"You both now share April's heart." "The Governors." "Now, who might you be?" "Thrown me out." " He likes you." " No." "No-one likes me." "What if that's forever?" "Then it's forever." "Do you know the feeling of dread?" "The anchor is prepared, Your Majesty." "Once I attach it, it will hold the heart in your body and you will be whole again." "The results should be immediate." "And there, the anchor is set." "It's failing... failing..." "The heart still leaves my body." "The anchor has not worked." "The connection is... not even stronger." "Do you believe this to be an acceptable state of affairs for the king of the Shadow Kin?" "He who leads the war of the underneath?" "No, Majesty." "Name your failure." "We were..." "We?" "I... believed an anchor of our lifeblood would hold the heart in our world." "It did not." "I deserve death." "I can hear her thoughts." "I can feel her stronger than ever." "Oh, my..." "Break a string?" "That was emphatic." "Something you want to tell me, April?" "What?" "No, nothing." "Why?" "He's out." " I know." " He contacted you?" "He's even got the same number." "What did he say?" "I didn't answer." "I'm ok, Mum, really." "Ok." "You seem like you've been feeling a bit better." "I'm doing ok, Dad." "Better." "I made some new friends." "You haven't told Mum about my leg, have you?" "You asked me not to." "I just don't want her worrying, Dad." "I don't like the thought of you facing anything alone." "We'll always fight for you, and with you, if you let us." "Still, so long as this business is all finished and there are no more actual aliens still hanging about." " You lied." " I did." "Because sometimes princes have to lie?" "Because these are the souls of every Rhodian who's ever lived." "Everyone I've ever known, my family, people I love." "Mm." "Mm." "I'm in charge of protecting them." "And because it is not empty, it is also a weapon." "It's also a weapon." "April." "Oh, hey." "So I guess I'll see you later, then." "Yeah, bye." "Oh, no, wait." "Ram!" "I never found out what the F stood for." "Francis." "Miss Quill, I believe." "Yes." "I've been wanting to meet you." "Dorothea Anes, new head teacher." "Right." "That was quick." "True, but people who go missing from Coal Hill have a distressing tendency to stay that way, don't you find?" "I don't know, I've only been here a few months." "Don't listen to an old gossip like me but I particularly wanted to meet you, Miss Quill?" "Me?" " The governors speak highly of you." " The governors?" "My dear, if you're going to answer everything I say with a question, well, then, we'll be fine friends because I do like being the one with the answers." "Well, I've never met the governors." "They think you're a frightfully useful member of staff." "Must get on!" "So you've never had a parents' evening?" "Princes tend not to." "My parents always come but this time..." "Well, maybe Quill can have a meeting with herself about the both of you and be done with it." "We do have other classes." "I'd like to know my progress." "How I can improve." "Don't we want to be better students to help our parents?" "What?" "You know, I don't think Quill's gonna go for that." "Ah, I'll just order her to." "I mean, my future improvement is a kind of personal protection." "It's not hard to forget he's an alien, is it?" "Yeah, that's true." "Is he... all human?" "You know, like... down there?" "No?" "ok, well, I'll see you later." "Bye." "So, I just know that you'll all have done your reading." "Context for discussion of today's topic is the mindset of a soldier." "338,000 men evacuated, 100,000 of them straight from the beach, and you are one of them." "What are you thinking as the boats arrive?" "Am I going to get bombed?" "Well, the Wehrmacht cut them off." "And they very well could have been bombed at any time." "So rescue is on the horizon, but are you going to make it?" "Yeah, but that's what war is, though, isn't it?" "You're always waiting to die." "You have no idea what war is." "Sorry, what was that, April?" "We sit here and talk about war like we have the first clue." "The mindset of the soldier." "How can anyone here even guess?" "Well, imagination is an act of empathy." "Of course we don't know what it was actually like." "No, you don't." "But we can try to put ourselves in their shoes." "And why would anyone want to have empathy for that bunch of cowards?" "Well, it's true the evacuation was not without its controversies, but we're going to talk about that later on." "If you sign up for war, you sign up to die." " That's harsh." " Yeah, that is a bit." "My dad's in the army." "He didn't sign up to die." "He signed up so other people wouldn't die." "Don't you think that the other soldiers signed up for the same thing?" "Somebody always dies in war." "Well, yes, and that's what we're after, April." "We're trying to get inside the fear that those soldiers..." "Fear?" "What use is a soldier with fear?" "The cowards should be weeded out of every single army." "The soldiers at Dunkirk should have stayed and fought and died." "'Cause who would want to live as a coward anyway?" "Most human beings." "What is your problem?" "I don't, um..." "What was I saying?" "Ram." " What's wrong?" " Something weird is happening." "Want to skip class?" "All the matter in its core is crushed into an infinite void of blackness." "You want me to what?" "Parents' evening." "It's apparently quite common." "I am not going to your other teachers hat in hand to ask after your wellbeing." "Your job is to protect me." "This protects my future prospects." "Hello!" "They're not even supposed to know we live together." "Figure something out." "You're always going on about how clever you are." "If we had ever met on the battlefield..." "We didn't and we won't." "Do this." "I command it." " I don't want to die, Ram." " You're not going to die." "I'll tell the others." "I'll tell Quill." "She's the one who had the gun." "There will be a way to fix this." "You're not going to die." "But it's just what happens now, isn't it?" "We killed the coat, we killed that lanky thing." "Anyone who wants to kill you is gonna have to come through me." "Oh, Ram." "They probably will." " Who is that?" " Oh, no." "That's your dad." "Stay here." "How dare you?" "!" "How dare you just show up?" "You won't answer any of my phone calls, you won't respond to any of my letters." "You're breaking the law." "You know you're not supposed to contact me except by letter and even then..." "I just..." "I just want..." "Maybe you should leave." " Maybe you should leave right now." " I can handle this, Ram." "Because that's what you don't know." " You expect me to be afraid of you." " No, I don't." "I'm not." "You have no idea the things that I've seen." "I just..." "I wanted..." "I needed to apologise." "For trying to kill us?" "!" "For paralysing Mum?" "I miss my daughter." "I miss my family." "Ow!" "Maybe you should run." "Ram?" "It's ok." "I'm fairly certain this isn't school grounds." "I believe you both should be in Ms Quill's physics lesson right now." " Correct?" " I'm sorry." " Who are you?" " Your new head teacher." "Oh." "We were just..." "Helping out a student who's under the weather." "Good citizenship, Mr Singh." "Please, take Ms MacLean home." "Hope you feel better soon and we'll see you tomorrow." "How did she know what classes we're in on, like, her first day?" "Alien." "Can you take me home?" "Yeah, absolutely." "How does it work?" "It only responds to the Rhodian leader." "I... activate it and... and each soul finds one of the people you wish to eliminate." "Do not use that word." "It's a word very bad governments use." "Fine." "To kill." "And each Rhodian soul burns that other soul out of existence." "And there are..." "billions in the cabinet." "So, you could kill billions more." "Yes, but only once." "They burn themselves out while doing it." "The whole idea is that it's a single-use weapon you never have to use." "And you never would... destroy a planet, all those lives." "My planet was destroyed." "Move!" "Out of the way!" "So, it's different than a vision?" "Yeah." "It's like he's taking me over and I can't stop it." "That's not true." "You didn't attack your dad." "But I wanted to." "I wanted to kill him." "And I could have." "The Shadow King wants your heart and that's one battleground where I can guarantee you he's gonna lose." "That was so cheesy." "I know I should be laughing, but I'm touched." "I mean it." "Majesty?" "How many worlds have I made submit?" "How much light have I extinguished with shadow?" " Never enough." " Never... enough." "We are a trick." "We are... an accident." "We should never have been born into this universe of light." "But we were." "Yes, Majesty." "This war cannot be paused because its leader is sharing his heart with a little girl." "Your Majesty is in need of you, Kharrus." "And I will fulfil His Majesty's needs." "I have a different way to cure your heart." "We need to tell the others." " We can help you, April." " I'm sure we can." "I know, but, you see..." "I'm frightened." "I've been frightened non-stop for the last month." "I actually found a grey hair yesterday." " Hey, Ram?" " Mm?" "You know that war I told you I was fighting every day?" "Against the world breaking." "I'm losing." "How far to the girl's world?" "Space travel would take 9,000 years, which is why we're searching for the cracks that lead to it instead." "Still... you found the system." "How?" "The frequency and wavelength at which Your Majesty's heart disappears, it suggests a specific distance." "There were 27 systems that fit the criteria, but this one is the only one that plausibly matches our experiences there." "Ours?" "You fought with us?" "Yes, Majesty." "I am a warrior in His Majesty's horde." "Somewhere there, this heart beats." "And Rannus did one thing right." "His anchor is going to lead us right to it." "But the difference now is you're not fighting this alone." "Is that a line?" "Is that what?" "Oh, April..." "The heart itself must slip through a tear in space and time in order to beat." "It's only a matter of tracking it properly." "Your work impresses, Kharrus." "I..." "I..." "I..." "Majesty?" "Are you unwell, Majesty?" "I can feel her..." "April, is this really ok?" "I'm afraid all the time." "And you're one of the only things that makes me feel safe because you've seen everything that I have." "You make me feel safe too." "Shall I...?" "Majesty!" "You are showing the colours of the maiden." "I'm not hurting you, am I?" "No." "Am I hurting you?" "The opposite, I think." "Oh!" "Are you not into it?" "No, it's just..." "You're regretting it, as is the King's prerogative." "No!" "It's not that!" "It's the girl." "I trust Your Majesty is satisfied!" "I don't suppose... we could have a moment of cuddling?" "You're shaking again." "It's been a weird month." "Yeah." "I..." "She's influencing me somehow." "Rannus's anchor is making the connection stronger." "I will not have it!" "The heart is not injured." "But it's not the heart of a Shadow King!" "I may have a solution, Majesty." "I think it's passed." " I think it's passed." " Ok." "But that's it." "I'm calling the others right now." "Isn't this the wrong season for blooming?" "I don't know." "I've yet to see the seasons here." "Um..." "I don't think I like how you order Miss Quill around." " What?" " It's a punishment, isn't it?" "But she's meant to protect you, not be your servant." " Or your slave." " I know." "I don't know how many times I've had this exact conversation with her myself." "My dad used to say people don't set out to be monsters." "They... start by getting a little taste for it, and then they like it so they taste some more." "And then, before you know it..." "I'm not being monstrous." "I'm being just." "Please, don't question the morality of my culture." "He doesn't like it when you do that." "If the morality of your culture keeps on looking like slavery, you're not really gonna stop me from asking questions..." "You don't know what she did." "You don't know what we suffered." "And my control over the creature inside her head may be the only thing keeping us all alive." "But she's helping us here." "And the world which you both may have done things on is gone." "Miss Quill is my business and I'll thank you to stay out of it." "Oh, I really don't think you want to go talking to ME like royalty, Prince." " There is something weird here." " With flower petals?" "What do you want?" "There's something urgent I need to sort at home." "I assume you'll be performing the parent and teacher duties at parents' evening, for Charlie." "Charlie..." "Smith... is it?" "We don't see so many Smiths these days." "It's rather like John." "Have you noticed no-one under the age of 35 is called John anymore?" "Please, sit." "I won't bite." "It is interesting, though." "The work I had to do to track down your story." "Does he at least have a name?" " It's Ram." " I wasn't asking you." "Mum, it's ok." "Really?" "!" "You should still be on your way home from school." "Did they give you a note for this?" "We didn't... plan it." "Do I even need to ask if you used protection?" " Ohh..." " It's ok." "I had some condoms." "Ram..." "Well, I didn't want her to think bad of you." "She saw her dad." "Ram!" "He just showed up at the school, where he wasn't supposed to." "She was upset." "I took her home." "That's all I've got to say." "Don't let this chair fool you." "If you hurt my daughter..." "I will kill you." "April's my friend." "If you need me..." "What did your dad say?" " I'm calling the police." " Mum, no, just leave it." "Leave it?" "!" "What is going on today?" "!" "You've never even mentioned that boy's name to me, April!" "We've... got stuff in common." "I'll bet that's what he says." "Mum, he's not Dad!" "Oh, sweetie..." "Neither was your dad at first." "Tanya?" "April's in trouble." "All this fascinating information, and the only thing I keep thinking to myself is... you don't really seem like an Andrea." "Yeah, well, everyone calls me Quill." "Look, is this about the parents' evening because I..." "This isn't the 1950s." "Trust me when I say I've seen more unusual housing arrangements than yours and Charlie's." "Guardianship is quite common." "Yeah..." "Slightly trickier with Matteusz, but... he's 17 and that's borderline on his own wishes versus those of his parents." " And if they throw him out..." " How do you know all this?" "The Governors like a well-run school." "Ah, yes." "Well, I've seen some of the resources of the Governors." "Yes." "Robots are rather expensive." "Not going to be easy to replace." "Tell me, Miss Quill, have you seen any squirrels today?" "Pardon?" "Or birds?" "Heard any birdsong this morning?" "Are you quite insane?" "Aren't there more of them than a moment ago?" "Why are you giving me such a hard time about this?" "It's the duty of a prince to save his people." "Duty is another word about government." "And how is this "saving"?" "They're souls." "They've already lived their lives." "What?" "What else are you not telling me?" "It's a children's story." "In the hands of the right person, the Cabinet isn't just a weapon, it... it's a way of bringing them all back." "What?" "In the hands of a... hero, the souls take over the bodies instead of just burning them." "All of Rhodia's reborn in a different shape." "An entire race is still killed." "I know." "And you... you think you are this hero?" "No." "No!" "I told you, it's a children's story, a way of believing in heaven." " So you don't believe it!" " It's hope!" "I know it's stupid and childish and no adult Rhodian ever believed in it, but it's hope." "Of course I'm not this hero, but if I can keep the Cabinet safe, maybe, one day..." "Ram said April's body's been taken over by the Shadow Kin." "Uh, his voice sounded kind of funny." "I think they had sex." "Ram and the Shadow Kin?" "I..." "Ugh." "Inert." "No apparent intelligence." "Nothing we can argue with." "Just a plant with an appetite." "Ahh." "Watch." "I fed one of these an hour ago." "And from that single drop of blood, it's doubled, doubled, doubled again." "And it's eating squirrels." "Probably all it can manage at this point." "But not for long." "We think a single petal slipped in through a crack in space-time just last night, and look how it's proliferated." "And it's not stopping." "Doubled, doubled, doubled again." "Well, so those of us that it doesn't eat..." "Will be swamped." "Suffocated." "Oh, we are quite doomed." "Unless you help us." "Oh, there's a way, trust me." "And I have been authorised to say that if you help us solve our little problem here we may well be able to help you solve yours." "Mine?" "How would you like to get that little creature out of your head once and for all?" "How would you like your own free will back, to do with whatever you please?" "Rhanis hoped the anchor on the heart alone would be enough to keep it in this world." "I know this, Kharrus!" "But he was too cowardly to go the extra step, to attach the body of Your Majesty to the anchor as well." "So, if the heart goes..." "I go with it." "Or it brings her here." "Or you may both die, as your shared heart is torn in two." "That was why he hesitated." "That was why he failed." "You are here to make sure that does not happen." "I understand, Your Majesty." "We're not finished speaking, young lady." "I can't leave it that way with Ram." " Jackie, I'm..." "I..." "I..." "I..." " You're not welcome here." "You know the rules of the court order." "Yeah, I'm here because there's something wrong with our daughter." "There will be constant injuries to you while I link the anchor to your body and the heart beats in and out of it." "I will be constantly healing you, but the pain will be great." "Are you ready?" "I am." "You will not speak to me of my daughter." "OUR daughter." "And that is exactly how you will not speak of her!" "She threatened me today!" "With s... swords!" "Swords?" "They're more like... scimitars." "Should you succeed, there is room on the throne by my side." "You honour me, Majesty!" "Yes, I do." "Now!" "I'm still waiting for an answer." "Aagh!" "April?" "!" "April!" " Agh!" " April?" "!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "I can feel it." "I can feel our..." "He's... trying to... take it." "Who's trying to take what?" "Your father?" "No." "Oh..." "No, baby, I'm not." "I'm not." "I'm not." "She's fighting it!" "She's a girl." "You are a warrior of the Shadow Kin!" " You will beat her!" " Yes, Majesty." "No!" "No!" "You can't have it!" " We don't want you!" " April, what's happening?" "Jackie, call the police." "Call an ambulance!" "Ugh!" "It isn't working." "She is opposing our will." "You took everything from us." " I..." "I..." "I know." " I..." "I can never apologise enough." "You should still be in prison!" "April, please!" "You put her in that chair!" "I know, but, love..." "Don't treat me like your daughter!" "Oh!" "You did teach me one thing, though, Dad." "Stop moving!" "You made me strong, because I had to be!" "You are not my father anymore." "You are not a part of this family." "Alright." "I deserve that." "And I will go away if you want me to." "I'll never come back." "It's too late for that." "You have failed." "You have failed." "April, what the hell is going on?" "!" "The science has failed." "You have made things worse." "Your Majesty, I have not yet finished." "Yes, you have." " Her heart is strong." " My heart is strong." " It fights back, like mine used to." " It fights back." "It always has." "April, don't!" "Why not?" "He tried to take his life, and ours with it!" "Why shouldn't I finish the job?" "Because that's not what April would do." "Majesty, please." "If you would only let me..." "You have no idea what I would do." "You have no idea what I'm capable of!" "I know exactly what you're capable of." "But you are April because you choose not to do it." "You told me you wouldn't let him break you." "And I won't." "I'll break him instead." "April!" "April, no, please." "Don't do this." "You... you will be merciful." "April, don't!" "You took from us." "You took so much!" "You made me hate you." " I'm so sorry." "I'm so sorry." " No!" "No." "April." "April, what's going on?" " I don't think that you can save me." " April..." "Forgive me." "April, what are you doing?" "!" "April..." "What... have you done?" "My God, April." "What have you done?" "What have you done?" "I..." "He knows." "He's found me." "I know where she is." "And I know the cracks to get to her." "What do you know?" "You succeeded." "Our connection..." "He's followed the trail!" "He's coming here!" "He's gonna kill us all!" "I can't let him do that." "Prepare for war." "We are going to a planet, and we are going to kill EVERYONE on it." "He knows where I am." "But I know where YOU are!" "And how to find you!" "April..." "My God!" "That's their home, that's... that's the Realm of the Shadow Kin." "April, what are you doing?" "!" "I'm gonna go get my heart back." "April, no!" " Tell my dad." " Ram?" "Ram, what are you doing?" "!" "Whaa!" "April's gone." "I need you to get her back." "Priorities have changed, Charles." "We're under attack." "They'll bury us by tomorrow morning." "Ugh!"