practically purgatory

  It was green, and a little cold (but was it pleasant?) and so far from sunharrow land, the farmer's field within the warped space. There had been briars and brambles. Judecca had wanted to find a fence to clamber over, but Tabitha tired of walking. Aine had identified Tabitha's magic correctly. It was standardised and regulated; it summoned a sword. To Nina's surprise it had no metallicity. It was the image of a sword. It had pixel or voxel form. It teletext-tessellated through the briar patch.

  It was cut up. Fourteen of them made their way through. The driver guarded the vehicle, which was worth so much.

  "Why not an—off-road vehicle?" Marzena asked Kaninchen.

  "An off-road vehicle doesn't have a lot of symbolism...?" Kaninchen replied.

  "That's not correct! It has so much! So much! There's a romance in going through—landmines and minefields!" Marzena said.

  Was there?

  Nina stayed close to Aine and Emi. Aine stayed close to Sophia and Haio Elspeth stayed close to Emi, so they became a group of five. Aria and Leuce were together, more together than Marzena and Kaninchen who each seemed to want to break out of the other's presence and scatter and scramble away from it all. Maxine and Young-hoon were together surely and then Tabitha, Sarai and Judecca made a leading group and that was all fourteen safe and accounted for.

  There were less landmarks, and more the ruin and the wreck of them. The line Judecca's magic had traced travelled through fields and clearings. It stayed away from every awful thing visible in the distance: wreck of outhouse and wreck of hut and castle and Neolithic mound. The last, as surely as this world had been filled with enmity, would be filled with some muddy mangled corpse and the stone hatchet that had offed it.

  A warped space was some fairy world or elfland. Don't pick things up carelessly! Things weren't what they said on the package but still—do not eat. Everything here was trying to get into normal reality. It wanted to stay with you. These things that weren't allowed to exist had finally gotten in and didn't want to leave. For the sake of normalcy: don't let anything in!

  That was what normal people said. It wasn't what they believed. There was no preternatural power that emerged from humanity itself, without reference to the outside, the abyss, all these awful things that shouldn't exist but did and stole the land, the water and the air from humans. The Second City was working on something like that; Nina guessed Society's Therapists was, too? Whoever they were. There wasn't. There was only the mass of psychic and magical power that one in a hundred people had access to, and each of those one in a hundred had made contact with the outside in some manner.

  It might not have been conscious contact. For Nina it had been a condition of her birth; it was the same with Nobles, and with lucky natural espers, and others. It might happen through experiments, or the dictates of others, or because some sudden overtaking power had rushed into someone, tainted them, but corralled and controlled by all of the nomoi and edicts didn't steal away their whole humanity. Many did try to make contact on purpose.

  The act of becoming an esper or a mage by intentionally contaminating oneself with anomalous information, media or materials was frowned upon, but psychic power was so useful! It wouldn't be called power if it wasn't powerful. It was illegal, officially, but it was like digital copying in that nobody was enforcing it. Many city governments had the power to divine who was accessing restricted material, when, but jails were only so large, and espers were a resource.

  Still, there had to be limits. Don't stray too far from humanity's domain! You risk ruining everything.

  Whether you were born with it or you acquired it by accident or you sought it out there were good abilities and bad abilities and Nina had the worst and now so subhuman she had fallen under humanity's domain. So awful, she tried to creep back in...

  They made it to a wooden gate between all the fencing.

  "Haio, are you okay?" Emi asked.

  "...yes..." Haio muttered. This poor normal girl was freaked out, and who could blame her? Everything was slightly teal, or green, or the colour balance teetered, vomit-coloured vertigo.

  Nice shy quiet girls didn't belong here…

  She almost wished Aine would break the silence. April would have! Aine went all quiet and unnerved, though. She had an athame. She pounded the handle against her hands and toyed with its edge. Sophia went with only her magic. Haio did the same, seemingly, though what kind of magic did either of them have? Emi had the axe.

  Sophia spared them.

  "Hey, Aine," Sophia said.

  "Y-yes?"

  "If someone fires at us, would you be able to dodge?"

  Haio did not seem to like this question. She stopped walking as soon as Sophia said it; Emi had to nudge her to catch up.

  "Um, probably?" Aine said.

  "You don't seem sure?" Sophia said.

  "If I couldn't dodge I'd probably block, right? And bounce it right back at them?"

  "You mean deflect it?"

  "Yeah, of course. I'd totally deflect it right back at them!"

  "But I thought you'd never deflected anything in your life, ever."

  Aine made some confused sound. Emi started to laugh. Aine sounded dismayed. Frustrated, like losing a game or a contest of skill. Sophia laughed, as well.

  Nina didn't know what the joke was, but she let herself smile.

  It was easier when everyone pretended there was nothing wrong with the space. It was nice that the jokes weren't about her, or at her expense.

  They had time for jokes, right?

  Not really. There was the hum of a jet engine above them. Some unknown object circled them.

  "So, what about missile fire?" Aine said.

  "I've got that covered for everyone. All fourteen of us," Sophia said.

  "Huh? Okay? Yay."

  "A plane?" Emi asked.

  "It's just a jumbo jet. Don't worry," Aine lied.

  "It's not," Haio said.

  Altitude? Apparent size? It all seemed like such a blur.

  "It's the Filton HSO PQ-510 Perceval. HSO—heaven, space and outside and not anything else here—is part of the company name and not part of the designation here. You can tell the difference between the PQ-510 and the earlier Perceval-line drones as the 510 has a slightly longer wingspan compared to the length of its body. The general shape of the body is the same, the ratio has only been slightly altered." Haio said.

  Everything paused.

  "If we—if you—couldn't you have tried 'we're under attack?'" Aine said.

  "I—I'm sorry!" Haio said.

  "What's even wrong with you, haha?"

  "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry—"

  "How much does it weigh?"

  "3,143 kilograms empty, fully fueled but unarmed 5,643 kilograms, fully fueled with the Eye of Avalon module 5,656 kilograms, fully fueled and fully armed with heavy weaponry upwards of 8,811 kilograms. There have been experiments with using a fully biological core to lower the weight but it—"

  "Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up!"

  It hadn't even done anything.

  "Aine, her knowledge is certainly useful," Nina said.

  "It is! Obviously!" Emi said. "Aine."

  "Don't gang up on me!" Aine said.

  Aine was lost, Haio felt hopeless.

  "We should set up a telepathic connection," Nina suggested, if it would get them to focus. "To synchronise our actions."

  "Telepathy..." Haio said. "I agree. We need our own advantage. The space doesn't need drone surveillance. Electronic warfare won't work either. It has its own perception. It gains knowledge in a different manner from humans, and so much more easily..."

  "The ritual is meant to do telepathy for us," Aine said.

  "It's not working in that way!" said Emi, who it had already blessed.

  "I can't do telepathy for fourteen people," Aine said. "Sophie..."

  "I can't either."

  Nina definitely could. There would be adverse consequences for those affected; others would seek to punish her for tainting them.

  "I can..." Haio said. It sounded like she didn't really want to.

  What was everyone else doing? Nina hadn't really been paying attention?

  Where was the power of the red thread? Nina caught a flash of it in Haio's hands and then Haio pulled and pulled at it and then it was something else like entrails and intestines and bioelectricity and wet flesh and nothing like that shimmering red dress and then she was caught in Haio's grip and then they were invaded they were all invaded by her thirteen thirteen thirteen.

  She (Haio's body) hung by Emi. Everyone’s attention scattered. Girl, drone, field, the line of light pointing towards their current goal, which overrode their real goal: where should their focus land?

  "Can everyone..." she said through telepathy. What was said aloud and what was transmitted was a jumble, a jumble. The vocal cords and the chords of the mind, from whence did they ring? Where did that voice come from?

  "Yes," Nina said. She adjusted quickly. She had spent so much time within the other five girls' web of telepathy; she had spent so much time connected to Reiko, online and offline. If Haio had a gross power then so did she.

  "Hi," Emi said. "Haio."

  "Hi!" Haio said. "Hi... hi..." and then "hah" aloud, already out of breath.

  "Is Elspeth Signal?" Marzena said.

  "I believe that she is signalling and receiving signals, yes," Leuce said.

  "I haven't telepathied with anyone since..." Kaninchen said.

  Telepathy, verb? But also, Kaninchen felt that and let it happen?

  Did the Nobility not deny every power like that? Did the existence of depraved powers such as Haio and Nina's not prove that the Nobility were the most worthy custodians of knowledge and power? Did each Great House not reserve thousands of communication techniques for itself and its followers?

  Perhaps Kaninchen refused to use any form of telepathy other than the one allotted by the microritual, but she was one of them, so that would be strategically stupid, and surely this refusal to use any form of telepathy other than the one they were meant to would take the form of denying Haio's angle of attack? She didn't do that, though.

  Perhaps she was fine with receiving telepathy, but not with using a more robust and less corroding telepathy spell from the Haze House archives? How helpful. What a great thirteenth girl!

  The Nobility was meant to keep itself clean, too. The exemplar Lady Tsumugi Gifu could hardly stand Nina; would she stand Haio? Why did Kaninchen fall beneath the standard Tsumugi had shown to Nina so long ago, always?

  "What's above us?" Tabitha said.

  "Drone," Judecca said.

  "Should I take the rifle out?" Sarai said.

  "Sure," Tabitha said.

  Maxine and Young-hoon spoke to each other physically. Haio was in their heads and heard it, Nina was sure, but Nina did not. Nina half-watched the sky and half-watched the trio at the front but realised Aria had broken from Leuce and stalked towards them.

  It was at walking pace. Did she just want to say hi? She got on with Aine. Perhaps she'd work better with Aine's group? Nina didn't know anything about her ability or anything about anyone else's. All she knew was that they didn't throw themselves against the knight.

  Aine waved. Aria ignored her, which Aine reacted to instantly. Aine needed attention, didn't she? She didn't even consider that maybe Aria was panicking and didn't see her.

  Then Aria was next to them and then she held Haio by the neck and then her grip tightened; she throttled her.

  The outside enemy had done nothing but exist and hover with its drone. Nina felt the rest of the curses; they all came from Aria, now.

  "You bitch," Aria said aloud.

  Emi had steadied herself. She seemed ready to swing-strike-splatter her into cherry-haired strawberry-headed paste. A nicer girl would shout 'please don't fight! We need to work together!'

  Nina didn't believe in nice girls or nicer girls, having already run for her life from the nicest girl. She said 'stop that' but did not shout it. Her body froze, idle, useless, evil.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  "Nina ordered me to," Haio said. She resounded.

  The attention of twelve (plus one! The drone has the Eye of Avalon attachment as described and it's looking! It's looking at you all...) focused on Aria and Haio.

  There were transmissions across the telepathy but some striking and stabbing thing within Aria parried them all away like shut up shut up shut up.

  Haio gasped.

  "Nina said something about telepathy, right?" Aria said. "Right? Telepathy. Nothing else."

  "In the War of the Generals, factions with high levels of aversion to psychic communication among their members were disadvantaged..." Haio replied.

  "Let go of her," Emi said.

  Aria ignored her. Aine grabbed Emi's arm and Emi did not resist.

  "But it's not just psychic communication, right? Your power does something else? I'd recognise it anywhere."

  "My line is..."

  "Mind control. So carelessly you used a fucking mind control ability on us."

  It…

  Nina used her divination ability to check if that was true. The curses seemed to think it was, though she could feel the ill-intent of the warped space about her.

  "It's my specialty," Haio said. "My nature. My line."

  "Line? Oh, so you got your ability checked and classified by the Second City?"

  Aria dropped the body (Haio Elspeth). It fell (she fell) onto the grass and lay there vacant.

  "Great. So great! So cool! I fucking love that! I fucking love the Second City! Greatest research facility in the FUCKING world! Hey, Emi, didn't you want to know this? Isn't this pertinent information? It's pertinent fucking information isn't it?"

  Emi halted. "You didn't have to..."

  "I fucking had to! I came here to get away from this shit. Her voice. Her light. Knowing you can never be perfect under it... being purified, losing all that you are... you can never trust girls with mind control abilities. They all have these fucking complexes."

  "It's my nature. I can't help it..."

  See?

  How could Nina take a side? Nina was almost immune to mind control until she ran into a certain girl with a cheating ability that did many things mind control being one and then it ruined her even though she was already beyond repair. Nina was also all ill-nature.

  But wait, that description? That was Reiko's ability. Mind control abilities being associated with light wasn't unique. It probably was one of the others, and not something as unusual as Reiko's. Nina shouldn't worry about it.

  "Haio," Sophia said, aloud. "We can trust you not to tamper with our heads, right?"

  "Right..." Haio said.

  "If nobody else's telepathy works at this scale..." Aine said.

  "I don't really care," Marzena said. She still stood with Kaninchen.

  Opinion polling? No? Kaninchen didn't say anything. Young-hoon and Maxine were connected but were Tabitha and Sarai and Judecca now who also said everything aloud out of habit.

  Over there that black box or guitar case Sarai was carrying and had been carrying for the whole walk. It had been opened. The weapon poked out; it had been assembled. It sat atop a tripod. Sarai incanted something, her voice breezy; Maxine stood by her as support.

  The drone had done nothing yet. The silence was broken. Sarai pulled the trigger. Lead flashed into the sky, thunderous.

  There was no break-up. There were no metal fragments. Sarai had missed.

  "You planned this without us," Nina said.

  "You were a bit preoccupied!" Sarai said.

  "You-you cancelled our preparation time!" Aine said.

  "Honestly, I'm prepared as fuck." Tabitha said.

  "Yeah. Aria and Hannah Westmoreland should get a room?" Sarai said.

  "Don't say that fucking name," Aria said.

  "I said Haio Elspeth! That's our teammate's name! It's not dirty," Sarai said.

  Too polite to broadcast pathetic gurgling noises telepathically, Haio made them physically as she was pulled up. It was mostly Emi pulling her up. Nina helped.

  Westmoreland? That name could only be used by the Great House bearing that name. Which meant...?

  Where was the teacher in all of this, too? It was his job to help everyone equally, right? To reconcile these conflicts. He stood by Maxine and Maxine alone here.

  Hadn't there been one drone, lonesome? Now there were two nearby, part of the same figure eight. Now there were the fragments of a flock in the distance. Kneeling on her camo jacket Sarai stared them all down.

  Wouldn't it have been better to trigger a battle closer to the 'physical core' of the space? Whatever. Nina imagined an arrowhead. It cut through her mind's eye. Her extrasensory perception jerked about the strange contours. She could climb up to further precision but there seemed to be little time.

  Artillery fire emerged from Nina's worthless body. Leuce too had a long-range bombardment spell. The two drones in the figure eight broke apart and fell not even into pieces but into nothing. Tabitha actually leapt up and celebrated. Did she think this was the end of the attack? No, it was the beginning?

  "I can't hit things from that far away?" Aine said.

  "Neither can I..." Emi said as though she had any sort of preternatural skill. The ritual had offered Emi nothing but her body—had it offered anything to anyone? Anything magical?

  A solution. Think quickly. Tabitha's group had thought so quickly! Once Judecca's scrying spell had analysed the anomaly and declared it had a single centre, they turned the scene of the warped space into a battle—attack the enemy core for massive damage! No detail, no information contact, just combat contact: a compromise that favoured Tabitha's worldview. Everyone had fallen into battle, as she had wanted.

  Nina couldn't think of compromises or solutions or how to support others or what to do if April was mad or May and June started fighting or if July broke down or if August tired of being the designated auxiliary. Who could battle at extremal range? Who couldn't?

  As the next round of anti-air fire or black magic was ready around her Nina stopped.

  "Hand me the axe," Nina said to Emi aloud. She did. The magic fell into the axe. "Be careful," Nina said. "I don't wish to corrupt you."

  "That's... thank you," she said. "So much."

  Nina had hardly done anything. Nina could enchant a melee weapon with enough enmity to kill across kilometres: she didn't. That magic was hardly safe for her; who else could bear it? Her curse went that deep.

  "What about me?" Aine said.

  "Your athame is already enchanted; I don't wish to corrode it."

  "Enchant me..."

  "It would be improper of me to drag you into perdition," Nina said.

  "Haha. If only there was some sort of magical device that allowed the enmity of the outside to be used by humans safely..."

  "That's a rather specific statement...?"

  "Yeah. I don't have any device like that. Yet. I'm just saying stuff. Quoth Kaninchen."

  "Huh?"

  "Nevermind..."

  Nina was an idiot, so she filed this statement under 'Aine is somewhat strange.' It was probably some sort of direct hint at her intentions—maybe to do with whatever had happened to Nina's phone? Nina didn't understand her at all.

  The drones in the distance drew nearer. They were only at visual range through a psychic lens. Who else saw them? Marzena did, and Judecca. Sarai seemed to struggle. Everyone else couldn't or hadn't figured out how to.

  "Those of us who specialise in or solely have access to close or medium range attacks should deal with the enemies on the ground," Tabitha said.

  "There aren’t any enemies on the ground, and there’s no sign of any forthcoming... If a single principle defines this warped space, which my intuition is telling me is the case, then it should focus on a single line of attack, right? And that'll be bombardment from air," Sophia said.

  "She’s telling you what she’s doing so she doesn’t feel useless," Sarai said.

  "Thanks," Tabitha said.

  "If there’s nothing on the ground… half of us can't do anything?" Kaninchen said.

  "I wouldn't say that." Young-hoon said.

  Nina would.

  "That's kinda reductive..." Haio said. (Her body quivering though the warped space had not loaded or fired even one arrow. It was about to, it had not.) "It can develop over time, the modern-military type spaces. Babylon War military strategy—and to reiterate I mean the entire Babylon War across the surface of the Earth and above and under it—never failed to take this into account. It is the sine qua non of military confrontation with anomalies."

  That matched Nina's experience, although the warped spaces she faced in Shin Kumamoto rarely primarily contained modern-military enemies.

  "Can you go on?" Kaninchen said, as if she was not the scion of one of the families who had discovered and defined this military doctrine.

  Auburn girl to auburn girl Haio (her body rasping, still-stressed still-breathless from being choked out) said: "Have you ever heard of adversity score?"

  Auburn to auburn smirking Kaninchen said: "I know a little bit about it."

  Aine asked "Is this relevant?"

  "Who knows," Kaninchen said.

  How many enemies were there? The flock was at visual range now, no ESP needed. One drone could kill many—human bodies. Missiles that burnt and blew up, missiles that scattered shrapnels and spinning blades leaving the room intact and killing man and girl, terrorist and terrorist family; weapons like these could be seen on the Perceval. If you squinted.

  "Um, it's a number! A number! Like a difficulty score in a video game. Old shoot 'em ups have rank, right? In arcades and stuff... things get more intense when you go on until it's unbearable."

  (Until your body breaks.)

  "You're doing well, Haio! I like the use of metaphor..." Kaninchen said.

  "The Coalition viewed anomalies like that!" Haio said.

  "Did it?" Aria asked.

  "Yeah, I'm pretty sure," Kaninchen said.

  "I don't think this is part of the standard line of history," Young-hoon said.

  "No, it is. Didn't we— well, Haio's right," Kaninchen said. "She's absolutely right. Shouldn't we listen to her?"

  Should they? Nina didn't know...

  Instinct, premonition, prophesy. Nina drew the image of the katzbalger from her mind. She cancelled distance. On time she cut the air and some missile burst into flames above them all too close—collapse!

  Sophia had a shielding spell and it went up a second too late. Aine dropped to the floor and threw some telepathic line in no direction at all. Emi froze, an auburn girl's body clung to her.

  Kaninchen stood, perfectly serene. Marzena, who had her pistol (unenchanted!?) aimed at the drones, now fell too.

  Sarai remained in position, her camo jacket rubbed into the dewy grass. Aria fell; Leuce caught herself. Maxine fell, Young-hoon fell, Tabitha fell, a pillar of ice rose from Judecca's body and missed everything.

  Still alive? Shuffle the deck. Ill luck or the god of random numbers said: 'time to up the ante!' The adversity score (quoth Kaninchen) ticked up.

  There were many different types of drones. There was no space or time to identify the new ones. The main flock of Percevals was two kilometres in the air but right above them. So many cheaper drones chained by fibre optic cables blocked and barricaded their path to the centre. Some were hidden in ruins and wrecks. Others emerged out of openness, spontaneously generated as if from thin air, cicadas from the spittle of the cuckoo, maggots from rotting meat.

  Like the knight it was a mass of hatred, ink black, void, vortex, so many, too many! Not an amount that Nina wasn't used to but not a mass that Nina would expect near a major city. Maybe things like this happened next to major cities on the surface of the Earth all the time, and everyone had been lying to Nina this entire time?

  Machine gun fire came at them. Emi swung wildly, unsure; the magic in her axe scattered it. Gunfire blazed again against Sarai. She remained steady. The luminance of Sophia's shielding magic burnt it away; Sophia's shielding magic grew a little fainter.

  Sarai remained steady. She fired again. Some drone in the high sky crammed with the others cracked, crackled, fell: too many more to go?

  "There's a place for mid-range attacks," Nina said. She meant: those who were unable to hit targets thousands of kilometres away needed to sever the fibre optic cables or smash the cheaper drones hundreds of metres away. Nobody replied.

  Emi got her. Emi received her instructions puppy-like and loyally. Not magical at all she swung the axe and Nina's distance closing spell created a cut against some fibre optic. The drone dropped to the ground, sunk into the earth or nothing at all. Aine, back up, grabbed her athame and stabbed nothing at all. The air thinned, some mid range drone was perforated. The ball lightning about Sophia bubbled, burst. Laser air-defense emerged from her, drones of all categories then dodging, then caught, then beginning to burn away.

  Haio didn't do anything but maintain the telepathic connection. They were so unused to each other, though, so the connection felt superficial, at best. Did Haio have any sort of combat ability? No? Maybe? Mind control was a combat ability. Haio did nothing; her body quivered.

  Marzena's aim telescopic, fire from her VIS 150 vitiated Perceval after Perceval. It was harassment; she missed often, and when Marzena hit successfully, ESP told Nina that Marzena indented the drones' plating. Her bullets did not stop them or even stay their cruising and careening. Kaninchen did nothing? She stared into the sky. What a wonderful teammate. Was she barred from using the armoury of Haze House? Did they just not deserve her help?

  A swarm of missiles came down. Their targeting systems were outdated but they were precise enough. Nina with the stolen katzbalger struck one and then struck another and then struck them in chains, the fire that should be red but was tinted green and empty by the space went black, cursed, Nina could feel everyone's illness and all of her teammates becoming sicker because of her, sick of her, and then she missed and it was down to Sophia's shielding spell.

  There was conflagration about them. Sophia had established a perimeter but it thinned and became thinner. They all remained put together. Young-hoon with no magic guided Maxine's magic missiles and only Maxine's into the snake coils of the fibre-optics. They charred, did they char enough?

  Tabitha couldn't do anything because everything stayed outside of her range. If anything drew close enough Judecca froze the water in the air and sent it to the ground.

  The line to the centre of the warped space wavered and faded.

  The adversity score ticked up. The illicit concept behind the warped space had not understood the preternatural technology within some of the drones could be used to make contact. It did now. Teal magic played about them.

  And now the deluge. Sophia's shielding spell ticked down to zero lux. Aine swore.

  Artillery fire arose from Nina wildly. Sophia's lasers stretched to the sky. So did Leuce's formless bombardment; so did Judecca's pillars of ice and sudden cold and snapping. Sarai could not get a last shot off—Tabitha in time began to intercept a bullet barrage but her rhythm failed and they were both grazed. Maxine grabbed both of them.

  This was... even if Nina could stand against here indefinitely, even she could not move forward.

  Aria was still in the muck. Nina cancelled space, moved to her, dragged her up.

  "We should rout," Nina said.

  "No? We can—" Tabitha said.

  "What we are facing is denser than the drone array of a large city; the path forward has been lost," Leuce said.

  "Huh? But we can make it. Against all the adversity," Kaninchen said. "You can make it, right? All of you. I believe that we can attain our goal."

  "I think Nina has a good idea," Young-hoon said.

  That qualified as leadership, right? They were under his tutelage and being so responsible he had called a retreat.

  "You signed up to lead them," Kaninchen said. "Don't you remember? Our pitch to you?"

  "I remember," Young-hoon said. "Let's go. Before we're surrounded."

  "You're such a dummy. If you act like this you won't be able to gain anything."

  "I don't care," Young-hoon said. "You gave me contradicting instructions—"

  "Everything in this world contradicts. It's the ethos of this era. You promised you could bear it. For us. Us..."

  "Well, I can't lead well. Not by the normal definition. Not according to your standards."

  (No comment.)

  "They're not different definitions!" Kaninchen cried.

  "We're going to be encircled."

  "And then?"

  She pretended everything was at a standstill. Emi rushed over to Nina and Haio so vacant did not know if she was walking forth or back. Sophia used healing magic on Sarai since Tabitha insisted she was fine, totally.

  "What are you two talking about," Aine asked.

  "You did super well," Kaninchen said. "I'm sure you wanted to hear that."

  "I'm not that easy... explain! You're being too cryptic!"

  "Aria too!"

  Aria did not comment on this, her weight shouldered by Nina.

  "It's beautiful. I didn't expect to be dragged into this myself, but everyone back at home is going to be super happy."

  "The ritual doesn't even work," Aine said. Accused, really.

  "It's about to work. If we stay. Something amazing is about to—"

  "We're going to die..."

  "Don't be pessimistic. Agony isn't—"

  "We're going," Sophia said. "Tabitha, get your girls to..."

  "I only seek your victory," Kaninchen said. "Complete victory..."

  "Am I group leader?" Tabitha said.

  "Basically?" Judecca said.

  "Amazing, impossible things need to happen. Didn't you sign up for that?" Kaninchen said.

  "Not a combat group," Aine said.

  Kaninchen smiled at her.

  "You're so angry at me..." Kaninchen said. "Your heart is beating so very loudly. Here, in this place, if you—"

  Nina dispelled Haio's telepathy. Vacant, she put up no resistance. Kaninchen kept speaking at Aine but her words were lost in the whir and humming of rotors and the rush of out-of-breath retreat.

  It was back the way they came. For a second the space did not seem hungry for contact. Still hateful, it ceased its attack.

  "Haio gets it," Kaninchen said to her body, full auburn to auburn empty shell. "It's pretty cute."

  Haio did not respond.

  Overwhelmed, no time to process or question anything, they clambered up the bus stairs. Tabitha and Sarai were first. Maxine, Young-hoon second. Marzena third. Sophia, Aine, Leuce fourth. Emi fifth. Kaninchen, Haio, Aria, Nina last.

  It was crimination, recrimination, what even just happened? Nothing this dangerous should be within London (or Watford)'s event horizon. Try harder. Could this be beat? Hey, wait, did they forget about something? Maxine said probably not. Everything was probably fine.

  Nobody shouted at Nina for always erring. Was that even a good thing? Shouldn't thirteen girls (and one powerless teacher) be able to beat something six girls could? The magic of the heart? The power of bonds? Useless. Friendship always was.

  It was all a jumble. The ordained path to being repaired was lost and everything was all awry. Nina couldn't even say anything. She couldn't speak. All the arguing, so many different directions, fourteen different stories and different sets of goals refusing to be slurped up into one, maddening, she was socially stupid, she could stand out in the warped space indefinitely on her own for forty days and forty nights as the masses of curses, as the adversity ramped up but she couldn't deal with this but all the social stupidity seemed to be so gratifying to everyone else, especially Kaninchen!

  And what did Aine and Aria have in common? They had both aggrieved Haio in the warped space (like they both snubbed Marzena on the bus) and that was when Haio started to get all out of sorts, but could she just say that? Aine hadn't revealed her true nature yet but there was always a way to put idiot girls in their place...

  How. How to move forward. How. How. Nina sat as though there was any reprieve here other than the lack of that girl and that girl except there wasn't even that! R-E-I was on the phone!

  That was right. R-E-I. Who could ever forget about her?

  No. Wrong. Not her but him. Acacia Abroad Caller ID said Reiphontes Nyalius, General Order Destructor was calling; this was important, do forget about everything else, don't decline, and when you accept—don't hang up!

  Nina answered.