Chapter 5
How dare you
Every time he comes back to her in a snap of lights, and the girl comes too, but whatever, Quỳnh screams and she trashes, she won't let him get away with it.
She has sworn to herself he would regret it.
Betraying Andromache. Her Andromache. What the fuck was the man thinking.
He will know. He must.
How dare you, she thinks.
He will understand, that she's coming to get him. She will be the one ending him.
The girl is scared deep down, she might be scared of Quỳnh too but Quỳnh doesn't have time. The girl is lost and she goes with the flow. But she doesn't see what Quỳnh saw. And she can't help when Booker tugs her along in his little game.
The girl is useless for now with Booker. Protect Andromache. Quỳnh thinks. Protect her. Do better. You can't do worse than Booker. Protect her.
I'll kill him, that hopeless bastard. Protect her.
I'm coming, Quỳnh realizes as she screams. I'm coming.
I'll end it, him, everything.
I'm coming.
And she keeps on trashing.
- - -
She doesn't see much of that day, her flashes divided between Booker and that new girl. She doesn't see much but she sees enough.
Andromache dying, hurt by Booker of all people.
How dare you, she thinks as he kneels.
She grits her teeth. And she starts trashing again.
How dare you. I'm coming for you.
I'm the one who will end you.
She sees their tears. She screams.
You're pathetic, Sébastien. How dare you.
- - - -
She has worked against the metal of her cage since she's witnessed the last glimpses from the world up there. She pushes and pushes. Unrelenting. She will get out. She will kill him. That's all she thinks. I'm coming.
But she knows something is wrong when the flashes show her two different places. Again.
It's Nile, in a car, drowsily watching out the scenery as Andy drives, a hand to her side. Andromache.
Quỳnh's heart flies. Andromache is still there. She's hurt, but she's still there. Andromache. Her Andromache. Andromache.
But it's too quick and Nile's attention doesn't seem to stick. Andromache fades away.
And it's Booker, alone by that damned river. Still alive. Not dead. And he is there.
Quỳnh feels cheated. She snarls.
You didn't deserve to be near her, Quỳnh thinks. The metal starts chafing. You didn't deserve to be near her, you didn't deserve the last hundred year you spent by her. You don't deserve her.
You should have died. You should drown.
I should be there she thinks. She smiles. We should swap. It would do you good, dying. Just what you wanted.
I'll end you, she thinks. The metal keeps chafing.
How dare you.
My Andromache.
Look at what you've done. She is hurt. You hurt her. You're alive. I can't see her. How dare you.
I'll end you.
- - - -
The divide in the flashes sticks.
It snaps something in Quỳnh she didn't know was still holding.
She screams. Because Booker goes on living, and now Nile is with Andromache, but Booker is away, and the small flashes she receives are divided between someone who is away from her Andromache and someone who is near.
Quỳnh can't take it.
I'm coming. I'll end you. Just to be near Andromache again, whole. Undivided.
You won't be there to mess with her again.
- - - -
It's not an explosion and it's not a new flash when Quỳnh startles for the very last time.
She's using up the metal, unrelenting, thinking I'm coming and I'm coming and I'll end you and How dare you, when the metal gives.
She pushes and pushes and suddenly she doesn't. It's weightless against her strength. Her arms extend in front of her and she is lost.
She is free.
She slowly leaves her iron cage. She moves her limbs, feel her hair in waves around her head, she tries to swim. She's rusty, it almost makes her laugh. She's useless and her muscles are weak. But she's alive and she's swimming.
She doesn't care about the flashes. She knows. Where he is. How to reach for him, wherever she is.
She has everything memorized. Everything comes to her now that she can act.
She smiles, showing off her teeth. She swims.
She is coming after him.
I'm going to meet you Booker, she thinks. And you'll regret it.