“No,” he said.

16 let out a bellow. “Traitor!”

Some of the performers fled from the word. As I shoved at 16, my skin ran with sweat under my tunic. There was a glow on the edge of my vision.

The stove. I stared at the flames creeping along the boards.

Liss struggled free from Kathryn’s grasp. She pushed at 16. Julian dragged him away from us.

A thin haze of smoke filled the shack. Liss started to gather her cards, her fingers scraping the deck back together. Kathryn pushed her head down, keeping her still. A muffled scream escaped her.

“Hey, look.” Kathryn held out a card to me. “I think this one’s for you, XX-40.”

The image showed a man lying on his front, staked by ten swords. Liss tried to take it back. “No! That wasn’t the—”

“Shut your trap!” Kathryn pinned her down. I struggled against 16, but he had me in a headlock. “Useless shitsayer bitch. You think you’ve got a hard life? You think it’s so hard to dance for them while we’re out there getting eaten alive by the Buzzers?”

“You didn’t have to go back, Kathy—”

“Shut up!” Kathryn slammed her head into the floor. She was too angry to care about the fire. “Every night I’m out in the woods watching people get their arms torn off, all to stop the Emim getting in here and ripping your worthless throat out. All so you can sit on your nancy and play with cards and ribbons. I’ll never be like you again, you hear me? The Rephs saw MORE in me!”

Julian hauled 16 outside. I made a grab for the cards, but Kathryn got there first. “Good idea, 40,” she said, almost hysterical with anger. “Let’s teach this yellow-jacket scum a lesson.”

She threw the whole deck onto the fire.

The outcome was instant. Liss let out an awful, gut-wrenching scream. I’d never heard a human being make such a sound. My hair stood on end. The cards burned up like dry leaves. She tried to grab one but I caught her wrist. “It’s too late, Liss!”

But she wouldn’t listen. She plunged her fingers into the fire, choking “no, no,’’ over and over.

With little fuel but the spilled paraffin, the fire soon went out. Liss was left on her knees, with shiny red hands, staring at the scorched remains. Her face was tinged with gray, her lips with purple. She choked out brokenhearted sobs, rocking on her heels. I cradled her against me, staring numbly at the fire. Her small body heaved.

Without her cards, Liss could no longer connect with the æther. She would have to be strong to survive the shock.

Kathryn grabbed my shoulder. “That wouldn’t have happened if you’d come with us.” She wiped her bloody nose. “Get up.”