"So were you."
"When do we leave?"
"Day after tomorrow. Phoenix is putting everyone on the jet. Anna and Tobias included."
"I'm scared."
"I know." His arms lock around me. "I'll be right there."
"What if she—"
"I'll be right there. Whatever happens."
Two days pass. Knox stays close. Coffee appears beside me without asking. His hand is on my back when I drift too far into my own head.
Phoenix arranges the jet. Everyone flies together. Malachi, Candace, Knox, me, Nash, East, Ruby, Frankie, Arden, Amelia, Phoenix, McKenzie, and Felix. We board first.
The cabin is cream leather and warm wood with low ceilings and seats wide enough to curl into. Knox takes the seat beside me, arm draped along the back of mine, palm resting on my shoulder. Malachi and Candace settle near the front, her legs tucked under her, his hand on her thigh. East drops into a seat behind Knox, restless, checking his phone. He texted Darla three times before we left the compound, and she told him to stop hovering from a different zip code.
Nash takes the window seat across from us, jaw tight, arms folded. Ruby drops into the seat beside him, tablet in hand, pulling up logistics. Nash's eyes cut to her. His mouth flattens.
"You don't have to do this," he says in a low voice meant only for her.
Ruby doesn't look up from the screen. "Neither do you."
"That's different."
"It's really not." She scrolls. Her knee presses against his. She doesn't move it. He doesn't either.
Nash turns away, jaw working. His arm shifts along the armrest until his forearm is flush against hers. He stares out the window the rest of the time, and Ruby drifts a fraction closer without acknowledging it.
Frankie takes the spot across the aisle from me, mug in hand, eyes shadowed. Arden settles beside her without a word, their shoulders close. Amelia sits near the back with Felix, posture straight, hands folded. Phoenix and McKenzie take the couch at the rear, McKenzie's legs tucked beneath her, his hand on her knee.
The cabin door opens again, letting in a gust of tarmac wind and the murmur of voices from the ground crew.
Tobias steps in first, ducking through the frame, scanning the interior the way Knox scans every room. He nods at Phoenix, finds a seat near the back, and settles without a word.
Anna comes up the steps behind him.
I see her before she sees me. Her hair is pulled into a knot. Shoulders back. She's wearing a coat, dark and fitted, and she carries herself differently than she did in the war room. Steadier. More certain of the space she takes up.
She reaches the top of the steps and her eyes sweep the cabin. They land on me. My hands freeze in my lap. Knox's fingers grip my shoulder.
Anna stands in the doorway, backlit by tarmac light, looking at me the way you look at someone you've only seen in your worst memories and your best hopes. Her chin trembles once. Sets.
She walks down the aisle toward me. I unbuckle. Stand. My hands are shaking. We meet in the open space between the seats. Close enough to touch. The cabin is silent. The engines idle beneath us.
"Anna."
"Sloane."
The silence holds until I can hear my pulse. "I'm sorry," I say.
Her brows draw together. "For what?"
"For not getting there in time. I got Tobias. We came back as fast as we could, but you were gone—"
"Stop." She steps closer. "You tried to save me. Risked everything. You came back."
