“Because it was the only way.” Defeat dampens my words. “He wouldn’t agree to anything else. I have to get out of here. Ihaveto try to get to Valen. The poison was the only bargaining chip I had left.”
“Well, I guess you got what you wanted out of that bargain, didn’t you? A one-way trip to your death. Maybe that’s what you’ve been after all along.” Bitterness sours his tone. “Or are you hoping Valen will turn you? Is that it?”
I stare up at him. “You really don’t know me at all.”
His gaze strays to my mouth, then back to my eyes before he pushes off the wall and grabs my elbow, pulling me along with him.
Uncomfortable silence falls between us as we trudge deeper into the base, passing a few guards who all stand at attention for Gage.
By the time we get to the helicopter pad, I’m drenched in sweat with a headache pounding between my temples.
“Sir.” A soldier salutes and climbs into the helicopter, then offers me a hand up.
“I’ve got her.” Gage lifts me easily, and I take a few shaky steps before collapsing into the hard seat. He follows me in, his hands quick with the straps.
I pull on the headphones. This set has noise, the pilot speaking about sunrise. I lean back and close my eyes as the machinery clanks and whirs, lifting us to the surface of a new day. We take off, a cold wind whipping through the open doors as we soar over the quiet landscape.
I think of Evie and Wyatt, of them walking into the lab and discovering my hastily scrawled goodbye and notes about the vaccine. In a way I’m glad I wasn’t able to say goodbye in person. It was hard enough the first time, when I’d sent them fleeing from DC. Doing it again, especially now that I know what I’m walking into, would’ve been so much harder. They’ve already lost so much, survived so much. I left them with what I hope is a sort of peace, a knowledge that they can andwillcreate a vaccine. They are my hope for the future now, for the fate of humanity in this new Emergence Era.
“You’re wrong.” Gage speaks through the headset, surprising me from my thoughts.
I open my eyes to find him kneeling in front of me, his fingers on the bottom of my jacket.
“I know you.” He gets the zipper to catch and zips it all the way up to my neck. “I’ve known since we first met.” He gives me a look that probably would’ve melted my heart a few years ago, then he rises and sits beside me.
No more talking, there’s only the noise of the helicopter, the blasting wind, and the slight crackle of static through the headsets.
We sit arm to arm and simply wait.
For landing.
For parting.
For the end.
19
The elevator opens to the familiar gloom of the underground castle. Gage dropped me off, helping me to the ground just outside the garden, then taking off without a word. He watched me, though, his eyes on me as he retreated into the sunrise.
I hurry through the hallway and into the wide staircase landing. “Valen?” I call.
“You’re back?” Druin lands beside me so quickly I jump. He must’ve already been tracking me. “Why are you back? You’re supposed to be at some human fort.”
“Where’s Valen?”
“Gone. He left for the Black Cavern about an hour ago.”
“No.” I sink onto the stairs, my legs going weak. “No.”
“What are you doing here?” He drops a few steps in front of me, concern in his eyes. “It’s not safe.”
“Valen’s not safe. Gregor knows.”
“Knows what?”
“That I’m alive. That Valen’s been lying to him. I don’t know how much deeper it goes, but that’s enough for him t-to—” I shake, my vision going black.
Come to me NOW.
