text: A clattering of footsteps above and behind them. The smell of everpine and dust. The temple rumbled around them.
  
  Lilia shivered. Elaiko squeaked.
  
  "Someone is coming!" Elaiko said.
  
  "Yes," the creature said. "I'm afraid our time is limited. You should find the Guide. The Guide can bring you to the People's Temple."
  
  "Who… who is the Guide?" Lilia asked.
  
  "We need to get out!" Elaiko said. "Is there another way out? Can you help us?"
  
  The creature gestured to the walls. "Step through," it said. "I can take you to any other part of this temple. But only the Guide can step from one temple to another."
  
  "Who is the Guide?"
  
  "The Creature of Caisau chose the Guide. The Guide is close. I feel him near. The Key, also."
  
  "But… the Worldbreaker?" Lilia asked, and it came out more desperate than she intended. She had learned to hate that word.
  
  "When the three come together, you will know. The heavens themselves will draw them together."
  
  "But, who–"
  
  "Choose," the creature said, shaking its beribboned head. The image of it stuttered, shifted, purled away and reformed, like a brilliant aurora. "The Worldbreaker is the one who chooses. Anyone can stand at the center and direct the mechanism. 'Worldbreaker' is a poor translation. Better, perhaps, to say the figure who controls the flow of power that is channeled to the People's Temple is a world-shaper. The Worldshaper, once in place, is the one who chooses what to do with all that power. And there are many choices. So very many."
  
  "But…"
  
  A flicker of lanterns cast great shadows from the weeping wound in the ceiling. Raised voices. The air heaved and compressed. Lilia gasped, like breathing underwater. Shouting. The Tai Mora had found the bodies. The heavy air lifted.
  
  "Please!" Elaiko hissed, grabbing Lilia's sleeve.
  
  "Does the Key know what, who it is?" Lilia asked. "Can the Key be anyone?"
  
  "The Key was chosen long ago. The Key will be unique, able to bear the full power of the satellites."
  
  "So the Key isn't the Kai?" Lilia said.
  
  "The Kai can gain you access to the People's Temple," the creature said, "and converse with the temple creatures, as you have done with me. The Kai can gain access to these chambers, yes, without all this… ruination that the interloper has brought." The creature paused, cocking its head as if listening to the patter of feet above them. "I fear your time here is short. You are nearly found. I see it in your face, though, don't I? I see your desire, to shape the world."
  
  "I'm no one," Lilia said.
  
  "None of us are," the creature said.
  
  "Please!" Elaiko cried. "Can you get us out of here? Can you… someone get us to the back gardens? Please, they will kill us!"
  
  "Can you take us… away?" Lilia said. "To the back gardens here in the temple?"
  
  "If that is your wish," the creature said, and gestured to the wall.
  
  "Wait!" Lilia said as Elaiko tugged at her sleeve and the Tai Mora soldiers mounted the ladder above, shouting, the air heavy now, like soup. "How will I find them, the Guide and the Key?"
  
  "They will find you," the creature said. Its image broke apart again. Dimmed.
  
  "Quickly!" Elaiko said, running for the oozing walls. She pressed her hands to the wall, but nothing happened. She wailed. "Oh no!"
  
  "You must go together," the creature said, its voice distant now.
  
  "Take my hand!" Lilia held out her hand, and Elaiko took it.
  
  A shout, from just behind them. The tickle of power; a tendril of Sina or Tira or Oma, seeking to hold them.
  
  Lilia pressed her hand against the skin of the temple. The warm pool of it gave beneath her fingers and sucked her forward. She gasped and held her breath, yanking Elaiko with her.
  
  The moment was nearly instantaneous. Darkness. Warmth. Then she was falling onto cold stones. Elaiko landed on top of her, driving the breath from her body.
  
  Lilia gasped.
  
  A few paces away, a young Dhai man sat on a bench drinking directly from a flagon of mead. He gaped.
  
  "Hush," Elaiko said, waving a finger at him, "or I'll tell them you're stealing."
  
  He continued staring, mouth still open, as Elaiko helped Lilia up. Lilia huffed in a breath, still starving for air. Elaiko was already moving, though, saying, "It's all right if I help you? We must hurry."
  
  Lilia wondered where Elaiko's courage had come from.
  
  "Which way?" Elaiko asked as they came to a branch in the bone labyrinth. "I've gotten turned around! Oh no!" Lilia pointed, and they continued on, Elaiko half-dragging her, until they came to the broken bit of the fence.
  
  Avosta peered out at them. "Lilia!" he called, relief in his voice.
  
  But it was Elaiko who shoved herself through first, and he got out of her way. Then reached out to help Lilia.
  
  "Harina?" Lilia asked.
  
  "She isn't with you?"
  
  She shook her head.
  
  "Harina knows the way out," he said. "We all knew the risks. We need to get you out of here. Is it done?"
  
  "I got what I came for," Lilia said. She had seen the temple creature herself. "Ahkio was telling the truth. And… there's much more to discuss. We'll talk about it at camp. I need to see the Catoris."
  
  Avosta led the way to the cliff side. When Elaiko saw how they would travel back down, she nearly turned around. But there were more lights and noise from the courtyard, and Lilia knew they would send out jistas soon. If jistas found them out here, they were done.
  
  Avosta went first, sliding down the great vine until he reached the point where a massive leaf curled, which broke his rapid descent. Then he stepped off, slid again, and called back up at them. "Come on! Hold tight!"
  
  Lilia slid after him, wrapping her arms around the vine and holding tight to the wrist of her new hand with her stronger one to ensure a good grip. Elaiko came last, so quickly she nearly squashed Lilia's head during several descents.
  
  Lilia came down heavily on the marshy ground below. Her breath was ragged. Avosta held out his hand and she took it. He looped an arm around her waist and helped her to the vine along the rushing water as Elaiko squelched after them.
  
  "Do you see her?" Lilia asked.
  
  "No. If Salifa is still there, it will be difficult for her to see us, too. We need to get into the water."
  
  A little moan escaped Lilia; she was convinced it was Elaiko, but no. "The last time I swam across a river it was full of sharks," she said.
  
  "Only fish, here," Avosta said, "but the water will be cold. Hold on to me."
  
  She wrapped her arms around his neck as he plunged into the water. Elaiko shrieked as she followed.
  
  Lilia gasped at the cold. The current pushed them against the massive length of the vine, and Avosta used the heaving current in their favor for a few steps, until the bottom of the river sank away.
  
  She clung to him as water rushed over her, threatening to pull them beneath the vine and off and away. Lilia dug into her pocket for the bag of warded hazelnuts, hoping to reduce her weight, and the current snagged them, rushing them off and away downstream.
  
  Elaiko grabbed hold of her tunic. "Help me!" Elaiko said.
  
  Avosta grunted. The rushing water bubbled around them. His head went under, taking Lilia with him. Lilia nearly let go. They were just halfway across; she could see the other side. Where was Salifa?
  
  Elaiko sagged behind Lilia, letting what felt like her whole weight yank her back.
  
  Avosta lost his grip. All three of them rushed backwards, caught against the heaving vine. Elaiko twisted her hand into Lilia's tunic. Grabbed the vine with her other hand.
  
  "I can't carry you both!" Avosta said, spitting water.
  
  Behind them, billowing waves of red light began to creep down the cliff, tangling with the great vine. The smell of burning plant matter wafted over the river. The jistas were searching for them – and burning the vine-bridge behind them.
  
  Lilia released her hold on Avosta and hooked her stronger arm through a tangle in the vine. Avosta, free of them both, clawed forward another few paces and reached back for her.
  
  "Let go of me, Elaiko," Lilia said. Her fingers were numb. She felt only the dull pressure of Elaiko clinging to her shoulder. "Grab the vine. Let go."
  
  The smell of burning grew stronger.
  
  "Let her go!" Avosta said. "Come on, Lilia!"
  
  Lilia tried to pull herself forward. Elaiko lost her grip on her and clung to the vine. Lilia crept forward. Her arms burned. She could no longer feel her fingers.
  
  Avosta stretched to reach her. "A little further," he said.
  
  Elaiko splashed behind her.
  
  Lilia grabbed his fingertips. The vine shuddered. She turned and saw the great red wave of fiery light engulf the vine on the other side of the river.
  
  "No," Lilia breathed.
  
  The vine snapped. Broke free of the other side. Lilia howled and clung to it with her good hand as best she could. The force of the water whipped the vine downstream with a savage jerk.
  
  Avosta lost his grip and disappeared beneath the dark waves. Elaiko screamed. Lilia closed her eyes and held on tightly, riding the push of the water. She hit several rocks, a dull ache. The vine rolled up against the bank. Lilia's feet met the shallow bottom and she hauled herself over the vine and up onto the bank on the other side. She collapsed in the mud, shaking violently.
  
  Elaiko crawled up beside her and began to sob.
  
  Lilia sat up. "We don't have much time," she wheezed, and patted her pockets. She found her mahuan-laced water bulb and took a great swallow.
  
  She did not wait for Elaiko, but continued further up the bank, breath still coming too heavily. She sank down again, defeated. She needed the rest. Closed her eyes. Focused on her breathing.
  
  "Where is that man?" Elaiko said. "Did he… did he make it across?"
  
  Lilia gritted her teeth. She heaved herself up, using a low hanging branch as leverage, and tottered forward. She shoved Elaiko, startling them both. The shocked look on Elaiko's face was so satisfying that Lilia did it again, and again. Elaiko shrank away.
  
  "You fool!" Lilia said. "You absolute cowardly fool! You could have drowned all three of us. Avosta was worth three of you!"
  
  "I'm a fool? Me? What did we learn in there, really? That someone is going to break the world? How does that help us?"
  
  Lilia reared back to push her again. Elaiko caught her by her soft new hand and twisted it. Lilia cried out, stumbled, and fell to her knees.
  
  Elaiko released her. Took two steps back. "You aren't anything special," Elaiko said. "Ora Nasaka thought she was special too, and they murdered her all the same."
  
  "None of us are special," Lilia said, panting. "There are no special people. No one chosen to save us. We're stuck in some long cycle of death and destruction begun thousands of years before we were born, and it will go on thousands of years after, unless we stop it. Not anyone special. Just us, Elaiko. You're right. I'm not important. Nor are you. But we found something out today. We found out how to murder the Tai Mora and take back our country. We found out how to use these temples our ancestors built to save ourselves. We may not be special, but that is."
  
  Lilia waited a moment in silence while Elaiko caught her breath, then slowly rose to her feet, pushing out her twisted leg to get better leverage. Even so, she nearly went over again. She turned away from Elaiko and started up the long, winding path to the cover of the woodland above where the dogs would be waiting, if her luck held.
  
  After a few moments, she heard Elaiko come after her with great plodding steps. The misty red light did not cross the water, but what was left of the vine continued to burn, shedding red-black embers of itself that sailed through the air, dipping and spiraling before extinguishing themselves in the water.
  
  "Lilia? Is that you?"
  
  A figure at the top of the trail, still a hundred paces further up. Lilia squinted. "Salifa?"
  
  "Yes, come, I'll help you–"
  
  "Don't use your gift! They are watching from the temple!"
  
  Salifa came down to meet her. "I can help," Salifa said, "put your arm around me."
  
  Lilia looped her arm around Salifa's waist, grateful for the help. "Who is this?" Salifa asked. "Where are the others?"
  
  "This is Elaiko," Lilia said. "She has a ward. You'll need to remove it before we go much further. Just… wait until we reach the dogs. I want to be able to move quickly if they see you."
  
  They reached the place where they had left the dogs: two more than they needed with Avosta and Harina missing.
  
  "Tie them behind," Lilia said. "We meet at the rendezvous point. If they make it out, they will see us there."
  
  "I'm so sorry," Salifa said. "What happened? Were you successful?"
  
  "We were successful," Lilia said, and she turned to Elaiko, daring her to say something, but Elaiko only shivered atop her mount, cold and miserable.
  
  "Will you please take off the collar?" Elaiko asked.
  
  Salifa reined her dog next to Elaiko and twisted a few breaths of Tira's power that neatly untangled whatever weave they had put on the collar to keep Elaiko from drawing on her star.
  
  "Another parajista," Salifa said, nodding. "All right. We could always use another jista, even one with a descendant star."
  
  Lilia turned away so neither could see her grimace. "Let's hurry," Lilia said. "The sky waits on no one."