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Adam, we’ve got a severe problem.

—Sophia Russo to Adam Garrett (today)

The next time Eleri woke, she was alone in the tent but could hear low murmurs outside that told her there were others in the cave. As she rose, her eye caught on a piece of paper taped to the inside of one of the tent’s “doors.”

She smiled and reached out to grab it.

The note was in a strong, sure hand full of generous loops. As generous as Adam’s heart.

2:30 p.m.: Jacques just woke up. Apparently in one hell of a bad mood and out for Hendricks’s blood.

Naia says he’s definitely all there. I’m heading up to hug the shit out of him—I’ll stay upside until I’ve cleared clan business that’s built up, but there’ll be a runner posted outside Mirage throughout to run messages back and forth.

Phone signal doesn’t get through.

Eat the food I left you or I’ll put you in my lap and feed you bites like I do Ollie. I’ll see you as soon as I can. Gotta do a flight with the fledglings, too. They’ve been missing our usual sky runs. —Love, Adam

Eleri ran her fingers over his name, over the word “love”. He had such a heart, Adam. And he wasn’t scared to display it. Wasn’t scared to say that he was planning to hug his friend, or that Eleri’s health mattered to him.

“Love, Eleri,” she said, sounding out how it would be if she signed off her notes the same.

Smiling at the thought of writing just that soon, she put the note aside and, after pulling on the sneakers someone had sourced for her foot size, decided to head out and see what the clan had done about sanitary facilities. There had to be something—they were too smart not to have thought of it.

Saoirse was crouched down, a handheld sensor pressed to the wall closest to the entrance, but turned at Eleri’s exit. Waving, her smile huge, she pointed to the back of the cave and the tall black box that had appeared there.

The sound of rushing water got louder the closer she got to it.

When Eleri opened the door to the box, it proved deeper than it looked and contained a compact but complete self-contained sanitary unit, including a radiant “shower” that most people eschewed but that came in useful in exactly these types of conditions.

She’d heard they were popular with archaeologists and others who went to remote areas.

Eleri decided to take advantage of it after she’d used the other facilities, and went back to the tent to grab a set of fresh clothes she’d seen inside.

Once back in the unit, she stripped, then stood in the center of the narrow stall—it’d be a tight fit for Bram—and switched on the shower.

Light scythed out, warm but not hot, and while she knew it was divesting her of dirt, she’d much rather have stood under falling water.

Even Psy had never managed to convert to these.

The cycle complete, she dressed, then took her dirty clothes back with her to place in a laundry bag that had been left with the clean clothes.

Feeling more herself, despite the fact that she wasn’t wearing a suit but stretchy pants of black and a soft gray sweatshirt, her hair loose around her shoulders, she drank a full bottle of nutrients before wandering over to Saoirse.

“It’s good to see you up and awake.” Adam’s sister rose to her feet, her face aglow.

“Thank you for what you’re doing.” Eleri didn’t know the purpose of the device in Saoirse’s hand, but she could see the bags under the other woman’s eyes, the tension in her jaw.

Saoirse shook her head. “We’re family,” she chided. “Speaking of which, go talk to our runner. She’s been asking every five minutes if you’re awake.”

Heart aching in a way complex and new to her, Eleri walked toward the doorway—but Malia appeared there before she could reach it. “I knew I heard talking!” Her body hit Eleri’s with force as she wrapped her good arm tight around Eleri, her other one trapped in between their bodies.

Her own throat thick with emotions she’d forgotten she’d once felt, Eleri held the girl as tightly. All she could remember of their time in Hendricks’s bunker was pushing at a sobbing Malia to run.

“Uncle Adam let me see him, the man who hurt us,” Malia said, speaking in the embrace, her head tucked against Eleri’s shoulder in the way of a fledgling taking comfort.

“Mom and Dad weren’t sure I should, but I got Naia and Uncle Adam to back me up.

I really, really liked seeing him locked up. Felt much better afterward.”

As Malia drew back, Eleri had the thought that this child was very definitely a raptor.

What worked to heal her might not work on a human or Psy, and that was fine, because Malia wasn’t human or Psy.

“I’m surprised you didn’t offer to claw out his eyes,” Eleri said.

“I would turn his brains to liquid if I could.” Exactly as he’d done to his victims.

Malia’s hand flew to her mouth, but her eyes were sparkling. “I did ,” she whispered after lowering that hand. “Make the offer. Uncle Adam said no—he thinks I’d be traumatized by it, but nope.” A scowl. “I don’t know why the bigs worry so much.”

Saoirse, who’d just walked over, hugged her daughter to her side. “Because you’re a piece of all our hearts, little bird.”

Malia dropped her head against her mother, a child again rather than a raptor bent on vengeance. “I guess it’s allowed, then,” she said in a begrudging fashion.

Saoirse kissed her daughter’s temple. “Time for you to work. I need you to take this data chip up, and return with the team’s analysis of the last set I sent.”

Eleri watched as Malia tucked the chip securely inside the small bag slung sideways across her body. “Gotta fly,” the teen said and was gone.

“Have you eaten?” Saoirse asked in the aftermath of her whirlwind of a child.

“Adam left me with strict instructions—not that he needed to give them. I’m a big sister.

” A stern but loving tone unlike any Eleri had ever before had directed at her.

“I’m fully capable of bullying you into good nourishment. ”

“I drank nutrients,” Eleri said, a touch intimidated…but oddly happy about it.

Care.

This was care, was family in a way she, Bram, Saffron, and Yúzé had been before their work had eroded away their beings. She’d already asked Adam to bring the missing members of the Cartel here, conscious how much the two needed her and Bram, and her falcon had promised her he would.

“I promise I’ll eat a bar in a short while,” she told Saoirse. “I feel hungry, but I don’t think my stomach’s ready for a full load at once.”

Saoirse jerked her head toward the other tent. “Do we need to bully him, too? He’s big, but I have Dahlia on speed dial.”

Intrigued all over again at Bram’s apparent total susceptibility to Adam’s wing-second, Eleri shook her head. “No, Bram’s always on me to feed myself properly.”

Bram believed that nourishment was strength—he’d had no way to understand how hard it was to drink and eat even plain nutrients when there was no feedback, not even the dulled one of the tasteless items. “Was it Malia you were talking to before? I heard conversation when I woke.”

“No.” Saoirse indicated for her to follow as she went back to take more readings.

“That was Ashaya Aleine—she was just leaving to head back up. Adam placed markers along the best access route this morning, so we can move without guides.” She unfolded a camping chair. “Sit and I’ll tell you all the news.”

“Actually, I think I’ll stand for a while, stretch.

” Her body, for all its thinness, had always been fit and fast. She’d kept it in peak form for a hunter and she wanted to get back to that…

but with a few more curves. She liked how Adam’s hands felt on her, wanted more skin surface to experience it.

“I get you.” Saoirse frowned and adjusted her scanner before taking another reading. “It’s hard enough for me being down here—the bats might like it, but there’s no real space for my falcon to stretch out her wings unless I want to go in circles.”

A shake of the head. “Malia’s annoyed at not being able to try it out, but talked one of the other runners into doing it—he didn’t need much encouragement, to be fair. I thought he’d cause a bat stampede, but our upside-down friends seem to have decided to ignore all of us for the time being.”

“Malia’s not scared at being in an enclosed space?” Eleri asked, thinking of Hendricks’s bunker.

“No, I was worried about that, but she seems to barely remember it. She was drugged most of the time so the memories are fuzzy, then you were there, so she didn’t get scared alone.” A teary smile. “Thank you for being there for my baby, Eleri. I’ll never forget it.”

“She helped me, too. I fought harder because of her—and she ran to get help with a broken arm while a predator was nearby. That took incredible courage.”

“I’ll tell her you said that. She’ll be proud.”

Then, while Eleri went through a slow routine designed to stretch stiff muscles, Saoirse brought her up to speed on the parallel scientific approaches being taken on Project El-Shield.

The two leads—Ashaya and Saoirse—were talking to each other about cave discoveries but were being scrupulous in not discussing what they believed each discovery to mean.

A stir in the other tent, Bram stepping out not long afterward. One side of his face bore deep sleep creases. After raising a hand in greeting, he stumbled off toward the black box.

“Bram woke before?” Eleri asked.

A nod. “He was in better shape than you—never got to total shield failure, though he was within a hairbreadth.” A glance over at Bram’s tent. “You should talk to him. Adam got some news this morning—you were still asleep, but Bram was up.”

Eleri’s stomach twisted at the innocuous statement. She knew something was wrong well before a freshly showered Bram nudged his head for her to join him in his tent.

“Which one?” she asked the instant she was seated. “Saffy or Yúzé? Are they alive?”