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Maire sacrificed everything to bringhere, not so I could go back Below Not yet I haven’t yet done what I caht," I say to Ciro the Minister "In the te to the people"

Ciro nods "I will help you," he says "I will et you to the pulpit" And I wonder if he has guessed what I ah none of us have said it out loud

"No," Bay says "Then Nevio will know you’re here It’s too dangerous"

"It’s dangerous for you, too," I say "But ill be speaking at the same time, or close to it" Maire said I would knohen it was ti Can Bay feel it, too?

She puts her hand to her mouth, and her eyes ith tears She does

She knows I could die up here, and I know she could die down there

And I knoill mean it more, I will ask for Atlantia with all my heart and voice, when the lives of everyone I love depend on what I say That way, the people Above can heartheh she’s not a siren, the people Beloill be able to hear Bay’s love for Fen and me

To save our city, we have to leave the ones we love

To save our city, we have to love each other more than ourselves

Which is how much, I no, Maire loved my mother And it’s how much Bay loves oing to have to try to finish what ourof the sirens, of Atlantia itself

I pull ht "At least you knohy I’ this time," she says, and I smile but I’m very close to tears I do knohy, but as it turns out, that does not make it easier

CHAPTER 28

Fen and I risk a o The enclosed back courtyard of the teone--Bay and True and Ciro, three figures sed up quickly in the er in the courtyard for a moment Once we’re back inside, ill have to hide and wait, and neither of us is h illness has taken its toll on Fen, he still has a restlessness, an aliveness about him I would have liked to see him race when he ell I think he would have been fast and reckless and good

I wonder what he would have thought ofup at the sun--hot and round and white at this hour of the day, hard to look at but wonderful to feel It’s not lost onthe sun, feeling it on ?" Fen asks

"That I’m lucky to see the sun," I say

"Don’t look directly at it," Fen says "It can burn your eyes"

And right then I feel so, some pressure on my heart andI see before the world goes black inside my head

I can’t see, but I’m still here, and the sun is still hot

"Hold on," Fen says I feel his hands onme Fen smells like sweat and dirt I want True "Can you walk?" Fen asks

"Yes," I say

"Hold on," Fen says again His voice sounds far away I feel hione, andsurface of the temple floor We are back inside