He walked ahead with Michael. I knelt beside the man. He was lying on his back, his eyes closed, his hands folded on his chest. He would have looked like an effigy, if not for his Scion uniform—red tie, black suit, all soaked with blood. When I checked his pulse, he opened one eye. With sudden urgency, his ring-laden hand clasped mine.

“You’re the girl.”

I kept still. “Who are you?”

“Wallet. Look.”

After a moment, I pulled the leather wallet from inside his jacket. Inside was an id card. He was from the Starch. “You work for Weaver,” I said softly. “You sick, sick bastard. You did this. All of this. Did he send you to watch me die? To keep an eye on the hell he threw us into?”

He was an obscure person, someone whose name I didn’t recognize. “They will d-destroy—everything.” Blood glinted on his lips.

“Who?”

“The c-creatures.” He drew in a labored breath, throat rattling. “Find—find Rackham. Find him.”

With those words, he died. I held his wallet in my hands, shivering in the sudden cold.

“Paige?”

Nick had come back for me. “He was from Scion.” I shook my head, exhausted. “I don’t understand anything anymore.”

“Nor do I. We’re being played, sötnos. We just don’t know what we’re playing yet.” He squeezed my hand. “Come on.”

I let him pull me to my feet. As soon as I was upright, I heard the distant gunshot. My back tensed rigid. The emissaries. They must have reached the sally port. At the same time, the æther gave off an odd signal. Four yellow-eyed figures were heading toward us. “Rephs,” I said. My feet were already moving. “Run. Nick, run!”

He didn’t argue. Our boots pounded on the cold earth, but the Rephs were hot on our heels, faster than us. I pulled a knife from my backpack and turned, intending to put it through an eye, but my hand was stopped by Terebell Sheratan. “Terebell,” I said, my chest heaving. “What do you want?”

Terebell looked me in the eye. With her were Pleione, Alsafi, and a younger female I didn’t recognize. And behind them, her shirt torn and bloodied, was Dani. The sight of her took a weight off my shoulders.

“We brought your friend,” Terebell said. Her eyes held little light. “She will not last long here.”

Ignoring them all, Dani limped past me, heading for the group of stragglers. She looked like death. “What do you want in return?” I said, wary. “You don’t want to come on the train.”

“If we did wish to come, you would not stand in our way. We have all saved human lives. We have brought your friend to you, and delayed the Night Vigilance Division. You are beholden to us.” Alsafi stared me out. “Fortunately for you, dreamwalker, we are not bound for the citadel. We have come for Arcturus.”