I forced the worry out of my eyes as I turned to Pierce. “Keep me alive when it’s over?” I said weakly, and he took my hand. It was a horribly romantic gesture, and it only made me feel worse. Things were clearer to me than they had ever been, and yet I gave his fingers a squeeze before I pulled away and turned to Vivian. There was a radio playing somewhere, and she was squinting up into the distant buildings, trying to place the sound. Otherwise, it was silent, rubble strewn about the edge of the shore. On the bay, it was beautiful, not a car on the bridge or a boat running out to Alcatraz. Hi, Mary. Eat your toast and kill your magic. It’s not worth it.

I didn’t understand this. My entire life would be decided in the next five minutes, the lives of Ivy and Jenks, the safety of all good people, and here I was delighting in the smell of the seaweed and how the sun shone on the tiny little bugs darting on the hard-packed shore.

“Vivian,” I said, forcing myself to look back to her. “Oh, Vivian,” I said, softer when I saw her fear.

“I’m fine,” she asserted, her voice shaking. “Trent isn’t answering his phone. I’m sorry. I’ll keep trying. I think he flew back to Cincinnati with his little girl. What else can I do? I want to help.”

The woman was terrified, and my heart went out to her. She had fought Ku’Sox for three days, seen two of her peers eaten alive. And yet she stood by me, ready to fight to the last. I didn’t want her here. I needed her in the city finding me a collective.

My hair lifted in the wind off the bay, and I smiled at the feeling. Focus, Rachel, focus. “Will you go back to the city for me?” I said, figuring the I.S. “driver” had left the keys.

“L-leave you?” she stammered, and I took her arm, leading her back to the van. “I can help!”

“I’m counting on it,” I said. “I need you to go back. Stop at every church you can find. There are people there, right? Get them to ring the bells for me.”

She stared, her blue eyes going wide. “For a collective,” she said breathily, realizing what I was asking. A city-wide collective hadn’t happened since the Turn. It was both a warning and a gathering. An act of trust. I didn’t know if they would help or not, but if they didn’t, then I would fail and they would suffer.

“I’ll do it,” she said, her voice trembling. “Rachel, if I have to light a fire in the middle of San Francisco, I will get you a collective. I promise.”

Somehow I managed a smile, and I stumbled when she gave me a quick hug. Her eyes were brimming when she stepped back.

I blinked fast, trying not to tear up. “Thanks,” I said, and her dusty shoes with the little bows scraped as she started to drift backward. “Don’t take too long.”