He pins me down with both hands wrapped around my neck. I thrash against him, claw at his face—but my strength is waning, and his weight holds me down. My struggles gradually weaken, and he leans harder into me, his teeth gritted and the tendons in his neck standing out with the effort. His thumbs press deep into my skin, cutting off my airflow entirely. I gape, helpless, vision fading.

“You put up a good fight,” he says grimly, his voice distant to my ears. “There’s no shame in this.”

My eyes close. Rapid images shutter across the darkness behind my lids: Daniil and Magda with drinks in hand and smiles on their faces, Pol’s gap-toothed grin when he saw me for the first time in three years, Momma’s face as she said, “I’m so proud of you.” Then—a memory of Nibiru, of stretching out on a hoverboat and gazing up at the sky with my siblings all around me. The clouds parting to let the sun shine down on my face.

I’ve fought so hard, so long, for so little. Maybe some peace won’t be so bad. Maybe this is what I’ve wanted all along. I cease my struggles, let myself drift in memory.

But the pressure on my neck disappears. Despite my readiness to give up, my body struggles to live, sucking in a desperate gasp of air to fill my empty lungs. My eyes flutter open, and I realize the weight on top of me has lifted. Captain Murdock’s face swims into my vision. He looks around, baffled, apparently not realizing he didn’t quite manage to kill me yet.

And both of us are floating. Even with my lungs desperately heaving for air and my heart pounding as I realize how close to death I just came, I grin viciously as I realize what it means.

Chaos.

A moment later, Captain Murdock lets out a surprised shout as the ceiling rushes toward us. I wrench myself free of his grip on my neck and twist my body midair. When we slam into the ceiling, the reversed-gravity momentum slams my elbow into his stomach. His mouth expels air and a spray of blood. The room is turned upside down, furniture banging into the ceiling all around us, but I ignore it and focus on my opponent as the emergency alarm starts to wail. The lights dye the room deep green.