“We were bound to. If not now, would have been later.”

Because this is ongoing. There are more Titans. They don’t get tired. They’re powerful.

I still couldn’t bring myself to make total peace with it. I dropped Gundeck off at the edge of the camp, then circled back. I saw a cape carrying Torso over one shoulder, Torso’s limbs dangling.

“He okay?” I asked.

Torso stuck out a hand, clad in its elbow-to-shoulder black glove, thumb up.

“Wore himself out,” the cape said.

Right.

I saw other faces. Capricorn had been at one of the flanks. He stopped at a point below me, and I flew down to his level.

The stragglers headed our way. The artillery line was backing off too.

Oberon stood straight again. The damage of the holes to his face, upper chest, and hooves had healed. Other damage had become shallower, mending.

We would walk away from this and he would be back at full strength in half an hour, maybe an hour.

“Vic!” Sveta called out. “Capricorn!”

I floated up. Capricorn jogged over.

Precipice was there with Sveta. The Undersiders were gathered, some a bit worse for wear. One of the dogs was melting, but it looked like that was because the dog form was wearing off. I’d seen it when we’d grouped up before.

Some of those were off on the other side of the crowd. Members of Deathchester now.

“We can’t retreat,” Tattletale said. She had her hand on Foil’s shoulder. Foil craned her head around.

I shook my head. “I know we can’t, it’s disastrous, but—”

“We can at least call this a draw,” Tattletale said. “But it’s not going to be easy. One last push.”

“Five minutes,” Rain said.

“Remember when I was chopped to pieces?” Tattletale asked.

“I remember,” I said. There were other things I could add, but it wasn’t the time.

“Remember when you sent me a message in gibberish? And I spelled out a message for you, and—”

“I got gibberish.”

“Yeah. Guess who’s speaking gibberish right now?”

She wasn’t really expecting me to play twenty questions. Her eyes pointed the way to the target. That battlefield had only three Titans on it, with a few scattered people distracting and holding the line.

I could have asked which Titan, but Skadi abandoned her fight with Titan Eve to appear at our defensive line, blades crashing into forcefields and a hastily erected wall of mucus, and Tattletale’s gaze didn’t waver.

“Not Oberon, Lookout said there’s nothing in there.”

“Eve,” Tristan said.

“I’d show you a gallery of pictures, do my detective ‘how I figured it out’ monologue,” Tattletale said. She kept her hand on Foil’s shoulder, as Foil tried to leave. “But—”

“But you cheat, so it’s kind of like a golfer hand-dropping a ball in the eighteenth hole and bragging about technique,” Imp said.