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scratched, it will kill you more slowly but just as effectively, if you do not have access to Raphael.”
    He glared at me for a moment. I had three slashing scars across my stomach, a reminder of how deadly Mazikin claws could be. They’d come courtesy of Sil, the Mazikin leader who had successfully breached the walls of the dark city to overrun the land of the living. From the look in Malachi’s eyes, he was once again worrying about what Sil would do if he got ahold of me.
    “Tooth and claw. No problem,” said Jim.
    Malachi’s face twisted with contempt. “Some of them are very skilled fighters. And all of them are vicious. Do not underestimate your enemy.”
    Jim rolled his eyes. “Wouldn’t dream of it. So what do we do, just kill them all?”
    This time I answered because it looked like Malachi wanted to punch Jim for being so casual. I couldn’t blame him; that attitude could get a Guard killed. “We have to terminate every single one of them, yes. Because as long as there’s one Mazikin here on Earth, it can bring in others. We won’t be done until we eliminate them completely.”
    “We have to find them first,” added Henry, reminding me of how I’d failed so far.
    “We’re going to patrol tomorrow tonight, starting with the area where the latest sightings have been, because the nest might be nearby. Then maybe we can check out those homeless camps,” I said. “Also, Malachi and I have school tomorrow. I have to go or else my …” Or else Nancy, my PO, would cheerfully cart me back to juvie for violating my probation, but I didn’t feel like explaining that. I turned to Jim. “Are you coming to school with us?” There was no way Henry would pass as a student, but Jim looked like a teenager.
    Jim stretched and yawned in this exaggerated way. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to sleep in.”
    Malachi’s eyes narrowed.
    We sat there in silence until I remembered that I was supposed to be in charge. I drew my shoulders up and tried unsuccessfully to ignore the burning in my cheeks as I pretended to know what I was doing. “Rest up, then. I’ll pick you up tomorrow night.”
    Henry nodded as I rose from my chair, and Jim’s eyes bounced between my face and my chest. Malachi glared at him and stepped between us, blocking Jim from sight. My Lieutenant kept a respectful distance between us but gave me a lingering look, full of wish and want. It took everything I had not to touch him. With Henry and Jim there, though, it wouldn’t be very Captain-like of me to fling myself into Malachi’s arms.
    So I headed home.
    I let myself into the house as quietly as possible, but as soon as I closed the front door, I could hear the heavy, even breaths that told me Diane was deeply asleep, as Raphael had promised. I padded down the hall to my room and closed the door. My books and papers lay scattered across my desk. My backpack was propped against my chair, my camera tucked into one of its side pockets. A pile of dirty clothes in the corner, a pair of sneakers under the bed.
    Life as it had been.
    I lifted my fleece jacket and looked down at my waist, at the black leather belt and sheathed knife.
    Life as it was now: a weird intersection of normal and crazy, of life and beyond-life, afterlife, undead, whatever. I put my hand to my heart and felt it beating, remembered feeling Malachi’s pounding through his shirt as he kissed me. Were we alive? Were we here on borrowed time? Did we have a right to live or only to serve as Guards? Did we have a future, or were we headed back to the dark city when we were done? Did anything we did here, apart from eliminating the Mazikin, matter? Could we keep anything for ourselves? I hadn’t exactly signed a contract that spelled that out for me.
    Raphael had told me I should finish high school, that I should “go be a normal American teenager.” But this wasn’t the dark city, where all the Guards had a Station, a base from which they patrolled. Where they had