“Well? That’d be useful, wouldn’t it?”

“I don’t have the ingredients, so I didn’t see the point.” She shrugs, not quite meeting my eyes.

My stomach does a flip. She wouldn’t lie… she wouldn’t…. The Seer’s warning clutches at my throat, and everywhere I look I swear there are eyes. “How do we even know what she says is true? That she did not agree to help them?” Kai’s words when we’d rescued Bri float through me. I blow out a breath. It’s like the world is a distorted picture that shifts every time I blink. How do I know what’s true?

“But, like, I didn’t even know it was an option?”

“Sorry, Rue. Yeah, I guess I could have mentioned it. I just didn’t think it was a big deal since I can’t do anything about it, you know?”

How could she think that? How could she think any of this isn’t a big deal? I shift on my feet amid the silence.

“Rue, I didn’t mean anything by it, I swear.” She reshoulders her bag. “Look, I really need to get this paste to them.”

“Yeah, alright. Catch you later.”

Julius catches my eye, checking his watch, tapping his foot. I move toward him. Bri’s reason for not telling me doesn’t satisfy. But I let it go. For now.

“You good?” he asks.

“Let’s just go up.” Julius and I ascend the stairs. He pushes open the door a crack and peeks first, then gives me a thumbs-up. We step out and the door is silent as it eases closed.

The edge of the Central District is much more rural than the City center. The concrete landscape is a collage of tall buildings with chunks missing and others toppled over. The secluded spot where we found underground access is behind a row of abandoned warehouses. Faint smells of something metallic or soapy hang in the air, and Jue sets a blanket down. We settle on the ground, pressing ourselves back-to-back to keep watch in opposite directions.

“Anything in particular to look for?” he asks, and I can feel his heart thrumming against my back.

“Any people, sounds, lights in the sky even.”

“Got it. This place is wild. Y’all got shit more lethal than guns flying from your fingertips.”

“Well, it should only be flying from our fingertips. They’re thieves.”

He pulls the round of onyx from his pocket I left with him forever ago. “It’s wild that all that magic can be stored in this tiny little rock.” He tosses in the air, catching it. “You figure out how you’re gonna get it away from the Grays?”