Tora swore. There was no-one there.

"You're freaking kidding me."

"What? You don't want to see me? You can't see me anyway, haha!" Carlos chuckled. It sounded like he slapped his thigh in self-congratulation.

"Very funny." Tora couldn't help but grin. "I can't believe you guys are still alive."

"Yeah, well, it wasn't fun, but we're in one piece. Where's Ross?"

Tora's heart dropped. She bit her lip. Breaking bad news was something she was never good at. She remembered her telekinesis firing out of control once and the chair she'd been levitating went crashing into Damien's screen. The devastation she inflicted upon him when she confessed made her feel guilty for a good two days. She also regretted how she'd just broke it with "Um, I just smashed your computer into smithereens."

"You didn't see her?"

"I barely saw anything. I thought them demons were going to turn me into minced meat. By the time Markl busted me out of there the police and ambulances were there. We were hoping you two made it out, too... but seeing as neither of you actually were back by night, we guessed you got picked up by the humans."

"One of us did, anyway."

The laughter died in Carlos's voice.

"Where's Ross?"

"I think... I think she's dead, Car."

There was a dead silence in the air. Carlos finally swore.

"You're sure?"

"No, but... we fell off the roof. We fought the demons and one of them forced her off the edge." The slight lie made Tora's tongue feel thick on her mouth. She swallowed the feeling. "I saw her fall. There—"

"Are you okay?"

Tora jumped when an unfamiliar voice addressed her from the doorway. It was a nurse, dressed in a light blue short-sleeved uniform. She had a handful of notes in her hands and a worried expression on her face. Her hair was scraped back with a bun at the top of her head.

"Yes." Tora turned away.

"Were you talking to yourself just now? Do you want a doctor to come have a chat with you?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

There was an awkward pause.

"I'll just get the doctor." When Tora turned around again, the nurse had disappeared, closing the door with a snap.

"Please tell me you're getting me out of here."

"We will be. Damien's just—"

I found Ross. Damien's voice came into Tora's head. Relief flooded through her.

You're sure? she thought.

Yes. Intensive care. She looks pretty beaten up.

Sweet baby Jesus on a stick, injected Carlos.

The suffocating guilt around Tora's chest eased. Ross didn't die!

You should have seen the other guy.

I'll come get you in a minute. Markl will be taking her out but I need to glamour us. I'll come to you guys after. Just stay put.

Well, be quick. I think that nurse I scared off just now might be getting a doctor to come stab me in the ass with sedatives.

Carlos snorted with laughter.

True to his word, Damien came a few minutes later. Markl had gone ahead with Ross in tow. Damien's little face lit up at the sight of Tora. The doctors and nurses walked by, oblivious to their presence thanks to his ability. He threw his arms around Tora. He was so small he couldn't reach around her shoulders.

"You're okay!" he said, breathless. He looked pretty roughed up, blood congealed in his blonde hair and cuts and bruises dotting his arms and neck area. Tora chuckled, hugging him back. She grunted when he squeezed. Her broken bones shifted, sending shooting pain up and down her trunk.

"Oww... Damien!"

"Sorry." He let go. His cheeks were pink; his green eyes glowed up at her. "I was so worried!"

Tora smiled. Her eyes rose at the clock. It was well past eight o'clock. How long had she been unconscious?

"Please just get me out of here. I'm going to vomit," commented an invisible voice. Tora flipped her middle finger at the invisible Seeker, following Damien down the corridor.

****

"Tora."

Tora hurried past the front door. Markl strolled down the corridor, his arms outreached. He looked the same as yesterday, healthy and wholesome, unlike the rest of the Seekers who were battered and bruised like peaches that fell off the roof. Dark eyes crinkled at the corners with gladness at the sight of her.

"You certainly look a hell lot better than the rest of us," said Tora, clapping him on the shoulder.

"I agree. You lot have seen better days."

"Well, sorry if we can't regrow appendages. We'll have to live with these bad boys for a while. How's... Ross?" An unintended hesitation came into her words. Markl's face clouded.

"She's in bad shape. Her fall broke a lot of bones and punctured a lot of organs, but worst of all there's a pretty big bleed in her brain. Damien had a brief scan of her brain waves when we first saw her in intensive care and he said she's still alive and improving, but just really shut down from the damage. She was drifting in and out of consciousness all the way home."

Tora didn't know if she should feel relieved at those words.

"We'll just have to wait. Ross is a tough one. She'll pull through."

Damien passed behind her and made his way to the computer. Tuning out the surroundings, he started to scan the graphs and figures.

"When you're ready, Tora, I want to have a word with you."

Her heart sank again at his words. He wanted to know what happened on the roof. Of course he would. Markl was never one to leave loose ends hanging.

"Of course." Tora swallowed. "But can I at least get some of the guts off? I stink like I'd just died in rotten pig."

Markl didn't seem wholly convinced by her nonchalance, but he nodded and let her go, his eyes fixed on her.

"You can trust us," he said out of the corner of his mouth when she passed.

She paused, biting her lip, before moving on. His words played over and over in her. Her chest tightened and relaxed at disturbing intervals. All she could see in her mind were Cimerus's hawk-like bright yellow eyes and the intensity of the overflowing golden power. The overwhelming familiarity with his face and name stirred something deep in her core, but it always just darted out of reach whenever her mind reached for it. It was accompanied by a young girl, crying and pleading with someone, and a suffocating sense of guilt and sadness.

She banished those from her mind when she stepped into the shower. It was too mind-curdling. Life was messed up enough as it was. The news was on when she came out, steaming and feeling much better than earlier.

"...the police are urging any witnesses to come forth to assist in what is essentially the largest mass murder case this county has ever seen."

"Oh, man," said Carlos, interlacing his fingers behind his head as he stretched out and rested his legs on the coffee table. If Ross was there, she'd slap him a new one and made him clean his dirt off the glass surface with his toothbrush.

"The current death toll is two hundred and seventy-five, including twenty doctors and fifty-two nurses. The spokesperson for the Royal Falcork Hospital is giving the police their full cooperation. The police confirmed there were four injured persons rescued from the scene, although three remain in critical condition, and they will be questioning them at a suitable date."

"Well, two of those witnesses have mysteriously vanished. Poor guys."

"This isn't a laughing matter, Carlos," said Markl, sitting in one of the single armchairs adjacent to the sofa upon which Carlos was splayed.

Tora kicked Carlos's legs. He withdrew, squawking. She slumped on the space she created.

"We might eventually be exposed for who we are. The 'explosions' in the park where we left a huge mess, and now this. Two hundred and seventy-five people dead, and nothing to explain it. The public won't just accept it as something unexplainable. They'll want answers. The families would want closure and justice. I don't blame them, but we can't afford to be found or they're all doomed."

"It's for their own good," said Tora. "They should get over it."

"You can't empathise with them – it's hard to explain how someone should just 'get over' the death of their wife or child or parent."

"You should be a counsellor, Tora," quipped Carlos. He put on a high-pitched voice. "'I don't know... can't you just not have a broken leg or be depressed or be homeless?' Great life advice there. You should write a book."

Tora glared at him. "I can empathise with how we can't afford to be found. It doesn't matter how many of them die as a result of demons. We're protecting everyone else."

"True as that is—" Markl couldn't keep his eyes off the screen, which showed the reporter repeating the same information from earlier standing in front of the Royal Falcork Hospital. "—they won't accept that. Humans aren't ready to see us for who we are. They'll just find us a threat. They can't accept anything that is different, and as long as that remains, we live in the shadows."

The sound of footsteps caught their attention. Tora turned.

Damien came down the stairs, his cheeks pink and his eyes bright.

"Ross is awake."

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