Her eyes went round. Even I, a few feet away, could smell the distinctive bitter-sharp of coffee. Tamara reached into the bag and pulled out a few beans. She looked at Indigo, who nodded, then popped one into her mouth and chewed, eyes closing with bliss.

“Are you kidding?” I asked Indigo. “Is that standard issue for Ministers, or are you some sort of addict?”

Incredibly, he smiled. It was fleeting, but I would swear on any God of Terra Nova, Maria Nova, or the independent colonies that he did.

Tamara held out the bag for me to grab some beans for myself. I declined. “That must be really bitter.”

“It is,” Tamara said, euphoric, and ate another before returning the bag to Indigo.

We hadn’t unpacked, so repacking took only a moment. I trailed after Tamara, with Indigo falling into place behind me, as we emerged into a maze of hallways and labs.

“Stop me when you see the right number, Sean,” Tamara said.

My heart jolted. “Are we close?”

“You tell me. The labs are suites of labs, not individual rooms. This is Lab 1. This section of the ship contains Labs one through forty-nine, odd numbers only.”

I remembered how large the area had been on Tamara’s circled map. “And each of the suites are huge.”

“Yes. So we have to walk fast,” Tamara said. “We wasted a lot of time chasing each other on the other side of the ship.”

I’d completely lost track of time. “How long do we have until the star goes nova?”

“Three days, at most,” Indigo said. “But if we do not find the Philosopher Stone by day two, we won’t have enough time to escape the Nameless before the sun goes.”

So we had, at most, two days until we had to kill each other.

“Great,” I said, and the three of us walked on in silence.

I glimpsed them out of the corner of my eye as we went—the same shadowy little shapes, appearing and disappearing in doorways, always gone before my flashlight could catch them head on. I didn’t intend to mention it until I noticed that Tamara, who was leading the way as usual, was walking half-crouched, looking sharply back and forth. Her tangled hair in its ponytail clung to the tattered fabric of her jacket. She’d drawn her club, and held it clenched tightly in one hand.

“Oh, I’m not the only one who sees them,” I said.

“Sean, next time, if you notice something creepy, say something,” Tamara said.

“You didn’t notice them before?”

“Of course I noticed them. But for the future, please.”

“They’ve been following us since the strut.” Indigo sounded remarkably casual about the attention of evil ghost Children.

“I was hoping they’d peel off once they realized we weren’t easy victims, or that we’d lose them overnight.” Tamara sounded significantly less relaxed.

“What do you suggest?” Indigo asked.

“We need to lose them somehow,” Tamara said. “We can’t afford to get cornered again; only Sean’s trick with the rope got us out last time. Even you can get overwhelmed if there are enough of them, Indigo. And I’m worried that they might make a commotion… that something else might notice. That’s how it started with my team. The Children found us first.”