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sense the downturn in my mood, and puts a hand on my arm.
    The white-haired man seems to pick up on it too, and I get the sense that this is someone who won’t miss anything. “I shouldn’t worry about Jack too much, young lady. I trained him very well, and he was a good student. He always had the drive for work as a Fader, not to mention a knack for guessing what was going to happen. He should be well equipped to deal with any situation that crops up.”
    “I’m sorry,” I say, not wanting to lose control like this in front of a stranger.
    “It’s quite all right,” the man replies, and then sticks out a hand. “Now we should probably be properly introduced. I am… well, my full name is Dr. Major Sir Lionel Lancaster, and then there are enough letters to play scrabble with after that,” he smiled. “Please call me Lionel.”
    “Celes,” I say, taking his hand. “Dr. Major Sir?”
    “I am glad to say I have led an eventful life.”
    “He worked as a British military liaison with the memory fading project,” Grayson supplies, “and then he helped to apply principles from it to create accelerated training methods for the Royal Marine Commandos, Parachute Regiment, Special Air Service, and Special Boat Service. Now he trains top Faders.”
    I look over at Grayson. He comes out with the information as though it’s nothing. Something he has known all his life, yet there’s no way he should have known it.
    Lionel smiles, taking Grayson’s hand. “That would make you Grayson, I assume. I received a message from Sebastian about you. His people obviously did a good job with your memories. But then, Sebastian always was a genius. It made those of us who got to observe the project simply because we happened to have a background in the sciences, feel quite jealous. And of course, he has always been a man with his heart in the right place. Unlike some.”
    I wince. “The Others got him,” I say. “I’m not sure if he will be-”
    “Oh, Sebastian will be fine for now,” Lionel says dismissively. “In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if his capture were one of the major objects of their raid.”
    “So they weren’t going after me?” I ask.
    “I am sure they were,” Lionel says, “but a good planner will always try to achieve a lot with a little. You are valuable, of course, but Sebastian? His wealth of knowledge is priceless. He knows the details of constructing the memory fading machine, for example, along with so many other secrets that the Others will simply have to keep him alive.”
    I feel the faintest ray of hope then. Not just for Sebastian, but for Jack as well. “So the Others…won’t kill him?”
    “Not if he is of use to them. And he will be. The Underground is no longer extant in that location, and they do not know where the machine went. Sebastian will be needed to either locate it or rebuild it.”
    I have to ask. “What about Jack? What if they capture him?”
    Lionel looks grave for a moment. “That is a much more difficult situation, young lady, though hopefully, Jack would not allow it to come to that.”
    I can’t bring myself to say that Jack appeared to be on the verge of capture when we left. Not now. “What would happen?”
    “If the Others know what he is…” he looks over at me, and it’s clear that the middle-aged Englishman knows exactly what I am “…then I’m afraid they would probably kill him out of hand.”
    “And if they don’t?” I ask, trying to cling onto any scrap of hope.
    “Then Jack is still a potential threat, who has killed many of their people over the years. I’m sorry to say that they might well still execute him.”
    I let out a breath, and feel Grayson’s arm slip around me protectively. I know what he feels about Jack. I know he won’t care about that news, but he’s there for me. He’s there to make sure that I can still stand, even though it doesn’t feel like there’s anything left in the world for me.
    “Let’s get you