‘So the note’s a lie,’ I say.
‘Whoever wrote it must know we were looking for the wyverns,’ Serena says. ‘Maybe Wyvernmire is trying to confuse us.’
‘Or,’ Atlas says quietly, ‘what you suspected back in the tunnels is true.’ He looks at me with determination in his eyes. ‘There’s something very different about the echolocation of the Hebridean Wyverns.’
‘What?’ says Marquis.
I turn to my cousin. ‘Their echolocation sounds different.’
Marquis’s jaw clenches. ‘You’ve listened to the wyverns’ Koinamens?’
I nod. ‘And they’re . . . they’re not like other dragons. What if this is what Hollingsworth wanted me to know?’
‘You two and that fucking loquisonus machine.’
Marquis spits the words so hard that I recoil.
‘You’re obsessed, the pair of you. Was this your plan the whole time? Is that why you insisted we bring it with us?’
‘I only listened once!’
‘We would never have found the tunnels without the machine,’ says Atlas.
‘What happened to the Koinamens being sacred?’ Marquis says, his eyes flashing. ‘You promised Chumana you’d leave it alone, but now it’s distracting you from what’s important.’
‘Thisis important!’ Atlas says.
‘It’s not if it doesn’t help us win the war!’ Marquis roars.
A crow flees from a tree branch with a caw.
‘Cousin,’ I say calmly, ‘what if their echolocation ishowwe win the war?’
Atlas’s gaze softens. ‘She’s right,’ he says, his eyes still on me. ‘The wyvernsaredifferent.’
It’s like a veil has been lifted from my mind, revealing, finally, the path we must take.
‘Maybe wyvern echolocation can heal humans,’ I say, standing up from the grave. ‘Maybe it has hidden strengths.’
‘Viv,’ Marquis says in a warning tone.
‘Strengths that can win the war!’
‘We don’t even know if what’s written on that memory scroll is true,’ Serena says.
‘And if it is, and Hollingsworth knows about the wyvern echolocation, she would have just told you back in London,’ says Gideon.
‘Maybe she was going to,’ I say breathlessly, ‘except I was arrested.’
I turn to Atlas. He’s looking at me in a thoughtful silence,his eyes willing me on. I flush beneath his gaze. He believes what I’m saying and that fills me with confidence. I brandish the memory scroll at them.
‘Back during the egg-choosing ceremony, when the wyverns were echolocating with the eggs, I felt something like electricity in the air. I thought I was imagining it, but I wasn’t. I felt it because their Koinamens is so strong that it can touch even human minds. This must be the information we’ve been looking for,’ I say excitedly. ‘Hollingsworth wants the wyverns to use their unique echolocation to help the rebels win the war . . .’ I trail off.
Wait.
‘So her grand idea,’ Marquis says icily, ‘is to exploit the wyverns’ Koinamens to help the Coalition? The same Coalition that agreed never to touch dragon echolocation because of what it could be used for, whatWyvernmirewants to use it for?’
I feel myself deflating at Marquis’s words.
