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Dallas suddenly turned. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” He scanned the crowds. “I’m still deaf in one ear.”

But then he heard it, too. It was faint, but… It was a voice—calling his name. Not one voice, but several.

Three.

He pushed back down the street, his heart jumping up his throat.

Was he hallucinating?

No—no, he wasn’t, because he heard it again, and he knew in his heart that it was real.

“Max!”

He staggered forward, not believing his eyes.

A tall, black-haired female was heading this way. An even taller male kept pace beside her, his short hair dark. Their eyes were an identical shade of almost-grey blue. The third in their trio was platinum blonde, her figure statuesque, her narrow face worthy of runways.

His family. Not all of it, no—but part of the whole.

“Max?” called the dark-haired female. That was Ivy—it reallywasher, shouting his name. She grinned upon confirming it was him, moving faster now through the crowds. Tears sparkled on her face, visible even from way over here.“Max!”

His heart stumbled. Pounded all throughout his body. “Ivy?”

“Max!”This voice was male. The voice of a friend—a brother not by blood but history.

“Travis!”Max pushed himself faster, still dizzy but not wanting to slow down,needingto get to them. The ground seemed to rise and fall as if it were breathing, creating the illusion of running on ocean waves.

“Max!”

Max was full-on sprinting now, sobs tearing apart his lungs. People dodged him as he ran like a madman.“Travis! LACEY!”

Ivy was the first to reach him.

He collided with her, crushing her to him as violent sobs wracked his aching body. He spun her around, weeping intoher hair, the weight of not knowing, of wondering all these long hours if they were alive, finally lifting off his shoulders, leaving him weak with relief. They were talking over each other, Ivy sobbing too, and then Lace and Travis were there with them, throwing their arms around them. Squeezing tight.

For a minute, Max’s world paused, and it was justthem—the people he loved, clinging to each other in the flashing lights of a ruined city.

“Oh gods,” Travis was saying, his voice a crackle of emotion. “Gods, we thought you were dead! We thought you weredead,Max?—”

“Same,” Max said, pulling Travis close. Pulling themallclose. “I’m never letting go of you idiots.”

“What happened to you guys?” Ivy sobbed. Fresh tears fell from her eyes, clearing tracks in her dirty cheeks. She rubbed them dry with the back of a hand, smearing filth. “Are you okay?” She sniffled. “You’re bleeding.”

“I’m fine—it’s just a nosebleed.”

Lace cut in, “Where were you? We’ve been looking for you for hours.”

“We were underground when the explosion happened,” Max replied. “We took a tunnel that brought us out—just south.” He pointed. “We ended up here.” He scanned the street they’d turned into an emergency medical site. “We got lucky.”

Dallas had come over to join them, but she was looking beyond—for Loren, no doubt.

“Dallas,” Ivy called softly. “Are you okay?”

Dallas hid the disappointment on her face like a pro; she’d always been good at that. “Like Max said,” she began, forcing a smile, “we got lucky. My wings are fried, though.” She peeked over her shoulder—at the burnt feathers, the wires and framing exposed—and sighed. “What about you?”

“Where are the others?” Max added.