J. Mitchell: The Severed Tower

“Everything’s fine,” Ben said. “It adds up. If Mira’s here, then things are resolved. Right, Mira?” Whether he was covering for her or believed what he’d said, Mira couldn’t tell.

“Yes,” was all she said. She’d tell Ben the truth later, but not with the other Gray Devils nearby. She quickly moved on before anyone else spoke. “Ben, I want you to meet my friends.”

Mira was surprised by the effort it took to say that. It was a moment, like many others, she’d been dreading. A part of her hoped it would never come, but it had. And there was nothing to do about it now. “This is… Holt.” She forced herself to look at him. Her throat felt dry. “He’s the one who got me here. And he helped me in Midnight City, too. I wouldn’t be alive without him.”

Ben looked at Holt. And Holt looked back.

Ben had an amazing ability to deduce things from simple observations. He could put seemingly random and unconnected pieces of a puzzle together with very little effort, and right now his gaze moved up and down Holt with intensity.

“He was also the bounty hunter who captured you,” Ben said. Holt’s eyebrows raised. He looked at Mira questioningly. “It’s your shoes, mainly,” Ben continued. “You don’t wear boots like most people. And yours are new, probably salvaged a month ago, maybe less. That makes it a conscious choice. Shoes over boots. Only reason you do that—so you can run . Which means you run a lot.”

Holt’s stare hardened, but Ben didn’t seem to notice.

“You’re clearly not timid, I can see it in your eyes, so you’re not running from anyone. You’re running after them. Chasing people… and you do it a lot. That, combined with the handcuffs on your belt, suggests you’re a bounty hunter. Someone who chases people for a living. You must be good, too. Catching Mira couldn’t have been easy.” Ben’s voice shifted slightly. The barest hint of darkness. But for him, it said a lot.

Holt smiled slightly. “She definitely made me work for it.”

Mira felt a shudder, almost smiled herself, but stopped. This wasn’t the place. This was a charged situation.

Ben nodded. “I’m sure.” He looked away and down at Zoey, who was holding on to Holt with one arm and Max with the other. Ben’s eyes moved over her in the same laborious way.

“This is Zoey,” Mira said. Zoey just looked back up at him silently. “She’s a very good friend of mine.”

Ben studied her curiously. “There’s something different about you. Something familiar, too. I can’t put my finger on it, which is… unusual for me.”

Zoey’s voice was almost as soft as Ben’s. “There’s something different about you, too. Your emotions are hard to see. Like the Librarian. But he did it on purpose. That was how he tried to be. With you… I think it’s just who you are. Like you just don’t feel much.”

As she spoke, Ben’s gaze magnetically locked on the little girl.

“Sometimes it worries you,” Zoey said. “But not for long. There’s always something new to take your mind off it, something new to figure out. Your thoughts come one after the other, but they’re not all jumbled up. They’re… together. They make sense to you.” Zoey seemed surprised. “You must think about things a whole lot.”

Mira had rarely ever seen a look of surprise on Ben’s face, but he wore one now. “Yes,” he said. “I do.”

Ben was the one used to figuring people out, and the fact that Zoey had just done the same thing virtually ensured he would try and deduce why. The problem was, Zoey’s deductions weren’t based on physical evidence or deduction. They were based on amazing and dangerous powers that no one here needed to know about. If Mira let him, Ben would figure it out eventually. Ben figured everything out.

“I didn’t know you would be here,” Mira pressed on, trying to distract him. And she knew there was one thing she could say that would guarantee it. “But I’m glad you are. I was hoping we could go with you.”

Ben pulled his gaze from Zoey in genuine confusion. “Go with us where?”

Mira swallowed. “The Severed Tower.”

Ben raised an eyebrow. A second later, the entire collection of Gray Devils behind him laughed out loud.

“You wanna take a little girl and a dog into the Core? ” one of them asked in disbelief.

Her name was Faye. Mira knew because she used to tutor her on artifact creation, and Faye had been so grateful she’d gotten Mira a box of hot chocolate mix in thanks. Now Faye looked at Mira with scorn.

Mira just kept her eyes on Ben. His opinion was the only one that mattered. Ben looked back curiously. Who knew what pieces he was putting together, but it was too late now to stop it.

“Go back inside,” Ben told his team. “Double-check your gear. We’re going to make Polestar in two days, make up for lost time, and that means passing through the Mine Field and the Compactor without rest.” Ben’s Gray Devil team reluctantly disappeared back under the canopy.

“No one’s going anywhere near Northlift,” Echo piped up from the other side of Holt. He’d been watching everything in the background, but he was just as firm in his opinions now as he had been earlier. “You won’t be seeing either of those Anomalies anytime soon.”

“I’m not convinced of that,” Ben said absently. “You’re evacuating. The Crossroads will be empty soon, and you won’t have enough people to stop us. I know how to work Northlift, I’ve watched the operators do it, and it only takes once for me to see how something works.”

Echo stiffened, but Holt spoke up. “I think these two have a lot to talk about,” he said. “Is there someplace Zoey and I could rest? Been moving pretty much nonstop for three days.”

Echo looked at Zoey’s weary eyes and frowned. “Yeah. Sure. Come on.” He turned and headed back the way they’d come, and Holt pushed Zoey and Max after him.

Mira tried to catch Holt’s eye as he did, but he wouldn’t look at her. There was a hollowness in her stomach as she watched him walk away.

When they were gone, Ben moved closer.

It made her uncomfortable, she realized with surprise. Somehow it felt wrong, and, at the same time, natural and comfortable, too. Ben’s mouth opened to speak, but then abruptly shut as he noticed something. His features contorted in a way Mira had rarely seen. He was shocked, and it took a lot to shock Ben Aubertine.

“Your… eyes…” he said in a stunned whisper. Ben had noticed the one thing Echo hadn’t, that her eyes no longer held the telltale traces of the Tone. “That’s… how did…?”

“Ben,” she said firmly, stopping him before he got going. “It is exactly what it looks like. And I know you want to know, I know it’s almost impossible for you to sideline something you’re curious about, and I know ‘curious’ probably doesn’t even begin to describe it, but I can’t tell you about my eyes right now. I will, I promise, but I need you to be patient. Okay?”

Ben just kept staring into her eyes, searching the pupils for evidence or clues, and she wasn’t even sure he’d heard her.

“ Ben. ”

He blinked, refocusing—and then smiled.

A smile from Ben was unusual, and it filled her with emotion like it always did. “I’m… so happy for you.” It was genuine, the sentiment, devoid of any envy or bitterness, and it only complicated things in Mira’s mind. He leaned in toward her. Mira didn’t move, a thousand thoughts swirling through her head. “I missed you. You’re the only one I ever miss.”

Mira pulled away from him at the last second.

Ben studied her curiously. He hadn’t predicted that reaction. But, as always, he quickly surmised where it came from. “I see.” He didn’t look hurt or worried, just resolved. “Lenore’s dead, isn’t she?”