“Close.”

Four and Five weren’t even that close to the roof’s edge as they passed by. I allowed myself to relax. If I could’ve heard the intonations or accents on certain sounds, I would’ve been getting an education. Distance played with it, and I didn’t have the ear for it.

I leaned back. The heat that radiated away from us was affecting the frost on the window. The effect was small, but I worried what would be apparent if people inside or outside noticed a pair of blotches on the glass that were shaped like a pair of heads and shoulders, where we were close to the glass.

I tugged on Rain’s arm, having him shift his weight over to me, and we adjusted our location. A little closer to our hiding spot by the cans. Further from the spot where the three who weren’t patrolling were, so the intermittent buzz and blare of the radio wouldn’t put my nerves on edge or obscure other sounds.

“Can you see what you need to see?” I asked, my voice a whisper.

Rain nodded. The space under his hood was dark. He’d turned off the illuminated lines on his mask.

He motioned, a tiny and mostly broken mechanical hand indicating from his mouth to the roof. I nodded.

“Ninety-five percent,” I whispered. “Keep it to essentials.”

“What I was saying before,” he whispered. “I can feel who’s inside, I think. I push out and I feel the resistance. Lets me see silhouettes. Tattletale is in the bubble, along with three people.”

I felt my heart sink. The moment he’d said he could feel who was inside, I’d kind of hoped Cradle was inside the mech itself. If he was, there was a chance we could get him. Take him away, then do what we’d done to Rain, using Chastity’s power.

“I have to be careful with the soldiers,” Rain whispered. He pointed at the glass. “They get restless when I hit ’em, and when they get restless they head out toward the door. Then I have to hit them harder. It makes them rethink it.”

“Any effect?”

“Some. Have to find the right people.”

I heard a scuff. Immediately, my hand went to Rain’s face, sliding between mask and mouth. I heard more noise, and in the next instant, was dropping out of the air, Rain’s sudden, silent exhalation filtering through my fingers as we went from stationary to a twenty foot drop. I pushed him into the corner between cans and a part of the wall that jutted out.

Drei. Flashlight not aimed down or at any angle I could see, no cigarette.

The gun moved, light shining down around us. It stopped a short distance away. It moved to the cans, a few feet from us.

She moved on.

“That—” Rain started. My hand went back to his mouth.