"Hoshimi, are you done sulking now?"
"I'm not sulking."
"Could've fooled me."
For a long moment, there was no response. Then, very slowly, his violet eyes shifted. They found her face, focused on it, and something flickered in their depths, not quite awareness, not quite emotion, but something in between.
"I'm done processing everything," he said. His voice was hoarse, scraped raw. "I just-I still can't believe it."
Neila crossed the room and dropped into the chair beside his bed.
"Believe what?" she asked. "Be glad that we managed to drag you away before she put a bullet into your skull."
"She chose the government over me." Hoshimi's voice was flat. "I knew she was a government agent. But always used to say that she would choose me over her job." He stopped. Swallowed. "I thought she would be the first person to support me the moment anything like this would've happened to me."
"Turns out you thought wrong." Neila leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. "You were her favorite tool. Didn't she take you in because of your reincarnation?"
"Yea she did, but I thought she grew on me."
Her blue eyes met his. "Haven't you thought of the possibility that she was lying to you in the first place? Wasn't she the one that taught you how to get started on your little acting career? What makes you think she wasn't acting around you as well?"
"I thought…"
"People lie, any stupid mongrel can tell the truth, but only a comparatively intelligent one can lie well. Especially someone who has lied to you your entire life."
"She tried putting me down, like I was some sort of rabid dog."
"Now you're a free one."
Hoshimi didn't respond. His gaze drifted back to the ceiling, back to that fixed, unseeing point.
Kira hovered in the doorway.
She'd been hovering since they'd returned from the restaurant, her hands twisting in the fabric of her jacket, her eyes darting between Hoshimi and Neila.
She wanted to go to him, Neila could see it in every line of her body, but something was holding her back.
"Let's talk about something more important, the Leviathans," Neila said. "They accepted our terms."
Hoshimi's eyes flickered. Just slightly. Just enough.
Neila continued. "We've managed to acquire their protection."
"I doubt it was out of goodwill, what did you even give them?" Hoshimi asked quietly.
"Eric—he's one of the five executives. I managed to persuade him, I dragged Vert as a backup bargaining chip but Kira was enough, I guess he was really soft."
"That seems too good to be true."
"They know we have a Primordial Goddess, I tried to pass her off as someone else but it didn't seem to work."
"Did they ask to use her?"
Neila shrugged. "At the very least I managed to weasel out of that, I appealed to his sympathy. I guess even a gang boss sympathizes with a billion year old goddess."
"So all we had to give up was the fact that we had her in our possession."
"Praise me puppet, because of me we didn't have to give up anything important."
"Yea yea, thank you very much, you did a good job," Hoshimi rolled his eyes. "What makes you even sure that he would keep Kira and kick us out?"
"Kira relies on you."
"That's not a very good reason."
"We don't even need to be protected for long." Neila crossed her arms. "Sophia can solve everything, we just need to find a way to free her while trying not to get killed by the government."
"Sophia's return could affect the Leviathans as well, Sophia was the only one that kept them in check."
"You think I didn't think about that as well?" Neila leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. "The families are on the verge of attacking each other, they're in peril. What we need to do now is to search for Sophia and use our current connection with the Leviathans to turn their heads towards the families, if they destroy each other then so be it."
"Are you sure? This seems a little bit too risky." Hoshimi's voice was barely a whisper.
"I've already influenced them, Eric sees an opportunity, he's a high ranking individual, his words will eventually get to the rest of them. If the families are divided, the Leviathans can strike. This is the weakest they've been in decades, the Smiths and Walkers lost their heirs, the Millers lost Sophia, the Shaws are the only ones who can even fight. But the main factor, they've all lost their source of magical tools. If there was ever a time for the rogue witches to make a move, it's now."
"It will be our concern if they start a war."
"Sophia will solve it." Neila stood, crossing to the window. The morning sun was fully up now, painting the harbor in shades of gold and silver. Fishing boats dotted the water, their wakes tracing white lines across the blue-gray surface.
The city was waking up, oblivious to the fact that five teenagers and a goddess had just aligned themselves with the most wanted criminals in the country.
Hoshimi sighed. "You have too much confidence in Sophia."
"She's the strongest witch, our deus ex machina." Neila paused. "She can solve everything."
"What makes you think you can even control her?"
"You're her brother."
Hoshimi paused, standing up from the bed and walking towards the mini fridge, grabbing a can of soda. "Did Kira tell you?"
"Nope, I simply figured it out myself."
"You say that she'll solve everything but we don't even know where Sarah is keeping her."
"She's our key to this, that's what we need to figure out."
"And how do you plan to do that?"
Neila nudged him towards the door. "The Leviathans, Vert. You've already noticed haven't you? Vert exudes the same kind of energy as Sarah."
"She's a Primordial."
"Voila," Neila spread her arms out wide. "And with her omniscience, we can find her. Why do you even think I'm keeping her away from the Leviathans?"
"That's her sister, I'm sure she's probably touchy about us jumping Sarah."
"I think it's best if we slowly nudge her in the direction, don't tell her outright as well, she might get onto us."
"You know this is insane, right?" Hoshimi said. "We're trying to start a revolution."
"Technically, we're trying to survive. The revolution is the Leviathans' thing."
"A nudge that could get thousands of people killed."
"When did you start caring about random people? People are dying anyway, would you prefer if we left it be?"
"Neila, how much money did you even bring in the first place?"
"A lot."
"Well that's good." Hoshimi turned to Kira. "Hey, how are you holding up?"
Kira startled at the sound of him calling her. Her hands unclenched from her jacket, then clenched again. "I'm okay. I think. I don't know." She took a shaky breath. "But I wanted this for myself, I've been terrified all the time, and for no reason as well, I want to change and you can't stop me now."
Hoshimi patted her head.
Neila watched the exchange with an expression that was impossible to read. "We should rest. We've been running for almost twenty-four hours. The Leviathans will provide security for this hotel, Eric assured me of that. We're safe, for now."
"I don't trust any of them, I'll stay up," Hoshimi said.
"You can barely move."
"I can hold a gun."
Neila studied him for a long moment. Then she nodded, a single, sharp motion. "Fine. Kira, you're with me. We're sharing the other bed. Vert can have the chair."
Kira looked at Hoshimi, then at Neila, then back at Hoshimi. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"No." Hoshimi's voice was flat. "My brain is working, that's all that matters."
Kira nodded slowly.
She crossed to the other bed and lay down without another word, her back to the room, her body curled into a tight, protective ball. Within minutes, her breathing had evened out.
Neila didn't sleep.
She sat in the chair by the window, her injured shoulder propped against the armrest, her blue eyes fixed on the door.
Her magical revolver, the one she'd taken from one of the guards at the warehouse rested in her lap.
She'd cleaned it twice already.
Not a single speck of dust.