“I…” I falter for a moment, bewildered. “I’m going to bring back our water. Come with me to the underground well and—”
“No.”
The voice comes from the first pew. And then its owner is stepping into the aisle.
Ale.
I don’t know why I’m so surprised to see him. Everyone else left in Occhia is here, after all.
There’s a fresh bandage around his eye. He’s wearing an enormous dark jacket with ivy leaves embroidered on the collar that I recognize instantly as his papá’s. There’s a sack over Ale’s shoulder. It looks like it’s full of books.
“No?” I say.
Ale lifts his chin. He swallows hard. “We’re leaving.” He says it so quietly I almost miss it.
“I’m not going anywhere, Ale,” I say. “Not until I—”
“We’re leaving,” he says. “All of us here. We’re going…”
He hesitates. He glances into the pew at his mamma. She nods encouragingly.
“We’re going to another city,” he says.
I have no idea what to say. I can’t comprehend the fact that Ale is standing in front of me and speaking for the whole of our people.
“You’re going to Iris?” I say.
“No,” he says. “Somewhere else. We’re going to ask them for help. There’s so few of us now. We won’t be a burden.”
It takes me a long moment to understand what he means.
“You’re just going to submit to life in another city,” I say. “With another watercrea. You’re going to give up your blood to her.”
“It’s—it’s better than dying,” he whispers.
“How are you going to get through the catacombs?” I say. “They’re dangerous.”
He reaches into his pocket and holds something up. His hands are shaking.
It’s the map of the eight cities and the paths between them. I’m supposed to have the map. It was in my pocket.
It only takes a moment for me to figure out exactly when he took it. After Verene and I fought in the catacombs, and I passed out, I woke up in his lap. I thought that was because he was taking care of me.
I blink furiously, and I see his blood.
I look away quickly. My eyes sweep the silent faces gathered in front of me.
“So you all want to go back to the way it was,” I say. “You want to never have quite enough water for comfort. You want to live your whole lives in fear of your first omen. You want to die before you even get to see your children grow up. Is that what you want?”
Silence.
“No,” I say. “You want things to be worse. Think about it. No one has crossed between the eight cities in a thousand years. Do you really think the people on the other side will accept you? Do you think you’ll be able to get a home just like the one you have here? The people across the veil don’t know you. They don’t care about you. They don’t have a place for you. But they’ll certainly want to take your blood.”
Nobody is even looking at me. Ale is staring determinedly at his feet.
“Are you really going to follow him?” I gesture at Ale. “Look at him. He can’t defend you. He’s not even defending you now.”
“Emanuela,” Ale whispers to the floor.
“What?” I say.
“Just…” he says.
Everybody is looking at him now. Ale hates it when everyone looks at him. He’s trembling so hard that I can see it from here.
“What, Alessandro?” I say. “Tell them why I’m wrong. Tell them why they should trust you.”
He tries to say something, but he can’t get the words out. There are tears welling up in his eye.
He’s terrified. He can’t do this. He knows he can’t do this. And I can see the way people are watching at him. Like maybe they’re starting to doubt.
I’m burning up inside with something ugly and victorious. This is who Ale is without me. This is going to be what the rest of his life is like—small and pitiful and meaningless.
“Anyway,” I say, “I’m going to bring back our water. And then, I’m going to bring us more. Forever. And I’m going to do it without ever putting any of you in a tower again.”
The silence is profound. I can tell that no one believes me. But they will.
I start forward. “Come with me to the—”
“We’re not going anywhere with you.”
I stop. Ale’s mamma has joined him in the aisle. She faces me and draws herself up to her full, impressive height. Even in the dim cathedral light, her face pale and drained, she’s very beautiful. Once or twice in my life, I’ve looked at her and imagined my children having her elegant cheekbones.
“You shameful, vile creature,” she says. “You’ve destroyed our whole city. And you’ve destroyed him.”
“Mamma—” Ale whispers.
“I never wanted him to marry you,” she says. “Never. Not from the moment that slimy father of yours approached us.”
At the mention of my papá, my stomach turns, sudden and violent.
“Alessandro was so devoted to you,” his mamma says. “He has so much love in his heart. And you… you have nothing at all.”
I blink, and I see her blood.
“This is how you repay him for giving his life to you?” she says. “You drag him into the catacombs and—and mutilate him? Look at him. He’s ruined.”
I glance back to see Ale’s hand dart to the bandage over his eye. The hurt on his face is unmistakable.
“Are you done?” I say. “Because I’d like to move on to saving us all—”
“Do not speak to me that way,” she says, advancing on me. “You’re not our ruler.”
“Don’t come any closer,” I say.
“You will never be our ruler,” she says. “You don’t have any power. You don’t have any magic. You’re just a soulless coward who thinks she’s an exception to every—”
I blink.
And the cathedral is full of screams.
I stumble back, blinking frantically.
Ale’s mamma is no longer standing in front of me. She no longer
