The Fates Divide (Carve the Mark #2)(100)

“Yes,” Eijeh said. “Visions don’t come with a watch, so the timing is not exact, but based on the color of the light, it will be evening.”

I squinted at him. “Is that the truth, or is that just something you’re telling me to manipulate me into doing what you want?”

“Are you really going to believe my answer to that question?”

“No.” I stopped for a moment, in front of him. “Why now? You’ve only ever cared about yourself, for your entire life. So what’s gotten into you? Brain parasite?”

“Is that really constructive?” Teka said. “We should be figuring out how to save as many lives as possible. Which means activating the emergency evacuation alert again.”

“Evacuation protocol is to flee toward the sojourn ship,” I said. “Where would people go, if we sounded that alarm?”

“I can code the alarm with a message. That way, people with screens in their homes will at least know what’s coming,” Teka said. “We can tell them to just get out of the city whatever way they can.”

“And the people who don’t have screens in their houses?” Ettrek said. “The people who barely have lights to turn on? What about them?”

“I didn’t say it was perfect.” She scowled at him. “And I don’t hear you suggesting anything useful.”

“If we do this,” Yma said to Teka, “we may not be able to flee ourselves. We may die here.”

A silence fell at that. I had accepted the likelihood of death when I decided to kill my father, but now that I had my life, I wanted to keep it again. Even without Akos, even without family, even with most of Shotet hating me, what I had told Teka before was right. I had more now. I had friends. Hope for my own future, and for myself.

But I also had love for my people, broken though some of them may have been. Their stubborn will to survive. The way they looked at discarded objects, not as garbage, but as possibilities. They crash-landed through hostile atmospheres. They coasted alongside the currentstream. They were explorers, innovators, warriors, wanderers. And I belonged to them.

“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s do it.”

“How?” Yssa asked. “Where do you activate the alarm?”

“One of two places: Noavek manor, and the amphitheater. The amphitheater is easier to access,” I said. “We don’t all need to go. So who goes, and who stays?”

“I’m leaving this planet,” Eijeh said.

“Yeah, I got that impression based on your repeated insistence that you’re not staying,” I snapped.

“I will take you off-planet, Eijeh,” Yssa said to him. “You are an oracle and as such, your life is valuable.”

“My life’s not valuable?” Ettrek said.

Yssa gave him a look.

“You two should go,” I said to Zyt. “You only signed on to smuggle, not to risk your lives.”

“Yeah, none of us here would ever do that,” Ettrek said, rolling his eyes. “You remember most of us came here to kill Lazmet Noavek, right?”

I glanced at Teka and Sifa, in turn.

“You’re an oracle, too,” I said to Sifa.

“I’m not afraid,” Sifa said quietly.

I was. Part of me wanted to steal a floater and flee Voa as quickly as I could, get myself out of the way of the blast. But the better part—the part that made the decisions now, it seemed—knew that I had to stay, had to fight for my people, or at least allow them a chance to fight for themselves.

And maybe Sifa was as undaunted as she appeared. Maybe knowing the future forced you to be at peace with it. But I didn’t think so.

She was afraid, just as I was, just as any person would be. It was that, perhaps, that made me accept that she was here. It was the most mercy I could offer her at the moment.

“Cyra should lead the way to the amphitheater,” Yma said, and I looked at her in surprise. It was rare she gave me credit for anything. Ever. She added, “I believe you’re familiar with the subterranean prison.”

“Not as familiar as I am with your dazzling wit,” I bit back with a smile.

“You take the bait every time, don’t you?” Teka said to me.

I considered that for a moment. “Yes,” I said. “It’s part of my charm.”

Ettrek snorted. And we started to plan.

Some time later, we stood on the rooftop and watched Eijeh and Yssa board a smuggler ship, courtesy of Zyt’s connections to Voa’s criminal underground.

Eijeh didn’t bid me farewell. But he did glance back before disappearing inside the ship. His eyes met mine, and he nodded, just once.

And then my brother was gone.





CHAPTER 51: AKOS


THE AWAKENING IN HESSA had never been Akos’s favorite—he liked the quiet dark of the Deadening, with its warm ovens and bright, Bloomed hushflowers—but it had certain charms. At the very start, in the weeks before the hushflowers lost their blooms, a swarm of deadbirds flew over Hessa every morning and evening in a big cloud, whistling in unison. Their song was bright and sweet, and the undersides of their wings were pink, like Akos’s blush.

They were called deadbirds because they hibernated all winter, and the first person to come across a flock during hibernation had thought they were all dead. They hardly even had heartbeats then. But when the Awakening came around, they flew all the time, dropping pink feathers everywhere. His dad collected them for his mom, and stuck them in a jar on the kitchen table for decoration.