***
“You're right,” she said as she and Annie hurried across the busy road, heading to the Tube station. “London is getting faster. And noisier. And dirtier.”
“Yep,” Annie said with a grin. “Admit it, you love it.”
Kate smiled, but the truth was, she felt as if her life in the city was becoming disconnected. Everything on Thaxos had flowed with such graceful ease, whereas the edges of her life in London suddenly felt fragmented and sharp. The island had changed her.