And there was David with Jester and his uniformed guards clustered around him. David looking all high and mighty. An emperor. His champion ready to fight the barbarian champion. She noticed that Ollie was with them. She wondered sadly if he’d gone over to the other side.

There was no one for Maxie to talk to anymore. Ollie was with David. Arran was dead. There was always Whitney, but she was in the ballroom with the little ones, trying to distract them from what was going down.

In a funny way she missed Blue. Even if he had been somewhat condescending. At least he understood what she was going through. He knew how hard it was to be a leader.

Was she still a leader? She didn’t know anymore. Everything had changed since they’d come here. Things were slipping out of her control.

She felt a tap on her shoulder.

Sophie. Standing there with her archers.

Maxie was torn. Under different circumstances they would have been friends. Sophie was someone Maxie could talk to. She would understand. But Maxie couldn’t tear down that wall between them.

“What do you want?”

“I’ve come to tell you we’re leaving,” said Sophie.

“What?”

“We just can’t stay. If it hadn’t been for Arran maybe it might have been different. As it is—we don’t like David, and you don’t like us. We’ve never fit in. And then the fight today. We’ve made up our minds, we’re going to get away while everyone’s here. But I didn’t want to go without saying anything.”

“Where will you go?”

“Don’t know, but we survived on the streets for a year, and it does seem to be safer around here, so . . .”

“Good luck . . .”

Sophie gave her a quick hug.

“I wish things had been different,” she said, and she slipped off into the shadows.

Maxie stood there stunned. Had she driven Sophie out. . . ?

Before she could get things straight in her mind, a great shout went up as Achilleus walked into the center of the ring.

Maxie looked around.

There were Pod and his fighters, like schoolboys at a soccer match, cheering their side on. Couldn’t they see how obscene this was? How disgusting? Had they really come to this? Was a human life worth so little now? She supposed this must have been what it was like in a coliseum. No different than a cup final. Cheer on your favorite; boo the losers.

No matter that they were going to be slaughtered.

She winced. The pain in her side was worse than ever. It hurt just breathing. She’d give anything to be able to rewind the events of the last day.