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  ‘What will you do?’ asked Rollo.

  Naif cocked her head. Above the settling noise of the young ones and their talk, she heard something that made her stomach shrink and harden.

  ‘Carriages. The Ripers are coming.’ Then she saw the thin streams of light flashing upwards, not needing the paths to reach them. ‘Ten of them at least.’ She held her hand out to Rollo. ‘Give me your torch, then go.’

  Taking the burning baton, she stepped out past the rows of bodies, creating a pool of light around herself.

  The Ripers’ carriages drew to her like moths. She kept her gaze ahead, not allowing herself to look down at them.

  They must come to me.

  And they did, their carriages shuddering still and sinking to the ground in a half-circle in front of her.

  Modai stepped out of the middle one, followed by Brand. Varonessa emerged from the carriage to the left, her long hair pulled high and plaited, making her face seem thinner and more skeletal than Naif remembered. Other Ripers joined them, flanking one or the other. Test was not among them. Nor the rest of Lenoir’s followers.

  ‘Lenoir’s little bat has returned,’ said Varonessa. Her voice was a hoarse whisper that carried far in the still night.

  Behind her the young ones had quietened. She felt their collective fear and willed them to stay where they were. If any of them broke away to the paths either the Night Creatures or the Ripers would hunt them down.

  ‘We know your arrangement with the Grave Elders. We know what happens in Danskoi. You can no longer control us,’ said Naif clearly. Loudly.

  ‘Is that so?’ replied Brand. The scarred Riper glided closer than Varonessa, her expression a sneer. ‘And you think you can make us compliant?’

  It had been some time since Naif had been this close to the Riper who had torn her obedience strip from her and left her bleeding to death, and she felt a wave of terror.

  ‘Wanting to live full lives is our right and by deception you’ve taken it from us. You are a brutal and heartless race.’

  Brand bared her teeth, a hissing noise escaping her mouth. ‘This time you will pay for your insolence.’

  ‘Where is Lenoir, your rightful leader? What have you done to him?’ Naif countered. ‘My bond tells me he is hurt.’

  The Riper’s expression became cagey.

  Varonessa shifted next to Brand before Naif was even aware she was moving. ‘Answer her.’

  Brand tossed her head. ‘Lenoir led us poorly, Varonessa. He weakened us with compromise. You would have voted against him.’

  ‘I make my allegiances in my own time. Your instruction was not to harm him. Now tell me where he is!’ Power seeped from Varonessa’s voice. Naif’s skin burned with the sound of it, and the young ones gasped aloud in pain.

  Even Brand was not immune, buckling over as though kicked.

  ‘Tell me before I slay you!’ Varonessa hissed.

  ‘In-side,’ Brand managed to choke out.

  ‘You are draining Lenoir? One of your own kin?’ Something happened to the air around them as Varonessa spoke again.

  Brand looked to the ground, teeth gritted. ‘He is not my kin. He killed Leyste.’

  ‘He protected our agreement with Grave, which Leyste put at risk by his obsession with her.’

  A hissing sound filled the air. Naif swallowed as the Ripers fell upon each other; Varonessa’s clan against Brand’s. Naif had seen it before; ferocious speed and ruthless fury beyond comprehension. This time, in the open, it was worse. Dark blood sprayed from their wounds, and their howls curdled her blood.

  The young ones added screams of their own as the night erupted with Night Creatures. Naif turned to see them springing from the dark up onto the shadowy walls, clinging to the stones just above the pools of light, as though their limbs had suckers.

  Naif ran the complete circle around the church again. ‘Stay where you are! They are coming from above as well. Hold your lights high and low! Alternate with the person next to you!’

  Some of the crowd listened, but others panicked and plunged into the darkness. Panic spread faster than Naif could run, and soon they were all up on their feet.

  ‘We’re surrounded!’ they shouted.

  ‘What have you done to us?’

  ‘What have you done?’

  More ran and were snatched from the paths instantly by the flick of oily tentacles.

  ‘Stay where you are!’ Naif implored. ‘Trust me! Please!’

  Her heart raced at an impossible speed and her whole body thrummed with their terror. What have I done? It will be a massacre.

  She glimpsed Varonessa and Brand still tearing at each other. Varonessa seemed to be the more powerful of the two, a fearful sight with her teeth bared and her hair flying. But Modai flanked her, ready to attack from behind.

  Naif opened her mouth to shout a warning. Should she do it? Did Varonessa really support Lenoir? As she stood paralysed, another disturbance in the air caught her eye. Another carriage. One she recognised.

  Test!

  Lenoir’s second leapt from it and attacked Modai without hesitation. The rest of Lenoir’s clan followed her, throwing their force against Brand.

  ‘Naif!’ It was Rollo, at her shoulder. ‘They’re in there. All of them. Suki, Clash, Eve, Char, Markes and a girl. We pulled the tubes from their necks. They’re weak but alive.’

  ‘What about Liam?’

  Rollo stared blankly at her.

  ‘He has a . . . deformed hand. No fingers, only . . .’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Never mind.’ If Rollo had not seen him, perhaps Liam had escaped. ‘What about the light weapon?’

  ‘One good throw took it out,’ he said.

  ‘Get everyone inside. Now!’

  They dragged the doors wide open and began to urge the young ones in. Most didn’t need to be told but some fought against the tide, not wanting to go. Naif herded them frantically, her eyes darting back and forth.

  Brand had retreated, calling her clan to her. There seemed to be a lull between the Ripers as they regrouped.

  What are they doing?

  Naif felt a shiver of alarm as Brand and her followers began to edge closer to the church.

  ‘Here they come,’ shouted Rollo. ‘Close the doors!’

  Naif struggled to pull the door shut as Brand lunged at her with the same speed and rage she’d used on Varonessa.

  But before the Riper landed on Naif, an axe flew through the air above her head and sliced straight through Brand’s torso. The Riper’s body fell apart, drenching Naif in blood. She couldn’t move, couldn’t utter a sound, paralysed by the slick warm fluid coating her skin.

  ‘Well played, little sister,’ said a deep, familiar voice.

  Not her brother, Clash, but Dark Eve threw an arm around her shoulder. Naif felt the girl’s unsteadiness, and took as much of her weight as she could. ‘What do you mean?’ she croaked after wetting her dry lips.

  ‘Look!’ Eve pointed to the paths.

  The White Wings surged up into the church, followed by the Freeks. Behind them came the familiar bat-skin cloaks of the Ghosts. Each one of them was armed with either sword or spear or sling.

  They attacked the Night Creatures hovering on the edges of the dwindling light and those clinging to the walls. Their fresh torches sent the Night Creatures fleeing back into the darkness, letting the last of the young ones escape into the church.

  And when they were safe inside, the gangs closed ranks, creating a barrier between the church and the dark. The Leaguers that had been freed from inside and could stand, joined them, with Eve at the lead.

  Naif searched for her brother and Suki, and found them fighting an attack on the other side of Danskoi.

  Clash pulled her in between them and Suki hugged her tight, then put a spear in her hand.

  Naif stood with her friend and her brother as they lunged and slashed at the Night Creatures, but the brutality of their combat up close froze her. She abhorred her part
in arming the gangs. Yet what choice did she have? The Night Creatures would have come for the young ones anyway, and all those in Danskoi would’ve perished.

  Knowing the truth didn’t release her from the doubt. All she could think about was Lenoir – how he’d once been a creature like these.

  Ruzalia. Please. Hurry. As she pleaded silently, a tentacle caught her ankle and began to drag her into the shadows. Suki roared and chopped at it, but it was too thick for the Stra’Ha girl’s sword and weakened limbs.

  ‘Clash! Help her! Naif, use your spear!’ Suki screamed.

  Naif kicked and writhed to get away but she couldn’t make herself deliver a killing blow. Perhaps because of her bond with Lenoir. Perhaps it was not in her to take a life.

  Have her. Have her. Have her. The creature’s thoughts crashed through her mind.

  ‘NAIF!’ shouted Clash. He swung his axe, but he was also weak from being held captive. The Night Creature absorbed the pain of his attack and unfurled another tentacle.

  Naif recognised her final moment. The creature would crush her neck bones – just as one had crushed Krista-belle’s.

  For the first time since he’d disappeared outside Illi, she felt Lenoir’s presence strongly.

  Fight, Naif. Please. Use your spear.

  His concern calmed her. But still she did not use the weapon. The second tentacle wound around her, closing on her throat. Her breath became stuck in her chest. She thought of her mother.

  And Clash.

  And Lenoir. Did he have the answers he’d sought from her? Had he learned about humans and loyalty, and what they would sacrifice for each other? Had he learned that even without rules, they would still care for each other?

  Her vision blurred as the tentacle tightened. Then without warning she was tossed a distance, landing hard on the rocky ground. Dimly she heard noise; an angry, desperate discordance.

  Her breathing eased and she opened her eyes. At first there was only a blur, but after a while it cleared. Her whole body ached.

  Suki was by her side, feeling her all over. ‘She’s alive. I don’t think anything’s broken.’

  Clash fell on his knees beside her, pulling her into his arms.

  ‘Careful. Her neck is bruised bad,’ said Suki. Her friend peered down at her. ‘What were you thinking?’

  Neither she nor Clash held their weapons.

  ‘What’s happened?’ she croaked.

  ‘The Night Creatures and the Ripers have disappeared. Back to the caves, we think. What did you do, little sister? How did you do this?’

  She couldn’t make sense of his words at first. Then she realised she could see his face clearly; not torch-lit but pale in a grey light. A light that was growing with each breath she took.

  ‘Further,’ she said, gesturing that she wanted to sit up.

  He eased her more upright, so that she was leaning against his chest. She could see Suki in her bloodied tunic, and the ground around them; rock and brush and patches of bare dirt worn smooth from where the Night Creatures had crisscrossed it.

  Tears filled her eyes and she blinked, not wanting to miss a single thing. It was coming. The light was coming. Her mood soared so high, she wanted to laugh and cry out.

  Instead, she lifted her head and looked into the distance. As the light intensified, she glimpsed the sea. Still a pale grey strip but gaining colour quickly. Her eyes hurt, so she squinted, searching for what she knew would be there.

  ‘Look,’ she said to Clash, pointing out beyond the breaking waves to where an airship drifted in a cloud of receding darkness, lit by a welter of lanterns.

  ‘Ruzalia,’ he said. ‘But what’s she doing?’

  Naif swallowed, trying to ease the pain so she could explain.

  ‘We found the Ripers’ ship,’ said Rollo, as he and Dark Eve came to stand beside Suki. He smiled down at Naif. ‘You did it.’

  How red his hair is, Naif thought. The colour of a sunrise.

  Rollo took in her bruised throat and the blood. ‘And just in time.’ He didn’t look much better but his smile had returned.

  ‘Tell them,’ she managed to say.

  He nodded. ‘The Ripers came here in a great living ship. When it crashed into the sea it created a darkness around itself, making the island a place they could inhabit.’

  ‘The ship made the darkness?’ said Suki.

  ‘Yes, so they could survive. It’s like where they’d come from. We found the ship in the sea when we searched for the uther queen. Brand had hidden the queen on board.’

  ‘How did you know?’ asked Clash.

  ‘We didn’t really,’ said Rollo. ‘I thought it was reef, but Naif recognised it as something more.’

  They all stared at Naif in a kind of awe that made her want to bury her face in her hands.

  ‘The ship is sick, though, surviving only on what it harvests from the sea and by draining the uther queen.’

  Suki squatted down and took Naif’s hand. ‘So what did you do?’

  ‘We sent a message to Ruzalia to bring ropes and tethers. Kero waited behind to help peg the ropes to the ship’s skin.’

  They all stared at the pirate’s airship and the huge dark object far below it, which was moving sluggishly through the waves.

  ‘So Ruzalia’s towing it away?’

  Rollo nodded. ‘We knew that the ship could only spread its darkness a certain distance. By towing it away, Naif thought the light would return. She was right. Eventually, if the ship does die, the night will disappear altogether.’

  ‘And the Ripers and the Night Creatures?’

  ‘They need the dark to exist,’ said Rollo. ‘They’ll be forced to live in the caves or die. Without the supply of young humans, though . . .’

  Clash gently eased his body out from supporting Naif’s and set her down. Then he kneeled before her.

  ‘I’m sorry, little sister, to have doubted you,’ he said gravely. With an awkward grace he took her hand and kissed it.

  Naif felt something indescribably warm open deep within her. She slipped her hand from his grasp and touched his hair. Memories of her disappointment with him and the harsh words he’d spoken evaporated.

  She let Suki help her to her feet. ‘Liam’s gone,’ she whispered in Suki’s ear.

  ‘I know,’ she replied softly. ‘He was next to me in there. I freed him as soon as I could. He wanted it this way.’

  ‘Where will he go?’

  A wistfulness settled on her face and she shrugged. Then Suki let go of her and ran her sword lightly across her own wrist. The fresh blood appeared bright in the new light of Ixion.

  She pressed the bleeding wound on Naif’s hand to her own wrist, mingling their blood. ‘Now and forever,’ she said with humbling formality. ‘You are my family.’

  They walked together to the front of Danskoi. Suki beside Rollo, Dark Eve and Clash alongside Naif.

  By the doors they found Markes and Emilia and Jarrold. Markes leaned on Jarrold for support. They plied her with questions, but she pointed to her bruised throat.

  Markes came forward and touched her arm. ‘Naif. You’ve brought the light back to Ixion. I . . . I want . . .’

  She forestalled whatever he was trying to say by taking his hand from her arm and placing it on Emilia’s shoulder. Markes had made his choice a long time ago – she knew that now. She also knew that while she admired his talents and found him beauteous, there was nothing deeper between them than that. He had his family beside him, and she had hers.

  Jarrold broke the awkward moment by clapping her on the back. ‘You’re un-frossing-believable, Naif.’

  ‘Jarrold!’ Emilia chastised him as the others burst out laughing.

  Naif left them cheering and talking, and entered the cruciform. She passed a tide of people funnelling outside to see the light. Beds had been upended and the Ripers’ complex web of extraction equipment lay in ruins, torn to pieces in anger by the young ones who’d sheltered in there.

  She searched the entire
church until she found him in a bed in a corner of the nave.

  Lenoir’s beautiful hair had fallen out and his skin had blistered. No one had come near him, fearful that, even in this state, he might harm them. On the floor lay the shrivelled remains of a Night Creature who’d been trying to subsume him. The webbing that had connected them dangled from where he’d torn himself free. His eyes were open, as though waiting for her. She bent over him and looked into them.

  ‘You didn’t fight back,’ he whispered.

  She cleared her throat and tried to speak several times before the words finally formed well enough. It hurt but she knew how to ignore the pain. ‘I never meant you and your kind harm. I meant only that we should survive. Surely that’s the right of all living things?’

  He managed a weak smile. ‘Still you fascinate me, little bat, even as I perish.’

  ‘I’ve brought the light back to Ixion and freed the uther queen. You can no longer control us. The cave system is extensive, though. There is room for you to live in the darkness below ground.’

  ‘There is nothing to sustain us.’

  ‘With the return of the daylight, the plants will grow, and animals will be born and die. There will be food.’

  He closed his eyes and she felt something golden and precious steal through her body, bringing her renewed vitality.

  She put her mouth to his ear. ‘Stop, Lenoir, you’re wasting your strength.’

  ‘Not – waste,’ he managed. ‘A gift . . .’

  She put her fingers to his lips to quiet him. ‘You have risked much for me. It’s I who has a gift for you.’

  Then she climbed onto the narrow cot, picked up the webbing that had been torn from the Night Creature and nestled it against her chest.

  Within moments it had burrowed into her skin and begun the osmosis. They lay together, quietly, in peace. When she began to feel sleepy, she forced herself to tear the webbing away and get back to her feet.

  Already Lenoir’s blisters had begun to fade. She leaned down once more and put her lips gently to his.

  His eyes flickered open and she needed no words to read his expression.

  ‘Naif!’ called a voice from across the cruciform.

  It was Rollo, waving and excited. ‘The uthers are here. They’re beginning the badge reversals.’