“Enough,” came Mac’s voice. The crowd parted, and suddenly he was moving toward her. With Eliza at her back and Freaks pressed in around her, there was nowhere for Dorothy to go. A brief stunned silence hung over them all.

“I imagine our Quinn must feel remorse.” Mac’s voice was a low threat. “After all, what did Asher do after you set him free? He came after you. Killed your only ally.”

“That’s not what happened.” Dorothy pushed the words through clenched teeth. They could lie about her if they wanted, but she wasn’t going to go down without a fight. “You know it’s not what happened.”

Mac leaned closer to her and spoke directly into her ear, low enough that no one else would hear his words.

“Look at the position you’re in, sweetheart. You’ve been . . . what’s the phrase? Fraternizing with the enemy. Do you really want to go telling tales on me now? You think they’ll believe a word you say?” Mac paused and, when Dorothy didn’t immediately respond, he seemed to take it as acceptance and continued. “I could probably convince them that it’s in their best interests to keep you around if you were to do something to prove your loyalty.”

Sickened, Dorothy asked, “And how would I do that?”

He said, like it was obvious, “All you have to do is find Asher for me. And kill him yourself.”

54

Ash

OUTSIDE THE ANIL. MIDNIGHT.

Ash read the note again, a chill moving through him. He grabbed his father’s pocket watch off the wooden crate beside his bed and checked the time. Not quite midnight, but close. He’d lost all sense of day and night over the last week but, now, he did the math in his head, counting back.

“Damn,” he murmured. He had about ten minutes left until November 11, 2077. A year ago, today, his prememories had started.

He let the paper float back onto his bed, his skin crawling.

There was a knock at the door, and then Chandra stepped into the room. “Hey, Zora wanted me to ask if—”

Ash cut her off. “You’re supposed to wait until someone says ‘Come in’ to open the door.” He tried to fold the note and tuck it into his pocket, but Chandra had already seen it.

Her eyes shifted from the note to Ash’s face. “What’s that?”

Did it make sense to hide it? Ash supposed it was too late for that. He could feel Chandra staring at it, wondering, and so, with a sigh, he handed it over.

Chandra read it quickly. The skin around her eyes tightened a tiny bit.

“So that’s it, then? Today’s the day you’re supposed to die?” Chandra was hoarse. She dropped onto the bed next to him.

“You’re not going to try to stop me from going?”

“Would that work? Okay, then I think you should hide under your cot and hope Quinn Fox or Dorothy or whoever she really is never finds you. Ooh, or we could all run away. How’s that sound?”