Perry grinned. “Well, you were right.” Clapping them on the shoulders, he bid them good night.

In his tent, Perry found Cinder asleep next to Talon. Flea was rolled into a ball under Cinder’s arm.

Perry knelt and scratched his coarse fur. The dog angled his head up, his tail padding against the blankets. He loved to be scratched in the soft slope between his wide-set eyes.

Perry’s gaze moved to Talon and Cinder. The boys had fallen in together like they’d known each other since birth. He owed that to Willow.

“And you too, fleabag,” he said.

Cinder’s eyes blinked open. Perry smiled, too happy to see him there to feel sorry for waking him. “How’d you get him away from Willow?” he asked, nodding to Flea.

Lying on his side, Cinder gave a one-shouldered shrug. “I didn’t do anything. He just came back with me.”

“Willow was fine with that?”

The corner of Cinder’s mouth pulled up. “Sorta. She told Flea he could stay with me this one time only, since I just got back.”

“Generous of her, actually.”

“Yeah,” Cinder said. “I know.” His smile widened. “She’s still cursing. You thought she’d stop when I got here, but she hasn’t.”

“We already knew that Willow is unstoppable.”

“I know,” Cinder said again. “She is.”

As the moment settled between them, Perry looked from Cinder to Talon, and his vision began to blur. These boys—only one of them his blood relative, but both of them family—replenished him. They gave him confidence and purpose. Wearing the chain made sense when he looked at them, when he thought of them with Willow and Clara, whooping as they leaped from a platform into the darkness. They were the future, and they were so good.

Perry pushed a bit of small talk past his lips, buying a moment to compose himself. “So, how are you doing?”

“I’m tired.”

Perry waited, knowing there was more.

“And I’m scared,” Cinder said. “Are we going to the Still Blue?”

“I don’t know . . . maybe.”

“If we do, I’ll have to get us through.”

Reef’s words echoed in Perry’s mind. There is no way forward that isn’t through pain. He shook his head, pushing them away.

“Whatever happens, Cinder, I swear to you, I won’t leave your side.”

Cinder didn’t say anything, but Perry scented the easing of anxiety from his temper. That seemed to be all he needed to surrender to sleep. In seconds, Cinder’s eyes fluttered closed.

Perry stayed a moment longer, soaking in the quiet. Flea began to whimper, his legs twitching as he dreamed about chasing something. Perry wondered if it was the Still Blue.