The rest of the group hug us and wish us luck. Pod walks to the door marked STAFF ROOM, now the library’s armory. I go with him and look inside.

“Whoa,” I say, looking at the array of ancient guns and knives. There’s even a sword, five proximity mines, and three round metal things the size of tennis balls. “What are these?” I ask, grabbing one.

“That,” Pod replies, deftly removing it from my hand, “is a grenade. An ancient explosive from the Second World War. It’s very dangerous, don’t play with it.”

“How does it work?” I ask.

“You pull the pin and four seconds later, boom!” he says, grinning. “I found them in a museum—they were decommissioned but I fixed them. Before the city was swarming with soldiers I tested one. They’re pretty awesome.”

He puts the grenade carefully back on the shelf and hands me an old handgun, smiling apologetically. “It’s from, like, the twentieth century, I guess. Takes bullets. We got it from the museum too, and I managed to get it working again. You have eighteen rounds of ammo, so be careful—it’s not like a USW where you can just keep on firing. And it’s loud, really loud, so only fire it if you absolutely have to. Happy will hear it and will come for you.”

“Thanks,” I say, turning the weapon over in my hands. I’m surprised by how light it is. It seems to be made of some kind of primitive polymer. “How do I fire it?”

As Pod gives me a quick demonstration, Akimi grabs a much more modern Ultrasonic Wave rifle from the armory. “How come she gets a USW?” I ask.

“Because she’s the best shot,” Sam says, walking past us and taking her own gun out of her backpack. Hers is an early model USW. Better than my antique, but not great.

We head back into the main room, and Pander waves from the crow’s nest. “All clear,” she calls, and then we leave, back through the bathroom. I touch Kina’s hand before climbing down into the sewer.

We make it to the street by the courthouse, and I follow Sam and Akimi toward the center of town.

The sun is low in the sky as evening falls, but it’s still bright and I’m wondering if broad daylight is the best time to be raiding a city full of Alt soldiers and hosts who want to capture us and use us as batteries. I doubt it helped Sam and Pander earlier.

We move quietly to an old, abandoned office block and slip inside through a broken window. The three of us crouch down behind an upturned desk.