I stayed there with Miriam all through the early morning. She’d gone unconscious from shock during the attack, and seemed nearly dead, save for her shallow breaths. The cloud of locusts swarmed around her the entire time, tending to her and cleaning her wounds. Come sunrise, her eyes finally fluttered open, and one of the locusts landed on her finger. They had a short conversation in a language I couldn’t understand, before the locust went to her nape and bit it. Then, she looked at me and spoke, “Quinn, thank you.” I understood her. Soon after, she reformed her Imago and regenerated her human body, though the shape and colours of the Imago had changed yet again.

Grace and Melody were among the first to come up. They were both calm at first, Melody having reverted fully to her human body and gripping the hem of her uniform jacket. But as soon as she noticed that Russula was still nowhere to be seen, she started hyperventilating again. Grace tried in vain to calm her.

“Calm yourself,” said Miriam. Her tone did not help Melody whatsoever. “It’s not the time for that.”

“But they... they took her. They took her away. You don’t understand.”

Grace held up her hand. “It’s okay, Melody. I’ll explain.” Her imago fell away, the transparent skin and carapace turning a cloudy milky-white before flaking off and dissolving in the air. I finally got a good look at her human body. She was a little taller than me, and also a little older. Maybe in her early twenties? She had dark brown skin and shoulder-length black hair tied into cornrows. “Sorry, Miriam. It took me a while to get the full picture. It seems that Melody was suddenly captured during the night. She thought she was done for, but Russula saved her.”

“Okay. Continue,” said Miriam.

“But they were intercepted while escaping. Melody managed to hide, and Russula was kidnapped.”

“And it was my fault,” said Melody. “I could’ve... I should’ve...”

“No,” said Grace, putting her hand on Melody’s shoulder. “Don’t start on that. It’s not going to get anywhere healthy. You remained here for a reason. And she was taken for a reason too.”

“What reason?”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Miriam. “I understand you’re upset. I tried to stop Dawn, and failed. If it weren’t for Quinn, I don’t think I would’ve made it either. Many among us were very fortunate last night. Be glad that we only lost one or two...” She cradled her arms, despite not being injured. Since she’d returned to human form again, the swarm of locusts had remained all around her, coddling her like a living blanket as she looked around in silence.

As the hours wore on, others started to arrive in the classroom. Most were wearing their uniforms, though those uniforms were looking a lot worse for wear. Few were in their Imagos. A few had mild scrapes or bruises. The night was over. The attack was over, but it had ended on their terms. Sanctuary 1. The name seemed a joke, given how dangerous the place felt now. Some people were still recovering in their rooms, or had even retreated into tiny chrysalises, carried in the hands of their friends. There was a lot of bookkeeping to do, a lot of tallying and name-calling, and searching through the blasted halls.

At about mid-morning, Joy woke up. When Melody and I explained what had happened, she broke into tears as well. She and Melody held each other and cried, but Joy was quick to recover. After all, she said, Russula wouldn’t have wanted them to mope about. Within half an hour, she was helping everyone with the cleaning up and ongoing searches.

We gathered the bodies of the dead people as well; laid them out on the ground. They all had the blue bandana of Blood Thunder on them. At first, I was too fearful to look at them, but eventually I did. My mother’s face was not among them, thankfully. But still, it made me wonder... these were all people with friends and family. Or at least, they had been. And sure, they’d chosen to follow the wrong cause, but...

“But they didn’t deserve this.” A hand on my shoulder. Nep. She was wearing her lab coat over a tan turtleneck, though the hems of both were slightly torn. Her hair was a bit dishevelled and she had bags under her eyes, but she was here. “I know you feel that way, Quinn. But you understand what they were here to do.”

“I don’t. Not really.”

“Surely you’ve been doing your research?” she asked. “Watching their leader’s streams? Rocky? You know what they were after.”

Oh. “They were here to capture one of us.”

“And it looks like they succeeded,” Nep mused. “Would it have killed someone to stop that from happening?”

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I wasn’t sure. “I mean, is it all that bad that they captured an Angel? What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Do you have any idea how complicated this will make things?” said Nep. “There’s a reason we don’t have public relations with the human world. Our society, our functions, our ethics... they are not compatible with what a lot of humans want or think or expect. And when we don’t meet those expectations, they get mad. Like Blood Thunder. Now take all that, but now it’s our very enemies who are introducing us to the world. You think that will go well?”

“I mean...”

“Do you want us at war with countries? Of people?”

“Surely we can just explain ourselves.”

“And they’ll believe us? That we are divine beings, protectors of the Earth? You have far more faith in other people than I do.”

“But killing...”

“It’s what needs to be done to deal with a mortal threat. This is a matter of life or death. Don’t be the one who dies.” She sighed. “But I will say, Quinn, I’m proud of you. I heard of what you did with Dawn. That shows how much you’ve grown as an Angel. You may not have stopped her, or killed her, but you’ve permanently injured her. And that’s far more than many of us can say.”

“She was... compared to Ecto, she was so much more—"

“Stronger. Yeah. I know.” Nep frowned. “Now Ecto was concerning, but he was just a lone rogue agent. Not someone seriously respected. From here on, the Demons are all integrated parts of their war machine. They know what they’re doing. They will kill. They will torture. They will do whatever it takes to reach their goals.”

“I can’t believe it was so easy for them to get in,” I said. “I thought there were guards. I thought the Archangels had set up defences.”

“They had,” said Nep. “The Demons were let in on purpose.”

“This... spy?”

“Or spies. Whoever it was, we have no real clues. Yet. This was far from the only place with attacks last night. We were occupied by a full assault, including incursions from Quetzal’s other two lieutenants. The fighting was quite fierce; it was a surprise, and many people were caught out of position. I’ve had a talk with Kei about drills, but eh, what can you do?” She leaned in close to whisper. “Just between you and me, though, we have reason to suspect the spy is somewhere within this class.”

“Here?” I whispered.

Nep nodded. “So do keep an eye out for any suspicious activity.” At that, she walked up and began chatting with Miriam, examining her reformed Imago and commenting on the changes from before. And my eyes wandered across the classroom, wondering who it could be. Grace? She did seem to know a lot about these particular Demons. But maybe that was just coincidental. Or maybe someone else here. Despite those who were away now, the class was still bustling, with girls of all shapes and sizes sitting around and debriefing with each other.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening and slamming shut. A bright orange Imago burst into the room. I certainly didn’t recognize her. She was entirely a warm burnt-orange, with lighter highlights, nearly the same colour as an Echo. Her helmet bore a large, shiny bronze visor, with a pair of long, segmented antennae that were neatly wrapped and tied around her head into a tiara. From her back, two pairs of velvety black wings hung folded, shining ever-so-slightly blue as they caught the light.

And she was heading right towards me.

“Do I know you?” I asked.

She stopped for a bit, taking a step back as her bright orange carapace fell away, revealing a rather small girl, younger than me, wearing a clean white uniform in pristine condition. Her skin was olive-brown, with freckles across her cheeks. Black hair was cut in a short bun. It was Carmen.

“Carmen!” I said, rushing to her side.

She hugged me. “Quinn,” she said, leaning in closely. “It’s good to see you again. And good to see that you’re safe. But I’m sorry, Quinn. Carmen isn’t here anymore.”

All of a sudden, everything flooded back. The conversation we’d had. That she was a host. That she’d been eaten, devoured from the inside out, and all that was left was... I pushed her away. I felt sick. What awful timing for this.

Not-Carmen simply shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

That wouldn’t cut it. It wasn’t fair. I hadn’t even been given the chance to say goodbye, and now she was gone. Gone. I started forward, but another pair of hands held me back. “Let me go, Joy.”

“Let’s talk this out.”

“I don’t want to talk this out!” I stormed off. I just couldn’t deal with all this. I needed to think. I needed to be alone. I needed to be given freedom to make my own decisions. Oh wait. I didn’t even have that luxury anymore.