Nathan continued to speak, but his voice became drowned out by the rush of thoughts I was experiencing.

Millville. The town I was born in. The place where my parents almost undoubtedly still lived.

Or had lived. At least until three weeks ago, when the townspeople simply vanished. The thought gave me an icy chill. Was the government involved with the disappearances? It seemed like Helping Hands definitely was, if the search into Helpings Hands through the government system had led back to the abandoned towns somehow. But why was Helping Hands involved, and how? They had solved a “problem” of older, more aggressive detainees at the holding centers. Were they solving a new “problem” for the government around factory closures now?

It was hard to think about the mission as a whole when it felt so personal. The government had ripped me away from my parents all those years ago. Then it had ripped Hope away from me. Had it also made my parents disappear?

I may have lost them before I had ever known them.

What more could the regime take away from me?

Nathan grew quiet and looked at me with a gentle and concerned expression. The rest of the team seemed to be looking at me, as well. Either due to Nathan’s reaction or the signature of pain and confusion on my face.

“Millville is my hometown,” I said softly. I said it for the team’s sake, so they would understand my strange and muted reaction, but I also just needed to say it out loud. Nelson already knew. Her face had become sympathetic as soon as Nathan made the announcement.

The team shared weak smiles and encouraging nods with me, and then Nathan continued to speak.

“We’ll have Jace and Robin on the ground and we’ll be able to provide some cover from Edgewood. We’ll work in shifts to provide round-the-clock support. Surveillance, drone recon where possible, communication, access to backup…”

Nathan continued to speak about the details of the mission. But, while I knew how important it was to listen, I was sinking back into my own thoughts and anxieties.

So this was why I had been chosen for this mission. Nathan had fulfilled his promise, after all. He was sending me on a mission that would accomplish two separate things: important Little John work and the beginning of my own personal quest to reconnect with my lost family members. I wanted to feel gratitude and enthusiasm at the prospect, but all I could feel was dread.

I thought it naïve now, but I had pictured myself knocking on their door with my daughter on my hip. I had pictured a quaint but clean apartment with a warmth inside that could only be accomplished by love and family. I had pictured a humble stew on the stove, my mother busying herself over it, and my father tending to their fireplace when we knocked; maybe my mother would have said, “Who could that be?” and my father would’ve risen to greet us. I pictured instant recognition being shared between all of us, my mother wrapping her arms around Hope and me and then my father wrapping his arms around all of us.

I pictured my heart filling with what I had been needing all this time: family.

I didn’t picture an empty town, or a cold and abandoned apartment, or… a gravesite.

But I also felt a fiery anger that was filling me with a new motivation. The government had taken everything from me. And I would stop at nothing to get my family back—and defeat the people responsible.

The team began to move, and I realized the meeting had been adjourned. I cursed myself in my head for getting so wrapped up in my thoughts and hoped Jace had been listening enough for both of us.

As the team began to file out, Jackie cast a look back at me, her face creased in sympathy. I wanted to smile in return, to assure her that I was going to be okay, that everything was going to be okay. But it didn’t feel that way. Nothing felt okay.

Nathan stood still at the head of the table, looking closely over the map. Jace and I lingered, intent on speaking to him in more detail about the mission plans.

“We’ll begin in the morning,” Nathan finally said. He didn’t take his eyes off of the map. “You’ll need adequate rest and sustenance before embarking.”

“Nathan,” I started. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say next. Maybe I didn’t have anything to say. I just needed him to look at us, to acknowledge us and remind me that we were all part of a team that was fighting for something greater. Maybe I needed reassurance that even if my parents really were gone, everything would still be okay, because the fight would continue.

“I’m sorry, Robin,” Nathan said, looking up and making eye contact with me over the table. “I know this wasn’t how you wanted to hear more about your parents.”

I stood still, emotionless, and waited for him to continue.

“But I knew you deserved the truth. And I want you to have the opportunity to look for them. Maybe they’re still out there, and maybe they need help,” Nathan added. “Now, you two need to start preparing. You’ll embark in the morning. Until then,” he said, and turned and walked toward his office.

I stayed for a moment to look closer at the map, until Jace walked to my side and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Robin. I know that must’ve been hard news to hear,” he said gently.

I didn’t move or speak. Instead, my eyes were homing in on the pixelated projection before me. When I’d looked at the map earlier, I somehow hadn’t put two and two together. Now I couldn’t pull my gaze from it, still glowing red on the map—a small and isolated city. Millville. What could the townspeople have done to warrant making all of them disappear? What had my parents done?

“We’re going to find them,” I replied, in a hard and icy tone that surprised even me. The regime wouldn’t keep my family from me like this. I was going to get my parents back.

I turned and headed out, and heard Jace following quickly behind me.

Outside in the warm air, I tried to push the anger and sadness out of my immediate thoughts. I wanted to think about the mission details first and foremost.

“Do you think that means we’ll be getting that mini-airship for our trip?” I asked. It only made sense. Why else would the two of us have been selected to train on such specialized tech?

Jace walked so close to me that my shoulder was rubbing against him with every step. “I hope so,” he said. I could tell that he was trying to modulate his long, quick strides so that I wouldn’t have to jog to keep up with him. “Can’t imagine there’d be a faster way to get from town to town.”

I nodded slowly. “Right.” It was a great piece of tech, but that didn’t stop me from worrying about the lack of real planning so far. It didn’t seem like Nathan to send us out with so little preparation.

“Robin,” Jace started. I turned to look at him. “I really am sorry about your parents.”

I reached down and grabbed his hand. It was nice to hold his hand in public, unashamed and open.

“I’ll do whatever I can to help you find them,” he said.

“I know,” I replied. And I did know. Jace had been a rock for me so far. I knew that would only intensify as the missions got more and more personal. “And thank you,” I added softly.

We entered the stately dormitory hall, and I gazed across the crowds. All around us, Edgewood citizens were going on with their lives like everything was normal. We passed the dining hall and walked quietly to my dorm. I put my key in the lock, but the door was pulled open from the inside before I could unlock it.

“Tell us everything,” came Nelson’s breathless voice. The rest of our team was sitting in our dorm behind her. It looked like an ambush.

“Not much to tell,” I said earnestly. “We think we might get an airship for transportation, and we’re leaving in the morning.”

“That’s literally all we know in addition to what you guys heard in the meeting,” Jace added.

A collective groan ensued.

“You guys get a secret, romantic mission, and those are all the details we get?” Ant asked with a hint of mischievousness in his voice.

“Nathan is probably sending us together because we mesh well as a team,” Jace replied, diverting his eyes from the team.

“Well, don’t mesh too well during your mission,” Jackie quipped. “Or you might get caught.”

“Yeah, nighttime is for sleeping or surveillance. Nothing else!” Abe jested.

I rolled my eyes. It was hard to sink into the jokes and banter when I had so much on my mind.

At least Nelson was more sympathetic.

“How are you feeling about going back to Millville?” she asked.

Going back. I hadn’t thought of it that way yet. She was right. I wasn’t taking a mission to any old factory town; I was going back to my hometown, the place where I had been born and then kidnapped by the CRAS.

The mood in the room quickly changed as the team considered that statement.

“It’ll be okay,” I said, trying to will myself to feel that way. I didn’t want everyone to think that I was going to be bogged down with my own concerns and fears during this mission. Millville or not, my parents or not, this was still an important mission, and my head needed to be a hundred percent in the game.

But, truthfully, I didn’t think I could separate my emotions and story from this. After all, that was why I had been chosen in the first place. And maybe Nathan knew that my pain and anger would turn into an iron-willed drive to get to the bottom of the disappearances. Maybe he’d counted on it.

“Just know that we’re here for you,” Gabby said softly.

The thought was more comforting than she knew.

I dropped into a cross-legged position on the floor and looked around at the group, heedless of the planning I might have been doing. I didn’t want to spend my last night in Edgewood before our mission stuck in my own head and sick with worry. I wanted to spend time with my friends. Especially because something might happen while we were out there alone. I tried not to think about it, but the truth was it could be our last night all together. And I didn’t want to take that for granted.

After a few hours of talking about the mission and reminiscing about the old days of Operation Hood, the team began to head to their rooms for the night. We all presumably had a long day ahead of us tomorrow.

We still hadn’t received any official orders yet from Nathan. But I tried not to think too much about that. If he was going to let us play this one by ear, we’d just have to be brilliant while we were out there.

Jace lingered after the rest of the team left, and we sat down on the floor together with Nelson to talk about our day.

“Do you remember seeing anything out of the ordinary when we came across those abandoned towns?” Jace asked.

“Not really,” I answered. I had been thinking about that since our meeting had commenced, but still didn’t have an answer. The truth was, we’d seen the ghost towns before we came to Edgewood, but hadn’t had the time to do much about them. We’d been too busy running for our lives at the time.

“I remember things looking like they had been left in a hurry,” Jace replied.

He was right. I remembered it similarly. There were no visible clues left behind as to why everyone had left so quickly. The streets were just… empty. As if they’d vanished without a trace.

“How could so many people have just up and left like that?” I mused.

“Maybe they weren’t just leaving. Maybe they were being chased,” Nelson said.

It was a somber thought.

“I guess I should try to get some sleep,” Jace said as he stood to leave. I stood up as well and followed him toward the door to say goodbye.

“Goodnight,” Nelson called toward us. “And in case I don’t see you tomorrow, good luck.”

I followed Jace out into the hallway and shut the door behind me, to give us some privacy.

“Nervous?” I asked him.

“Anxious,” he replied. “But I’m ready to get going. The nights before the missions are always the worst.”

I agreed with him there. I wasn’t looking forward to tossing and turning until the sun rose.

Jace stepped forward and leaned his forehead against mine. I pressed back up against him. It had become a sign of affection that we were both comfortable showing in public.

“Are you nervous?” Jace asked me.

I considered it. I was nervous for many different reasons. I was nervous about learning more about my parents, Juno and Culver. Were they in trouble? Were they hurt? Or were they already dead? Even if they were safe and sound, I was a little nervous about meeting them. I was nervous about confirming my fears that maybe, since I hadn’t been given a birth name, I hadn’t been wanted at all. But I wasn’t nervous about getting started on our mission. I was ready to go. I was ready to fight back.

“A little,” I replied simply. It just wasn’t worth going into all of the details. Not this late at night. Not when we had other things to think about and enough reason not to sleep as it was.

“I’ll be there to protect you,” he murmured in his deep, silky voice.

His hands began to swirl over my lower back from either direction until he had both of his arms wrapped around my waist. He pulled me close, and I couldn’t help myself as I sighed and fell into his arms. We pressed our lips together.

Jace’s warmth and the hot, wet energy of his lips and tongue sent shockwaves through my torso and down into my legs until I was barely standing on my own anymore and he was holding me up strongly in his grasp.

And suddenly things felt okay. Yes, I was scared of what I might find. Yes, I was anxious to get started already. But as my fingers curled into Jace’s hair and my lips parted slightly in our kiss, I felt more content than I had in days. I felt comfortable and safe with Jace.

Jace would be there to protect me. And I would be there to protect him.

After a few long seconds, he pulled back. I opened my eyes slowly to see him smiling and flushed in the cheeks. His lips looked fuller and redder than usual as he gazed down at me.

“In spite of everything, I’m also excited just to have some alone time with you,” he said softly.

I felt butterflies release in my stomach. I hadn’t really considered the possibility of spending so much time with Jace away from everyone else, away from all the prying eyes and innuendo-laden jokes. It excited and confused me to think about it.

“But in the meantime,” he finished, “get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Then he left one last kiss on my forehead and retreated down the hall.

I stood quietly for a few moments, tingly from my head to my toes. That little experience probably wasn’t going to do anything to help me sleep, I realized, but it sure had made me feel good.

Then I turned to the door.

“You better not have been looking through the peephole,” I said before grabbing the doorknob.

From inside our room, I heard Nelson scurry away from the door, and smiled.