It was Anna, knife still in hand. Maisie darted over to them, grabbing his arm.

Blood was trickling down his lips again. He reached up to wipe it away.

Anna took a step back, looking at Maisie in amusement as she pointed her knife at Lennon. “Dude, your friend is crazy.”

Tick-tick-tick.

The noise drifted over the yelling.

The amusement faded from Anna’s face. “Oh my god.”

Ticktickticktick. It was getting faster.

“Run!” Anna yelled. “Everybody run!”

Lennon took off, holding tight to Maisie’s hand.

The world exploded around him.

MAISIE

EVERYONE WAS YELLING.

Maisie loosened her grip on Lennon’s shirt and slowly pulled away from him. They’d been crouched down together behind an overturned table. She’d managed to pull him behind it just in time.

“Stop him!” She heard Val’s voice, harsh and furious, and she turned to see Beto darting around rubble, making a beeline for the exit. Two women tackled him.

She surveyed the rest of the area. There were several dead bodies, and most of them were Vals. A few women raced around, tending to the injured.

Maisie looked over at Lennon. Blood trickled from his nose, but he was in shockingly good shape, considering he’d just headbutted Declan.

“They’re gone, Val!”

Maisie turned to see Anna striding across the room.

“They took all of them,” Anna continued. “And they’re gone.”

Val cursed.

“Took what?” Maisie asked.

“Explosives,” Anna said. “Those things that they threw, with the warning ticks? Those are ours.”

“It must have been what he was after the whole time,” Val said. “He charged in here pretending to want you two and…” She trailed off, shaking her head.

“And his men took what they really wanted,” Maisie finished.

“Word has gotten out,” Anna said, with a hint of pride.

“Word has gotten out?” Maisie repeated.

“About Val’s weapons. The smoke bombs, the ten-second-warning bombs that they took—Val developed them herself. And those aren’t even the best ones.”

Maisie kind of wanted to know about the best ones.

Val stormed past them, glancing over her shoulder. “Anna, with me. You two, stay here.”

Maisie nodded, watching as Val and Anna joined a few other women at the back of the building.

Lennon was wiping the blood under his nose with the back of his hand, and she pulled off her backpack and dug inside. She produced a tissue and handed it to him. “Sit down.”

He did as ordered, plopping down on the ground and pressing the tissue to his nose. She knelt down across from him.

“I can’t believe you headbutted him.” She pushed his hair back to examine his forehead. No bruise yet.

“It seemed like the best option at the time.” He pulled the tissue away from his nose. It had stopped bleeding.

She let go of his hair and sat back on her heels. “You can actually really hurt yourself doing that. You’re lucky you hit him in the nose. I hope you broke it.”

A smile tugged at his lips. “Me too.”