Several seconds passed before Boiler could draw a breath. Her whole body ached and she felt as if she'd been turned inside out and back again.

"Sledge?" she grunted as she sat up. "Quentin? You okay?"

"I guess," her brother's voice echoed somewhere behind her. After a moment he added, "Ugh, I take that back. I feel like I got hit by a train."

"Me, too." She found Quentin sprawled on the floor a few feet away. "Hey, you okay, kid?" She reached over and touched his shoulder.

He twitched and then turned to look up at her. He'd always been something of a runt, barely five feet tall, skinny and pale, though he'd always had a certain inner strength about him. Now, though, he looked weak and shaky and was wincing and holding a hand over his abdomen.

"Oh," he muttered a moment later, his voice as small as his body, "I'll be okay. Eventually. The ride was even rougher than we expected." He pushed his wire-frame glasses back into place with a shaky hand. His leathery wings rustled softly in the darkness of the old, empty warehouse.

"Appearing in midair and dropping to the ground might've had something to do with it," Sledge said, twisting his bovine features into a grimace. He pushed himself to his hooves, stumbled, and turned in a circle, moving stiffly, trying to limber up his sore muscles.

Boiler rubbed her aching arms and legs. It probably wasn't as bad for her as it was for Sledge and Quentin. Being eight feet tall and more muscular than most males she'd met, she could take a lot more punishment than they could. Quentin seemed to have gotten the worst of it, though he'd been through a lot in the past few months, and that had to have taken a toll as well.

And most of it was my fault.

"I'm sorry you got dragged into this, Quentin." Her voice was soft but still echoed in the cavernous room. "If not for me, you'd still be with your parents. You'd still have a life and a future."

"Hey." Quentin smiled. It was a little shaky, but it managed to melt the ice that had formed around her heart several months ago. She smiled despite the rage that still burned white-hot in the core of her soul. Quentin patted her hand and added, "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

She took a breath and shrugged. "Well, thanks. But your life was turned upside-down because of me, and you could still be in danger just from being here. I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be. I don't think what you did was wrong. And now I can make a difference." He smiled again and walked around, rubbing his legs and tail to work the cramps out of them. "Actually, I think this is the first time in my life I've really felt alive."

"Well … I'm glad you feel that way. I just wish it wasn't under these circumstances."

"Not your fault." Sledge walked over to the stuff they'd brought, a single bag for each of them containing clothing and a few personal items.

"I don't know. For a long time, I've been thinking I should've found another way." She sighed and untied her ponytail, letting her knee-length black hair flow over her shoulders and back.

"Well, there wasn't one." Sledge frowned as he picked up his bag. "You gave that son of a bitch exactly what he deserved. If anything, his death was too quick."

"That's what I keep telling myself." Boiler shrugged. "After everything that's happened … I don't know."

Sledge brushed his shoulder-length hair away from his face and stared at her. "This is a hell of a time for doubts."

"Can't help it. What I did was … extreme."

"Like that's anything new." Sledge laughed and swatted her arm. "You've always been a chip off the ol' block. Remember that time you got tossed off the high school dodgeball team because you damn near decapitated Marty Lund with the ball?"

"As if I could forget that." Boiler chuckled and then shrugged. "The arrogant prick had it coming, though."

"Wish I'd seen that." Quentin smiled, and Boiler grinned and blushed.

"So do I."

"It was priceless, all right." Sledge grinned and picked up the two duffel bags. "Our moms and dad were so proud." His smile was tainted suddenly by an old sadness, but he shook it off. "We'd better hurry. If anybody followed us through the gate, and we'd be idiots to assume they didn't, they could arrive at any moment.”

"Assuming they didn't arrive before we did." Quentin turned a shade paler. "Damn, I wish I hadn't said that."

"Well, we need to be prepared for it." Boiler patted his shoulder. Their friends had set charges to blow the gate after she and the others had gone through, but that would've happened only if things had gone according to plan. Since there was no way to go back home, there was no way to know if anything had gone wrong unless someone else came through.

"Right." Sledge nodded. "Well, you guys feel up to traveling?"

"Guess we don't have any choice." Boiler sighed, took her bag from Sledge and slipped it over her shoulder. She glanced at Quentin.

"You okay now?"

"Fine. How about you? Going to be okay?"

"Someday, maybe." She took his bag from Sledge, found the door, and took a step toward it. Quentin reached out and grabbed the bag. She stopped and raised a brow ridge at him.

"I can carry it." He chuckled and gave the bag a gentle tug. "Being half human doesn't make me helpless, you know."

Boiler nodded. "I just figured … I dunno." She shrugged and let go of the duffle bag.

"Thanks." Quentin slung the bag over his shoulder and headed for the door. "Time's a-waistin'."

"Yep." Sledge patted Boiler on the back and followed Quentin. She caught up with them, opened the door, stepped outside and looked around.

"Huh," Sledge muttered as he glanced around, taking in the dark street and the city lights in the distance. "It doesn't look much different. I mean, different from the way it was before the ..." He trailed off and winced, unable to finish the sentence.

"Yeah," Boiler whispered. Eighty million people. All gone in seconds, wiped out in a blinding flash of light and a shockwave that ripped apart everything in its path. She clenched her fists and her red eyes glowed brighter. All because of one maniac. Her fury returned full force and it was all she could do to stop herself from ramming her fist through the wall.

Quentin's hand touched her fist and she gasped.

"Hey," he said, smiling again, "it's gonna be okay."

"I hope so."

Sledge took a breath and let it out slowly. "Well … it's a good thing we came through in a deserted part of the city. There's something to be said for a quiet entrance."

Boiler nodded.

"Well, where do we start?"

"First thing we need is a place to stay," Boiler said. "An apartment would probably be best, one that's big enough for all of us, preferably near our parents."

"Then we'll need to find jobs so we won't have to steal anything. We'll have to avoid drawing attention, fit in as much as we can and try not to change anything that doesn't need to be changed."

"Right." Fit in. That's a good one. An eight-foot-tall, purple draconid, a minotaur, and a teenage, half human-half draconid, all sharing an apartment -- that wouldn't be conspicuous at all. She shrugged and focused on the business at hand. The best they could probably hope for was an odd job here and there, but that wasn't really a big deal. Most chimeras did odd jobs to get by in this time, and Boiler had done her share as she was growing up, though she'd once had a promising career as a bounty hunter.

"Well," Sledge's voice intruded on her thoughts, "it should be easy enough to find jobs that take advantage of our strength. Moving heavy equipment, and stuff like that."

"Yeah. And if I'm lucky, I can land a few bodyguard or bouncer gigs. Maybe even get back into my old chaser job."

"Yeah, that'd be great. As long as we stay out of the spotlight, we should be okay."

She nodded.

"And everything else will be okay, too," Quentin said.

Boiler found herself smiling down at him, and before she realized what she was about to do, she took his hand and held it gently. His lips spread into the biggest, goofiest grin she'd seen on him yet. Boiler's own smile matched his quickly, and she was once again thankful to have him with her.

She held his gaze for a moment and then faced forward. "Well, let's get going. We've got work to do."