“Yes, and now the sun is down, and the night creatures have stirred themselves to begin hunting. The danger of sunset is proximity to their dens and hidey-holes. They tend to be hungry when they wake, and no one ever sneered at a self-delivering meal.” Jack took Alexis’s hand. “Alexis will stay here to monitor Dr. Bleak’s condition and keep the doors barred against intrusion. Jill isn’t a vampire yet; the balance of power has yet to fully tip in the Master’s favor. He won’t come here again.”

“This place is made of straw and stone and fizzy chemicals,” said Sumi. “I don’t understand why the Master didn’t just light a match. Oopsie, there goes my rival, up in flame and fireworks. It would have been easier.”

“Easier, certainly, but it would have betrayed the balance, and the balance is everything,” said Jack. “If he’d burnt the building down around our ears, the other Masters, the other Doctors, they would have descended like all the demons of Hell itself coming for retribution. This is a challenge. The Master seeks complete dominion to hand to his newly minted daughter. That means he’ll seek to take things quickly and cleanly, and without violating any of the traditional rules.”

“Body-snatching is in the traditional rules?” asked Christopher.

Jack didn’t roll her eyes … quite. Christopher realized that she was wearing different glasses now, the frames a little rougher, the lenses a little thicker. They hadn’t been made by a modern optometrist. They’d been milled and crafted here, in this laboratory. “When Jill and I arrived in the Moors, Dr. Bleak convinced the Master to let me live by pointing out that I could be an endless supply of spare parts for my sister. Here, bodies are just another tool, to be stolen or traded as the people in power see fit. Burning down someone’s lab before they’ve been properly vanquished, on the other hand, is rude. Now ready yourselves. We’ve quite a way to go before we’ll see anything akin to safety.”

She turned to Alexis, offering her hands. Alexis smiled and took them.

“I wish you didn’t have to stay behind,” said Jack.

“It’s better this way,” said Alexis. “I can hook myself up to the generators if I start fading, and if the windmill lights are on, the Master’s likely to think you’re holed up in here, trying to forge a new head for Dr. Bleak. Let me buy you time.”

“If the Master returns, run.”

“I promise,” said Alexis. She leaned down, and Jack leaned in, and two of them kissed like they were alone in the room, like no one else were watching.

When Jack pulled away from Alexis and started for the windmill’s rear door, Sumi skipped over to walk beside her.