“I doubt they like the Rephs,” I said. “They’re clairvoyant. They just don’t have a choice but to obey, with the Emim at their doorstep.”

The water boiled and steamed. Liss poured it into three paper cups and mixed it with coffee. I hadn’t smelled coffee in days, or weeks. How long had I been in this place?

“Here.” She handed one cup to me, one to Julian. “Where does Aludra keep you, Jules?”

“A room with no lights. I think it used to be a wine cellar. We sleep on the floor. Felix is claustrophobic, and Ella misses her family. They spend half the day crying, so I don’t sleep.”

“Just get evicted. It’s harsh out here, but not as harsh as it is to have a keeper. We only get fed on if we’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Liss sipped from her cup. “Some people can’t take it. I had a friend who stayed in here with me, but she begged her keeper for another chance. She’s a bone-grubber now.”

We drank our coffee in silence. Liss boiled the eggs, and we ate them straight out of the shell.

“I was thinking,” Julian said, “can the Rephs actually go back to wherever they came from?”

Liss shrugged. “I guess so.”

“I just don’t understand why they stay. I mean, they weren’t always here. What did they do for aura before they found us?”

“It might be about the Buzzers,” I said. “Nashira said they were a ‘parasitic race,’ didn’t she?”

Julian nodded. “Think the Buzzers took something from them?”

“Their sanity?”

He snorted. “Yeah. Or maybe they used to be nice until the Buzzers sucked it all out of them.”

Liss didn’t laugh. “It could be the ethereal threshold,” I said. “Nashira did say they appeared when it broke.”

“I don’t think we’ll ever know.” Liss sounded tense. “It’s not like they’re going to broadcast it.”

“Why not? If they’re so powerful and we’re so feeble, where’s the need for secrecy?”

“Knowledge is power,” Julian said. “They have it. We don’t.”

“You’re wrong, brother. Knowledge is dangerous.” Liss pulled her knees up to her chin. It was just what Duckett had implied. “Once you know something, you can’t get rid of it. You have to carry it. Always.”

Julian and I exchanged a glance. Liss had been here for a long time; maybe we should just take her advice. Or maybe we shouldn’t. Maybe her advice would kill us.

“Liss,” I said, “do you ever think about fighting back?”

“Every day.”

“But you don’t do it.”