“I do,” I said, taking it from him. She raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not sure you should be shooting anyone right now.”
“Then make sure I don’t have to.”
Scotia smirked. “That’s the spirit. The other guards will be here soon. I’ll lead them away, but don’t move, got it? This thing is bulletproof.”
She gestured to the holding area beneath the platform, hollow and dark. I hadn’t gotten a good look before, but now I could see chains and shackles hanging from the walls, presumably where they kept the prisoners before forcing them to fight.
“It figures that the safest place in Elsewhere is where you wait to die,” I muttered. She patted my shoulder, and I cried out. With a frown, she gently probed the tender area.
“Your shoulder’s out of place,” she said, taking my arm. I winced. “There’s nothing I can do about it, not until—”
She wrenched my arm, and I screamed. White-hot pain exploded through my body, causing my vision to blacken for a moment, and Benjy lunged toward her.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he growled, but it was over in an instant. Suddenly the pain began to lessen, and Scotia eased my arm back into my lap.
“It’s back in the socket now, but you’ll need medical attention once this is over,” she said, and she looked at Benjy. “It’s easier when they don’t know it’s coming. She’ll be fine.”
He glared at her, but he stepped toward me, touching the small of my back protectively.
“I have to go,” she said. “Take care of that arm, and don’t do anything stupid.”
“We’ll try our best,” I muttered, and she slipped through a metal door at the base, shutting it firmly behind her. A lock slid home on the other side, and I exhaled.
“Are you okay?” he said, and I nodded. It still ached, and my fingers tingled unpleasantly, but at least I could move them again.
Benjy pulled me into his lap, and we stayed there in the darkness, ignoring the echoes of gunshots and screams as Scotia and her band of misfits fought the guards for control of Section X.
Neither of us spoke for what must have been over an hour. It was freezing underneath the platform, but he held me, and I curled up against his chest, trying to burn this moment into my memory. Even if we died today after all, at least we had a little more time.
“You know, I’m almost mad at them,” said Benjy, his voice a low rumble. “I was looking forward to that picnic.”
I snorted in spite of myself. “We’ll get there eventually. No need to rush it.”
He ran his fingers through my hair, gently working out the tangles. “If the Blackcoats succeed, can you promise me something?”
“What?” I said, my head resting against his shoulder.
“Promise me you won’t be Lila anymore.”
I blinked up at him, confused. “Why—”
“Because everyone cares about Lila Hart,” he said. “They either love her or they hate her. There is no in between. And I can’t stand to go through losing you again.”
I was quiet. After everything that had happened, I’d nearly forgotten that before Knox had hired him as his assistant, Benjy had thought I was dead, too, after I’d been kidnapped and Masked as Lila. At least I’d only thought Benjy was dead for a couple days. He’d had to mourn my death for over a month.
“Please, Kitty,” he said softly. “Just be you again. For me.”
I took a deep, shuddering breath. Now that the adrenaline was gone, the pain in my shoulder was nearly unbearable, but I would put up with anything to be there with him. “Okay,” I said. “I promise. But only if you make me a promise, too.”
“What?” he said, and I laced my fingers in his.
“Promise that no matter what happens to me, you won’t do anything stupid,” I said. “You won’t die to protect me, or die to avenge me, or—anything. If I’m going to be safe, then you have to be, too. Because I want that picnic in this life. I want that cottage. I want our future, and I’m not going to let anyone, not even you, take that from me again. Got it?”
He hesitated. “Kitty—”
“Yes or no?” I said, pulling away enough to look at him. “If we make it through today, then I swear to you I’ll stop being Lila. I’ll never leave you again, and we’ll weather this together. Either we’re going to survive together, or we’re going to die together. That’s the only way I’m going to let this end. I just have to know that you’re with me, too.”
He clenched his jaw, but at last he nodded. “All right. I promise.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, and I settled back against him. I would never stop worrying about him, and he would never stop worrying about me, but at least now we would be at each other’s side until the end. One way or the other.
Finally the sounds of gunshots ceased, and the door opened, revealing Scotia. Several wisps of hair had slipped out of her sleek ponytail, and her coat was stained with blood spatter, but at least she wasn’t dead.
“You two all right?” she said, and I nodded.
“You?”
She nodded, too. “We’ve taken over Section X and Section J. The Mercers are still alive, we think, but they’ve retreated into the manor. We have them surrounded.”
I swallowed tightly. “Don’t kill Hannah.”
Scotia frowned. “Excuse me?”
“Please,” I said. “She’s as much of a victim as the rest of us. You saw what her face looked like. Mercer did that to her because she helped me escape.”
“Do you have any idea what she’s done to people like you and me?” said Scotia, her mouth curled into a sneer. “She’s one of them.”
“Because it was the only way she could survive,” I said. “And I know exactly what she’s done to me. She saved my life. She’s the reason we have the codes in the first place. You’re the one who was letting Mercer stick his tongue down your throat for a chance at survival—she was doing exactly the same thing. It’s not her fault she was better at it.”
Scotia clenched her fists. “Fine. But if I’m doing you a favor, then you’re going to do one for me, too.”
“What kind of favor?” I said warily.
“You’re going to work your Lila Hart magic on the crowd out there and convince them to fight with us.”