Page 121 of No Charm Done

He looked down at his coffee. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You’re different. Distant. You used to have drive, ambition. You used to want things.”

“I still want things.”

“Like what? Counting money in a basement until you’re ninety?” Her eyes narrowed. “You think Capone’s gonna promote you if you don’t make moves? Listen, I’ve got a grift running over on Millionaire’s Row. It’s got your name written all over it. Let’s get back to work, you and me.”

“I’m not looking to get back into the game, Vivi.”

“Then what are you looking for?”

He didn’t have an answer. Or rather, he had an answer, but not one she’d ever understand.

He was looking for absolution. For confirmation that Luna was alive and safe. For some sign that he hadn’t destroyed everything that mattered.

“I took you in when you appeared with no explanation,” Vivi continued, her voice softer now. “Didn’t ask questions when you wouldn’t tell me where you’d been.”

“I appreciate that.”

“Do you?” Vivi reached across the table and gave his hand a friendly squeeze. “Because it doesn’t feel like you appreciate anything anymore. It feels like you’re just . . . going through the motions. Like you’re waiting for something that’s never going to come.”

Elias looked at her and felt a wave of something that might have been guilt or grief or maybe just exhaustion.

Vivi was smart. Ambitious. Practical. She was easily the best grifter on the south side, arguably one of the best in the whole damn city. But she wasn’t Luna.

“I think I need some air.”

Her expression tightened. “We just sat down.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I just—” He needed space, needed to think . . . needed to be anywhere but here having this conversation. “I need a minute.”

“Elias—”

“I’ll be right back.” He strode out of the diner before she could stop him, and stepped into the alley behind the building.

The afternoon sun slanted between the buildings, warm on his face. Somewhere nearby, someone was playing a trumpet, badly but with enthusiasm. He leaned against the brick wall and closed his eyes.

“I don’t know what to do,” he said to the empty alley. To the universe. To any god who might be listening. “I don’t know if she’s alive. I don’t know if I succeeded or failed. I don’t know if she’s dead or imprisoned or if she just—” His voice cracked. “If she just hates me too much to come back for me.”

That was it, wasn’t it? That was the real fear, underneath everything else.

Maybe Luna could come back for him. Maybe she had the power, the connections, the magical ability to open a portal to 1926.

Maybe she just didn’t want to. Maybe she’d decided he wasn’t worth the effort.

He slid down the wall until he was sitting on the dirty alley ground, his head in his hands.

“I get it,” he said again, quieter this time. “I earned this. But I don’t know how to— I don’t know if⁠—”

The air rippled.

The alley was changing. No, not changing. Opening. Light fractured across the brick wall, bending in directions that didn’t exist in normal geometry. A sound rose, low and resonant, the kind of hum that came from machinery or magic or both.

Elias scrambled to his feet, heart pounding. A portal was opening. Right here. Right now. His first thought was: Burke found me.

His second thought was: Good. At least it’ll be over at last.

But then⁠—