Unafraid. Wasn’t he? He’d killed Junker and dozens more. He’d carved his way down the path of vengeance and feared nothing any longer, not even death itself. Hell, maybe he was ready for it to end. He could fall to his knees, he could drop his knife—anything to fill that aching hole the Nazis had ripped in him when they’d taken his family. Once Rebeka was off to safety, there was nothing left for him to lose. Maybe then he’d have earned his survival. Maybe then he could rest.

The images dissipated like drifting smoke; the presence in his mind retreated with a tug, a needle pulling a stitch tight. The creature issued a low, wet exhale—the noise the guard’s lung had made when Daniel’s knife went between his ribs. The reminder he needed—that he, too, could be something to fear.

On top of him, Liam carefully let out his breath.

“Did I do it?” Daniel whispered. “Is it gone?”

Liam’s chest rumbled with a suppressed laugh. “I guess it doesn’t like the taste of your fear.”

“The taste—” Daniel started, but Liam shushed him once more.

Finally, the behemoth resumed its heavy crawl. With each thundering step, it retreated deeper and deeper into the woods. Liam waited until the earth stopped shaking and its footsteps faded, then eased off of Daniel with a groan.

Daniel sat up hastily, his skin cooling where Liam had pressed against him. “What was that—what did you—”

“You killed my Sturmbannführer,” Liam snapped.

“Are you crazy? He had to die!”

“But I needed him first! Besides, you oughta thank me for saving your ass.” Liam looked him over, his scowl deepened by thick shadows. “You didn’t have any kind of escape plan, did you?”

Like he was one to talk. “I would’ve been fine if you hadn’t showed up. I had to act quickly before you ruined my chance.”

Daniel tried to stand, but as soon as he was upright, his head spun. Buzzing shadows, faceless beings, soldiers dripping with darkness—he gritted his teeth and tried to clear the images away. When Liam rushed forward to catch his arm, Daniel threw him off with a snarl.

“What was that creature? And what happened to the town?”

Liam hoisted his bookbag onto his shoulder. For a moment, his eyes looked black, his face badly veined as if inked—but it must have been a trick of the light. “Doesn’t matter now, does it? Junker was my best chance at getting into the archives at Siegen, and you ruined it.”

“Get out of my way. I don’t have time for Nazi sympathizers,” said Daniel.

Shadows swirled around Liam, and the forest went still. He seemed to swell, looming over Daniel, that violet fire crackling in his eyes. “Don’t you dare call me that.”