Unfortunately for him, they had both been his friend for years and they knew this tactic. They were also both willing to wait for him to speak. Amber crossed her legs in her desk chair with one knee against an armrest and Nick leaned back and sipped his coffee.
“Fine,” Jacob said when it became clear they wouldn’t cooperate. “Yes. Okay. I hope that if she and her brother can work her out of this coma and maybe a couple more, she’ll…start to train her brain to do it without the pod. That’s my hope.” He glared at Nick. “And I don’t see why it even matters.”
“It matters because you cannot promise that to her parents,” Amber said. “You can’t even hint at it. It would be incredibly cruel to give them hope when we have no idea if we can follow through. We don’t even know if she can integrate with the game yet. This isn’t a trauma-induced coma. We might not be able to reach her at all.”
“And it matters,” Nick said gently, “because we might do good work and get her out of this coma and you’ll still feel like you failed. I don’t want you to hold out hope that you can save this family all on your own.”
Their friend looked for a moment like he might blow up at them, but his shoulders sagged and he nodded. “I know I have no right to hope for it,” he said. “I only…”
“You’re hoping it anyway,” Nick said. “I know, buddy. I’ve known you for years. Look, let’s invite them in. But keep in mind what your expectations are. You’re already stressed, okay? You don’t need to add ‘solving medical mysteries’ to your checklist right now.”
He nodded, but when he went back to his computer, Nick sighed.
Amber was right. None of them ever made the smart choice and their entire company was based on trying to do the impossible. None of them could resist an unsolved problem. He knew that before long, despite their best efforts, all of them would try to solve Taigan’s condition and they’d blame themselves if they couldn’t.
Chapter Four
Kural marched them to the royal palace at a rapid pace. He muttered constantly and looked entirely deranged, and Zaara had to explain that he was trying to contact a friend inside the palace.
“So,” Justin said around a mouthful of the pizza-like snack, “like magical Bluetooth.”
“Blue..tooth?” The woman ran her tongue over her teeth, clearly unnerved by the idea of blue ones.
Dotty waved her hand to tell her not to bother. She’d have explained it but to do so, she would have to stop eating the pizza and she absolutely wouldn’t do that. The crust was impossibly thin but somehow still supported the sauce, which was creamy and spicy in equal measure. What was in it, she didn’t know—it might have been meat or vegetables—but it was so delicious that she didn’t care about being unable to identify it.
And the cheese. She took another bite and her eyes drifted closed happily as she savored the perfect amount of melty, gooey cheese. How was it possible to desperately crave something while you were eating it?
In the next moment, she walked directly into a lamppost and shook her head. Another mouthful of pizza helped.
A moment later, Kural said loudly, “Excellent.”
Everyone jumped and looked at him with identical chipmunk expressions, their cheeks stuffed with pizza.
“You all look great, by the way.”
Dotty didn’t bother to respond to Prima. She raised her eyebrows at the wizard in query.
“Jaco will have an escort waiting for us at the palace,” he said.
“Wait.” Lyle swallowed a bite of pizza. “So what do I do?”
Kural frowned at him. “You come with us.”
“I don’t get to make a diversion?”
“You don’t have to make a diversion,” Justin corrected him. “Making diversions isn’t something you want to do, is it?”
“Yeah. It is.”
“Oh.” The young man seemed to try to think of something to say. Eventually, he gave up and began to eat again. “Does anyone else want to try?”
“I got this,” Dotty said. “Lyle, if you behave yourself, I’ll buy us all a feast tonight and you can have a barrel of beer to yourself.”
“Two barrels,” the dwarf said promptly.
“Done.” She looked at Justin. “See?”
“You’re not very strict for a grandmother,” he said.
“Different situations call for different solutions.” She took another bite of pizza and hummed in pleasure. “Plus, I don’t have to deal with the fallout of this one.”
They were met at the gates by a young man in black robes. His sash was embroidered in gold and the entire ensemble fit him badly. He looked, to her jaded eye, like a young man who was still having growth spurts and wasn’t quite sure where his elbows and knees were anymore.
She had certainly missed having a healthy body, but she did not miss adolescence in the slightest. All she could remember of that time was the almost painful awkwardness.
The young man examined their ragtag group and didn’t seem quite sure what to say. He took in Lyle’s battle-worn clothing, Zaara’s long daggers, and Tina’s unimpressed smirk. It became clear the longer he looked that he tried very hard to not look at her red dress and its contents.
In her youth, she would have been nervous under anyone’s stare when wearing it. In her middle age, she would have been wryly amused by the attention—and more pleased than she wanted to admit. Now, in her old age, all she could think was that they were wasting time.
“Young man,” she said before she remembered that she looked about twenty herself, “will you take us to Jaco?”
“Uh. Yes.” He attempted awkwardly to keep his gaze averted when he spoke and now, a blush rose blotchily across his neck and face.
Kural either took pity on the poor boy or he was entirely oblivious. Dotty couldn’t tell which. He smiled and swept forward, urging their guide to turn and lead them into the palace. “Now, what has Jaco been up to lately?” he asked as they walked.
She smiled and took the opportunity to look around with real interest. The golden-white stone continued, shot through with ripples of gray. It had been carved into an impossibly thin, ornate screen above the entry. Under Insea’s warm sun, the awning cast dappled shadows on the broad staircase that led to the castle.
There were still no guards. Dotty had expected to see them lining the staircase or at least patrolling it, but no one was there except their little group.
In a way, it was sad. This was a massive place—it seemed like something that should be full and bustling—but it was clear even from the entrance that it was an old relic. No one came there, not petitioners and not nobles. The fact that there was no dust on the stairs was jarring, though. There really should be. Worse, the sense of emptiness hung in the air.
The rest of the palace only seemed worse. The group moved through massive, vaulted hallways filled with arches that reminded her of trees. There was no art on the walls, however, or rugs on the floors. It seemed as if no one had ever inhabited it at all.
And there were no servants. Two guards had nodded to their guide at the main door and they had seen one patrol since then, but nothing else.