He pulls me over to a quiet corner outside the meeting room, away from the others, and looks awkwardly down at his feet. “Are you sure you want to do this, Rye? You still haven’t explained why you changed your mind.”

My heart warms at his concern. “When Sora first told me I had to initiate, I thought I’d have to betray the family that raised me. Be a traitor or something, you know?”

He nods. “And now?”

“Now I’ve realized it’s not a betrayal. It’s a sacrifice. Just like our clan motto. By sacrificing my Gom identity, I can save Hattie.”

“Service and Sacrifice,” Emmett echoes under his breath. “I get it. Well, I just want you to know you’re not alone. I’m here for you.” He tips the dragon scooter up so that a little flapping wing can give me a high five. “Me and Boris both.”

“I’m so grateful for you. For both of you.” I sniffle.

“Geez, you don’t have to get all mushy on me now. Ugh.” He takes off his cremation ring and shoves it into my hand. “Don’t ask why, just take this, okay? It’s not for you—it’s for me. It would just make me feel better if you were wearing it.”

He looks away, his nose in the air. He’s getting worse at hiding his feelings with each passing day. Emotions look good on him, though. I put the ring on my finger and draw him in for a hug. “Love you, boo.”

“Guess you’re not a bad egg, either, Riley Oh.”

Austin comes over to our quiet corner. “Shall we go?” he says to me.

I nod.

“Emmett, you come with me,” Sora says, ushering him away. “We’ll wait for Riley outside.”

With that, Austin leads Taeyo and me to a smaller tree house in the south end of campus. It’s separated from the rest of the buildings in the network, as if it was designed to be hidden. The door is highly secured with what looks like ten separate metal locks. Austin rubs his wrists, and, as his gifted mark glows, he waves his hand over each of them. One by one, the locks move like clockwork until all of them have clicked open.

He pushes the door wide. “After you.”

It looks like a science lab inside. People are sitting on benches at various tables, working with microscopes, mini blowtorches, and tech parts I can’t identify. A small group in the back is crowded around a 3-D printer that’s spitting out something too small for me to see. AKMU is playing softly in the background, and no one is talking. Everyone is intently focused on their work.