Alden was surprised when Rachel suddenly switched direction. He'd noticed a few odd things about the forest around them, as if they were running in circles, but she seemed to know where she was going. As he could barely make out a lighter space ahead, Rachel appeared to change her mind and turn, following the curve of the clearing to come at it from the other side. He didn't question her. Rachel had a plan, and Alden was just a piece of that plan. He'd do his part and it'd all work out in the end, or so he hoped.

"How far can you reach?" she asked suddenly.

"Huh?"

"To interfere with him. What range?"

"Ten feet?" Alden guessed.

"Can you be exact? We're only going to have one chance here."

Alden took a second and focused, mentally jumping to the line he recognized as time. Instead of pushing himself onto the line, he hurled it away from him like a ball. As it moved away, he could feel its strength slowly diminishing. At a certain point it dropped off a cliff, becoming totally inert. He reeled it back in to that point, which to his surprise was almost precisely at his guess.

"Ten feet," he reported with a touch of pride.

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "You're sure?"

"Positive."

"Wait until I signal you, then hit him with everything you can." Rachel had explained her signal to him when they'd started out, since it would be quicker than speaking and listening, and less prone to any mistakes. "You've been practicing it since you learned it?"

"As much as I could without burning myself out. I used up a lot of Jessica's gems, but we've still got enough." The spell was a lot easier to cast than he expected, too, at least for brief sprints. He wasn't sure if that was because he'd learned it from the Scrap, or simply because it didn't take much energy in the first place. Either way, he wasn't about to question it.

"Good."

Rachel stopped at a set of thick fir trees with branches all the way down to the ground level. They were at the edge of the clearing Alden had spotted earlier, if his sense of direction wasn't playing tricks on him. The trees were so thick and clustered together that he couldn't see through them at all. It was a wall of green branches and pines. She pushed through slightly to check the view.

"This'll work."

"And you're sure he's coming? We're in the middle of nowhere."

"He's already on his way." Rachel reached into her bag and pulled out the pistol. She double-checked it and clicked off the safety.

Alden felt a burst of excitement and fear. His pulse was picking up. "How are you going to get him to come over here?" he asked nervously.

"He'll come." Alden started forward, but Rachel held up a hand. "You should stay back."

"Why?"

"Just trust me." Rachel's voice caught slightly. She sounded like she was struggling to speak. "No matter what you hear, just stay there."

Rachel had already done it. Beverly was calling Jackson in as they spoke. All she had left to do was wait. He'd show up, they'd trap him and she'd pull the trigger. It was as simple and straightforward as she could make it. She'd picked a spot where they could see into the clearing easily, but out of the path she expected him to take. All that remained was the watching and the waiting.

The waiting was the real struggle. She was at the edge of the tree line, watching through a curtain of pine needles as the telltale grey robes flitted about. The rain was pouring down in buckets now, sending them scurrying into the cabins. Rachel noted that Ruby had recovered well over the last day, on her feet and shouting instructions like normal. She supposed that Ruby was the de-facto leader while Cinza was indisposed.

As Rachel watched them taking shelter, she realized why the picture looked so wrong. There were so few of them left. Of the eleven members, only five were visible. Ruby was on the porch outside their cabin, calling out to Yusuf to help Aaron with the farming tools. Yusuf was still sporting the bandages from the first fight with the golems, but he was as willing and determined as ever. Aaron kept dropping the rain-slicked tools back into the mud, but Yusuf simply leaned down and gathered them up in his robes like a basket. Aaron nodded and started tossing the rest in.

Rufus emerged from the other cabin with Makoto, as they ran out to grab another one of the blankets laying out in the rain. They flipped it to drain it of the water pooling up in the center, before bringing it back inside. Makoto flicked his head as they walked by the furnace on the side, and the pile of wood laying in the space beneath lit up instantly. Smoke started billowing out of the chimney, but as it reached toward the canopy it seemed to dissipate without a trace.

There were six missing. Brittany Wilkins, who had lost her leg to Robert Harrison's bear trap. Her husband Matthew had gone with her to the hospital. She might have survived, but they'd have a lot of questions to answer. Rachel wondered how they'd talk to the police who'd inevitably show up. She expected Cinza had coached them on such a possibility. Cinza was exactly the type to prepare for future confrontation.

Morton Pollock had been shot by Robert and airlifted to the hospital, but Rachel was almost certain he was dead. He hadn't gotten any treatment for too long, and he hadn't been breathing when the paramedics had loaded him on board. Nikki Parsons had gone with him—and given what she'd just been through, Rachel didn't expect her to return.

Nate Price had fled town, as far as she knew. Rachel had no idea where he might be, if he was even still alive, and didn't really care if she was being honest with herself.

Finally there was Cinza herself, presumably sequestered in the cabin behind Ruby. Her face was stuck in Rachel's mind. Cinza had trusted Rachel completely with every secret. She'd told Rachel of this hidden place, and she'd answered every question Rachel had asked. When Rachel needed her, Cinza had stepped up. She'd benefitted, obviously, but it was still at great personal risk.

More than anything, Cinza had understood the hard choices Rachel had been forced to make. She believed Cinza would understand her decision, though Rachel dearly hoped she'd never realize what had happened. What Rachel had done.

How Rachel had used them.

She half-expected thunder and lightning in the rain clouds above to punctuate her dark thoughts, but this was still the Northwest, and thunderstorms only rolled through once or twice a year. The rain came down in buckets though, and Rachel was grateful for the thick canopy that protected her from most of it. Alden was taking cover behind her as well, ducking below another tall tree—though still close enough to strike on a moment's notice.

The stream running through the center of the clearing was flooding over. Yusuf and Aaron were just about done gathering up the tools to take to the shed by the second cabin. The rain rattled the rooftops of the cabins.

A figure emerged from the far end of the clearing. Tall, broad-shouldered and with dead eyes full of regret. Rachel wondered if he really felt anguish over what he'd done. She didn't think anyone capable of crippling a man like Jackson had done to Will was really able to feel regret. As the memory flashed through her mind—perfect in clarity as always—Rachel steeled her resolve. Whatever doubts she might have felt were gone.

No matter her failures and regrets, no matter what people might think of her, Rachel would never let him do that again.

She waited. Jackson was walking calmly across the clearing. What did he have to fear, after all? They'd failed multiple times to stop him, disastrously so, and the biggest threats were in the wind. The foes he hated most of all, the cult that openly embraced magic and sought to evangelize it—the cult he could never find on his own—was only a few dozen feet away and completely oblivious to his approach.

Rachel could warn them, but if she did, she'd lose her only hope of finishing him off.

Ruby was the first to spot him, emerging from her cabin and shouting an alarm. The moment she did, Jackson lifted an arm like an emcee about to open a show. Three golems began growing out of the mud, dirt and rain sliding off as they rose from the ground.

Ruby summoned up several balls of flame, but they sputtered angrily in the rain. Steam was hissing off in droves as she desperately tried to maintain them. Yusuf shouted at her to change tactics, while Aaron ran to the other cabin. They were all shocked, completely off guard. Their general was out of action and they were caught in an ambush. Rachel couldn't blame them. Omega should never have been able to find this place. Cinza's enchantments were clever and well designed.

The only way he could ever have found their home was if he'd been told exactly where it was.

Ruby released the fire and let it vanish into the air. She set her feet and stared down the nearest golem. It stopped in place, drawing a vague look of surprise from Jackson.

As Ruby's expression grew more severe, the golem turned and put its fist through its nearest kin, turning it to dust. Ruby's new minion began to block off the approach, but it was only so much.

Omega simply summoned another pair of golems, and Ruby's expression faltered. The one she'd taken collapsed into dust as she stumbled backward, leaning against the cabin wall for support.

Even her plans to steal the Scrap had been for nothing. Rachel's heart was beating up into her throat. She tried to force it back. Every fiber of her being begged her to shout at them to run, but she couldn't. She needed him to get closer. He needed to drop his guard just a little bit, get ahead of where she was hidden in the treeline. Once she was behind him, she'd have enough time for Alden to catch him in place.

The golems crossed the stream and plowed through the carefully arranged vegetable patches. The ground was torn up and broken apart. Aaron shouted in rage and charged forward, heedless of his friends' cries. The muscles in his arms grew twice over, and he hurled himself at the nearest golem. It had only started to move when Aaron hurtled into it.

The golem was pitched over backward into the rain-soaked mud. Aaron's fist slammed into the vague head-like shape, pulverizing it into dust. Aaron continued to pound at the golem, tearing it to shreds. Rachel was amazed at his ferocity, and even more so that Yusuf decided to join in. Another golem had just about reached Aaron's back when Yusuf smashed into it. Together, they were able to overpower the second one despite Yusuf's injuries.

For a brief moment they celebrated, as if they actually had a hope of victory. Ruby was shouting at them, while Rufus and Makoto emerged from the second cabin in a panic. The two down on the meadow turned to their latest foe, only to find themselves facing four golems in perfect condition. Faceless, unyielding monsters with strength beyond anything they could hope to match.

The first two only broke down because he let them break, Rachel realized with dismay. It was easier to just make new ones behind them.

Yusuf tried to pull Aaron away, but one of the golems was already close enough by the time they'd turned around. It managed to snatch his wrist with a claw-like hand that formed right as it moved. Aaron tugged away, but the golem didn't budge an inch. Yusuf shouted something, but Aaron shook his head.

Yusuf pulled, but the golem pulled back—much harder.

Aaron didn't move. The force of the golem was so immense that his arm simply left its socket at the shoulder. He fell away, screaming in pain.

Yusuf grabbed him around the waist and dragged him backward across the muddy grass, shrieking in agony. Rufus rushed to help, while Ruby and Makoto flung rocks at blistering speeds towards the golems to try and drive them back.

"What's happening?" Alden asked. He hadn't moved, as Rachel had ordered, but his face was masked with fear—eyes wide and mouth slightly open, teeth gritted and sweat mixed in with the rain.

"We can't go yet," Rachel replied, however much she wished they could. Jackson had to cross the river first, or they'd never be able to get to him fast enough. She only hoped they could survive that long.

Ruby shouted something at Makoto, who nodded. She rushed back inside her cabin, and he dropped the rock he'd been about to throw and closed his eyes. The rainwater around him stopped falling, halting in midair as if they'd been stopped in time. As more rain fell, it gathered above him as if he had a transparent glass roof. A few seconds passed, and Makoto opened his eyes again.

The rainwater he'd gathered burst forward across the clearing, dead-on for Jackson. Like a hail of liquid bullets, the raindrops flew horizontally through the air faster than the eye could follow—but Jackson could move just as fast.

As the rainwater flew over the grass, Jackson ran forward. He crossed the river, rushing straight past the trio in the meadow to run down Makoto. A low blow to the young man's stomach sent him tumbling back into the cabin, blasting through the wooden doorway and turning the hinges into splinters.

He was close enough.

Rachel let out a deep breath.

"Alden, go!"

Alden heard Rachel call his name and almost froze up. He almost didn't go out through the forest. She'd told him they were both safe, but he'd seen what those golems could do first-hand, and he'd been face-to-face with Jackson. Alden had never felt such a deep seated terror before in his life, and he certainly never wanted to feel it again. It would have been so easy to just turn around and run away.

Alden rushed forward through the trees, having no idea what to expect. He saw the golems lined up and chasing the three greycloaks through the field, and he saw Ruby holding Cinza in her arms and shouting something he couldn't make out. He saw the streaks of blood already washing down into the flooding stream.

He saw Omega standing at the entrance to a small cabin, right in front of him, just beginning to turn around. In a split-second, Alden would see those terrible eyes again.

Alden reached for the pool of energy inside him and broke the edges entirely, letting everything he could flow out into this one spell. Energy from the gemstones spilling out of his fists rocketed through his core like a bolt of lightning. He launched the sphere away like a baseball pitcher, putting even his physical strength into it with a desperate shout.

It landed right where he wanted it to.

Jackson had just started to move when he was suddenly slowed down. He was still turning toward Alden, but so slowly that he would never make it. Alden had a brief moment to wonder why this spell affected him, when nothing else ever could, before his vision started to go black.

He couldn't keep this up. In only a few moments, he'd black out—and no matter Rachel's reassurances, he fully believed he would die.

Rachel walked forward. Her mind was totally calm. She didn't have time to think about anything. Every single part of her brain was focused on the piece of metal and plastic tucked in her hand. Her strides were long and confident across the wet grass.

She lifted the pistol up and squeezed the trigger. The gun kicked. Once. Twice. Again. She lost count.

The trigger clicked. The magazine was spent. She tossed the gun aside.

The golems melted away, whatever material they were composed of breaking apart like dust in the rain. Alden managed to release the spell before he fainted. He fell onto the wet grass and held still, trying to hold back a pounding migraine.

Rachel fell to her knees, heedless of the mud and the rain pouring over her. She stared straight ahead, her mind still empty even as her heart pumped furiously and her chest felt like it would explode.

Jackson was dead. Omega was dead.

Up by the cabin, just barely audible over the rainwater pouring off the roof, they heard a faint female voice sobbing from where Jackson's body had fallen.

It was over.