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“No,” Faith says. “They are deep in the bowels of the city; too far to pursue, and only the Lyran has been given the way.”
“Why?” I ask. My tone is harsher than I intend. I want to make sure they’re safe, to be with them again.
“I don’t know why they pick the people they do,” Faith says. She gives me another shrug, like she’s as helpless as the rest of us even when she knows so much. “Their choices elude me.”
“Who are they?”
Faith closes her mouth and stares vacantly at the foliage, her brow furrowed.
“Faith?” I ask.
She just shakes her head.
I reach for the IV in my arm, pulling off the medical cuff. Ravik doesn’t try to stop me; the dock wouldn’t have woken me up if I wasn’t deemed healthy enough to stand. Still, I struggle to find my balance, swaying slightly before tilting backward on my tail.
“We’ll meet with Jaya soon,” Ravik says. “I need to go back to the cortex. Faith—do what you will.”
She nods once and continues to sit in silence as Ravik spins on his heel to leave. I glance at her in confusion.
“Do you need help getting anywhere?” I ask.
Faith shakes her head with a wan smile. “No,” she says. “I can always find my way on azephtan.”
I find her unnerving.
I leave her behind.
Ravik is just ahead of me when I head out onto the spine, my pace still wobbly. My head swims as I try to get my bearings, the ride bumpy compared to Jaya’s smooth flight patterns.
“How long have I been out?” I ask. “How does Faith know Malix and Frankie are safe?”
“I don’t know how she knows the things she does,” Ravik says over his shoulder. “And you’ve been out for…I don’t know, a day in Liatran time? We haven’t had any transmissions from them, so I have to assume they’re still headed to their destination.”
“Awfully presumptuous of you to say that,” I snap as we cross into the cortex.
Ravik rounds on me.
“You’re lucky I came back for you at all,” he hisses.
His tail twitches as he stares me down, his eyes blazing red. I balk at his challenge, even though he’s only just reached my height. He’s still so young, and growing more temperamental by the day.
“Every moment that we stay in the Five Houses is a moment when Faith is unsafe,” he says. “And I don’t want to know what Dalphox would do with her if she was caught.”
“You didn’t have to come back,” I say.
“She was insistent,” Ravik interrupts. “Faith told me that if we didn’t return for you, you might die. And now you’re alive and all you can do is tell me I’m wrong—”
“I’m not trying to argue with you,” I say. “Ravik…I’m just worried about them. You must understand that, right?”
“Of course,” Ravik says. “But…trust her. She hasn’t been wrong yet.”
I look through Ikaray’s eyes just in time to see a wormhole open in the distance, a much largerzephtancoming into view. Jaya—I would recognize her anywhere. Soon, I’ll be home again, and Ravik will be…
“You’re actually leaving,” I say, my voice heavy.
“Even if I wanted to stay, the oracle has chosen me to take her out of this system—out of this galaxy,” Ravik says. “And Taraven…there is too much pain here. Too many bad memories, too much loss.” His fist tightens where it rests on the communications console, his jaw tense. “I fear that staying would kill me.”
I swallow hard. “Well—regardless of what happens next, thank you for rescuing me. I’ll always think of you as a brother, Ravik.”
