Amethyst ducked to the side, dodging the blade.
Cinnabar barged forward. “Back away,” she ordered, “I… am going… to kill her.”
Pearl glanced up, and a spark of understanding lit in her eyes. She leapt to her feet, spear at the ready. “I’d sooner die.”
Amethyst followed suit, drawing her whip and pocketing the shards into the collar of her shirt. Cinnabar took a swipe at her, darting back in time to avoid a whip to the face. She stepped back, looking past the others, looking at the still body laying on the ground behind them. A wicked grin spread onto her face.
“She’s already dead.” Cinnabar thrust the sword out toward the shattered gemstone on Tourmaline’s exposed stomach. “Dead for what she did to my ship!”
“No!” Amethyst’s voice cracked alongside her whip. It shot out to Cinnabar, who avoided it with a quick backpedal. “She isn’t!”
Cinnabar parried Pearl’s spear. “She is! She’s broken! She’s dead!”

Every head snapped to Tourmaline’s face. The gem's eyes had popped open, dripping with malice. Gone was the firm anxiety of Tourmaline, gone was the kind understanding of Steven. These were cold, harried, murderous eyes. Cracks threaded across their whole body, whole pieces dropping to the hot sand as Tourmaline pushed themselves up from Garnet’s lap. Their eyes, mad, glinting things possessed with desperation to die with a reason, only had interest in Cinnabar.