"I'm on it, Ara." Brenon was out the door before I could even say another word.

My palms were sweaty and my stomach was in knots. I turned to Tristan. My lower lip quivered as nervousness melted away into anger. I marched over to him. "Why didn't you open with that? How could you come in here and waste our time if you knew Terra was trying to bait me?"

"Why do you think I wanted to break the curse and get it done with right away?"

Tristan didn't back down as I stepped right in front of him. "You don't get it, do you? Ryder is all I have."

"I get it, I do. I understand family, but he's not all you have," Tristan said. "I know you don't want anything to do with me, but a whole group of Sayges and the Rose Circus took on Terra for you. It's time for you to start realizing that you're not the sad, lonely girl you think you are. Does your life suck? Yeah, it sucks having Terra after you. I get that. But you have to appreciate these people in your life, or you'll lose them all."

Tristan's words felt like a punch in the gut. Where had that come from? I didn't want to let the words sink in, but he was right. In the last few weeks, I'd been so worried about all of the negative changes. The upheaval of my whole existence. Yet, I'd found a place I felt like I belonged and I had found people who were willing to fight with me, for me. How had I not seen that before?

Brenon came running back into the room, eyes wild. "He's gone. Ara, I swear, I did everything I could to keep him safe and keep him away from all of this."

"What do you mean he's gone?" I knew what he meant, but I had to hear it. I didn't want to believe that after everything, Ryder could still end up the one to pay the ultimate price.

Brenon shook his head. "Terra. She has your brother."

The room seemed to be spinning as the words sank in. I took unsteady breaths while my mind reeled, trying to think of what I could do. How could I help him? If she wanted me, there was a good chance Ryder was still alive.

"I'm so sorry," Brenon said.

I swallowed against a lump in my throat. "I know."

Slowly, I walked toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Brenon and Tristan asked in unison.

"I'm not sure." I felt numb, and I wasn't sure how my feet were able to move. "Maybe Denver?"

A hand grabbed hold of mine, pulling me around until I was face to face with Brenon. "You can't just walk in there, that's what she wants."

"I can't leave him there. You know that."

"I think I can help," Tristan said.

"How?" I asked. "Haven't you already done enough?"

Tristan shook his head. "You don't know anything about me."

"I know you burned Gia's village to the ground," I said. "I know you threatened me and you did Terra's dirty work. Why would I trust you? Having the same DNA doesn't give you a free pass from all the things you've done. You scare me."

"I know," Tristan said. "And now's not the time to get into my past. Right now, you need magic. And I'm one of the few people here who has enough to do some damage to Terra."

I looked at Brenon, trying to read his expression.

"It may be our best chance," Brenon said. "Without the curse broken, I don't have enough magic to hold her off on my own and it's going to be days before all the blue pills are out of everyone's system."

I glared at Tristan. "This doesn't mean I forgive you for what you've done."

"All I want is the chance to have a conversation with you if we live through this," he said.

I nodded. "If we live through this, we can talk."

* * *

We sat in the dining car, crammed in with all of the members of the Rose Circus. The newcomers had been granted access to the other common areas of the train while they waited for their magic to return. Evangeline had told them that we would attack Terra in three days. I wondered if any of the people who were in this car would even be alive in three days.

"None of you have to do this," Brenon said. "We don't know her strength, and we don't know if the immortality of the curse will hold if she uses magic."

The room was silent, and I tried to focus on Brenon, ignoring the feeling of dozens of eyes on me. We were asking them to be a distraction while I recovered my brother with Tristan's and Jasper's help. It was risky, and if we had any better plans, I wouldn't have agreed to it.

"What's in it for him?" A tall, yellow woman with fluttering incandescent wings pointed to Tristan. "Why would we trust him?"

"Is it true?" Bigfoot had pushed his way to the front, stopping in front of me. "Out there, they were saying he's your father."

Murmurs sounded through the group, and I could tell that some people hadn't yet heard the news from my declaration outside the train. In a way, I was surprised that it hadn't spread, but we'd moved quickly to gather everyone after we found out about Ryder.

I turned at looked at Tristan. Something had to be said to explain why he was here and why he was willing to help us. They weren't going to let Tristan join in without reason. For years, they'd been afraid of him, running from him. Last they'd heard, he was working for Terra.

My stomach churned as I considered what I should say. I still didn't fully trust him, and by explaining our relationship, I felt like I was vouching for him, which I wasn't ready to do.

The noise of the Circus had grown to chatter, and I had to raise my voice to talk over them. "He wants to see Terra go down just as much as the rest of us."

"That's because he wants to take over," someone said.

A small, scaly man with horns on his head stood on top of his chair. "Yeah, even if we succeed in opening the gates, what's to stop him and his brothers from taking over Faerie? These Dark Fae can't be trusted."

"I don't have to help you," Tristan said. "I can let you all do this without any real magic."

I touched Tristan's arm and gave him a look that silently asked him to stop talking.

"Look, Tristan wants to help us, and we aren't in the position to be turning down help," I said.

"You don't know him like we do," Mike said. "Jasper might not be enough to protect you if he turns on you."

"He won't turn on me, he helped me get away from Terra," I said.

More arguments started, and the room was buzzing with noise. While they seemed to want to help me get to Ryder, the idea of Tristan being around them was too much. I glanced over at Brenon. He raised his eyebrows and nodded. It was as if he was encouraging me to continue.

I took a deep breath. All of the Sayges already knew. It was a matter of time before the Circus found out our connection. "The rumors are right. He's my father."

I spoke quietly, but it was enough to stop the people who were near me from talking and the ripple of their sudden silence spread through the dining car. All eyes were on me. I swallowed and looked out at the people who had become my friends in such a short time.

I glanced at Tristan. "It doesn't mean that I trust him yet, but I know he won't hurt me. And I believe him when he says he wants to help us eliminate Terra. As far as what he wants when the gate goes down, I don't know."

"What do you want?" Evangeline asked.

Tristan smiled. "I'm glad you asked."

Evangeline wrinkled her nose, and her ears flattened against her head. "I'm not sure I like it when you smile like that."

Tristan's smile widened, showing his sharp teeth. "I just want what I'm owed."

"Which is?" Evangeline crossed her arms over her chest.

"If I help you remove Terra, there's an opening for a northern ruler." Tristan shrugged. "You'll need someone to control the border between the Dark Fae lands and the Suncountry."

"We've never had a Dark Fae in the Suncountry," Brenon said.

"There's a first for everything," Tristan said.

Tinkerbell, the green fairy I'd met on one of my first nights at the Rose Circus, stood on a chair. She pulled a lollipop out of her mouth.

"What the hell are we still arguing about? Either he helps us, and we get to go home, or we wait till Terra figures out a way to kill us all. I don't care who rules the north. If we do nothing, there will be no going home, anyway."

"She has a point," someone said.

"Wait, I thought this was a rescue mission," Goldie said. "Since when did taking down Terra come into play?"

"Since now." Evangeline held up a vial that looked similar to the iron dust containers the Sayges had made.

"Is that?" I reached for the vial.

She pulled her hand away. "Iron dust. We have one vial. I say we get in close enough. There's one of us here that can't be harmed by the contents of this vial."

I recalled the burning that had spread through my whole body when even the tiniest amount of dust had touched my bare skin. The pain was intense enough that I had lost all of my concentration for several minutes. That vial wasn't large, but if that much hit any of the Fae in this room, it would be deadly.

"Hand it over, Evangeline." Goldie had cut through the crowd and stood with one hand on her hip, other hand outstretched, in front of Evangeline.

"No, it's too dangerous. We should wait until we have more help." I reached for the vial again, but Goldie stepped in between Evangeline and me.

"Let me do this, Ara," Goldie said. "She's right. It can't hurt me. I'm the only one who can do this. If you all can get me close enough to Terra, I can dust her."

I took a deep breath as I watched Evangeline set the vial down in Goldie's hand.

"It's settled," Tristan said. "Whoever is joining us will distract Terra so we can get Goldie as close as possible. Once she's in range, the rest of you will need to get out of there. The Sayge's make strong stuff."

I reached for Brenon's hand and squeezed it in mine. I wasn't sure how much iron dust it took to hurt or kill a Fae. Brenon was out for three days from getting some of the dust on him. And he still had some magic. He was stronger than the other members of the Circus. What would the iron dust do to them?

"Now I'm excited," Tinkerbell said. "If we're going down, we are taking that bitch with us."

The room erupted in cheers, and it was hard not to get swept into the rush of emotions. For the first time since finding out about Ryder, I started to feel like we had a real shot at saving him.

Jasper had informed us that Terra kept prisoners in the suites where I had spent my first night unless she was torturing them. If I could get up to those suites and find the room they had Ryder in, I had a real chance of rescuing him. The added bonus of Terra's demise would sure make things a lot easier for all of us.

"You sure you should be going?" Joe asked me.

He'd been quiet the whole time while we'd been discussing the situation and his question took me off guard. "Why wouldn't I? It's Ryder. You know I'm not going to sit by and do nothing."

"But the gate. Doesn't it have to be you?" he said the words quietly, but the whole room was staring at us. I'd never heard the members of the Rose Circus this quiet.

"I'll be okay. Jasper is going to help us get through there quickly."

Tristan moved next to me, and I tensed at his closeness. He smiled at Joe. "She's half Dark-Fae. If she ever taps into her potential, she'll have more magic than all the creatures in this room combined ever had."