From the Greywood to the pilgrim camp only took them twenty minutes or so. Cinza, despite her height, moved faster than the both of them. She looked furious, but had yet to explain why to Makoto or to Ruby. They shot each other confused glances every few minutes, wondering what might have happened.

  Cinza's always been so… enamored with Rachel. No, in awe, that's a better word. She admires her so much. What could have happened?

  To Ruby, Rachel had been a curiosity for a long time, nothing more. There was a brief span where, thanks to Cinza's increasingly high praise, Ruby had started to see her in a new light—and in the heat of the season, Ruby had decided she might try to seduce the willowy giant. After all, Cinza wanted to be closer to this girl; why not invite her into their home for the night?

  She might have tried to seduce a brick wall for all the response Rachel gave.

  Ruby might have laughed at the memory, if Cinza weren't so furious in the moment. She quickly realized they were not going to the camp, as she'd expected, but instead were headed directly south—to the road, and the vehicle they'd stashed nearby.

  "Where is Rachel?" asked Ruby finally.

  "Seattle," said Cinza shortly.

  This, finally, was enough to push Ruby to question her. All the way to Seattle? I thought Rachel might be in the camp, or maybe in Olympia… what's going on?

  As they reached the vehicle and Makoto began clearing away the carefully arranged debris which kept it hidden, she took her beloved's hands in her own, grasping tight.

  "What happened?" she asked softly.

  Cinza shook her head. "Rachel has made a mistake. I intend to correct it."

  "Cin…" Ruby shook her head. "Let the mundane world figure itself out. Your people are here."

  "My people are everywhere," said Cinza. "You taught me that."

  "I meant that you were our leader," said Ruby. "Our home, our people, our place in the world. You have to deal with them to protect us… but is this really part of that?"

  "If we are not proactive," said Cinza, as Makoto cleared off the last of the debris and pushed the vehicle out onto the road, "we risk even the home we live in. The awakened everywhere are our people, even moreso now that we are so few and do not grow. Rachel has chosen not to support them, to throw her lot in with those who oppose us."

  "What happened?"

  "A man who deserves all the world's fury received his just reward, and Rachel has condemned those who chose to deliver it."

  Cinza climbed into the vehicle with a hand from Makoto, who then stooped to help Ruby up as well. She winced slightly, remembering their abrupt and awkward conversation only an hour or two earlier, but shook it off.

  "Details, Cin," said Ruby wearily. Cinza was in her righteous fury mood, which was exhilarating to experience, but often left Ruby more confused as she tended to avoid the topic while delivering her rhetoric.

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  "Felix Wieczorek was visited last night by one or more awakened," said Cinza. "They did not hurt him, nor touch him in any way, but they exacted a punishment. It was a fitting blow I could not admire more. He spurned all his journalistic credibility with his lies and propaganda against us, and thus did they destroy all his awards and treasures, those accolades which gave him the platform to harm us."

  "And Rachel spoke out against them?" asked Ruby.

  "She commanded they turn themselves in, and condemned any such acts." Cinza looked to Makoto. "We must hurry. I do not know how long they will remain in Seattle."

  Makoto nodded. He closed his eyes and began to cast the spell, relying upon the cache of gemstones they kept near the gear system. Ruby settled back into the soft chair and drew closed the curtains around their vehicle.

  If nothing else, she was excited to finally use it.

  The design was a group effort. Makoto had acted as the engineer, designing an engine fueled by gemstones and magic which could be easily powered by a single person. He'd worked with Brittany and Matthew to handle the rest of the mechanical design, making it ride comfortably even over the rough roads that went back into the mundane world.

  Cinza, ever practical, made sure the whole thing was well-insulated and self-warming for the winter months, and contained easily activated defensive measures like a strengthening spell for the cloth covering and a version of her invisibility field which could cover them while moving. Rufus and Yusuf provided the materials to build the whole thing, including parts and tires reclaimed and repaired from some of the cars still left abandoned in Rallsburg.

  Ruby was the last piece, creating a carriage worthy to carry Cinza. The wood became beautiful flourishes, the cloth emblazoned with the eight-pointed star. Every corner of the thing sparkled, but in a subtle way, so that it did not look gaudy or overbearing. It was the perfect balance of subtle and bold, a strong reflection of their leader.

  They settled back in the rear seats, within the closed canvas covering. Makoto sat out on the front seat, which could be opened or closed as they preferred. Ruby laid her head on Cinza's shoulder, but her love was still fired up, angry at something she did not yet understand—though if anything, she felt even more enraged that Rachel might be turning against them than her love.

  "What did Rachel say exactly?" she asked, as the car slid out onto the road and began burning its way down out of the forests.

  Cinza shook her head. "I received this secondhand from a pilgrim listening to a radio up until the edge of the zone. There was no transcript. I intend to ask Rachel that myself once we find her."

  "I can't believe she'd do this," growled Ruby. "After everything, she's going to turn on us?"

  "We don't know that for sure," said Cinza. "I will find out."

  Ruby shook her head. "It's just like the Summit. Rachel's not really on our side. Brian was killing us and she called for mercy."

  "It is not such a bad thing to be merciful…" Cinza sighed. "I was not entirely settled on killing the man myself. I do not wish to commit murder, though if the time comes, I will defend us at any cost."

  "We will defend us," said Ruby, and Cinza smiled.

  "Rachel is still our greatest ally in their world. She has landed herself in influential positions time and again. I would not burn such a relationship without knowing the full story, though right now, I am very close to doing so."

  Ruby didn't answer. She knew Cinza had something about Rachel, some kind of worship she didn't really understand. It was an unpleasant sticking point between the two of them, that Cinza trusted Rachel so much, but she let it slide. She trusted Cinza wholeheartedly, and that was all that mattered.

  "So where are we going?" she asked finally.

  "She should be staying at the Westin, by all reports." Cinza gazed out the window as a worried look crossed her expression. "...I haven't been there in years."

  "You stayed in the Westin once?" asked Ruby, raising an eyebrow.

  "More than once… in a manner of speaking."

  Cinza didn't elaborate, and Ruby knew not to ask further. Her past was something just like Ruby's, one she did not like to delve into. For Cinza, though, it didn't feel like shame. The past simply… existed.

  I wish I could do that. Just… set it in the past and keep going. I can't ever stop thinking about him though, or… everything. I haven't seen or heard from him in years but I still can't get away.

  Instead, Ruby simply stayed close to her, riding in silence all the way back into the mundane world once more. She'd trust in Cinza, no matter what came next.