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I ease back against the wall of a house as they approach the crossroads, bowing ray coat blends with the walls--in the dark, holding still islike he owns the town, the other two close on his heels He’s headed away froe of tohatever his business was here, he’s concluded it Sean’s hood is drawn, but I can see his always laughing, sal, without ineout--and I hold still, curling ht fists as the three of thes me after Sean, but I force myself to turn away I came here for a reason, and if I want to help hi

I nearly step straight into the path of a trodairí squad They’re still a block up, but with my mind squarely onthe street Mentally cursing, I sink back into the shadoatching as they approach They move differently than the rebels, purposefully, and in that instant I understand they’reSean and McBride

I stoop, groping around in the ers close over a stone, s up the side street, withdrawing into the shadows as the trodairí change their course, abandoning the receding figures of the rebels to go after this newer, closer sound It’s all the head start I can give the up the third street along and counting the houses until I reach Davin’s house Sofia’s, now, though not for long She’s not sixteen yet, not technically an adult Odds are they’ll have her on the next transport leaving the spaceport I squarean eye out fortih that I know shefor the sound ofThen the door opens a crack to reveal a sliver of the girl I knew, slender and strawberry-blond She sports a bandage that peeps out of the collar of her dress, and another encircling her wrist, and I’e was not far ahen the explosion occurred The pale skin of Avon’s sunless skies is ghostly on her, black shadows standing out beneath her eyes in exhausted half circles Grief has hollowed her out

She barely looks ataway to rest on the muddy street "Thank you," she says wearily, her voice hoarse, "but I really don’t need anymy hands out of my pockets to show they’re empty "Because I don’t have any Sof, it’s me, Flynn Let me in before someone sees"

Her gaze snaps into focus, lips parting in surprise, and for a heartbeat the grief is gone There’s a code between the people like her faht not be with us, but they turn the other e pass by, and tell the soldiers they didn’t see a thing Not so secretly, plenty of theh Davin was a cautious irl who used to steal books frole out of trouble has more fire in her And that she has any of that fire left at all now

After a moment that stretches into forever, she leans out to look up and down the empty lane, then steps back to invite me in The house is small, exactly like all the others in town You can see Sofia’s little touches here and there--the bright red kettle on the stovetop, a strip of i on the wall Otherwise the walls are painted the usual cal pale yellow, and the bland furniture is standard-issue Her father’s waders still hang by the door, along with his testing kit Before his new job in the base warehouse, Davin scooped sa them back to the labs so the technicians could confir most of the bacterial life she needs to become a proper world The sh with dishes and pots, offerings left by neighbors and friends with no other way of showing their sympathy for Sofia’s loss

She closes the door behind me, then turns to face me Last ti to wrestle ood three or four inches on her I’ her pain, but she speaks first

"What the hell happened to you?"

To h it’s a soft, sad sound, my chest loosens I haven’t spoken to another human in three days "The swamp happened to me," I say, and her mouth quirks a little "I’ I could say that would htens to a thin line as her eyes slide away She looks so tired "You shouldn’t have come here, Flynn Your face is on every holoboard in town Kidnapping an officer? What’s going on?"

"It’s an incredibly long story Listen, Sof, I’ve got nowhere to go I caht understand"

"Nowhere?" Her brow furrows, and I realize no one’s told her about the massacre, about my choice to save Jubilee "But the caves…"

I s hard Three days, and I still can’t speak about it "McBride and the others want me even more than the soldiers do I made a choice, and they don’t understand why"