Then a figure emerged from the inferno.

“I see you got some new pets,” Nine said.

“They followed me home,” Six said. “Can we keep them?”

“Okay,” said Nine, kneeling down beside her. “But you’re responsible for their litter boxes.”

Six laughed. It hurt. She coughed.

“I thought you told Lexa you were fine,” said Nine.

“I didn’t want you to worry,” Six said. She tried to turn her head. “Where’s the Mog?”

Nine looked around. “Gone,” he said. “Probably ran off when she saw me coming.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Six said, coughing again.

“We need to get you out of here,” Nine said, sliding his hands under her and lifting her up.

“You don’t have to carry me,” Six said. “I can walk.”

But she couldn’t. Now that she was no longer alone, her body finally demanded rest. She gave in, closing her eyes and letting exhaustion sweep over her. All her worries—Eleni, the monsters, Sam, the parasite—retreated as she shut down. It felt as if she was falling into thick blackness. She surrendered, her head falling against Nine’s chest, and the world went dark.

CHAPTER FIVE

NEMO

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

NEMO HEARD THE FLIES BEFORE SHE SAW THEM.

She and Max were standing in the lobby of the Saturn Hotel, where Nine had told them to wait while he investigated what was happening in the tunnel connecting the hotel to the adjacent arena. Judging from the throngs of panicked people running through the lobby from that direction, Nemo guessed that whatever it was, it was bad. Several people had stumbled through covered in blood, and she’d heard the word “monster” used more than a few times.

The hotel staff didn’t seem to know what to do. A couple of security guards had come through, heading in the direction of the screaming, but hadn’t returned. The desk clerks were huddled behind the counter, looking at one another with dazed expressions as frenzied guests demanded answers.

“Looks like we got here just at the right time,” Nemo remarked.

“Or the wrong one,” said Max. “Do you hear those roars?”

Of course Nemo heard them. They seemed a lot like the roars of the monsters Magdalena had let loose in the bunker. Nemo had no doubt these sounds were coming from something even worse. Part of her wanted to go see for herself, but another part—she liked to think it was the more cautious part, and not the more fearful part—told her to stay where she was and wait for Nine to come back.

That’s when the buzzing became impossible to ignore. At first, she had thought the sound had something to do with all the commotion in the tunnel. Now she realized that it was coming from inside the hotel. And it was getting louder.

“What is that?” she asked, looking around.

The elevator doors at one end of the lobby opened and the swarm blasted into the room, a black cloud that seemed to explode, filling the air with the incessant hum of wings. Walking out of the elevator after the flies was Seamus. He strode into the lobby with his hands held up, magician-like, an expression of sadistic joy on his face as he watched people trying to swat away the insects he’d called together to form his army.