CHLOE

“Joseph said I’d be out for a while,” I told Baylie, working to hide my nervousness. “While this… does its thing.”

She didn’t respond for a moment, her eyes on the vial and the black gunk inside. “And if he screwed up?” she asked in a tiny voice.

“Baylie.” It was difficult to keep the begging from my tone. I didn’t need that worry on top of everything else right now.

“I-I know. I’m sorry. I just…” She exhaled sharply, forcing the fear from her expression. “Back of the car, then. You lie down there, and we’ll just stay put till you wake up and we’re, you know, certain which direction we need to drive.”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

Trying to keep from shaking, I lifted the vial to my lips.

“Chloe.”

I glanced back at the sound of Noah’s voice. He was covering his phone with his hand.

“Diane wants to talk to you.”

My brow furrowed. His stepmom was calling for me?

He shrugged, reading my expression.

I returned the cork to its place and then handed the vial to Baylie. Circling the car to Noah’s side, I took the cell from him.

“Hello?”

“Chloe, honey,” Diane replied. “It’s good to hear your voice. Listen, there’s a girl here. She says she needs to speak with you. She won’t tell us why, but she says it’s an emergency.”

Alarm moved through me. “Um, okay…”

I heard rustling on the other end of the line.

“Chloe? Are you—” More rustling. “Dammit, these phone things are awkward.”

My heart began to pound. “Ina? What are you doing—”

“Zeke told me where you were staying a couple weeks back. Seemed a good place to start. Look, I—” The sound became muffled and I heard her say, “I’ll just be a sec, alright?”

A heartbeat passed. I wanted to yell at her to just start talking.

“Okay,” she continued while a door closed somewhere in the background. “Zeke’s why I’m here. Things are… they’re bad right now. You need to stay away from the ocean. Ren’s got soldiers everywhere and…” She trailed off and then muttered something angry. It didn’t sound like English. “Point is, if they catch you, they’re planning to take you to the capital so Ren can put you on trial and then most likely execute you for Dad’s death.”

Ice shot through me. “What?” I shook my head, the words too ridiculous and insane to process. “Ina, where’s Zeke?”

CHLOE

“No.”

Zeke’s brow drew down. “What?”

“No, I’m going with you.”

Noah looked back at me. “Chloe, you can’t—”

“I am going!” I snapped at them both. “I know it’s crazy. I know it’s dangerous. I don’t care. I’m done with running from these guys. I am done with hiding. I am capable of more than they think and I am going to use that to stop them.”

They both stared at me.

“I killed that man back there.” My stomach somersaulted with nausea at the words. “I didn’t mean to, but I did. And they’re scared of me for a reason.” My gaze went between Zeke and Noah. “I want them gone. I want people to stop dying because of them, getting hurt because of them. Because all they want is to get their hands on me and they keep killing people to do that. You say there are soldiers in Lycera? Fine. Let’s go get them.”

Zeke hesitated. “There aren’t that many,” he admitted. “And they’re fairly old.”

I watched him for a second. “They’re a start.”

He didn’t take his eyes from me, seeming speechless.

“Chloe,” Noah tried. “That Beast thing will pick up on you out there. Anything you do—”

“Joseph said I could hide. That as long as the Beast wasn’t close, I could go in the water, try suppressing that signal thing, and probably be okay.”

“Probably being the operative word here!” Noah protested. “And if that crazy turtle was wrong, you could die!”

“I have to stop them, Noah. They broke into your house again. Diane seems terrified and maybe that’s just a coincidence, but I’m guessing it’s not. And just now, they might have—” I couldn’t bring myself to say the rest. With effort, I regrouped. “I can’t keep doing this. If there’s even a chance to stop this out in Lycera or wherever, I’m going to take it.”

Noah was silent.

I turned to Zeke. “How long will we need to get there?”

Zeke’s expression had barely changed. “Chloe…”

“How long?”

His jaw muscles jumped. “Maybe a day. It’s on the southwest edge of Yvaria, though. We’ll have to go through it to reach Lycera.”

The words made me shiver. I worked to give no sign. “Alright, then let’s get—”

“Take me with you.”

I looked back to Noah. “What?”

“Take me with you,” he repeated. “You brought him to Kansas. Bring me to this place.”

I stared at him.

“That was different,” Zeke argued. “We’re already able to handle breathing underwater or on land. You aren’t. You’ll drown.”

Noah didn’t look away from me. “Maybe not. Ellie said dehaians like you used to bring people underwater with them. So try it.”

I shook my head. “Noah, I don’t—”

“If Chloe does anything out of the ordinary,” Zeke snapped, “the Beast will find her. You’ll get her killed.”

“I can pick up on it. I can tell where it is before it notices her.”

“What?” Zeke demanded incredulously.

Noah ignored him. “I can help, Chloe.”

“But if something happens to me… Noah, you’ll die.”

He paused. “Then I better make sure nothing happens to you.”