“I don’t know for sure. But I think there is enough.” She closes her eyes. “They have been so kind to me to the point where sometimes I think their goddess is speaking to me, too. Now we must pray we haven’t exhausted their generosity.”

My skin crawls at the thought of praying to a human god, but I keep my resistance to myself. “What of the other warriors I traveled with?” I fight it, but my voice wavers anyway. “Will they have been killed?”

Ellian touches her hand to my shoulder. “Perhaps not. There is a chance.”

I sit up. “What do you mean?”

“There is a new leader in Ramsgate,” says Ellian carefully. “A general.”

A bell rings in my mind, and I shift eagerly in my seat. “Noam told me of him. General Marchess.”

She nods. “He was a foot soldier and fought at the Cliffs for years, then returned here to further his military knowledge. He has great power and greater wealth. He is known for having a fervent hatred of our kind, but also a curiosity about us.”

Hope can be kind and cruel all at once. “And?”

“If the humans who took your companions bring them to this general, he will question them first, not kill them. I don’t think he’d miss a chance to speak to Leonodai directly.”

I try to shake off my fears in favor of hope. “How can we know?”

Ellian looks at the window and at the dying light. “It’s too late to go now, and you still need to rest.” She gets up to tend to the fire. “We can leave for town at first light.”

“I feel fine.” I stand up to prove it. Almost instantly, my vision spins, the world shifting beneath my feet like I’m back on the train. Ellian eases me down.

“The flower is very, very strong. That’s why I don’t keep a lot of it on hand—you never need much. I’m lucky to have any. Let it do its work. In the morning, we will go into town and speak to the women.”

My head feels heavy, but I manage a nod of understanding. “Will they share the cure with us?”

She nods. “The goddess they serve would allow it. To save children, most of all.”

“Okay. Ellian … thank you.” Settling into the makeshift bed Ellian has made for me, I fight to stay alert enough to make sure I understand all I’ve heard. I roll the fabric of the blanket between my fingers to ground myself in something physical.