Every hour that passes squeezes the fear closer to my heart. Kai was reluctant to leave the Winter wing. If it wasn’t for the problem of Lixue and March, she would have thrown caution to the wind and knocked on every door in that hall, intent on finding her sister. But she knew as well as I did that it was only a matter of time before the Guards came looking for their missing commander. Soon, they would swarm the Winter dorm hunting for us, leaving us no choice but to retreat back into the catacombs.

Lyon’s map is burning a hole in my pocket. My need to find Fleur and Chill and make sure they’re alive is so intense, I’m ready to explode.

“Your friend Chill?” Kai asks as we near the holding cells. “He’s good with computers?”

“The best.” I’m seized by a fierce longing. I haven’t seen Chill in person since we all parted ways after the battle in Cuernavaca, when Lyon and Gaia escorted him and Poppy to Fairbanks and settled them in their new home. Every time he called, I promised I’d visit. I kept coming up with lame excuses not to—Fleur had class, contractors were booked to install new security systems in the villa, the weather wasn’t right to leave Fleur alone—but the truth was, it pained me to look at Chill. It hurt to look in his eyes and see the magic glittering in them—magic that could have been mine if I’d accepted it when Gaia offered it to me rather than letting Chill take it. In moments I’m not proud of, sometimes I resent the choice I made at the lake. But ever since Poppy told me Chill disappeared, I’d give anything—make the same choice all over again—to see that magic alive in him right now. “Chill’s the only person I know who’s capable of hacking the Control Room servers. He’s your best chance at finding out which room belonged to your sister.” I press my lips tight, realizing my mistake after the words are already out.

“You think they’ve moved everyone?” she asks curiously.

“Don’t know,” I mutter. I don’t like lying to her, but talking about her sister in the past tense is a quick way to end up with an arrow in my back. Our partnership feels fragile at best, and I can’t risk losing the only ally I have right now. I try to shrug off the guilt, but it clings, and the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels. “Lyon and Gaia were making a lot of changes down here,” I explain. “They were desegregating the dorms, but I don’t know how far they got.”

“As soon as we figure out which room is Névé’s, I’m going to find her.”