Max gave them an hour to organize and pack, before meeting out front. There wasn't time to waste.

On their way upstairs, Sheridan had pulled Rafferty aside.

"Do you want Lena to back you up? She can handle double duty." Sheridan asked.

"I'm sure she can, but, no, I'm good," Rafferty said.

Sheridan stared at her, chewing her bottom lip, clearly not satisfied.

"If you're shooting, and I'm brawling, who is she supposed to pick? I don't want to put her in that position," Rafferty said.

Sheridan stared a moment longer, but then nodded, reluctantly satisfied with that reasoning.

Rafferty knew she would get similar offers from Cody and Blaspheme, but she would decline those as well.

Alex hurt Trevor. She didn't know how he had done it, but she knew that he had. When the fight started, she was going straight for Mr. With Malice, and she didn't want to put anyone else in harm's way, especially someone that Alex might think she cared about.

Rafferty packed quickly, so she had time to stop at Trevor's room. She entered quietly, and sat next to him.

"Hey, Trev," she whispered, still worried she might disturb him. Rafferty knew that the Universe wasn't listening, but she hoped that Trevor might be. "I have to go now. There's a big fight, and, well, you know I'm not going to miss that. I want to make you a deal. I'm gonna go, and I'm going to do this by myself, and I'm going to follow all the rules. I'll carry my backup blade, and have an exit strategy, and actually use the Fowler Method to calculate my jumps, and all the other things you do for me, and that you hate that I forget. I'll be a perfect angel. And maybe, when I get back, you'll be awake. Because that's gonna just about tap me when it comes to being responsible, and I'm going to need you to, you know, keep me from screwing things up. It turns out I'm pretty good at screwing things up."

Trevor's hair had flopped down in front of his face, in a way Rafferty knew he would hate. She put it back in place, and smoothed it out. Rafferty leaned over and kissed his forehead.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Just think about. Ok?" she said.

There was no more time. She got up and left the room.

When she got to the bottom of the stairs, Rafferty stopped, closed her eyes, and shook her head. When she opened her eyes, her hair was a deep drowning purple. Now she was ready.

Rafferty met up with rest of J Hall in front of the Abbey. The yard was filling with Hunters, and the guys in the motor pool were bringing in almost every reliable truck they had. There were jokes, and fist bumps, and showoffy backflips. Rafferty thought that was good. She thought the girls were ready.

She was going over the inventory with Lena and Sheridan when they caught Blaspheme staring.

"What?" Rafferty asked.

"Th-That coat…" Blaspheme stammered.

Rafferty turned and saw Max striding toward them. He was wearing two guns in a holster under a long high-collared black coat. He paused long enough to turn toward Blaspheme.

"Jealous you couldn't pull it off?" he asked, and winked.

"No, it's great. I want it," said Blaspheme.

"You know, today you'll only be the second best shot out there. I hope you can deal with that," he said. It was weird to see Max tease like this, but given all the grief Blaspheme gave him, Rafferty figured she'd earned it.

Blaspheme gave a dismissive little pffff, but Rafferty didn't think it had the same energy she usually gave it. Max was smiling as he walked away to check on the other halls.

"When did Max get hot?" Blaspheme asked.

"Max was always hot," said Sheridan, and now they were all staring at her.

The plan was simple enough. The Hunters would be spread among the possible targets. They had flares they used sometimes, when the patrolled wide areas of the Breaks in groups, that could be seen for miles. If Alex and his goons showed up, empty the town, and send up a flare. Max thought the bad guys wouldn't be prepared for just how quickly Hunters could move from place to place.

Max urged them to spare as many lives as they possibly could, but that their first responsibility was to the citizens.

F Hall and J Hall was assigned to Falls Rock, where Blaspheme was a celebrity. It was the closest town, so they were the last to leave. Just as they were piling into the van, a truck came barreling toward the Abbey.

Rafferty drew her sword as Sheridan was already tracking the intruder with her bow. The truck stopped, and Rafferty raised her sword, twisting both on the handle to give it menacing glow. The truck's window rolled down. Rafferty lowered her arms when she realized she was looking at Vincent.

"You need to come with me," he said. No jokes. No greetings. Whatever was going on, it was the most serious she had ever seen him.

"I—" she started, gesturing toward the van and her friends.

"I know. They've got this. If you ever trust anyone about anything in your whole life, you need to come with me right now," he said.

Rafferty looked back at her friends, and then reached for the handle of the door. By the time she was sitting down, she realized she'd already broken her promise to Trevor.