After plans for the raid were discussed and Mr. Warren and Mr. Evan returned – I still had no idea if they were first names or surnames – Levi's crew loaded their downpayment into their backpacks, having clearly come prepared to take whatever they could manage. Levi bid us his farewell, holding one huge hand aloft bunched into a fist like a triumphant salute and still with that smile on his face that made the anger burn deep.

We watched him disappear back into the tunnels, the darkness swallowing him and his people, dissolving their forms into nothing and yet his presence seemed to remain, a residue of something oppressive and ominous. The air was thick and tainted with him. The taste of it soured on my tongue.

We should have been jubilant. Happy that we had secured the much-needed help. Glad that finally we survivors had started to unite and fight back. Instead, I could sense the dread pervading through everyone, a black creeping rot sinking under our skin.

Once we'd scoured the tunnels and ensured all of Levi's men had gone, we left sentries on the platform to ensure they didn't come back, and Taj called us to all convene in the main communal room. A dark silence had come down on the group like a shroud, an intense quiet that felt louder than the vocal anger of before.

I took a place next to Ivy, who had pulled up a chair, her skin looking greyer and sallower than it had the last time I had seen her. She gripped my hand warmly, hers feeling small and bird-like in mine and the dread only seemed to deepen.

'Missed you, girl,' she said, her voice brittle. She cleared her throat, which soon transformed into one of the hacking coughs that seemed to plague her more often than not these days. Holding a handkerchief over her mouth, she coughed into it and quickly balled it into her first, secreting it into her cardigan pocket. 'Thought you and that man of yours were done for.' She smiled. 'Or maybe you just found yourselves a better place than this God-forsaken hole.'

'Better than the rat-infested tunnels? Better than the stench of the toilets? As if.' I rolled my eyes and gently squeezed her hand, loving the way her eyes crinkled at the corners when she laughed and hating that I could see the small spot of blood tagging the corner of her mouth.

'Oh well,' she replied with a shrug. Why did she look so much smaller than she had before? It was warm down here, but Ivy had a shawl wrapped around her neck, and I could see her collarbone jutting out from under the tassles knotted at the ends of the wool. 'I can't hardly blame you, child.' She leaned forward and gave a distinctly solicitous nod towards Tom. 'If I had the chance to get a bit of alone time with my husband again, I would ditch you all and never spend one damn minute regretting it.'

I snorted and desperately tried to repress it. Now really wasn't the time for laughter, but the image of dear old Ivy running off into the ruins of London with her husband and sticking two fingers up at the rest of us was too much.

'I don't believe for a second that you would ditch us,' I said.

Ivy raised an eyebrow at me and pursed her lips in an almost coquettish manner. 'Then you're a damn fool, girl. You shoulda seen my husband. I'm telling you now, one look at that man and you'd understand what I'm saying, but then again, maybe you do get it. He was a bigger man than yours there.' She jutted her chin in Tom's direction. 'But he had that same look in his eye.'

I frowned. 'What look?'

'Oh, don't be bashful, girl. You know what I'm saying. That look they get. Your Thomas there, he got the same look. He looks at you like you're his whole aim in life and he'd destroy everyone and everything who got in his way to get to you.'

She leaned closer to me, tugging on my hand a little to make me move closer, nodding slowly as she looked me in the eye. 'It's always the way with men, you know. That fine line between light and darkness. They all got a darkness, child. Every single one of them. It's right there, nestling under their skin and it's usually the one they want the most who brings that darkness up to the surface. They'd do anything not to lose you. Anything. Even if it means burning the whole damn world to ashes all over again.'

Ivy let go of my hand, but I could still feel hers in mine, like a cold hard imprint on my palm just as her words had left a cold imprint on my heart that I didn't fully understand.

I turned to look at Tom who had stopped by the doorway to talk in hushed whispers to Taj, the other man nodding as he spoke, their faces solemn. I watched him for a moment, disquiet churning the beginnings of a storm in my stomach.

I knew Tom's darkness. I knew what nestled under his skin. But I also knew that's where his darkness would remain now. That side of him was gone. Buried. I knew that.

Didn't I?

Goosebumps rippled over my skin, and I rubbed at the raised bumps on my forearms and shivered, despite the heat in the room.

When they were done talking, Taj walked away, squeezing my arm with his hand as he passed.

'Good to have you back, Evie,' he murmured, shooting me a brief, weak smile that seemed so unlike him. I was used to the Instagram-ready smiles. The strong curve of his mouth, the reassurance in his eyes. The confident smile that belied whatever he might really be feeling underneath. Taj rarely let down that shield in front of the group and yet here he was, walking towards the centre of the room like a man aware he was heading towards his own death.

Fingertips brushed my own and I flinched, turning to see Tom by my side, his gaze searching my own.

'What did Taj say?' I whispered.

Tom linked his fingers with mine. 'Nothing. He just wanted to know what had happened. I told him. Don't worry.' He smiled. 'Everything's fine.'

I stared at him for a moment, Ivy's words still crowding my mind. Battering against it with small fists, those bird-like bones click-click-clicking with each knock.

Click-click-click.

Tom frowned, uncertainty tugging on his brows. 'You okay? You look like you zoned out there for a second?'

'Yeah, yeah,' I replied, quickly, shooting him a brash smile. A Taj smile. 'It's just Levi, you know?'

Tom nodded and brushed his thumb over my wrist.

It was Levi. It was. Getting caught in the tunnels had been the last thing on my mind when we'd made our way back to the station and knowing that he'd been able to infiltrate our base and demand whatever he wanted had rattled me. Now, I was jumping at shadows and feeling jittery all over again for no reason other than the shaky equilibrium of our base had been disturbed. That had to be it. I squeezed Tom's hand and turned to face Taj who had started to address the group.

'Okay everyone,' Taj said, as if he needed to bring non-existent conversations to a halt and call the meeting to order when in fact, no one had really been saying much anyway. 'I guess we all knew that we'd never secure Levi's help for free, but his unexpected visit today has taken this to another level, and we need to think really hard about our options.'

'Options?' said Lenny, his face already looking ruddier than usual, anger pinking his cheeks and nose. 'What options do we have? If you think they're going to be satisfied with just another twenty-five percent, you're all bloody crazy.'

Jace nodded in agreement. 'He's got a point, Taj. They didn't need to come down here today. They were making a statement. They wanted us to know they knew exactly where to find us, and they can come down here whenever they want and there's fuck all we can do about it. There's no way they're going to settle for fifty if they think they can take it all. My guess is that Levi doesn't just want our supplies; he wants this place with it.'

A fearful murmur arose, sweeping through everyone.

'Yeah man,' Gav agreed, his face sour, lips pursed in a sneer. 'That place under St. Paul's is rank as Hell. You can't tell me they wanna stay there? They're probably catching all manner of shit. I mean, they all look sick, right? He wasn't just coming here today to take food. He was checking out our base, getting himself a little real estate viewing. He's just gonna move right in and take it, whether we like it or not.'

Even Taj's face notably paled at this.

'We could move?' he said. 'It's not like we haven't talked about this. We all knew this was temporary. We could find a new place.'

'And just how long is that going to take?' Iza said, pushing herself past Gav to be heard, her thin, pretty face indignant with fury. 'We'd need somewhere else now if we were going to move out before Levi has a chance to come back and claim this place for himself. And how are we meant to move us all and our supplies out of here without him knowing? He's bound to have people watching this place now.'

Gav nodded enthusiastically. 'He's gonna have tabs on this place for sure now. Fuck, he's probably been watching us for ages and we never knew. As soon as we look like we're making a break for it, he's going to hit us.'

The dissent rose again, this time louder and more vehement than before as it rolled through everyone, a violent contagious wave of apprehension and fear.

'What about that other places we talked about, Vik?' Jace said, directing the question to Taj's older brother, who gave a distinctly deer-in-headlights look at suddenly being the centre of attention.

Vik cleared his throat and swayed slightly. 'Um... well, there's a couple of options. There's the old City Road station, between Old Street and Angel. We can't gain access at the site because all that's left is the old elevator shaft. We can't go via the Northern Line tunnels either, as that'll take us too close to the tunnels near Bank and St. Paul's and Levi's bound to be in control down there. We could maybe get in via St. Pancras, but I'd need some time to scout the area. I'd need a team... uh, as many as we could spare. We're talking a lot of square footage to cover.'

'Not to mention the fact St. Pancras is a literal bomb site,' I said. 'I travelled through that way before I met you guys and the whole site is one mess of demolished builgings and chewed-up roads.'

Vik looked almost relieved that someone else was agreeing with him. 'Plus, there's the problem of the canal. Gasholder Park was hit and that could mean some water intake in the tunnels. I'd really need to get down there to know for sure.'

'Which is going to take time we don't have,' Jace said. 'What about the other place?' He fixed Vik with a direct stare which only seemed to make the other man shrink into himself even further.

'Uh, I don't know, Jace,' he said, scratching at his balding head self-consciously. 'It's even closer to the Black Zone than here. I don't know if we want to be doing that.'

'If it was good enough for Churchill?' Jace shrugged, his face obstinate.

'Yeah, but with respect, Churchill didn't have to cope with hoards of marauding little grey men who wanted to stash him in a harvesting facility or steal his skin.'

'Are you talking about Down Street?' Abby said, who was standing with her arm wrapped in comfort around Jenny's waist, who in turn had hers wrapped around Lewis' chest. She'd been in pieces since Levi's arrival, knowing that her son could potentially have been one of the first ones to have been attacked. 'The Barn? Churchill's old bunker? That is closer. We'd be practically living right under their feet.'

'But how many times have we been down to Green Park and made it through the tunnels okay?' Jace said. 'The old Down Street Tube is only a little further towards Hyde Park Corner. We wouldn't be under the Black Zone. It's a pretty sturdy set-up

'So, let me get this straight,' I said. 'You want us to move closer to the Greys, just to get away from Levi? We wouldn't even be that far away. If we can get through the tunnels to Green Park with relative ease, you can bet Levi will too. He'll find us, Jace. Surely, we need to find somewhere farther away? Maybe north of the city?'

Jace looked uncomfortable, his gaze shifting from me to Ivy. 'We'd never make it that far. You know we wouldn't.'

'Oh, it's me, is it?' Ivy said, nodding slowly. 'It's alright, young man. You don't have to worry about this old girl. I'll be staying right here. Wouldn't dream of holding none of you back.'

'You'll do no such thing,' I said, touching Ivy's shoulder and angrily glaring at Jace. 'I'll make him carry you all the bloody way if I have to.'

'Ah, the days of being carried off by a strong, young man are gone, girl.' Ivy laughed warmly and reached up to pat my hand. 'As much as I'd like to see young Jace here go all red and sweaty at having to carry this knackered ol' horse to another place, I think my travelling days are done.' She laughed again, which broke down into another coughing fit, scrabbling into her pocket with her gnarled fingers to get her tissue. I saw the blood before she screwed it into a ball again. Ivy looked up at me with the stern eyes of a grandmother seeking to silence an unruly brood.

She was right. She wouldn't make the journey – not this time - and my heart broke at the thought of it, a deep, aching pain that hurt more than I ever wanted it to. I hated to see the exhausted resignation in her face, like she knew this conversation had been coming and had already resigned herself to a self-sacrificial fate.

'We could strike first.'

The room went dead and I turned to look at Tom standing next to me, now leaning casually against the wall, his arms crossed across his chest.

With all eyes upon him, he shrugged and said again, 'We could strike first. Jace is right. Levi came here to make a point. There's no way he can be trusted. Best case scenario and he sticks to his side of the bargain and takes his twenty-five percent, leaving us dangerously low on supplies. Or, he takes all the supplies and takes control of the base too. Either way, we lose. It'll come down to how many of us survive it, if any at all. The question is, are we really willing to accept this without putting up a fight?'

'I thought the idea was that we unite and fight back? You said yourself that the Greys biggest achievement was dividing us?' Taj said.

'Do you really think Levi has any intention of staying united once we've hit the facility? Do any of you trust him?'

Tom stepped forward and looked around at the group. I felt the tension now, ramped up so high that I could practically hear the nervous, frightened static buzzing in the air. No one answered his question, a clear response in itself.

Slowly, he approached Taj in the centre of the circle, his face full of ashen shadow.

'Look, I know I've not been here long, but I've been here long enough to know how hard you've all worked to accumulate what you have. And this place might be only temporary, but it could remain ours for longer, without the need to move the more vulnerable among us. We've talked so much recently about fighting back against the Greys and I know we can do do it. I sense the fight in you all. The need to reclaim what was ours. So why would you all be so accepting of letting Levi and his people take everything we have?'

Taj stared hard at him. 'What actually are you suggesting we do, Tom?'

'We do what we planned,' Tom replied, simply. 'We enlist their help with the harvesting facility, we make them think they're going to get whatever it is they want and, when the time is right, we strike first and wipe them out. No Levi, no problem. No Levi, no need for any of us to go anywhere. We stay here, where we belong. Our place. Our territory. No trespassers allowed.'

I stared at him, my mouth dropping open, not only at his words, but at the fact I could see they were having the desired intention with the rest of the group. Despair had suddenly turned to anger. Fear, to strength. Surrender, to murder.

'Wait a minute,' I said. 'Think about what you're saying! You're advocating mass murder.'

The static seemed to ripple between us, an invisible claw scratching at my skin. Was that irritation in his eyes? What the Hell was he thinking? God, how I wanted to go back to that hotel room, where it was just the two of us and everything seemed so simple, so clear. So right.

'Evie, do you honestly think Levi would give it a second thought if he was in our position?' he replied. He was using that same gentle persuasive tone Tom always used, but I wasn't sure I could see Tom in his eyes and I really wished I could. 'If he felt he had no other option, would he run or fight until his last breath for what belonged to him?'

They'd do anything not to lose you. Anything. Even if it means burning the whole damn world all over again.

I swallowed hard, unable to find the words as Ivy's came back to haunt me.

'I agree with Tom,' Jace said and I felt that storm in my stomach again, now battering against the delicate wings of the butterflies as the force of the hurricane increased. 'Why should we move?'

'You were all for it just a moment ago,' I said, accusingly, feeling stupidly hurt and betrayed, when I should have known Jace would rather stand and fight, than run off into the tunnels. Running away wasn't his thing. Hell, I would usually have chosen the same path myself, right alongside him, but killing all of Levi's group seemed so... inhuman.

And maybe that was it.

I'd killed before. Of course, I had. We all had. But this was different. This wasn't a death squadron of Greys scrabbling through the tunnels or chasing us through the ruins of London. This was a group of humans – survivors, not so unlike us. People who just wanted to live another day and who were willing to take what they needed to ensure their own survivial. Isn't that what we did? Wouldn't we have done the same in Levi's shoes?

Looking at Tom now, I couldn't fathom how much of this was his plan, and how much was the Grey. I could never have imagined Tom ever suggesting something like this. He'd been in love with humanity as much as I'd been in love with Matisse and Khalo. He'd loved people as much as I'd loved oil paints and the touch of soft brushes on canvas.

'None of us want to go anywhere just yet,' Jace continued. 'Especially not if that means leaving someone behind.' He looked at Ivy and she pursed her lips and waved him off. 'And you can play the martyr all you want, Ivy, we're not about to desert you. We shouldn't have to give up what we've all worked for. This place will do us for a bit longer, until we can find somewhere more suitable for everyone.'

'Shit, I don't want us to be forced to do this,' Gav said, rubbing at the back of his neck. 'But Tom here is spot on. This is our place. Our supplies. Our people. Why the fuck should we give it all up for Levi? We're stronger than them. We can't just let them waltz in here and take everything from us!'

I stood back, stunned into silence as the rest of the group's voices rose, their anger and indignation making the air brittle with tension.

Taj's gze lingered on me for a few seconds as the crowd grew my restless and I wanted him to agree with me so badly. I could see the uncertainty in his eyes, a glimmer of unease. I silently begged him to find another way. To denounce this as madness. To put forward another suggestion that wouldn't take us down this dark path.

'I guess we should put it to the vote then,' he said finally and any hope I had died. 'Everyone in favour of Tom's suggestion?'

I watched in horror as hands began to raise one by one, a sea of raised arms, while mine remained hanging uselessly by my side like leaden weights. And one by one, they all turned to look at me as I just stood there, lost and alone and confused. Even Taj, his expression one of discomfort, had his hand half-raised.

Tom turned to me, expectantly. 'Evie?'

They all got a darkness, child. Every single one of them.

Reluctantly, I raised my hand.