Damien grabs my arm while I'm leaving. Frankly it's obnoxious, but I think it's cure that he cares. A little. It's still obnoxious. Geez, I hope he doesn't think he can fight. He can't. Damien really can't do much of anything.

My eyes slide back towards the camp. Red is yelling at Gillian. Gillian is still. Gillian lies. Isn't that exciting? I didn't know that at all, but there she is. "I am not going to do anything. I do not know why you are angry at me. If I can in some way assuage your fears, tell me how to do that and I will. Is this agreeable?"

"Gillian, you can't meet her out there tonight." Red says. "That is an order."

Wow, she must have done something really awful. Or maybe she already told Red about us? Red knows he has no power over me. He can barely do anything. Maybe I'll handle him next.

I shake Damien off my arm.

"Oh, come on. You saw that," he says.

"I have a strategy," I tell him, rolling my eyes as hard as I can. "It's going to be totally fine."

"For you, or in general?" he whispers.

"For me. It's going to suck for you, a bit, maybe. Tomorrow morning, though! Not tonight!"

"Any way we can... not do whatever thing you're about to do that's going to suck?" Damien asks.

"I wish, but that's just not the way the world works. You'd know if you were anything like me."
"I don't think..." Damien mumbles to himself.

I draw him up to my side, burying him in between my breasts, small as they are. Heis dusty crown of hair is below my neck, and the light it catches is feeble. "Next time, Damien, don't mumble, alright? I can barely hear you, and I don't like having to strain my ears."

To his surprise, I turn around and head back towards camp. Most of the group is kind of pretending to be asleep, but Gillian just sits alone at the edge of camp. Red is next to Dylan, but they sure aren't touching! It's a good night to leave. You can just tell by looking at everyone that things are falling apart.

They need a catalyst.

"Mary?" asks Damien.

"I do everything I do for you," I tell him. "Someday, you're going to appreciate and respect it."

"What if I didn't leave?" he asks."It's never really mattered what I want, so, um, I can just stick around. Everything will go back to normal! You don't have to kill anyone, I don't have to--"

He's talking loud. Deliberately loud. Gillian turns. The camp turns. I think this is the part where I think of something to say, but I don't want to talk. Talking is just a substitute for doing things with your hands. My hands grip a sword. Gillian's lip curls.

"Why, then?"

"Because someone doesn't want me to do it," I say.

I ram the sword through her flesh as hard as I can. As she falls to the ground, gasping, I ram it again and again, until her body spills out all over the ground. I see Red raise his hand and I lift my sword. He's shaking like an old human, or an old tree.

"Don't."

I look into his eyes, smirking. It's his fault. Of course it's his fault! Why else would he be the leader? Being the leader is about power and control, so this must be... all his fault. Everything. All of us are just sitting in his bear trap and we don't even know that we have metal jaws in our leg.

Dylan's about to move to protect him. I can feel all of their intentions. Trace and Adaline's fear. Alex's anger. Angel's disgust. Kali's pride. Elle's indifference. Damien's disappointment. "I know what all of you are thinking right now," I warn them. "You could all kill me in Veritas, but it doesn't matter. if we were capable of killing each other, we would have done so by now, but something's been stopping us. Someone."

"Caught me," Red says, all of the sunny facade peeling off his voice like bark off a scratched tree. "Run thirteen. My fourth confession. Anything else to say before I blow you back a few hours?"

"You can't keep doing this forever," I warn him. "No one could. That's why things are getting worse, right? Because you can't hold out much longer."

"Red, what's she talking about?" asks Kali.

Kali is lying. Things keep getting better.

"I was onto something that none of the rest of you got! I'm smarter than-- than all ten of you! Nine! Eleven! I'm--"

Red swings his hand upwards, glowing gold, and I throw my sword in his direction. It almost hits him, this time, before everything is taken back away from me.