part0054

A nnika remained steps ahead of Bolt, who kept yelling, “Wait!” and “Stop!” and “We need to talk!” She didn’t want to stop or wait and she definitely didn’t want to talk. She would bring that towering monster to his knees, even if she had to battle him alone.

She hadn’t trusted the Earl. Not really. But there had been a drip, a slow but steady stream of hope from an otherwise clogged pipe of distrust, that maybe he would hold up his side of the bargain. Not that she had any intention of holding up her side of the bargain, mind you. Still, the decent thing would have been for the Earl to wait for Annika to bring Bolt, so they could free her father and defeat the Earl!

But the Earl had been the one playing with Annika. He had never intended to keep his side of the bargain: that was obvious now. Why else would he have moved up the hanging?

Unless he knew they were coming. Unless they were walking into a trap. Well, trap or no trap, she was coming. They were coming.

When they reached the outskirts of the city, Annika slowed for a moment, unsure whether she should turn right or left, taking a brief beat to compute the best, shortest route, but one that allowed Bolt to catch up. He grabbed her shoulder.

“What?” she said, spinning around, fury ripping through every pore in her body. “We need to save my father. We can’t stop.”

She saw the hurt in his eyes. He had been so proud of her for coming to Sphen, and she had been embarrassed by that pride, but it had also made her feel good. People feel a lot of things about bandits—fear usually, disapproval sometimes—but pride? Not often.

But that just made the sadness and disappointment in Bolt’s face feel even worse. His anger she could understand. She felt anger all the time. But sadness and disappointment, too? It was almost unbearable. “Can’t you just look angry?” she growled.

Bolt didn’t answer her. “You didn’t come to Sphen to rob and kidnap all by yourself, did you?” Bolt said. “You came with your father, and they captured you both. That’s it, isn’t it?”

Annika could lie and say that was all. If she did that, Bolt would be angry, but he’d understand. He’d help her free her father, and free Sphen, or at least try. A good bandit wouldn’t say anything else. A good bandit would keep whatever lies helped herself or her bandit clan the most.

But a good friend wouldn’t continue to lie. And, maybe, being a good friend was more important than being a good bandit.

She told him how she and her father had come, and why. About how they were caught. And how the Earl had demanded she bring Bolt in exchange for her father’s life, but that the Earl had lied and was going to hang her father anyway, so they had to free him now.

And at the end, Bolt looked even more disappointed and sad, and Annika wanted to scream at him, and she did. “Why can’t you just be angry?” But that didn’t change a thing.

“No,” said Annika. She reached out and grabbed his hands. They were limp rags, neither fighting her nor accepting. “That’s just what I told the Earl. I was always going to fight him. With you.”

But Bolt gave no sign of understanding her. He merely muttered, “You were going to trade me.” He sniffled, and the sniffle hurt Annika more than a bobby pin in her eye. She had once sneezed while picking a lock with a bobby pin and had accidentally jabbed herself in the eye, so she knew the feeling.

“We are friends. You’re my best friend. But they have my father!” Annika said, continuing to squeeze his hands. “If you’re angry with me, you can jab me in the eye with a bobby pin. Just stop sniffling.”

Bolt continued to sniffle. “I shouldn’t have trusted you,” he said in a near whisper. “I should have known a bandit can’t change her spots.”

Annika had never been ashamed of being a bandit before. But his words cut her, because there was some truth to them. Bandits were not nice. Bandits, at least those who followed the bandit code, would do exactly what Annika had done, except they wouldn’t have felt guilty or blabbed the truth.

Annika took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Bolt.” For a bandit, few words are more difficult to say than I’m sorry . “When I came to you, I only thought about my father. About me. I thought penguins were silly birds. I should have been honest from the start.”

“I was wrong about everything. Penguins aren’t silly, I know that now.” She inched closer to him, and now it was her turn to sniffle. “I realize a penguin family is important.” Sniffle, sniffle. Sob. “But my family is important, too. I need to save my father. I didn’t know if you’d come if I told you the truth. I didn’t believe in you, and I’ll never forgive myself for that. And I’ll never do it again.” She looked away, rubbing her eyes. “I understand if you no longer want to help me. I wouldn’t blame you for no longer wanting to be my friend.”

Bolt wrenched his hands from hers. His eyes flashed red. “I’m going to fight the Earl, because that’s why I came here. And I’m going to win, because I have a mighty weapon.” He jabbed his thumb at the egg. “But I’m not stopping him for you. I’m stopping him for the penguins of Sphen. For my family.”

Bolt nodded and looked away. “Right.” His words seemed to ease some of the tension, as if maybe he understood what she had done, just a little. A little was enough, for now.

Still, they didn’t speak as they walked into Sphen, although no one spoke while walking in Sphen. The only sounds were footsteps, and an occasional angry penguin bark. A couple of people laughed, which surprised Annika, until she saw it was two human soldiers, laughing at an old man who had tripped.

The penguins paid no attention to Annika or Bolt. She saw Bolt concentrating, probably sending pinpricks of distraction to the penguins they passed, so that a soldier would turn away or sneeze when they drew close.

Annika kept having to stop and wait for Bolt, who was slower than she was. “You’re walking like you have a cinder block or a brick tied to your leg,” she remarked. She checked; he didn’t.

They didn’t say another word until they saw the looming palace ahead, illuminated by the full moon rising up into the evening sky.