Not a car. Five.

The traitor stands over me, gulping down deep breaths. His skin is metallic, but he still looks badly injured. He’s wearing an eye patch, for starters. One side of his face looks swollen, and I think I actually see dents in the metal carapace that covers his skull. He’s missing a couple of teeth. I’m not sure where he picked up those injuries, and I don’t care.

The bastard blindsided me. I was so close. Setrákus Ra was as good as dead.

My dagger is still attached to my wrist, but it’s the arm that’s dislocated. I grope for it, trying to switch hands. Before I can manage it, Five lifts me by the front of my tattered sweatshirt.

“Listen to me!” he shouts in my face.

“Go to hell,” I reply.

With my working arm, I grab Five’s metal forearm and heat up my Lumen as hot as it can go. Whatever metal he’s turned into, it definitely has a boiling point. I wonder if I can get his metal shell to melt off before he can do whatever he’s got planned.

“Stop it, John!” Five yelps, shaking me.

“You murdered Eight, you son of a bitch!”

Noxious-smelling steam curls up from between my fingers. Five’s eye widens a fraction, but he doesn’t let me loose and he doesn’t pull away. I’m hurting him and he’s just taking it.

“You arrogant asshole,” Five snaps, and he cocks back his fist like he’s going to strike me. I’m not sure I have the strength to stop him. His clenched fist trembles, and he seems to reconsider. “Listen to me, John! If you hurt Setrákus Ra, the damage will be done to Ella!”

I let the heat of my Lumen die down a fraction. My hand feels sticky with molten metal.

“What? What are you talking about?”

“It’s a charm, like the one the Elders used on us,” Five says. “He’s twisted it somehow.”

I turn off my Lumen entirely. Is Five trying to help us now? Did he knock me off Setrákus Ra not to protect his Beloved Leader but to save Ella? I don’t know what to think.

“How do we break it?” I shout at him. “How do we kill him?”

“I don’t know,” Five replies, glancing over his shoulder. His expression suddenly goes dark again, that fury I’d seen when he was about to punch me reignited. “Damn him!”

Five rips away from me and takes flight. I climb back to my feet just in time to see Nine charging at Setrákus Ra. He holds a broken piece of the stage out in front of him like a spear.

“Nine! Don’t!”

Nine doesn’t hear me, probably because he’s too busy getting sideswiped by Five. The two of them go crashing into the wreckage of the stage, broken pieces of wood flying everywhere. Once they hit, it looks like Five tries to take flight again, but Nine gets hold of his ankle.

“Where you going, fat boy?” I hear Nine yell.