He was hurt, but he wasn’t hurt so badly he couldn’t get back up, press the attack.

What are you doing?

Tristan’s body roiled with emotion as he crouched there, head bowed. He kept a wary eye on Paris, who backed away. Tristan didn’t pursue.

Tristan!

The rest of the team was hurrying to catch up. The Furcates were picking themselves up. Coiffure was still down, and Tristan began to move in her direction, like he was in a daze.

“Stop,” Figurehead called out. He set a hand on Tristan’s shoulder. “Don’t move if you’re hurt.”

Tristan stopped moving. He turned to stare at Paris, who was still retreating, not turning his back on the group.

Moonsong and Tribute had caught up now. Figurehead was using his power to do diagnostics on Coiffure, which he would be bad at, since she was a known quantity. He eased her to a sitting position. She looked up at him and nodded, before wincing in pain.

And Tristan—

Tristan remained where he was. He watched as Paris climbed a set of shipping containers, making his escape.

“What’s going on?” Moonsong asked. “What the hell happened there, Tristan? You wanted to be leader, and you’re letting him get away?”

“He hit us,” Tristan said. “Direct hit.”

“What are you talking about?” Moonsong asked. Her voice was tight, like she knew exactly what Tristan was talking about.

“We were switching out, for evasive action. Then—then Byron didn’t switch. He kept running, I—I—”

Byron could feel Tristan forcing the sound, forcing his voice to break.

“No,” Moonsong said. “No, I don’t believe you.”

“I think he wanted to throw off Paris’s expectations. When he was changing, we were more him than me, and that cannon-shot of Paris’s hit us.”

No.

“I can’t switch to Byron anymore.”

No. Please.

“I think he’s dead,” Tristan lied, looking a now-anguished Moonsong in the eyes.

Gleaming 9.10

A droplet of blood fell from Capricorn’s gauntlet. Amid the patchwork of glare and deep shadow that illuminated the prison, this droplet fell while he jogged through the light. I was hyperalert enough that it caught my eye, and it struck enough nerves to stay with me for far too long after the fact.

I was flying, which gave me some ability to twist around and rotate in the air. I’d been glancing to one side, checking our flank, but in the aftermath of seeing that droplet, I found myself flying backward, looking back toward the group rather than out ahead of us. It took Sveta meeting my eyes and a few simultaneous glances from the others to bring me back to reality.

Weird that she was talking to Rain like she was. Did I need to worry? I felt like Capricorn and I were more on the same page—