Cade held up a finger. “I choose who goes with me on the expedition. I choose.”

Marius held up his hands, even looking a little surprised at Cade’s outburst. “Fine,” he said. “On your head be it. Clearly you are not thinking with it.”

The words stung Cade, but he did not let his resolve waiver.

“You’ve got a lot to learn about the future, Marius,” Cade said, holding back the angrier words he wanted to say. “Don’t forget, it was those women who cracked open the Gray stronghold for you. I’d take one of them over ten of yours any day.”

He stalked out, raging.

“Cade!” Marius called.

His friends were still on the stairs, and he hurried to them, silencing their questions with a finger to his lips.

“Come on,” Cade said. “We have a lot to talk about.”

“There you go again,” Grace growled. “Making decisions for us.”

Cade closed his eyes and let his head knock against the wall. They were back in the storage room, and the others were not happy. They sat in a circle, but it felt like they were all facing Cade.

“I did my best,” Cade said. “And he wouldn’t see anyone but me. Trust me, I don’t want to speak for you. But I had to.”

“You made them contenders,” Yoshi said. “Do you realize what that makes us? Just a group of teenagers. We’re expendable now.”

“They need us,” Cade said. “Only we can understand modern weapons, modern tools.”

“For now,” Amber said.

It was the first time she had spoken for a while, and now she avoided Cade’s gaze.

“I think we need some ground rules,” Yoshi said, looking guilty even as he spoke. “It’s nothing against you, Cade. You’re trying your best, I know that. But you can’t keep making decisions like this without talking to us.”

“You think I want to make these decisions?” Cade snapped. “I hate it. Okay? I hate it. Every time I make one, the people I care about might die. People I love.”

Amber looked up at him, almost startled.

“Ever since New Rome, you’ve been making choices for us. Do you know how powerless that makes us feel?” Scott said, unusually sober. “You think it’s bad enough being Abaddon’s puppet? It’s worse when we’re yours too.”

“That’s not fair, Scott,” Cade said. “I didn’t ask for any of this. I swear, I wish we could make decisions together. But I keep being put in situations where I’m the one who has to make them.”

Grace threw her hands up. “Maybe it would have been difficult to get Marius to let us in,” she said. “But you’re not our leader anymore. We’re a democracy now, yeah?”

Cade looked to the others, but they only stared at their feet.

“I will follow you,” Quintus said. “I do not care what the others do. I am still here. We are all still here. Because of you.”

Grace ignored him. “You talk to Marius only when one of us is also present,” she said. “And Quintus doesn’t count.”