Marcus blew out a puff of air, deflating as he sank back and stared at the floor. “I was just trying to find a bright side, but I guess we don’t have any of those left.” He played with the broken Sheetrock, shifting the pieces with his foot. A thought began to dawn on him. “Maybe we do.”

“We have a bright side?”

“We have a second Partial army.”

Ariel raised her eyebrow. “That’s the worst bright side I’ve ever heard of.”

“No,” said Marcus, growing more excited. “Think about it: Dr. Morgan has raised a massive army of Partials, with the express purpose of raiding our island and holding us hostage, and another army of Partials is attacking her for it. Partials don’t just attack things for no reason—they’re soldiers, not . . . barbarians. The only reason to cross the sound and attack Morgan’s forces is because you’re trying to stop her, and the only reason to try to stop this invasion is because you disagree with it.”

Ariel frowned, obviously skeptical. “So the second group of Partials is on our side?”

“If A hates B and C hates B then A and C are allies,” said Marcus. “That’s the . . . transitive property of battlefield ethics, which I just made up. But it’s true.”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” said Ariel.

“I knew there was a phrase like that somewhere.”

“So how does that help us?” asked Ariel. “I’m pretty sure one of us could get out of East Meadow, slip through the Partial patrols, if the other makes a big enough distraction, but what then? Head north through the most occupied territory on the island, into the middle of an inter-Partial battle zone, and hope you can tell which group is which? You’ll end up back here in less than twenty-four hours, assuming you live through it at all.”

“We go off the island,” said Marcus, shaking his head. “We let the soldiers do the fighting, and we go around them to talk to the leaders in the back.”

“You want to just march into the mainland, all alone, and find a group of Partials.”

Marcus laughed. “Who am I—Kira? I’m not doing this alone, I’m going straight to the Senate.”

“The Senate fled East Meadow in the invasion,” said Ariel. “What makes you think you can even find them?”

“Because Senator Tovar used to run the Voice,” said Marcus, “and I know where some of the old Voice hideouts are. You just help me escape, I need to get to the JFK airport.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Kira looked at her three companions, nodding as if to convince herself that her words were true. “The Failsafe was RM. It was created by ParaGen, under the direction of the government, as a way to control the Partial army.”

Samm’s face was solemn. “It was designed to kill Partials?”