“Our Hope and your Meg,” Jackson said. “They could be wrong.”

“One of them, maybe, but not both.” Not when Jean was seeing a Thaisia cleansed of so many human cities. “Vlad has a number for the motel where Nyx and Tolya are staying. He’ll call her so that she knows you’re coming.”

“All right. Simon? Tell Meg we’re doing our best to keep Hope well.”

“I’ll tell her.” As he ended the call, Simon thought about Jean’s prophecy and what it meant to the Others. He looked at Vlad. “We can’t trust humans anymore.”

“Did we ever trust them?”

“No. But we counted on their desire to survive being stronger than their greed. I don’t think we can count on that anymore.”

Dear Jean,

Earthday in the Courtyard is a day when the stores are closed and the Others stay feathered or furry for the entire day because they don’t have to interact with humans. But it was hot and humid today, and Henry said he and the Wolves usually spend time around the swimming hole on a day like this. It’s not a hole full of water; it’s actually the small lake in the Crowgard’s part of the Courtyard. Anyway, Simon invited some of my human friends to come with us. It was a test, I think, to see how they would behave in a part of the Courtyard that was usually off-limits to humans besides me.

Theral MacDonald rode in the BOW with me and Simon. Merri Lee, Michael, Ruth, and Karl rode bicycles. I’m not sure if the Others had never seen bicycles before or if they had never considered them as a useful form of transportation, but something about the bicycles made the Wolves quite excited. There was a lot of sniffing once we reached the lake, but everyone was polite and didn’t pee on the tires.

The lake is one of three that, along with the creek, supply a lot of the fresh water in the Courtyard. The Others drink it, swim in it, and catch fish to eat. Michael and Karl wanted to know what kind of fish, but no one was interested in shifting to human form to tell them, and I didn’t know, so that’s something they can discuss tomorrow.

Because the lake is waist-deep at one end and well over my head at the other end, it was fine for Wolves but not much fun for the Crows. So when Simon took over leadership of the Courtyard, he, Henry, and Blair created a connected wading pool where the water is only a few inches deep so that the Crowgard can splash around and play.

When it was time to go into the water, no one knew what to do. At least I didn’t. After staring at us for a moment, Simon, Blair, and Nathan jumped into the water, then climbed out and shook water all over us.

It was cold! Merri Lee, Ruth, Theral, and I hopped around, making noises and saying, “It’s cold, it’s cold, it’s cold.”

The Wolves jumped in, climbed out, and shook water all over us again! The third time the Wolves shook water on us girls, we were sufficiently wet that it didn’t feel that cold anymore—and the Squeaky Dance game was done. Unfortunately, I think this is a game the Wolves really enjoyed, so I suspect we’re going to be on the receiving end of surprise soakings for the rest of the summer.

But once we got in the water, it felt so good! At one point, Nathan bumped into me and I went under and came up sputtering. That’s when Ruth asked me if I could swim, and I said no.

Simon shifted to human form and just stared at me, shocked. How could I not know how to swim? All the puppies knew how to swim.

I pretended that Simon was wearing swimming trunks like Michael and Karl, and even though the water was pretty clear, the shade of the nearby trees kept the obvious from being obvious.

Michael offered to teach me how to dog paddle. He got snarled at from three directions, because no one was going to teach me to paddle like a dog! The Wolves don’t mind dogs; they just don’t want to be mistaken for a dog, and I guess they don’t want me to be mistaken for one either.

I think Michael deliberately exaggerated the movements because Simon huffed, shifted back to Wolf, and began paddling around us to show me how to do it. Michael held me up while I tried kicking with my legs and paddling with my arms. Then I tried on my own with Simon and Nathan swimming on either side of me. When I got tired, we all climbed out and sat on blankets under the trees.

I must have fallen asleep for a little while, because I woke up feeling so content.

But contentment isn’t going to last, is it? Dead fish are washing up on the shores of three East Coast cities. I heard Vlad tell Tess the fish were the storm’s herald. I didn’t feel any pins and needles under my skin because of that comment. I don’t know if I should be relieved or worried.

I hope you’re doing well at the Gardners’ farm. Steve Ferryman is supposed to come by this week to show Simon—and me—plans for the new campus for the cassandra sangue. Steve says the girls are doing well, and the caretaker he hired for them is very intuitive about when to introduce something new and when to stay with the familiar.

I’m trying not to use the razor. Some days that’s easy to do. Other days it’s so hard. Maybe the younger girls will be able to escape the addiction. And if they can’t escape altogether, maybe cassandra sangue like you and me and Hope can find other ways to reveal some prophecies. I’m just not sure those other ways will veil our minds sufficiently, or if the euphoria that comes from cutting—and the likelihood of an early death because of it—is the cost of staying sane.

You always believed we could survive in the outside world. I’m doing everything I can to give at least some of us a chance of not only surviving but truly living.