[This post is from Kailey Astoris’s point of view.]
She boggled at him for a few seconds, her eyes widening. “You can’t possibly—”
“Of course I can,” Peril said, abruptly straightening, is eyes all but blazing as he stared at her. His voice rose in both tenor and cadence, words tumbling over each other. “We have been stuck here our whole lives, Kay. None of us have ever been further away than New Hope. Now there’s a chance that we get to go somewhere and do something important and you’re ready to tell these people to sit and spin? You’re batshit. If I was you, I’d already be gone.”
“That’s because you wouldn’t stop to think,” she snapped, her wide-eyed stare sharpening into something that was more like a glare. “Peril, there’s a lot more to all of this than just a damn field trip!”
“Yeah,” he drawled. “Yeah, I get that. All of us get that, Kay. You’re just flipping out because you’re terrified to even contemplate what leaving home might actually mean.”
“I am not.”
“The hell you’re not.” Peril shook his head, gulping down his tea. Still soaking wet, he got up, heading for the doors. “I’m going to go find Lin.”
“In this storm? To do what?”
“What else? Strategize. Figure out exactly what the next steps are. You must’ve realized by now that most of us are going to leave with them, Kay. Even if you decide not to come along, you’re still going to be stuck alone.”
He yanked the door open and was gone, out into the rain and wind, before she could stop him.
