They pulsed an ominous shade of red, blood red, bathing the tunnel in a creepy crimson glow. It wasn’t a strong light, but after their eyes adjusted to it, it was enough to see by.

Jack was glad for that because Lily only had a regular flashlight and Easton had his barrel-mounted one. And all Jack had was his helmet-mounted penlight. He wanted to preserve their batteries. Anytime they could make do with another light source, they would.

It was just as well, because they walked for hours.

During that time, they passed sixteen pairs of sentinel statues. Each time they came to them, they skirted them warily and in silence, but no silvermen emerged from the stone statues.

They pressed on through the red darkness.

They walked in single file.

Smiley led the way, followed by Jack and Lily, then Easton.

At first they talked as they walked, but as the hours ticked by, they began to walk in silence.

After a time, moving along behind Jack, Lily began to notice something more in his silence.

His head was bowed, his steps more of a trudge than the usual springing stride. He had withdrawn into his mind, into himself.

Zoe, Lily thought.

She skipped up beside him. ‘Hey there, champ. How you doing?’

He blinked out of his reverie, caught.

‘To be honest, not so good, kiddo,’ he said. ‘My mind’s a mess. Got all kinds of thoughts running through it. How I can’t believe she’s gone, how she was taken so suddenly, why I didn’t hang back with her, how much I loved her, how much I already miss her, how I can’t really comprehend going on without her, and why I should bother saving a world that will never know or even care about her sacrifice—’

‘All right, stop right there, mister!’ Lily snapped with surprising sternness.

As she said it, she jumped in front of him, halting him in mid-stride.

Jack stared blankly at her.

Easton paused a few steps behind them, not daring to intervene.

Lily pointed right at Jack. ‘Okay, listen up and listen good, because I’m only gonna say this once and I only want to say it once. Put those thoughts away for now. Put them in a box in the back of your mind, somewhere out of the way. You can wallow in them later, but right now, you and I have a universe to save. Zoe was on the same mission, and if you give it all away now you give up what she was fighting for, too.’

Tears welled in Jack’s eyes.

Lily saw them. She wanted to cry, too—cry her eyes out—but she couldn’t yet.

She had to hammer this home.