Free Evenstar by Darcy Town Page B

lip of the wheelbarrow.   He snatched up a newspaper as they went by a mailbox.   He flipped it open.   The blaze at their mansion was on first page along with ten other fires.   Lucifer paled.   “ Berith .”
    Berith stopped and read over his shoulder.   They opened the paper and followed the story together.   Berith stopped breathing.   Lucifer tore the pages into shreds.   “Every outpost in the United States?”
    Berith clenched his jaw.   “This has been planned and a long time coming.”
    Lucifer struggled with his limbs.   “No wonder Apple cannot find the lanes, they have been shut down.   Damn it !”   Cracks opened up in the street.
    Berith looked in both directions.   “What do we do now?”
    Lucifer grimaced and pushed himself up.   “We take the Old Road.”
    Berith set the wheelbarrow in motion.   “You cannot make it down the Old Road.”
    Lucifer snarled.   “Do not tell me what I can or cannot do!”   He gasped and curled over.   “If you need to, you are going and leaving me behind.”
    “No.”
    “I will order you to.”
    Berith stopped the wheelbarrow.   He tore at Lucifer’s bandages, exposing the gaping wound.   He held Lucifer’s mouth shut with one hand.   Berith reached into the wound where Lucifer’s esophagus would have been.   He grabbed the pendant and held it in front of Lucifer’s face.   “I will not.”   He wiped the pendant off.   Berith sliced his own arm open and pushed it under his skin.   “Dick.”
    Apple skidded to a halt.   “What are you guys doing?”
    Lucifer bit Berith’s hand.   He spit Berith’s finger back at him.   “He is being unreasonable.”
    “ I’m being unreasonable?   You’re being suicidal!”   Berith grabbed a paper from another person’s yard and threw it at Apple.   “The lanes are closed.   He wants to take the Old Road.   Apparently, he never wants to see Dahlia again.”
    Lucifer pointed at his chest.   “I am putting her first!”
    Berith scoffed.   “You die and she loses the most powerful ally she has and we all lose our power.”
    Lucifer looked away.   “That is just Paimon’s theory.”
    “Frankly, I don’t want to test it!”
    “Shut up both of you!”   Apple threw the newspaper at Berith’s head.   “In the event we have a large attack and have to close the Lilliam lanes, we open secondary outposts, you idiots.   There are less of them and they aren’t magically protected, but they stay open to let retreating Lilliam get back to the City.   So that’s where we’re going.”
    Berith cocked his head.   “You never told me that.”
    Apple shrugged.   “Since the lamin attacks we’ve kept our secondary and emergency routes a secret from you guys.”
    Lucifer bandaged his chest wound.   “Where is the closest?”
    “Seattle, Pier 57.”
    He raised an eyebrow.   “A pier?”
    Apple shrugged.   “Yeah, a pier .   It’s a crowded tourist attraction with lots of human meat shields.”
    “Oh.”
    Berith rumbled.   “This is off of our course.   We will need a car to make speed.”
    Apple shrugged.   “No reason not to now, we don’t need the lanes to get there.”
    Berith went to the closest and smashed the window.   He hopped inside and fiddled with the wires until he got it going.  
    Lucifer pointed.   “You said you could not do that!”
    Berith smiled and helped him into the backseat.   “You did not order me to tell you the truth.”
    ***
    Belial’s eyes were bloodshot.   She stared straight ahead, her foot on the gas pedal.   The day was well into late afternoon.   They were somewhere in California, but she couldn’t have told her passengers where.   Sun glinted off the highway.   The tiny car roasted in the heat, but the windows were up, per Belial’s orders.
    Tokala twitched in feverish sleep.   He was stretched across Jacob and Celeste’s laps, adding his heat to theirs.   They squirmed, uncomfortable and antsy.   Belial had not let