Serina sent twenty women back to the compound to relieve Ember. “You see those rogue guards, you put them down, understand? Station yourselves in the hallway itself, and at the entrances to the building. Hide in the woods. If they come back for the others, we’ll get them.”

The women nodded and disappeared into the night.

“I need another twenty of you to stay here,” Serina continued, glancing around the gathering. “Protect our injured and the women too weak to fight. Hotel Misery is our home. Do not let them in.”

Val locked the firearms in a room in the hotel, distributing several to the girls who’d done the best in training. Maris, Helena, and Anika were among them.

Serina wished there was time to take the dead to the volcano, but they had to find the guards first. She couldn’t let them run loose on the island. They could cause far too much damage.

“Where would they go?” Serina asked Val.

“We should kill the guards still in the compound,” Anika said before he could answer. “They’re a threat to us. We—”

“We said we’d leave them on the island when we escape,” Serina interrupted. Maybe it wasn’t such a large difference, shooting them now or leaving them to starve. But there was a chance they could survive that way. That was the difference. That’s what made the women of Mount Ruin different from the men. She’d made herself a promise that they wouldn’t kill anyone unless they absolutely had to. And as long as those men stayed locked up, they weren’t a threat.

Serina didn’t want anyone haunted by these guards. And executing someone—staring into their eyes and pulling the trigger—that would haunt you.

Val stared at the shadowy swirl of rock beneath his feet as he thought. “I don’t think Diego, Hector, and Nero will go back for the other guards. At least not right away. They’ve no supplies, no weapons. They would have gone for the stream first, for water. Maybe they’ll aim for one of the guard towers to give themselves a vantage point. Some of the towers have a few supplies, some food, maybe some water.”

“Weapons?”

“No. No weapons. Commander Ricci didn’t want any caches in the guard towers, in case a guard missed his shift or left the tower unprotected. He didn’t trust you lot.”

“A reasonable instinct, as it turned out.” Anika glanced over her shoulder. Serina wondered if she was imagining the escaped guards staring out at her from the darkness. That was what Serina was doing. She shivered, even though the night was warm and thick with humidity and volcanic haze.

“Let’s get them.” Serina bounced on the balls of her feet, nervous energy making her restless. “Before they can hurt anyone else.”