MIRI! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU? Black’s mind exploded in mine, even as I heard him and the others through the earpiece I wore.

“Get a drone over here! NOW!” Through my earpiece, I heard him instruct Zairei. “Seers only! And be fucking careful! My wife is back there! Don’t shoot to kill, for fuck’s sake! And tell them I’m here, that I sent you…”

MIRI! GODDAMN IT… ANSWER ME!

Swallowing, I stared at Nick, watching him look me over in the dark.

I’m okay, Black. Nick’s got me. I’m on the fire escape.

I felt a plume of terror leave Black’s light.

It’s okay, Black––

The FUCK it is! he exploded at me. How is that in any way okay?

Which building? Jem sent. Which building, Miri?

I can see the school bus burning at the end of the alley––

“Well?” Nick said, smiling at me. “You called me, Miri. Did you want to talk, or…?” He held up his hand in a silent question. “Was all that screaming my name just a bit of melodrama?”

“Nick.” I gripped the banister. Staring at him, the reality of him hit me in a way it hadn’t. “Nick, what are you doing? Why am I up here?”

His smile widened. “Why are you up here? Didn’t you call for me, Miriam? Didn’t you say you needed to talk to me?”

Biting my lip, trying to control the pounding of my heart in my chest, I stared at him, trying to see my friend in his eyes. I could barely see his face in all that dark, apart from glints from his crystal-like eyes in the firelight.

I wondered if I should risk jumping over the banister.

GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE, MIRI. SHOOT HIM AND RUN!

I can’t shoot him, Black––

The FUCK you can’t! He’ll be fine, Miriam! Shoot him! Shoot him right now, and run! We’re coming down the alley now!

“He’s telling you to shoot me, isn’t he?” Nick’s smile returned, his fangs flashing in the dark. “Your husband.”

He shrugged, those crystal eyes meeting mine.

“He’s not wrong, Miriam.”

“Nick.” I forced out a breath, staring at him, still gripping the gun in one of my hands, even as I used both to hold the rickety metal banister. “Nick… we came to warn you.”

“Warn me?” Nick smiled, gliding silently closer to me. I watched his pale fingers reach out, gripping the banister a few feet from where I held it. “That’s so sweet, Miri. What is it you wanted to warn me about?”

Swallowing, biting my lip at what I heard in his voice, I shook my head.

“It’s Charles’ people out there. They’re here for you, Nick.” Forcing a breath, I turned my head, meeting his gaze. “Solonik is leading them. I know that won’t mean anything to you, but he’s not like regular seers. He’s stronger… stronger than most of the seers you’ve come across. Stronger than any of the seers we have here, maybe even Jem.”

Nick let out a laugh.

“You really came here to warn me? Really, Miri?”

“Nick––”

“And here I was thinking you were offering to give me my first real taste of seer.” Watching me stare at him, Nick smiled. “Trust me, I’m not about to turn down such a generous offer. I hear drinking one of you is like goddamned liquid sex.” His eyes flickered over me, his lips lifting in a faint smirk. “Is that true, Miriam? I admit, I’m fucking dying to try it.”

“Nick, you need to listen to me. Solonik––”

“I suppose your husband’s really the one I should ask.” Nick’s voice grew more melodious, still Nick’s but so different I stared at him. “Since I’ve been blood-sharing, I’ve seen him… your husband, I mean, enjoying himself with some of my brothers and sisters. The memories are vivid, doc. Really fucking vivid. Fucking being the operative term.”

Nick’s eyes studied mine through the dark.

“I get it now, doc. I get why you wanted him. I hope you don’t mind my saying, I got pretty turned on, watching that.”

Feeling a different kind of sickness rise to my gut, I shook my head.

“Nick, you need to listen to me. You’re not safe. None of you are safe here. You need to tell Brick to pull your people out––”

“I appreciate your concern. I really do.” Nick gripped the metal banister, that smile still teasing his lips. “And of course I’ll be happy to pass on any message you’d like… to brother Brick or whoever else. I’m still going to take you coming to me as an invitation though, doc.”

He glided a bare inch closer.

“…I hope your husband doesn’t mind. I’d be happy to do a threesome, but somehow I doubt he’d be into it.”

He started to move towards me again and I raised the gun.

I did it without thought, aiming it at his chest.

Gripping the handle, I didn’t think about the next thing I did, either.

I squeezed the trigger.

Before I could complete the motion, though, Nick moved––so fast my eyes didn’t track the motion at all. The gun just left my numb fingers. I felt it go, realized Nick had knocked it out of my hand as easily as a human swats a fly.

I heard the gun hit and clatter to the pavement below.

“Miri!” Black shouted up. “Is that you?”

I reached down for the gun on my other hip. Before I’d gotten a grip, Nick grabbed me around the arms and back, pinning my arms to my sides, pinning my chest to his. He trapped the rifle strapped around my back, pinning my arms, my hands.

“BLACK!” I gasped. “BLACK! I’M UP HERE!”

Nick chuckled, his arms like steel bands. “Yeah. Call him up here. Maybe I’ll get that threesome I was asking for, after all––”

“Nick, goddamn it,” I snapped. “I’m trying to fucking help you!”

“A little late for that, doc.”

For the first time, real anger touched his voice.

Somehow, that anger sounded more like the Nick I knew than anything else I’d heard from him. It silenced me briefly, causing me to stare up at him.

His expression didn’t move.

When the smile returned lazily to his lips, my own anger rose in a hot flush.

“Goddamn it! You need to fucking listen to me, Nick!” I snapped. “Solonik is the seer from Bangkok. He’s the one who took me. Remember? He nearly killed me there. He nearly killed both of us, and he’s here for you now. Are you hearing me at all?”

If Nick reacted to my words, I didn’t see it.

His features were close to me now, so close my heart hammered in my chest as I looked up at him, staring at the faint reflections of light in those crystal eyes. I saw him looking at my mouth, his face only an inch or two from mine.

I was about to try speaking to him again when he lowered his head. Before I could make a sound, before I could comprehend what he was doing, he pressed the length of his body into mine and sank his fangs into my throat.

I screamed.

MY SCREAM DIED before I’d finished taking my first breath.

I felt the venom hit my blood, and my mind lost cohesion, breaking apart like a pebble tossed on the surface of a still lake.

Nick’s arms cinched around me tighter, and I felt a rush of pleasure off him that made me gasp, even as he injected more venom into my blood.

I heard him drinking then, heard him let out a low growl, sucking in a breath without letting go of where he held me. His lips and tongue caressed my skin as he let out a softer sound, right before he wrapped his arm around me tighter, pressing his cock between my legs. Leaning me up against the window by the fire escape, he sank his fangs deeper…

My head rolled back.

I let out a gasp, my knees seeming to lose their ability to keep me upright.

His fingers clenched in my hair.

I felt Nick’s mind swim into mine, not like a seer’s, not even like how I remembered it happening with the vampires at Ship Rock. Instead, this evoked how I’d seen Nick move––a dark, liquid presence that surrounded me silently, before I even knew what was happening. I struggled against his arms when I felt him moving deeper into my mind, but I felt like a rabbit kicking in a wire snare.

Nick paused long enough to raise his head.

He kissed my mouth before my mind registered the change, then he was sucking on my tongue, nipping it with his fangs as he deepened the kiss, leaning his weight on me against the window sill. It shocked me. Not just that he kissed me, but the kiss itself. It shocked me like our first kiss shocked me, the one in my old apartment in the Richmond.

That night in my apartment, nothing went like I expected.

Nick hadn’t kissed how I’d expected.

He’d kissed so much better than I’d expected.

Nick let out a low growl, pressing me deeper into the window, kissing me again.

Images flickered through his mind––of that night, of nights after that, of him remembering that kiss, of him remembering my hands on him and wanting to fuck, of him jerking off and wanting to fuck me, wanting to show up at my door.

All of it hit at me in a guilty rush, even as pain slammed into my gut.

He watched me remember, remembering with me. I felt it turning him on, even as he gripped my hair, kissing me again. I let out an involuntary sound and he gripped me tighter, raising his head to stare down at my face.

Studying my eyes briefly, he smiled.

His fingers brushed the hair out of my eyes, right before he lowered his mouth back to my throat. I practically heard his fangs extending––

When a voice exploded out of the dark behind us.

“Let go of her,” it growled. “Now.”

Nick froze, his arms still wrapped around my back.

Without releasing me, he turned his head, and I followed his eyes back over his shoulder.

Black stood there.

His appearance shocked me, and not only because I hadn’t felt him at all. His gold eyes shone brighter than usual, not quite glowing but right at the edge. He was breathing hard, his face holding so much fury it looked like a mask.

That’s when I saw the sword notched up against Nick’s throat.

“Let go of her.” Black’s voice dropped to a thicker growl, a menacing, animal-like snarl from deep in his chest. “I’ll fucking kill you Nick. Don’t think I won’t.”

Nick released me slowly, smiling over his shoulder at Black.

“No need to be greedy, Quentin,” he said. “I just wanted a taste.”

“Back away from her. Right now.”

Nick eased around slowly, turning so that the sword followed his throat. Then he was facing Black, stepping closer to him, away from me.

“This must be a relief for you, Black,” Nick said. “Me being dead and all.”

Unlike me, Black was unmoved by Nick’s words.

“Sell that shit somewhere else, Naoko,” Black growled. “Seems to me you’re enjoying your new circumstances quite a bit––”

“Lemonade out of lemons, as it were,” Nick smiled.

I was coming back now, even though I could feel the venom rippling through my veins. My palm went to my neck and shoulder and I winced, closing my eyes against the shock of pain when I felt the open wound there.

“Black,” I said, my voice breathless. “Be careful. Be really fucking careful.”

“Back up, Miri,” Black said, his eyes never leaving Nick. “Towards Jem. Towards the ladder.”

I looked to my right, and saw Jem standing there, in a combat crouch. His eyes never left Nick and Black, but he held out a hand to me, motioning for me to come closer.

“Do as he says, Miri.”

I edged sideways, still fighting to catch my breath, still fighting the venom vibrating my lungs, my skin, my muscles. It made my limbs shake, like a double dose of adrenaline mixed with some kind of tranquilizer.

Something about the effects made it difficult to stay in my body. I felt like I was floating, like some part of me was more in the Barrier than down here, on Earth. I tried to ground myself, to pull myself back down, but I couldn’t quite do it. I struggled to even walk in a straight line.

It felt less like being drunk and more like being really sick with a fever.

I gripped the rifle still slung around my back, holding the window for balance as I edged closer to Jem.

I’d nearly reached him when another voice rose in my mind.

Ilya… is that you?

I stopped, gripping the brick wall.

Another presence swam over me like a bad dream, closing my eyes. It left me there, panting, my blood jerking erratically in my veins.

Darling girl… my chocolate…

I choked. My heart leapt sideways in my chest, stopping my breath.

Can it really be you? My beautiful Miriam, after all this time?

Next to me, Jem grabbed my arm, hard.

Some part of me reached for Black, but he felt far away, out of my reach.

My light reached for his––

Di'lanlente o' kitre-so’h. A hot cloud of pain plumed off Solonik’s light, hitting at me and making me jerk back. Your light has changed so much. So very, very much, ilya. Gaos…

I felt my light try to fight his off, to withdrew from him in any way it could. I couldn’t get away from him, though. It was Bangkok all over again, with him invading my light and me helpless to keep him out. This time it was the vampire venom, the construct, not my broken light, but the effects were the same.

I couldn’t keep him out.

I grew more and more desperate, but it was like fighting smoke.

I tried again to reach for Black, to find him, but I couldn’t do that either.

I was trapped there, in that amorphous, smoke-like space––between Solonik, Nick’s venom, Nick himself, Uncle Charles’ construct, probably stress, missing blood, being separated from Black. Whatever the exact cocktail affecting my mind and light, I was lost there, unable to drag myself back to my body.

Solonik kept talking to me.

My little ilya has grown up. His desire hit out at me like a physical force, cloying. Your uncle tells me things, beautiful sister. He tells me he started your training. He tells me you are clever, you are quick to learn, that your light belongs to an old soul…

His pain worsened as he felt over my light, trying to reacquaint himself with it, to feel whatever my uncle told him.

I would so very much like to talk to you, ilya, now that you are truly my sister. I have so much I would like to teach you. Things your pup husband and these traitor seers cannot teach you. Things your uncle cannot teach you––

I felt fury rise in Black’s light.

Solonik’s voice grew colder, more deadly.

I am told you took that child as your mate, ilya. I confess, I was very not happy to hear about this. I was very not happy he was allowed to tie you to him, despite him being so young. I had many angry words for your uncle about this, ilya––

I felt Jem fighting to push him out of my light.

Black’s light coiled around mine, only to be forced out again.

I felt Black’s attention split between Nick and Solonik, even as Nick turned, staring at me with those crimson eyes, his mouth curled in a frown. For the first time it hit me that my mind was still tied to his through the venom.

Nick heard Solonik too, as clearly as Jem and Black.

Maybe even more clearly.

I fought to push Solonik out, but it still felt like shoving at smoke.

Behind my eyes, I saw all of them.

Nick’s crimson-colored eyes, staring at me across the fire escape.

I saw him as I’d last seen him before, on Koh Mangaan, laughing at something Angel said as the three of us body surfed on the main beach below the swimming pools. I saw Nick floating on his back, sighing contentedly as he gazed up at the blue sky, talking about tacos and margaritas for dinner up at Black’s island restaurant.

I saw Angel’s face when we got back from Europe, then later that same night, her eyes full of tears as we sat in her and Cowboy’s apartment at California Street, drinking tequila in honor of Nick and trying to convince each other there was still some chance he was alive.

Gold irises replaced Angel’s light brown ones.

Moonlight splashed across a lean, muscular chest, Black’s eyes glowing as he lay under me in Santa Cruz, his guileless laugh as he showed me my own glowing irises, bringing my palm up to my face.

I saw Jem then, staring at Black, his handsome features blank with fear.

I felt him knowing something I didn’t, knowing what those glowing eyes really meant.

Pain rippled through me, pain I didn’t understand.

Ilya… are you still there, ilya?

I saw Solonik, his violet eyes over me.

I felt his hot skin as he sweated on me in that dank, underground room in Bangkok, a room that smelled of him and me and pad thai and stale beer. I remembered him telling me he’d take me to Russia with him, that I’d never see Black again––

Ilya. His voice softened, pulling on me. Ilya, it’s time to come home. Your family misses you, ilya. Do not let that pup tell you who you are. Do not let him confuse you––

Tears came to my eyes.

Sudden, violent, they ran down my cheeks, accompanied by a pain in my chest that was blinding. I could feel them pulling on me––Charles, Solonik, faces of seers I didn’t know, who I’d never seen before.

My father.

That pain grew debilitating.

I felt all the years I’d been alone. All the time I’d spent alone, waiting for someone to come back for me, to give a shit. All of those years after Zoe died, I waited there, patiently, thinking one day my family would come back, that my father’s brothers would come back, that my mom’s sisters and brothers and cousins would come back.

But they didn’t come back.

They left me alone, and after the war, I made a new family.

Nick and Angel were that family.

Then Black came, and he was that family too.

The pain in my chest got so bad I couldn’t breathe.

I remembered my father in that pain. I felt Black in it. I felt Black, Angel… Nick… my mother… Zoe. I felt my sister Zoe so strongly it felt like she was standing right in front of me. I felt my grandparents, my cousins, Uncle Charles, my mother’s aunts. I saw all of their faces around me, and the pain in my chest nearly made me pass out. It was like the human side of me grappled with the seer side, fighting for control.

I was neither thing. I was both.

I was something else.

I was the orca, leaping from the water under three shining stars.

There was a hard flash of light.

Then, for a long-feeling span of time…

There was nothing at all.

I OPENED MY eyes.

Faces hung over me.

They were so close, I flinched back, hitting my head into something hard and wincing in pain. For a long-feeling few seconds, I could only squint up at them, blinking through that pain, trying to make sense of the features that took shape in the shadows.

I saw them arguing before I could hear them.

I saw faces contort as their mouths moved, as brows furrowed, as they frowned and glared at one another. Their fear hit at my light––fear, anger, worry. They argued back and forth, trying to deal with their emotions.

My light recognized them before my mind fully caught up.

I felt lights all around me I knew, and somehow that calmed me.

Somehow, it allowed me to take my first real breath.

Once I did, the sound came back on.

“Doc! Hey, look! Black! Her eyes! Her eyes are open!” A female voice, so familiar. “Black, shut up and look! She’s awake!”

Angel.

Angel was here.

She gripped my arm through the dark shirt I wore, exuding her own particular frequency of light. She smiled down at me, worry and relief shining in her light brown eyes.

“Miri, hey. You okay?”

I blinked, once. I blinked again.

When I opened my eyes next, Black was there. His light wrapped into mine––or maybe I just grew aware of it again. Either way, it enveloped me like a physical force, pulling me into him with an insistence that caught in my throat, making my chest hurt. Despite the charge I felt behind it, I relaxed into that pull, feeling a relief beyond words.

Worry plumed off him as he stared down at me.

His fingers touched my cheek and forehead, stroking the hair out of my eyes, stroking the side of my face, stroking my jaw.

Miri, he ventured softly. Miriam, honey… ilya. Are you okay?

I nodded, opening my eyes as I looked up at him.

It was strange how that one word could sound so different coming from him.

More relief washed over me as I studied his gold irises.

I love you, I told him. I reached up, caressing his jaw, then his neck, my fingers soft, almost tentative. I watched his eyes react, stroking his throat. I love you, Quentin. Only you. I want to stay with you. Promise me.

Black went totally still, looking down at me.

Then, slowly, his eyes filled with tears, shocking me with their brightness, even as I felt a plume of near-aggression leave his light, mixed with a heat that closed my eyes. When I opened them again, he nodded, leaning down to kiss my face, then my mouth.

You’re not going anywhere, ilya, he sent, gruff. You run off into a nest of goddamned vampires like that again, and you’re getting a public spanking, though.

I nodded, again feeling that rush of relief.

Somehow, just hearing him say I didn’t have to go to Charles, I felt calmer.

I looked around at the rest of the faces then, and saw them watching us, even as they gave me and Black space, their eyes and light cautious as they looked between us.

My eyes returned to him, meeting his gold eyes.

What happened, Quentin? Did you do something with your light?

I felt him react to me using his first name a second time, even as his light seemed to envelop me more. Moving closer to me in a crouch, he wiped his face with one hand, his gold eyes never leaving mine. His fingers continued caressing my jaw and neck as he looked down at me. A surge of possessiveness left his light, mixed with a wave of affection that bordered on aggression, like being squeezed in a bear hug.

Then I saw those eyes flicker towards Jem, who I realized was one of the other faces hanging over me.

It occurred to me only then that other seers probably heard what I’d said to Black.

Black turned, staring down at me.

“Fuck them,” he said, gruff. “Fuck everyone, Miri. And no, ilya. I didn’t do anything with my light.”

Rubbing my shoulder and neck with his fingers, he glanced at Jem a second time.

“I wanted to,” he said, a faint scowl on his lips. “The others thought it was a bad idea. They told me not to do it, not with Solonik watching.”

I felt worry leave his light, even as his eyes glanced up, looking at something overhead. I realized he was looking at the buildings, scanning the rooftops with his eyes and light.

We need to get out of here, ilya, he sent, his thoughts a mutter. We need to get off the street. Can you get up? Or do you want me to carry you?

What about Nick? I sent, remembering. Where’s Nick? Did Solonik––

Black shook his head.

Nick’s fine, doc. Brick and Dorian showed up, not long after you collapsed. They took Nick with them. They said they’d leave the area, and I’m pretty sure they meant it. Brick did, anyway. Scowling, Black stroked my hair, tugging me closer with his light. Brick apologized for not finding us sooner… and for Nick biting you. Like that fucking matters.

He studied my face, his eyes apologetic, worried.

Brick said he has a lot of his people here, Miri, Black added. He said to thank you for trying to warn them, but that he has more than enough with him to hold his own against Solonik and whoever else. More than I’d calculated, frankly, or I never would have agreed to come down here in the first place.

Pausing at my frown, he added,

Yarli’s working with Javier’s drone pilots to try and track Solonik.

Frowning at that, I fought to get up.

Angel and Black immediately bent towards me, catching ahold of my arms on either side as I struggled to my elbows. They helped me the rest of the way up to a seated position when I gripped each of their forearms.

Once I’d regained some semblance of verticality, it hit me that I was on the sidewalk.

I glanced around at where we were, and saw a little boutique shop I recognized, one I’d been inside a few times. They sold secondhand clothes and jewelry on consignment, mostly antiques. I couldn’t remember what exact street it was on, but I knew it was one of the little side streets off 16th. It definitely wasn’t in the same alley with the fire escape.

My head throbbed. My elbows and back hurt, but mostly my head.

It felt quiet around us.

Well… not quiet exactly.

Now that I was listening, I heard shouts and screams in the distance, and sirens, but all of it felt a lot further away. From what I could see and feel, we were at least five or six blocks from any of the riots or protesters, much less any of the police.

“What the hell happened?” I started to climb to my feet, and Angel and Black each grabbed one of my arms and my waist, helping me up. Once I’d made it back to my feet, I stood between them, fighting to get my equilibrium back.

My legs and knees were still trembling.

Wincing at the pain in my head, I looked up at Black, gripping his arm for balance.

“Did something knock me out?” I said.

Black didn’t answer.

I saw Angel’s lips curl in a frown, right before she exchanged looks with Cowboy and Dex, who stood on her other side. I glanced around and saw Kiessa and A.J. standing there, along with Zairei, the seer who looked like an anime character, and Jax, who looked paler than usual, gripping his rifle in front of him in both hands.

All of them were watching me now, a mixture of worry and relief in their eyes.

Confused by what I saw and felt there, I focused back on Angel. Most of what I felt on her was puzzlement though, like she didn’t know what happened, either.

Jem glared at Black.

When Black wouldn’t return his gaze, or answer me, Jem focused his stare on me.

“The construct attacked you, Miri,” he said. “You were weak from vampire venom and being bit, and your uncle’s infiltrators saw the opening and went after you… with Solonik in the lead. We were slow to react.”

Scowling at Black a second time he added,

“Truthfully, after your conversation with your uncle, I was expecting the attack to come at your husband… not at you. Now I think he was trying to actually pull you, while your husband was occupied with Nick. In any case, they were clearly trying to take control of your light. They mostly succeeded, too,” he growled. “They locked you down damned fast… so fast, I have to assume they had the lines to you built already, likely via your uncle and Solonik himself.”

I gave Jem a flat look.

“He was connected to you before,” Jem said, unflinching. “Solonik.”

“That’s one way of wording it,” I muttered.

Jem’s jaw tightened, but his tone didn’t change.

“Your uncle tried to extract you, Miri,” he said. “Are you hearing me on that? Do you understand what that means?”

“I get the gist,” I said, wincing as I cautiously tested my legs. Angel and Black moved with me, letting me get my balance again. “So?” I glanced over at Luce and Dex, who looked worried, too. “Are we ordering a bunch of Ubers? Or what?”

Cowboy burst out in a laugh.

When I glanced at him, he quirked an eyebrow, smiling.

“We’ve got cars coming, Mrs. Black,” he said, giving me a symbolic tip of the hat. The grin on his face widened. “You scared the shit out of us, by the way. Twice. Running after those bloodsuckers like a damned crazy person. Then going down like a fucking stone.”

I frowned, studying his face.

“I passed out,” I said.

Of course I passed out. I knew that. What I didn’t know was what happened before that. Still looking at Cowboy, I frowned.

“How did I get out of that? If Black didn’t do it––”

“You did something,” Angel blurted, drawing my eyes to her. “That’s what it looked like.” She glanced at Cowboy. “I mean, we’re not seers, but that’s how it looked to us.”

“Ayuh,” Cowboy agreed. “It did.”

“What did it look like?” I said.

Cowboy and Angel exchanged another look, then Cowboy sighed, resting his hands lightly on his waist.

“You went down, sister, like I said.” He made a diving motion with his hand, smacking it into his palm. “Like a rock. We all panicked, and grabbed you. Jem here…” He motioned at the green-eyed seer. “…was yelling about how they’d hacked your mind, that we had to be careful or you might attack us––”

“Then your eyes opened,” Dex said, joining in from Black’s other side. “Miri, your eyes were like flashlights. They glowed this pale gold and green color––”

“––and there was this kind of low-level boom––” Luce added.

“––or more like a feeling than a sound,” Cowboy amended. “Like the pavement got hit with some kind of sonic charge. Like a sound too low for human ears.”

“––then everything just felt different, Miri,” Angel said, frowning.

She glanced at Black, but he only motioned for her to go on, his face unmoving.

Angel looked back at me.

“They said you crashed the construct, Miri. Like you just broke it somehow. Maybe not the whole thing, but the part Solonik and your uncle were using to mess with you. It even affected the people on the street. A lot of them ran away after that… the Purity rioters, too. Black, Jem, Dex and me just grabbed you then, and carried you out of there. Brick and his people had left by then, and our team couldn’t track Solonik with the construct down––”

“Not without using you,” Black grunted, contributing to the narrative for the first time. “And there’s no way in fucking hell I was letting them do that.”

Silence fell after he spoke.

In it, I could only look around at all of them, frowning.

Finally, I turned to Black, looking between him and Jem.

“So what did I do, exactly?” I said.

Both of them frowned, almost in unison.

In different circumstances, it might have been funny.

“Do you really not know?” I said. “Or do you just not want to tell me?”

“We don’t know,” Jem said, blunt.

“Then how could you possibly know it was me who did it?” I said, puzzled.

“It was you,” Jem said.

I looked at him, frowning.

Jem glanced at Black, giving him a death look, his handsome features hardening before he returned my gaze. “…As for exactly what you did, I’d have to know more before I could speculate, Miri.”

“Know more?” I followed Jem’s eyes to Black, giving him a questioning look. “What does that mean? Know more about what, precisely?”

“About whatever the hell you and your husband actually are,” Jem growled, aiming another glare at Black.

I blinked. “What we are?”

“Yes,” Jem growled.

Looking from Black to me, he motioned towards my face, his accent growing stronger as he stared at my eyes.

“…I haven’t got a fucking clue what you are, Miriam. Either of you. And your goddamned husband isn’t talking.”

I watched Black scowl at him, resting his hands on the guns he wore on his hips, a pose that made him look strangely like a gunslinger. He’d let go of my arm, but I could feel him hovering over my light, that worry and protectiveness creating a wall around both of us.

I hadn’t even noticed the wall until that precise moment, but now I could feel it as a near-physical entity, cutting me off from the minds and lights of those around me, everyone apart from Black himself. It struck me that Black was using those lower structures in his light to separate the two of us from the wider Barrier.

Now that I’d really noticed it, I could feel Jem and the other seers trying to see us past that wall––me, in particular––and not having much luck.

I wondered if that was the real reason Jem was pissed.

If so, Black didn’t seem to give much of a shit.

Looking from my husband’s immovable face back to Jem’s angry glare, in the end, I only exhaled.

“Tacos?” I ventured, glancing around as blank eyes met my face. “There’s a really good taqueria only about a block from here. They have kick-ass chile verde.”

Silence.

Those blank faces just stared at me.

Angel stared at me along with everyone else.

Then, when I was about to ask her and Cowboy how long before our ride got there, she threw back her head, bursting out in a laugh.