Rosa slammed into the sentry tower with all the force of her three thousand pounds. Archie pressed herself against the hippo’s back as the boat barrelled toward her. In front of her, Houndstooth did the same, pressing one hand against the stone of the tower as if it could steady him.

And then the boat was passing them. Not missing them—the leg of Archie’s breeches tore open and she felt half of her skin go with the fabric—but not striking them. Not killing them.

The boat slammed into the Gate with a deafening crash.

The current was strong, and the Sturgess Queen was massive—but the Gate was bigger. The Gate was stronger. It groaned under the impact of the riverboat, but it held. The water at the base of the boat flushed pink with the pulp of the two men who had been crushed against the grate. The debris that the current pushed toward it gathered against the hull of the Sturgess Queen: sticks and leaves and a half-rotted rowboat. As Archie watched, a tiny, squirming hop poked its head out of the water, scrabbling against the side of the boat.

Travers’ two remaining goons eased around the corner of the sentry tower. They didn’t seem to notice Archie and Houndstooth as they splashed in the water, arguing over who would be first up the ladder and into the ranger’s tower, to safety. One of them managed to dunk the other, and clambered over him toward the ladder. The man in the water reached up an arm to grab his colleague’s leg.

With a jerk and a splash, the man disappeared under the water. He came back up again, sputtering. Then he was airborne, flipped by the nose of the first adult feral to reach the Gate.

Archie and Houndstooth watched as the man flailed between the feral’s jaws. The man screamed in ear-splitting agony as his blood ran down the hippo’s jowls and into the water. His colleague scrambled up the ladder to safety, not looking back even as the screams died with a wet crunch.

“Archie,” Houndstooth said, his voice thick. “I think this might be it.”

“You may be right, ’oundstooth,” Archie replied grimly. “But I am determined to live. And determination is everything, is it not?”

She swung her meteor hammer in a wide circle over her head and watched the water as the ferals surged toward them, borne on the swell of the current. The heavy metal head whipped through the air as it gained speed.

At first, the ferals didn’t notice Houndstooth and Archie. They were smacking into each other, into the Sturgess Queen. They bellowed and bit as the water shoved them into each other. One of the bulls let out a roar that rattled Houndstooth’s very bones.