And, to my horrified awe, I see a shaft of faint blue light shoot up into the horizon from the source of the explosion. It glows brightly, illuminating the clouds, before it fades away as quickly as it came.

Whatever was inside that cylinder, it is powerful enough to have its heat felt from here.

Adena. Was she far from the explosion? What if she’d miscalculated?

All around us, the rebels move. They flood toward me from the north and west and south gates, masses and masses of them, a sudden crowding that swells our ranks. I feel everyone jostling in, brandishing their weapons against the soldiers before them, who suddenly have gone pale. They hoist their guns higher at us, trying to figure out where best to aim, but there are so many of us that I can smell their sudden fear. My own heart leaps.

The first move has been made. There is no turning back now.

I love you, I tell Talin through our link.

I love you, Talin answers back, and her words fill every inch of me with light.

I focus my attention on the soldiers before us, and tense. The rebels gather behind and alongside me. Then I lunge forward at the soldiers and their screaming Ghosts as everyone around me surges forward at the same time.

Soldiers shoot the first row of us almost immediately. I see them fall before the gunfire. But the next wave—we—run forward relentlessly, outpacing the fallen and charging forward into the mix. The soldiers fire again, and more collapse at our feet—but we are closer now. I put all my strength into the attack. Then I’m out in front, and the first soldier widens his eyes at the sight of me before throwing his hands up in panic.

I barrel into him, flinging him across the courtyard, and throw all my weight into attacking the Ghost behind him. The creature shrieks, clawing for me, but I twist, my broken wings still shearing right through its body. A cold sweat breaks out all over my body at the pain of the strike, but I blink away the tears and lunge out again. Soldiers fall around me like wheat in a field. Ghosts rush toward me. In a blur, the east and west flanks of soldiers try to close in around me, separating me from the others. But in the next instant, rebels clash into both sides, weapons swinging—axes, kitchen knives, canes and door bolts, guns, planks of wood, homemade arrows. They use anything they can get. The soldiers fight back, cutting them down—but there are too many of us here in this moment.

A Ghost bites down hard on one of my wings. The pain lances through me like a spear through my back. I twist in time to see the same Ghost’s claws swipe down at me. Every one of my limbs tingles. I rush forward at it again, wielding my damaged wings, and cut into its leg. It loses its balance and lurches to one side.