33
“What?” I ask while Rook types furiously on his screen, panic flashing over his expression.
“Navy just messaged me.”
“Your family?” I ask. “Are they okay?”
“I’m not sure. We should head back.”
“Of course.” Quickly, we climb down the ladder and jump to the bottom. It isn’t until we reach the street that I remember we left the rest of the cake behind.
“Who attacked?” I ask as we speed walk through the streets.
“They’re not totally sure, but all signs point to The Shield. She says Justin and my parents are all fine.”
He runs a hand through his hair, his chest expanding, and I feel his relief as it becomes my own.
“Thank Skies for that,” I say. “How did they find Cloudspire at all?”
“That’s what we need to find out.” He ceases walking so abruptly that it takes me a few steps to realize he’s stopped. “I need to go to them,” he says. “Right now.”
“Okay,” I say slowly. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Your family is more than capable of handling this.”
He doesn’t answer as he starts walking again, and I hurry to catch up.
Rook types a few more messages back and forth with his sister as we enter Amery and head down to our room.
He immediately starts packing a bag, throwing things into it without really looking.
I can’t stand the thought of being separated from him.
Maybe a part of me worries that if he leaves now, he’ll never come back, and I’ll never see him again.
“I’ll come with you,” I say. It’s probably a terrible idea, but the words leave my mouth before I can stop them. Rook pauses, his expression falling.
“No, you have to stay here. If you disappear again, they’ll suspect something is up. I don’t think you can convince them you’re innocent a second time.”
His words are a slap to my spirit.
He must sense it, because he immediately crosses the room, cupping my face in his hands. “Please. Stay here. Otherwise, I’ll be worrying about you too much. You’re safer here.”
“I thought you said I’d be safer in the Veil.”
“You aren’t safe anywhere, Poet, but at least for now, you can lie low.”
“I’ll worry about you,” I whisper.
He kisses me softly. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
His phone rings, and he pulls away to answer it.
“Dad,” he breathes as he runs a hand through his hair.
I hear a garble of words from High Commander Athira on the other end of the line as Rook starts pacing again.
“I’m coming—” Rook says, cutting off when his father starts speaking again. “But . . . I . . .” He answers in stilted phrases, stopping every few seconds while he runs a frustrated hand down his face. “Dad.”
More talking from the other end, and then that’s it.
Rook lowers the phone. “He said I should stay here,” he says, his voice hollow. “That I need to stick to the plan.”
I don’t say anything for a moment. I agree with Summit, but Rook is obviously upset about his father’s order. He blows out a frustrated huff and then sinks onto the edge of the bed, cradling his phone in his hands, staring at the darkened screen.
“Is everyone okay?” I ask, and he nods, hair falling in his eyes.
“A few injuries but no casualties. They’re pretty sure all the attackers were captured. The threat is over, and they don’t need me.”
I pull over a chair and settle in front of Rook, reaching out to take his hand. “Who were they?”
“The Shield often sends out scouting parties to search for our locations. We scramble their device signals whenever they’re within a defined radius so they can’t immediately report back.
Normally, we’re able to stop them before they can contact the city.
Cloudspire has the widest radius of all. They’ve never gotten this close.”
“Do you think General Sol told them?” I ask.
“My father doesn’t think so. She’s known about Cloudspire for years, so why would she reveal it now when we’ve formed an alliance?”
“So either it’s a coincidence, or someone got the information from her?”
“Those seem to be the most likely explanations.”
“What if she’s hurt? I wonder if we can get a message to her.”
Rook shakes his head. “My dad’s working on it. They have ways of communicating if they need to.”
“So what now?”
“We have to consider moving,” he says.
“How? That would be such a massive undertaking.”
He nods. “Yes, but one we’ve always been prepared for. We understood at some point that we might be exposed no matter how careful we are.”
“Where would you go?”
“We have other locations earmarked. It will take time, and it might not be necessary, but someone will start assessing the possibilities.”
“But that’s your home,” I say softly. “It isn’t fair.”
He offers me a grim look. “This is how life is in the Veil, Poet. Everything is temporary. Everything is always on the edge of being taken away.”
“I hate this,” I say. “I hate all of this.”
“I know,” he replies. “But it does no good to dwell on things we can’t change. We need to find the cure and get out of here. If The Shield wants to keep hiding it from their people, that’s up to them, but once we have it, everything in my world will change.”
His world. Not mine.
Again, the future sits between us.
The question of what happens if and when we find that cure.
He’s made it clear where he stands, and I must reckon with the fact that I will have a choice to make.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
We still have a massive, nearly impossible task ahead of us. First, I have to get close to Trinity and find out what she knows. Maybe nothing. If she’s a dead-end lead, we’ll have to find another way. Rook is counting on me, and I can’t let him down.
“We’ll find it,” I say. “I promise. I want to do this for you and the people you love.”
“Why?”
“Because I love you,” I whisper.
“I love you, too. But . . .”
Even though I’m sitting down, it feels like the floor falls from under my feet. “But . . . what?”
“But don’t make promises you can’t keep,” he says quietly, staring at his blank screen. “That only leads to disappointment.”