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I bite my lip so as not to gasp aloud.

Ro bursts out laughing. “Oh, very good. That’s excellent. You’re human contraband like us, and your own mother is the Ambassador?” He grins at me as if we are sharing a really exceptional joke. You know, have you heard the one about the three Icon Children and the Ambassador?

He says it again, shaking his head. “Lucas Amare is an Icon Child? And you thought we had secrets to keep, Dol.”

All I can do is stare.

Ro’s right. We aren’t contraband, not exactly, but it feels that way. Whatever we are is something the Padre went to great lengths to conceal, not just from the Embassy but from everyone, even from Bigger and Biggest. And now we find this Sympa, who’s also an Icon Child, living right in the Embassy itself?

It makes no sense at all.

I understand what Ro is thinking. There is no way the son of the Ambassador, the devil herself—the Hole’s only earthly link to the General Ambassador to the Planet, GAP Miyazawa, and beyond him, the House of Lords—can have anything in common with the two of us. No matter how many markings we share.

And with that, the world is back the way Ro likes it to be. A world of two.

“It’s not a secret. Not from my mother. She knows I’m here.” He sounds defensive.

“Here, in this miserable water cave? Or here, out poaching innocent Grass children?” Ro is almost laughing. He can’t believe our good luck, that we stumbled upon something so valuable.

Someone.

“I found out you were being brought in, both of you. I wanted to—I wanted to help.”

“Help us? Or help them?”

The boy lowers his eyes.

Ro smirks. “I see.”

The Choppers are growing louder. It sounds like they’re landing right on top of us. I inch my head out from under the lip of the bluff, and I can see the edge of the blades, maybe fifty feet up.

“That took too long. The Choppers.” The Sympa boy—Lucas—says what I am thinking. “They’ve gone back for reinforcements.”

“Good. They’ll need them,” Ro says darkly.

I step between them, placing both hands on the muzzle of the gun.

“Move, Dol.” Ro shakes the gun, exasperated.

“I can’t. Lucas is right.”

“You’re listening to Buttons now?”

“His name isn’t Buttons, and I trust him. I can feel him, Ro. You told me to.”

Ro’s mouth tightens into a scowl. He doesn’t like the idea of me poking around in Lucas Amare’s mind, that much is clear. I ignore him.

I try again. “You have to believe me. We can trust him.”

“You don’t know anything, Dol. We don’t know how he works, what he can do. Maybe those marks are fake. Maybe he’s controlling you with some kind of Embassy endorphins—they have every scientist in the Hole working on one Classified weapon or another.”

“Your new Grass Rebellion friends tell you that?” He’s angry, but now I’m angry too.

“Maybe. But either way, he’s been sent here to bring us in—he already admitted that much himself.”

The Embassy Choppers are so loud now, he has to shout. Even then, I can barely hear him. I pull on the gun with both hands.

“Let go, Ro.”

“Don’t, Doloria de la Cruz. Please.”

“Let go, Furo Costas. Please.”

I’m begging you. That’s what his eyes say, even if he’s too proud to ever use the words himself. I’m begging him too, with every tug on the gun barrel.

Lucas watches us. “I give you my word. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Shut up, Buttons.” Ro is panicking, which is dangerous.

I put my other hand on his wrist. “We can do this. We have to. We don’t have a choice.”

Now I see the ropes falling into the water, all around us. Sympas are about to drop from the sky, along with the rain.

Then I say the words Ro doesn’t want to hear most of all. “We have to trust him. We have nowhere else to go.”

“Give me the gun, Ro.” Lucas is shouting now. He holds out his hands. I feel Lucas reaching toward Ro. I feel the warmth unfolding, the rush of his influence.

Lucas is intoxicating.

Ro’s fingers flex on the grip. Dazed, he takes a step backward, trying to brace himself. But I already know it’s no use.

Ro lets go. I stumble from the weight of the gun, almost knocking Lucas over. I press the gun into his hands and step away, just as the cave fills with Sympas.

Armed and masked.

Now the tracking dots are on our foreheads, dancing between our eyes.

“Took you long enough. Bring them in, boys. I’m beat. Stubborn Grass. Had to hold them here all afternoon.” Lucas lurches out from the rocks, splashing through the water. He stops, steadying himself. “One thing. I don’t want anybody talking to them without my permission.” He shoots Ro a meaningful look. You don’t have to read minds to know what he’s saying. Shut the hell up.

Then it’s my turn.

“And careful with the girl. She needs medical attention. They both do. Send them straight up to Doc when we land.”

Lucas speaks with authority, more than his years, more than he has. The Sympas salute as he passes. Only I know he barely has the strength to hold his gun.

“Mr. Amare.” An angry-looking man in a heavily decorated military coat stands next to Lucas.

I recognize the wings on his jacket, and the bile rises in my throat.