“Your sister needs looking after,” he said, “and the city’s full of crazy confused people.” He arranged cartons of eggs, and a loose pyramidal pile in their center. Claire hauled a crate of eggplant onto the Rafferty stand’s counter and pulled plump dark plants out two by two. She set them down hard enough to bruise the flesh, but he didn’t say anything about that because she certainly knew. “What if your sister had another episode?”

“Stop,” was the first word she’d said to him all morning other than “hello.” “Matt.” She leaned against the counter, lowered her head so her blond hair fell across her face, then turned to him. He held one egg in each hand, and felt faintly ridiculous. “You think I don’t know?”

“I’m worried,” he repeated, and put down the eggs.

“Yesterday we met a blind old woman who fell, alone, in her house—her son who lives with her was stuck on a double shift dockside—she hurt herself and no one came to her but—” She pointed up, and she was not pointing to the sun. “A five-year-old girl’s cat escaped through a window cracked open at night and she chased it out of doors only to lose herself until Seril’s children found her. A university student was being”—she shook her head, to clear it—“raped. Until. A single mother lost her job and would have lost her home if not for. Ellen talks to them all. People I couldn’t see. You don’t let others’ pain inside, you know? Not if you have enough already, and everyone always has enough.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Everything’s dangerous in this city, Matt. Especially for women. I’m not a religious person, but Ellen is. Seril’s good for her, and for us. You’ve seen that.”

“Gargoyles can’t solve the world’s problems.”

“But they can help. They have helped. And Seril needs help now. Ellen wants to get everyone together, everyone who’s prayed to the goddess.”

“You can’t fight Craftsmen.”

“We can try. This will be over in a day or two, one way or another. For now, my sister needs me.” Lettuce shook as she dropped heads onto the counter. “You saw what happened to Ellen when they hurt Her. I won’t let that happen again.”

He finished his pyramid of eggs. Then he built a second.

“Hey,” he said after a while. “I’m sorry.”

Ray Capistano’s knife blade struck his butcher’s block.

“Donna and I care about you. If we can help, let us.”

When he looked at her, she was looking back.

“As a matter of fact,” she said.

*   *   *

The red lightning struck more often as Tara and Shale descended into the mountain.