How much control does Constantine hold over her? The Talin I knew would rather die than threaten the lives of her former companions like this. I shudder to imagine the kind of pain she must be feeling, but I sense a wall of resistance through our link. I know there is nothing I can do.

I look back at the others. Adena meets my gaze with her own, and her eyes are hollow with defeat. We have lost. It is over.

Suddenly I hear a single, final word from Talin through our link.

Go.

I don’t know if it’s our bond that lets me guess exactly what she wants to do, our unconscious sense of her emotions and thoughts. But I understand immediately. She’s trying to help me. She knows I cannot, under any circumstances, fall back into the hands of the Federation.

Then Talin rushes at me—but she leaves me the slightest fraction of a second to act.

I sense the tiny advantage and take it. My wings unfurl in a single, snapping motion, and pain shoots through my back. I push off the ground in a burst of strength and take Caitoman with me. The General struggles in my grasp, but I grit my teeth and concentrate, using everything in me to fly as high as I can.

Behind me comes a rush of wind. Talin has taken off in pursuit of me. I push one more time with my injured wings and feel the strain in my back. It’s as far as I can go.

That’s when I release Caitoman.

He plummets with a strangled shout. I only dare a single glimpse down to see Talin forced to pause in her flight. She swivels in her attack, metal wings carving a mighty arc through the air, then twists to reach out for Caitoman. She catches him as I swerve into a sharp glide and hurtle away from the scene.

I don’t get the chance to see what happens to the others. I don’t know whether Constantine orders them all gunned down. I only see the expression on Talin’s face as she looks up, the reflection of unshed tears glossy in her eyes. The other part of me, the part that speaks into the hollows of my mind, echoes loudly through me now.

You can’t save them. It’s the curse of your life. All you can do is run.

8

TALIN

My first thought after Red has escaped is one I hate. Did Constantine sense what I told Red? Does he know I let him escape? Will this be what kills my mother?

Did Red make it out alive? Will they hunt him down? Will the others be allowed to live?

This is what my fear of the Premier has done to me.

As Caitoman tumbles past midair, I grasp his arm and swing with him for a second, carried by his momentum. Then my other hand steadies my grip, and I hold him there for an instant before lowering him carefully to the ground. The General rolls in a shower of dust before leaping to his feet, his eyes already searching the sky for where Red might have gone.