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"No," Nevio says pleasantly "The bats did not originate Below, as the sirens did The bats are creatures of the Above that o"

"So they’re not miracles?" the Council member asks

"Of course not," says Nevio "The bats are simply creatures that were meant to be Above and were trapped somewhere else, much like myself and the rest of the Council of the Below"

One of the bats cries out

"In fact," Nevio says, "the bats do very well up here Before we ift of the sirens, we sent up some of the bats for your scientists to study They determined that these little anih they apparently have a bit of a penchant for flying over the water at night"

"But weto assert his authority "We have to keep the around freely in the Above"

"I agree coe to his voice, or do I iine it? But I am heartened to hear that the Council Above intends to oversee Nevio and the others

Of course, Nevio e for the closet door, pushing it open Fen hisses at me to coes, but Nevio’s right They see It’s the cages that make them afraid

"They’re not supposed to be locked up like this," I say "Especially not when night comes That’s when they’re meant to fly free"

"Why do you think he saved thee, and some of the bats chatter their way closer to me If I didn’t know better, I’d say they remember me "But I know it’s for some selfish reason of his own Not because he actually cares about therees

Should I trust Fen? Should I tell him that Nevio is a siren?

True would tell Fen True would trust hi "I should have known," he says "It explains everything"

"I know," I say "I can’t believe it tookto realize what he is"

"But if he’s a siren, how does he plan to survive up here?"

"I don’t know," I say "He’s a different kind of siren than we’ve ever seen before Maybe the Above doesn’t affect hihtht, you have to tell them what he is"

"But if I do that," I say, "they’ll think they were right about the sirens That the sirens can’t be trusted, that they should all die I’ll never convince the people of the Above to let Atlantia live that way"

"You’re right," Fen says "I didn’t think of that" He bends down to look more closely at the bats, and they eye hih "They like you," he says, pointing to e They don’t see down