We were whipping around the last bend in the road, and the squat grey building was almost out of site, when I spotted the army vehicles. There were two of them, and they pulled into the gravel parking lot. My breath caught in my throat, but then we were around the corner and out of sight. Hopefully they were so intent on the gun shop and it’s owner that they didn’t notice us.

It would probably take them a few minutes to get anything out of the stuttering wreck that was Bruce. Deep down I almost felt bad for the guy. He’d lost his family. But then my resolve hardened. I’d lost my family, did that mean I would have done the same thing in his place? Absolutely not. He was still a scum bag.

It was tense for the first couple minutes, and Manda continued to hang out the window with the shotgun pointed behind us. I kept glancing up at the side view mirror, expecting to see a couple of camouflage vehicles come speeding around the corner behind us in hot pursuit.  Horace was driving ridiculously fast, and when I looked over at Jai he was  clutching the “holy shit” handle near the roof, eyes wide, teeth clenched.

Horace took the jeep into a sharp turn and the wheels burned rubber with a horrible screeching sound. Then we were leaving the major part of the city behind, and the buildings were getting smaller and farther apart.

“I think we’re okay.” Horace checked the rear view mirror and his broad shoulders relaxed. He didn’t let up on the gas pedal though. We were on a wide stretch of highway now, and he wove skillfully in and out of the abandoned cars on the road.

“They’re probably having a long talk with Bruce.” Manda smirked, but the expression melted a little when Horace gave her a dark look. “What? He was gonna turn Kali in!”

“And how did they get that drawing, huh?” Jai looked actually looked angry, something I’d never really seen before.

“Don’t start that again,” Manda said. “It wasn’t because I shouted about guardians, you think that guy remembered? That’s not it.”

Horace shook his head. “That might be it. You always got showy when you were fighting. You know we have to be subtle, Manda. It isn’t safe to let anyone know who we are.”

Manda’s expression was a mixture of rage and disbelief. “Are you kidding me? You two assholes are going to pin this thing on me?”

“Well what else is it?” Horace raised his brows at her. “How did Thanatos know what she looks like, otherwise? Obviously the soldier you let go ran back to the palace and told his master what had happened, and about the girl with the scythe. It’s pretty obvious.”

“Exactly.” Manda glared at him. “It’s obvious. It wasn’t me yelling about the guardians that did it! If she keeps hauling the scythe and hourglass around in public, people will talk about it.”

“You still should have killed the soldier,” Horace muttered.

I squirmed in my seat. It sort of seemed like Horace and Jai, well…Horace mostly, were ganging up on Manda because they wanted to blame someone for the incident. They were angry that it had happened. I wondered if they were always like this when something went wrong. Manda, who was always volatile and reckless at the best of times, was an easy scapegoat. I sort of felt bad for her.

“Or someone is following us,” Manda said. “Thanatos has spies after us and that’s why he knows what she looks like.”

Jai shook his head. “If Thanatos knew where we were right now, he’d grab her. There’s no way he’d let us get away from his soldiers like we did just now. He wants to make sure she can’t possibly get to the Kronos portal. He wouldn’t allow her near his palace.”

“The guard is probably going to be doubled,” Horace muttered. “Are you sure your boy can get us in, Manda?”

Manda shrugged and said nothing. She was staring out the window now, expression sullen.

“She’s pouting now,” Horace grunted.

Manda stiffened, and I flinched, thinking that she might turn around and physically attack him, imagining us careening wildly off the highway because Horace and Manda were beating one another up in the front seat. But Manda didn’t move, she just scowled at the landscape passing by, shotgun still pointed back at the road behind us. She looked like she was wishing for an excuse to shoot something.

We drove on in silence for the rest of the day. The flat, dusty cities we were passing through began to disappear, replaced by rolling green hills and forest. It was like the highway had been neatly woven between the trees, like a grey ribbon that wound and stretched upwards through the dark green pines. There were houses here and there on the side of the highway, nestled in the trees, steep gravel driveways leading directly off the road. These actually looked inhabited, and when we passed a big green and white house I could see a couple of huge dogs on the porch staring out at us as our vehicle made its way past.

“There’s so much less destruction.” I pressed the tip of my nose to the cold glass. “It’s actually…beautiful here.”

“Thanatos doesn’t shit in his own sandbox,” Manda said.

“Lovely way of putting it.” Horace glanced out the window as we were driving past a wide, glittering stretch of river. He looked a little wistful. “But it’s true. He keeps the suckers away from his part of town. Doesn’t like his backyard spoiled.”

I stared at another large farm house on the hill. This one had smoke curling up from the chimney, and I felt a hollow pang in my stomach. It looked inviting. Warm yellow light spilled from the windows, penetrating the growing darkness of the evening. Maybe someone was inside, curled up in a comfy arm chair in front of the fire with hot chocolate and a book. “But the houses…there’s people inside. They live here? The suckers don’t touch them?”

“Looks are deceiving,” Horace said. “You pay the price for remaining untouched. These people pay heavily in whatever they can give. Food, money, gold, their daughters and sons….”

“Traitors,” Manda spat. “Every last one of them. Selling their daughters as slaves so they can remain high on the hog.”

We all fell into silence again. Our surroundings began changing as the night wore on. More houses began to appear, and in the distance I could see multiple pin pricks of light scattered across the darkness. A city.

As we got closer we could see that the buildings were crammed together and dilapidated, like every other city. But this one was different. It was buzzing with life. There were lights on in every window, and Horace slowed the jeep down to a crawl, breaking occasionally as bands of ragged people ran across the street in front of us.

There was a large gathering in the market square just off to the right. The crowds were gathering under a large white banner. The crooked spray paint letters spelled “Midnite Market”, and the paint was still wet, running over the sheet and dripped onto the cracked pavement. The biggest crowd was around a raised platform just in front of the empty fountain in the center of the square. There were two men on the platform, and they were holding a struggling girl between them. She wore a simple brown dress and there were no shoes on her feet. She looked half starved and her hair was tangled, but she was still fighting her captors. Bucking wildly and kicking at their ankles.

My mouth was hanging open, and as the jeep was about to pass by the square I whirled around and banged a fist against the back of Horace’s seat. “Wait! What are you doing? Stop! We have to help her!”

“We can’t stop,” Horace didn’t turn to look at me.

“What? But…what are they doing to her?” I turned in my seat, pressing my hands against the glass, sticking my face against the cool surface of the window. “We have to stop them….”

Manda shifted in her seat. Her face was every bit as angry as mine. “It’s a slave auction. New Canada, new rules. This is one of Thanatos’ fun little games I’m sure. Likes to turn things on end.”

“A game?” My voice came out a high pitched shriek. We were almost out of sight of the midnight market. “No. They can’t do this.” I groped for the door handle, anger making me reckless. I had to stop them. I could stop them. I was Lady Time, wasn’t I? I could storm in there and lop their heads off with the scythe until they released her.

“Kali, no!” Jai caught my wrist as I was trying to undo my seat belt. “You can’t!”

I struggled furiously with him, hot tears collecting in my eyes. It was like the sight of that girl was burned into me. I had to help her somehow. We couldn’t just drive away and do nothing. “I can do something…” I yelled at him, trying to tug my wrist out of grip. “I’m Lady Time, I can do something!”

“You’ll only get yourself caught. You’ll give us away…”

“I have to do something! Did you see her? It isn’t fair! They can’t do this.”

Jai had me around the waist now, and he dragged me across the seat, crushing me against him. My face was pressed against his shoulder, and for a few minutes I continued to fight, struggling to pull away from him. I had to help the girl. “It isn’t fair! Didn’t you see her?”

His voice broke. “I saw her, Kali. It will all be over soon though.”

The tears slipped out, and I blinked them away furiously. It felt like everything inside me was on fire. There was nothing but rage and hatred for Thanatos, and a terrible, gut-wrenching sorrow for the girl, so strong it almost felt like physical pain.

“When Thanatos is dead, this will all be over.” Jai cupped my chin in one hand, tilting my face up so I had to look at him. “Okay?”

My voice was shaky and uneven. “Yes, okay.”

“You’re not going to dive out the moving car anymore? Promise?”

“I promise.”

Jai let me go, and I sat up slowly, rubbing at my eyes. I was angry at myself for falling apart like that. Angry at the guardians for not letting me throw myself out and go to the rescue, even though they were probably right.

Manda and Horace were totally silent in the front seat, and neither of them looked back at me. Jai kept glancing over, probably still wondering if I was going to duck and roll out of the jeep. I wasn’t going to. My body felt limp. Drained of energy.