“Down,” Shashahanna breathed, her voice like a rumble of distant thunder.

Vince and Dastion dropped, still and silent. Vince breathed through his mouth, listening for whatever had startled the mermaid. She touched his face, caught his attention, and pointed across the hillside.

Two figures moved from the shadow of the lush hillside onto the stark exposed reservoir bed. They paused at the divide, and Vince was sure he saw the glimmer of eyes staring his way.

He lowered his face so that the moon did not shine from his paleness.

When he looked up again the figures were walking down into the valley. They were all but silent, but they made no attempt to hide their progress. They were confident and calm. They were Kin.

As he exhaled something passed above them, a swooping shadow cast against the starlight with wide wings and a short, stumpy body. It glided above the hillside, following the line of the land down into the valley. Soon after it passed above the walking shapes it passed out of sight, lost to the darkness. Vince caught a dank and musty smell, an old smell like something unearthed after a long time buried. He rubbed his nose to try to rid himself of the scent.

He’d been expecting this, but not so soon. Kin were coming to join Mallian on foot and wing, ready for the uprising he and others had been planning for so long. Somehow he’d got word out. It was terrifying, but at least he was still readying himself for Ascent, not rushing right into it now that he had Grace under his control.

The ticking clock might have slowed a little.

Vince tapped his companions’ arms and signalled that they should return the way they’d come. Shashahanna led the way, but moments after starting back into the trees, she froze.

Vince moved beside her to see what had brought her up short.

“Bone,” Vince whispered.

“I lost you,” Bone said. “You see them?” He nodded past Vince.

“Yeah. He’s calling them to him.”

“Who’re your friends?”

“Shashahanna, Dastion. This is Bone. He’s with us.” At least I think he’s with us, Vince thought. That he was a loose cannon was for sure—he’d let the infected Kin out, after all.

“He’s already begun,” Bone said.

“Meaning what?”

“He killed a cop. I saw it. Tore him to pieces in front of his sheriff, so she could catch it all on her body-cam. And the cruiser dash-cam. Horrible, just...”

“People saw it?” Vince asked.

“The army’s on its way. I called them in. There’s stuff about me you don’t know, but the agency I work for can help. Maybe. And now Mallian’s shown his first card and there’ll be no going back. It’s all going to hell.”