Thora launches herself at the man without even pulling out her weapon. It’s madness, but she is not afraid. She is Thora Lišková, and she is immortal, and she will not let God or fate or the universe take Santi away from her, not this time.

She hits the man with all her strength. He stumbles but keeps his feet, turning to lunge at her. In her delirium, she can’t tell if the knife misses or passes clean through her. She dodges, grabbing his wrist and wrenching it until the knife falls. Thora yells, knees him in the stomach, and brings him down. He huffs out his surprise as she cuffs him cleanly.

The backup team swarms in. Someone lifts the man to his feet, escorts him away. Thora stands unmoored, empty with victory. Then she sees Santi on his knees, fingers at his throat slick with blood.

“No.” She falls to her knees beside him, hands searching uselessly for the artery. “López. Santi. Wolfie, come on.” Sirens wail, not close enough. Thora feels like she’s observing it all from afar, a tiny figure in a distant universe. “No, no, no, fuck you, no!” She holds on to him, tight and desperate. “Don’t leave me alone in this.”

Santi’s mouth opens, his eyes fixed on hers. “Remember,” he says, before he goes limp in her arms.

Look Behind You

Santi wakes on an unmoving train.

He lurches forward, wincing at the pain in his neck. Where is he? He peers through the window into a high, vaulted space. Cologne Hauptbahnhof: his destination.

He sits back, pressing his eyes until he sees stars. Didn’t he just come from here? It feels as if he got on the train backward, rode it the wrong way through time to end up where he started.

The conductor strides through the carriage. “Bitte aussteigen! Der Zug endet hier!”

Everything ends here. Santi gets to his feet like a man in a dream. He stumbles down the steps from the platform to the busy concourse. He planned to get a taxi to his hotel, have a shower and rest, ready to start the job that is the reason he moved here. Instead, he lingers, scanning the faces in the crowd. He knows no one in this city. Why does it feel like someone should be here to greet him?