“Listen up, ‘Lina,” Pascale said, not raising her eyes. “Yeah, it looks bad. Real bad. An’ I’m not feelin’ real hot about our chances here. But…” She rolled her shoulders, sending waves cascading through her abused cape as it billowed gently in the wind. “Back when I first metcha, ya remember what ya asked me?”
Kalina clutched her book tightly to her chest. She screwed her eyes shut, feeling the comforting, albeit inexplicable, heat of The Collected Journals through the fabric of her tunic. It didn’t take much trawling through her memory to pick that one out. “I-I asked what you th-thought a hero was.”
“That’s right.” Pascale finally picked her head up, starlight shimmering in her eyes. “I toldja then that I needed to think on that one for a bit. But now I got an answer for ya. A hero - that’s someone who never gives up on what’s right, even when times are bad. An’ you an’ me, ‘Lina? We’re gonna be heroes.” She smiled, her teeth gleaming underneath the blood dripping down her face. “Now let’s go make our last stand.”