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When we are both sitting in the second row, a fourth woman, the young CSO who sat in the back of the car with me, climbs into the copilot seat and pulls on headphones with a microphone that snakes around in front of her face. My mom hands me an identical headset, donning her own.

I finish strapping in, thinking unexpectedly of Vale and the seatbelt in the car on the way to the party, and then there’s a roar as the motor is turned on and the blades start up.

Outside the window, unexpectedly, a sharp movement has both me and my mother flinching away, but it’s not an attack. It’s a flock of red-winged blackbirds.

The flock takes to the sky against the rising sun in a wavering, undulating crowd. They’re flying away from the wind and the noise of the helicopter in a churning mass, rising high. I watch as individual birds break free of the flock and then are pulled back in as the flock rises and falls through the air.

“Just a second,” a woman speaks in my ear, and I startle, not recognizing the voice. It’s the pilot.

“Let’s let them get out of the way,” she says.

The flock has moved but still swirls in the air. So many birds, maybe more than I have ever seen. The helicopter confuses them.

Now it’s my mother speaking in my ear and her voice is tight.

“We’re already behind schedule.”

The pilot acknowledges her.

I don’t know if they can hear me through the headphones if I talk, but I plead anyway, “Just wait a minute. Let them get away.”

My mom reaches over and takes my hand, squeezing it. The flock is breaking away now, dipping away from the airport, heading to settle somewhere nearby.

The last couple of birds follow in pursuit and the pilot’s voice returns.

“We’re clear. Prepare for takeoff.”

“Are we going home?” I ask my mom and her mouth tightens. I guess that’s a no. I don’t get to see Dad or Ethan?

“We’re going straight to Frederick. You’ll be debriefed there. You can finish up with Intelligence and then begin HighClear training immediately.”

“What about Dad?” I mumble. It wasn’t my choice to come up here, leaving without saying goodbye to him. I miss him.

“There’s a break coming up,” she says, “for the summer. You’ll get to see him then.”

“What about Zeph?” I ask.

My mom’s eyes dart around and then back to me. She shakes her head. “We’ll discuss it in debrief.”

Below, the ground drops away, the airport growing smaller. The buildings shrink to a tiny size, with miniature cars on tiny streets, until it’s only clouds, broken up by the mountains poking through. My mother settles back, her face blank, for what I assume is going to be many, many hours of travel.

I slip my cold hands into my pockets and feel the folded-up paper that Ren gave me. The city limits end and we begin flying over the endless terrain of brown and pale green ground, the plains of Canada, interspersed with mountains and lakes, as we make our return to Greater Maryland and the Peaceful Society.