El gave a stiff salute, turned, and exited the room. The moment she closed the door behind her, she slumped against the wall, exhaustion weighing on her like a physical thing. What time was it? She glanced out the window at the sun hanging low in the sky. Midmorning? They’d basically interrogated her the entire night.

She staggered a few steps down the hall, but quickly straightened when another door opened, and Laze stepped out. Her friend snapped a salute to those in the room before closing the door, then turned in El’s direction.

“Never want to do that again,” Laze said in a harsh whisper, then looked at the door as if the people on the other side might’ve heard her.

“Food?” El asked.

“For once I think I’m hungrier than you are,” Laze said with a nod as El joined her, and they walked down the hall together.

When they got to the cafeteria, they found Dayne at their usual table, the other chairs noticeably empty, and conversation at the nearby tables muted. Eyes turned in their direction, but nobody spoke to them.

El stared at the table for long seconds, the faces of her friends forming at their usual seats. Teth and his stupid rhymes. Faled’s rigid formality. Delena and Polk, who’d secretly started dating despite the rules, and who thought nobody knew. How could anyone not notice the lovey-dovey eyes between them? Well, nobody would notice them anymore.

Or Gulian and his constant…

Laze’s hand on El’s shoulder chased away the ghosts for the moment.

“Nidina?” El asked Dayne after giving Laze a quick nod of appreciation.

“Haven’t seen her,” the big man said and put his fork down beside his plate.

“How long have you been here?” Laze asked.

Dayne pointed at his half-eaten meal.

El nodded. Dayne ate at a very specific pace. With a meal of that size… “Thirteen minutes?” El asked.

Dayne nodded.

“That was… oddly accurate,” Laze said. “So, did you just finish too? You… look better than I feel.”

Laze was right. Dayne didn’t have the same bags under his eyes that El felt, and his dark hair was neat and shiny.

“I finished around midnight. Got a few hours’ sleep, took a shower, then came here,” he said.

“Midnight?!” Laze asked, scandalized. “Why did they keep us so long?”

“Because Dayne is very good at getting to the point,” El answered for him.

“Still!”

“Laze, why don’t you stay here with Dayne, I’ll grab some food for us.”

“How do you know what I want?”

“Two eggs, over medium. Four pieces of bacon, crispy, with ketchup. Hot tots, not hash browns, with salt and pepper, three shakes each. Hot coffee, cup three-quarters full so you have room to swirl it around to cool it down, and two pieces of toast with butter and jam, on the side,” El said.

Laze opened her mouth, then nodded. “I’ll be here,” she said and sat down across from Dayne.

El turned and walked away, finally finding a moment of peace and quiet where she didn’t have to think about what to say or do next. The line for breakfast was short, and she ordered mechanically while her mind replayed the questioning.

They hadn’t believed her, not really. That much was obvious. How many times had they asked the same question in a different way? Trying to get her to change her story or mess up the details? Maybe she could understand why; she had come back with less than a third of her wing, and wild stories about a newt army unlike anything they’d ever seen.

But she had seen it, and they needed to believe her. If that army made it to civilization, it would be a bloodbath without a solid plan.

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“Hey, you gonna take this, or what?” the cook said and nodded toward the tray in his hand. From the look on his face, he’d been holding it for more than a few seconds waiting for her.

She looked at the tray, then back at him. “No. I asked for the butter and jam on the side, not on the toast.”

“What’s the difference?” he asked.

“New toast,” she said.

The cook scowled, put the tray down, and walked over to the toaster.

El sighed. She could’ve—should’ve let that go. Laze would roll her eyes, but she’d eat it without much complaint.

“Look, I’m sorry,” El said when the cook returned with the fresh toast. “Had a rough night.”

“So I’ve heard,” he said, and handed her the tray.

“What do you mean, ‘you’ve heard?’” El asked, slowly taking the tray.

The cook shrugged and looked for the next customer. There wasn’t one, so he met El’s eyes and shrugged again. “Dunno the details,” he said, “but it’s all around. You and the other two over there getting back late last night, the rest of your wing missing, an elite escort, and then a closed-doors meeting with the brass.

“What happened out there?”

El settled the tray more comfortably in her hands. Of course there would be rumors. More than a few people had seen them flying back into HQ. “You know I can’t tell you,” El told the cook. “What do the rumors say?”

The cook gave a slight wave of his hand. “You know how rumors go. Everything from you staging a coup to take command of the wing, to running into an army of newts. Nobody seems to know what to believe. You sure you can’t give me a hint?”

“You’ll just have to wait for the official report. Sorry. Thanks for doing the toast right,” El said, then turned and walked back to the table.

“Thanks,” Laze said when El handed over her breakfast.

“No problem.” El sat and took a quick glance at the tables around them. Nobody was outright staring, but there were more than a few curious looks coming their way.

“Dayne said it’s been like that all morning. Lots of people looking, but nobody coming over to talk,” Laze said.

“Apparently there are some rumors going around about our return,” El explained. “Dayne, have you heard anything?”

“Just one,” the big man said. “Cannon is furious at the loss of the Boomers, and not sure he believes it.”

“Esis might have survived, right?” Laze whispered. “She got hit by that Stormbearer, or whatever we’re going to call him, but that couldn’t have killed her. She’s way too tough for that, and her flame armor would’ve protected her.”

El gently shook her head and leaned in closer to the other two. “Esis survived that, but it broke her arm, even through the shield and the flame armor.”

“You saw her after the newts came out?” Laze asked.

“Yes… I saw her. I saw her die,” El clarified. “She was leading the Boomers, holding their own against the lizards even with how they were swarming. But, then the Stormbearer showed up. He ended it all with… with… I don’t even know what to call it. Such power. Like a living, crashing wave of ice that charged down the street, killing anything it touched.

“It chased the Boomers wherever they went. None of them escaped.”

“Except us,” Laze whispered, looking at her plate and then gently pushing it away.

El put her hand gently on top of her friend’s. “You told me not to let the blame consume me. Same goes for you. Survivor’s guilt. It’s not a bad thing you made it back.”

Laze nodded but didn’t say anything for the moment.

“What about us?” Dayne asked.

“We’re grounded, pending an investigation,” El explained. Not that they’d have much of a wing if they were given orders anyway, but El kept that thought to herself.

“Your brother was deployed again last night,” Dayne said, taking her news with his usual stoicism.

“What? Where?” El asked.

“Don’t know. I saw him after the questioning. He told me to let you know he’d be back in a few days. Couldn’t say any more.”

“Burn it,” El cursed and shoved food around on her plate without actually eating anything. Nexin would’ve backed up her story, or at least her credibility. He also could’ve pushed to make sure something was done about the army of newts. Unless… no.

“Do you know which direction he went?” El asked. “How many went with him?”

“East,” Dayne said. “Thought the same thing you did, so I watched for him to leave. He wasn’t sent to Salid. Just him and his wing.”

“They could turn south though,” El said, her heart pounding in her chest. If her brother ran into those newts, into that knight, would he fare any better than Esis did?

“I don’t think so,” Dayne said. “God’s Claw is east. He’s probably being sent to check on that.”

El focused on calming her breath, on thinking things through. What Dayne said made sense. It also meant they believed her. Or, at least, they believed there was a risk she was telling the truth.

Good enough.

“They’re worried there might be a third newt army, and that it’s heading for our supply of electrum. Makes sense,” El said. “Even before we came back with this news, there was talk of two lizard armies. If the other one was as dangerous as what we ran into…”

“Do you think there’s another one of those knights?” Laze asked.

“I burning hope not,” El said, and the other two nodded their agreement.

“So, what’s this mean for us?” Laze asked a moment later. “Are we going to get split up? Kicked out of the Firestorm? Burn it, I don’t want to be infantry.”

El put her elbows on the table and cradled her chin in her hands while she considered the question. “We definitely won’t get moved into infantry,” she finally said. “If our Spark is strong enough to let us fly, no way they’d waste us on the ground. Don’t get me wrong, the infantry does good work, and it’s going to be crucial against the golems, but what, one in a thousand are strong enough to actually stay in the air? No, they’ll keep us in the Firestorm.

“As for our… wing… I don’t know.”

“I hope we get to stay together,” Laze said, her head swiveling to take in the empty seats. “What’s left of us.”

“Me too,” El said. “Me too.”