Or at least that’s how it looked at first glance. Riots had broken out all around them – people were surging through the streets, breaking store windows, setting things alight. The sound of gunshots echoed from somewhere; more sirens. The Zócalo appeared to be a single heaving mass of people; Seb could hardly even see the Metro entrance. It was the same in almost every direction he looked. And the AKs’ house lay over a mile to the south, just past the thick of it all – attempting to go back there now would be madness.

Willow’s angel had joined him in the air; she swooped in a circle, her lovely features distraught. On the ground, Willow’s human self was staring at him. “Where are Alex and the team?” she said in a strangled whisper. “I can’t see them anywhere! Do you think—” She broke off.

Seb gripped her hand. “Can’t you sense them?” He meant, Can’t you sense Alex? He himself wasn’t close enough to any of the team to bother trying. The only person to whom he’d ever been close enough to sense was Willow.

As their angels returned to their human bodies, Willow closed her eyes tightly. Finally she gave a small nod. “They’re alive,” she said. “I think...I think they’re all okay. I can’t really tell; I’m too upset to get much.” Her expression was pained. Seb knew she was thinking about Alex, and dread kicked through him as he remembered what he still had to tell her.

The shouts behind them intensified; more people were throwing themselves into the fray. Glancing back, Seb could hardly even tell if it was still the Crusaders fighting the Faithful, or just herd mentality turned vicious. With a chill, he remembered the angel wings they were both wearing. “Come on, we’d better get these off,” he said, yanking the elastic straps from his shoulders. A moment later both pairs of wings lay on the ground beside the cathedral.

“What now?” asked Willow in a tiny voice. She was still clutching the file to her chest, and Seb could sense she was barely holding onto her composure – that the deaths they’d witnessed were battering at her, threatening to take her down. She cleared her throat. “I...I don’t think we’re going to make it to the house anytime soon.”

“No, it’s not safe,” agreed Seb. He felt bludgeoned by what they’d seen too; he ached to take Willow in his arms and just hold her for ever, comforting them both. But they needed a safe place to go until this was over – and given the way Céline and the others had almost recognized Willow, none of the city’s devout-filled hostels or hotels would be it.

The only direction that had looked relatively clear was to the north.