"Great." I rolled my shoulders and something deep in the joint popped and the sound went around the basement. "That's great. Love that for me."
Natalia's hands were still on my chest. She had not moved them the entire time.
"Six days," she said.
"I know."
"You were going to walk into Sublevel Eleven in six days with a body that is turning into a Gate." Her voice did not rise. It just got very, very cold, and the drain on the floor cracked again. "Do you understand what happens if the thing on that floor is what's doing this? You would be carrying the door directly to whoever wants to use it. You would be delivering yourself."
"Or," I said, "I'd be the only person on the planet who can walk into that basement and understand what I'm looking at."
She closed her eyes.
"I hate you."
"I know."
"I hate that you're right."
"I know that too."
