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"It’s weaker, though," I say, staring at the Silent Stone It stares right back "In the Bowl of Bones, I felt like I was suffocating This is nowhere near that bad"

Cal shrugs "Not as h"

"Stolen?"

"They have to be There’s only so overnment can use it, for obvious reasons"

"That’s truein Norta"

He tilts his head, perplexed "You think these caled ship in from all over Piedmont, the Lakelands, other places too And haven’t you seen any soldiers down here? Their uniforms?"

He shakes his head "No Not since that red-eyed bastard marched me in yesterday"

"They call him the Colonel, and he’s Farley’s father"

"I’d feel sorry for her, but my family’s infinitely worse"

I scoff, half-amused "They’re Lakelanders, Cal Farley, and the Colonel, and all his soldiers Which means there’s more where they came from"

Confusion clouds his face "That--that can’t be I’ve seen the battle lines h" He looks at his hands, idly drawing a map in midair It makes no sense to me, but he knows it intimately "The lakes are blockaded on both shores; the Choke is out of the question co, but not people, not in this et across"

My breath rushes inward, as fast as ar at the end of the base, the wide road leading to nowhere

Not a road

A runway

"I think they do"

To rin breaks across Cal’s face He turns to the , peering out at the ee "Their oing to causetoo If this is how the Colonel treats his so-called allies, I’d love to see what he does to his enerizzled old Lakelander carrying a tray of food He motions for both of us to step back and face the far wall, so he can slide the tray through a slit in the door Neither of us responds, stubbornly standing our ground by theAfter a long standoff, he rin It doesn’t bother ry I can handle a few hours without a meal Cal, on the other hand, pales when the food saunters off, his eyes following the plate of gray fish

"If you wanted to eat, you should’ve told ain "You’re no use if you’re starving"

"That’s what they’re supposed to think," he replies, a bit of a glint in his eye "I figure I’ll faint after breakfast tomorrow, and see hoell their medics take a punch"

It’s a shaky plan at best, and I wrinkle my nose in distaste