in my nose is a warning and a reminder, to me and everyone else.
Rain is deadly.
“You're going to train.” Julian breaks through my thoughts.
I nod. I don’t have a choice, I don’t say.
But I can’t be vulnerable anymore. I can’t run from every little thing that scares me. “Why are they after me? Why now?”
“They need you. We're not sure why yet. As for why now , I’ve got a theory.”
“Tell me,” I say, climbing up the steps behind him. He turns back with his hand on the Tower door.
“The metal and glass are locked up because of Earth. There were people before Gage who tried to build scopes, too. If humans knew Earth existed, they would draw courage from it’s existence, they would fight back,” he says softly. My eyebrows furrow. “The Jute want to make sure we stay here. They want to keep us contained until they leave.”
“Leave?” I ask. Fight back? I want to ask.
He meets my eyes. “For Earth. They have a ship, fuel, provisions. They lack one thing.”
A ship. The Jute want to live on Earth, which belongs to humans.
“Gage wanted Earth more than anything. The Jute need one person more than anything. If you ask me, it's the perfect trade.”
Everything clicks then. The Jute coming after me. Gage keeping me a secret from my own father.
“More than anything. More than me,” I whisper.
He would have traded me for passage to Earth.
“I'm sorry, Lissa.”
But I don't understand. They have everything they need to get to Earth—a ship, provisions, fuel. So why me?
The man with the answer is dead.
I stare out the tinted window at the rain that falls for the first time since Gage's death. Maybe the sky has finally remembered to mourn his loss, for it falls in the thickest torrents I’ve ever seen.
I mourn him even now, knowing what he would have done to me. Would he have mourned me this same way, after handing me over to the Jute he always cautioned me from?
I shake my head. It doesn’t matter. I look around to distract myself, but my mind drifts to Rowan and the ship Julian spoke of. How can their entire mission depend on me?
The room door opens and closes.
I meet Slate’s eyes.
“You were an experiment to Gage,” he says before I can part my lips to apologize.
I gasp. I never liked gasping, betraying so much in a single inhale. But I can't help it now.
“It isn't nearly as bad as it sounds. He told me the night I arrested him. He studied you, took blood samples every day.” He studies my reaction, which is nothing but an empty stare. “You never knew?”
I shake my head. But how did he take it without me knowing? Where did he have the equipment to test it? There are so many snippets of new knowledge I have to embed into my head, and so much more I need to know.
“He studied your bone structure, your lungs. He studied the others too, half-breeds like Julian. Where their lungs are weakened by excessive amounts of oxygen, yours aren't. You can breathe both without consequence.”
Which explains why Julian never wears a mask.
“I'm sorry for what I said earlier,” I say.
“It’s okay,” he whispers. He steps forward and I hold my breath. He raises his hand slowly and trails his fingers through the hair that has come loose from my braid. I can't imagine how much this simple gesture means to him. A breathy laugh escapes his lips. “You have my hair, my nose. You're so… beautiful. Mine. My daughter.”
His eyes fill with anguish. “I will never see you grow up. Take your first steps, say your first word, read your first line.”
I bite the inside of my cheek. This is all Gage’s fault. How could he be so selfish?
“You'll see her do other things.” I freeze as Chancellor Kole steps into the room, his dark eyes glued to me. “Like maybe, I don’t know, try to save us all.”
This is the first time I’ve seen him since Gage’s death, and he is just as frightening as always.
“Yeah, right,” Dena snorts and walks in behind him. “You
Rain is deadly.
“You're going to train.” Julian breaks through my thoughts.
I nod. I don’t have a choice, I don’t say.
But I can’t be vulnerable anymore. I can’t run from every little thing that scares me. “Why are they after me? Why now?”
“They need you. We're not sure why yet. As for why now , I’ve got a theory.”
“Tell me,” I say, climbing up the steps behind him. He turns back with his hand on the Tower door.
“The metal and glass are locked up because of Earth. There were people before Gage who tried to build scopes, too. If humans knew Earth existed, they would draw courage from it’s existence, they would fight back,” he says softly. My eyebrows furrow. “The Jute want to make sure we stay here. They want to keep us contained until they leave.”
“Leave?” I ask. Fight back? I want to ask.
He meets my eyes. “For Earth. They have a ship, fuel, provisions. They lack one thing.”
A ship. The Jute want to live on Earth, which belongs to humans.
“Gage wanted Earth more than anything. The Jute need one person more than anything. If you ask me, it's the perfect trade.”
Everything clicks then. The Jute coming after me. Gage keeping me a secret from my own father.
“More than anything. More than me,” I whisper.
He would have traded me for passage to Earth.
“I'm sorry, Lissa.”
But I don't understand. They have everything they need to get to Earth—a ship, provisions, fuel. So why me?
The man with the answer is dead.
I stare out the tinted window at the rain that falls for the first time since Gage's death. Maybe the sky has finally remembered to mourn his loss, for it falls in the thickest torrents I’ve ever seen.
I mourn him even now, knowing what he would have done to me. Would he have mourned me this same way, after handing me over to the Jute he always cautioned me from?
I shake my head. It doesn’t matter. I look around to distract myself, but my mind drifts to Rowan and the ship Julian spoke of. How can their entire mission depend on me?
The room door opens and closes.
I meet Slate’s eyes.
“You were an experiment to Gage,” he says before I can part my lips to apologize.
I gasp. I never liked gasping, betraying so much in a single inhale. But I can't help it now.
“It isn't nearly as bad as it sounds. He told me the night I arrested him. He studied you, took blood samples every day.” He studies my reaction, which is nothing but an empty stare. “You never knew?”
I shake my head. But how did he take it without me knowing? Where did he have the equipment to test it? There are so many snippets of new knowledge I have to embed into my head, and so much more I need to know.
“He studied your bone structure, your lungs. He studied the others too, half-breeds like Julian. Where their lungs are weakened by excessive amounts of oxygen, yours aren't. You can breathe both without consequence.”
Which explains why Julian never wears a mask.
“I'm sorry for what I said earlier,” I say.
“It’s okay,” he whispers. He steps forward and I hold my breath. He raises his hand slowly and trails his fingers through the hair that has come loose from my braid. I can't imagine how much this simple gesture means to him. A breathy laugh escapes his lips. “You have my hair, my nose. You're so… beautiful. Mine. My daughter.”
His eyes fill with anguish. “I will never see you grow up. Take your first steps, say your first word, read your first line.”
I bite the inside of my cheek. This is all Gage’s fault. How could he be so selfish?
“You'll see her do other things.” I freeze as Chancellor Kole steps into the room, his dark eyes glued to me. “Like maybe, I don’t know, try to save us all.”
This is the first time I’ve seen him since Gage’s death, and he is just as frightening as always.
“Yeah, right,” Dena snorts and walks in behind him. “You
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