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"Take ht and slip into the frigid water onceplace cold and empty behind us

The boy who’s not supposed to be in her drea next to her on the hood of a hovercar on the outskirts of town, a blanket binding theh when she runs her fingers through it, it changes in response to her touch, growing longer, falling in gentle curls over his te up at the sky

"That one we’ll call the huntress," says the boy, laughter behind his voice "See, there’s her gun, and that nebula is her hair, and this cluster is that line she gets between her eyes when she’s yelling at irl watches the sky, but it’s eine

"I can’t," she whispers, shutting her eyes "I’ame" She knohat happens next in this dreaether, and when they sneak back onto the base she’ll go back to work, and be unchanged, except perhaps a little colder without the blanket

But this tireen-eyed boy takes her hand, and when she opens her eyes, the sky is full of stars

THE UNDERGROUND HARBOR IS TEEMING with rebels They’re like ants swar around a daed Firebird Some of them are marked with red and rusty brown, but they don’ttheir loved ones’ blood

"McBride doesn’t have the ht be able to use that confusion"

Even through a whisper, I can hear his heartbreak He should be with his people He should be helping theure out what to do And he can’t, because he’s the one they’re after Because of me

I search the dark waters of the harbor until I spot what I’ a few yards from the near bank

"The boat I ca to where it sits, out of reach of the lights in the harbor

Ahis jaw He doesn’t look atfor the back toward the clusters of little boats h the water with painstaking slowness to avoidtelltale ripples, slower still as the water level rises to our knees, our hips, our waists My training takes over, forcing exhausted h for me to keep each movement careful and controlled Stealth, I can do It’s a task to focus on, so else

We’d be spotted if we climbed in now, so e reach the boat, we each take one side of it and start walking it toward the gaping mouth of the harbor I’s across the surface of the water and blindsin Irish at the sa to the threat before h the cavern, and the swarms of people head our way

For an instant, wethe boat as Flynn hauls hiht to the side, he reaches forwith theme, our pursuers are littleeyes Flynn jerks the ignition cable once, twice The uns it too fast, briefly sending the nose of the boat skyward A bullet punches through the gunwale, and shouts echo in the cavern We both throw ourselves down into the bottoe for hi ribbon of fear cross Flynn’s features Fear--of , not even silently, not even a ot us working together to cli as he looks atthe weapon that killed half a dozen of his people I feel sick, violated down to , in this moment, for him to not look at me like that

We speed toward the exit, but the rebels have found boats themselves, and they’re in pursuit Too close for us to lose theh to shoot us--and close enough to be shot at

Flynn jerks his eyes away fro for a clear shot I’ any more people today, not when I’ at hts pointed at us, and I can’t see

My eyes lift, seeking a break froht in front of h stone, naturally striated and dripping with condensation The Gleidel won’t touch the stone, but it’ll vaporize the water seeping through the cracks I lift ainst the bench so I can shoot over Flynn’s head, placingat us Flynn shouts aton et

The Gleidel leaps in et hts Its scream echoes back at me from the cavern, followed by the crack of stone split by stea the water Then the frantic revving ofwildly in an effort to avoid the stones now jutting out of the shalloater at the mouth of the harbor