Wind swirls around us, flinging snow in my eyes and chapping my fingers that are already numb from gripping the rope ladder so tightly. Long-dead fingernails scrape along the bottom of my leg, trying to pull me down, and I lash out, kicking them away, but they stumble back to continue groping for me.

Elias pants, his arm pressed into his side and his face pale with pain. “Don’t do this, Ox,” he pleads.

My breath catches in my throat at the agony in Elias’s expression. I glance down at the Unconsecrated huddled beneath me. There are only a handful, more slowly making their way down the shore toward us.

If I jump I might be able to get clear of them, but it would be a stupid and risky move. If I twist my ankle or break my leg I’ll be useless, unable to get away fast enough. I press my head against my arms, trying to figure out what to do next.

There’s a commotion on the platform above me, and as I look up I see my sister elbowing a Recruiter in the gut and pulling the crossbow from him. Before anyone can react she grabs a sling of bolts and skids to her knees just above me.

Closing one eye, she aims at the nearest Unconsecrated clawing at my feet. “I’m not the best shot, so you might want to keep still,” she says, and I cringe as she exhales. There’s a sharp twang of string and the thunk of an arrowhead penetrating the plague rat’s skull, his body crumpling limply to the ground.

She’s aiming for the next one when Ox roars up behind her. “You want to join your sister? Fine!” he shouts, jamming his foot into her back just as she pulls the trigger. The bolt goes wide, burying itself in the shallow frozen water along the shore.

My sister teeters on the edge of the platform and I grab her just as she falls, pulling her against me with one arm, gripping the ladder tight with the other. Her feet kick at the empty air, the Unconsecrated below us an utter frenzy.

“No!” Elias screams, jolting toward us. Conall grabs one of his arms and another Recruiter the other. With a jerk of his foot Conall kicks at the back of Elias’s knees, forcing him down onto the platform. His face falls a few inches from mine.

His eyes strain with terror and panic. “It’ll be okay,” I tell him, trying to sound more sure of myself than I am. “We’ll take care of each other. I know how to survive.”

Next to me my sister’s wrapped an arm through the ladder and points the crossbow at the head of the nearest plague rat. Without any emotion or hesitation she pulls the trigger and it collapses, eyes falling slowly shut.

“Get him out of here,” Ox grunts.