“Are they the cannibals you sided with?” Vin asks me.

I shake my head. “No. There are too many and they wouldn’t come out in the open like this.”

“Colonists,” he growls.

“I think so.”

“Who are you?” the man asks, slowing as he approaches us.

I look him over quickly, checking for weapons. So far his hands are empty but I recognize the matte black shell of a gun on his hip. When I glance at Vin I see him eyeing it too.

“No one,” Vin tells him calmly.

The guy frowns at Vin, his eyes on his neck. On the tattoo openly displayed. “You’re Hive.”

“What of it?”

“You should leave. This isn’t your fight.” The guy sneers at Vin. “Nothing ever has been.”

Vin takes a menacing step toward him, ignoring the gun. “You think you know something about me?”

“I know about your kind. You’re as good as Colony which means you’re an enemy and you should leave before I put you down.”

The guy’s hand is resting on the gun now. I don’t know if Vin believes he has bullets for it, but as the man’s words sink in, I realize I believe it. 100 percent. As though that very gun were pressed against my forehead.

“You’re a Vashon,” I say quickly.

The guy’s eyes flicker to me. “Yeah. I’m from the island. Who are you? A Hive whore?”

I narrow my eyes at him. “No. I’m Joss.”

“What’s a joss?”

“The girl about to kick your ass if you call me a whore again.”

I can’t see his face, but I hear Vin snicker.

“Sure,” the guy replies sarcastically. “Why don’t you and your man pack it up? No one here is shopping for what you’re selling.”

“Where’s Crenshaw?” I demand.

That gets his attention. He steps back from Vin, looking at me with interest.

“How do you know Crenshaw?”

“How do you know Crenshaw?” I fire back.

“He was one of the founders of the island. Every Vashon knows about Berny Crenshaw.”

“Berny?” I nearly choke on the sheer normalcy of it.

“How do you know him?” he repeats.

“He’s a friend.” I shrug, feeling weird using the word.

The guy looks doubtful but he hollers over his shoulder for someone to get Berny and bring him to the perimeter. When he looks back at me his hand is still on his gun and his eyes are narrowed.

“We’ll see how your story shakes out in a minute, won’t we?”

“You’re way less fun than the other Vashons I’ve met.”

“When have you ever met a Vashon before?”

“I was on your island.”

“We don’t allow Hive on our island. Ever.”

“I told you, I’m not Hive. And I was there to meet with your council.”

His eyes harden. “You’re one of the three. The ones who sold us out to the Colony.”

“No, that was…”

Oops.

“Who then?”

I glance nervously at Vin. “No one.”

“It was Marlow,” Vin tells him plainly. “He sold everyone out. It’s why The Hive has fallen.”

“That’s not the story we’re hearing here.”

“What story is that?”

“That The Hive tried to take a Colony. That the Pod cleared out before they could get their claws in it. That the Colonies are marching on that Pod right now.”

“The Colonists are attacking the Pod in the north?” I ask incredulously. “How did they kn—”

“Athena!”

I look past the guy to the tents of roughspun cotton in raw colors. To the clean, easy moving people around them. To the break in the crowd that has formed around a great, white wizard. He has his staff, his robe with the little blue sailboats, and the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on his face. He looks at home here with these people. Like Merlin at Camelot.

“Crenshaw,” I say with relief.

“Come, child! Come,” he calls, beckoning me forward.

I glare up at the guy who held us back, tempted to flip him off as I pass. Vin follows slowly behind me as I make my way into the forest I don’t recognize anymore. The air feels different. There’s so much more movement in it. It’s so much more alive. There are smells I don’t know and some I thought I’d never know again. And there are so many people. The park is swarming with them but they don’t feel like insects. They don’t make me cringe like Risen or Colonists or cannibals lurking in the dark. It feels… I don’t know. Almost good.

Crenshaw hugs me for the second time this year and I’m worried I’ll get used to it. I might even like it a little. When he releases me I can’t get over how happy he looks. The man is literally glowing.

“You have done well, Athena,” he tells me in a hushed tone. “I did not believe it possible, but you have proven me wrong. You have made me a believer. Perhaps I always should have been.”

“Cren, what’s going on? That guy—”

“Ah, yes,” he interrupts, nodding to the jerk who called me a whore. “The soldiers at the perimeter. They are imperative. The gates to Hell have been flung open. Wraiths are again a danger. But these soldiers, they have made my home a safer place than it has ever been. I owe them a great debt.”

“Not that one,” I mutter. “That one gets nothing.”

“Did he treat you poorly?”

“Sort of.”

Crenshaw’s face falls into a scowl. “Well that simply will not do.”

“What’s going on here?” Vin asks bluntly. “He started to say something about the Colonies marching on the northern Pod where The Hive attacked.”

I suddenly realize who I’m standing with: Crenshaw and a Hive member. I would tell Vin to cover his tattoo if there were even a millisecond of time to do it, but there’s not.

“Who is this?!” Crenshaw demands, his voice bellowing and angry. Heads turn to see what’s happening. “Who have you brought here, Athena? What devils have you consorted with?”

“Calm down, Cren. He’s not a devil.”

“He is a hornet of The Hive. In my house!”

I put my hand on Vin’s arm, pushing him back gently. “You should step back.”

Vin looks down at me, disbelieving. “Are you for real?”

“He doesn’t like The Hive. I wasn’t even supposed to go to them for help.”

“You went to Marlow for help?!” Crenshaw bursts.

I literally growl in frustration. “I didn’t have a choice!”

“There is always a better choice. Defeat is a better choice than dirty dealings with the devil.”

“Crenshaw, I’m sorry. I tried everything else, but there was no other way. And he isn’t Hive anymore. He helped me escape the Colony!”

“Where is Helios?” Cren demands, searching the woods and road behind me. “He would never—”

“He’s not here?” I ask, the fight leaching out of me.

I hate the sound of my own voice. It’s weak and afraid.

Crenshaw’s eyes sharpen at my tone. “No. He is not with you?”

I shake my head mutely.

“When were you separated? You cannot be separated, Athena. To succeed you must remain together. It is how I have seen it.”

“Seen what?”

“The End.”

I nod slowly, acting as though I understand. “The end of…”

“The End of Nothing. The Beginning of Everything.”

“Okay,” I tell him calmly. “Okay. I’ll find him. I promise. Has anyone else shown up here recently?”

“The Vashons.”

And my annoyance is back. I sigh tightly, reining it in. “Yes, I see the Vashons. Anyone else?”

“Who else should I expect?” he asks suspiciously.

“No one.”

“Athena.”

“Cren, I hate when you take that tone with me,” I complain.

“It’s because it’s fatherly,” Vin says.

I shoot him a warning glance, one reminding him to keep his mouth shut. So far the fact that I’ve lost Ryan has bought him a chance at being forgotten for a moment. He should capitalize on that.

“Do you know who Trent is?” I ask Crenshaw. “He’s a member of Helios’ family. Tall, thin, blond hair, creepy as balls blue eyes that see right through you into your soul.”

Crenshaw leans on his staff, nodding sagely. “I have seen the boy, yes. Excellent hunter.”

“He really is, yeah. He hasn’t been here, has he?”

“Maybe with about two hundred people running for their lives?” Vin adds.