Winston looked away, his thoughts warring across his face. The temptation Adrian had offered him fighting against whatever loyalty he still had for Nightmare and the Anarchists.
“She, um … she likes to go to … the … park?”
Disappointment fell across Adrian’s face. “The park,” he repeated dryly.
In contrast, Winston was all joviality for what he must have thought was a quick-witted, completely believable lie. “Yes. She really loves going to the park.”
“City Park?”
“Oh no, no,” said Winston enthusiastically, “Cosmopolis Park.”
Nova coughed, covering her mouth to try to hide her amusement.
Adrian glanced back.
“Sorry,” said Nova.
He sighed, returning his focus to Winston. “You’re telling us that Nightmare likes to spend time at an amusement park.”
“Oh yes. She goes there all the time. Particularly enjoys the, uh, the fun house.” He giggled madly and shrugged, as if to suggest, Those crazy kids, who knows what they’ll be into next!
“Can I ask a question?” said Ruby.
“Please do,” said Adrian, stepping back from the table and gesturing for her to proceed. It was clear from the frustration in his eyes that this interrogation was not going how he’d hoped.
Ruby took a step forward, idly swinging her bloodstone back and forth like a pendulum. Winston followed it with his eyes, leaning slightly back as if afraid she was about to stab him with the thing. And quite possibly she was. “The Anarchists have been, let’s say, fairly inactive for nine years, right? But Nightmare appears to be pretty young. Definitely younger than the rest of your gang. So what I want to know is how she came to join you all in the first place. Are you recruiting new members?”
“Oh,” said Winston, apparently gleeful to be able to answer this question without having to strain himself too much to come up with a sensible lie. “Nope, no recruitment. Actually, Ace brought her.”
“Ace?” said Oscar, with a disbelieving laugh. “Ace Anarchy?”
“Please,” said Adrian, “she would have been a kid back then.”
“Yes!” Winston said, his head bobbing in agreement. “She was just a kid.”
They stared, speechless, for a long time. Finally, Adrian said simply, “Explain.”
But by this time Winston seemed to have withdrawn back into his thoughts and was doubting his eager explanation. He looked again at Nova, and she shrugged at him, not really knowing how much trouble the truth would cause her at this point.
Winston, though, opted not to tell the truth, and again his face took on that fearful, uncertain look. “Ace found her…，” he started. After a long inhale, he continued, “At Cosmopolis Park!”
“Of course he did,” said Oscar. “Where else?”
“No, no, it’s the truth,” Winston insisted. “I used to do business there, you know, before your Council made it so”—he grimaced—“wholesome. And one day, there was this kid. This girl. Wandering around after dark. The park had been closed for hours and, well, Ace found her and came to understand that her parents had left her there. Just … abandoned her. So he gave her some cotton candy, and … well, that was it. We had ourselves a little Nightmare.” He started to smile—a real smile that stretched the dark lines on his chin. “She and I used to play together. When she was scared at night sometimes, I would entertain her with puppet shows. She especially liked shadow puppets, which are something of a specialty of mine. Remember that, N—” He hiccupped. Coughed. “Uh, I remember that Nightmare well. Little Nightmare. We were buds…” His brow creased, a sadness overshadowing the sudden burst of joy. “Back then, at least.”
Nova felt like her heart was being torn apart. For the past number of years she’d thought of Winston as little more than a nuisance, but he was right. They had been friends when she was young. How had they lost that? How had she become such a … such an Anarchist?
She kept her eyes on him, wishing he would look up at her, wishing she could convey that she was sorry, and that she did remember those times, all those sleepless nights when he had made her laugh, and how much that had meant to her.
But this time, Winston kept his head down.
Behind him, the door clunked, and the guards returned.
The interrogation was over.
Walking back into the hallway outside the interrogation room, Nova felt as though a hundred Gargoyles were perched on her shoulders. She would have thought that to be leaving that room with her secret still intact would have left her buoyant and overjoyed, but she felt only guilt.