Theo had been lacerated when he fell against the wire shirtless. Almost as bad as Tristan’s cut. Vista had the cut on her hand.

“Let’s get looked after,” I said. The ‘uk’ part of ‘looked’ almost saw me vomit from purely reactionary factors again. “Go see Citrine.”

“Can we get medical attention?” Ashley asked one guard. She still knelt on the ground, still wore that tense expression.

The guard pointed. Same direction as the showers.

He had been a participant, but hadn’t been one to actively kick or shove, except whatever he’d done to handle Ashley.

There were worse people to follow.

We headed toward the showers and the medical area that lay beyond. Some of us supported others. Sveta held the bridge of Kenzie’s nose. Theo leaned on me. Rain leaned on Ashley, limping. Our priorities were to get help for Tristan and Theo. Or Theo, at the very least, if we could manufacture a situation to swap Tristan out.

“We do this for Gimel. If anyone isn’t comfortable pushing forward with this, if you’re scared or if you need out, we could—”

God, I hated to say it.

“—ask for some strings to be pulled, favors called in,” I finished.

Even with my offer, nobody seemed especially intent on escaping or going. They knew the importance of getting those supplies for Gimel. Even if it meant enduring a gauntlet.

We’d have to be more careful. If the Wardens were busy, most likely with Teacher, we were largely alone in this. We had us, we had Kenzie’s group, we had Undersiders, maybe, and we had Citrine, who we were about to chat with.

Again, I looked up at the perch, absent my sister. She’d disappeared around the time I’d puked. Just… walked away. The opposite of help.

But there was no reassurance in her being gone, definitely no reassurance in her being here. I wouldn’t even be reassured, I worried, by escaping this place and leaving Shin well behind me. She’d proven she could pull me in if the right crisis was manufactured. This, in so many ways, was her world.

The only peace I could be sure of would be to remove her from it, to remove her from Gimel. Something permanent.

I hoped with every last iota of my being that the Wardens would be intact enough after the Teacher raid to make a level-headed call on the subject of Amy. I certainly didn’t trust myself or my team to make that unbiased call, not after this.

Breaking 14.9