Interlude [h.s]

sixty-six

NORTHFAIR

"Shit!" Elijah hisses when his car stops moving. "You've got to be kidding me." He steps out, closing his cloak to hide the gun from view. The last thing he needs is to attract the attention of the police in the middle of Northfair.

His phone rings, and he takes the call as he opens the hood of the vehicle. There's smoke coming out of it, and he curses Ezra's name. He isn't surprised that he gave him a car that's a step away from death.

"Nice to hear from you, too," a voice says in his ear, and he drops the hood in surprise. It falls onto the engine with a clash and the phone slips out of his hand and on the asphalt.

He reaches under the car and picks it up. "E," he breathes out, "I wasn't expecting you to call."

"Yeah, well, I'm calling you back."

Elijah stills. "What do you mean, you're calling me back?"

"I've had the pleasure to have a conversation with our friend in Pans about a week ago," Ezra says. "There has been... a change of plans."

He doesn't like the sound of that. "What change?"

"She has decided to betray us and run away with him."

Elijah chokes on his own breath. "What?" It isn't true—it can't be true. Alouette would never. She believes in the Revolution's cause like no one else. Hell, her father made the Revolution. She'd never go against it—they're her family. "There must be a mistake—"

"No mistake," Ezra replies. "Come back home, now. We can't afford to waste any more resources on someone that doesn't want to be saved."

"You're lying!" Elijah exclaims, and the light turns on at the window above his head. He immediately lowers his voice. It's almost five in the morning, he doesn't need people waking up and minding his business. "Something has to have happened. He must be threatening her."

Ezra sighs. "She isn't being forced to do anything. She shot at us, more than once, and she chose to—"

"She shot at you?!" Elijah has completely forgotten about his screwed vehicle now. "You met her? In person?"

"That I did."

He clenches his teeth. "Why didn't you tell me?! I could've talked to her! I could've helped—"

"She doesn't want to be helped," Ezra tells him, "so come back to me, Elijah. There are better things for you to do than chasing her."

"I think you're wrong," he replies. "I need to talk to her. And even if what you're saying is true, she still has him. We can't let her go. We must get them back."

There's a chuckle on the phone. "You know, Elijah, I've always known there was something more to you. Your parents are happy to stand on the sidelines, but you, you want more. You're a fighter, and I like that about you."

Elijah leans against the hood of the car, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"And that's why I'm telling you to come back to me. You're wasted on this job—I could have you planning a meeting instead. We must take advantage of the fact that he's missing—" Meeting. Another word for attack. Everything to avoid being flagged in calls.

"He was missing even when we met the first time, and yet it was a disaster." He shakes his head. "No, I know her. She isn't siding with him—if she was, he'd be back here already. She's seeing something we aren't."

"She's not seeing anything but treason," Ezra scoffs. "She isn't the person you used to know anymore—"

"I'll find her." His tone is dismissive, and even his leader hears the finality of it. "I've done all you've asked of me for months without saying a word, but I need to do this now. For me. For her." For Amina, because he promised her he'd bring her sister back.