“No,” I heard his response. I cut him off before he said anything else. There were other priorities. “Attacked where? How?”

“I—I don’t know. I’m sorry,” she said. And in that instant, she didn’t sound like the confident girl I’d talked to. She was shaken. “It—bad. Bamet’s animals, they barely speak English. But his situation is bad.”

I frowned.

“If you find them, don’t kill the animals?” Erin asked.

“The animals?”

“There’s something human in there.”

I frowned. I had to go.

“You good?” I asked Gilpatrick.

“Yes,” he said. “An awful lot of wounded, but—we’ll manage.”

I looked at Ashley.

“I’ll stay,” she said. “Call if you need me, but—”

But she’d turned herself in?

Did she cut herself off because she couldn’t bring herself to say it?

“I’ll protect these people if they need it,” she said, instead.

So many people didn’t look like the ones I’d known. Erin and Ashley both lacked the confidence they should have had. Gilpatrick looked more like the grizzled soldier than the teacher. Even the Fallen—well, they’d been threats and now the most aggressive and armed of them were on the ground, defenseless, making noises of pain.

I didn’t look like the me I wanted to be, probably. So soon after donning my new, pretty costume.

This other me took to the air, flying against the falling rain, so that the gentle patter became something sharp in the brief ascent.

Rain, Mama Mathers, and the remaining leadership figures of the Crowley and Mathers branches.

Roughly in that order, anyway, as far as priorities went.

I could see Capricorn’s work, and he had raised walls in a way that left the Fallen with far less in the way of places to go. Some reached as high as the treetops, most others were shorter, speedbumps and momentary obstacles, such that going around was probably easier than finding a way through or over.

I reached for my phone and dialed.

“—n’t find him,” Capricorn’s voice came through. There was a whoosh of air on his side of the conversation, stopping as he finished talking.

“I can’t do much,” Looksee said. “Victoria’s on the line now. She was fighting. Are you okay, Victoria?”

“Fallen to the Northeast were arrested. One powered among them. Erin’s okay.”

“Rain will be so happy to hear that if we can actually find him,” Capricorn said. Still with the whoosh.

“Mama Mathers got away. But she’s out of action,” I said.

“She’s alive?” Looksee asked.

“Last I saw,” I said.

“Okay,” Looksee said. She sounded funny. “Damsel?”

“She’s staying behind. Protecting them, she said. But she wants to stay in custody, I think. I think it’s a good idea.”

“Okay,” Looksee said, barely audible.

“It makes sense,” Capricorn said. I heard Vista’s voice, and still with the whoosh.