“We could try,” Serina said. She’d heard similar rumblings over the past couple of days. “But we have limited resources and only one guard to preserve the illusion of the island running as usual. The prison boats will come, and it will be increasingly difficult not to arouse suspicion. Still, it is an option. We’ll add it to the vote.”

“What if we just want to return to our families? Without fighting?” someone yelled.

“What if our families are the ones who turned us in?” someone else countered.

The rumble of voices built as the women discussed among themselves.

Serina held up her hands, but before she could say anything, Anika’s voice rang out. “No solution is perfect. Some of us have family we are desperate to return to. Some of us want to take down the men who put us here. Some of us want to run. But we can’t do it all. We can’t split our focus. No matter what we do, we’ll have to deal with the prison boat. We’ll have to survive here until it comes. If we don’t find common ground, if we don’t work toward a unified goal, none of us will make it.”

Serina watched the crowd as Anika gave her speech. A couple of the women shook their heads, and a few looked scared, but everyone was listening. Even Fox. They all heard what Anika was saying.

“We’ve come here tonight to vote,” Serina announced. “You can vote to stay, to go to Azura, or to fight. Anika is right—we can’t split our focus. There will only be one boat, so whatever the majority decides, all of us must commit to it.”

Serina sent up a little prayer.

“Who wants to stay on Mount Ruin?” Nomi asked.

Serina counted hands. Only a few were raised, mostly the older women and the ones who’d been here the longest. She was surprised to see Ember’s hand go up. Serina had expected her to want to fight, to get revenge for Oracle’s death.

“Fourteen,” she stated.

“Who wants to go to Azura?” Val called.

A new set of hands went up. Maris and Helena. Fox and most of Jungle Camp. There were a lot of hands, more than Serina had expected. It took her a long time to count.

Her stomach turned over. She glanced at Nomi; her sister was frowning, her own hands balled into fists at her sides. Malachi’s face was blank.

“Eighty-two,” she said, her heart pounding. She paused for a moment to steady her nerves. “Now, who wants to fight back?”

This was it.

To Serina’s surprise, Mirror raised her hand. She must have changed her mind. Cliff raised her hand too, and Anika. Many of the women voted to fight.

“Sixty.”

But not enough.