Perry sighed and set the bottle down. He ran a hand over his hair. “Mila got worse after you left. She died a few weeks ago.” He looked at Aria. “Mila is . . . was my brother Vale’s wife. Their son is named Talon. He’s seven.”
Blood rushed in Aria’s ears as she put the information together. This was the boy taken by her people. Perry was trying to rescue his nephew.
“I didn’t know,” Roar said. “Vale and Talon must be in hell.”
“Vale is.” Perry cleared his throat. “Talon’s gone. I lost him, Roar.” He brought his knees up and bowed his head, lacing his fingers behind his neck.
Even by the soft candlelight, Aria saw the color drain from Roar’s face. “What happened?” he asked quietly.
Perry’s wide shoulders drew together like he was containing something vast, keeping it trapped inside him. When he looked up, his eyes were glazed and red. In a hoarse voice, he told them a story Aria had been part of but had never heard. Of how he’d come into her world for medicines, to help a sick boy. A boy who’d been kidnapped by her people. He told Roar about their deal. Once Marron fixed her Smarteye, she’d reach her mother. He’d get Talon back and Lumina would bring Aria into Bliss.
They sat in silence after he’d finished. Aria heard only the stir of leaves when a breeze swept past. Then Roar spoke.
“I’m in. We’ll find them, Perry. Both Talon and Liv.”
Aria turned her face toward the shadows. She wished Paisley was there. She missed having her friend at her side.
Roar muttered a soft curse. “Prepare yourselves. Cinder’s back.”
A few moments later, the screen of leaves rustled then parted. A boy stood in the gap, his eyes dark and feral. He was shockingly thin. No more than a skeleton in filthy baggy clothes. He had fair skin. Nearly as fair as hers, Aria realized.
Cinder dropped beside her with a thump and leered at her through matted strands of dirty blond hair. His shirt hung so loose that Aria could see the way his collarbones stuck out like sticks.
Cinder’s gaze roamed over her face. His eyes were half-lidded with fatigue. “What are you doing out here, Dweller?” he asked suspiciously.
He sat too close. Aria scooted back. “I’m on my way home. To my mother.”
“Where’s she?”
“In Bliss. It’s one of our Pods.”
“Why did you leave?”
“I didn’t leave. I was thrown out.”
“You were thrown out but you want to go back? That’s barmy, Dweller.”
She guessed by Cinder’s expression that barmy meant something close to crazy. “I guess, when you put it like that.”
Roar tossed a piece of bread onto the ground. “Take it and be gone, Cinder.”
“It’s all right,” Aria said. Cinder might lack manners, but it was a cold night and where would he go? Out there by himself? “He can stay. It’s fine with me.”
Cinder picked up the bread and bit off a piece. “She wants me to stay, Roar.”
Aria could see his jawbone moving up and down as he chewed. “My name is Aria.”
“She even told me her name,” Cinder said. “She likes me.”
“Not for long,” Roar muttered.
Cinder looked at her, gnashing at the bread with his mouth open. Aria looked away. He was being crude on purpose.
“You’re right,” he said. “I think she already changed her mind.”
“Shut your mouth, Cinder.”
“How am I supposed to eat?”
Roar sat up. “That’s enough.”
Cinder’s smile was full of challenge. “What are you going to do? Stop feeding me? You want this back?” He held the half-eaten bread out. “Take it, Roar. I don’t want it anymore.”
Perry reached out and plucked the bread from his hand.
Cinder turned a stunned look on him. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“You didn’t want it.” Perry brought the bread to his mouth. He stopped with it inches from his lips. “Did you? Or were you lying?” His eyes gleamed in the dark. “If you tell them you’re sorry, I’ll give it back.”
Cinder snorted. “I’m not sorry.”
The corner of Perry’s mouth lifted into a smile. “You’re still lying.”
Cinder suddenly looked panicked, his eyes darting to her and then Roar and finally back to Perry. He scrambled to his feet. “Stay away from me, Scire!” He grabbed the bread out of Perry’s hand and barreled through the gap in the screen.
A cool feeling crept up Aria’s neck as the sounds of Cinder’s getaway faded. “What just happened? Why did he call you ‘Scire’?”
Roar’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Perry . . . she doesn’t know?”
Perry shook his head.
“What don’t I know?”
He looked up at the night sky, avoiding her gaze, and took a deep breath. “Some of us are Marked,” he said softly. “That’s what the bands on my arms are. Markings. They show that we have a dominant Sense. Roar is an Aud. He can hear things more clearly and from farther away. Sometimes miles off.”
Roar gave her an apologetic shrug.
“What about you?”
“I have two Senses. I’m a Seer. Night-Sighted. I can see in the dark.”
He saw in the dark. She should have known with his reflective eyes. With the way he never stumbled at night. “And the other?”
He looked right at her, his gaze brilliant green. “I have a strong sense of smell.”