Page 100 of Storm Caller

“So what now?”

“We have to consider moving,” he says.

“How? That would be such a massive undertaking.”

He nods. “Yes, but one we’ve always been prepared for. We understood at some point that we might be exposed no matter how careful we are.”

“Where would you go?”

“We have other locations earmarked. It will take time, and it might not be necessary, but someone will start assessing the possibilities.”

“But that’s your home,” I say softly. “It isn’t fair.”

He offers me a grim look. “This is how life is in the Veil, Poet. Everything is temporary. Everything is always on the edge of being taken away.”

“I hate this,” I say. “I hate all of this.”

“I know,” he replies. “But it does no good to dwell on things we can’t change. We need to find the cure and get out of here. If The Shield wants to keep hiding it from their people, that’s up to them, but once we have it, everything in my world will change.”

His world. Not mine.

Again, the future sits between us.

The question of what happens if and when we find that cure.

He’s made it clear where he stands, and I must reckon with the fact that I will have a choice to make.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We still have a massive, nearly impossible task ahead of us. First, I have to get close to Trinity and find out what she knows. Maybe nothing. If she’s a dead-end lead, we’ll have to find another way. Rook is counting on me, and I can’t let him down.

“We’ll find it,” I say. “I promise. I want to do this for you and the people you love.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you,” I whisper.

“I love you, too. But . . .”

Even though I’m sitting down, it feels like the floor falls from under my feet. “But . . . what?”

“But don’t make promises you can’t keep,” he says quietly, staring at his blank screen. “That only leads to disappointment.”

34

trinity: Grotto tonight at 9. Celebrating Garret’s promotion!

The text comes through during lunch. I show Rook the message, and we have an entire conversation without saying a word. I lift my eyebrows, which he correctly interprets as Do we really have to do this? He shrugs, telling me, I’m not sure we have a choice.

He isn’t wrong.

We’re a month into our second year of classes, and Edward still hasn’t returned. I’d ask General Sol about it, but all we’ve received is the occasional disappearing message. She tells us she’s working on a plan to get us to the roof of the Citadel and to keep our focus on the Extinguishers, Trinity, and the cure.

And that’s what I’ve been trying to do, but Trinity doesn’t seem to have a clue. So far, my careful prying has turned up nothing. I don’t think it’s because she’s hiding anything. I think she truly just doesn’t know.

That leaves Lieutenant Dire.

Garret. Like I ever needed to know his first name.