I knew I had to run, but my body wouldn’t listen. My muscles froze. My carapace felt heavy as lead around my arms and legs. “What’s going on?” I whispered, just loud enough for Vespa to hear.

“Your Imago is reacting strongly to Ecto’s presence. It should know better. Approaching an Archdemon in this state is... foolish.”

“What, and I can’t move because of that? I’m supposed to fly as soon as he—”

“Quinn, right?” His voice had a hypnotic ring to it. “So you came back, after I let you escape and everything. What a shame.” He brushed aside a lock of hair, eyes sparkling in the light. “And, from the look of it, you found your way into a whole nest of Angels. What a shame. I guess there’s no turning back now.”

“Ecto,” said Heidi. The hammer had reappeared in her hands, handle gripped so tight that the head quivered gently as she levelled it before her. “Quinn, get out of here.”

“Who’s this Angel with you, Quinn?”

“Ecto, don’t play that game with me. It won’t work anymore.”

He turned to face her and smiled. “I’m afraid we’ve never met.”

“Quinn? Hurry up. Get out of here.” Heidi swung for his head. It met only the feathers and wings of the pigeons swarming around him, shattering into countless little fragments that dusted the carpet with fine black powder. “Ecto.”

Go. Go! My body still refused. Heidi could only distract him for so long. “Vespa!”

“Your Imago does not want to leave yet.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know I needed to ask my body if it felt like leaving.”

“It’s not your body. It’s your Imago. But the body has a mind of its own. My genetic memory, stored, ready, reacting as it sees fit. And it seems to believe very strongly that now is not the time to run.”

Now she tells me. “Not helping, Vespa. What can I do about it?”

“Practice. Understand your Imago.”

“Yeah, those would’ve been great a few hours ago. What can I do about it now?” Trying with all my might, I managed to budge slightly, to take a step backwards. But I was still essentially immobilized, only able to watch as Heidi swung her hammer again and again. The Echoes streamed to protect him, shattering one by one to block her strikes. Their half-formed, broken bodies began to pile up on the floor. For her size, Heidi moved with incredible speed and ferocity, though her blows never seemed to meet their mark. Something seemed off about her.

“How rude,” quipped Ecto. “Is that any way to greet someone for the first time?”

“Heidi, are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine. Just get out of here.”

“I can’t.” I tried again, managing another step back. But it was exhausting. The motion left me tense in all the wrong places, the pneumatic muscles inside my carapace straining against my every command. “My body’s not listening to me.”

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Heidi groaned. “Just force it. Try harder. You need to get out of here.” She turned back towards the Demon. “And he needs to stand still so I can bash his skull in.” Her voice came out through clenched teeth. She was definitely very... agitated.

“What, would you like me to look this, instead?” His face turned to putty, rapidly cycling through expressions and features, crystallizing again and again. I didn’t recognize them, of course, but Heidi did.

“I don’t care. You can look however you want. Steal any of their faces. It won’t matter. I won’t hesitate.” But when his face stopped on that of a little boy, Heidi stopped as well. “I hate you.” Her Imago was showing hairline fractures in the surface, thin films of membranes forming over the carapace. She raised her hammer for an overhead strike.

“Are you upset that I’m not saying your name, Heidi?”

She swung down hard with an earsplitting crack. But she’d missed Ecto. Instead, bits of her golden-bronze shell crumbled to the floor, revealing the raw pink flesh of her hands and arms, freshly moulted. Her head similarly locked in place, reforming with her human features, gasping for breath.

“What’s happening?” I asked Vespa.

“She is forcing her Imago beyond its limits. It was not meant for such aggression, and it knows that. It refuses to allow her to go any further.”

Heidi fell to her knees, the rest of her Imago cracking horribly, the membrane racing to cover the broken fragments and regenerate her human body. She gritted her teeth. “Hylobius, what’s wrong? Just give me a second.” For a moment, it seemed as if her Imago would regain its integrity, the membrane tightening around her carapace, cracks knitting themselves together underneath. Then it all dissolved, and she was left a mere human, her hand still gripping the hammer.

“What’s wrong?” said Ecto, approaching her and tilting her chin up.

She slapped his hand away and swung the hammer once again. She seemed to struggle with every movement, fighting herself to strike him. He caught her wrist in his hand and wrested it from her, tossing it to the far side of the room. Still gripping her wrist, he turned to look at me and smiled again. “Well, Quinn. I’m impressed that you haven’t run. But here, I’ll give you a second opportunity. You can go now. It’s not going to be a pretty sight.”

“Yes, fly away,” said Vespa

“I’ve been trying to.” Still, my body refused to budge. I felt the armour cracking as I tried with all my might. My head spun. I couldn’t help but replay the sight of Heidi’s Imago cracking and falling apart like that. Despite being the best course of action, it felt viscerally wrong, my stomach wrenching as I tried to force my wings to warm up.

“Just go,” said Heidi. “I’ll be fine.”

“No.” The voice flew out of my mouth. It was right. I took a step... forward. Easy. Light as a feather. The cracks that had been forming in my carapace sealed themselves.

“What are you doing, Quinn? You do not have the capabilities to fight him,” said Vespa. “I don not know what you think you can do. Heidi was making a distraction purely so you could escape. Do not—”

“What did you do to her?” I asked. I needed to know. What did this filthy little Demon think he was, standing before me? “What did you do to her? Tell me!”

“Who, me?” He pointed to his chest. “I don’t have any history with this Angel. She’s just delusional. Thinking about things that never happened. Like your parents. And you.”

“Do not engage, Quinn. You need to—”

No. I needed to engage, I had to. This body knew. I knew. He was nothing before me. Nothing. A surge of excitement rushed through my body. I reached out my arm, and the glaive materialized in it. My stinger. “Stop lying, Demon. You will fall today.”

“Oh my,” said Ecto. “How precious.”

I twirled the weapon in my hands, stepping forward with ease. Why had I been resisting? This was natural. This was what I was made for. I pointed the blade towards his chest. “You want to dance, Demon?”

He bowed, the cloud of pigeons gathering behind him like a cloak. “With pleasure.”