Tabby found Hubert Maltby sitting in a chair across the room, staring directly at her, a wicked grin on his features. Like he'd been expecting her. Because he had.

Her hands were ready. She pulled violet light and sent it straight for him, attempting to knock him back, to distract him, as she gained better ground. He countered with violet light of his own, nullifying it.

"Quite the ruckus going on out there," he said, voice calm, eyes tracking, lingering over her mask. "I didn't hear it until you opened the door. But now..." She heard it, too. Which meant the blanket of green had finally depleted. And that meant the whole palace could hear it too. "Come to kill me, I suspect?"

She drew a dagger. "Why don't you get out of that chair and find out." Her fingers remained at the ready, to pull light when and if needed.

Without blinking, he stood. She lunged for him, but he shot across the room, keeping her at a safe distance. She would have asked for confirmation, asked for proof that he was truly Ghost, except that anyone who moved like him had to be. Besides, his use of violet light had been the confirmation she needed. Yet...something felt off about his body, his stature. He was much older than she thought Ghost would be. Even if his hair was the same color. Hair dye, she realized. Anyone of his age would already be fully grey. She expected Ghost to be vain, but never realized he'd be so vain as to feel the need.

They circled the living area. Her eyes didn't leave his grizzled face. If she had to guess, he was in his late fifties or early sixties. Yet, he was lithe as a cat. "Your Council members are all dead," she said, stalling, taunting. "We killed Flint last night. And Sin, the day before that. "

"Well done. I admit, I'm impressed."

She threw her dager and he dodged it. So she drew a prism dagger this time, keeping it at the ready. They continued to circle. Outside, she heard a crash. More riflefire. Midnight and Steiner could take care of themselves. Ghost was her target—always had been. That was the deal, after all. She killed Ghost and in return, earned her father's name.

"Why are you doing this?" Ghost asked, as if reading her mind. "I find myself intrigued that you hate the Spectrum enough to go to all this trouble. The wealth you've amassed from your kills is more than most nobility possess in a lifetime."

"It isn't about the wealth."

"No?"

"I want to seize power for myself," she lied.

He snorted, still circling, eyes roving over her. "You don't seem like the power hungry type, Tempest."

"Fine. Freeing the world from your tyranny. Tipping the balance. Helping future children avoid a fate worse than death, blah, blah, blah, all that bullshit."

"Ah. That sounds a little more realistic. So you've chosen a side then. Admirable."

"Better than staying neutral. Neutrality only helps the oppressor. The tormentor. People like you." She fired off another stream of violet light to distract him. He countered, nullifying it.

At the same moment, her arm flicked, sending her red prism dagger flying. The hilt flared into life. He jumped to the side but the dagger followed his movements. His eyes widened just as it sank into his chest. He stumbled back. To protect himself, his hands began flying faster than she thought possible, fingers twitching, wrists flicking. Jets of different colored light, violet, indigo, blue, then red and yellow, and orange, all started ricocheting off the walls headed directly towards her. Like billiard balls striking at different angles, all with the intent of sending a single ball into its assigned pocket. It was a cocktail of color powerful enough to send her slamming against the wall. She ignored it and sent another red prism dagger flying. Ghost swore. Not at the second dagger that hit him square in the shoulder, but at the light as it disappeared, consumed by her black prism. "Oh. Right," she added, pulling it free of her maid uniform, smiling. "Bet you didn't see that coming." She removed the last dagger from her gown, having given the others to Midnight and Steiner, and bounded forward.

Another series of gunshots rang out in the hallway outside. She didn't allow it to distract her as she jumped over the sofa and threw herself on Ghost, tackling him to the ground. Her blade met his neck, drawing blood and the fight went out of him.

He started laughing then, a manic raspy laugh. "Edwin's going to have his hands full with you."

She looked into his eyes, the way his skin crinkled around them. Something was off. Alarm Bells began ringing. They were the same amber eyes she was used to seeing from Ghost, but perhaps they simply looked different without his mask. "Reaper gave me your name," she hissed. "He betrayed you."

"Reaper? He always was a piece of shit." Maltby hesitated. "Do it. Kill me. What are you waiting for?"

"Nothing. I'm waiting for nothing." She slid the blade across his throat and listened to him gurgle, watching as the light faded from his eyes. His body stilled. She continued staring down at him. Even when he was dead, she started, unable to believe it. It was done. Ghost was dead.

But it had been too easy.

How much time had passed? How long had she been in here?

Another series of shots rang out, followed by a large boom that shook the walls, then everything fell quiet. "Tabby!" Nit's warning felt far away.

She stood, wiping the dagger and collecting the others. She didn't see the door to Maltby's chamber open. Didn't notice the thing that rolled into the room until she heard the thump of it against the furniture. Then everything around her erupted with a defining boom, sending her flying backwards in a heap of broken furniture and rubble. The last thing she felt was her body slamming against the wall, and the crunch of glass that must have been her ray gun shattering into a thousand pieces. In all the excitement, she'd forgotten to use it.

***

Tabby blinked, bringing her surroundings in and out of focus. Her ears were still ringing, but the sound was ebbing. The familiarity of her situation came crashing down around her, left her trembling. Her arms and ankles were bound so tightly they chafed, her belongings gone. She pulled against her bonds, struggled in vain. Then she noticed Midnight and Conrad beside her, one on each side, both still unconscious. Her stomach dropped and bile crawled up her throat.

What the fuck had happened? Her mind began running through the events that seemed so foggy. She'd killed Ghost. She'd killed him! Then everything around her had exploded. She hadn't reunited with Midnight or Steiner in the hallway. She remembered the big boom that had quieted things, and then the next one that had knocked her unconscious. Gunpowder bombs. Warfare technology she wasn't very familiar with.

She glanced around, recognized nothing about her surroundings, about the empty, windowless room. Stone walls. Dirt floor. Void of furniture. It smelled damp and earthy.

The wall sconces were spaced every two feet and cast pools of light in small puddles about the room. She felt their warmth like a soft comfort in an otherwise cold place. The sense of them was all around her. Reassuring her.

Deep breaths. She needed to think.

"Tabby? Tabby!"

"Nit?"

"You're awake?" She saw a flash of Nit's surroundings—her surroundings.

"No!" She turned to look over her shoulder and found Nit in the corner of the room, stuck within some kind of bird cage. It had thicker than normal bars. "No. Nit!" Her heart crumbled. "Can't you transform?"

"I tried. The bars wouldn't bend or break. I was stopped and changed back to this." A sparrow.

Her stomach roiled as panic flooded her body, but there wasn't time for fear. A wooden door pushed open, catching on the floor, its hinges creaking as if it hadn't been used in a while. She caught a brief glimpse of the dark corridor beyond. They had to be in the palace dungeons, then. A man entered, hooded, his back turned. He locked the door behind him, then turned to face her.

"No." She blinked, shaking her head. Disbelief left her trembling. It had to be a dream, a nightmare. "I...I..." Words died on her lips. Her blood chilled when she beheld his mask—Ghost's mask. The jester with a navy blue checkerboard pattern.

"Ah, you're awake." He carried a tray in his hands, with cups and a pitcher.

She glanced at Steiner and Midnight. They stirred. Steiner blinked first. Midnight lifted his head from his chest, then gave it a hearty shake, as if to clear away his drowsiness and no doubt the ringing in his ears.

"Thirsty?" Ghost asked, looking at her. He poured a clear liquid into the cup and held it to her lips. She pursed them and turned her head away.

"Don't drink it, Tabby." Midnight's voice was hoarse.

"It's not poison, I promise." To prove his point, Ghost removed his mask and drank deeply.

"No!" she hissed, going rigid. "It...it can't be. He...Maltby. I killed him. He was Ghost."

"How can you be so sure?" Prince Edwin, now King Edwin, lifted an eyebrow.

"He used violet. He was a Spect."

"Ah. Yes, in that you're correct. He was a Spect, once. Trained me, in fact. Taught me everything I know." She continued shaking her head, unwilling to believe it. "Quite useful to me, too. But no, he was never Ghost. That was always me."

"You're bluffing. Reaper—he gave me Hubert Maltby's name."

King Edwin snorted. "That's because Hubert's name was an insurance policy. One I used frequently if need be."

"Smart." Conrad looked between Edwin and Tabby. She witnessed a flash of something on his features, there and then gone as he glanced away from her, not making eye contact.

"In any case. This is a rather unfortunate turn of events." Edwin walked across the room, over to Nit's cage. "But I'm afraid I can't keep any of you around." Nit shrank back against the bars of their cage, all the fight in them gone. Their prism was dim, as if they'd spent most of it, likely trying to break free.

"Get away from them," she hissed.

"I'm afraid you will find that Candela is not very tolerant of prism tech." He reached towards Nit. Fear shot through her. He flicked his fingers, sucking the white light from Nit's prism without needing touch them. Her eyes widened. Ghost could manipulate not just violet, but also white. And like her and Steiner, he'd kept the secret well.

"Tabby!" Nit pleaded as the light in their prism disappeared. It was Nit's last word. She gasped as their consciousness disappeared from her mind. All that was left was emptiness.

"My father's reign is over," King Edwin continued. "The use of prism tech will not go unpunished. My father may have been lax, weak, but I will not be." He unhooked the latch on the cage and removed Nit's body, holding the small sparrow in his hand, fingers curled around their limp form.

She began to violently tremble. "Please. Don't. Don't hurt them."

"Why shouldn't I?" He set Nit on the floor before her and lifted his boot. She screamed, watching in horror, pulling against her bonds. His boot came down, crunching Nit to pieces. The sound of it twisted her stomach. She went limp, gasping.

"Really? After all I've done for you, Tempest? What did you expect? You could have been the next greatest Spect in Candela. Next to me, of course. You were on the right path. Why do you think I had my own apprentice train you?" A cold twist of his lips, calculating. Expectant.

"Wha...what...?" she choked. "What did you say?" Ice doused her, searing and frigid, muting some of the grief crashing over her. The world slowed. She turned to Midnight, blinking. Her voice came out as little more than a croak. "You...you...?"

Midnight shook his head, emotion morphing his features. "No. It's not...you have to believe me, Tabby. I didn't know who he was. I didn't know he was Prince Edwin. I swear to you. I swear."

"Didn't know?!" she spat. "Didn't know that Ghost was your fucking master?!" Her ears pounded as rage surged through her. "I'll kill you for this, Theo. I'll fucking kill you." Everything she felt for him was muted by his betrayal. Her breathing came in gasps. There wasn't enough air in the room to feed her lungs, no matter how quickly she inhaled.

She'd never thought to ask him about the identity of his master. He'd given her enough snippets of his master's brutal treatment to steer clear of mentioning it. Now she saw her mistake. But even still, all the times they'd plotted to kill Ghost and he never once thought to mention the connection? Fury slammed into her and she raged, pulling at the bonds holding her to the chair. She was too angry to think of the last time she'd been pinned like this. Too grief-driven by the loss of Nit to think rationally.

"Relax. Relax." King Edwin stepped in front of them. "It's unfortunate, I admit, that my own apprentice would turn on me. He knew I was Ghost, but I kept my true identity under lock and key. He never saw my face."

"It doesn't fucking matter." She pulled against her bonds, shaking, betrayed. Steiner remained eerily quiet.

"Tabby, please." Midnight's face transformed. Beads of sweat covered his brow. He pulled against his bonds, shooting Ghost a look of fury. "There was never any loyalty to him. Never. You know what he put me through. I wanted him dead as much as you. Please." She merely shook her head, disgusted. "I stopped working with him when I took you on," Midnight continued. "It was always you and me. Us. I chose you. Remember? We are on the same team. This changes nothing."

"You lied to me," she hissed.

Edwin clicked his tongue. Steiner began to laugh—a high-pitched manic laugh. It was the first noise he'd made. They all turned to him. "I should have seen it," he said. "I should have seen it." She waited, breathing hard. "She's your daughter. I knew that years ago. But I never made the connection—that you were a Spect. Of course you would have given her to the temple. Put her with your own apprentice."

"What?" This time the word was barely audible as all the fight went out of her. Everything began spinning.

Edwin tsked. "Figured it out, did you?"

"Albert helped me uncover the truth."

"Of course he did."

"No," she whispered, everything pressing in on her all at once. "He's....he's..." It couldn't be. Her eyes filled with tears. She pinned Steiner with her stare. "How could you?" she hissed, forgetting all about Midnight's betrayal. But neither Midnight nor Steiner's trumped the biggest betrayal standing right in front of her. She ripped her head around to look at Edwin. "You gave me up? You handed me over to the Spectrum? You abandoned me?!"

"Yes, yes. Pass your judgement. It was the only solution to an otherwise sticky situation. My older brother died, setting me on a direct path to the throne."

"Because you killed him," Steiner hissed, which was also news to her.

But she ignored Steiner. "You gave me away," she repeated.

"How could I keep you, hmm? No one would ever believe you were Matilda's daughter after we married. Three years of age was far too old to pass as hers. Besides you look far too much like Elenora with your darker skin and hair. And you know what our country does with bastard children." She couldn't stop shaking her head in absolute disbelief. Elenora? Was that her mother's name? She'd never so much as known a shred about her. "There wasn't much of a choice when the spotlight turned toward me."

"You fucking piece of shit," Midnight snarled. He was shaking too, she noticed. But this changed nothing between them. "You fucking gave her away to this life?"

"Oh please, Theodore. I gave her the tools she needed to become my most valuable asset." Edwin came forward to crouch before her. She watched him, chest heaving. "I would have told you eventually, chick-a-boo. It simply wasn't time yet." A memory flashed through her mind at the sound of the pet name. He'd called her that as a child. Everything came crashing back.

She flinched. "Don't ever call me that."

He shrugged. "What happened, happened. There's no sense in fighting it." He walked towards the door, then turned. "Lucky for you, Tabby, you are my daughter. My own flesh and blood. I loved Elenora as I've never loved anyone—I'm a Spect, after all. It was a shame when my father...well, never mind that. I learned." He hesitated, then smiled. "I'm going to give you a choice. You can walk out of here alive. I have great need of you—the world has great need of you. Times are changing and I need you beside me." His face softened. "I never wanted to give you away," he said, his voice going low, appealing to her. "The world demanded it. Candela's ways demanded it. My own damn father demanded it." A look of bitterness crossed his face. "But he's not here anymore. We can be a family again. Think about it. Isn't that what you've always wanted? To be a family."

"How dare you?!" Midnight snarled at the same time as she hissed, "Go to hell!"

Edwin grunted. "The only way you're getting out of here is if I let you out. So you'd better behave. That's no way to speak to your father or your king. I'm going to pretend you didn't say it. Your choice remains. Kill these two and serve me. They betrayed you anyway. You can walk out of here alive or die with them, and die screaming. I've got a Spect waiting outside the door, ready to do my bidding. I can't promise he'll make it quick for any of you."

"You would torture your own daughter?" Midnight spat, disgust riddling his features. "After what Reaper already put her through?"

"Only if she chooses not to be my daughter," he answered, before glancing down at Nit's broken body. "Unfortunate, really, how everything turned out. You all were doing so well. I suppose you're to blame for all of this?" His gaze turned on Steiner.

Steiner shrugged. "Guilty as charged."

"Where did Albert flee to?"

"Like I would tell you."

"You will, once I make her scream loud enough." He pointed in Tabby's direction, and her heart raced. This? This was her father? The man she'd once hoped to get revenge against? He was worse than Reaper.

"And if I choose to serve you?" She couldn't believe she was asking. She glanced at Midnight and Steiner, both of whom violently shook their heads. It wasn't worth it—serving Prince—King—Edwin. They would take the pain if it meant keeping her free of him.

"If you choose willingly? Then I will give them clean deaths. Otherwise you can sit here and watch them shatter, listen to them scream, beg, all that." He waived a hand. "I'll give you some time to consider." He replaced his mask and disappeared from the room.

The second he was gone, both Midnight and Steiner erupted into speech, but she didn't hear a word of it. She couldn't even bear look at them. Her body trembled, harder and harder, until tears prickled her eyes and blurred her vision.

Too much. It was all too much.

None of it felt real, yet it crashed down on her all the same. And within her mind, the empty aloneness was more than she could bear. She'd only been without Nit for that brief period, and even then, there was hope that Nit would revive with the rising sun. Now? There was nothing.

A sob erupted from her chest. And then another. She never cried. Not true tears, anyway. Not tears that weren't from pain. Sensing her distress, Midnight and Steiner fell silent beside her. She couldn't take her eyes from Nit's body, lying in pieces on the floor, lifeless. Gone. She heard the crunch of Nit's breaking over and over in her head like an echo that refused to fade.

Beside her, voices started speaking again. Apologizing. Begging. But they sounded far away, and she couldn't put their words together. Didn't want to. She didn't give a shit about their need for forgiveness, their excuses, whatever else they had to say. What did any of it matter, anyway? They were all doomed.