‘It’s not as simple as that—’ I begin.
‘Did you give it to her?’ Atlas says sharply. ‘To Wyvernmire?’
I frown. ‘No. Soph, the dragon code isn’t a weapon. It’s a language called the Koinamens, sacred to dragons because they use it to heal and hatch their eggs.’
I glance at Atlas and see understanding dawn in his eyes.
‘And that’s not all,’ I say. ‘I discovered the Koinamens contains dialects and that each dragon family has their own. Muirgen and Rhydderch speak one, and Soresten and Addax speak another. That’s what I tried to tell Gideon earlier—’
‘How long have you known?’ Sophie says bitterly.
‘A while,’ I say. ‘But I wanted to be sure.’
‘So the other day, when you were in Wyvernmire’s office—’
‘I told her I needed more time,’ I say. ‘After she revealed her alliance with the Bulgarians, I couldn’t bring myself to give it to her. Not now I know what she’s capable of. But if I don’t give her a dialect she’ll confirm the alliance and put the whole of Britannia in danger of another massacre like the one that happened in Bulgaria.’
Guardians run past the library and we fall silent. I hear Gideon’s name mentioned.
‘They’ll be looking forussoon,’ Marquis says quietly. ‘Wyvernmire will want to talk to me about the plane, andI bet she’ll pull the rest of the aviators from the programme at the same time. Serena obviously thinks she has a better chance at hiding alone.’
I look at Karim. ‘You’re not safe here. We’ll have to get you out to—’
‘You and Sophie can’t go anywhere,’ Atlas tells me. ‘Not with Gideon on the loose.’ He looks at me intently. ‘Who is this person you say will help us?’
‘Marquis, do you have the plans for your plane?’ I say, ignoring the question.
A pulse flicks in Atlas’s jaw.
Marquis pulls his sketchbook out of his pocket.
‘If Wyvernmire finds you, use them to stall her. Lie – tell her you have more ideas. Anything that might buy Karim some time.’
‘If they find us in here, they’ll not let us out of their sights,’ Karim says. ‘Especially not you, Viv.’
‘He’s right,’ Atlas says. ‘Wyvernmire will want to guard you, to keep you safe from any other potential killers. And you should let her.’
‘But what about—’
‘Marquis and I will get Karim out.’
‘Not tonight you won’t,’ Sophie says. ‘Do it tomorrow, after your shift. He can stay hidden until then.’
‘You go with him,’ I tell her. I glance at Atlas. ‘And you. This is your chance to escape.’
‘You still don’t get it, do you, Viv?’ Sophie says. ‘Even if I escape here, I’ll never be able to go home. I’ll never get a class pass again – the system will flag me up as a wanted criminal.’
‘Or,’ I say, avoiding Atlas’s gaze, ‘we could give Wyvernmire the code together. We tell her we worked on it as a team, that we couldn’t have done it without each other. And we stop this insane alliance.’
Hope flickers in Sophie’s face. ‘You would do that?’ she says.
‘Of course I would. I’m not leaving here without you, without any of you—’
Atlas explodes. ‘None of this is going to matter!’
I whip round to face him.
‘If you give Wyvernmire the code, it won’t matter who does and doesn’t escape. If she wins the war, then everything will go back to the way it was before.’ He gives me an anguished look. ‘Of course, that will be all right for some of you, but what about the rest of us?’
