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“Yeah, you can’t,” said Cait matter-of-factly. “But no one can. We’re all blind in some way. Just simple, stupid humans.”
I laughed despite my mood. “Is that supposed to be motivational?”
“Nope. Just the truth.” She shook her head, her wild curls swinging. “You’ll never get it all right, so stop expecting to.”
“But Cait,” I said, “we’re talking about getting people killed. Even the average person can manage to not do that.”
“That’s because they’re not trying to change the world,” she said.
“Then maybe I should stop trying.”
“Go ahead.” She smiled as if she knew I couldn’t stop, even if I wanted to.
I genuinely wondered if I should. I could hide away on a lonely island. I could even sail away in hopes that there were other inhabitable lands somewhere out there. But the same tug that had pulled me back to Graham now pulled me toward my father.
And, honestly, I doubted my heart would let me leave either of them.
Keane approached with a piece of jerky hanging from his mouth, handing me a piece. “Mornin’, my friends.” He looked at me. “You kinda look like someone died.”
“A bunch of peoplediddie,” I said in a monotone, “if you remember. But at the moment, this is the face of a wanted criminal wondering how on earth I’m going to get back into the city once we arrive at Cambria.”
“Why do you wanna go back anyway? Didn’t you leave for a reason?”
“I . . . I’m worried about my father,” I said.
Keane started to run a hand through his hair, but it got caught in the long tangles and he quickly gave up. “How’d you get out before?”
“I climbed the wall,” I said. “I’ve been cooped up in the grounds of my house for most of my life, so wall climbing kind ofbecame my pastime, but now, with Cael in power, I can’t go back to my same methods. I’m sure he’s increased security.”
“Wall climbing?” Keane whistled. “Sheesh. No way I would’ve done that anyway.”
“Then what’syourplan?” I asked.
He took a bite of his jerky and chewed thoughtfully. “Rumor has it that the aqueducts lead under the city wall,” said Keane. “I mean, the water has to leave the city somewhere, so it makes sense.”
I shook my head. “I’ve been in those—and it almost killed me. I don’t recommend it.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “You’ve done everything, blondie.”
“If only,” I said. There was so much more I’dneverdone. I felt like a person with an unlived life, with long, friendless years of staying home to make up for.
“Didyouever leave the city?” I asked. “I mean, before you were banished?”
He nodded. “Aye.”
I waited for him to elaborate. “And?”
He took another bite of his jerky. “Not much to say. It wasn’t an escape.”
I raised an eyebrow waiting for an explanation. Few but the family in power and the highest-ranked members of the Academy were allowed to step foot outside the wall.
Keane sighed. “I don’t much like to tell people this, but my father was high up in the Academy, so I had a few privileges. In fact, a few years before I got banished, Brennin selected him as First Immortal.”
My mouth fell open. “Sir Pearce?”
Keane shrugged. “What can I say? I was a disappointment, to say the least.”
“You’re Pearce’s son?” I said. Now that he said it, it triggered a vague memory of my father telling me that the First Immortal used to have a son, but I had no idea what had happened to him. “But you can’t be. Wasn’t his name?—”
