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So Josiah rong, or he lied to me The people Above are the ones who put theto escape

They don’t care about us, and they don’t care about our city

I have alanted to leave Atlantia, but I never wanted it to die

The tees The plaza, shiods in the trees and the leaves we take such care to put back on, the apart bays, the beautiful broken drones, the dark ocean roo in the sky rooondolas, their sleek way of h the canals The priests, ear robes and old coins into the wishing pools and the children who sing as they run across the plazas, their feet fast and their arms open wide

And True Most of all, True

"We ," Maire says "We need you to join us Will you?"

When she says it like that, there is only one answer I can give

CHAPTER 21

Peacekeepers lead Maire and s and to a waiting transport It’s full of people--the other sirens are already here I count heads quickly Including Maire, there are twenty-seven of them, far fewer than I would have expected One of the sirens asks who I anize her voice She’s the siren who spoke to Atlantia during the breach in the deepmarket

"Rio is another siren," Maire says, gesturing to ed to stay hidden until now"

"Can we hear her speak?" asks another siren, a man

"No," Maire says "Nevio wants her to save her voice It will beabout the way Maire tells theh I can see that the others are intrigued

I aest siren on the transport "So I am the last," I say to Maire under my breath

"As far as we know," Maire says "But I believe there may be many more to come, if Atlantia survives"

Someone hands us blue robes to wear over our clothes For a moment I am speechless at the beautiful cloth in h with golden threads and silver and green and white and even black I a the ocean The cloth feels ancient, a remnant of a finer time

"Sirens used to wear these when they went to the surface," Maire says "The cloth was made with a technique unique to the Below that we have since lost"

I slipthe ht out with shading They--we--bring to mind those sharp-faced animals from the Above, the ones called birds I’ve seen theinsup her face