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together and spun in a circle. It reminded me of the funnel cloud of the Tunnels that came for me. Only this funnel fashioned a sharp point at the end, and before I could guess at what was happening, they rose up into the sky, lengthening as a single unit until they were one long, straight rod of black.
    The sight was overwhelming. I watched it with the same astonishment I would feel at being dropped into the middle of the ocean.
    The mass lingered there for a hushed moment and then shot downward in one collective spear toward the man. The Shades impaled him through the chest, pinning him for an instant to the ground.
    I gasped.
    Then the Shades disappeared inside the man’s body. And for a split second there was silence.
    Then an explosion. From inside the man. He was blown apart. Into millions of pieces. Maybe billions. There weren’t any visible pieces of him that I could see. There was only a fine red mist hanging in the air, hovering above the crowd.
    The mist spread in a delicate layer over the entire square. I stumbled off the wall, afraid of what the mist would do if it touched me.
    A great gong sounded from somewhere near the stage. It was a signal of some sort. There was a collective intake of breath—the sound of a thousand people gasping—and as the chests of the crowd inflated, the mist disappeared. The Everlivings literally inhaled what was left of the man.
    He was gone.
    I sank to the ground just as I heard the crowd let out their breath and cheer.
    Pressing my back against the rock wall, I clutched my stomach. Bile rose to my mouth. The man had to have been human. They’d never do that to one of their kind. If the Shades found me now, would they do the same thing to me?
    Even worse, if they were eviscerating humans, would they take them from the Tunnels? Would they come for Jack?
    My heart split. I could feel it, a literal ripping at my chest. I clutched at it, trying to hold it together, but I couldn’t. My broken heart seeped through my fingers. I watched it happen, and yet I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. White mist escaped from me, and in the mist I could see pictures of Jack as if some unseen hand were flipping through photo prints, and the resulting movie played out in the cloud in front of me.
    I tried to reach for the images, but it was like trying to grab air. The mist carried Jack’s face, floating it up and away from me. Over the top of the wall I was hiding behind.
    And that’s when I noticed that the cheers of the crowd had died down to almost a whisper. Why the sudden silence?
    I raised my head and peeked over the top of the wall to see what was happening. And nearly screamed.
    Every face there, every Shade even, turned toward me at once.
    I froze.
    Their eyes dropped from the mist above me to my face.
    And then the woman’s voice, calm and clear, pierced the air. It traveled to me without any need for amplification. She said, “Who are you?”
    Was she talking to me? I looked from side to side to see if I could find any face that showed an ounce of sympathy, but there was only one emotion that played on the faces here.
    Hunger.
    The Shades, who had been gathered at the platform, started toward me. Their movements became synchronized, and soon they were swirling up into the sky as they had just done before; only this time they were pointed right at me.
    I backed away as fast as I could, but I’d only made it a few yards when I collided with the front of a building.
    I closed my eyes.
    “It will be quick,” I whispered. “It will be over.”
    I kept my eyes closed and felt the rush of cold air coming toward me. Alarmed shouts reached my ears. At the moment I anticipated that the Shades would stab me in the gut, I said my final word, one that I hadn’t spoken in days and days. “Jack.”

FIVE
NOW
    The Everneath .
    A single voice rang out from somewhere above me. “Nikki! Your hand!”
    I didn’t have time to think. I reached up my hand toward the voice and felt warm fingers