ABOVE GROUND, the war had begun. In the midst of the screams and the blood and the debris, Beatrice stood beside Amos, still holding his hand. She looked around with a smile. The ones who had eaten from the Tree would purge the Edge of Over There of those who had not. Only the immortals would remain. And then? Who knew what they could accomplish.
But then Beatrice felt a chill. A tingling sensation slipped from the base of her skull down her spine. She dropped Amos’s hand, closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath through her nose.
How could she have neglected the girl?
Beatrice ran back toward the building, no longer a little girl, not even close. She was the something-else-entirely that Ruby had sensed, and she shot up through the air like a firework, realizing their weakness had been left exposed.