Sister Cities

Part 62: Jinx

Ekko looks between me and the comm in his hand a couple times before opening the bag to grab the last three. His expression doesn't soften. "I thought you were working on Viktor's lungs."

"Oh, I just designed these in twenty minutes. I put the construction off on some Academy losers. Wouldn't you know it, there actually are Topsiders who can do things."

He shakes his head, flipping two comms on and sliding the second toward me. "I need a demonstration."

I shrug and pick it up. "Jayce Talis sucks eggs," I say into it, and my voice repeats from the device in Ekko's hand. To my surprise, he makes a soft, delighted sound, and snorts when he processes the words.

"What's the catch?" he asks, but he's not suspicious anymore so much as teasing, like he's forgotten he's supposed to be an uptight numpty now.

"The catch is that I'm not making more, so you have to pick your five favorite people and everyone else'll feel left out."

"Bet he's not picking you," Mylo says.

After switching the rest of the comms on and making sure they cooperate and aren't bombs, Ekko gets to his feet, transferring them from his gentle grasp to a clear spot on his desk. I get up too and he gives me a strange look.

"Thanks for doing this," he says. "But why couldn't you wait till tomorrow to show me?"

"Well, it's not like that was the reason I came in here." I hold out my loose cuff. "I need you to teach me how to ride one of those hoverboards."

"What?" He's already back to being an uptight numpty. "I'm not doing that. I'm going back to bed. I can teach you during the day if you ever decide to be around."

"No way," I say. "All your friends are out during the day."

"Yeah, and how long do you think you can avoid them? I'm gonna run out of people who are willing to get up and walk you across the river before dawn."

"Then I can just go by myself."

"No, you can't. Get out of my room."

"But this is a life-or-death situation," I say. "What if a band of Topside vigilantes shows up to raid this place and we all try to bolt, but I can't ride and get caught?"

"Why would that ever happen?"

I sit on his cot, which seems to really work him up for some reason. "Can you know for sure that it won't?"

"We already have an evacuation plan for our people with mobility problems—"

"Can it and take me outside."

His fingers twitch and he goes for his boots. "I'll give you half an hour, and then you have to go back to your treehouse and stay there."

I jump back up. "Woo-hoo!"

"Quiet down," he snaps. "Everyone else is trying to sleep."

I blow on my forelock. "Losers."

"Damn it, Jinx." He closes the loose cuff around his wrist and takes me down to their little arsenal, insisting I keep my mouth shut while he mutters to his guards, and we go out the front and make our way up to the roof, me with hands and feet and him levitating along at my pace.

"This isn't gonna be a thing," he says after being silent the whole climb. "You're not gonna come into my room past a closed door every night and bargain and nag me into doing what you want. You get this one because all Firelights learn to ride. That's it."

"Okay, grumpy-pants."

I step out toward the other edge of the roof to see the night: green and purple fluorescents, trembling smoke hazes, clotheslines and alleys and pipes and the ghost of Zaun.