They pulled up from the channel and broke through the city’s edge, hitting a cobbled plaza slowly being reclaimed by wild grasses. The plaza melted into a field overgrown with weeds, which led to an abrupt and impenetrably dark forest. So tall and so thick were the trees that the forest seemed to lean over the plaza, held up by only a belt of blue and red lights. The lights formed a perimeter around the city they’d just escaped. These must be the protective “lights” of Everest.

“These won’t work outside Everest’s perimeter,” Sophia said, halting her hovercycle and dismounting. As she helped Adeline, she explained, “But the citizens won’t follow. They’re too scared of the Doom, and crossing the lights means death.” Kane slid from his cycle and walked beneath the lights, staring into their alternating colors. He wondered if the Doom took inspiration from the forest that surrounded the Cobalt Complex, and if the protective lights were meant to be the colors of sirens. Then the lights blackened as something cold stabbed through Kane’s spine.

Sophia stepped over where Kane fell, her revolver pointed directly at his heart, another bolt of lightning ready in the barrel. Kane’s mind buzzed with the aftershock, barely registering that his sister had just shot him.

“And I’m afraid you can’t follow, either. A quarter charge should keep you grounded long enough for Smithe to find you, brother,” Sophia said down the line of the gun. “Or should I say, betrayer.”

Kane blinked, speechless. He couldn’t feel his hands or feet. He could barely feel Sophia’s grip on his collar as she hoisted him up. Her eyes were full of pain, but there was no conflict; in this world, she believed Kane had betrayed her.

“That’s right, I’ve been tracking you,” she said. “I know you’ve hidden things from me. I know every other word from you is a lie, every explanation an excuse. I defended you to the other leaders. I’ve protected you ever since we joined the revolution. And you repay me by smuggling our secrets to the Committee? I should have done this long ago.”

“I’m not—” Kane squeezed out what little protest he could. “Sophia, please.” He found Adeline a few steps away, watching the scene unfold with rigid concentration.

“Search him,” Sophia commanded, keeping the gun trained on Kane as Adeline knelt tentatively besides him. The sounds of the airships were getting closer.

Kane tried to focus on his next move, but all he could think about was how every move he had made in real life had turned him into a villain, a betrayer, in Sophia’s mind. The heartbreak was enough to stand him up, but Adeline forced him down.

“Don’t,” she whispered. “This is the plot. You have to let us go.”

Kane shook his head. No.

“The other pocket,” Sophia said. “Quickly.”