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not saying anything for a little while. I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about any of this.
    “And you?” I ask. “Why didn’t you stay and fight?”
    She turns away from me, staring out one of the portholes.
    “My parents died last year. Janus is the only family I have. I thought we’d be able to talk to the other ship. I thought . . .” She wipes a tear from one of her eyes. “I was stupid. Everything happened so fast. As soon as I disconnected from Raylan, I called Janus and told him to meet me at the museum, but he was already being taken to the airstrip. He told me to find shelter. He was going to Earth. I didn’t understand. That’s when he told me about Loridas and the Garde. And then everything was on fire, and I couldn’t reach him. I didn’t even know where his ship was. At first I thought he wasbreaking all his sworn oaths as a member of the LDC by telling me this classified intel, but now I realize he only told me because he assumed I wouldn’t survive. He was saying good-bye.”
    “Why didn’t he bring you with him?” I ask.
    Zophie shakes her head. “Loridas was there. The LDC was involved. You know how strict they would be about who could be on that ship. Besides, if they made allowances for one person, they’d have to start letting everyone on.”
    “Heaven forbid they protect their people,” I mutter.
    “I had to come,” she says. “I had to go. I had to follow Janus.”
    “And you needed a pilot who was a shitty citizen and wouldn’t have anything to leave behind.”
    “He’s my family, Lex,” she says, not looking at me. “He’s all I have. You of all people know how important that makes him to me.”
    And with one sentence the already-tiny common room seems to shrink around me as I think of my own brother. My chest buzzes and my throat tightens—after all these years, he can still take me by surprise, causing my heart to clench and dragging me down into a deep, palpable hurt.
    Zophie smiles weakly. Unconvincingly.
    “Earth is ten times bigger than Lorien, Lex. And it’s so different. How am I supposed to find him there?”
    I stare at the metal floor of the ship, trying to think of something to say. Some kind of reassurance.
    “You don’t give up faith,” I say. “Even when common sense tells you that you should.”
    She must know I don’t believe this, but she does me the favor of not pointing that out.

CHAPTER SIX
    I EXPLORE EVERY INCH OF THE SHIP, REMINDING myself of its layout. It doesn’t take long, since the rocket is basically just one long hallway. There are four small personal rooms. The Chimærae stay at the back of the ship, nesting around the boxes and supplies we brought on board. We’re lucky in that, as part of the refurbishment and exhibition, the closets are stocked with clothes, and the galley has some useful tools and appliances. For the next year and a half, we’ll be living in a model home, surviving off of Raylan’s supplies.
    I find an old data pad in the cockpit outlining the functions and capabilities of the ship and show it to Zophie and Crayton. I tell them it’s my duty as their pilot to know this ship as well as possible and excuse myself for a few hours, choosing one of the tiny private quarters to call my own. It’s cramped and sparsely furnished with a dresser, a chair and a bed that is sixinches too short for me. I toss the data pad onto the bed without turning it on and sit in the chair, staring out the dense glass of the porthole window. And I think of him. It’s not what I want to do, but it’s impossible not to, being out here, flying through space.
    Zane. My younger brother.
    There was a time when Zane was a constant, sunny figure in my life. He was a Garde who was going to make my grandfather the proudest Loric on the planet. At least that’s what he always said. I remember one morning when he was eight or nine¸ sitting around the breakfast table. He suddenly stopped eating, put down his fork and turned to our