Rats? Linc wondered.

There hadn’t been any rats in this tube-tunnel for a long time. although it had taken the death of four of Linc’s friends to clear the tunnel of them. The little monsters fought fiercely when they couldn’t run or hide.

Linc gripped the hilt of his only weapon, a slim blade that had once been a screwdriver. He had ground the working end down until it was a sharp dagger. Holding the plastic hilt in a suddenly sweaty palm, Linc peered into the darkness of the tunnel, looking down the spiraling steps for the glint of red, beady eyes.

If there’s too many of them —

The shadows seemed to bunch up and take shape. A person.

“Petal!” Linc shouted; and his voice echoed off the tube’s cold metal walls.

The kid jumped as if sparks from a machine had seared him.

“Peta, it’s me, Linc. Don’t be afraid.”

“Linc! Oh, Linc—” Peta scrambled up the steps and grabbed at Linc’s outstretched hand. He was breathless, sweaty, wide-eyed.

“What are you doing up here?” Linc asked. “I thought you were waiting for Magda to…”

“I’ve got to get away! Monel and his guards… they’re after me!”

Linc thought of Peta as just a kid, although all the people in the Living Wheel were exactly the same age, of course. But Peta was small, his skin pink and soft, his hair as yellow as the star that was coming toward them. He looked more like a child than a young man. Linc, whose face was bony and dark with the beginnings of a beard, towered over him.

Linc held the slim youth by both shoulders. “Listen. You’re supposed to be waiting for judgment by Magda. You can’t run away.”

Peta’s hands were fluttering wildly. “But Monel and his guards… he said I’d broken the pump on purpose. He said they were going to cast me into outer darkness!”