Light flooded into the room. I woke up with a start. Monroe shoved my hearing aids at me. I stared at her, putting them in.

"Sonnet, there's something you need to see."

I let my fingers run through my hair. Monroe couldn't take a lazy morning, my love nestled into my side. I wouldn't let her take that from me.

T was still asleep, her arms wrapped around me.

"Can't it wait?"

"I don't know."

"I thought you knew everything."

"So did I."

I tapped T's shoulder. She stirred. She pulled her arm away from my chest. I flipped the cover off myself, standing stunned in the cold air.

Monroe was already traveling through the facility. It was a compound, drilled into a mountainside. I'd be virtually untraceable here. Regardless of the need for the building, I still missed the manor. My bare feet pressed against the cold floor.

Monroe stopped in front of a door. She opened it, revealing a room with a table. A sheet of paper rested on the thick wood.

"What's this?"

I walked over, looking at the paper. It was clean white, like the paper at the library. It'd been folded carefully in half, my name scribbled on the clean, white expanse. I looked it distrustfully. That was Rob's handwriting. Had he followed me here? My heart froze in my chest. He couldn't have.

I had run away. I'd escaped.

Monroe tutted, hurrying me on. I picked up the paper, half expecting it to burn me. I unfolded it.

I looked over at Monroe and started reading it out loud.

"Dear Sonnet," I began, taking a pause, trying to steady my nerves. I continued. "I'm sorry for how things went, and how they ended. I hope you're safe and well. I can't stay here. I could never take a stand against you. I don't know who the right side is, but I'm not going to be on opposite sides of some abstract war from you."

Monroe was looking at me with a kind of hungry interest. If Rob was on our side... no. He couldn't be. He hadn't said he was joining the rebellion. I paused, gathering my will to continue.

"I'm going to record a video—hologram. Whatever. I'm going to publicly announce that I'm with you, and broadcast it on every screen I can. Actually, what's it called? A hologram screen? It doesn't matter."

I couldn't bring myself to look at the next line. Monroe met my eyes. "That's suicide."

I nodded. He wouldn't live to see the next sunrise if he did that. But there wasn't a way to stop him. I dragged my eyes to the next line of handwriting.

"I'll be out of town before the broadcast airs. I need to go home. I understand that now. I was never meant to be here in the first place."

He knew something like that would kill him. He was getting out of dodge. I'd never see him again. I didn't know quite how I felt about that. The door opened behind me. I felt arms wrap around my waist.

I put my hand over T's. I could live like this forever. I did know how I felt about the prospect of never seeing Rob again. As long as I had T, I didn't need anyone else.

"What's that?"

"Just a farewell note."

"From that asshole?"

I nodded. I felt her face next to mine, peering down at the sheet of paper.

Monroe looked at me. "Keep reading."

"I'm going to do what I can to protect you, Sonnet. Yours truly, Rob."

I put the note down. T's arms seemed to get tighter around me.

I looked at Monroe. "What do we do now?"

Monroe looked me in the eye. "We wait for his broadcast. Do damage control if we need to."

"Will we be okay?" T's voice came out, loud and strong.

Monroe nodded. "We'll keep you safe."

There was T again. "Do we have any idea when the broadcast will be up?"

Monroe shook her head. "He's decided to communicate through Sonnet, which means we don't know anything more than you. I need to contact my higher-ups about this."

She grabbed the paper from my hands, storming out of the room.

"What do we do now?"

"Turn on the hologram. We need to know exactly what he says."

T's arms let go of my waist. I turned around and looked at her, still in her pajamas. Her hair was still messed up from sleep. I loved her when she had that messy look about her.

I followed her out of the room. She turned on the hologram in the next room. It showed some news broadcast. They were still going on about the engagement, as though nothing more interesting would ever happen.

I watched it in silence, T next to me. It on for about 15 minutes, with music designed to induce anxiety. No wonder so many people feared the rebellion.

The broadcast crackled out. That had to be it.

I yelled for Monroe. She was in the room in an instant. We watched as Rob's face blinked onto the screen. He was really gone then.

He basically reiterated a less personal version of his letter.

"What does command say?"

"They don't know what to make of it."

We watched as the clip played out, fading to reveal newscasters, sputtering for words. Finally, one of them stammered, "Now we go to Vice Director of the DSUI, McShane."

The man's face popped up on the screen, just as severe as ever.

"We believe the rebellion has doctored this video. Until we confirm the location of the chosen one, we will be proceeding with the utmost caution."

"Of course they'd go to discredit it."

I looked at Monroe.

"What do we do now?"

She looked down at me. "Live."

I squeezed T's hand. I would live. What else was there to do?