Lilian groaned, shifting in his lap. She grimaced, pulling herself upright with a significant show of effort, and raised a hand to her throat.

“How are you feeling?” Angel asked.

She tried to say something, but all that came out of her mouth was a hissing whisper. Lilian frowned, then gave him a shrug and pointed to her neck.

“Reave’s sword did that much damage?”

Lilian shrugged, then waggled her hand. She pointed at her chest, then gave him a small smile.

“I couldn’t just let you die,” Angel said gruffly. “I’ve got few enough allies as it is. Imagine leaving me alone with Silver.”

“I was thinking the same thing, but about being left alone with Angel,” Silver said.

“Hey!” Tilly said. “Alison and I are here too.”

“As much as I enjoy your company, I can’t say I’m happy about that,” Angel said with a frown. “You should never have been dragged into this, and I’ll be dropping you off at Bronze City as soon as we can.”

“You can’t do that,” Tilly said, crossing her arms. “How do you know the Reawakening won’t come after us again?”

“They got what they wanted,” Angel replied. “They’ve got no reason to go after you again.”

“What if that wasn’t enough? There could be something else they need your talent for,” Tilly said. “And then they come kidnap us again to force you to do their work, probably destroying another city in the process.”

Angel grimaced. Tilly had a point, as displeased as he was to admit it. There was a very good chance that the Key was only one step to bringing Old World Magic back, and the Reawakening could come after them again.

“It’s not like traveling with us is that much safer,” Angel said. “If you haven’t noticed, we’re in direct conflict with the Reawakening. You might still be safer hiding with Dalliah than traveling with us. Wait – speaking of Dalliah, do you know if Vanessa is okay?”

“I think so,” Tilly said. “The Buried God only attacked the city walls and the people that fought back. I think they wanted to avoid killing everybody.”

“Hmm,” Angel said, rubbing his chin. “I guess they didn’t have to with Body’s powers.”

“What are you going to do with the Star Fragment, then?” Silver asked. “Use it on yourself?”

Angel’s arm crackled.

“I don’t think so,” Angel said, and the crackling stopped. “I think bringing two Star Fragments together in one person is a bad idea. Honestly, I’m still not entirely sure what they are – but they are intelligent. For whatever reason, mine doesn’t seem to want to share me.”

“Why not give it to someone else?” Silver asked. “You’re going to need all the firepower you can get if we want to stand against the Reawakening.”

“Silver, can you really be trusted not to use this on every person we meet to rob them?” Angel asked.

“There’s no guarantee it would give the same power that Body had,” Silver defended. “But no, I’d absolutely do that. It would be glorious, although it would take a lot of fun out of the sport. I was thinking Tilly, actually.”

“Me?” Tilly asked, aghast. “Why?”

“Because one way or another, you’re likely going to end up in conflict with the Reawakening again,” Silver said. “And, unlike Alison, you don’t have a good way to protect yourself.”

Angel rubbed his chin. “That’s true. I’m just concerned that the Star Fragments are doing something more than just helping. They’re intelligent, and that means they’re working toward something. Unfortunately, I’ve got no way to figure out exactly what that is.”

Tilly considered his words for a few moments. “I’ll do it. If you’re willing to give the Star Fragment up, that is. I don’t want to become a burden, and I want to be able to defend myself somehow. I was planning on making weapons, but I’ve got no combat training.”

“So instead, I give you a weapon from the Great War,” Angel said, shaking his head. “I don’t care about the loss of the Star Fragment, but I don’t know if I should be involving you in this even further. I don’t think there’s any going back from this. You take this Star Fragment, the Reawakening will be your enemy until either they or you are dead.”

“That’s already the case,” Tilly said. “And maybe Dalliah will pay me more if I’ve got a superweapon in me.”

Silver burst into laughter. “That’s the attitude. Fleece her for everything you can, then rob her on the way out.”

“I will not rob my benefactor,” Tilly said, glaring at Silver. “Negotiations are different.”

“Bah. Every Magistrate is just a powerful bandit with a political position and control over the food supply,” Silver said, curling his nose. “You’ll figure that out if the Reawakening don’t blow us all out of the air first.”

Tilly opened her mouth to argue, but Angel held a hand up.

“Not now,” he said wearily. “Let’s put some distance between us and the Buried God before we start whining at each other. Tilly, if you’re really sure about this, think on it for the next few minutes. If you take a Star Fragment, I don’t think you can remove it. You’ll have the powers, for better or worse.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Tilly asked.

“It can be,” Angel said. “Reave’s body is constantly generating plasma. He’s in constant pain, and using his magic makes it worse. For all intents and purposes, he’s been tortured for the last six hundred years.”

Tilly paled. “But this fragment was Body’s, right? It shouldn’t do that.”

“This is beyond my field of knowledge,” Angel said. “It shouldn’t do that, but I don’t have any way to say for sure. Don’t make this choice lightly.”

Tilly nodded and looked out the window, chewing on her lower lip nervously. Angel relaxed, content that the dangers of accepting the magic had been suitably impressed on the girl. Alison mumbled and turned over, cradling her head in her hands in her sleep.

“The Buried God is running again,” Silver reported. “But we’ve got some distance between us, and I don’t think they know where we are. We should stop shortly to check if there’s any sort of tracker on us, though.”

“Can you tell what it’s doing?” Angel asked.

“Just standing there, at the moment,” Silver said, squinting at a mirror to try and make out what was happening. “Actually, it looks like Molten Ridges is firing on it again. They must have assumed the Buried God was weakened.”

“I don’t hear anything,” Angel said, squinting over his shoulder. “Is it not firing back?”

“Looks like it’s retreating, actually,” Silver said, unable to hide the relief in his voice.

“They’ve got what they needed. Makes sense. Reave probably got called back to base to get scolded for blowing up one of their Buried Gods.”

“Maybe they’ll spank him and confiscate his dinner as punishment,” Silver said with a wry smile.

They flew for another hour before Silver brought the chopper down to the desert floor. Angel ran a check along the outside walls while Silver inspected the console and cabin. While Angel’s check proved fruitless, Silver located a small artifact with transmission runes. It was left on the desert floor as they took back off, putting more space and time between themselves and the Reawakening.