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I dart back into my room to slip on ed out of his PJs and put on his jumpsuit as well We head in the direction of the soldiers and find everyone in thewith activity I spotfive soldiers by the entrance raroup is Adas on the beaches of Golden Sands, with dirty-blond hair, tanned skin and aqua so to see who it is A gasp gets lost inwho it is

"Sigur!" I cry out

I push h the croard hi A led into the hospital

"I’es a faint s, before he’s taken into the ward, followed by o after them, but Slater stops me

"I need to see him," I say

"Not now," Slater replies

I’m about to protest when I hear a familiar voice behind me

"Natalie?"

It can’t be! I spin around,on the entrance ralossy black hair tied into a neat side braid, and chocolate-brown eyes She’s dressed in navy blue pants, a vest and boy’s black frock coat Perched on the tip of her long nose is a pair of spectacles

"Day!" I squeal

I rush over and throw htly, it’s hard to breathe, but I don’t care She’s here, she’s really here, beautiful, stubborn, wonderful Day! We’re both crying and laughing as we cling to each other

"Hey, Buchanan, get your hands offtoward us from the entranceway is Ash’s best friend, Beetle The scar tissue on his cheek puckers as he grins at oofy sort of ith pale skin,an old, battered military jacket, and his black pants are tucked into a pair of chunky leather work boots Beside him is the head of Humans for Unity, Roach She looks a lot like her nephew, Beetle, except with freckled skin and garish blue hair Elijah quickly greets Beetle, doing that aard half-hug-pat-on-the-back thing guys do, before he ereat to see you"

Day flushes slightly, and Beetle rolls his eyes

"I’ht here," he uys end up here?" I say as we stroll down the entrance raur," Day explains "But just as we reached his cell, those soldiers turned up, guns blazing, sur told them to hold fire; othere’d all be dead," Roach adds

"We had no idea you were here," Day says, then lets out a squeak of delight and eain "What is this place, Nat?"

"Where’s Ash?" Beetle interrupts before I can explain, his expression worried

"We got separated back in Viridis But I’esture towardAsh’s failed execution in Black City, I’d felt the echo of his heartbeat fading inside me as his life slipped away, so I would know if he were dead

"Do you knohere he is?" Day says

I shake et so over breakfast"

Roach heads to the residential quarters to get showered while we go to the Mess Hall Along the way, I pop into rab the radio, in order to resu of the airwaves Day and I walk behind the boys as we head to the canteen Beetle gestures wildly as he describes an epic gunfight between hiuards, while Elijah politely listens, his hands casually thrust in his pockets as he strolls beside Beetle, his tail swaying idly behind him An attractive female soldier with auburn hair walks by and smiles at Elijah, but he doesn’t seem to notice Day raises a brow atokay?" she whispers "It’s not like hiirl"

I laugh

"What’s funny?" she asks

The old Elijah wouldn’t have let a beautiful girl go by without some sort of flirtatious co to be someone else

"What’s funny?" she asks

"We have a lot to catch up on," I say, loopingwith news of the Darkling A smell of charred wood and metal in the canteen from my recent arson attempt, but I don’t mind it soat one of the tables, chatting to a brown-haired soldier Her black hair is tied back, showing off the angles of her high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes She looks a lot like her aunt, Emissary Vincent She waves us over and the man leaves I quickly introduce her to Beetle and Day, explaining how they got here

"Did you hear about Sigur?" I say

She nods "I knew O a prisoner fro Ambassador Your dad kept that strictly on a need-to-know basis"

Day whips around to me "Wait, what? Your dad’s here?"

"Yeah, he’s alive," I say "It’s a long story"

"What do they ith Sigur?" Beetle asks Destiny

She shrugs "I’ favor with the Darklings," she says "We need them on our side once we’ve defeated Purian Rose, so Hu syiiven how divided the country is right now"

"Hold up, the new Sentry regi a confused look aton here?" Beetle says