“That’s even more reason to stay put. Let the Prime test her prototype. Wait until she’s ready to attack.”

“And let my pack live in those conditions for potential years? While we just sit here?”

“It’s hard to swallow. I get it. But they’re relatively safe. And if we wait until the Prime is ready to attack, we have an actual shot at freeing them. The Prime might even send a scouting group to the Verdant in the meantime. But this plan of yours . . .” He shakes his head. “It’s not going to go the way you think. Finding the Verdant, using it to barter with the General . . . It’s not going to save your pack.”

“Yes it will. This is the way.”

“You think he’s going to want to share the Verdant, Delta? He won’t even share Bedrock! You use it to try to barter your pack free and he’ll hold them hostage until you grant him access to the Verdant—or worse, the power to control its border. Either way, he’ll end up with the prize and you’ll have nothing. Everyone in the wastes will have nothing.”

“Then help me figure this out! We can come up with a solution while we travel.”

He sucks his bottom lip.

“Asher.”

But he doesn’t respond, just goes on shaking his head, refusing to look at me, his eyes rooted on the map between our feet.

Suddenly it’s all clear.

“All that talk about the Prime being able to help me,” I say, “about how we should agree to her terms now and do what we need to do later . . . You never meant it. You never planned on leaving this place again.”

“I was lucky to be allowed back this time. If I leave Powder Town again . . .”

“What about the Verdant? We know where it is!”

“Yeah, beyond a stretch of desert that no one’s ever crossed. Because it’s probably too scudding big to survive!” He drags a hand through his hair. “Delta, this might be as close to a Verdant as we’re ever going to get. This. Here.” He flings his arm at the walls around us. “They’ve got food, shelter, protection from the General. There’s a future here.”

I take a step away. “You’re being selfish.”

His face blanches. “That’s not fair.”

“You’re selfish, just like everyone else in the wastes.”

“I left to find your pack,” he insists, features steeling.

“And now you’re giving up on them.”

“I risked everything for you, Delta! The Barrel wasn’t safe for me, and I stayed. Even after everything I suffered at the General’s hands, I stayed in a hornet’s nest for you. I came to the Vulture’s Roost every day. You should be thanking me. I helped you escape and I brought you here, to safety.”