Sammi would ensure that Mallian, the cause of their murder at the hands of the Kin-killer Gregor, would remember all their names one last time.

“Come back,” she whispered, and she sent the words towards their targets as hard as she could. “You have to come back. I need you.”

She sat in the darkness, face turned up to the sky instead of down at the ground, and let the cool rain wash over her skin.

* * *

Angela heard the call and ran. It left a stain in her mind, like old pencil marks on her brain that would take a while to rub away. It was not a nice feeling, but it was Sammi, so she heeded the words.

A Sammi she no longer knew.

* * *

“We have to run,” Vince said. He leaned against the wall of the tunnel, swaying as the wooziness left him. Sammi’s urgent words echoed in his mind. She was calling him back, and he had to know why. “The fastest way up and out, Dastion. Now!”

Dastion nodded and led the way.

* * *

“I have to go back to the world and do it there,” Sammi said. “If I even can. I’ll have one shot, and it’ll be a weak attempt, but if I can take him by surprise it might work.”

“Mallian’s already murdered,” Vince said. “A cop. He let the other one go, and the whole thing’s recorded on their body-cams. Ascent’s begun, whether we like it or not.”

“But he’s still waiting,” Angela said. “Gathering his forces.”

Sammi looked around at the small group and wondered what they could do. She realised that their willingness to try against much greater odds was their finest weapon, but she was also terrified that it could only end in death and defeat.

“I wish I thought I could do it now,” she said. “I’m useless. Useless!”

“No!” Angela said. “This is all of us, not just you. We work together and it’ll happen. Vince?”

“Yeah,” Vince said. He was covered in dirt and dust and Sammi couldn’t read his expression, but the doubt was evident in his voice. “The army is on its way.”

“And that’s when it’ll get out of control,” Angela said. “Mallian will set Grace against the army, and the whole world will see what she, and he, can do. We have to stop them before that happens. Before this all goes too far.”

“So let’s come up with a plan,” Vince said. He moved closer to Angela and Sammi saw them holding hands, and in that small expression of love she found hope.

28

28

Angela insisted that this time, she and Vince remain together. He didn’t disagree. They both realised how unlikely it was that their plan would work. They were probably going to die, and after everything they had been through, they didn’t want to die alone.