The other evacuees clustered around her, supporting her—​their images joining Eione’s on the wall of the capitol. Eione raised her voice. “My name is Eione. I’m thirteen years old. I am from beyond the mountains, and I am here to tell you that you are killing us.”

Chapter
Twenty-Six

Eione spoke until the lightning power ran out, which wasn’t long, given how much energy they were using to amplify her voice to be heard throughout the city. But it was enough.

As soon as the speaker cut out, there was chaos. All over the bleachers, everyone was out of their seats, talking and shouting. In the streets, people were swarming together, as if they were angry bees. Mina pressed closer to Pixit. Did it work?

Maybe.

She didn’t hear any music. Didn’t see any fountains streaming overhead. Didn’t see any games. Didn’t see any guardians and their storm beasts performing for the crowd. Just saw people, angry and upset people.

“It might be a really good time to leave,” Ferro suggested.

“Take us home, Mina,” Neela said. She laid her hand on Mina’s still-wet-and-muddy sleeve. “Or take us back to whatever is left. We’ve done what we could.”

“Quickly,” Jyx added. She pointed across to where the prime minister sat. A few guards were pushing through the crowd, trying to get from the advisors to the speaking tube. But the crowd was thick, slowing them.

The students and the evacuees scrambled back to the storm beasts. Pixit was right—​no one had expected them, and so no one was prepared to stop them. No one even knew if they should stop them, or what they were going to do next. Such a thing had never happened in the history of Alorria. Mina heard the excited chatter: Outsiders in the city? During the festival? And what that girl had said! Was it true? Could it be true?

Yes, she heard people say. Just because mountains surrounded them didn’t mean they were separated from the rest of the world. They were part of the world. Their sky was also everyone else’s sky. Eione had put a face and voice to what many people, especially other storm guardians, had suspected.

This is going to work, Mina thought.

«Of course it will. But maybe we should hurry just in case.»

Most of the guards had rushed to protect the prime minister and other dignitaries, expecting an attack to follow the speech, but Mina and her friends had done what they came to do.

And so they simply flew away.

No one stopped them. No one followed them. There was too much confusion in the city for anyone to decide how to act, and so Mina and her friends were able to leave without incident.