He watched the sun, saying nothing, and Kira tried and failed to read him on the link. “I’m sorry too,” he said. “I don’t know how to fix it.”

“We’re in a war,” said Kira. “We’re not even in a war we can win—humans and Partials are killing each other, and themselves, and everything they can get their sights on, because it’s the only way they know to solve problems. ‘If we don’t fight, we’ll die.’ What we need to face is that we’ll still die even if we do fight, and we don’t want to face that because it’s too frightening. It’s easier to fall back into the same old patterns of hate and retribution, because at least then we’re doing something.”

“I don’t hate you,” said Samm, “but I used to. When you first captured me, when I first woke up and saw you and realized that everyone in my unit was dead. You were there, so I hated you more than I even knew I could. I’m sorry for that, too.”

“It’s okay,” said Kira. “I’m not exactly innocent either.” She smiled. “All we need to do now is send each human and each Partial on a deadly cross-country trip together, so they can learn to trust and understand each other.”

“I’m glad there’s such a simple solution,” said Samm. He didn’t smile, but Kira thought she felt a whiff of one on the link. She ate another handful of peanuts.

“That’s what you really want, isn’t it?” Samm asked.

Kira looked at him, curious.

“A united world,” he said, still looking out the window. “A world where Partials and humans live together in peace.” He glanced at her from the side of his eye.

Kira nodded, chewing her peanuts thoughtfully before swallowing. It was exactly what she wanted—what she’d wanted ever since . . . Ever since she’d learned what she truly was. A Partial raised as a human, connected to both groups without really being a part of either one. “Sometimes I think—” and then stopped. Sometimes I think it’s the only way I’ll ever be accepted. I don’t belong to either group, not anymore, but if both groups joined, I wouldn’t be the weirdo anymore. I’d just be one of the crowd. She sighed, too self-conscious to say it out loud. “Sometimes I think it’s the only way to save everyone,” she said softly. “To bring them all together.”

“That’s going to be a lot harder than just curing our diseases,” said Samm.

“I know,” she said. “We’ll find the ParaGen labs, we’ll find their plans and formulas, we’ll cure RM and the expiration date and everything else, and then it still won’t matter because our people are never going to trust each other.”