Tabby returned to Elias's workshop through the roof hatch and packed up his most immediate belongings in a trunk. Then she steeled herself and ventured downstairs. It took courage to witness the disarray she'd seen the night he was arrested.

With mechanical movements, she began putting things back into place. The longer she worked, the more she hated the constables for their complete lack of disregard. There had been no need for the careless ransacking.

Nit helped too, in the form of a monkey, using little monkey hands to move smaller objects about. They worked in silence as her mind turned over and over. Everything she touched grew more precious to her. Even the scraps of metal she often complained about sorting.

"I miss him too," Nit said, reading her thoughts.

"This was always the one place I could escape the chaos for something familiar," she mused aloud. Now it was just as disorganized, just as unpredictable as her life and her future.

After about two hours, with sweat beading across her skin, she sighed and plopped into the chair at Elias's workbench. It had been the first thing she'd moved back into place. Nit settled down beside her.

"It might take a while." She looked over the space. They'd made a dent, albeit a small one.

"Chroma wasn't built in a day," Nit answered.

Ignoring the disarray as best she could, she did what felt familiar. She ventured upstairs and brewed a pot of coffee, raided the pantry for some stale biscuits, and set about her work.

Her first order of business was an army of insects. She decided on dragonflies, as they were her favorite, with their stained glass wings. These, she decided, would act as lookouts, much the way her bees had. Nit, with their superior abilities to communicate, would act as commander.

She'd brought a small supply of prisms and gold with her. The rest of the confiscated contraband she'd reclaimed would stay at Steiner's. Only a quarter of what was taken had been reclaimed. A basement full of items, prisms, rare metals. A heavy sigh escaped her chest. At least she'd managed to gather up the most valuable pieces of it.

"Years," she muttered. "Years of gathering and collecting. And for what?"

After fitting her dragonflies with sockets and prisms, she went upstairs to refill her coffee cup and retrieve her prism revolver. It was the one project she had never shown Elias. She regretted that, now. Even though he didn't condone guns. While she didn't like them much either, there was no stopping the allure of what she attempted. Or the genus of it, if it worked.

Nit got her attention when it was half past one. Midnight would be expecting her soon. "I'm so close," she mused, glancing at them before turning back to her work. Just because she couldn't stop herself, she took aim and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened, of course, and she didn't expect it. But the prisms rattled around in their glass cylinder, each end set with golden sockets to funnel the energy.

With a forlorn sigh, she replaced it and closed up shop. The windows were still boarded, and it was better that way. Elias had been beloved by all. Even The Forsaken wouldn't dare brake in, mostly because Elias paid them well to keep watch. She'd have to pay them in his stead if the agreement was to continue. She thought about seeking Marcus out. They had poker in two days. Perhaps she would ask him then, to put more eyes on the workshop.

Gathering her belongings, she made her way to Marley's for a bite, stopping by the begging children of Crock's Row. Maggie was happy to report an improvement in her mam's health since administering the magic medicine, as she called it.

She dolled out meat pies for all of them, and a few coins, then made her way across town.

***

She was first to arrive at her safehouse. She set up in the kitchen and brewed more coffee, hugging the steaming mug to her lips. Since their encounter in the alley and again on Dorwald Street, she'd been dreading this moment, putting it out of her mind. Maybe Midnight wouldn't even show. Maybe he'd disregarded her request to hold off on Anson Macks and managed to get pricked by one of her bees. How ironic would that be? Always believing he'd be the one to kill her, only to find it the other way around.

She was certain he'd all but worked out the truth for himself. Perhaps in keeping Albert Whitlock from him, she'd incriminated herself by looking more suspicious. And she hadn't done herself any favors by warning him off the Prism Pact names. Stupid! She'd been so stupid to let her feelings get in the way.

Nit gave her advanced warning when Midnight arrived. He entered in silence through the trap door on the roof. She waited, every muscle tense, but kept her coffee cup near her lips, clenched in both hands. He appeared in the kitchen's entry a few minutes later, arms casually crossed, leaning against the doorframe. "We need to talk."

"Hello to you too," the lightness of her voice was unconvincing. Despite the coffee, her mouth was dry. "Still alive, I see."

He gazed at her, face unreadable. "I need to know once and for all, was it you?"

"Me, what? You'll need to be more specific."

He walked over to the table placing both hands on it, leaning over. His face was inches from hers. Flinty brown eyes burrowed deep into her soul. "What have you gotten yourself into, Tabby?"

"Like I said, you'll need to be more—"

"No!" He slammed a palm on the table, letting his facade slip. She did not break eye-contact. "No more games. The one you're playing is deadly. I received word from Ghost an hour ago. Rampage went missing this morning."

She furrowed her brow and turned her lips down into a frown.

"What's more, they found Waste's body in his manufactory. Do you know how they found him?" She shook her head. "Mutilated. A bloodied mess. Near unrecognizable. I can only think of one kind of person capable of that."

A retort was ready to spring from her lips, but he was quicker. He swiped her satchel from the chair beside her and dumped the contents across the table. Her jaw dropped at the audacity of it. She sprang to her feet, but too late. She could only stare at the contents, dazed.

Well then. So he had worked everything out. It was all the evidence he needed. He took one look and swore. Her heart plummeted, unexpectedly, at her carelessness. Half of it was prism tech. But there were darts there too, left over from the night before. And a small leather pouch filled with tools for torture, splattered with blood. She'd forgotten to put it away.

"So, it is you." His voice was frighteningly calm.

"It's not what you think." But even as she said it, she saw how silly it sounded. She armed herself, drawing a prism dagger. If he attacked...

"I'm here if you need me." Nit sent her a calming image of darkness and brick. Of reassurance. Her mechanimal was in the chimney.

"Isn't what I think?" Midnight gave a strangled laugh. "I always know when you're lying, Tabby." His lip curled. He eyed the blade. "Put it away."

"Funny, because I've been lying to you for years and you've never once suspected me."

"Is that so?" He drew himself up. Light, sometimes she forgot how intimidating he was, standing tall. All that bulky muscle on display.

"I've been using prism tech for years. Since working with Elias. You cannot possibly believe he was a mere mechanist."

Midnight's face didn't change. No hint of surprise. Nothing.

"You...you knew?"

"Of course I knew." He ripped a chair back and sank into it. "Sit down. And put that damn dagger away." She hesitated, then took a seat, but did not relinquish her weapon. He didn't speak immediately, but when he did, it wasn't what she expected. "I have given you the last twelve years of my life, Tabby. Twelve years. I taught you everything I know. Why—?" He paused. "I want to know why. And then I want you to leave Chroma."

"Chroma is my home."

"Not anymore."

She lifted her chin. "I'm not leaving."

"You will. If you don't, I will kill you myself."

Her stomach dropped. She always knew he was likely to kill her, just as Clora's master had at the first sign of weakness. But hearing him say the words. It did something to her she wouldn't have expected.

"I—" She froze. Her ankle buzzed.

"What's the matter?"

She eyed him a moment longer, just to be sure he had no intention of slitting her throat, then ducked below the table. The buzzing continued. She buried a hand deep in her boot, ripping her anklet away, and set it on the table.

"You've been called in," he said. "When?"

Everything was happening too quickly. Tick, tick, tick. Like the successive clicks of clockwork. Rapid thoughts flashed through her mind. Blood rushed past her ears. Her breathing became staggered. She always knew taking on the Spectrum was impossible. Somehow she'd allowed a silly fantasy to goad her.

Her beacon continued to buzz. The hands on the dial moved and settled. She watched, unblinking. "Three...three o'clock." Her voice was low. She had an hour.

"Will you answer?"

Her gaze darted around the kitchen. A dormant fear that started as a dull ache turned to a severe pain in her chest. Midnight had always been the one to protect her, to advise her, to keep her from mistakes that would get her killed. Part of her, the familiar part, wanted to beg for his help. He'd gotten her out of plenty of sticky situations before. It was instinctual to want him to save her from this too. But he wouldn't. Couldn't.

Besides, this was her mess.

She knew what would happen if she petitioned him. Disappointment was all she could expect. He would let her suffer, just as Beast had let Carson suffer. Just as all Spects were trained to do. He'd preserve himself, do whatever he needed to stay alive, just as she needed to do now.

She looked at the items on the table, at Midnight—his face and body so familiar she could trace every line of him with her eyes closed—at the clock on the wall, at the door. "I..."

"They will hunt you down, Tabby. And if they don't, I will. You betrayed me. You betrayed everything we are. You betrayed..."

But she wasn't listening anymore. Her heart was pounding too hard. Her thoughts turned over too fast. Steiner. She needed to get to Steiner. He would know if it was safe to answer the summons. He would know what to do. "They might not suspect me yet," she whispered.

"You don't really believe that, do you?" His voice was calm, expression hard.

"They may just want to question my motives behind Elias's rescue."

"I didn't train you for this kind of stupidity," he said. Her body felt heavy. "If you answer, they will kill you. They won't hesitate. I suppose it will save me the effort of it."

She stood and began hastily shoving her things back into her satchel. Nit chose this moment to appear as a sparrow. Her mechanimal gave a scolding squawk, clicking their beak at Midnight before settling on her shoulder. She felt instant relief at the weight of him. Midnight only eyed the mechanimal. Nit was merely further confirmation of her treachery.

"I'm leaving," she said, as if that wasn't already obvious. "I hope I never see you again, Midnight." She didn't truly mean in. In fact, it tore her up inside to have to say it. Her throat was scratchy, dry.

Was this really goodbye? After everything they'd been through? A deep longing settled in her chest at the sight of him, but she pushed it down. Away. Forced herself not to care.

He stood, the corners of his mouth turned down. "I hope so, too. I will not hesitate next time."

She turned on her heel and left him, fighting the tears that threatened to leak down her cheeks. Twelve years. Twelve fucking years! And this was how they ended.

***

The streets of Chroma were packed that afternoon. Tabby worked her way through subsequent districts in the direction of Steiner's townhouse. Nit flew high overhead, keeping an eye out. The fastest path was the busiest one. She might have taken a few side streets, but her heart raced, and she could only think of getting to Steiner.

It made her careless, which was why she didn't pay much attention to the crowds around her. A stranger bumped in to her. And then another. She kept moving. Another shoulder bumped her, hard, this time. She was about to shout an insult at them for being so careless. She caught sight of the stranger's face right as she felt the sting in her neck. The prick of a dart.

"Tabby!" Nit cried out in warning, sensing her alarm. She caught a flash of Nit from the sky, looking down at her in bird form.

"Nit, no! Stay where you..."

She couldn't finish the command. Things were slowing down. She turned on her heel, surrounded by passersby. The world spun with her movements, in and out of focus. A man stood behind her, his lips turned up in a predatory way. He wore a face she did not recognize. But his eyes. Oh, Light. She could never forget the terror of seeing those eyes.

The thundering of her heart engulfed her in a roar. Around her, the world pitched and heaved. Sounds turned muted, as if underwater. Her fingers lost feeling first. She blinked against the growing blackness at the edges of her vision, took one step backwards, then another, but it was too late. The darkness of her nightmares sent her plummeting into oblivion.