All Just Glass - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [54]
“Kristopher, please,” she begged before he could finish the question. “I know you’re scared for me.” His anxiety and guilt were pummeling her, no matter how he tried to suppress them. “I know you think this will make me feel better. But this isn’t what I need right now.”
He nodded slowly, but she knew he was humoring her more than agreeing. He was so sure that if only he could show her his world, she would be able to accept it as fully as he did.
Nikolas cleared his throat, alerting them both to his presence. Sarah turned, wondering how long he had been standing there and how he would respond. She hadn’t needed to read Kristopher’s mind to see that she had hurt him. But Nikolas’s expression was strangely shuttered, impossible to read.
“Kristopher, I checked in with Nissa while I was out,” Nikolas said. “A lot of her people normally rely on SingleEarth, and she’s having trouble finding them all safe havens. Her people tend to trust you more than me, so I thought you might be in a better position to help. I’m sure you could do so and still get back in plenty of time to make curtain on Broadway.” Had he been standing there long enough to hear the idea, or had he known ahead of time what Kristopher had planned? Or did he just hear Sarah’s reeling reaction in her mind?
Kristopher nodded. “Sarah—”
“Go see how your sister is doing,” Sarah said. She had barely even thought about Nissa since they had first established that she was safe early that day. She hadn’t thought about the strain Nissa’s nonviolent friends must have been under. As a peace offering, she added, “What time would the show start?”
Suddenly, Kristopher’s smile was bright. “Most shows on Broadway open at eight. I’ll pick you up at seven-thirty?”
She was able only to nod. Kristopher looked like he wanted to say more, but he disappeared instead, leaving her staring at where he had been. At last, she turned to Nikolas and said, “Thanks.”
“Nissa needs the help.” He shrugged, and admitted, “But she probably would have let me provide it.”
“He just …” Her voice trailed off. She didn’t know what she could say to anyone, much less to Kristopher’s brother.
“Kristopher forgets,” Nikolas said, “that it was two years after our deaths before Kendra fairly literally dragged us to our first opera.”
The words surprised Sarah, as they cut deftly to the heart of her earlier anger. She had studied Kendra’s line, and knew what kind of magnificence most of its members had created even before they were changed. Sarah, who had never set foot in an art museum or been to so much as a high school play or a slam poetry recital, was now surrounded by immortals who had steeped themselves in the arts for years—centuries, even.
“I always assumed you were raised with all this,” she admitted to Nikolas.
“We couldn’t afford it,” he replied bluntly. “When Kaleo was courting Nissa, he would bring us art supplies. He would bring art books and describe some of the wonders of the world. But for some reason,” he said, his tone ironic, “Nissa wasn’t comfortable with the notion of his taking us into the city or around the world to actually go to a museum or a theater.”
“I still feel like I can’t afford it,” Sarah confided. “There is so much to deal with right now, it seems like a bad time to pick up hobbies.”
“I would argue,” Nikolas said thoughtfully, “that now is an excellent time to discover what beauty the world has to offer, but if you are not ready, then we may as well focus on the task at hand. Survival, right?”
She nodded. “The hunters—”
“Secondary,” Nikolas said with the same cool determination she had seen in his eyes when they had fought. He held out his hand to her. “Come with me.”
She hesitated. That expression made her nervous. “To where?”
“To deal with the primary problem that makes you a danger to yourself and others,” he answered, “so we can lessen some of your fear, and hopefully allow you to relax and see a marvel of voice and body and light and language this evening.”
Sarah