Frantic, I glance around for another platform and scramble toward it. Argos is still at my side and he bites at my skirt to get me to stop and I stumble and fall to my knees. I look up and see Travis at the ladder, not ten lengths from where I kneel. He's waiting for his turn to climb, Cass at his side.

I can't stop myself from shouting out his name.

It's useless, of course. The siren is too loud, our combined panic deafening us. I yell again, closing my eyes with the effort of pushing every bit of breath in my body into this one word.

The siren cuts off just as the sound leaves my mouth and the world is silent except for me and the echo of Travis's name leaving my lips.

It's as if I've frozen the world for this moment. He looks up and our eyes connect. Two heartbeats, and then three—we are almost one person. There amongst the nothingness we exist for a brief moment in our own calm and I can almost imagine the feel of his lips against my wrists.

And then there's a tug on my sleeve as men begin to shout out orders and the moans of the Unconsecrated press in around us, crashing into the silence. I swing out wildly with my bag but it's Harry again and he deflects my blows.

He grabs my arm and pulls me away from the circle of houses, away from the too-full platforms and Travis and toward the Cathedral. I hear people screaming. Panic, pain, terror.

The sound becomes a harmony with the moans, with the shouts of battle.

Something pulls at my hair and I stumble, fall to one knee. I roll to the side as slick gray arms lunge for me. I'm on my back, Argos barking madly as an Unconsecrated woman falls toward me. I thrash at the grass around me with my hands until I feel the smooth wood of my knife. I swing up and around and bury the blade in the Unconsecrated woman's shoulder.

It's the first time I have used a weapon against an Unconsecrated, and I gag as I feel the smooth metal slice through the flesh and dig into bone. The woman keeps coming at me, her arm almost severed, her filthy blond hair falling in clumps across her face. I try to pull at the blade to dislodge it but can't seem to gain enough leverage.

She continues to fall on top of me. Her mouth is hanging open and I can see the gaps from where she is missing teeth. I hold up my hands to try to keep her away and she claws at me.

Her mouth is so close to my flesh that I can feel the stench of death seeping through me. I kick at her, whip my arms at her, but to no avail. I close my eyes and wait.