Cigarettes out the window.

My stomach dropped.

“Wait a damn minute.” I pointed straight at the trench coat man. “YOU! You’re the bastard who shot me on the mountain!”

His smirk tugged wider. “And you’re still alive?” His voice was smoke and mockery, “I’d like to apologize for that.”

“Oh hey Cass! Good to see ya!”

Sylvi gasped, turning to Rilke.

“You know this guy?!” I snapped, my voice breaking.

Rilke’s gaze slid past me, flat.

“Best you get your behind over here, Rilke,” Cassian drawled, cigarette bobbing at his lips. “You’re walking beside the devil himself.”

The man who shot me on that mountain, was Cassian? Why did he build the satellite why did—

Rilke jogged past me, cloak flaring. “I’ll see y’all later!” Glancing back with a wave. She slid to his side like she belonged there.

“What the hell is going on?!” My throat scraped raw. My eyes darted between the red slit of the machine’s helm, Cassian’s pistol, Rilke’s betrayal, and Gideon—my only chance at sense.

Then Gideon stepped forward.

“Sylvaine.” His voice shook.

She looked at him. “…Yeah?”

His face was pale, eyes locked on me like I was something crawling out of the abyss.

“Step away from Juno.”

The air went cold.

“What?” I whispered.

I looked at Gideon’s expression—serious, strained, almost desperate. My stomach knotted.

Is it back? The worm? It has to be.

My gaze darted down to the ground, half-expecting the sand to split open. We weren’t far from Solaris. If it was here, we’d never make it without Autumna’s help, or any vehicle.

Having Sylvi move first was the best option, I’d be left with the worm, but I rather it be me than any of them.

Then Gideon shouted, his voice cutting through the desert wind and my thoughts like a blade.

“Step away from Juno!”

Gideon’s eyes locked on me, cold and unwavering, but beneath the ice there was something darker, something I hadn’t seen before.

“Juno isn’t human.”

Sylvi shoved me, “Juno… the hell is he talking about?” But I was equally confused as her.

My brow furrowed, “No… Giddy—”

“Don’t,” he sharply cut me off, “don’t call me that!”

He stepped closer, every motion deliberate. “You’ve been hiding it. All of it. Every time I thought you were my friend, I was wrong. You’re not the boy I knew. You’re… something else. Something that doesn’t belong.”

My chest burned, disbelief and hurt twisting together. “…Gideon… I—”

“Don’t lie to me!” he yelled, fists clenching, knuckles white. “I’ve watched you, and I’ve seen what you’ve become. You’re a predator wearing his face. And if you don’t stop—if you keep going like this—you’ll destroy everything around you. Including her!”

He gritted his teeth, as he spat what his words at me, the desert was vast but they seemed to echo in my mind,

“You’re a FUCKING monster.”

There were no walls in the open desert, but his words echoed with magnitude even I couldn’t fathom.

Sylvi’s gripped my arm. Her eyes, wide and sharp, locked on Gideon. “What are you talking about? He’s not—”

“Don’t you dare defend it!” Gideon’s voice shredded the wind. His fists flexed, and I saw the faint tremor of barely contained fury.

It?

“I’ve known you, Juno. I’ve watched. And what I’ve seen… it’s not human. It’s predatory. Cold. Efficient. Merciless. You’re hunting like some… unnatural thing, wearing the face of a boy I trusted.”

I stepped back, pain and rage twisting together. “…I—Gideon, it’s not like that—”

“Isn’t like that?” he spat, teeth bared. 

Sylvi flinched but didn’t move. She opened her mouth, but I shook my head, my chest tight with a mixture of disbelief and hurt.

Gideon took a slow step forward. The desert wind blew his coat like a banner of judgment. “You’re a predator, Juno. A weapon. I trusted you. I thought you were my friend. But you… you’re a sickness wearing flesh. And I… I won’t let it spread. Not here. Not ever.”

His words echoed in my head like a verdict. Every memory we shared, every laugh, every battle we fought side by side—it all seemed like a lie. I opened my mouth again, “Gideon… I’m still me…”

For the first time, I saw Sylvi’s hand trembling. She didn’t leave my side, but she didn’t move closer either. Her eyes darted between me and Gideon, confusion clouding into fear.

“…Juno,” she whispered. “Tell me he’s wrong.”

I swallowed hard. “I don’t even know what he’s talking about, Sylvi.”

But Gideon didn’t let up. He stepped closer, voice breaking as he barked: “Look at him, Sylvaine! Look at his face! The golden marking—tell me you don’t see it! You’ve seen it, haven’t you? The way he fights, the way he doesn’t flinch, doesn’t hesitate—like something’s hollow inside him!”

Her grip loosened. My chest seized.

Cassian’s sighed. “Even she can feel it.”

“I don’t!” she snapped suddenly, but her voice cracked. “I don’t know what I feel, alright?!” She backed a step—not toward Gideon, not toward me, just back. “I don’t know what’s happening to us anymore.”

My throat locked. “Sylvi—”

But Gideon cut across me, his voice raw: “He’ll take everything from you. He’ll take you, Sylvaine. That’s what monsters do.”

Her eyes flicked to me, searching, desperate for something steady. And for the first time… I didn’t know if I had anything to give.