I nod, always knowing it would end this way. An eye for an eye. Blood for blood. The Goodwin twins versus Governor Roth.

Ava and I step apart. Two siblings standing in Dallas without masks, hoods, or shrouds. Carrying no umbrellas, no microchips. Instead we carry weapons and the belief we can survive.

How far we’ve come.

I remember the little boy I encountered in Montana when I was alone and without hope just shy of the northern border. The lionhearted boy with the chipped tooth who told me I had to make it. I thought he meant I had to make it to Canada, make it over the border. But now I understand what he meant.

Make a place where you belong. Make your own home.

Make our future.

I look at my watch: 1:47 a.m. The city should be sleeping.

It’s never been more alive.

My grandmother moves to us, and I half expect her to tell us we need to stay behind. But she doesn’t. “I won’t tell you to be careful, because you need to be fearless.” Rayla curls her hands around Ava’s and mine. She squeezes tight like she could transfer all her resilience and prowess and grit into the two of us.

I feel stronger.

“Whatever you face down there, together your strength is twofold,” Rayla says. “Together you are Roth’s worst fear. Prove him right.”

“We will,” we both say.

She nods, proudly knowing we’re ready. “I’ll see you when we’ve won the night.”

I look at those around me, the mass of riotous people all ready to risk their lives and face the Guard to bring down one man. The energy is explosive. Undeniable. We could win.

Let’s burn it all down.

Behind us Pawel opens the van that will take our team to the east tunnel entrance. Alexander and Theo are packing last-minute gear. Theo must feel my gaze, because he looks up, that same fire burning in his cherrywood eyes from the first time I met him. I’ve already told him he doesn’t have to come tonight. He’s fulfilled his promise. He could stay behind, away from the heart of the danger, and help Blaise and the others here.

I told you I’m with you, and I meant it, Theo said to me.

I feel more powerful than I’ve ever been.

A hush falls over the garage as Emery moves to the center of the circle. I see her pocket one of the small journals she’s always scrawling in. Owen helps our leader onto the hood of his car so she can see each and every one of our members. We’ve multiplied. We’re an army now.

Emery holds down her wrist in the rebellion salute, her tattoo gleaming in the headlights. “Every one of us here, we share a common bond. We feel oppressed, voiceless. Silenced. And to this I yell, enough! Yell with me. Resist with me. Fight. For the strength of many will forever outweigh the power of tyranny. Resist much.”

Obey little.

HAVEN

The Governor’s Mansion

2:18 a.m.

I have a new name. Haven. I have a new face. My nieces’.

Ava’s and Mira’s. A Goodwin mask, they call it.

Everybody in the vehicle has it on. Mother, Owen, the First Lady.

Nieces. I was told that is the word for what they are to me. When I see them side by side, I think of how Lynn and I would have looked together.

Not exactly identical. Ninety-nine percent.

There are small freckles on Ava’s nose, a line between her eyes. Mira’s eyes have guilt in them. Like she’s done something wrong. The boy Theo has the same look.

The mark of a second child.

If I saw my own reflection, I would see it too.

No time for these thoughts. We are here.

“Whoa. Look at all these people!” Owen says. He’s in the driver’s seat. More women and men than I ever knew were alive surround the Governor’s Mansion.

Weapons out. Trying to break through the wall.

General Pierce and his Guard’s vehicles stop at the main entrance. They have the heat-ray gun. They will take the front.

The Common Guard against the Texas Guard. Soldiers fighting soldiers. Is Roth leading his own Guard?

We have his general.

Owen drives our vehicle to the back of the mansion. I told Mother I knew a way in. The First Lady’s handprint. It unlocks an opening.

I told Mother I am not weak. She told me she knows that.

I am a survivor. I am strong.

She makes me strong.

I was born into this fight. She knows I will not stay apart from her now.

“You’re going to get everyone killed, not just me!” the First Lady shouts from the seat next to me. I keep hold of her wrist.

I squeeze. She quiets down.

“Stop here,” Mother says. She sits beside Owen. She’s calm. Ready.

We all look like CGs. Bulletproof vests. Heavy boots.

Yellow marks across our chests and Goodwin masks separate us from the enemy.

No more sirens or calls for the Common’s surrender. Speakers are shot down. No one watches. Cameras are in pieces on the ground.

The vehicle doors open. We exit into the crowd. Two Guards from a second vehicle stand with us.

Guards, Common members, civilians. Everybody moves aside.

They know who we are and why we are here.

I make sure the mask still covers the First Lady’s face. If she’s recognized, we lose our way in.

The civilians would finish what they started in the streets.

“We stay together,” Mother says. “Fire on my command.”

The skyscrapers all light up at the same time.

“Badass!” Owen shouts. “Ava’s plan worked!”

Screens on the buildings’ sides show the Governor’s Mansion. Thousands of women and men on its roof. In the trees. On top of the wall.

Swallowing the mansion whole.

All around us the Dallas civilians cheer.

“It’s a digital world,” Mother tries to explain to me.

“You’re killing it, man,” Owen says into his mouthpiece. He speaks to Blaise. Back at the Last Stage.

“But where do they come from?” I don’t understand.

“They come from everywhere,” Owen answers, a big smile on his face. “From cities all over the US. It’s a virtual-reality protest.”

“The entire country storms the mansion with the Common tonight,” Mother says.

A Scream Gun goes off. It’s too far away to send us to the ground. Was it ours or theirs?

“Please! We can still turn back!” the First Lady begs.

“We got it the first time. You don’t want to go home,” Owen says. “Just accept that it no longer matters what the hell you say. You’re only here for your prints.”

Mother turns her eyes on the mansion. I see only a dark mass. Sections of the lawn lit blue by the screens.

“We move quick and clean,” Mother says.

I take the lead.

I go thirty feet to the left of an empty Guard tower. The place where I saw the First Lady exit. The spot is set in my mind.

I still have hold of the First Lady’s wrist. I slam her right hand against the see-through wall. Her palm lights up.

A shoulder-width hole slides open.

“Leave it open,” Mother says. She crawls to the other side.

“No!” the First Lady whispers. Too scared to scream. “The people will loot my house!”

“You lived here at the pleasure of the people,” the tall Common Guard says. He backs her into the wall. “Down.”