“You’ve made quite a mess,” Citrine said. She was wearing a yellow shirt with ruffles beneath an ankle-length coat.

“I can help clean it up,” Cradle said. “For allowances.”

“No,” Citrine said. “No, you can’t, and you won’t. The damage is done.”

“You need me.”

“No we don’t,” Citrine said.

“We might,” I said. “To undo the damage to the Navigators, Shepherds, and our various teams. Give me a second?”

Citrine didn’t respond.

I wasted no time. My hand wasn’t cooperating as I reached for my phone.

Antares:
Lookout?

Lookout:
OMG yes yay!
You’re okay!
Is Swnasong okay? is everyone okay? How did it go?

Fast typing for someone with injured hands.

Hard questions to answer, and she’d started from a bad conclusion. I wasn’t sure I was okay. This one had been hard.

Adding to the pile of conflicted emotions, I’d drawn a connection between this and the Slaughterhouse Nine in Brockton Bay. I’d told myself that if I’d been able, I would have helped. And that had eaten at me on a level, because I’d been raised as a helper. I wanted to help.

I’d slain that demon. At the cost, potentially, of another family member.

Turns out that demons suck to fight, I thought, my eyes on Cradle as I typed out my follow-up. I wasn’t sure that I wouldn’t have looked at my own expression to match that thought, had a mirror been readily available.

Antares:
Okay, bruised but okay, and less okay, depending.
Are you keeping an eye on the station?

Lookout:
Pshoo. Duh

Antares:
How good of an eye? Did you get any signal readings? We timed our final moves for when the door was open, in case you might try.

I was starting to type up another sentence to clarify what she was looking for when the reply came in.

Lookout:
Yes. Four minutes ago, I didn’t timestamp it, but it was near your location. This is the fix?

The signal from Cradle to undo the effect.

It was the fix.

“Keep him alive for now, just in case,” I addressed everyone present, my eyes on Cradle. I was aware of the others catching up behind me. Rain, Chastity, with Sveta in the background keeping Cretan from running for it. “But no, I don’t think we need him.”

Heavens 12.none

“I want to meet her.”

“Yeah,” his voice came out as a croak. It was hard to know what to say in a moment like this.

“My daughter. My sweet, sweet girl. I want to say my goodbye. I want to hold her.”

“You are holding her, Kel.”

“You know what I mean. Please know what I mean.”

“I don’t.”