A figure rises from behind one of the boilers, but I immediately notice dark hair, which can’t be River’s.
I take a step back. “Who are you?”
“It’s me!” River walks into the light, his hair dyed black.
I grab him in a strong hug. “I can’t believe you came.”
“I would never abandon my Finn. Do you hate my hair? I look ugly now.”
I pull back. “You can never look ugly.”
“I still don’t like it, but Goo and I needed to blend in until we found you.”
“Goo?”
The small yellowish figure on the ground says, “River has named all of us Goo since we don’t recall our own names.”
“The… Goo that came with me to Denver remembered her name. It was Rose.”
The figure glows brighter. “I knew a Rose once.”
“She was brave.” I turn to River. “Is there anyone else with you?”
“No, but I can communicate through Goo. Let’s sit—you’re shaking.”
I didn’t even notice, but I feel immediate relief when I sit on the cold floor with my back against an old cabinet.
“Are you okay?” River asks.
I want to tell him everything, but I don’t want to relive my failure right now; not with everything we still have to deal with. “I’m okay.”
“I was very concerned when you were caught, and Nanny Spider and Josh were too. Dino came to Florence, and now he’s also concerned.”
“Dino came?”
“Yes, for the war.”
I move to face River, feeling the need to know everything. “Is the war really close?”
“Yes, and now we have the support of High Hope because Lyla is their queen. There have been more attacks by lizard men on small settlements, so now everyone knows they exist.”
“River, those lizard men used to be people. Hector is using his blood to transform them down in the sewers. He has hundreds of lizard men down there.”
River turns pale in the dim light. “That’s horrible. Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’ve seen them down there. They also keep prisoners in cells.”
“Do you know how to get there?”
“Yes, but it’s heavily guarded, so you can’t go in there alone.” I explain to him how to reach the area with all the warehouses and where to find the one from which we climbed down into the sewers.
“How did you get here?” I ask.
“I snuck into the city with Goo, and we’ve been staying in a small apartment. I would have found you sooner if I had Mother’s help, but she’s blind here.”
I remember the guarded compound with all the antennas I saw when I first got here. I tell River about it and add, “I knowfor a fact that place didn’t exist a couple of years ago. Hector must have built it once he became governor.”
“Then I’ll sabotage it.”
