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Farley grabs the nearest Guardsesturing to the alleys on either side of us "To the north side, to the tunnels!" She points to her lieutenants as she speaks, telling theo "Shade, to the park side!" My brother nods, knohat she , drowning her out But it’s easy to tell what she’s shouting

Run

Part of ht My purple-and-white lightning will certainlyGuard I ht even take a plane or tith me But that cannot be I’es Shade and I must survive--if not for the cause, then for the others For the list of hundreds like us--hybrids, anomalies, freaks, Red-and-Silver impossibilities--ill surely die if we fail

Shade knows this as well as I do He loops his ar It’s aluide rown trees spilling into the street The deeper we go, the thicker they becoers A thousand years of neglect turned this little plot into a dead jungle It shelters us fro closer and closer Kilorn is never far behind For athe Stilts, looking for fun and trouble

Trouble is all we seem to find

When Shade finally skids to a stop, his heels scarring the dirt beneath us, I chance a glance around Kilorn halts next to us, his rifle aimed uselessly skyward, but no one else follows I can’t even see the street anylares up through the boughs of the trees, watching and waiting for the jets to fly out of range

"Where are we going?" I ask him, breathless

Kilorn answers instead "The river," he says "And then the ocean Can you take us?" He glances at Shade’s hands, as if he could see his ability plain in his flesh But Shade’s strength is buried like mine, invisible until he chooses to reveal it

My brother shakes his head "Not in one juth" His eyes darken "Until we really need it"

I nod, agreeing I know firsthand what it is to be ability-worn, tired in your bones, barely able toCal?"

My question makes Kilorn wince

"Hell if I care"

"You should," I fire back, even as my voice shakes with hesitation No, he shouldn’t Neither should you If the prince is gone, you ht with us"

"He’ll escape or kill us the second we give hi away his scarf to show the angry scowl beneath

Inin its path, from metal to flesh "He could’ve killed you already," I say It’s not an exaggeration, and Kilorn knows it

"So," Shade says, stepping between us "How silly of ritted teeth, but I do no such thing My focus is on the jets, letting their electric hearts beat againstfarther and farther away "They’re flying away froo, we need to do it now"