I believe there is one or two chapters left. Time flies, right?

The old London was pretty different. Instead of electric signs and escalators, there were bulletin boards and staircases crowded with people.

Evan glanced around, lost for a moment before pulling Tamara up the stairs. Anyone could be a Wight, anyone….

He came to a halt at the top of the stairwell. Tamara peered around him.

"Keep moving! We've got to escape…."

Her voice died in her throat when she saw what he was looking at.

Directly in front of them was a building. That in itself was not odd, but the water gushing out of every window was enough to make both children pause.

Tamara was quiet awhile, before asking, "What should we do?"

"That's gotta be Miss Wren's building," said Evan in a whisper, not taking his eyes off the structure. "That means the Wights will be all over the place. So we've got to get around them, with a route that's not in the open."

He glanced at Tamara to make sure she'd understood, and she nodded.

"A plan?"

Evan thought for a moment. "Let's go around, by the tents, and edge along the wall. Okay?"

Tamara nodded again. Not that anything was okay.

Evan counted down, "Three, two, one…."

And they were off, dodging circus performers and villagers as they raced through the crowd. Tamara stumbled once, but Evan grabbed her sleeve and pulled her along.

They made it to the wall in about ten seconds flat, but to get to the building they had to cross in full view of any Wights that might have been watching.

Evan crossed first, running hard and hoping that no one would notice him. He shrunk into the shadows, beckoning for Tamara to follow.

She did, sprinting fast.

But then, halfway across, she collapsed.

Evan blinked, thinking she'd tripped. But when she didn't stumble back to her feet, his veins turned to ice.

He dashed out into the open, staring at her. What had happened?

She wasn't moving, so he painstakingly pulled her five feet to the left, where the shadows effectively covered them.

Evan peeked at the crowd. No one seemed to have noticed them.

He turned his attention back to Tamara, facing away from the horde of people. His mind repeated what he'd wondered seconds ago: what had happened?

His POV

Jacob wasn't outside. I figured he was outside the loop by now, so I headed out into the market space.

The smells in the air bordered on panic, making me relax. Maybe I could stop for a snack.

Focus, I told myself. There was no way I could ever eat someone. I wouldn't.

I had to save my shreds of humanity.

Ignoring the enchanting scents of easy prey, I focused hard on the fading smells of syndrigasti.

Except they weren't fading.

I sniffed the air, lashing out my thick black tentacles. Someone was still in the loop.

I'd smelled it once before. That meant I'd come across this specific syndrigast before.

It took mere seconds for me to find the syndrigast. Two of them, actually.

I recognized the girl instantly. She was the one who had helped me somehow regain my memories. Maybe she could help me regain my senses, too.

The other Food – person – wasn't looking my way. He was bending over the girl, looking concerned. She was unconscious.

This girl could help me, I could feel it. I came closer, spreading my tongues to the side to block them from possibly escaping.

And then I heard her voice.

It was soft, inside my head. She was confused, maybe more than I was.

"H-hello? Where am I?"

I just stared at her limp form, wondering where her voice was coming from.

"I-I don't know," she said. Could she hear my thoughts?

"What thoughts? Aren't you talking?" she whimpered. "What's going on?"

I didn't have an answer, but at that moment, the boy syndrigast turned around.