The thump of the door closing sent a shock through me, and the wonderful smell of redwood grew thick as Pierce sat close, leaving a wide gap between him and the door. “Let’s move,” Oliver said sourly, and the van inched forward. Through the big front window, I watched as the lights began to flash on the lead car, and we pulled out, quiet and peaceful—like a death march.

I sat and stared out the window. The gulls had reappeared from behind the building, and I propped the window open to watch them. Oliver complained; no one listened. The birds were beautiful, their stark white and black cutting across the blue as they screamed at one another, their voices echoing among the silent, broken buildings. It was quiet, the hush spoiled as the van’s tires popped and crunched over the scattered debris.

Pierce touched my hand, trying to get my attention, but I didn’t look away from the birds.

Ku’Sox held my friends hostage. I had nothing to fight him with except a curse I didn’t know how to twist. Vivian and Oliver weren’t going to be a help. Pierce might be, but I wasn’t going to count on it.

The birds vanished behind another building, and I turned to Pierce when he squeezed my hand. He seemed different, older, tired, dirty. His hand atop mine was scraped from moving rocks, his fingernails split and knuckles gashed. His hair was gray from the dust. His youthful, never-say die determination was wearing thin. And yet, as his hand gripped mine, his first words were “Are you okay?”

Anger flashed, but his grip tightened on me when I tried to pull away. “My friends are bait in a trap for me, I’ve been unconscious for three days in Al’s kitchen, the city that cursed me is asking for my help, and you want to know if I’m okay?”

“Al hurt you?” Pierce asked, his eyes flashing, and I shook my head.

“He…” I hesitated. “He kept me safe after I proved to the collective that I was a demon,” I said, not looking as Vivian gasped and Oliver harrumphed as if he’d known it all along. I didn’t like the fact that the driver was hearing this, too, but there it was.

Pierce thought about that, his brow wrinkling even more until he smoothed it when he turned to face me squarely. “And you’re okay?” he asked again, and I didn’t say anything. No, I wasn’t okay. Fine maybe. Yeah, I was fine. Fucked in Extreme, as Ivy would say.

The car swerved to avoid another stalled vehicle, and I reached to steady myself so I wouldn’t lean into Pierce, reclaiming my hand in the process. The blue Land Rover had been abandoned when a two-ton chunk of someone’s living room had fallen on the hood. Bet that had been a nasty surprise.

We were heading down to the bay, and I caught a glimpse of it, sparkling in the quiet sun. My lungs filled and emptied. The blank faces at the hotel nudged into my thoughts. They’d called for my blood, chanted to give Trent the collective strength to slide Ku’Sox’s curse off on to me. The collective…