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careening around in panic, trying to break out of my stomach with their flapping.
    I lay down on my cot in my clothes, giving sleep a try, but the train of my thoughts was racing too fast to let me get off and rest. Eventually, I got up to shower in the middle of the night and was still awake when Drey tapped on my door almost timidly a couple hours later. I was already dressed, buzzing with nervous energy, and I didn’t accept the rank-smelling cup of coffee from him this time.
    Drey was quiet, offering none of his usual stories as we suited up, me in hospital white and him in our usual green. It was like he was sorry. But he didn’t apologize, or tell me why he wasn’t wordless, as we made our way to the truck and out of the garage. I kept my end of the pact of silence and didn’t say anything about my crazy plan—or lack thereof—to try to help one of the Words.
    We pulled up behind the shadowy pyramid with the first rays of morning light peeking over the forested mountains ringing Eden City and the lake. Drey cleared his throat, but I opened the truck door anyway.
    “I don’t know what you might be up to,” he said, as softly as possible over the growl of the engine, his hands on the steering wheel and eyes straight ahead, staring across the empty parking lot. “You’re a smart boy—a smart man, even. Just be careful, okay, Tav?”
    “I’m always careful.” I hopped out onto the asphalt, failing to mention that I was planning on being a hell of a lot less careful that morning. I slammed the heavy door without another word and immediately wished I’d said something nicer— warmer , maybe, or at least a goodbye. But I didn’t want to reopen the door only for that, and then Drey was driving off.
    My little white truck was waiting in the same spot. I didn’t grin or even acknowledge the security guards this time. The palms of my hands were already coated in a film of sweat when I got into the truck and started the engine, my body reacting to what my brain knew: I wasn’t headed off on my usual pickup routine.
    I collected a few bags of trash, enough to look busy and avoid suspicion, but then drove straight to the gated alley between the still-quiet apartment buildings. The sun was barely lighting the peak of the pyramid as I turned off the engine and slipped out of the truck, leaving the door cracked to avoid the slam of closing it. There was no sign of even a stray person wandering at this hour, though the other days I’d seen joggers not much later than this. Haste would be necessary if I didn’t want more people to start cropping up. The security camera and retinal scan were bad enough, as far as discreetness went.
    At least the gate popped open without a wait.
    I speed-walked down the alley and into the courtyard, grimacing as my shoes squeaked over the grass. It was wet, as though it had just been watered, clear drops beading on the blades and on the plants in their beds. At least I wasn’t tiptoeing through sprinklers—if this was even the work of sprinklers and not the Word of Water. They probably didn’t do anything like normal people here.
    I didn’t let myself think about who I was trying to help as I stopped underneath the darkened balcony. She was just a girl. Just your average all-powerful, insanely beautiful girl.
    My thoughts weren’t calming. My heart was thumping as loud as a jackhammer at the crack of dawn—which was about what time it was, sunlight trickling down from the peak of the pyramid, turning the world to gold.
    Would she even be awake? In my eagerness to help her, I hadn’t really considered the possibility that she wouldn’t be. I almost wanted to laugh.
    Then, out of nowhere, something hit me like a pile of bricks, so heavy it flattened me on the wet grass.
    Not a something— someone . A person, sprawled on top of me. A girl covered in blood.
    She breathed against me, her hair in my face, so at least I knew she wasn’t dead. A blow from her elbow to my head had