“Wanna get out of here?” Eureka asked.

“You know what I want,” Atlas said.

A dozen Crimson Devils drew crossbows.

“Hold your fire,” Atlas said, then, to Eureka, “You killed six of my guards, you know?”

“Surprised?”

“I’m getting over it.”

“Then come on,” Eureka said.

A very old man with long white hair called from the back of the room, “Sir, we must advise you—”

“Nice to hear from you, Saxby,” Atlas said. “I was about to check your pulse.”

“I’m going to cry for you,” Eureka said to Atlas. “I want to. And I want you with me when I do.”

Atlas pressed a hand against his heart. “It will be an honor.”

“She’s lying.” An elegant Devil angled her crossbow at Eureka.

“If you shoot her you will spend the rest of your life beneath the lightning cloak,” Atlas said.

Slowly, the girl lowered her bow.

“My subjects don’t believe you,” Atlas said intimately.

Eureka found herself flirting back. “I swear.”

“On what?”

She paused, unprepared to take emotional inventory. What principle other than Atlas’s destruction could she pretend to honor now?

“Swear on his life,” Atlas said. “Brooks. When I was part of him you used to look at us in this very particular way. Swear on what was inside you when you looked like that.”

“I swear on my love for my friend that I will cry if you come with me.”

Atlas’s minions pushed forward, jockeying to be included.

“Just you,” Eureka added.

“Yes. Cozier that way.” Atlas smiled. When he climbed onto the windowsill, Peggy flattened one of her moth-wing wings like a ledge. Atlas walked across it to meet Eureka. She held out her hand and was surprised his fit hers as snugly as Ander’s had.

He slid behind her on the horse, pressed his chest into her back. She felt his heat. His arms encircled her waist. Her heart raced—not with fear, but with a strange thrill, like she was sneaking out with a bad ex-boyfriend.

They lifted skyward, above the sleeping city, passing through an innocent golden cloud on their way to their last stop.

Peggy landed on the beach. Her wings spun whorls of sand before resting at her sides. In the distance, the Gossipwitch Mountains glowed in the rising sun. The waveshop hung suspended a mile down the shore.

“I assume Delphine isn’t joining us, but still working feverishly on the final robot?” Atlas asked as he helped Eureka off the horse.

Eureka shrugged as if she didn’t care about anyone but Atlas. “This will just be us.”

“Most of my fantasies start likethat.”

Eureka faced the ocean with a racing heart. “I need to clear my mind, to let the sorrow in.”

“Happiness always overstays its welcome.” Atlas drew a lachrymatory from his pocket. “Water is therapeutic in ways your world doesn’t comprehend. We have powerful water shamans in Atlantis. If you need help—”

“I’ll do it on my own.” Eureka walked to the water’s edge. It licked her toes, warm and wonderful. Soon she had waded in up to her waist. She let her feet lift off the sandy floor. She treaded toward Atlas, who had followed her. Their knees brushed below the water. “Would you turn around?”

“I thought you wanted me to see.”

“Just for a moment.” She touched his hand under the water. Her other hand gripped the bleached coral arrowhead stained with Ander’s blood. “I promise it will be worth it.”

Atlas faced the shore. His gold and red tunic rippled with the waves. Eureka took the tunic’s hem and slid the heavy fabric up his back, along his shoulders. “Lift your arms,” she whispered in his ear.

Goose bumps rose on Atlas’s back. “You know how much I want this, but—”

“Shhh. Lift your arms.”

He raised his arms and let her slip his tunic off. It sank into the ocean. Eureka caressed his back. Her nails etched soft pink waves across his skin.

“What are you thinking about?” Atlas asked.

“Terrible things.” She raised the coral arrowhead. The dagger that could carve a gateway for Atlas to enter Waking World bodies … and now she hoped it would do the same for her.

“Good,” Atlas said.

She plunged the dagger into Atlas’s back, enjoying the feel of his flesh catching the blade, giving way. His scream rang out. He spun and lunged as Eureka darted underwater.

She had not swum without her thunderstone in a long time. Salt stung her eyes. Atlas’s blood clouded the water. From below, she watched him thrash, then lost him in a pool of panicked splashing.

She twirled, anticipating his attack from all directions. Her lungs burned with the need for air, but surfacing would be surrendering. Atlas could swim like a shark.

She had more work to do. Ander had only one set of gill-like slashes—and had not been possessed. Brooks, who had housed this monster’s mind inside him, bore two sets. If Eureka wanted to get inside Atlas, wherever he was, she had to cut him a second time.

A jet of hot blood spooled over her shoulder. Eureka turned as Atlas’s arm closed around her neck. She tried to swivel free, but he held fast. Her dagger stabbed at the water, his body barely out of her reach. She bit his forearm. Her teeth touched bone. Atlas squeezed her neck until she gagged on bloody water.