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asked, unable to bring herself to say it.
    “She killed herself,” Cass said. She tossed the handle of the girl’s knife on the table. Hondo picked it up, examined it, held it up for the others to see.
    “It’s a popper.”
    “A what?” Vye said.
    “Shatter-blade,” Aron explained. “Got a little charge in there, makes the blade explode in a million pieces and turns your insides to soup. Nasty business. Find ’em on outsiders all the time.” He added the last bit as if it was proof positive his assumptions were right. Awfully convinced.
    “Who would do such a thing?” Connor said, almost to himself. He shook his head. “Who could even conceive of such a thing? He’s just a boy!” There was genuine despair in his voice. A rare display of emotion.
    “Not to them,” said Vye. Her voice was quiet but certain.
    “And that’s what I mean,” Aron said. “Look. In here, to us, we know who Wren is. But out there, he’s just a name. Or… or… or a king. Or a god.”
    “Or a devil,” said Hondo. Cass held herself still, refused to react to the almost-familiar words. After a moment, she let her eyes slide casually across Vye to Hondo.
    “That’s not what I meant,” Vye said.
    “It isn’t what you said, but it’s what you meant,” Hondo replied. “And what do you expect? He brought ghouls to live among us.” Aron and Connor both reacted, and Vye actually gasped aloud. Hondo glanced at her, then turned and addressed Cass directly. “Look, don’t take it the wrong way, Cass. I’m just trying to be honest about how some folk feel.”
    Cass waved her hand, casually dismissing any offense. She’d been called worse.
    “There are certain segments out there,” Hondo continued, “not me mind you, you know not me, but there are segments who just want things back the way they were.”
    Connor said, “Things will never be the way they were–”
    “It doesn’t matter, Connor, people will always want it anyway!” Hondo said, voice rising. “I got people out there still talking about going home one day! Home , Connor! What kind of home you think is left out there for anyone to go back to?”
    “People are just afraid,” Rae said. “Afraid of change, afraid of uncertainty. And when people are afraid, they drive themselves to do things. Crazy things.”
    Aron said, “And that’s why I said we had to keep the gates closed!”
    “Didn’t we just agree we weren’t going back there, Aron?” said Hondo.
    Things were getting heated again. Cass glanced at North. He was still, expressionless, soaking it all in.
    Aron replied, “But back there is the problem, Hondo. Back there is where too much changed, too fast. Look here, bringin’ Wren to the people, makin’ him governor, that was the quick fix. Underdown’s son, heir to the throne. What he would have wanted. That’s easy, people get that. But throwin’ the gates open to the outsiders? And then this business with… you know. I’m sorry, Cass, but it’s true.”
    She said, “No one here needs to apologize to me for anything. I know what I am.”
    “Again, Aron,” said Rae, “we all appreciate your keen sense of problems, but why don’t you try solving one for a change!”
    He said, “We gotta get ’em off the streets. Bring ’em all here, or let me take ’em in at my place, I don’t care. We just need a place for ’em to stay until people get used to the idea.”
    North spoke at last. “They’re free people, Aron. Free people. Like you. Like me.”
    “No, North, they’re not. Doesn’t matter what we say, doesn’t matter whether you like it or I like it. They’re different.”
    “That’s the problem, isn’t it?” said a small voice from the entryway. The whole Council turned, and even Cass felt a jolt. There was Wren, standing near the door. Observing, for who knew how long. Just like his mama. Able hovered by the entrance, at once protective and unobtrusive.
    Cass opened her mouth to protest but caught herself, closed it.