She nodded to Marron quickly, her eyes filling again. She wanted to see her mother. To know she was alive, but what would she say? Lumina had kept so much from her. She’d kept Aria from knowing herself.
She was half Outsider.
Half.
She felt that way. Like half of her had just disappeared.
Marron brought her the Smarteye. Aria’s hands shook as she held it. “What if there’s nothing? What if I can’t get her?”
“You can stay here as long as you like.”
He said it so quickly, so readily. Aria looked into his round, kind face. “Thank you.” She couldn’t speak the next question that came to her mind.
What if I find out she took Talon?
She needed to know. Aria placed the Smarteye over her left eye. The device pulled uncomfortably tight on her skin. She saw the two local files on her Smartscreen. Soren’s recording. Her mother’s message.
She ran through the mental commands to bring up the Realms as Marron monitored everything on the palette on his lap.
WELCOME TO THE REALMS! flashed across her Smartscreen, followed by BETTER THAN REAL!
After a few moments, another message appeared.
ACCESS DENIED
She took the Eye off quickly, not wanting to see those words. “Marron, we failed. I’m not going to go home. Perry’s not getting Talon back.”
He squeezed her hand. “It’s not the end of the road yet. It didn’t work for you, but I have something else in mind.”
Chapter 28
PEREGRINE
The Croven were chanting when Perry strode out to the roof. He braced the rail with his good hand and looked out across the pine forest, listening to the distant ringing of their bells. His legs twitched with the need to run. To escape. Even now, with nothing between him and the sky, he felt trapped.
It couldn’t be true. He had blamed himself for Talon’s kidnapping. He’d taken the Smarteye, and the Dwellers had come after him. Now he wondered—was it possible the Dwellers had Talon for an experiment? Was he suffering at the hands of Aria’s mother? A woman who stole innocent children?
He yanked an arrow from his quiver and fired it toward the Croven, not caring that he was too far. That he couldn’t even see them. Cursing, he loosed one arrow after another, letting them sail over the wall and past the treetops. Then he slumped against the elevator box, cradling his throbbing hand.
He spent the rest of the night staring at the Aether, thinking of Talon and Cinder and Roar and Liv. How everything was about searching and missing. How none of it was coming together the way it should. By dawn, with daylight creeping to meet the Aether, all he could think about was Aria’s face as her world had shifted around her. It had torn her open to learn she was like him. He’d scented it. Her temper had slammed into him, fire and ice, shooting into his nose. Straight to his gut.
He couldn’t have slept more than an hour when Roar came up to the roof. He perched on the rail with the cat’s balance of an Aud, no trace of fear at the huge drop behind him. He crossed his arms, a cold edge in his eyes.
“She didn’t know about the work her mother does, Perry. You saw her. She was just as stunned as you.”
Perry sat up and rubbed his tired eyes. His muscles were stiff and sore from sleeping on cement. “What do you want, Roar?” he asked.
“I’m delivering a message. Aria said to come down if you want to see Talon.”
Aria and Marron were in the common room when he and Roar got there.
She rose from the couch when she saw him. Purple shadows darkened the skin beneath her eyes. Perry couldn’t help but breathe in deeply, searching the room for her temper. He found it. The hurt she felt. A deep, raw thing. Anger and shame at being an Outsider. At being a Savage, like him.
“This is working now,” she said, holding out her Smarteye. “I tried it but I couldn’t get into the Realms. My signature didn’t work. They’ve blocked me.”
Perry’s knees almost buckled. That was it. He’d lost his chance to find Talon. Then why had they brought him down here? Confused, he turned to Roar and found him fighting a smile.
“I can’t,” Aria said, “but you might be able to, Perry.”
“Me?”
“Yes. They’ve only blocked me. The Eye still works. I can’t go in. But you might be able to.”
Marron nodded. “The device reads a signature in two ways. DNA and brain pattern recognition. Aria’s signature was denied right away. But with you, I can try to create some static, some noise in the authentication process. We ran some tests overnight. I think we could steal some time before you’re identified as an unauthorized user. It could work.”
It made no sense to him. All he heard was the last bit. It could work.
“My mother’s file had the security codes to her research,” Aria said. “If Talon’s there, we might be able to find him.”
Perry swallowed hard. “I can find Talon?”
“We can try.”
“When?”
Marron raised his eyebrows. “Now.”
Perry headed to the elevator, suddenly weightless on his legs, until Marron held his hand up. “Wait, Peregrine. It’s better if we do this up here.”
Perry froze. He’d forgotten about what he did downstairs. Shamed, he had to force himself to hold Marron’s gaze. “I can’t fix it. But I’ll find a way to pay you back.”
Marron didn’t answer for a long moment. Then he tipped his head. “No need to, Peregrine. One day I think I’ll be glad you owe me a favor.”
Perry nodded, accepting the agreement, and strode to one of the display cases on the rear wall. He pretended to observe a painting of a lone boat moored on a gray beach as he tried to collect himself. He’d made more than a few promises lately. I’ll find Talon. I’ll get Aria home. What had he done but bring a tribe of cannibals to Marron’s door and then break a valuable piece of equipment? How could Marron have faith in him?