A sour odor hangs in Ferro’s jail cell, like old sweat and tears. He’s slumped in a corner, one wrist chained to a pipe that runs along the wall. Another act of overkill by the Aletheians. One look at his limp body and pale complexion should tell them he’s no threat to anyone.

His shoulders drop when he sees me. “Where’s Astrid?”

“She’s safe.”

He turns away and mutters, “So she won’t even see me then.” A statement, not a question. Now that he’s been stripped of all that High Founder bravado, he looks so different. So deflated. This must be what Astrid has seen all these years: a golden boy with chiseled, almost feminine good looks. Vulnerable and insecure. Desperate for her attention.

I close the hatch behind us to shut out Kobari’s guard. What we’re about to discuss is none of his business. 

“Astrid negotiated your release,” I announce once we’re alone. “After we’ve landed in Scilla, Kobari will take you to back to Founder’s Bay, where you’ll be set free.”

Ferro aims bloodshot eyes at me. “The pirate promised to let me go? What a relief.”

“That’s right,” I say, ignoring the sarcasm. “And you won’t be traveling alone. Vin and Brenne will be going with you.”

His jaw drops, much as mine had when Astrid presented this part of her plan to me a few minutes ago.  “And they agreed to this?” he asks with an arched brow.

I nod, even though I have my doubts. Astrid’s supposed to break the news to our friends, but I can’t imagine them going along without a fight. They’ve come this far, so why would they agree to turn back now?

Ferro must be thinking the same thing, because he mutters, “You’re lying. That rabid guard dog of yours will never leave your side.”

I glare at him, realizing he’s talking about Vin.

“And Brenne won’t abandon Astrid. No, they’ll follow you straight into hellfire, which is exactly where you’re taking them. And Kobari…” His lips stretch into a joyless smile. “Once you’re gone, his men will slit my throat.”

“The Captain promised you won’t be harmed.”

“Is that a fact? And I’m supposed to trust the word of a bloody terrorist?”

“Beats the word of a traitor!”

Guess that hit a nerve. He jumps to his feet and lunges at me, but the chain jerks him backward with a loud thwack. I wait for him to regain his balance before closing the distance between us. Now he can reach me, take a swing with his free arm. I hope he tries.

“Here’s your chance, Camp Rat!” he cries, shuffling into a boxer’s stance. “I’m defenseless. No one will stop you, so do what you came to do. Finish me!”

“Finish you?” I laugh. “Aren’t you being kind of melodramatic, Fahrenheit? Sure, I hate your guts, but I’m no murderer. Besides…” I point to his cuffed wrist. “It wouldn’t exactly be a fair fight.”

“I only need one hand, Settler.”

“Then why don’t you show me?” The subnaut reactor thrums in the background, rhythmic as a war drum. “No Brax to back you up this time. No sucker punches. Just the two of us.” I place my right hand in my pocket to show him I won’t use it. “Evenly matched.”

Ferro doesn’t need to be invited twice.  He swings like he’s trying to decapitate me, but this time I’m ready. I dodge and throw a counterpunch to his gut, drawing a satisfying grunt. When he pivots to regain his footing, I grab his free arm and pin it behind his back, twisting until he gasps. If I throw my full weight into the attack now, his wrist bones will shatter like dry twigs, but I loosen my grip instead. No need to inflict real damage. Ten seconds in and he’s already beaten. I’ve made my point.

“Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way,” I say after shoving him back into his corner, “we should really get back to the tracking chip. That was your father’s idea, wasn’t it?”

He rubs his wrist, glaring up at me like a wounded animal. “Drop dead, low-blood!”

“Coming from you, I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“What in spitting flames is that supposed to mean?”

“Figure it out, Fahrenheit. It means I’d rather be fatherless than the son of a traitor.”

His jaw twitches, like I’ve just drilled into one of his molars. “My father’s not a traitor,” he growls. “How dare you –?”

“Choke on it, Peacock! We all saw the vid.”

“And you think that proves anything? Imagine you’re the Chief Justice!” He snorts as if disgusted by the mere idea. “The Prime Enforcer storms into Founder’s City with his army and gives you a choice. Either join him or watch your family get mind stripped and executed.” He jabs an accusatory finger at me. “What would you do?”

I hate to admit it but I see his point. “You’re saying your father had no choice?”

“It doesn’t matter what I say.”

“But that doesn’t explain away the tracking chip in your neck,” I point out. “Or the fact that you disabled your jamming collar.”

He jerks his head away and mutters “bloody lies” under his breath.

“Well, if you didn’t do it, then who did?”

“How in flames am I supposed to know?” He slams his fist into the wall. “Why don’t you ask your terrorist friends?”

I back away, giving him a minute to cool down before circling back to my original question. “Did you know you were chipped?”

He purses his lips, like a child refusing to take his medicine.

“Or that Gant could track you?”

More defiant silence.

“Because I’m trying to understand your thought process, Ferro. I get why you’d betray the rest of us, but what about Astrid? You know what Gant will do if he captures her.” I give him a moment to fill in the blanks. “First he’ll torture her. Then he’ll execute her, and he’ll make a public spectacle out of it. Something for both Founders and Settlers to watch live on Neoden One.”

“We’d never let that happen,” he mutters, refusing to look at me.

“Really? And how did you plan on stopping Gant?”

As I’m asking the question though, I realize he’s already let a clue slip out. He said ‘we,’ not ‘I.’ He still thinks daddy’s coming to the rescue.

“Did you really think your father would protect her?”

When his shoulders tense, I know I’ve hit another nerve. “He loves Astrid as much as I do,” he says in a strained voice. “She’s like a daughter to him.”

“What if you’re wrong about that?”

“I’m not. She would be safer…” His eyes lift to mine, daring me to disagree. “With her people.”

Her people: High Founders. As opposed to my people: Settlers, low-bloods and terrorist scum.

“But what if Gant’s controlling them?” I say, biting back my anger. “Even you must realize that’s a possibility now.”

He sighs through clenched teeth, making a sound like escaping steam. “At least Astrid would have a chance.”

“She has a chance!” I shout back. “If we can rescue her father –”

“Rescue her father?” He snorts out a laugh. “Is that why you think the terrorists are taking you to the Eastern Territory?”

I stare at him, wondering what he’s getting at. Something tells me I’m not going to like what he’s about to say.

“If they cared about Astrid’s safety,” he asks, “then why bring her to a war zone?”

I work my jaw as I wait for him to continue.

“Don’t you see, low-blood? You’ve handed the Prime Founder’s daughter over to a gang of terrorists, and now they’re bringing her to their masters.” He sneers at me. “The bleeding Sinovoss!”

I ball my hands into fists. “You’re wrong.”

“So what if I am? Taking Astrid to Scilla Rock would be even worse. The island is named after a sea monster, and with good reason.  Even the most battle-hardened Enforcers are afraid to go there.”

As much as I hate to admit it, I’m hanging on every word now. Who knew the Peacock was such a good fragging storyteller?

“Picture a fortress sitting at the tip of a narrow inlet, carved into the face of a cliff that rises…” He lifts his hand in a towering gesture.  “…hundreds of feet above sea level. If you try to approach by water, you’ll be shredded by a thousand frag guns and plasma cannons. And if you try to approach by land…” The corners of his mouth pull into a nasty smile. “Well, let’s just say that’s what they want you to do.”

“And why is that?” I challenge, suddenly wishing I could drag him along as a human shield.

“The southern approach runs through a maze of rock crevasses, trenches and blast-craters. If you’re lucky, you’ll wander into a path that’s heavily mined and die quickly. And if you’re unlucky, you’ll pick one that’s patrolled by shadow rippers.”

Shadow rippers. I study his face, trying to figure out if he’s just toying with me now. Snow rippers are bad enough, but shadow rippers are supposed to make their smaller, less aggressive cousins look like puppy dogs. I’ve seen vids of them hunting in packs, tearing a mature buffalo apart with titanium-reinforced fangs and claws.

“Don’t believe me?” he asks in that arrogant, nasal voice I’ve grown to despise. “Then just ask your terrorist friends. I’m sure they know all this already, which is why they’re manipulating Astrid into coming along. Doesn’t matter if they hand her to the Sinovoss or feed her to the rippers. Either way, they’ll get what they’re after. Think of the propaganda value her death will bring to their cause.”

I grind my teeth, telling myself he’s wrong. Thea wouldn’t lead us to our deaths, would she?

“So,” Ferro taunts, “still think you’re going on a rescue mission?”

*

I back out of Ferro’s cell and close the door, expecting to face an angry guard outside. Instead, I run smack into Astrid. Judging from her alarmed expression, I must look as shaky as I feel.

“What’s wrong?” she demands. “Is he okay?”

“Who? Ferro?”

When she bites her lip and nods, I can’t help but laugh. How is Ferro? Even now, that’s all she cares about.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?”  I snap.

“You know why.”

“No.” I shake my head. “No, I really don’t. He’s your boyfriend, Astrid. You love him, right?” I pause to give her a chance to correct me, but of course she doesn’t. “So why did you send me to see him? Who’s the coward now?”

I regret the words as soon as I say them, but it’s too late. When Astrid crosses her arms, she’s a little girl again, eyes hardening into chips of blue ice. Eight years later and we’re right back where we started, facing off on the playing fields. Fragging idiot. I haven’t learned a damn thing.

“Sorry,” I blurt. “I didn’t mean that. I –”

She grabs my arm. “Stop. You’re right.”

Wait a minute. Did she just say…? I meet her gaze and just like that, the ice thaws and she’s back: the girl who leaped from Academy Peak. Who surprised me with that kiss beneath the frozen tundra of York. Who wasn’t afraid to cry on my shoulder. Maybe she’s been there all along. Maybe I just haven’t been looking hard enough.

“I should have gone to see him first.” She clenches her jaw and I realize I’m not the source of her frustration this time. She is. “Sending you was totally spineless.  It’s just… I was so afraid of what he’d say.”

“He –”

“Don’t tell me.” She tightens her grip, fingers cold as icicles. “I’m going to talk to him now.”

“Are you sure you’re up for that?”

“No, but I’ll have to be. We grew up together, Wil. He’s like my brother.”

I frown, picturing the way Ferro’s hand slid into her back pocket in York. She must guess what I’m thinking because she blushes.

“You know what I mean. After Mom and Jake died, my father threw himself into his work. Ferr’s family stepped in to fill the void. I basically lived with them whenever I visited home. I’ll never forget what his mother told me right after the funeral.” She blinks back tears. “She said ‘you’re our daughter now too.’ They were so kind to me. Everyone except for Violet, who only hated me more for being embraced by her family.”

“They gave you a new home,” I suggest.

“Right.” She picks at a cuticle, drawing pinpoints of blood. “And I bought into it. I believed their lies.”

“Lies.” I echo the word, thinking about Ferro’s terrifying description of Scilla. What if he’s right about the Aletheians? What if Thea is using her power to manipulate us? “That’s the problem, isn’t it?” I say. “With so many lies, what’s left to believe in?”

Astrid mulls over my question for a while before finally saying, “You start with a fixed point. Like magnetic north, or simple math. Two plus two equals four. Something beyond doubt.”

But nothing’s beyond doubt! I want to scream, but then I realize I’m wrong. There is one fixed point in my universe. One constant, and that’s my hatred for one man. “Cillian Gant.”

“Yes,” Astrid agrees without hesitation. “Gant is pure evil. Know why he’s so bent on destroying all Gammas?”

I lean closer, hanging on her words.

“It’s because they run in his family.”

I shake my head in disbelief. I know nothing about Cillian Gant’s personal life, and don’t really want to. People don’t just transform into monsters as adults. That kind of venom must take root early on, poisoning a soul over a lifetime. But from what little I know of the man, he’s obsessed with genetic purity. Nothing would fuel his hatred more than knowing his bloodline is tainted with Gammas.

“It’s true,” she insists. “My father once told me. Gant’s younger brother was a Gamma, so he betrayed him. Then he turned his parents in for hiding the boy’s true nature.”

I grit my teeth, picturing a young Cillian Gant with those malevolent gray eyes studying his brother. I imagine him sifting through the boy’s thoughts and smiling with warped satisfaction. What kind of person would betray his entire family?

“And it gets worse,” Astrid continues. “Gant and his wife had a son who died as a newling. The death was blamed on black fever, but there’s a rumor he murdered the boy after discovering he was Gamma-dominant.”

She shudders, like the story she’s recounting is too twisted to be true. It probably never happened, but then again, there’s often some truth behind even the wildest fiction.

“That sounds made up,” I say, “but I wouldn’t put anything past the evil bastard. We need to kill him. And if the Aletheians are his enemies…”

“Then we’ll keep working with them,” she finishes. “At least for now.”

“Thea will be thrilled to hear that!” Dax announces from behind us. He’s standing next to the guard, who was probably here all along, lurking in the shadows. “You can tell her the good news in person.” He motions toward the command deck. “She’s waiting for you.”

Astrid shakes her head. “I need to see Ferro first.”

“That can wait.” Dax shoots the guard a glance, prompting him to step in front of Ferro’s cell. “This can’t.”

The subnaut hull creaks and groans to punctuate his message. When the pressure shift hits my ears seconds later, I understand. Cue the adrenaline rush and hammering heart. We’re heading back up to the surface.

*

The subnaut levels out moments before we reach the command deck. We find Thea, Cael and Kobari seated around a dark holodome. Not surprisingly, Lily isn’t with them. I wonder how she’d react to their decision to surface again.

“Do you people have a death wish?” I say.

“We had no choice,” Thea answers over her shoulder. “Is the transmission complete?”

Cael looks up from his console. “Yes. I just scanned the data.” Wide smile. Big white teeth. “I think you’ll like what you see.”

“Good.” Thea turns to a relieved-looking Kobari. “You can take us down again.”

As the subnaut descends, we crowd around the holodome. The air inside the crystal clouds with priming vapor before flickering to life.

“General Dillan’s scouting team just sent this image,” Cael explains. I recognize the landscape as soon as it materializes before us. The bottleneck approach from sea. The sheer cliff walls towering over a narrow inlet of black water. Ferro painted a picture with his words, and I’m looking at it now, in terrifying 3D.

“This is Scilla Rock,” Cael confirms, “and it appears to be operating with a skeleton crew, except for this building here.” He points to a rectangular structure cantilevered over the cliff’s edge. “Watch what happens when the image shifts to infrared.” When he taps his console, the structure he just identified lights up like a flare.

“That must be where they’re holding my father,” Astrid murmurs.

Cael gives her a smile. “Probably. Our scouts estimate their troop strength to be under five hundred in the fortress itself. Meanwhile, we’re getting reports of tens of thousands of ‘Forcers flooding into the Charybdian peninsula, all along the Eastern Front. The Sinovoss are reacting with a counter-attack.”

“Which means the diversion is working,” Dax notes.

Thea says nothing while Cael murmurs, “It would appear so.” Not exactly a booming vote of confidence.

“And the weather?” Thea asks.

“There’s a cold front stalled over the coastline,” Cael reports. “No clearing predicted for at least twenty-four hours. Gant’s satellites should be blind as long as we attack within that window.”

She turns to Kobari. “Can you get us there in time?”

“We’re running with the current,” the Captain answers in his bass monotone. “If that holds, we should be off the coast in twelve hours.”

“Twelve hours.” Thea checks her time stamp. “Still plenty of time to meet up with our forces before they attack.”

“Then we’re going?” Astrid asks.

“We’re proceeding with the mission,” Thea answers in a guarded voice. “You and Wil—”

“Get to choose our own destiny,” Astrid cuts in. “The decision is ours, remember? That was the deal.”

The deal?  I turn from Astrid to Thea, wondering what else these two discussed in my absence. Nice to know they’re planning my future without me.

Thea and Cael exchange loaded looks, like two exasperated parents. “If you insist on coming,” Cael finally says. “Then you’ll stay in the rear.”

“But my father –!”

“Wouldn’t want you to be cut down in the first few minutes of battle. This isn’t a simulation, Miss Blake. You’re not a child playing war games. Open your eyes.” Cael points to the glowing holodome. “What do you think our first wave of soldiers will face?”

His question hangs in the air like a death sentence.

The answer lies in the virtual map in front of us. Ferro wasn’t exaggerating about Scilla Rock being a monster-inspired death trap. Thousands of people will die before the next day is over, and not just in the first attack wave.

When I turn to Dax, he makes a throat-slashing gesture with his finger to let me know what he thinks of the plan.

“Suicide, Wilmington. Fragging suicide.”

***

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