This time it wasn't morning that Fin came to collect the girls. It was the dead of night, the time caught between late and early, the air needle cold and the sky dull black.

"Come along now, no time for dallying," Fin said, as Maya guided Lina towards the carriage—everyone else was already inside. "There'll be time to sleep again once we're away."

"Are we leaving?" Maya asked, as she ushered Lina up and in.

"Yes, as quickly as possible. Our next destination is clear; we must travel to Pyre."

Ashley laughed, from inside the carriage. "Yeah, good one."

"For now, however..."

Fin trailed off, and frowned.

"Into the carriage and shut the door, quickly now, there's a good girl," he said to Maya, already moving to jump up into the driver's seat. "Perhaps one final stop," he muttered. Only Selene heard.

The streets of Unity were almost empty at this hour, those still upon them mostly groups of noisy drunks or lone figures moving swiftly through the night.

"Sooner we're outta this damn place the better," Ashley muttered. "Right, kid?"

"Um. Right," Maya said. She was watching Lina, who looked pale and sick.

"It's so different from the daytime," Ada said. She was staring out the window, excitement overcoming her sleepiness. "It's hard to believe it's the same place."

"It ain't," muttered Ashley. Ada glanced at her, eyes wide, before turning to look out the window again.

"I think Mr Fin's found another person like us," Maya said. "He got that look on his face like when he found Ada and Lina."

"What? Aw, great, another stray," Ashley muttered. She glanced up at Lina. "No offence."

Ada half-turned to look at Ashley.

"I think we're all strays, of a kind," she said. "It seems ungracious to—"

"Yeah, I know what you're gonna say," Ashley interrupted. "I don't need to hear it. Just getting sick of this, yeah? Chasing this bloody statue all over the damn place, it's a damn waste of time if you ask me."

"At least we're doing something," Maya said. "Not just running away. I like Mr Fin's dream."

Ashley grunted and looked away.

"What dream?"

The voice was Lina's, small and sad. Maya tried to smile at her.

"Mr Fin is going to take us all to a safe place where we can live and no one will want to hurt us."

Lina lowered her head again, once more staring at her hands.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I think of it too," Ashley said. She looked at Maya. "Nothing BUT a dream."

Ada could see that Maya wanted to say something more, but the girl remained silent, her hands crossed in her lap.

For several minutes nobody said anything, then Ashley glanced out the window.

"Shouldn't be rolling through here." She turned and thumped her fist against the hatch, which opened. "Oi, Finny. Ain't a place we should be taking this fancy carriage."

"Necessity demands it," Fin replied, through the hatch.

"Yeah, you can just about shut it with that kind of useless talk," Ashley said. "Better have a damn good reason for being in this ugly part of town."

The carriage slowed, and then stopped.

"Yes," said Fin. "I do. Could all of you gather outside of the carriage, please? I have something important I must ask you."

The hatch closed. Ashley looked at her sister and sighed.

"Come on, kid. You guys, too."

The street was narrow and dirty, the buildings old and wooden, the creak of a broken sign sounding through the chill of the night. Though there were no lamps the moon shone bright and clear, illuminating the street with a bluish hue. Selene had her bow slung over her shoulder, and Fin's rapier hung at his side.

"I thought that there would be more time," Fin began. "More time to help you all understand your abilities, more time to prepare you for what may become necessary. At this late hour I can but give you one piece of advice; be cautious but decisive. I believe Miss Ashley knows what I'm saying."

"Fin, I ain't got the slightest clue what you're talking about."

Fin sighed. "We may all of us need to fight—"

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Fight?" Ada said. "Now? But—"

Ada was interrupted by a piercing scream—not close, but not distant, either.

"Maya, Lina, you two stay with the carriage," Fin said. "The rest of you come with me, quickly now!"

They ran along the street, towards the source of the scream.

"Remember," Fin called, as they approached an alleyway. "Cautious, but decisive!"

Ada gasped as they rounded the corner—the alley was filled with huge hulking figures, two of them holding a struggling young blonde girl by her arms and legs.

Without hesitation Fin drew his sword and leapt forward—the flash of a knife in the moonlight threatened his stomach, but Fin elegantly avoided the attack and responded with a slash that cut through his opponent's wrist. Blood splattered against the ground, glistening dark in the moonlight.

Just men, Ada thought. Not monsters.

The flare of dull orange light caught her eye, and she turned to see Ashley slamming her fists against a man's chest. He grunted and charged, stumbled as Ashley stepped aside, then growled as she swept her hands over his cloak, setting it alight. He yelled and dropped to the ground, rolling, trying to put it out. There was a soft but solid noise, and Ada saw an arrow appear through a man's arm—she looked back to see Selene already calmly notching another.

Ada gasped as one of the thugs came towards her, a knife in his hand—she hurriedly took off her glasses, clutched them tight, then threw them to the side. Her heart was beating faster than she'd ever felt before and her hands were sweating and her vision was blurred, not just because she wasn't wearing her glasses, she couldn't see, she couldn't—

No, she thought. The knife, she thought. Metal. All I have to do—

The thug yowled and clutched at his hand, the knife skittering across the ground. Ada stood facing him, hand raised, panting with fear and excitement, and she released once more, and there was another bright spark of lightning and now the thug was sprawled on the ground, unmoving.

Ada stared at his still form, and she made a little involuntary relieved noise when she saw that he was still breathing, unconscious but not nearly dead.

"No," she whispered, and she forced her eyes up, this is a fight, I can't just stand around shocked and staring, I have to—

Oh.

Ada had looked up just in time to see the last of the thugs fleeing. Those that were still standing, at least. The blonde girl lay in the middle of the alley, shocked but conscious and very much alive. Around her lay half a dozen of the thugs, clutching at various wounds, groaning in pain. The sound was horrible, Ada couldn't remember hearing anything worse, the grunts and gasps and low moans, they must be dying, she thought, to make that kind of noise—

"Soft bloody sods around here, yeah?" Ashley was saying. She had a small cut on her cheek but otherwise looked quite happy. This faded when she noticed one of the thugs who wasn't making so much noise—there was an arrow through his side, and he lay quietly, his eyes staring upwards.

"One of yours, yeah?" Ashley said to Selene, who glanced at her before walking to the thug's side. She knelt beside him, gave the wound a cursory glance, then took out a small knife—

"What are you doing?" Ada asked. Selene looked up at her.

"Finishing," she said.

"No, we can maybe—let me look, I've ... I've studied ... injuries..."

Even as Ada talked she felt hope fade. She knew about anatomy, she knew about basic first aid, she knew which parts of the body were supposed to go where, and she knew that the boy—and he couldn't have been older than she was—had an arrow through his stomach. She knew that he was quiet now because he was unconscious, passed out from the pain, his eyes still open.

"I..." Ada said. She swallowed. "I don't know—"

"He can't be helped," said Selene. "We don't have time, even if there was something we could do. Those who ran might come back with others."

"Yeah," said Ashley. She patted Ada's shoulder. "Come on, let's make sure that girl's okay."

"But—"

"Come on," Ashley repeated, guiding Ada away from Selene and the fallen boy.

"No." Ada pulled away from Ashley. "This ... this isn't right, you can't just—"

"What do you suggest?" Selene asked. "Leave him here to bleed out in this alley?"

"No, I mean ... someone might come and help him—"

"Not in this kind of place," Ashley said. Selene nodded.

"Nobody's coming to help him," she said.

"Then we can ... we can find a healer, take him to—"

"Who would pay for that?" Selene asked Ada. "You? Even if we did that he wouldn't survive, and we don't have time in any case."

"But this," Ada said. "Doing this ... it's murder."

Suddenly Selene was on her feet, close to Ada, staring her down.

"These men were going to rape that girl or worse," she said. "I'm sure it wouldn't be the first time. I'm sure it wouldn't be the last." Selene's eyes were calm and bright, Ada's wide and frightened. "The world would not be better for his survival."

Selene turned, and knelt beside the fallen thug, and she took her knife—

And Ashley led Ada away.

Ada was shocked. Horrified.

Not least because she couldn't help but appreciate the logic behind Selene's words. She stood and stared as Fin talked calmly to the blonde girl but couldn't concentrate on his words, her mind and body both still recovering from the terror and rush of the fight. Her hands were shaking. She forced them to stop. She wasn't sure how, but she did it. She noticed that the carriage was outside the alley, that Lina and Maya were staring out from inside, at the alleyway, at the fallen blonde girl, at the men still crawling away, at those who could no longer even do that. Ada watched her hand as she bent down to retrieve her glasses; they were undamaged, for which she felt immensely grateful.

"Do you think she's like us?"

It took a moment for Ada to recognise the voice as her own.

"Whether she is or not," Selene said, "you helped save her."

"She gave one of 'em that was holding her a damned good kick in the ribs, did you see?"

"That's not 'special', though," Ada said, thinking, who is this girl, who just said that? This girl who's acting so calmly after all that's happened? "That's just ... 'feistiness'."

"Do you think she can hear you?" Selene asked Fin, who had been talking softly to the blonde girl—the girl had her eyes open now, but they were oddly unfocused.

"Yeah, she's listening," said Ashley. "Ain't ya?"

The blonde girl nodded slightly. Fin smiled at her.

"There will be a lot of questions later," he said, "and a few answers, too. For now, perhaps, we should begin with this: you can call me Fin."

This appeared to affect the girl somehow, and she blinked and coughed, seemed to come back into herself—

And then she began to sob.

"Calm, calm," Fin said, holding the girl close as she wailed into his chest. He looked up at Selene, who nodded and went to the carriage. "You're safe now. You're not hurt. Come along now. You're a strong, brave girl. You can walk."

Apparently the blonde girl could, with Fin's help at least, still letting out a little panicky sob every now and then but far from the blubbering mess she'd been a few seconds earlier, and the little group made their way back to the carriage, and the blonde girl got inside and sat down and sniffed.

Selene sat inside too, next to the blonde girl, with Maya and Ashley beside her and Lina and Ada opposite.

As the carriage began to move Ada couldn't help but stare at Selene's hands, crossed demurely in her lap. They were dark with blood.