Desmond lifted a foot and, without a second thought, finished off the Empire soldier by crushing his skull. Crushing him like a bug.

That man had been crying and pleading with him while grabbing his leg. How pathetic. That was all it had made him feel, that disgust-filled thought. He should have at least accepted his end with dignity.

He had trampled so many lives just to end up like this. Crying like a child.

You didn't want to die. Of course you didn't.

None of the people you killed wanted to die, but you couldn't ever realize that, could you? He felt sick. Because you people don't even see us as human beings.

Even if he had been able to do something for the dying man who had lost a leg and was bleeding to death, he wouldn't have heeded his pleas. He didn't deserve it. He had done enough already, crushing his skull instead of abandoning him to a slow and painful death, which was what he deserved.

He had done it on impulse, not out of compassion, but it still counted. What counted was not the intention, but the result.

That was the only thing that left a mark on the world, after all.

Desmond wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand, disgusted not by the blood and guts he was bathed in, but by the memory of how pathetic that murderer had been in his final moments.

One of the dead had a shotgun.

He dropped his rifle into a pool of blood and snatched the shotgun from the dead man's hands.

He liked the weight of it.

He couldn't wait to see what it sounded like, he thought as he smiled.

■

"Isabella, go with them," said Jacob. No, Jacob didn't say anything, he commanded.

"What? Sir..".

"You don't have to call me sir. Especially in a situation like this. Call me Jacob, like you always do." The headmaster looked tired. Defeated. There was no trace of the crazy energy he had shown in the speech at the initiation ceremony.

Looking at him like that, it was hard to believe that he had once been a war hero. An unstoppable killing machine.

Now he looked like he surely felt. That is, a sad old man in a wheelchair.

"What are you up to?" Isabella asked.

Christina had no intention of staying to listen, however. She turned her back on them all again and ran. As she had said, she had wasted enough time. And on top of that she had stopped to listen to a conversation that didn't matter.

True, she could use any help she could get, she had been attracted to the possibility.

However, if they decided to help her they could reach her.

She had no reason to wait for them to make up their minds when Desmond's fate was at stake as they talked. And every second brought him closer to death.

The train tracks were empty.

She'd seen it from far away, so it wasn't like it was a surprise, besides, it was the logical thing to do. Avery couldn't be so stupid as to expect to be able to flee with Desmond on foot. It was true that Desmond had forced her hand while about to reveal his true identity in front of everyone.

But an infiltrator, a double agent like her, should have plenty of plans to escape with her life if things went wrong. It was the bare minimum.

She heard Isabella behind them, silent. Obeying the order.

They followed the train tracks for a while and there was one thing that surprised her. That the train hadn't gone too far. It was just standing there, it wasn't like Desmond had woken up and fought with the traitor, in the process causing the train to derail or something.

No, it was simply that Avery had driven it for a while and had stopped it precisely there of her own volition. For a reason she couldn't quite figure it out, because she didn't have all the pieces.

Enough to know, however, that this was the starting point she had been looking for.

Desmond was still close.

She could still save him.

Christina stepped off the tracks, approached the woods, at one point stopped and crouched down.

"Why are you doing this?" Isabella asked. "Why go so far? That boy, Desmond, you've only known him for a few days."

She looked over her shoulder at the woman.

"Is there a quota?"

"Excuse me?"

"You know, a quota on how much time you have to spend with someone before you care that they might die. Is there for you?"

"No, but... You could stand aside. You could let the army do its job. You're a student, not yet a soldier. And yet you intend to put yourself in the lion's den for someone who until recently was a complete stranger. Which he still is. It's one thing to care about someone like that, but this is another. It's a whole different story."

Amy stood on the sidelines, between the two of them, looking at both of them. What could be going through her head?

"Are you in love with him?"

Christina laughed. She couldn't help it, it was a simply ridiculous idea. What she was doing was crazy, according to her, but was it okay as long as it was for love?

What about a bond, what about friendship? That was more than enough reason.

If it wasn't, she wouldn't be here.

"Wow, that says a lot about you."

Isabella was a deeply selfish person who wouldn't do something crazy for someone unless she could get something out of it. That is, like most people. What set her apart was that she only conceived of that possibility for the sake of love.

She would wonder who this woman was in love with, who she would be willing to go to any lengths for.

But she didn't give a shit.

"Do you have anything?" Amy asked her, coming closer.

Dropping her hands, which had been on her knees, Christina stood up.

"I think I've got his trail."

"As I was saying, full of surprises."

She didn't bother to answer.

The three of them walked deeper into the forest, with her leading the way. This was not the forest where the initiation test had been held, interrupted by a massacre, but a forest beyond it.

The Four Seasons Academy was far from civilization, surrounded by nature.

She followed the trail carefully, hoping that it was the right trail. And surely it was. But the trail ended with nothing. There was no one around her except a dark, empty clearing.

Christina felt like screaming.

But not to give up, it was too soon to give up.

"You're wrong," Isabella said. It wasn't a question. She said it in a curt, definitive way, as if she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt.

"No. This is the right trail and it ultimately ends here. But they can't have just vanished just like that. Not even with the help of magic. There has to be something. I know it."

"Christina, listen..."

"No. I'm sure he sent you here to see if we can find anything. And also to try to convince me, in that case, to turn around. But my life belongs to me alone. What I do with it is none of your business. If I die here, well, I'll die. I would regret that far less than I would regret abandoning him to its fate. The same goes for Amy. So either help us or get the hell out of my sight."

Isabella was looking at her as if she had slapped her in the face. Which was appropriate because she had certainly given her the verbal equivalent.

"I'm older than you. I'm your teacher."

"Please," she snorted, "Chances are the situation won't get back on track. In a few days, weeks maybe, we'll be out there. Killing strangers. Dying for strangers. Besides, I've already told you. This life is mine. Not yours. I would do whatever you ordered me to do... But I'd also have to live with your mistakes... Like wasting so much of my time."

Isabella opened her mouth.

"No. Enough already. I've had enough."

They set to work. She knew there had to be some trick here.

She knew all could not be lost.