Below me, Goddess was joined by some of the prison’s heavier hitters. Not any of the heavy hitters I needed. Lung was at her left shoulder, his eye glowing a dull red as he glanced up at me. The scales had mostly receded.

I could remember Dean, in the hospital after Leviathan. I zig-zagged through the crowd, trying to see people in gloom and slanted lighting. I was looking for a specific body type, hair type, and face, but the prison coveralls masked physical shapes.

Master–stranger protocols felt so hollow in the now. The team was compromised, the medicated food was buried under a fallen building, and that food came from Teacher. I wasn’t sure I trusted it or the master–stranger protocols more than I trusted Goddess.

My zig-zagging journey continued, haunted by the memory of what had laid at the end of my last such journey. Then, I’d been searching for the one face who might be able to help, and I’d been crushed on so many levels by the failure to find.

In this, I wasn’t even sure the face was an answer.

I spotted the others. I landed, and in my current state of mind, I forgot how much the heat, the aerial acrobatics, and the earlier fight with the Teacher hit squad and the Major Malfunctions had drained me. I nearly dropped to my knees. Nothing like my fancy landings of days past.

“What are we doing?” Byron asked.

“She wants to go out the front door, unless she gets another, better answer before she gives the order. Teacher’s going to be waiting for her. Byron, you remember the tools her people had. For dealing with fliers. Nonlethal weapons, that could capture the fallen.”

“And let Teacher get them under his thumb,” Byron said. “Shit. You’re right.”

“We need to get Goddess out unscathed somehow. From her tone, I think she’s willing to make any sacrifices necessary to save herself.”

“Makes sense,” Damsel said. “I’d be willing to do the same if I was in her position.”

“Uh, yeah,” I said. “Not sure about that.”

“So how do we save her skin, ideally without sacrificing ourselves?” Damsel asked.

“You guys need to get to the others,” I said. “If they haven’t come back yet, there’s a reason. I’ll catch up. We get the team together, make sure we’re all on the same page, and then we make our effort to escape. We lean on—”

I almost said protocols. It struck me that Monokeros, as dangerous and deluded as she was, could very well know the protocols, know what I meant, despite my efforts to be subtle.

“—We lean on each other,” I said. “We know who we can trust.”

“Myself and myself,” Damsel said. She paused. “And maybe the little one.”

“Woo!”