"In their defense, they were fighting off a coup and environmental collapse at the time," Kate says, but she's not sure why she's defending Ranna. Bitch wouldn't even give them the help they needed to save Will when he started turning into a Psillobar. "We were people they could trust not to have an agenda and Magnus's name goes a long way in our world."

She makes a face, then shoves her hair back, twisting it back into a knot. "But it sucked. The protein shake tasted like shit and I had a headache for days. That's the before part. The after part... I guess the surface world found out about Hollow Earth and Praxis and the Abnormals and it got destroyed. I met a dude, like some kind of leader there, and when Magnus needed a liaison, she sent me down there and I got engaged. Get engaged. Will get engaged. Won't ever get engaged?" She's still making faces because how the fuck do you talk about something you never did, but some other you did and you might but might not ever do? Even in her head it's complicated.