By the time footsteps were approaching, Emma had pushed herself up to a standing position. Still, the boys behind her took her by surprise; she couldn't hear them over the screaming in her head and her pounding heart.

When she'd slid her knife across the throat of the body now lying limp on the forest floor, she thought she was killing her brother.

The thought alone left her shaking. She knew she should have run, that the Knights would be returning any minute, but she couldn't move her feet. She couldn't even breathe. She'd thought her knife was at Sebastian's throat and when she held that power it felt so goddamn good. She hated him, she would never forgive him, she knew all that for sure. But to kill him? She had gone too far.

"Emma!" the voice called. She felt a hand on her shoulder, steady and supportive against her raking bones. "Are you alright?"

It was Gavin speaking; she recognized his voice by now. Still, she couldn't turn her head away from Miles' lifeless body bleeding out. She nodded slowly. "I'm fine," she whispered. "I'm fine."

"I take it this was your guy?" Gavin asked. He didn't need her to respond to know the answer. "Got what was coming for him. Can't just hire someone to be your hitman cause you can't face the repercussions yourself. Bitchass move."

"Did you win?" Her voice was meek and quiet, filled with a sensitivity Gavin hadn't quite expected.

"Yeah," Gavin nodded. "Just in time, too. They were about to send someone else out to kill me this time. Easiest target, I guess. I'm on my own half the time, nobody would notice—"

"Stop talking," a different voice snapped. This one was Benji, the curly-haired boy who spent half his time laughing. Only now where Emma had turned soft, his words had hardened. "We'd all goddamn notice, and I wouldn't let it happen in the first place. You know that."

Emma turned around slowly, ripping her gaze away from the image burned permanently in her mind. Only Gavin and Benji stood before her now. "Where are the others?"

"Wes was stabbed," said Gavin. "Damien's taking care of the wound, 'Teo's on watch. We came back for you."

"But it's over now, right?" she asked. For the first time since they'd met her, her gray eyes were rounded out around the edges, her typical cold glare missing in the dusky light. "We made a deal. I'm done with all of this."

"You are," Benji said. "But you proved yourself. It'll be dark soon, and you know these woods better than anyone else. Stick around for one more night, will you?"

"What's in it for me?"

The boys shrugged. "What's in it for you if you leave now? There are supplies in the truck stop." Their reasoning was sound enough for Emma; she was too tired and shaken up to opt for something else. They were right. The sky was already painted in a hazy gray, and the darkness would only begin to settle.

The trio began to walk, slowly at first, and Gavin noted how the girl's speed was off. Everything was off. "You didn't seem this upset when you killed Clevis."

"I wasn't." That was true. Clevis was a stranger. Cruel as it was, his life meant nothing to her. Cruel as it was, stealing his gave her friends, gave Donny and Natalia a chance to live.

"None of us are mad at you," Benji added, taking Emma by surprise. "Never trusted him to begin with. Kid was a ticking time bomb, someone had to do it eventually."

"Then why the hell did you make me your prisoner?"

"Damien's doing," Benji shrugged. He tied his long hair back into a tight bun, and Emma noticed the drying blood along his jawline. "He had a point. Nobody knew how bad Clevis was. Whoever paid you off thought he was one of us. He was right, of course."

"How'd you stay hidden so long?" Gavin asked, turning to Emma. She hesitated, speaking first with her eyes, reminding him of what she'd told him on that first night about the Fortress. She gestured to Benji, a subtle reminder towards Gavin's promise. "He knows everything you told me."

"You said you wouldn't tell the others." She was back. The cold, demonic persona had returned to her body, the darkness had taken hold once again. The two Knights released a breath they didn't know they were holding; this was the Emma they knew, even if they hardly knew her at all.

He shrugged. "Benji's not the others."

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes as her voice hardened even more."I wasn't hiding," she said, tone flat and concise. "I was taken. Not by choice."

Gavin's eyes widened, his brows rising in a slight disbelief. She didn't turn to see Benji's reaction, but the way the Asian boy looked to the other figure above Emma's head told her enough. "You were in the Fortress?" She didn't need to answer.

Benji frowned. "You said they weren't taking people. That this isn't Monarchia, that they're not dangerous."

"Not dangerous for the good people," she muttered. "But that's not me, and that's neither of you."

"What do you mean 'good people?'"

"Turns out murder doesn't make the first impression."

"Yeah, but you had your reasons—"

"You think they care?" she snapped. "They didn't care what my reasons were. Shit, I did it to save my friends. But they don't care. They think they're civilized, and we're savages. Only care about the ones they think they can save."

"So they just let you walk?" Gavin asked. Something about the situation puzzled him; she could see it in the creases on his forehead. "Thought you were some violent killer, so they let you out and didn't care what happened to whoever was left out here?"

She shrugged. "I guess. They wanted to kill me, but they exiled me instead. I'm not sure why."

Gavin paused, stopping in his tracks and studying her intently. "There's more to this, isn't there?"

"Yes," she said, "But you don't need to know it."

"We're close," Benji interjected. "Change the subject unless you want everyone else to know."

She shot Gavin a quick glare. "You mean you don't plan on telling them this time?"

He couldn't help but smirk. "Like I said, Benji's different."

When they approached the truck stop, the other four boys were seated on the front steps. As their footsteps broke the twigs on ground, Mateo shot up, drawing his long metal blade out from the pocket he built into his backpack. It was Jordy's sword, but in the months since his best friend's passing, he had claimed it as his own. Wes was sitting up, Damien pressing a blood-soaked cloth that couldn't have been clean against a deep gash in the boy's side. Wes' brother Rocket sat behind him, eyes wide and clutching to his older brother's hand.

"What's she still doing here?" Damien snapped, whipping towards Emma, who simply rolled her eyes.

"These are her woods," Gavin said. "She can get us to shelter."

"We have shelter right here," the blonde argued, blue eyes flashing against the haze. "Besides, Wes can't walk."

"You really want to sleep around a bunch of dead bodies?" snapped the other boy.

Damien sighed, for he knew Gavin was correct. As much as he distrusted Emma, he belligerently looked to her. "So where do we go, princess?"

She took a deep breath. "Is there water in the truck stop?"

"Of course," he muttered.

"Good," she said. "Because we're going to Peregrin."