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to Griffin. It has to mean something.”
    I stopped mid-sign and glanced at Griffin. I wasn’t the only one either. As he looked from one to another of us, I was sure he was connecting our odd behavior to that word:
solution
. But either he’d already worked out that he was the solution, or he still didn’t understand. I hoped the latter.
    I shot Alice an accusing look. She had no business revealing that Griffin was the solution. What if the Guardians didn’t already know, and turned on him? We’d risked everything to keep him safe. All I cared about now was finding somewhere that my brother could live normally. But as Alice stared right back, it hit me: She truly believed that Griffin might be a solution to the Plague. Even more surprising, I wasn’t certain that she was wrong. After all, we were the only people who could control the elements. Was it so difficult to imagine that we might do even more?
    Marin interrupted my thoughts. “So how long do we stay in this new colony of yours, Thomas? A week? A month? Forever?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œOf course you don’t. How could you? You’re not even an Apprentice.”
    I told myself it was her grief talking, but in truth, she meant every word of it. “Where we’re going, there won’t be Apprentices,” I reminded her. “Or Guardians.”
    â€œHmm.” She stared ahead, as if I didn’t really exist. “And that’s what this is really all about, isn’t it? It’s not about the solution, or finding a new colony. You just want us to know what it’s like to live without elements.” She reached for her children’s hands, but only Dennis was by her side. “It’d feel good, wouldn’t it, to take that away from us? To give us a taste of how life has been for you.”
    â€œStop,” cried Rose. She faced the Guardians. “Look at you. You’re so weak, you can’t even stand. And now you say we’re ready to face the pirates again.” She wiped spittle from her lips with a bloodstained sleeve. “But I’ve seen what they can do, and I’ll be happy if we never go home again.”
    She didn’t wait for her mother to reply. With ten quick strides she reached the staircase. A moment later, she disappeared below deck, leaving an eerie silence behind her. Everyone kept quiet out of respect for her family’s loss. But as I looked around, I had no doubt that our recently reunited colony was divided yet again.

CHAPTER 6
    W e ate sparingly, pretending that we weren’t as hungry as we obviously were. Back on Roanoke, Rose had caught fish for us to eat. But now she didn’t eat at all, and no one dared to ask her to catch any. Alice handed out blankets and told everyone which cabins to use. I figured that her parents would argue with her, but they didn’t. It showed how weak they were. We’d be sailing the ship with a skeleton crew until they regained their strength.
    Daylight streamed through the window when I woke the next morning. I’d put in a long shift at the wheel during the night, eyes fixed on the stars so that I’d be able to follow Alice’s southwesterly course. I rubbed my eyes, reached for the water canister across the tiny cabin, and drained it quickly. I was replacing the cap when I heard someone cry out.
    I leaped up and ran from the cabin. Just along the corridor, Ananias and Eleanor were crammed around my father’s cage, combining their elements. With one hand they held each other, and with the other they shaped and concentrated Ananias’s flame into a white-hot glow aimed at the cage’s lock.
    But something wasn’t right. The flame wouldn’t stay still. It didn’t look very strong, either, and yet they were both sweating profusely. Maybe their elements were waning just like Kyte had warned, but something told me it had more to do with the way Eleanor leaned away