This afternoon we will send the Immortal into Hellhole.

Yesterday, Declan, Ava, and Teresa found a part of the cave that the old limestone mining company already weakened and where the bats have been smart enough to avoid. Between everyone on the Immortal and everyone inside Hellhole, the majority voted on allowing the Immortal to fall into that area.

General Kazemi is pleased with our numbers now. With the Deathless, my army, the rubble sweepers from Hellhole, the Originals who are now willing to fight, and the rubble sweepers in St. Louis, we will have a full brigade of at least 1,500 soldiers. Still not much, but every soldier counts; and with this number, we may actually have a chance. To try to gather even more willing soldiers, Jacob sent his carrier falcon off to find other survivors and deliver the same message, written on tiny scrolls tucked into a container at the falcon's feet: "38°45'36.1"N 77°06'44.5"W. Fight with us for freedom."

Everyone else is helping to prepare the Immortal for its fall. The rubble sweepers—with the exception of Ava, who is off somewhere with Tempest—are reinforcing the walls, ceilings, entrances, and domiciles in Hellhole. My mom, Celia, Julian, and Phoebe are in the mechanics lab making sure all their equipment, armor, and computers are either off the tank or strapped down. Flynn volunteered to help out in the chemistry lab, while Declan, Dr. Valencia, and I clear out the biology lab. Dr. Guzman, Eleanor, and Joe are securing the medical equipment in the infirmary, and Winston, Rachel, and Daniel are doing the same in the physics lab.

I find Declan staring at his wall of morning glories.

"What are you doing, Declan?" I ask. "We have to get moving."

"I know," he says in defeat. "It's just... this wall represents years of my life. These are the most potent little flowers you will ever meet, and they are also the most useless little flowers you'll ever meet. Unless, of course, you want a completely unenjoyable and life-ruining high."

"You mean the past few months I've spent in this war? No thanks, I'm good."

He smiles. "For real," he says. His gaze wanders up the wall, examining every flower from afar. "I mean, look at them. I'm never even in the lab anymore to take care of them, and now the leaves are wilting, the color is all off. This used to be my spot, you know. The only place I fit in, and now... I'm all over the place."

"That's a good thing, though, right? Remember when all you wanted was to be taken seriously? You're Executive Kunkle now."

"Yeah, but... But now I don't get to be with my flowers. Except for you, Tiger Lily," he jokes, rubbing the top of my head with his fist. My hair burns with a simmering heat, and I brush my fingers through it to fix the mess he made. He smiles with a sigh. "All the years of work. Ten from before the end of the world and twenty five since then, and we could lose it all in what? Eight days? Less?"

"Eight," I agree.

Declan stares off in the direction his morning glories. "And then we will either be mindless drones working for Gunther until our lives are over, or we will be free. We won't have to be scared anymore. We can just be." He squints his eyes in thought. "If possible... like, if you have any say in it... I want to be the one who kills Gunther."

"Declan...."

"He knew where Hugh was for two years while I looked for him, while he helped me look for him. And now Hugh's dead because Gunther tried to kill me. He is the reason I was away from Hugh the day the bombs went off, and he is the reason I was underestimated all those years before the bombs. Let me kill him."

"It's not up to me," I say, shaking my head. "But if it comes down to you or me, I'll let you do it. I've never been a killer and I never want to be." What about Ian? My conscience asks. What if he's dead because of me? "What happened with Ian was—"

"The right call. Don't blame yourself for that. You were right: Gunther would have definitely killed Ian if he caught him. A bullet to the drone is better than a bullet to the brain. At least now, you gave Ian a chance. You gave him the fairest chance he could have had."

"Yeah, I guess you're—"

"Fight," someone yells from the hallway of labs. "Fight!"

Without thinking, I race out of the lab, Declan close behind. If this is my army girls and the Originals again, there will be hell to pay, I think, but as we run to where a group of spectators have gathered around the entrance of the physics lab, I'm surprised to hear the yells are coming from inside the lab.

"Let me through," I order as I push through the crowd blocking the doorway. At the center of the lab, I see Daniel on top of Winston. He's yelling and driving his fist into Win's face repeatedly while Rachel cradles her telescope, pressed against the wall and screaming for them to stop.

Then it hits me: Winston must have told Daniel about how he manipulated the gamma ray detectors.

I forgot about that. With everything else going on, I forgot that Winston had yet to tell Daniel he was the one who manipulated his detectors into killing machines. What an idiot to tell Daniel now.

Before I can move to stop the fight, Phoebe bursts into the room and rushes past me to yank Daniel off of Winston. She grabs Daniel by the fabric of his collar and with an exhausted grunt, pushes him toward me.

"Take your boyfriend," she spits as Daniel falls at my feet. He starts to pull himself off the ground, fire still in his eyes, so I lean forward to put him in a hold Nate taught me. I wrap my arms beneath his shoulders and up the front of his chest. Then, I interlace my fingers behind his head. He writhes to break free of my hold, but I won't let him. I've never seen Daniel this angry, and I don't want to find out what would happen if I let him loose.

"Winston," Phoebe says right into his face, but Win still lies motionless on the floor. My heart clenches. Please don't be dead.

She crouches over him, lightly slapping his face to wake him up, but it doesn't work. She checks his pulse, then, with eyes as pointed and angry as Cooper's when he lifted me up by my throat, she looks at Daniel and says, "You knocked him unconscious, you little—"

"He ruined everything," Daniel interrupts, the sound erupting from him. "He made me a murderer!"

"Alright, everyone, get back to work, please," I hear Mom say to the crowd behind us. "Go on."

Groans and quiet chatter sound from the crowd as they shuffle away, leaving only me, Daniel, Declan, Mom, Phoebe, Rachel, and unconscious Winston in the lab.

"It's a good thing you came when you did," Phoebe sneers. "Otherwise I would have stopped the boy my own way, and no one would have wanted that."

"Stop it, Phoebe," Declan hushes her.

Once the crowd of spectators have gone, Mom puts her hands on her hips and sighs. "What just happened?" she asks.

"I was cleaning out my office when I heard a scuffle," Rachel says. "When I came out here to see what was happening, I saw Daniel slam Winston on the floor."

"Dr. Guzman to the physics lab, please. Bring a stretcher," Mom says into her walkie.

"On my way," he replies.

Mom turns to Daniel and takes a deep breath. "Daniel, what the hell were you thinking?" she asks. Her tone is subtle, but I recognize it from every time I ever broke the rules or disappointed her. Only Daniel and I can hear exactly how furious she is right now.

Daniel's back expands with breath as he calms himself down. He looks over his shoulder at me and says, "You can let me go Isla."

"You sure?" I ask.

He nods, so I let my fingers slip apart and my arms drop at Daniel's sides. Just in case, I keep my proximity, so I can grab him if he lunges again.

As Dr. Guzman comes into the lab with the stretcher, Daniel starts to explain, "Winston said he had something to tell me. He said that he was the one who converted my detectors into Gunther's weapons." The anger in his voice is so clear, that I wrap my arms around his waist instinctually, but he doesn't move except to breathe. His hands shaking, he removes my arms from around him, and continues, "I sort of blacked out with anger. I hit him. He hit me back and said sorry—that he just got defensive—but I was already tackling him to the ground. Next thing I knew, Phoebe was pulling me off of his unconscious body."

"He needs to be locked up," Phoebe says.

Mom holds her hand up to Phoebe as she addresses Daniel, her demeanor softening. "Daniel, did you say Winston hit you too?" she asks. Daniel nods, crossing his arms tightly over his chest.

"What does that matter?" Phoebe asks.

"He's a boy."

"Who threw the first punch," Phoebe adds.

"Enough of this," Declan says. "Phoebe, you need to get out."

"Excuse me?"

Declan puffs up his chest. "You have no more authority here. Thank you for helping contain the situation, but you need to leave." He reaches toward her to escort her out, but she pulls her arm away and marches out on her own. Maybe the implant did leave some lasting effects on Phoebe, I think. Like the ability to take orders from other people.

Declan shuts the door behind her. With his body pressed against the door, he lets the air escape his chest and folds over to rest his hands on his knees. "Okay... Daniel, you were wrong. Winston, was wrong too. You're both idiots," he says, removing his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Honestly, at this point, we can't have any more fighting. We need to set an example."

"Like?" I ask.

Declan shrugs.

"We'll have a meeting to decide," Mom says. "Everyone will know about this incident by the end of the day. Word spreads quickly around here. We will need to include everyone in the decision." She approaches Daniel, a look of disappointment smeared on her face. "Until then you will be kept on the first floor in the detention center. When Winston wakes up, he will join you. Do you understand?"

Daniel nods.

Mom lifts the walkie from her belt. "General Kazemi, please send two of your soldiers up to the physics lab, over."

"Copy," Kazemi replies.

I can't see Daniel's face, and right now, I don't want to. I don't know how I feel about all of this. Winston deserved what he got, but Daniel isn't himself right now. MacArthur helped to heal him, but Daniel's stressors won't leave him that easily. A nightmarish vision bleeds into my thoughts: Daniel on the battlefield, blind with fury, fighting until he is destroyed. I've learned to deal with my anger, like Nate warned me to do, but this fire is new for Daniel. He doesn't know how to control it, and if he can't, it will be used against him just as it was used against me. Only this time, we won't be in Mitchell's immersion project.

One thought repeats in my brain from me alone: Daniel can't go to war. Daniel has to stay here.

Mom walks over to the intercom box on the wall and presses a button before speaking into it, "General Kazemi, Jacob Crowley, and Dr. Guzman please report to the Captain's dining room. Thank you." Her words echo through the loudspeakers.

"Why those three?" Declan asks.

She lists them off with her fingers. "Leader of the Deathless army, leader of the rubble sweeper army, and liaison for the Originals. We have our other leaders here. That's all we need."

The two soldiers Mom sent for enter the room. "Legislator Blume?"

"Please take Daniel to the detention center," Mom tells them, but her assertiveness falters as she gives her next order. "And please find Eleanor Crowley to let her know where her son is."

I step away from Daniel so the soldiers are able to get a good grip on him. I don't know what else to do or say. This is what's best.

"I'll walk on my own, guys," Daniel tells them. It sounds like he knows them, and from the expressions on their faces, it seems like they know him well enough to respect his wishes. "I won't resist," Daniel says. His voice is solemn and slow, as are his steps as the soldiers escort him toward the door.

Like a sleepwalker, Daniel leaves the room in a haze. He doesn't look back at me, and all I can do is press my thumb against the sapphire ring he gave me. I press it into the pad of my thumb and roll it back and forth on my finger.

"C'mon, Isla," Mom says, putting her hand on my shoulder. "Let's meet the others to discuss what to do next. I know it will be hard to talk about Daniel objectively, so if you want to sit this one out—"

"No," I say. I'm pressing my thumb to the stones on my ring so hard, I'm sure they will leave a mark. It's all I can do to push the nightmarish vision of Daniel dying in Virginia out of my mind. I know what I have to do to prevent it from coming true.

"I want to be part of the decision," I tell her.

"Are you sure?"

I nod.

Declan interlocks his arm with mine. "C'mon," he says. His voice sounds as tired as his eyes have always looked. In eight days, Declan will finally be able to rest, I think—no, I hope. In eight days, hopefully we will all be able to rest.