“What are you doing out of costume, Sveta?” I asked. I sounded so normal.

There was no response.

“Where’s Swansong?” I asked. Still normal.

She dropped her eyes to the ground. Tentacles flailed madly.

“Crystalclear?” I asked.

More tentacles bunched around the fabric.

I stepped forward. I felt the buzz of ambient electricity in the air. I moved my hand and felt it intensify by multiple factors. Something told me that if I reached the threshold where this invisible electric fence divided the room, the electricity would converge on a single point, aiming to repel me.

Tristan, Lookout, Rain and the others caught up. They stopped a few paces behind me, looking over and under my shoulder at the scene.

“Where’s Ratcatcher?” I asked.

Tendrils twisted at the black fabric. Something crunched inside.

She flicked it at me, limb snapping out like a whip. I activated the Wretch by raw instinct, and the Wretch intersected the electric field. An invisible hand caught the cloth, and the nimbus of electricity briefly drew an outline around the Wretch.

Better at dealing with sustained onslaughts.

Something crashed behind me. I turned to look, still tense as the Wretch held out against electricity and held the black cloth. Rain had kicked the tinker’s tech-upgraded chair.

Another kick, and the electricity went away. Rain and Capricorn both hauled the guy out of his chair, back and away.

I let the Wretch drop away. The fabric hit the ground, and immediately, tendrils began reaching for it. Unrecognizable bits of flesh rolled out.

“You did that on purpose,” I said.

She looked at me, and I saw nothing of Sveta in that face.

“Kingdom Come,” I said.

The black cloth—none of the others had been wearing black. They’d been wearing prison uniforms. The cloth was Kingdom Come’s own costume.

“He’s controlling her?” Lookout asked.

“He’s trying,” I said, my voice shaky with the relief. “But the thing about Tress is that she’s worked ridiculously hard to get to where she is. It takes a kind of strength, and that asshole doesn’t have it.”

Kingdom Come opened Sveta’s mouth, worked her jaw. No words came out.

She doesn’t have full lungs, Kingdom Come, I thought. For her first year or so, she couldn’t talk or explain herself, not that she even knew the language.

“Let my friend go. Reconstitute, end the breaker state,” I told him. “And show me where Swansong, Ratcatcher, and Crystalclear are.”

“They’re in the back,” Lookout said. She brought her hand forward, holding the disc. The compass had lines extending out toward a door. We’d have to get past Kingdom Come to get there.

Going for the exit at the far side of the tunnel? Is there one?