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their conversation moved to a discussion of whether events would be canceled and if it would disrupt the schedule of the games.
    We had to cram inside the crowded train, and I stood in the center, clutching a strap to keep my balance. I listened for more news, but no one had anything solid to say. A few people griped about having been awakened by sirens, and someone else said there’d been a rumor of a man running through the plaza carrying a rifle. But officials were still being tight-lipped and didn’t know the extent of what was going on.
    Most people got off the train before I did, and when we finally reached my stop, only a handful of people were left.
    â€œGeht es dir gut?” an old woman asked me, and tapped my hand.
    I looked down. There was dried blood on the back of my hand and fingers. Kat’s blood, from while I was stitching her up.
    â€œI’m okay,” I said, and smiled.
    She gave me a suspicious look, but she turned her head, and I got off the train.
    I climbed the stairs up to the front door of our safe house. There was no secret knock or even keys. I just let myself in and saw Mary sitting across the room, pointing a pistol at me.
    â€œOh my God,” she said. “What are you doing here?” She jumped up and gave me a long hug. I hugged her back, but things weren’t the same as they’d been. I’d changed. Maybe it was planting the invitations with Kat at my side. Maybe it was the train ride to Baghdad. But somewhere along the line, I had changed, and I wanted to see Kat in front of me, not Mary.
    â€œI got caught at the hotel. Someone in the government—the American government. I don’t know who it was, but I had to sit there for two hours while he interrogated me.” I let go of her and slumped downinto a chair.
    â€œWhat did you tell him?” she asked, sitting across from me.
    â€œThere was nothing to say that he didn’t already know. Eugene ratted us out. He spilled everything. This guy knew about Endgame and the Players, and he knew our plans to meet at the plaza.”
    â€œHow did he find you?”
    â€œHe found the Minoan—I don’t know how. Maybe Eugene still had the dossier on her. He was supposed to go with me and Kat.” I looked around the room, frustrated, and then stood up and walked to the kitchen sink to wash Kat’s blood off my hand.
    â€œWell, everything has gone to hell here,” she said. Her voice was ragged, and she didn’t look much better. “John was supposed to find you—”
    â€œHe did.”
    â€œSo you know about Tyson?”
    â€œYeah. Someone on the train heard about you and Tyson. You’re wanted.”
    She seemed shaken, not her calm, happy self. “Lee died too. That was just now—well, maybe an hour ago. Tyson died at the hospital after getting shot while we went after the Koori, and then Lee went with me and died fighting the Mu.”
    â€œYou’ve killed two Players?” I said. “Wow.”
    â€œYeah,” she said. “The Mu was staying at a hostel next to one of those small neighborhood police stations. She got Lee right in the head. He didn’t have a chance. It was just the blink of an eye and she got him. I got this.” She pulled up her shirt to show me her stomach. There was a white bandage with a red spot in the middle.
    â€œYou got shot?”
    â€œGrazed. And then I killed her, and had to escape past the police. I killed the cop, too. He never saw it coming. He thought I was just one of the kids staying at the hostel.”
    â€œYou just shot a cop?” I asked, my stomach turning and visions of the sheriff coming back to me.
    â€œOf course,” she said. “I was fighting for my life. She killed Lee.”
    â€œBut you said the cop thought you were just one of the kids at the hostel. Innocent.”
    â€œBut he saw my face,” she said. “What was I supposed to do? Bruce and I learned in