I move toward the front of the line, pretending to be focused on the beauty of the airship. When she spots me, I let down my mental walls and reach across to hers with desperate hands.

Can you hear me? my mind screeches over the stretch of space and time between us.

It’s not an Exchange—I’m not sure it’s really anything at all. But I call to her, over and over again, the way I’ve called to Ophelia, hoping she’ll find a way to hear me.

When her lips part just slightly, a warm tingling sensation floods my senses, like the static I felt in the servants’ quarters. It consumes my mind, like a swarm of wasps gathering behind my eyes.

But the whispers don’t follow. Instead, I hear her.

It’s too late for me, she calls out, voice like broken glass.

Tell me how to help, I say, panicked. What can I do?

The guards push her toward the shuttle, and my chest feels like it’s about to collapse. Even as she’s being shuffled into the unknown, her face remains calm.

Listen. Find the others, she says.

What does that mean? I scream back. Listen to what?

But she’s already gone.

The vehicle sets off for the clouds, and I watch it shrink into the distance, eyes squinting to fight the sunlight.

I barely have time to register I’ve lost my only lead into how humans are becoming aware when an explosion goes off nearby.

I duck instinctively. Legion Guards descend from every angle toward the back of one of the lines. And my heart crumples like paper, because veil or not, I know Theo’s no longer with me.

I hurry across the square, eyes locked on a farmer’s cart set aflame. I spin around quickly, watching guards circle around the distraction like vultures, arms raised and weapons ready for battle. Across the square, another explosion goes off, this time taking a chunk of building with it. Brick and dust fly everywhere, scattering bits of stone all over the square.

I turn in the opposite direction, searching for any sign of Theo. And I guess the Legion Guards must have had the same idea, because a surge of kinetic energy bursts across the sky and lands in my line of sight, blowing the grass and trees around it to bits.

When the dust settles, I see Theo scrambling to get up, his veil torn away from him and his brother unmoving at his side.

They say in battle, it’s fight, flight, or freeze.

It turns out I’m the latter.

Theo gets to his feet just as another Legion Guard sends a ball of electricity into his chest, throwing him backward until he smashes into the side of a building. Another guard scoops up Martin like he weighs nothing at all, his limbs hanging awkwardly at his side.