Grace saw the blood red amulet just before Gideon did. She watched her brother's eyes widen in fear.

"N-no," he said. He pulled his glove back on and backed away from the clone.

"I'm sorry," Red Gideon said. "I won. I'm the emotion you're meant to feel."

"No," Gideon repeated. "No, I d-don't want you."

The other clone — Charles, Gideon had called him — took Gideon's arm. "It's okay," he said. "It's supposed to be this way." He reached for Gideon's hand to pull off the glove.

"No!" Gideon jerked away from Charles and ran to Grace. He buried his head in her chest, and she held him close, regarding the two clones with a hostile expression.

"He needs this, Evi," Red Gideon said. "Would you rather he feel admiration for the man who hurts him?"

I'd rather he not get hurt at all, Grace thought. She didn't say anything, though. She just held Gideon as tightly as possible without aggravating his scars.

"It will help," Charles promised. "This is all to help him."

It didn't feel like it was helping him. It felt like these clones were drugging Gideon with happy feelings, then plunging him down into the depths of pain and fear. That didn't seem helpful at all.

"Gideon, I need to touch your hand," Red Gideon said.

Gideon shook his head against Grace's coat.

"It's a good thing," RG insisted. "I know I'm negative, but you won't be conflicted anymore. You'll be able to fight instead of worrying about offending your father."

"My brother should not be fighting," Grace said.

"Stay out of this, Evi," Charles ordered. Grace hated the way he said her nickname — like it was a condescension instead of an affection.

"I won, Gideon," RG said softly. "You're meant to feel me. It'll be better if we go through with it."

Gideon clung tightly to Grace. Tight enough that he was probably feeling pain in some of his scars. "Leave him alone," Grace said.

"I need his hand," repeated RG.

"No." Grace pulled Gideon another step back. Her foot slipped on a loose pebble. She threw her arms out to balance herself — she was standing at the edge of the cavern, and one false step could mean a treacherous tumble down the rough staircase.

As soon as she let go of Gideon, RG grabbed him. Charles ran forward and yanked off the glove; RG touched Gideon's bare skin, then turned to smoke.

"No!" Grace regained her footing and pushed Charles away from her brother. She tried to wave the smoke away, but it hung there in a swirling cloud. Gideon put his hand over his mouth and nose, trying not to breathe it in. He went to the other side of the cave. The smoke followed him.

"You have to breathe in eventually, Gideon," Charles said. He sounded annoyed.

Gideon shook his head vehemently. But Charles was right — he would have to breathe. Less than thirty seconds had passed before Gideon finally gave up and took a deep breath in.

Grace watched anxiously as the smoke entered his body. She moved toward him, in case she was needed.

She quickly discovered that, yes, she was needed. Gideon's face traveled through a carousel of negative expressions before he sank to the ground, his breath catching in his throat. Tears spilled over onto his cheeks.

Grace hurried to her brother, kneeling by him and holding him close. "It's okay," she lied. "It's okay. . . ."

Gideon sobbed into her shirt. "It's not okay," he choked. "It's. . . it's not. . . I hate him. . . ."

"I know," Grace murmured. "I know." I hate him too.

Gideon once again clung to his sister. She could hear the words, "I hate him," travelling on sparse breaths that barely carried their freight through the air. Gideon repeated himself over and over, but never in anger — always in sadness, in fear. He was too afraid of Gaston to be angry at him.

Eventually, his mantra changed. "I'm so scared, Evi," he whispered.

Me too, she thought. But he probably didn't want to hear that right now. "You. . . you have every right to be scared, Char," she whispered back.

"I'm so scared. . . but I hate him so much. . . ."

They sat there on the cavern floor together for a long time. Eventually, another clone appeared — this one with a purple amulet. He and Charles shared a look, and Purple Gideon approached. Charles still held Gideon's glove in one hand.

Gideon heard the footsteps and looked up. When he saw Purple Gideon, his eyes filled with fear. He curled his bare hand inside his sleeve as best he could.

"It's okay," Purple Gideon said gently. "I'm a positive emotion, remember? I'm your love for your mother. I'll help you feel better."

Grace was liking this less and less with every minute. But Gideon took a shuddering breath, held out his hand, and breathed in the resulting smoke after touching his clone.

"How do you feel?" Grace asked.

"Better," Gideon said. Then he buried his face in her shirt and cried some more.

Grace wondered what this experience would be like if she were the one with the clones. When it came to Geneva, would love or hatred win out? Grace had experienced her fair share of resentment for her mother, had participated in a fair amount of shouting matches. Her mother cared about her children, that much was obvious — but the woman could do so much that she simply didn't do. Grace couldn't understand that. If your husband is abusing your child, then isn't it your responsibility to do everything you possibly can to stop it? Instead, Geneva seemed content to stay in the shadows, offering plenty of sympathy but no solutions.

Well, it didn't much matter what Grace felt about that, not right now. Gideon's love for Mother had won out; that was what mattered. Maybe it would help Gideon find comfort after Grace was gone. . . .

After Purple Gideon got absorbed, there was a long wait for the remaining clone. Charles seemed impatient, even annoyed that Grace would dare comfort her brother. A few times, he opened his mouth to speak, probably to tell Grace that she should go find the clones so they'd stop looking for her. Each time, though, Grace's glare was so fierce that he kept his silence.

The longer they waited, the more worried Grace became. The only clone left would decide Gideon's emotions about her. What would happen then? If the negative clone won, would Gideon want Grace's comfort anymore? And then, how would he react when she told him her news?

She quickly decided that she did not want him to discover the news after the clone touched him. Way too many variables. She had no idea what this magic really did, and she wasn't going to risk a worse reaction than was necessary.

Her new resolution meant she had to act as soon as possible. She hesitated. She didn't want to tell him this. Saying it out loud would make it true.

Finally, when Gideon had dried his tears and was leaning up against her side, she spoke up.

"Hey, Charlie. . ."

He glanced up at her.

"I. . ." She licked her lips. "I came to find you because. . . I need to tell you something. A-and maybe this is a bad time, but — I don't want to wait until that last clone touches you. I want you to hear this without magical interference."

Gideon moved away just enough that he could watch her as she talked. His little eight-year-old face was drawn with worry. Whenever someone talked to a child with this much preamble, it was never a good thing. Grace knew that, but she also felt like she had to qualify everything before she shared her news.

"I'm. . . I'm eighteen now, Charlie."

Gideon nodded slowly. "So you can't use the amulet anymore," he said. His voice was still cracked from the high emotions of the last half hour.

"That's right," Grace said. "I can't use the amulet, so I'm not in the Order. That's your job now."

Gideon licked his lips nervously, but when he glanced down at his amulet, there seemed to be some excitement in his eyes.

"I also. . ." Grace bit her lip so hard that it hurt. "I. . . I'm eligible to be married, at this age."

Gideon frowned up at her. Oh, she thought, oh, he doesn't understand, I have to explain to him, how am I going to explain to him that I'm going away and I'm never coming back—

"Father and Mother are looking for a husband for me," Grace said. "I'm. . . I'm going to marry whoever he is, and. . . and I'm going to go live with him."

A bit of understanding crept into Gideon's face. Even that small bit was awful to see, awful to cause—

"Hey, guys, we couldn't find Grace anywhere, and neither of us can beat the other one. Has everybody else come back?"

Two Gideon clones — one with a dark blue amulet, one with light orange — climbed into the cavern. Charles looked relieved and exasperated at the same time as he pointed to Grace across the room.

"Oh," Orange Gideon said.

"She's been here practically the whole time," Charles said.

Gideon, the real Gideon, didn't seem to notice his clones. "You're leaving?" he asked in horror. "You're — you're leaving?"

Grace blinked back tears. "Yes," she whispered. The word sounded like harsh wind to her ears. "Not yet, maybe not for a while, but — I have to go, Charlie. They're going to make me go."

"You — you can't leave."

She drew his head to her chest. "I know. . . I know. . . but I have to. . ."

"No!" He pushed away from her. "No, you can't leave, you have to stay, you have to protect me from Father—"

"I can't protect you," Grace said, and the tears fell freely down her face. "I'm trying, I want to, but I can't, and now they're sending me away, I'm sorry, I want to stay, I want to save you—"

"You have to stay!" Gideon jumped to his feet. "I have no one else, Evi! You—" His voice broke. "You have to stay!"

The pair of Gideon clones shared glances.

"Okay, okay, I'll stay, I'll stay for as long as I can. . . ."

"No! You have to stay forever!"

She got to her feet, tried to hug him again. "I know, I—"

Thud.

Grace turned to the sudden noise. Orange Gideon had shoved Blue Gideon to the floor. BG tried to get up, but OG pounced on top of him, and the two clones rolled around the cave, throwing punches and slamming each other onto the ground.

Charles came over by Grace and Gideon, to get away from the fight. Grace grabbed her brother and pulled him against the wall, watching in horror as the clones fought. As she watched, she forgot they were clones, she forgot what they were fighting about, she could only see her baby brother fighting with himself and hurting himself and—

"We love her!"

"She's leaving us!"

"She's our sister, and she's done so much for us!"

"And she's leaving us!"

The clones shouted at each other as they fought, acting out the very thoughts that likely ran through Gideon's head right now. Gideon, for his part, stared at them with a horrified expression on his young face, nodding along with both sides of the argument. It looked like he was being torn apart.

"She can't leave us!"

"She doesn't have a choice!"

"Yes she does! She can stay!"

Grace felt like she was invading Gideon's privacy. She was getting his thoughts in real time, screamed into her ears by his clones. That was wrong. It also hurt, hearing everything her brother thought after what she'd told him. There's a reason people can't hear what everyone else is thinking, she thought. Because we'd all be too hurt to function afterwards.

"We love her! We have to keep loving her!"

"What's the point in loving her if she's leaving us!"

Orange Gideon punched Blue Gideon square in the nose.

Blue Gideon dissolved.

Orange Gideon stood up, triumphant, as Grace tracked her brain, trying to remember. Orange. Which one was orange? Which clone had won?

Gideon hid behind Grace, and she remembered. Orange was negative. Orange was resentment, orange was fear, orange was hatred.

Orange had won.

Oh, no.

Gideon cowered behind her, and she moved positions so that she was protecting him as best she could. Charles tried to separate them, but Grace kicked him so fiercely in the chest that he went sprawling and puffed into smoke. Orange Gideon approached from the other end of the cave.

"I won, Gideon," OG said. "I won. It's meant to be."

"No!" Gideon shouted, tears resurfacing in his eyes. "No! I won't let you take away my love for Evi!"

"I'm not taking it away," OG said, his voice far too calm for the emotions that ran rampant in the room. "Blue Gideon will still be there. All the emotions from today will still be there. But I'll be dominant. I'll be first."

"No!" Gideon screamed. The force of the cry dislodged more tears from Grace's eyes.

"I won," OG said softly.

"Get away from my brother!" Grace yelled. And she let go just long enough to turn around and face Orange Gideon head on.

It was a mistake.

As soon as Grace let go of her brother, OG lunged around her and grabbed Gideon by the sleeve. The young Northwest screamed and fought, but OG pulled on his shirt. Grace reached out to pry OG away — but he tore through the sleeve with such force that both layers of clothing ripped away, revealing the network of scars that laced Gideon's arms. Gideon shouted and kicked and hit, but OG was too fast. Before Gideon could get away, OG touched a bare hand to his arm. The final clone dissolved into smoke.

Gideon held his breath again and looked at Grace with pure terror in his eyes. She was crying so hard she could barely see, but she could make out his expression. It was awful, so awful, no child should ever look that scared—

Gideon's face began turning purple for want of air.

Grace grabbed him, held him close, squeezed him hard even though it might hurt his scars. "I love you," she said. "I love you I love you I love you don't you ever forget that I love you—"

Gideon made muffled noises that sounded like he was trying to say, "I love you," in return. But he didn't open his mouth; he didn't breathe in.

Grace pulled back, knelt down in front of him, felt his scars with her fingers as she touched his bare arm. "It's okay," she said, even though that was the opposite of what she felt. "It's okay that you feel resentment. It's natural. My leaving is a terrible thing and you completely deserve to feel betrayed. You aren't a bad brother just because you're mad at me for a while." Gideon still didn't breathe; now his face was turning blue.

"But just know that I don't want to do this," Grace said. The words tripped over each other in their rush to reach his ears before he breathed in the smoke. "I don't want to leave you, I hate Father too, and I'll do whatever I can to help you even when I'm far away. I love you, okay?"

Tears welled up in Gideon's eyes again, but Grace couldn't tell if they were from emotion or lack of air. Probably both.

"I love you," she whispered. "Breathe, Charlie. Breathe."

Gideon sucked in a huge breath.

And another. And another. The smoke had long since entered his lungs, but he didn't say anything, didn't do anything but breathe, breathe, breathe.

Finally, he caught his breath. He looked up at Grace with sad eyes, angry eyes, fearful eyes.

"You're leaving me," he whispered.

"I know," she whispered back.

More tears, fresh tears, so many tears filled his eyes. He turned and stomped out of the cave, not even stopping to pick up his glove or fiddle with his sleeve. He fastened his amulet to his lapel as he walked, and when he reached the exit, he jumped from the cave, catching himself with the magic of the amulet.

That day, Gideon Northwest flew for the first time, and it was to get away from his sister.