She faced the blank, pulsing wall. Wiped sweaty hands on her trousers. Took long, deep breaths. I’m fine, she thought. Just fine.

But the narrow space was getting to her. I just need to rest. Just need to get my bearings….

She slumped to the floor. Curled up into a ball on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. It was dark and damp and it wasn’t getting any better. She squeezed her eyes shut. Deep breaths. Calm. She needed to stay calm.

“Nyx?”

She wasn’t sure how long it had been. Her heart thudded loudly in her chest. Her breath was coming shallow. The stink of the hold was overpowering.

“Nyx?”

She stared up. There, outlined in the darkness, was a slim little woman holding a rather large gun.

“Kage?” Nyx said.

“Get up,” Kage said. “I know the way out.”

Nyx rubbed her face. “I… I’m having some trouble, here.”

“It’s fine. Come. Stand up. Just take some deep breaths. Come on. I know the way out.”

Nyx managed to get up on all fours. She clawed her way to her feet, using the gooey wall as leverage. Kage turned, and Nyx grabbed the back of the girl’s tunic.

Kage walked through the twisting darkness like it was a bright day in the desert. Nyx stumbled along behind her.

“Here,” Kage said. She slipped through some crevice that Nyx hadn’t even noticed. They stepped out into the open.

Nyx gulped air.

Kage patted her back.

Nyx looked up. “Where are we?” She didn’t recognize the landscape.

“The camp is on the other side of Bomani.” Kage pointed. “Just go that way, back around the hold. They’re waiting. I told them I’d find you.”

Kage began walking, but not back around Bomani—she went north, into the desert.

“Where are you going?”

Kage glanced back. “I’m done now,” Kage said.

“What?”

“I came to help with this job. The job is over. You found your politician.”

“But… But I don’t have him yet!”

“You know where he is. My debt is paid.”

“Debt?”

“I have saved another life.”

“But… he’s not saved!”

“Not him,” she said. “You.”

“What?”

“They were not coming to get you,” Kage said. “They were going to leave you. Your team. But I couldn’t. You kept wanting me to kill things. But that wasn’t how I could discharge my debt. I had to save people. I don’t expect you to understand.”

“Kage, wait—”

Kage pressed her palms together and gave a little bow of her head. Nyx had seen Drucians greet one another that way. “I can’t say I like you very much,” Kage said, “but I hope you achieve an end most appropriate to the way you have lived.”

“Kage—”

“I must go,” Kage said, “before it ends for me, too.” She began to run. North. Into the desert.

The bloody fucking desert.