Sufferance was a layered city built against the side of a wide hill, white stone buildings jutting out like broken teeth. From the centre of the hill a jagged tongue glistened in the morning light; the One Church. The streets of the city were a jumbled mess of incongruence, massive open areas and grand structures and wide avenues surrounded by cramped mazes of shoddily-built buildings.

"Dunno if this place is impressive or just messed up," Ashley muttered, as she and the others made their way through the early morning streets. "And where the hell is everyone?"

"That is an excellent question, young Miss Ashley," said Fin. "I was wondering the same thing myself. Curfew lifted more than half an hour ago. I expected the streets to be quiet, but not deserted. I wonder..."

"What?" Sophia asked, sensing something in Fin's tone. "Is something happening?"

"One explanation does spring to mind," said Fin. "Public executions are traditionally held in the morning. This could be an example of fortuitous timing. If everyone is distracted—"

"What? How can you say that?" It was Ada that spoke. Everyone turned to look back at her; she'd stopped walking. "If someone's being executed, how can you call that 'fortuitous'?"

"I simply meant that it will serve as an excellent distraction—"

"Distraction? That's ... I can't believe—I thought you wanted to help people!"

"Indeed, I do. But there are people executed every day in this country, and I have long resigned myself to the fact that I cannot save everyone. I apologise for my apparent callousness, but at this time I have a single priority; the safety of all of you. In order to ensure that safety I must retrieve the statue. And if the appalling and lamentable execution of what is most likely an innocent person can serve to help me achieve my goal then, yes, I will use that tragic event to my own ends. I admire your spirit, Miss Hasard, you know this. But put aside your feelings for a moment, and instead apply that logical mind of yours."

Ada stared at Fin. Then she pursed her lips tightly and started walking again.

"Very well," she said. "I understand your logic." She glanced at him as she passed, anger in her amber eyes. "But I do NOT endorse it."

"Nor would I want you to," Fin murmured. He raised his voice. "Come now, let's all of us increase our pace. I believe—"

Fin stopped dead, Selene and Sophia both nearly running into his back.

"What is it?" Selene asked, her words quick and sharp.

"The statue. I feel it! But, no, I must not excite myself—but YES, without doubt, without question, that signature is unmistakeable, there is not a trace of—"

"Yeah, okay, we get it, you're excited," said Ashley. "Calm down and just tell us where the stupid thing is."

Fin tipped his hat to Ashley as he walked forward, stopping at the end of the street to point his cane straight at the massive dark building that dominated the city.

"The One Church," he proclaimed, and he began along a new street, the others trailing behind him. "If I'm correct then we can simply follow this street around that large square up ahead, and ... ah."

Fin had turned a corner, and the square had come into view.

It was filled with people. Hundreds of them, perhaps thousands, the focus of their attention a raised stone platform near the middle of the square. Upon this platform stood a man dressed in red and white robes, who paced and gesticulated wildly, his shouted words indistinct at this distance. Behind him there was a heavy wooden gallows.

"Selene, is he saying anything of import?" Fin asked.

"Just the usual Pyrian nonsense." Selene opened her eyes. "You were right. There's going to be an execution. Of a demon, apparently."

"Hm." Fin looked out over the square and the streets surrounding it. "Selene, once more I ask for your aid, is there a clear route to the church from here?"

"To the right, behind those buildings, there are several alleys and streets. It looks like they lead straight up to the church. Although..."

As Fin and Selene continued discussing the route they should take, Sophia and Ada were staring down at the square. The crowd was eerily silent, the only sound being the shouting of the priest—two priests, now, the second shorter and even louder than the first.

"Selene," said Sophia. "What's that second priest saying?"

"Same as the first. Demons, holy fire, blessed punishment."

There was a sudden stirring in the crowds—the people were parting, to let a small group through. Four large figures in heavy armour surrounded a single boy, perhaps in his early teens, escorting him through the crowd. The boy was wearing nothing but a loincloth, but he walked without shame.

"This is awful," Sophia muttered, as the boy was led on to the platform, to stand before the priests as they shouted even louder—she could almost hear what they were saying.

"—decided. Come along now, all of you."

"No," said Sophia and Ada, almost together. They glanced at each other, then Ada stepped forward.

"Mr Fin," she said, her voice slightly shaky. "I know, intellectually, that this kind of punishment is carried out every day here in Pyre, just as I know, intellectually, that all over the world there are horrible things happening every minute. But there's a difference between knowing that terrible things are happening and being here, RIGHT HERE, and SEEING it, and KNOWING that I might be able to do something to stop it—"

Ada was interrupted by Sophia gasping.

"I felt that!" she said. "Mr Fin, did you feel that? He's like us! That boy is like us!"

They turned to look at the square—one of the priests was standing behind the boy, holding something long and dark, shouting hysterically.

"They attempted to brand him," Fin muttered. He looked at Sophia. "It's remarkable that you could sense—"

"We don't have time for compliments!" Sophia said. "They're about to kill him, we have to—"

Sophia's face went pale as the screaming began, horrible, agonised screams that were clear even at this distance.

"They're drawing him," Fin murmured, his face almost as pale as Sophia's.

"How do you—"

"You don't forget how that sounds," Fin said, interrupting Ada. He took a breath. "There is nothing—"

"Lina." Sophia turned to look at the girl, who recoiled. "Lina, this is your ability, your power, you can heal him! Even if he's—"

"No. No, I can't, I couldn't, please don't ask me—"

"You can! You have to!"

"No, I can't." Lina was almost crying now, scrunching her hands into the thick fabric of her dress. "I can't, I'll just make things worse—"

"Lina," Sophia said, her voice firm, holding the girl's gaze with her own. "Listen to me. That boy has had his stomach cut open. He's in agony now, you can HEAR that, there is NOTHING you could do to him to make that worse. At the very least you could take his pain away, even that would be worth fighting for."

"Lina." The voice was Maya's, small but serious. "My arm is still okay."

Lina stared at Maya, then looked back at Sophia.

"But ... but I'm scared," she said.

"Well I'm completely terrified," Sophia said, "but I'm not going to let that stop me."

She turned to look down again. The boy, still screaming, was being carried towards the gallows. "We have to get to him," she muttered. "How can we ... I need someone to come with me."

"Me," said Ada firmly. "I can stun anyone who tries to stop us."

"Too late," Ashley said. "They got the noose around his neck. Ain't much you can do with that."

"No." Fin's gaze was on the gallows. "They intend to choke him, not snap his neck. He may well live for several more minutes."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Then we can do it!" Sophia thought hard for a second. "Selene! You can—you're amazing with your bow, do you think you could send an arrow through that rope?"

Selene nodded and, with a glance at Fin, went to move away.

"Where are you going?"

"From this angle," Selene said, a note of irritation in her voice, "any arrows I sent through the rope would also go through the crowd."

"Okay, good, fine, let's just go, QUICKLY!"

Sophia grabbed Lina by the arm and managed to drag her into walking. Ada too was at her side, her glasses already off, entrusted to Fin.

"Sophia."

Sophia turned to look back at Fin. He smiled at her.

"I will see you later."

Sophia nodded, then she was away, the last she heard of the others being Ashley saying, "What's this about your arm?", and then she and Ada and Lina were flying down through the streets, at the side of the square in what seemed like an instant, and there was the platform...

...and there were the people crowding the square...

...and there were the guards, with their heavy armour and their shining swords...

There are too many people here, Sophia thought, hopelessness rising up inside her to mix with the fear and desperation she already felt, hundreds of people, thousands, and those guards have weapons and armour, and we can't do this, we're just three unarmed girls, does it matter if we've got powers? Not against these numbers!

"Sophia!" Ada hissed. "What do we do?"

I don't know. I don't know. There are too many people, what can we do?

Well, Sophia thought firmly to herself, we can be rational for a start. We can—

Except no, that's entirely the wrong way to look at it. Be irrational. Be scared and confused. And then take all of those things and just ... just...

Suddenly Sophia was aware like she'd never been aware before, of herself, and of Ada and Lina beside her, Ada glowing a faint yellow, Lina a dull green, and her own hands were that beautiful bluish-white, and filling the square was a white-blackness with flickers of colour, and the boy hanging from the rope was a fading orange that flowed like steam away from his body.

Most of all Sophia was aware of her own fear, her own doubt, her own indecision, her own despair, and she scooped all of these up like a cupped handful of water and she hurled them into the crowd.

Chaos.

But a kind of uniquely Pyrian internal chaos.

The crowd was made up of people who had been ruled by fear their entire lives, who had always been told 'DO NOT BE DIFFERENT', who had absorbed this into the very core of their beings, who, when faced when something they did not understand, simply...

Froze.

Hundreds of people, all totally and utterly frozen, paralysed with fear and confusion and most of all the horrible, overriding knowledge that if they did anything, ANYTHING that could be considered different or wrong then it would be THEM on that platform.

"GO!" screamed Sophia, and she was dragging Lina once more, pushing through the crowds, Ada just ahead of her, and there was a man that stood before them who would not move so Ada raised her hand and there was a small crack and he was on the ground, unconscious, and people in the crowd were beginning to recover now, so Sophia once more tried to gather her own fears but that was no good, she wasn't afraid now, not one bit—but Lina was, and so was Ada, so she took their fears from them and sent them out into the crowd, so that once more they were frozen—

But the guards were not ruled by fear, they USED fear, and their reaction to Sophia's emotional attack was not to freeze, their reaction was to growl and advance on her, pushing the people in the crowd roughly aside to get to her, their swords held at the ready—

Their shining, metal swords.

Ada raised her hands and the nearby guards yelled, and their swords fell to the ground, and she concentrated and again there was a tiny crack and a bright flash and the guards followed their swords down, all of their heavy armour no defence at all against Ada's lightning, and then they were at the platform, Sophia was pulling Lina up the steps, and Ada was behind, her face pale, her breathing heavy, sweat clear on her forehead, and one of the priests was standing before Sophia, a long knife held in his hand, but she tugged the fear this caused out of herself and threw it in his face, and while he was momentarily confused and stunned she grabbed at his wrist and got the dagger away from him, sending it clattering over the platform, and then she shoved him, as hard as she could, and he went staggering, teetered at the edge then fell to the ground below, and the crowds of people surrounding were recovering now, surging towards the platform, and there was another crack and another flash and Sophia turned to see the other priest lying sprawled beneath the gallows, Ada standing over him—

The gallows. The boy! He wasn't screaming now, hadn't been for some time, but that was because he was unconscious—not dead, Sophia could still see his energy, that dark orange, though now it was streaming away from his body frighteningly fast.

"Lina! Get him down!"

Even as Sophia said this there was an odd tearing sound and the rope split, and she had just enough time to think 'Selene, Selene's arrow' before it snapped completely, but Lina was there, her strong arms catching the boy, and then Sophia was there to help her, guiding the boy down, and Ada too, beside them both, and there was blood, there was so much blood everywhere, and Sophia felt nausea rising inside her—but before it could overwhelm her she ripped it out and threw it against the crowd, and she saw Lina's face was pale and her eyes were wide and she reached inside her, too, and took the terror and horror and guilt she found and that went into the crowd as well, but it was harder now, it was so much harder, even finding the emotions was difficult—forget that, Sophia told herself, just concentrate, what are we doing here? We're saving this boy. Lina is saving this boy. All I have to do is give her time...

Sophia stepped forward, standing solidly in the centre of the platform, her arms thrust out in front of her.

"Lina," she said, her voice tightly controlled. "Heal him. I'm holding the crowd. Please hurry."

Lina was staring at the boy's wound, a neat X cut across his stomach, so similar to the wound that had killed Adam, almost exactly the same, really there was no difference, no difference at all—

"Lina!" Ada said from beside her. "You have to do something!"

"I can't," Lina whispered, still staring at the wound.

"Please hurry!" Sophia called, shaking now, her face shiny, the desperation in her voice overcoming her control. "I can't do this for long!"

"You have to do this NOW, Lina! We can't wait, Sophia can't wait!"

"No," Lina said. "It's the same. It's the same."

Ada felt like throttling the girl. "The same as what?"

But then she knew. Despite her exhaustion and thirst, Ada's mind was still working. Healed, but died. Cut in the stomach.

"Lina," she said, trying to keep her voice calm, horribly aware of the hundreds of people frozen behind her, "I don't think this is the same. You healed someone, they were cut like this, through the stomach, the intestines, but you healed them?"

Lina managed to nod. "But—"

"But then they died—Lina, that was different, that was blood poisoning, are you listening to me? This boy's abdomen has been sliced open but it's just the skin, his intestines have been drawn out but they haven't been cut, do you understand? You just have to push them back inside him and heal him and then I PROMISE you that HE WILL LIVE."

"No, I don't—"

Ada took a deep breath, then took hold of the boy's guts and pushed them inside his body. It's just like frogs, she told herself, it's just like mice, it's just the scale that's different, it's just like dissection except in reverse, this is unpleasant but tolerable, unpleasant but tolerable—

"HURRY!" came Sophia's desperate voice. "PLEASE!"

Lina was still staring at the boy's stomach, at the line of his cuts.

"Lina!" Ada shouted at her. "Heal him! JUST HEAL HIM!"

And the world shrank.

He was dying. Lina could see that clearly. His life was leaving him, his heart was slowing, he was so close to death, so close...

But he wasn't there yet.

Lina reached towards the boy, reached inside the boy, and she pulled. He was unconscious, but the pain was still there, dark and pulsing and spiked, and she took it out of him and into herself, felt it writhe and twist as she tamed it, bullied it into a tiny black ball that sat neatly in her gut.

And his stomach, Lina thought. His stomach shouldn't look like that...

Ada stared as Lina held her hands against the boy's stomach, as the blood remained but the wound disappeared, the edges of the cuts joining themselves together, leaving nothing but a pale white X. Lina lowered her hands, and then she sighed.

"Lina, I can't carry him, you have to—"

Lina was already reaching out, her hands gathering up the boy, her thick arms supporting his weight apparently without effort. Ada let out a relieved breath, then she turned just in time to see Sophia sway and fall.

"Sophia!" Ada cried, running forward, just managing to catch her before her head hit against the platform, but she wasn't strong and she wasn't big and catching Sophia sent her off balance—she managed to recover, but even the thought of carrying her—

Ada almost cried in relief as Sophia's eyes opened and she managed to push herself up.

"I'm not holding them," Sophia said, her voice weak but clear. "Ada, we have to run!"

As if this was some kind of signal the square exploded into noise, unbelievable noise, the noise of hundreds of voices suddenly raised in long-sought release, all confusion and fear forgotten, chased away by a single, overriding emotion:

Anger.

The nearest were a dozen metres from the platform but that distance was closed quickly, some individuals stumbling, others falling, but the crowd as a whole kept surging forward.

Lina was already running, desperate focus in her grey eyes as she headed towards the edge of the square, her arms tight around the boy as she held him draped over her shoulder. Ada hurriedly helped Sophia to her feet, grabbing her by the hand as she started to run, but the crowds were close, grasping for her, clutching at her, and she couldn't—

The people surrounding them suddenly fell back, the surge of panic Sophia had sent out almost palpable. Ada staggered then found her feet as she ran harder, tugging at Sophia's wrist, pulling the girl forward even as her legs failed her and she stumbled.

"Ada!"

Ada gasped as a guard loomed over her, but her hand was up and she felt something squirm inside her chest as a precise spark jumped to his helmet. She ran around him as he crashed to the ground, then shrieked as she saw a sword coming at her from above—without thinking she thrust both hands out, screaming as a surge of power flowed through her and then out. The sword scraped against Ada's shoulder but with no strength behind the blow, the guard's chest armour was scorched and bent and he was falling, and Ada reached back as Sophia desperately reached forward and their hands clasped together once more, and the way ahead was clear—

No. It wasn't. Two more guards were running into the square ahead of them, and one of them pointed and shouted, and despite her growing exhaustion Ada raised her hand again—

The guard who had pointed clutched at his arm, from which an arrow had suddenly sprouted, and the other guard grunted and fell, an arrow through his chest, and now the path ahead WAS clear and Ada and Sophia both ran as hard as they could, the crowds were closing in but too slow, too slow...

Lina was lost, her path cluttered and crowded, and she had no way to defend herself as those around her closed in, their hands grasping at her, and she staggered and fell to one knee, her arms still tight around the boy, and she was being caught, she was being held—

Pain rose within her, rose out of her, and those who had been clutching at her screamed and fell back, writhing in agony, and Lina pushed herself up, and once more the hands were coming for her but once more the pain inside her rose, and her scream joined that of those around her as she pushed forward, her feet hammering against the ground as she ran, and she had momentum now, she had focus, she had a clear path ahead; there was an alleyway, she could see it clearly, and that's where she headed, the boy's weight across her shoulder nothing, the hands clutching at her nothing, and she ran, there was nothing that could stop her and she ran...