“Let’s get closer.” They moved quietly across the dry grass, stopping when they reached a rocky perch. Now Aria saw a large square opening in Bliss, a wide-open cavity on the smooth walls of the Pod. The Guardians who came and went wore sterile suits. She knew what that meant. The closed environment was compromised. She’d expected this, but numbness seeped through her limbs.
Perry cursed softly beside her.
“What is it?” she asked.
“There’s a black cart down there,” he said, his expression pained. “Some sort of truck, close to the Pod.” She saw it. It was in miniature, but she saw it. “There are people—bodies on board.”
Her eyes blurred. “Can you see any of their faces?”
“No.” Perry wrapped his arms around her. “Come here,” he whispered. “She could be anywhere. Don’t give up now.”
They sat on the rocks side by side as she forced herself to think. She couldn’t walk out of the darkness and announce herself a Dweller. She needed to come up with a plan. She took her Smarteye from her satchel. It hadn’t helped her reach Lumina at Marron’s, but it would be useful now.
Aria stared at the small black point in the distance. She’d waited enough. She knew what she needed to do. “I have to get down there.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“No. You can’t. They’d kill you if they saw you.”
He groaned like the words hurt him physically.
“The Tides need you to be Blood Lord, Perry. I have to go alone. And I need your help up here.”
She told him her idea, describing the disguise she hoped to find and the way she would slip back in. He listened, his jaw rigid, but he agreed to do his part. Aria stood and handed him Talon’s dagger.
“No,” he said. “You might need it.”
She looked at the knife, her throat tight with emotion. No roses or rings with him, but a knife with feathers carved into the handle. A knife that was part of him. She couldn’t accept it.
“This won’t help me down there,” she said. She didn’t want to hurt anyone. She just wanted to get back in.
Perry slipped the knife into his boot, but he wouldn’t look at her when he straightened. He crossed his arms and uncrossed them, and then brushed the back of his hand across his eyes.
“Perry . . . ,” she began. What could she say? How could she possibly describe what she felt for him? He knew. He had to know. She hugged him, pressing her eyes closed as she listened to the solid beat of his heart. His arms tightened as she drew away.
“It’s time, Perry.” He let her go. She took a step back, taking in his face one last time. His green eyes. The bend in his nose and the scars on his cheek. All the tiny imperfections that made him beautiful. Without a word, she turned and made her way downhill.
She felt like she was floating as she skimmed over the grass toward Bliss. Don’t stop, she told herself. Keep going. She was downslope in an instant, taking cover behind a row of large crates labeled CGB RESCUE & RECOVERY in reflective lettering. Engines buzzed loudly in her ears. She couldn’t catch her breath. Don’t turn around. She forced herself to focus on the scene before her.
Lights erected on cranes electrified the area with a sharp glare. To her right, she saw the massive mobile structure that appeared to be the heart of the operation, an angular and clumsy craft compared to the pearl blue Hovers nested around it. The curving gray walls of Bliss soared skyward to the left, smooth, broken only by the gaping rift she’d seen from above. A dozen Guardians roamed in the dirt field between. Then she spotted her target. The black truck was parked by several Hovers that sat in the darkness.
Her mother couldn’t be there.
She couldn’t be.
Aria needed to know.
Chapter 40
PEREGRINE
Perry’s eyes locked onto Aria as she huddled by a line of crates in the darkness below. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t blink. What had he done? How could he let her go alone? He knew she was waiting for the right moment to move, but every second that passed, he came closer to sprinting down to her side.
The Guardians retreated into the rescue center, their work winding down as the night deepened. Perry tensed when the perimeter lights shut off, leaving only an illuminated path to the rescue center. He hadn’t expected that, but it would help them. Finally, when everything was still, Aria straightened from her crouch and dashed through the darkness toward the black truck.
His gut twisted as he watched her climb into the bed. Perry could see the tangle of limbs clearly. A dozen people, by his guess. He watched her search through the dead for her mother. He watched with his legs shaking and an ache like a rock caught in his throat. Was this it? Was she going to find Lumina like this? A body, left out in the cold?
He cursed the part of him that wished she’d find her mother this way. It was the only chance Aria would ever return to him. But then what? Wasn’t this what he wanted? For her to go home so that he could return to the Tides?
He couldn’t bear it, standing there, doing nothing. What was happening? How was she feeling? He’d known every small shift in her temper for days. Now he didn’t know anything.
Aria dropped something over the side of the bed. A bulky suit like the Guardians wore. Boots. A helmet. Then she hopped down to the ground and scurried under the truck. He couldn’t see her now but he knew she was undressing in the cramped space, putting on the Dweller clothes. He knew what that meant. She hadn’t found her mother.
She crept from beneath the truck in the suit, a Dweller again. Aria pulled on a helmet and then wove her way through the darkness, drawing as close as she could to the rescue unit. Perry moved within range. There were only two men there now, standing by the entrance ramp. He knew it was as good a chance as they’d ever get, and so did she.