“Okay,” Quinn said doubtfully.
“Okay?” Caine echoed, and raised one eyebrow expectantly. He smiled to show he wasn’t angry. Not yet, anyway.
“Just . . . okay?” Caine prompted.
“Okay . . .” Quinn glanced around, desperate, not knowing the answer. Then it dawned on him. Caine could almost see the wheels turning in his head. “Okay, Your Highness?”
Caine looked down modestly, and to hide the triumphant smirk that would ruin the moment.
“Go now, Quinn. Go back to work.”
And Quinn went.
Caine met Diana’s disbelieving gaze and laughed aloud. “Why so gloomy? Doesn’t every little girl want to grow up to be a queen?”
“Princess,” Diana said.
“So, you got a promotion,” Caine said. “Bug: find Taylor.”
Taylor was the biggest gossip in Perdido Beach. He needed information and he needed it fast. It was the middle of the night and he didn’t know who was where or what they were doing. All Quinn had said was that Sam was out of town, Albert had been murdered, and Edilio was sick and might die.
Albert being dead was a pity. Albert was a born organizer and Caine was sure he could have used him. On the other hand, a dead Edilio would be excellent news. Edilio had been Sam’s right hand from the start.
He didn’t even know when these supposedly giant insects or whatever they were would reach Perdido Beach. It could be at any moment.
He would need to defeat the invasion. That was clearly the most important thing. But obviously kids were exaggerating. Giant insects? They were probably six inches long. Although the idea of them hatching inside your body was enough to make him sick.
Caine stood on the seawall that ran along the beach. Stood on the brink, he thought, the dividing line between past and future. Not just his, but everyone’s.
The town was quiet and dark. Here and there the pale, eerie glow of Sammy suns could be glimpsed through windows. The moon was behind the strange cloud that hung too low over the western part of town.
On the brink, with so many possibilities. He felt as if he might explode from the giddy joy of it. He was back. Back as their savior.
Quinn had inadvertently shown him the way forward. Quinn had wanted exactly what most people want: to be left alone. To not be afraid. To not have to struggle. To not have to ask hard questions or make hard decisions.
We just want to fish.
Caine turned slightly to stare thoughtfully at Diana. He had given her hope, and taken hope away, and now she stood still, almost as if in a trance, counting up her losses, realizing the totality of her defeat.
Resignation. Acceptance.
She could see now that he was in charge. When everyone saw that, and when everyone simply accepted that this was life now, that this was the only possible life, then he would have complete control.
He could feel the fear in Perdido Beach. They were leaderless. They were sick, weak, hungry, lonely. They cowered because of a microscopic flu bug and a very different, much larger bug.
When it was over, when he had won, he would say: I have saved you. I alone had the power to save you. Sam failed. But I succeeded. And now settle down and do your work and pay no attention to your betters. Shhh: go to sleep, the king will make the hard decisions.
Bug was back surprisingly soon, with Taylor.
“Where did you find her?” Caine asked.
Bug shrugged. “Where she lives. I remember it from the old days when I used to sneak into town.”
“He means back when he used to sneak in and watch you get undressed,” Diana said to Taylor.
“He’s a little kid,” Taylor said with a shrug. She looked Caine up and down, skeptical and appraising. Caine knew she did not fear him—not with her powers. She couldn’t be intimidated. So he would have to reach her some other way.
“Have a seat with me,” Caine said, hopping down from the wall. “How have you been, Taylor?”
“Life’s one big party,” she said.
He laughed appreciatively at her joke. “Things must be pretty bad for Edilio to send for me, huh?”
“Things are always pretty bad,” she said. “We’re at a new level of bad. I saw those bugs.”
Caine mustered all his sincerity. “I have to go and fight these creatures. But I don’t know much about them.”
Taylor told him what she knew. Caine felt some of his confidence drain away as she laid out the facts in gruesome detail and with complete conviction.
“Well, this should be fun,” Diana said dryly. “I’m so glad we came back.”
Caine gritted his teeth but ignored her. “Who can I count on to help me?” he asked Taylor.
Taylor laughed. “Not me, dude. I’ve already gotten as close as I’m going to get.”
“What about Brianna?” Caine asked.
Taylor made a face. “You mean the Breeze? She zooms in and starts yelling to Edilio about how the bugs are coming toward us and they’re as big as SUVs. And since then, I don’t know where she’s been. Probably looking for Jack. Or Dekka,” she added with a leer.
Caine nodded and kept his face down so as not to betray his pleasure. Brianna was a problem: her speed was almost as effective as Taylor’s power when it came to evading Caine. And she was absolutely loyal to Sam.
“What about Sam and Astrid?”
“Oh, no, there is no Sam and Astrid, not anymore.” Taylor leaned closer and began to unload everything she knew. In ten minutes Caine had a very complete picture, far more detailed than what Quinn had grudgingly revealed.