"Blood makes you related. Loyalty makes you family."
— Chris Diaz
...
"She say do you love me, I told her only partly…"
The boys sang at the top of their lungs, their voices competing with the deep, thrumming growl of the mana-truck's engine as it barreled across the alien landscape. Kai was half-hanging out the passenger window, letting the wind tear through his hair, while Jude kept a steady grip on the oversized steering wheel, navigating with surprising finesse. The air rushing past smelled of ozone, hot metal, and something that felt dangerously like freedom.
"Hey, what's that?" Kai shouted, jabbing a finger ahead toward where the terrain dipped into a shallow, mist-filled basin.
"Looks like a person," Aaron called from the back, squinting against the kaleidoscopic light.
