I think of Tristan, whose heart I broke. And of Monarch, who the Highers took away from me. I shake my head. “No, when I left, I had no one at all.”

He swallows hard. “What if I told you that you could live a better life? That you could be free and happy?

I gape at him.  “How can a life like that exist?”

He stands, dusting the sand off the back of his pants. “Do you really want to know? Because some people don’t—they’d rather go on not knowing what really happened because they fear the unknown.” He extends his hand to me. “It’s your choice, though. Everything’s your choice now. It just matters whether or not you’re brave enough to want the answers. The real answers, not the fake ones.”

I’ve always considered myself brave, running out into a world where I could easily be slaughtered or turned by vampires. But this isn’t the brave he’s speaking of. This is being brave of the unknown. Like always, though, I’m not afraid.

I wanted the truth—always have. Whatever it ends up being.

I take his hand and again, I’m overcome by calmness. “Okay, give me the answers.”

Chapter 16

We leave the hillside and hike across desert, dark sky imminent above. When I mention this to Aiden, he promises me we’ll be all right, that where we’re going isn’t too far. But what about the walk back? This he has no answer for and I suddenly wonder if maybe I’m not the only one who vampires fear.

He walks at my pace, quick and in a hurry to get to where we’re going. And I like that he does. I like a lot of things about him. Like the way his hair hangs in his eyes or how he touches me. I wonder if this was what Nina meant, when she spoke of how Tristan should have made me feel.

“Where exactly is the city?” I glance around at the horizon.

He makes a sharp curve to the left, dipping down around the foot a shallow hill that’s lined with boulders. There’s a massive trench full of muddy water and he splashes down into it, the water rising to his knees. I pull my hand away, hesitating, thinking of when I almost drowned.

“The city’s a little over fifty miles away. This place,” he motions at everything around us, “is The Gathering dumping ground. This is where all The Gathering members end up.” He holds out his hand. “It’s okay. It’s just water.”

I nod, taking his hand, and step down, the water climbing to the top of my legs. It has a funny smell to it, like metal and rust.