She found him at last in a room alone, asleep beneath a window that was open to the night. She stepped inside, closed the door behind her, and shook him.
“Max! Max! It’s Kate!”
He bolted to a sitting position even before he was fully awake. When his eyes had focused, he looked at her, confused.
“Kate? Kate!”
He grabbed her then, hugging her so tightly she lost her breath. “You came back! I’m so glad!”
Kate nodded, trying to get the words out. She told him of the mountain, and Laysia, and the others.
“You don’t have to stay here!” she said. “You can come with us!”
But as Max listened, he dropped his arms and pulled away. He was watching her now, eyes shrouded in the darkness.
“Kate,” he said, “who sent you here?”
Startled, she shrugged. “No one sent me. I came because I wanted to!”
He was sitting back now, regarding her in a way she didn’t understand. “Alone? I don’t think so,” he said. “They said you’d gone to that woman they told me about. Did she send you? The exile?”
“Her name’s Laysia.”
“Laysia, then. Did she send you?”
“I told you, no!”
“Kate, stay here. I’ll make sure they take care of you. Jean, too.”
She stared at him. “What about Susan and Nell?”
Max dropped his eyes. “Them, too — just not right away. I’ve tried to talk to the Guide about that. Explain that things are different where we come from. He doesn’t understand just yet. But he’ll come around. I know I can make him understand. He’ll let them back soon.”
Kate’s stomach twisted. “Who can you make understand?”
“Tur Kaysh. The Guide. And the Master Watcher. He’s almost as big. Did you know that? And he came for us himself!”
She shook her head.
Max leaned forward, eyes alight. In the next room, a boy mumbled in his sleep and a bed behind the wall creaked. Max glanced that way and lowered his voice.
“Listen, Kate. What I’m doing here is important! Jean knows — I wrote her about it! We’re different from the people here — did you know that? We can do things even they can’t do — at least not as easily, not as naturally. Do you know, when I showed Tur Kaysh what I’d learned to do in the woods, he said it was a sign that the time is coming? Do you realize what that means? Do you see?”
But she didn’t see. She only understood that Max was not being held. Max wanted to stay. Nell had been right.
Kate sat across from Max in the dark room, trying to make him see.
“But they pushed Nell out! And Susan, too! They hurt people, Max. They make the mist! Do you know what it does to people? What Nell told us is true! Don’t listen to them, Max! Come back with me.”
Max thrust his lip forward, and his eyebrows came down.
“It’s not true,” Max said. “The Guide is a great man! He knows what he’s doing. It’s all for the good, Kate. You’ll see!”
She pulled away from him, stunned. All for the good? What was he saying?
“How can it be, Max? Hurting Susan? Hurting Nell?”
“Kate, you don’t get it.”
But she did get it. She did.
Max reached across the bed and took her arm, shook it lightly. “Kate, I know it’s hard for you to understand. You’re not big enough. But trust me. Trust me! You wouldn’t believe the things I’m learning here — things we’d never have dreamed of in the woods! Things we couldn’t do on our own! And it’s not for nothing, Kate. It’s not just for fun!”
She pulled herself from his grip, folded her arms across her chest.
“Can you fly, then? Can you push the light away so you can’t be seen?”
His mouth opened, then closed. He regarded her a moment.
“Where did you hear about that? The exile? Did she tell you?”
Kate set her jaw. “You don’t have to learn here, Max. You can be with us.”
But he wasn’t listening. His eyes were gleaming.
“Kate, listen. Something big is happening. Here. Not out there. Most of them here don’t even know about it. But the Guide told me, because I’m part of it, don’t you see? My coming is part of it!”
Outside, an owl hooted in the moonless night.
“Part of what?” she asked him.
“The end of the Genius. You saw how terrible it was there. What they do to people! Remember what they’d have done to us! But it’s almost over now. The Guide’s been preparing for years, and it’s almost time. We’re going after him now. We’re strong enough!”
“We? You, too? You’re going back there?”
He leaned forward, so focused on what he was trying to express that he nearly stood up.
“I have to, don’t you see? I’m stronger than I was before! Different! I know things. We all do. The Guide’s been teaching us, and we can do what they never could do when the Genius took over. It’s time to end it. To finish them in the city. And I’m here for that.”
“No! Max, the Genius is dangerous!”
He laughed, so suddenly it made her jump.
“Kate, we’re dangerous. To him, anyway. More than he’s ready for. And I’m part of that. Do you think we came here by accident? Do you think we just fell through that window?”
She shook her head. “Why are you saying this? Did they tell you about the five?”
He sat back, surprised. “So she told you that, too. They’re right that she’s dangerous, spilling secrets like that. But yes — the five. I’m one of them! The Guide knew it from the first! I’m here because I’m meant to be, Kate. I’m going to help them get him. Finish him.”
Kate felt a heat rise behind her eyes, and her throat tightened.
“But what about us?” she whispered. “What about the five of us?”
He barely seemed to hear her.
“Max! Laysia says it’s
