I understood, watching her, that being the failure they chose had been, in the strangest possible way, the thing that saved me.\n\n”We are not a family, Roderick,” I said, and my voice did not shake at all.

“We share genetics.

Nothing more.”

I turned to Zachary, who was watching me with an expression I will keep for the rest of my life — not triumph, but a deep and quiet pride.

He offered me his arm.

“Shall we?” he said softly.

“The helicopter’s on the roof.

And I believe you have a continent to see to.”