifled the sobs, and the constrictions in her throat came once, and once again, and stopped. She took a deep, shaky breath that was steadier when she let it go.
It’s not because I owe these people, though I do, Dekka thought. But I’ll be damned if I’ll sit here and cry in front of Sam.
After a long minute, Dekka said, “Is Astrid here with you?”
“No, she had other things to do.”
Dekka was alarmed. “But, Drake!”
Sam fished out his phone, unlocked it, and swiped a few times. Then he turned the phone around to show Dekka his texts. The most recent was from Astrid.
All taken care of. Love you.
“Yeah, see the thing is, someone mailed Astrid a dose of the rock.” He arched a brow. “I can’t imagine who’d have done something like that.”
“Is she . . .”
“Oh, Astrid is very scary now.”
Dekka managed a smile. “Astrid was always scary.” She met his gaze, unflinching now. “I don’t suppose the anonymous person who FedExed you one dose of the rock may have included two doses?”
“Interesting that you’d mention FedEx, because I don’t believe I mentioned how the rock got to us.” He winked. “How the two doses of rock got to us.”
“I wanted so much to keep you out of this,” Dekka said.
“And yet, here I am.” He looked around at the others. “Here we all are.”
A line from Tolkien came to Dekka. I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam. But she did not say it aloud.
“Now, if you’ll have me, I will be the newest recruit to the Rockborn Gang.”
Dekka laughed. “Well, depends on what you have to offer, young man.”
A slow grin spread across Sam’s face. “Oh, you’re going to like this. It was a strangely fitting gift from the rock.”