Jack thought he saw more figures in the shadows behind her: Lily and—wait—Alby?

Christ, maybe I’m still dreaming . . .

‘You . . .’ Ezekiel growled at Zoe.

Zoe reeled in the Maghook and it whizzed across the floor, returning to the launcher.

‘Now, boys,’ she said, ‘are we not playing nicely?’

Ezekiel reached for his gun.

But Zoe sprang forward quickly and kicked it out of his hand and it went skittering down the tunnel.

And as Jack sat there, dumbfounded, on the floor of the tunnel, Zoe and Ezekiel—the leader of an order of women-hating monks—fought.

Ezekiel seemed as shocked as Jack while Zoe was energised beyond belief.

However she had got here, she’d been storing up a wave of anger and now she was unloading it on Ezekiel.

Zoe attacked the monk furiously, punching him all over—in the face, throat and kidneys—forcing him back toward the ledge overlooking the four-sided maze.

‘Don’t like women, huh?’

Punch.

‘Don’t like the sound of our voices, huh?’

Punch.

‘And this is for trying to kill my man.’

Punch. That final blow caused Ezekiel to stagger and Zoe took the opportunity to snatch the greystone hourglass that hung from his neck and ram it into his mouth.

The hourglass smashed inside his mouth and the grey powder puffed out in a little cloud as Ezekiel gagged—

—just as Zoe grabbed a water bottle from her belt and poured it into Ezekiel’s mouth. Then she clamped her other hand over his lips, forcing him to swallow, causing the greystone to run down his gullet into his stomach.

The response came a few seconds later.

Ezekiel convulsed, his face turning purple.

The water inside his stomach was turning to stone and doing all sorts of internal damage.

He looked up in horror at Zoe, his eyes bulging red.

‘Die knowing this,’ Zoe said. ‘You got beat by a girl.’

And with those words, she side-kicked him off the ledge and the gagging-choking-dying monk went sailing down into the maze, falling a full hundred metres before he landed on one of the trench walls.

With the whiplashing impact, Ezekiel’s head was snapped back at an obscene angle, his neck breaking instantly, and the leader of the Order of the Omega was no more.

Zoe raced over to Jack and wrapped her arms around him.

Jack wobbled in her embrace.

Over her shoulder he saw Lily and, yes, Alby hanging back, letting Zoe have her reunion with him.

But then Lily couldn’t wait and she raced over and embraced Jack and Zoe as one.

‘I really hope I’m not dreaming,’ he said weakly.

Zoe held him away from her. ‘You’re not dreaming, handsome. I’m here.’

‘But how did you—I mean—I thought you fell back in the—and then there was the Endless Tunnel to get through—and the flooded city-maze.’