Erik waited until the last of the light had gone before he said it.
"We go inside."
Kai lifted his head from the parapet. "Now? I thought we were going to sit up here and freeze with dignity."
"We're no use to Alex like this. And we're no use to anyone if something finds us on this roof." Erik looked at the other two. Killian was propped against the water tank with his eyes shut, and the skin under them had gone the color of a bruise. "Time runs fast in there. A few minutes out here is a day in there. We can rest properly and be back before anyone below knows we left."
"The skiff," Killian said, without opening his eyes.
"Right."
Kai crawled to the edge and dragged the skiff's rope up hand over hand, wincing at every pull. They hauled it onto the roof between them. Erik laid his good palm against the plating and reached for the thin silver thread that had tied him to Penelope's space since the day he signed his name in blood.
