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couple yards away, my right hand ran across cables dangling from the ceiling. Something bright flashed against my hand, startling me. A spark beside my feet ignited paper strewn across the floor. I extinguished it by kicking water over it. Plunged into darkness again, I could still see a bright spot in the center of my vision.
    I found the door and avoided catching the glass edge as I eased my way through. When I was outside, I stomped away from the building and didn’t look back. I tried to stay focused, but couldn’t. I was furious. Whether or not I was an Apprentice, I was surely more useful to the colony alive than dead.
    I could see a little better outside, but I still hugged the building. I couldn’t afford to get lost. My head felt hot, but the rest of me was shivering. A long night in Skeleton Town was the last thing I wanted.
    After several steps the wall felt rougher, and I knew I was next to a different building. When that building ended, I kept moving straight ahead across the road toward the shelter. Five steps. Ten steps. Fifteen.
    Something didn’t feel right. The shelter wasn’t where I expected it to be.
    Suddenly there was a sound nearby: something moving, or scraping. Had someone come to find me?
    â€œWho’s there?” I shouted.
    No response, so I rushed in the direction of the sound. When I reached the spot, I stretched out my arms and felt only wind and rain.
    I heard the sound again, nearer this time. Again I hurried toward it, and my shoulder collided with the smooth wall of the shelter. I knew it would hurt in the morning, but I didn’t care. All my energy was focused on following the wall. When I finally reached the door, I threw myself inside.
    I clung to the rail and descended the stairs, footsteps unsteady, shoes slippery. The candle still glowed, but no one stirred. I wound my way toward Lora. She lay on her side, exactly where I’d left her.
    â€œTwo,” she murmured, eyes shut tight. “Two tablets.”
    â€œThere was nothing there.
Nothing
.”
    It seemed as though her entire body recoiled. “Should’ve sent Ananias,” she said, more breath than words. “Or Eleanor. Or Alice. Anyone but you.”
    â€œThere was nothing there.”
    I wanted her to open her eyes. To apologize for what she’d done. But as the moments passed, I began to notice things: her expression, taut and unchanging; her legs, pulled tight against her chest. She looked helpless. She was suffering.
    â€œBlanket,” she mouthed.
    My mind drifted back to the building. Had there been other shelves after all? Had I stopped looking too soon?
    â€œBlan . . .” This time she couldn’t even complete the word.
    With so many bodies crammed together, the night felt even hotter and stickier than the day, but I spread my blanket across her anyway. Her arms glistened with perspiration.
    I lay down as her rasping breath steadied. She said the word
tessa
over and over until her voice faded away entirely and I knew that she had finally fallen asleep.
    As I rolled away from Lora, I noticed that Alice had edged closer to me. I could even see the whites of her eyes, so I guessed that she’d been listening.
    â€œYou’re drenched.” She stifled a yawn. “Where have you been?”
    â€œInto Skeleton Town.”
    â€œWhat for? And why did she keep saying ‘tessa’?”
    â€œHow did you hear—” I began to say. But then Alice’s eyes grew wide. She was looking upward as though watching someone standing over me.
    I rolled over and collided with Griffin. He knelt beside Guardian Lora and placed his hands under her head. She didn’t say a word, even when he lifted her head into his lap and stroked her hair tenderly.
    Then I realized why.
    Lora had always been one of the cruelest Guardians—never satisfied, always doubting. But at that moment, all I could think was that her challenge to me had been real.