I can’t make a real connection with someone who doesn’t want to make one back. Not to mention I still don’t have any proof to give the Colony about humans waking up.

I can’t do this on my own.

I sigh into my hands, running my tongue along my teeth like I’m hoping the sharpness will jolt my imagination. I need another plan. I need to do something other than sit in this suffocating room and wait.

What if it was Mei inside the palace, unable to escape? How would I feel if the Colony had the chance to help her but chose not to?

The girl I saw cry… She could be somebody’s sister. Somebody’s family.

Or she might be here in Infinity all alone. Just like me.

I won’t abandon her.

A thought hits me like a raindrop and then—a downpour. My shoulders stiffen, and I slowly rise to my feet.

I’m not the only person in the Colony with a sibling. And there’s a chance that person may want proof that humans are waking up just as much as I do.

Because if I’m right? If humans in Victory can still be saved?

Then there’s a prisoner in the Winter Keep that needs our help.

26

THEO IS IN THE TRAINING room. I watch him grab a knife from his belt and fling it toward the air. It jolts like lightning and appears several yards away, finding its place in the chest of a sparring dummy. He finds another knife and another, each one teleporting into its target like time and space have no rules at all.

And maybe they don’t.

I take another step, louder this time to make my presence known. When his last knife hits the dummy between the eyes, Theo turns to me, his breathing heavy.

“Nami.” A stray curl hangs at his forehead. Even though he offers a tired smile, his face is crumpled with frustration.

“I’m sorry about your brother,” I say.

He looks away, clenching his fist like he wishes there were another dagger in it. “It’s not your fault. You have nothing to be sorry about.”

“But maybe I could help,” I offer. I think about the secret Annika wanted me to keep from him. I think about how angry I’d be if someone kept Mei a secret from me. But mostly I think about how hopeless Ophelia thinks the human cause is, and how much I want her to be wrong.

Every life has to matter.

“I know where he is.”

Theo looks up, stricken. “You… you saw him?”

“I overheard Prince Caelan order his guards to take him to the Winter Keep.”

The way Theo’s shoulders fall, I wonder if his brother’s location makes things even worse.

“What if I could find a way to reach him?” I ask softly. “Even just to find out if he’s aware?”