If I’m going to try to save Martin and the girl, I need to be more like the casters: strong, brave, and able to handle myself under pressure. And if I fail, I want a fighting chance at making it through the aftermath.

Either way, my training has hit an impasse. Leaving the Colony to practice somewhere unfamiliar may seem drastic, but it’s the only idea I have left.

Ahmet presses his lips together, thinking. Theo looks like he’s afraid to breathe the wrong way, just in case it alters Ahmet’s decision.

“Please,” I add. “Sitting around doing nothing is killing me.”

“I suppose there isn’t much harm in a short trip,” Ahmet says carefully, and my ears perk up. “It’s not like Residents regularly patrol the Labyrinth, and I’d be with you the whole time.”

“I could go too,” Theo offers, perhaps a little too quickly. Thankfully, Ahmet doesn’t notice. “If there’s any trouble, at least you’d have help.”

Ahmet nods. “I can always use more building material.”

My fingers dance. “So that’s a yes?”

“Yes,” he says finally. “I’ll come and find you when I’ve finished up here.”

I don’t bother hiding the fact that I’m glowing from the inside out.

When we cross the border of Victory and enter the Labyrinth, the landscape shifts to a lush island covered in thick vegetation and surrounded by golden sand. Ahmet slows the vehicle near the shoreline. While his veiling isn’t as good as Shura’s, it’s enough to make the occasional trek into the unknown—as long as he doesn’t have to concentrate on much else.

We get out of the vehicle and make our way across the beach. Ahmet’s eyes are already combing the sand, looking for suitable objects to manipulate into something new. He pockets a couple of shells, throws another few back to the ground. Theo and I seem to be keeping a quicker pace, and pretty soon Ahmet is a generous distance away and definitely out of earshot.

“Any news on your brother?” I ask quietly. Theo’s been listening in on the council room as much as he can, hoping for even the tiniest scrap of information that could help us.

He shakes his head, toffee curls swaying in the breeze. “The Rezzies are so focused on the Procession of Crowns; sometimes I get the horrible feeling they’ve actually forgotten about him. That he’s just chained up in a cold cell, scared and unable to move. Unable to speak. And it’s all because of me.”

“We’ll find him,” I say, looking up at Theo like I’m making a promise.