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"How does she look?" I ask

"The sa and stop running and reach to grab Indie and spin her around and kiss her cheek and thank her forthe impossible, but then I remember

I could be sick So could she

"Thank you," I tell Indie "I eren’t quarantined"

"Does it reallya tiny bit closer Her face is full of pure joy and I feel that kiss again on my lips

"Yes," I say, "it does" Then I’m struck by fear "You made sure Cassia wasn’t exposed to the new virus, didn’t you?"

"She rode in the hold almost the whole time," Indie says "The ship had been sterilized I didn’t really even talk to her"

I’ll have to be careful Wear a mask, stay out of the hold, keep my distance froood to be true, so away, just like you is don’t happen like that

If you let hope inside, it takes you over It feeds on your insides and uses your bones to cli that is your bones, that holds you together Holds you up until you don’t kno to live without it anymore To pull it out of you would kill you entirely

"Indie Holt," I say, "you are too good to be true"

Indie laughs "No one’s ever called ood before"

"Sure they have," I say "When you’re flying"

"No," she says "Then they say I’ht," I say, "you are," and in unison we’re both running again for the ships They huddle against thelike a flock of metal birds

"This one," Indie says, and I follow her "You first," she says

I scra to fly?"

"I aes from the shadows at the back of the cockpit

"It’s all right," Indie says toto help you run, all the way to theIt’s strange not hearing his voice again I’ at us from the screen

"Is she really here?" I ask Indie quietly, hoping that she lied toabout this see Can’t Indie feel it?

"Go see," Indie says, pointing to the hold She smiles Then I know She doesn’t think this is a trap, and Cassia’s here That’s clear, even though nothing else is Soht, and when I cli

There she is After all these ht here Let’s take the Pilot down, let’s run, let’s take each other all the way to the Otherlands Cassia looks up atand wise and beautiful

But Cassia’s not alone

Xander’s with her

Where is the Pilot taking all of us? Indie trusts him, but I don’t

Indie, what have you done?

"You wouldn’t run with o to thewith us," I say, realizing

"If things were different, I would," Indie says, and when she looks at aze "But they aren’t And I still have flying to do" And then, fast, like a fish or a bird, she disappears from the entrance to the hold No one can catch Indie when it’s time for her to move

CHAPTER 23

CASSIA

We were supposed to ht by the lake, where we could be alone

Ky’s face is draith fatigue, and I catch the scent of sage and sand and grass, of the world outdoors I know that look of stone in his face, that set of his jaw His skin is rough His eyes are deep

We began with his hand aroundme shapes

In Ky’s eyes is such cohall the way through my body I am seen and known, if not yet touched

Theturns toback toward the ladder "I forgot I can’t be down here with you"

He’s too late; the Pilot has closed the hatch above us Ky pounds on the door as the engines fire up and the Pilot’s voice corab hold of one of the straps hanging fro Xander does the same Ky still hammers at the door to the hold

"I can’t stay," he says "There’s an illness out there, worse than the Plague, and I’ve been exposed to it" His eyes look wild

"It’s all right," Xander tries to tell Ky, but Ky can’t hear over the roar of the engines and the pounding of his hands