He was having so much fun up there, alone with his thoughts, that the time kind of got away from him. Chuckling at his own giddiness, he got himself back on track, and the wind picked up as he got nearer to Chicago’s harbour. Jackie Earl’s compound was bordered by a tall fence. The main warehouse was accessed through an open courtyard with buildings on either side. Watchtowers stood in the south-east and north-west corners. By the time Jack landed on the roof, the sentries in those watchtowers had already met Tanith Low’s blade.

“You’re late,” Sabine whispered.

Jack scanned the area, keeping his face away from her so she wouldn’t see the goofy smile. She’d been worried about him.

“Tanith and Sanguine are over there,” Sabine said. “Annis is that way.” Jack nodded, but didn’t move. This was a special moment for both of them.

Sabine checked her watch as they crouched there on the roof in the dark. Then she checked it again. Jack knew how she felt. The minutes were skipping by much too quickly.

Sabine nibbled her lip. Jack would have given anything to nibble that lip.

“Sorry?” Sabine said, looking at him.

Jack paled. “What?”

“You said something.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Something about a lip.”

He shook his head. “It’s the wind. It carries words and changes them. I didn’t say lip, I said this is the tip. Of the iceberg. Regardin’ what we came here to do. You nervous?”

“I’m fine.”

She walked away a little, trying to see if Tanith and Sanguine had moved from their position. Jack followed, and smiled at her.

“I hate this waitin’ around stuff,” he said. “Much rather get in there, where the action is.”

Sabine didn’t answer. She didn’t even look at him. Jack frowned. Did that mean she hadn’t heard him? She probably hadn’t. Not in this wind. Plus she was so preoccupied with her nerves and such that his words had probably failed to even register.

He smiled again, wider this time. “I hate this waitin’ around stuff. Much rather get in there, where the action is.”

Sabine frowned, and looked at him, and Jack realised she had heard him. “Um,” she said, “right.”

That familiar stench wafted towards them, of fish and dead otter.

“I hate waiting, too,” said Black Annis, not looking at either of them. “I prefer being in the thick of the action.”

“Didn’t you use to live in a ditch?” asked Jack.

Annis mumbled something and wandered away, and Jack turned back to Sabine. “You shouldn’t be nervous.”

“I’m not. I’m just... I don’t know why I’m doing this. Why am I helping Tanith help Darquesse? They both want to end the world. I don’t want to end the world. I may have broken a few laws now and then, but I’m not... evil.”