I thought about her question.

It was kind of funny in a sad way. Maybe I was just overreacting, but for the love of me I didn’t know how to answer her question. On one hand, I didn’t even know where I stood. What happened back there–I barely held back a shudder at the memory–wasn’t something I could brush off.

Something I could just push past. Not now anyway. Maybe in a few years time I would. But it wasn’t like I had a few years. I wasn’t twelve anymore. I was at Atlantis, and I had the chance to be a hero.

But I didn’t let myself give up. I didn’t let myself disappear into whatever it was that waited for me. Jesus could I think of the most melodramatic shit.

And if I didn’t give up then, I wouldn’t give up now.

“We’ll find out what’s going on,” I told Birgit. “And we’ll stop them all.”

“And?” she asked expectantly. We let go of each other. We liked to rib each other for fun, but I knew that here and now, there would be no explosion if I told her we were done. The room’s temperature would resemble Greenland, and things would be awkward to say the least, but we–and by we, I meant Birgit–would probably be better off.

She wouldn’t have to deal with someone who was an endless pool of problems and insecurities. Who could just…switch minds and go off doing whatever it was that villains did in their spare time with Sofie.

“Really-”

“Don’t you dare say I’d be better off without you.” Her voice had a tone of anger in it that I hadn’t heard since that time her parents visited during summer. “Tell me, you røvhul, what do you want? I want this to work, but I can’t if you keep being like this! That’s what made me-I mean-Just tell me the truth!”

I messed with the seams of my gloves. What I wanted? That was simple. “I want to deal with the asshole in my head. With Paragon. I want to be like Alpha Surge. I want you to be happy. But I also want that happiness to be-to be with me. I want Iraklis to be here. We used to be inseparable, but now we haven’t talked in almost a month.”

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Birgit’s mouth twitched upwardly at that. It wasn’t a smile, more of a smirk, and even then barely. She grabbed my hand and started leading me outside.

“Wait, where are we going?”

“Simple, kæreste,” she said in the teasing tone I’d missed oh-so much. “Sofie’ll be there.”

The very thought made my stomach curl. I knew where Birgit was going with this, and I didn’t like it.

“It won’t be easy,” I said, trying to think of more reasons we shouldn’t do this. But I had none. Realistically speaking, we could even ask for help. Ahmed would be useful, especially if a fight broke out inside the mansion.

“We’ve faced off against a rapidly growing man that could punch through metal and lived to tell the tale. I’m sure Sofie wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing to us.” And now she was starting to get competitive.

“Πήραν τα μυαλά σου αέρα, βλέπω.”

“No amount of greek sayings will change the fact that I shall beat the dye off of Sofie’s stupid little hair.”

A competitive Birgit could be effective, but I would probably need to reign her in a bit. This was feasible. No matter what the pit in my stomach told me.

But I also remembered what prompted all of this. Birgit had still called me a burden. We finally got outside of the mansion, but I yanked my arm out of her grip and stopped walking. She turned around and looked at me, puzzled.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked her, gesturing around, as if to indicate this whole situation. “I mean, why do you even believe me?”

Birgit just smiled. It was a sad kind of smile, one I wasn’t used to seeing from her.

“When you said what happened, you had the same expression as you did when you told me what happened with Maria,” she said simply. “Same tone of voice, same everything. I know you’re telling the truth. It’s-it’s a look I can’t forget. It-It wasn’t the first time I’ve seen a look like that.”

Sensing she didn’t want to talk about it, I just filed that piece of information in my mind. For later. There would be a later, and I’d be damned if there wasn’t. I wouldn’t give up.

I repeated that in my head, and I would continue until I actually believed it.

I put on the best smile I could. “Let's get ready then. There’s a lot of things we need to plan.”

“Of course there are,” Birgit said, looking almost smug for whatever reason. “I’m just itching for a good fight, and I have a feeling this will be it.”

I let out a deep sigh. This would certainly be a party to remember.