Atlantia

But I also think about what Maire didn’t say. She didn’t say Nevio was telling the sirens the truth about everything. She only said that this mission is essential to the survival of Atlantia.

Something is very, very wrong here, and I don’t know what it is. I think Maire does. And she hasn’t told me.

I can’t bear it. I stand up and walk to the other end of the transport.

Maire follows me. “Save your tears and your anger,” she says. “You’re going to need them when we reach the Above.”

“Why should I believe anything you say?”

“Because I do tell the truth about some things. Your mother needed me. Your sister did, too. When I said that to you, it wasn’t a lie.”

She slides a corner of paper out from her sleeve. I know the writing on it.

It’s a letter from Bay.

“She told me that I was only to give it to you if you tried to go Above,” Maire says.

I snatch the letter from Maire before she can say anything more.

Rio,

If you read this, it means I’ve gone Above and that I managed to keep my decision to leave a secret from you.

And it means that you are trying to go Above. I know you. I know you won’t give up until you find a way. But you have to remain Below.

I don’t know where I should begin, but I know that I have to tell you everything so that you can understand why you have to stay.

Our mother didn’t tell me until a few weeks before she died that you could never go Above. I wonder if she was starting to suspect what you’ve always wanted to do. She told me about the history of the sirens. They used to go Above, but they’ve been banned from doing so for generations. They hate the sirens Above, Rio, and they will kill you as soon as they know what you are. You won’t be able to speak Above, not any more than you can speak Below.

I asked her why she didn’t tell you this, and she said it was because she didn’t want to break your heart.

A few weeks later, she died. And all I could think about, besides who killed her, was keeping you safe.

So I made you promise that you would stay. And I decided that I’d have to go Above when the time came. I didn’t want to leave Atlantia, but this was the best way to protect you—to guarantee that you couldn’t ever go. I had to hide my plan from you. It felt impossible. You know we didn’t hide things from each other.

But I’m not leaving you alone.

I’m giving Maire this letter to give to you, and some money, too, so you can use it for whatever you might need.

Maire will watch over you and make sure you survive. You need to be where she is, now that our mother is gone.

I’m so sorry, Rio.

But I have to go to keep you safe.

I love you.

Bay

I swallow. An angry, hard ache in my throat makes it difficult.

This is just like my mother and Bay. Always protecting me.

“Always underestimating you,” Maire says out loud next to me.

I don’t want to listen to her. I’m still angry with her. She was supposed to give me this before I was actually on my way to the surface. Now I’m locked in the transport with no way out.

“You didn’t play fair,” I say.

“I only cheat when I have to,” Maire tells me. “But what I said now is true. Your mother and your sister loved you, but they never understood your potential. I do.”

I hear the sound of the door unlocking. All the sirens look dumbfounded. “I thought that, once it was locked, no one else could enter,” someone says.

“That’s what they said,” another agrees.

“Interesting,” Maire says. “Are they letting one of us out?”

They are not.

When the door opens, peacekeepers stand at the ready to keep us from attempting to exit. They escort someone in, and then they close the door behind him.

It’s True.

The transport begins to move.

CHAPTER 22

My entire world is in motion, the transport slipping toward the surface, the pieces and people I thought I knew moving into new places.

My mother knew I wanted to come Above.

My sister left to try to save me.

I’m going to the surface with my last family member from Below, one I’m not at all sure I can trust.

And True is here. Why? He is not a siren.

I haven’t seen him since that night after the breach in the deepmarket—less than two days ago, but it feels like much longer. Does he know what I tried to do at the floodgates?

True’s eyes lock on mine. The lights of the transport flicker briefly off and then back on, and I remember how the light filtered through the slats of the stall in the deepmarket and how it felt to kiss him under the naked silver trees, in the gondola in the fog.

“Who is this?” the deepmarket siren asks.

“Another siren,” Maire says. “Nevio found him at the last minute.”

True nods, going along with her.

“I hope you’re telling the truth,” the siren says. “We need you with us, Maire. This mission has to go perfectly.” She appeals to True and me. “Do you know what the Minister has promised in return for our success?”

I shake my head.

“If we succeed,” the siren says, “Nevio is going to make us part of the Council. Can you imagine?”

I can’t. Nevio would never let such a thing happen. He’s lied to the sirens, and for some reason they’ve chosen to believe him. I glance over at Maire, and she smiles very slightly. So she knew what the Minister promised. Once again she hasn’t been completely honest with me.

One of the sirens hands True a blue robe, and he pulls it on over his clothes. He and Maire and I sit down together at the far end of the transport so that the others can’t hear us talk. It feels strange and wrong not to touch him, but there are too many people watching.

“Why are you here?” I ask True. It comes out flat and cold and nothing like my real voice, or my real feelings.

“The Minister found me,” True says. When he speaks, I love the sound. But it’s my fault he’s here. And Maire’s, for giving out his name.

“Nevio told me you were going Above,” True says. “He wanted to know if I’m a hidden siren, too. I’m not. But I told him what I can do, and he let me come.”

I feel us ascending, the slow pull of the transport through the water. I hear the air changing, feel the pressure inside the transport adjusting. Even though I’m worried about everything—Maire, Bay, True—I can’t stop the pulse of excitement, the thrill that I am at last going to see the Above. This is what I’ve wanted for so long. What will it be like?