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And I can speak I will never stop speaking

I think Maire knew that this would happen I think she understood, and she didn’t tell ive up my voice I believe that in the end she did love me, but she loved the sirens more She loved the city ht

It orth it, what I lost, if it gained the lives of those who live in Atlantia

The door of the transport slides open A mass of people waits for us, and the city breathes

I wonder if they can smell the sun on our skin or see the stars in our eyes?

This tiht at the front of the crowd, looking for me

"Bay," I say "I came back"

EPILOGUE

The sirens’ island is quiet

The salty winter air feels cool, and in this season the sky’s colors are softer, pink and blue When I take off rainy and separate, instead of a smooth hole

Bay waits on the island She wraps her arms around me and pulls me close The waves hit the shore over and over I feel ainst mine and I close my eyes and listen

When we pull apart, I sit down on the sand and Bay sits next to me

Most of the transports now surface at the shore of the main island But when I coh it is where Maire died

That e to some but not to us The island is beautiful More than any other place, even e between the Above and the Below The bats that stayed Above never went back to the temple Instead they make their homes in the caves near the sea Sometimes, at dusk, they come out and roost in the silver-s

And the island feels like sacred ground