“Head to the ship,” I tell my other siblings. “Prepare for launch. I’ll find Scorpia.” I almost forget to add: “And Momma.”

And maybe I have a chance to save someone else. I turn to my comm again, scrolling through my contacts and starting to type. If I can get my team to meet me here before the destruction hits, we can escape together. Magda, I know we ended things badly…

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lyre says, tearing my attention away from the screen. “We can’t separate right now.”

“We have to,” I say. But something terrible is happening. Come to Drev Dravaask—

“I’m here, I’m here, I’m here!”

Relief surges through me as I turn toward the stairs. Eyes bloodshot, hair sticking out all over the place, hopping on one foot while trying to slip her boot onto the other—she’s a mess as usual, but I’ve never been so happy to see Scorpia in my life. She stumbles as she reaches the bottom of the stairwell, and comes to a halt, chest heaving.

“Whew,” she says. “That siren is not doing my headache any favors. What’s, uh, what’s going on? Where’s Momma?”

She pauses, no doubt taking in the somber looks on all of our faces. I clear my throat and exit out of the message I was typing. There’s no time, and it was a long shot anyway. I need to focus on my family, as much as it hurts to put Magda and the others aside.

“We don’t know where she is. The city’s being evacuated,” I say. Shock crosses her features, followed by suspicion, and then horrified guilt. Like me, she must suspect this is our fault.

“That a normal occurrence?” she asks.

“No.”

“Then please tell me you know a way out faster than those clunky elevators.”

I take a breath and nod.

“There are service tunnels for soldiers,” I say, leaving out that it’s treasonous for me to take anyone but Titan military through them. I have a growing suspicion that it won’t matter. Whatever happens on Titan today, I doubt anyone is going to have time to punish me for something as insignificant as that.

“Let’s get going, then,” Scorpia says. Thankfully, this time, no one argues.

My comm buzzes in my pocket. I sneak a glance at the screen to find another incoming call from Daniil. Heart heavy, I shut down the device. I have to save the people I can.

I turn back to my siblings, who are watching me and waiting to be told what to do. Almost like soldiers. Even Scorpia is silent for once.

“Stay together and follow me.”