My heart didn’t feel like it was beating right, and my breathing wasn’t right either.

I let go of his shoulder.

I hadn’t wanted to know where she was.

“I’ll go to her for help before I go to you. I’d go to Bonesaw, if she was still around.”

I shook my head, walking away.

He raised his voice. “You want to push me!? I’ll push back!”

I stopped in my tracks.

“That kind of pushing gets you killed,” I said. “Or worse.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got a handle on ‘worse’,” he said. “I have for a while. Dying? Meh.”

The ‘meh’ was both dismissive and an epithet at the same time.

“Fine,” I said. “You want this? Go for it.”

“That’s all I ever asked for.”

“But where I draw the line is scaring or hurting others. Make nice. Don’t give people a reason to ask questions.”

“Yeah, whatev,” he said.

“And don’t give the other members of the team a reason to grieve. I don’t want to see Kenzie or Sveta crying over you.”

“I like how you say ‘other’. I’m off your grieving list?” Chris asked.

“Keep mentioning my sister and you’ll get there.”

He snorted.

Man. I could have slapped him.

“Train station’s this way,” he said.

“Walk fast. G–N portal. The meeting with Lord of Loss is at two.”

I left him to hike it. I flew.

For his benefit, really.

⊙

I landed where the others had assembled. There was a blown-up image of Tempera and two capes I didn’t recognize printed on the wall of the station.

When we’d passed out the word that the other stations were potentially being targeted, G–N had been one of the stations that had been saved. I was heartened to see just who had managed it.

I needed a bit of heartening.

It was good to see the other members of the group happy. Sveta was smiling, and Kenzie was bouncing around while talking to Tristan.

“Chris is on his way. He caught the twelve-thirty train, it’ll be thirty minutes,” I said.

“Awesome,” Tristan said. “Listen, because this just came up, and it’s a good opportunity—”

“We were talking back hair,” Kenzie said.

“Yeah,” Tristan said.

“I think if I liked anyone I could like someone with back hair,” Kenzie said.

“No, Kenzie, that’s not okay,” Sveta said.

“But you said you could be okay with it.”

“I said I feel obligated to say I’d be okay with it because my boyfriend has back forks. And back wires. He keeps it tidy but it is a place he sometimes has to position loose material.”

“I feel obligated because some of my favorite people in the world had back hair,” Kenzie said.

“Again, please, not okay,” Sveta said.

“Why not!?”

“Because back hair means older, and that’s skeevy.”