He breaks the news to Connor in the morning—just a few hours before Pivane is due to take them to the car that’s waiting for them outside the north gate. He thinks Connor will be furious, but that’s not his reaction. Not at first. The look on Connor’s face is one of pity—which Lev finds even worse than anger.
“They don’t want you here, Lev. Whatever fantasy you’ve got in your head about staying here, you’ve gotta lose it. They don’t want you.”
It’s only half-true, but it hurts to hear all the same. “It doesn’t matter,” he tells Connor. “It’s what I want that matters, not what they want.”
“So you’re just going to disappear here? Pretend you’re a ChanceFolk kid, living the simple life on the rez?”
“I think I can make a difference here.”
“How? By going hunting with Pivane and reducing the rabbit population?” Now Connor’s voice starts to rise as his anger comes to the surface. Good. Anger is something Lev can deal with.
“They need to start listening to outside voices. I can be that voice!” he tells Connor.
“Listen to yourself! After all you’ve been through, how can you still be so naive?”
Now it’s Lev’s turn to get angry. “You’re the one who thinks talking to some old woman is going to change the world. If anyone is deluding themselves, it’s you!”
That leaves Connor with nothing to say, maybe because he knows Lev is right.
“How can you walk away,” Connor finally says, “when they’re about to overthrow the Cap-17 law?”
“Do you really think anything you or I can do will change that?”
“Yes!” Connor yells. “I do. And I will. Or I’ll die trying.”
“Then you don’t need my help. I’ll just be an anchor around your neck. Let me do something useful here instead of just tagging along.”
Connor’s expression hardens. “Fine. Do whatever the hell you want. I don’t care.” Which he obviously does. Then he tosses a card at Lev, which he fumbles a bit before catching.
“What’s this?”
“Read it. It was supposed to be your new identity once we left the rez.”
It’s a fake Arápache ID, with a bad picture of him he doesn’t remember taking. The name on the ID is “Mahpee Kinkajou.” It makes Lev smile. “I like it,” Lev says. “I think I’ll keep my new identity. What name did they give you?”
Connor looks at his own ID. “Bees-Neb Hebííte,” Connor says. “Elina says it means ‘stolen shark.’ ” He looks at the shark on his arm for a moment and opens his fingers, releasing his fist.
“Thank you for getting me out of the Graveyard,” he tells Lev, his anger resolving into a reluctant acceptance of the situation and maybe a begrudging respect for Lev’s choice. “And thanks for saving me from the parts pirate. I’d probably be shipped around the world in pieces by now if it weren’t for you.”
Lev shrugs. “It’s nothing. It wasn’t so hard.” Which they both know isn’t true.