I stumble out of the reservoir and into the dying light of the day. What the fuck is going on? I can't feel her.

How the hell can I not feel her? The only way it'd be possible is if...

I refuse to think it.

Tiana is alive.

I won't dignify it.

She's alive.

She has to be alive.

She can't be...

She just has to be out of range. Or there's some mystical, magical interference. Anything other than the thought that she's gone — really, truly gone — while I'm sitting here hiding out.

But I know that something's wrong. I can't feel her.

What if I never get to hold her again?

How do I go on?

How can she be dead?

More than anything, more than life itself, I want to be by her side. That want feels like its burning my insides — like I've swallowed molten glass, and its rendering my innards into gory pulp.

And then I stop, pinned in place by the ten submachine guns pointed at me.

Lindsey's work, based on the way they're kitted out with SWAT gear. I have to assume Null Rounds, too, if she's manipulated everything the way I suspect she has.

"Do not move. Kamilliajora Neff, you are under arrest."

I could go with them. That's what Rax would want.

I could fight. That's what I want to do with the rage inside me. Liz was right: back in the apartment, I wanted a blaze of glory.

Here it is. Easy way out. Suicide by cop.

It's not what Tiana would've wanted.

And that makes all the difference, so I leap ten feet into the air.

I twist, and land on top of the entrance to the reservoir, thankful that these guys are shitty shots. I tumble and roll, then handspring to land behind the entrance. Ahead of me is a wooded thicket.

"GET IT!" shouts one of the SWAT guys, and I'm surprised they showed that much restraint until now.

I hear them circling around the entryway and that's all the invitation I need to get the fuck outta here.

I break for it.

"There! Take it down!"

More gunfire whizzes past, and I somersault to the side.

Eventually they've gotta run outta rounds, and then I can get away, right?

Except none of them give me a chance. They fire in bursts, call out when they're low.

All I need is one final push to make it, but I don't manage even that before a spray of gunfire rips the bark a few feet ahead of me. A second later, and I'd've been a corpse.

Fuck it.

I dash forward. I have to make it. I can't die here. I can't die like this. That molten glass burns hotter in me. I refuse to trivialize whatever's happened to Tiana by dying before I can be with her again.

And then I feel a sharp sensation in my gut.

I think I've been shot.

Then I'm pulled away.

It's different than last time, when Magisorcerer Amal gave pursuit and I panicked. I didn't even mimic the gestures. Whatever's going on isn't like before. Back then, it felt like I was copying something. Now it feels like its within me.

This time, it's entirely automatic when I blink away.

I appear, at speed, elsewhere. It takes a moment I don't have to realize that I'm barreling towards the charred wall between my living room and my kitchen. I smash through it and slam into the fridge.

I don't even try to stop myself from falling after that. I just let my legs give out.

I delude myself with the notion that lying here forever is a reasonable option. Home burnt, almost killed, and Tiana...

I try to think about a world without her, and I can't think of anything. How the hell did it all go wrong? Sixteen hours ago, we were on our first date.

The floorboards creak from out in the living room. There's someone else in here.

Maybe Lis was right. Maybe I was just looking for some excuse to end it.

I don't have any more fight to give. I don't have anything left for this world.

Lindsay wins.

"So... You're having a bit of a day, huh?"

I've spoken to the man exactly one time, but I'd recognize his voice anywhere.

After all, how do you forget the voice of the guy whose wife you've been fucking behind his back?

I hear him coming closer. Maybe this is how it should end.

"Just kill me," I say. "Get it over with."

But then I'm floating, lifted up off the ground and back onto my feet. I don't wanna look him in the eye. I don't know that I can.

"Maybe I will settle our score," he says, "but it'll have to wait until after we save my boyfriend, and your girlfriend, from Desdemona."