Lena’s living quarters are spartan, but comfortable enough—especially compared to Dani’s temporary apartment. It’s nothing more than an old industrial unit, hollowed out and built to her specifications, but somehow she’s made it feel restful and safe. So safe, in fact, that Dani and I sleep away the evening on stomachs full of hot noodles and warm beer, barely stirring till morning.

When I finally wake from my deep sleep, I’m wrapped around Dani’s half-dressed body—my arms entwined with theirs, my ankle hooked around the hollow of their knee. I blink the sleep from my eyes, barely daring to move from the mattress. How did we end up tangled up like this? It explains the sexy dreams, though…

“Lena?” I whisper, keeping my voice as soft as I can. No answer.

“Lena?” More volume this time, but still hoarse. As I untangle one of my arms from their grasp, Dani’s eyes dart back and forth under closed lids as they dream.

“Morning, K.” Lena stands over us, her eyebrows threatening to disappear into her hairline. “Good sleep?”

I press my lips together and shake my head. Not in the mood for joking about right now—I’m too concerned that Dani will wake up and not know where they are. If the Composure’s worn off… I jerk my head toward Lena’s storage. “Have you got the other dose I brought ready?”

Lena waves a hand in the air with a carefree grin. “No need to worry. They won’t need to take it every day. Seems it gives them enough clarity for two days.”

“Two?” Woah, guess I had some terrible luck to run into them just as it was wearing off.

Lena nods and offers me her hand. I take it and heave myself off the mattress—Dani moans softly and turns over, their soft copper curls coming loose from yesterday’s high bun. Lena hands me a bundle of clothes. “Thought you’d like some fresh threads.”

I take them gratefully—between squatting in Dani’s apartment and yesterday’s dash through Skycross, my own clothes were already getting pretty ripe. Picking through the bundle, I find a pair of dark baggy jeans, soft and worn, and a grey cotton t-shirt. Compared to Lena’s choice of outfit, it’s pretty subdued. If it weren’t for the denim—a luxury rarely afforded by workers—I might even blend in around Skycross.

“Think I could meet up with someone dressed in these?” I ask Lena as I change, thinking of how I might need to meet Caleb in the next day or so.

“You stand a better chance than me, at least!” Lena chuckles, motioning to today’s outfit—a skin-tight pair of black PVC leggings, and a tank top dripping in zippers and laces.

“Do you ever go out?” I turn my back to change my top, suddenly aware of her eyes on my body, though she doesn’t seem embarrassed at all.

“I go out some,” she says, her tone casual. “Not much out there worth going out there for, though. Least not these days.”

Now fully dressed, I leave Dani asleep on the mattress and follow Lena into the main living area of the unit, where she has her desks and bank of monitors set up. The screens all transmit different signals—some are internal monitors (I spot Emotiv’s service counter immediately) while others are cameras trained on parks and plazas.

“Dont you get lonely?”

“Nah,” Lena says, sitting at her desk and stretching her hands behind her head. “I got plenty of company. Take this guy, for example—” She nods to a screen, and I follow her gaze.

A warden patrols Oma Park, rifle held across their chest. They’re in full gear—black uniform and helmet—but their gait is familiar, the swing of their shoulders… My stomach drops, leaving a yawning chasm of dread at the back of my throat. “Harding.”

Of course it’s Harding. His name is a perpetual cloud of stink, chasing me from one hiding place to the next. He stands at one end of the park, watching workers pass by on the pavement, inspecting them up and down thoroughly, like he suspects everyone. The workers shuffle past, eager to get as far away from him and his rifle as possible.

“Yup. Harding. I’ve been monitoring him since yesterday. Before, in fact.”

Lena motions to the chair beside her, and I sit without taking my eyes from the screen. Harding is in his element, staring workers down as they skirt around him—his body language screams confrontation, like he’s daring them to start something. “Why are you watching him?”

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“He’s up to something. It’s not just you he’s been terrorising.” Lena counts on her fingers. “There’s Frank and Dani, of course, but also his subordinates, the other shop clerks. He’s even got it in for Premier Sheridan.”

“What? How the hell can he go up against the Premier?” The Premier is the head of state in Skycross—how can Harding possibly take her on?

Lena shrugs. “Guy’s cracked if you ask me. But Frank asked me to keep tabs on him, so I get the unique joy of watching his every move. Popcorn?”

I wave the bag away, mind reeling from this new information. Harding does seem to have taken a turn for the worst this past few weeks. My encounter with him was just the tip of the iceberg—he’d been getting more erratic, and more confrontational, for weeks, ever since I first met him.

“Well,” Lena continues through a mouthful of popcorn, “now he’s looking for you.”

I sigh heavily. Of course he is. “I did electrocute him, after all.”

Lena chuckles again, a wistful nostalgia on her face. “Yeah, you did. Good times, good times. Don’t worry though, he hasn’t got a clue where you are.”

“How can you be sure?”

She points at the screen. “See this?”

“Oma Park.” I nod—the central plaza near the university. Caleb and I would meet there before I dropped out.

“He’s on the other side of town. Plus, he’s watching the wrong side. See the statue?”

I focus on the tall effigy behind Harding—a stoic-looking man standing on top of an explorer, facing to the right of the screen.

“He’s facing due West of the park. We’re to the East side. He’s clutching straws so tight he’s crushing them.” Another chuckle, another puff of popcorn thrown in the air and caught in her mouth with a flourish. Lena chews loudly, grinning at me while I shuffle awkwardly in the chair.

“Thank you for sheltering us, Lena. I know this must be a risk for you…”

“No problemo, K. All part of the job. Besides, I’m sure you and Lutz will find a way to thank us, somehow.”

I nod, uncertain of what else I could do. “Yeah, of course.”

With that, the back door bursts open, and Frank’s burly form fills the frame, his shoulders taking up the full width of the door. “Where are they?” He calls into the unit.

Lena points to me wordlessly, then to Dani on the mattress, who’s just stirring following Frank’s outburst.

Here goes, this is my chance. If I don’t apologise now, it’ll get awkward. “Hey, Frank. Listen, I’m so—”

He closes the distance between us in three steps, and grabs me by the shoulders, gazing deep into my eyes. “Thank you. You did what I couldn’t. I’m so sorry.”

I gape as he crushes me against his massive chest, squeezing the air out of my lungs. “But I shocked you!” I wheeze.

“You had no choice, Kyla. It’s alright. What you did even took suspicion off me, for a while, at least.” Frank’s soft growl targets my tear ducts like a laser, instantly blurring my vision. “And you took Dani with you, too! You just keep on proving yourself.”

He finally releases me, and I inhale a deep breath of blessed oxygen, blinking the tears from my eyes. “Well, it’s not like I could just leave them there—”

“It’s not as simple as that, Kyla.” Dani joins us from the sleeping area, rubbing the sleep from their eyes. “You didn’t have to take me with you. We all understand that you took a risk for me, and we won’t forget it.”

Rendered speechless, I swallow the lump in my throat as Frank pulls Dani into a bear hug. “Dani, I’m so glad you’re safe.” He purrs.

“Wow, you’re like some kind of superhero!” A familiar voice comes from the doorway. I spin around and gaze up into Caleb’s eyes, crinkled at the corners with laughter. “And there I thought you were just a pain in the ass.”

“Caleb!” I run at him and hug him. “How did you find us?”

“Frank, of course.” Caleb gestures to the gigantic bear beside us, standing a head’s height over every one of us, and sharing a hearty handshake with Lena. “I went to ask after you and he brought me with.”

“That was… trusting of him.” I glance at Frank in question.

“It’s cool. I checked your brother out while you were asleep.” Lena says by way of explanation, then grimaces at Caleb. “Gotta be sure. Sorry.”

“It’s cool,” Caleb says, then turns back to me. “I have news. I spoke with Gemma.”

His crush, the one going out with Harding’s son. “What did she say?”

“She wants to help, but she doesn’t know how to cure an Oblivion overdose, and we don’t know how we can research it without it being noticed.”

Dani waves for attention. “It’s okay, we’re kinda past that.”

I explain the situation to Caleb, but I keep wondering whether there could be some sort of permanent cure for Dani—relying on Composure doses for the rest of their life doesn’t exactly sound like a solution to me.

“Okay,” Caleb nods, apparently relieved. “That’s good. I’m sorry, though.”

Dani smiles. “It’s cool. Thank you. You said they could help, though, this Gemma?”

“Yeah! She thinks she can find out where the wardens stash their supplies.” Caleb is practically hopping on the spot, it’s so hard for him to contain his excitement.

“What makes you think we can trust her?” Lena asks.

“She’s having a… she’s in a bad relationship,” Caleb says, his face paling a little. “Her boyfriend is Harding’s son. He’s been… well, he’s an abusive son of a bitch. We’ll put it that way.”

I look down in time to see Caleb’s hand clenching into a fist at his side, before he forces himself to relax.

“She wants to pin it on him, get him in trouble. She says she can’t get out of their relationship any other way—she tried reporting him but—”

“He reported her to Harding and his goons.” Frank nodded in understanding. “Fucking coward.”

“Yeah,” Caleb agreed. “Said if she tried to leave him again, he’d have her expelled from the college.”

“Well hey,” Lena grins. “If your girl is on the level, this is awesome news. We’ve never been able to get hold of the warden’s supply chain. If we can get in—”

“We can cut it off.” Frank nods. “Maybe even destroy their stores. It would take weeks for them to get more. Then we’d only need to hit their equipment.”

I turn to each of them in turn, trying to put the pieces together. “Wait, what’s going on? What are you guys planning here?”

Lena grins. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“We’re taking the bastards down.” Frank grunts.