The light was almost too intense, the heat almost unbearable. A life spent in shadow and shade meant that even normal sunlight would have felt abrasive and harsh. The sunlight raining down on Helianthus was much, much worse.

  Direct sunlight poured down from the sky, holes that punched completely through the ozone layer allowed the violent light and heat through unobstructed. Ruth's breath was hot and damp against the fabric across her face. Her whole body was covered in sweat in moments.

  Ruth kept her grip tight on her brother's wrist, not slowing down for even a moment. She half crawled, half slid down the sloping city ceiling, taking the two of them to lower panels. Their only chance to escape the constables was to work their way down and sneak back under another panel lower in the city. Jessica had given them that chance, letting them escape across the roofs this way.

  Jessica would be fine. Ruth was sure of it...mostly sure. Everyone knew that the cops worked for either the Nosferatu gang or the power plant. Jessica would be released if the constables were dirty, and she would be taken in and probably released within minutes of reaching the station if not. It made sense to let her and Ezra escape, they would probably be beaten half to death if they got caught.

  All these thoughts ran through Ruth's mind as she slid down a ceiling panel. The panels were designed to disperse heat, but they were still scalding to the touch. Ruth could feel the intense heat with every step or grab. Her hands and feet, her knees and arms, her entire body burned as she desperately took her brother lower and lower.

  She could only guess how far they had to go to be safe. Two panels? Four? She wasn't sure. She had never in her wildest dreams thought about travelling this way, and she didn't know how far they needed to go to be safe. Her eyes swam and her brain fuzzed ominously. They were running out of time already, the heat overwhelming them.

  Ruth came to a decision, dropping down one last panel and shoving her brother into the shade. Her mind hadn't been able to keep track of how much lower they had gotten, but all she cared about was getting them to safety. She hurried after her brother, moving to enter the shade as well.

  Years of paranoia and skulking made her glance back from where they had come from. It was a stupid decision, every second in the heat was painful. But she craned her neck and glanced up toward the center of the city, even as she chided herself for being ridiculous. No one would follow them out into the sun.

  But she saw someone.

  At least...it looked like someone. Ruth stood stock still, her eyes glued to the figure in the distance. A person was standing at the peak of the city, atop the power plant walls that marked the highest place a person could go. They were just standing there, arms outstretched, as if basking in the sun that could kill them with ease was an enjoyable thing. They weren't even wearing layers that Ruth could tell, just simple clothing that exposed pale skin. The person was framed by several daytime constellations, but she wasn't sure which ones. Wallis? Or maybe Fritts? The black spots in the sky showed space unfiltered, and they hung in the sky around the person as the shimmering heat distorted their features. They looked like some kind of God from a painting, untouchable and all powerful in the light of day.

  Ruth was so dumbstruck that she didn't realize she had been standing there frozen until her brother roughly pulled her into the shade and began pulling off her excess clothes. "Wha-?" Ruth panicked for a moment, pulled out of her stupor before realizing that Ezra was looking at her with worry.

  "Sis? you okay?" He searched her expression as she removed her head wrappings.

  She took in huge gulps of relatively cool air, her body still hot and soaked through. "Yeah. I just..." What would she say? It was probably a trick of the light, or a statue or something. People couldn't stand out in the sun like that. Sunburn would be the least of their worries, actual burns would set in quickly. Dehydration would follow just as fast. Had the heat made her hallucinate? She had heard of that sort of thing happening.

  Not wanting to alarm her brother, she decided not to mention it. "Nothing, I think the heat made me space out." She tugged at her clothing, the material too hot to comfortably handle.

  He looked like he didn't believe her, but he knew not to argue when they were still on a job. She knew he would probably bring it up later. "Fine. So what now? Are we just leaving Jessica?"

  "Let's see where we are first." Ruth needed to get the lay of the land. She didn't know where they were, or if they could even get down from here. Ruth crawled further into the shade, grateful that the city ceiling panels did their job and kept everything cooler in the darkness. When she reached the edge, she was relieved to see they hung about five feet above a rooftop. A quick glance around showed no one nearby, so she and Ezra dropped to the roof of the building.

  Ruth quickly snuck to the edge of the roof, looking around to see how far they had made it. She quickly spotted the tram station, then let her eyes trace the path they had taken to get to the roof from earlier. They were about three blocks away, on a slightly lower elevation. That was good, they should be able to get even lower while staying on the roofs. There was no sign of the constables, even though it had only been a few minutes.

  Ruth almost pulled away, almost let herself forget about Jessica and leave. But the other girl had helped them, stuck her neck out. Ruth could at least make sure that Jessica was okay before getting her and her brother to safety. "You can look around for a few minutes. We'll try to make sure she's fine, but then we're leaving."

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  Ezra smiled at her, and Ruth couldn't help but smile back. Her brother was too nice for a life of crime, which was a thought that hurt to have. They began peering out towards the streets and rooftops, scanning the shadowed and dimly lit areas nearby. After long minutes of staring at every movement they could see, Ruth tapped Ezra's shoulder to get his attention.

  "Down there!" she pointed, and Ezra followed her gaze. Jessica was being roughly escorted by some constables. Ruth frowned as she observed the situation. Jessica was in cuffs, and she looked disheveled. Her hair was tousled and her clothes were ripped slightly. With a start, Ruth realized that the constables must have wrestled her to the rooftop with force. Those men definitely didn't work for the Nosferatu gang then.

  In fact, Ruth realized that they weren't walking toward the nearest constable station. She knew that there was one nearby, and the group was going in the opposite direction. That was odd.

  "What are they doing?" Ruth wondered aloud, keeping her eyes glued to the small procession. The constables were gripping Jessica's arms tight, forcing her to walk even as she protested. People quickly moved out of the way of the lawmen, and the ones who were too slow got kicked roughly aside.

  That was not normal at all, and Ruth began to feel a growing dread in her chest. These men...were they really constables? Were they members of a rival gang, posing as the law? Or something worse? Ruth had no idea. But she knew that they seemed angry and dangerous. She came to a quick decision.

  "Ezra, run back to the church. Go as fast as you can. Johnny might still be there. Tell him what's going on and to send help."

  Ezra almost ran off, but stopped himself before he had taken more then three steps. "What about you?"

  "I'm going to tail them. If I see a chance to help her break free, I'll take it." Ruth's words weren't entirely selfless. Annoyingly, she felt a personal desire to help the other girl, but she tried very hard to convince herself that she was only doing it to protect Ezra and herself. If something happened to Jessica, she and Ezra would be on the chopping block.

  Ezra seemed to see right through her though, and quickly hugged Ruth. "I love you, sis." Then he ran off, climbing down to street level so that he could make his way back to the church as quickly as possible.

  Ruth stashed the packs and extra clothes on the roof, hoping and praying that she would be able to come back for them later, if only so they didn't have to scrounge up more clothes. She only kept enough extra cloth to cover her face, knowing how bad it would be for the constables to get a good look at her.

  She quickly made her way across the rooftops, trying to get ahead of the constables. Once she had a bit of a lead, she would have enough time to make her way to ground level and tail them more easily. The problem was that it seemed like every time she got ahead of them, they would change their route for some reason.

  Ruth was sure she hadn't been spotted, but the constables seemed very wary about the idea that someone could be following them. They kept doubling back or changing streets for a block or two. The first couple of times, Ruth nearly lost sight of them, panicking as she frantically hopped from roof to roof. Eventually though, she noticed that they were sticking to a set destination somewhere. They always oriented themselves in a certain direction, their changing routes actually helping her narrow down where they were headed. Ruth was sure that if Jessica made it to the mystery destination, she would be stuck there until the Nosferatu gang rescued her. That was not good enough for Ruth, not by a long shot.

  Taking a risk, Ruth scouted ahead of the constables, searching for another patrol. She spotted some constables a few blocks away, three of them lounging outside a shop. If they were working for the gang, this was to best opportunity she would get.

  Ruth made her way back, confirming that the two groups would run into each other in a few minutes. She quickly climbed down to street level, hissing in pain as she nearly rolled her ankle while jumping off a fire escape. She waited until the procession with Jessica was about to come into view before walking out into the street.

  She approached the three lounging constables, big burly men who were joking and smoking cigars. "Excuse me, officers?"

  They looked up at her, giving her a once-over. One of the men, a guy with a big moustache that twirled at the ends, spoke up. "Can we help you, miss?" He clearly pegged her a street kid, but she didn't have anything on her that would seem search-worthy.

  This was the risky part. If they worked for the gang, this was her chance to free Jessica. If they didn't, she might get taken along with the other girl. Ruth did her best, scared young girl impression, which wasn't very good in her opinion. "I saw some constables snag a power siphoner, but they aren't taking her to the station. I'm worried they're gonna hurt her, or worse." Power siphoning was a major crime, and many constables beat offenders, but gang-owned law enforcement usually helped alleviate the punishment before it got too bad.

  Sure enough, the three men exchanged a glance before putting out their cigars. The mustached man spoke again. "Why don't you show us where they are, little lady?" Ruth mentally pumped her fist excitedly. She couldn't believe that had worked!

  Ruth pointed, and the three men noticed the other group of constables who still had Jessica in tow. The two groups both tensed when they saw each other, and Ruth felt a sudden sense of foreboding. Jessica's eyes widened when she saw Ruth, her already concerned face growing even more worried. The man with the mustache gently pushed Ruth away, speaking in a hushed tone. "Run along now. We'll get the girl out of there."

  Ruth saw hands slowly move to truncheons and flash pistols, though nobody drew. The group of three slowly made their way forward, but stopped about ten feet away. "Good afternoon. You boys catch a siphoner?" The man with the mustache spoke cheerily, gesturing at Jessica. Despite his tone, there was a powerful tension in the air. Ruth backed up a few steps, but kept her eyes glued to Jessica.

  The group of five constables arranged themselves defensively, four of them moving interposing themselves between the group of three and Jessica. One of the constables who had taken Jessica, a slimmer man with a scar running down his face, chimed in. "That's right. Caught her on a roof a few blocks back." That was a lie. They had gone at least twenty streets over at this point.

  The mustached man glanced around. "Not taking her back to the station?" He gestured with one hand in the direction of the nearest constable station, his other hand gripping his truncheon tightly.

  "No. We ain't." The words came out heavy and flat, a solid rejection. The tension rocketed higher. Ruth could feel it in the air. Both groups of constables stared each other down for a long, silent minute.

  Then, with no warning at all, the constable who was holding Jessica drew his flash pistol and fired. All hell broke loose.