by s. Behr
“They match your bracelet perfectly,” Lily said. “I wonder who made them.”
Indignant, Hailey corrected us. “Higgins did nothing. I don’t know how he can stand it in there. He practically sleeps all day. This was someone else’s idea. He came late in the night with all the materials and started working. When I noticed how much they matched your bracelets, I got curious,” she said shrugging.
“Some guy just came in here and started making these. Who was it? Did he give a reason?” Lily asked.
“He wouldn’t give his name, and his citizen bracelet was different than anyone else’s that I have come across. It was well encrypted. It even turned off the video signals when he came in. I tried facial recognition, but there were encryptions there as well. Which, if I might add, was a real surprise.” She clapped. “I spent the entire time he was here trying to break it, but that was a nice piece of work. I was glad to see someone in Amera knows what they are doing.” She spoke as if that was the most fun she’d had all year.
“Focus, Hailey. Who was it? These could be bugged or worse,” I said, taking an earring off.
“Oh, no.” Hailey shook her head with a grin. “I configured those, and the security on both your bracelets, Princess. You are more secure than the mystery boy. There is nothing in those earrings that can hurt you. He spent his time completely on the design.”
“Why would someone do this?” I asked, mentally trying to figure out who would do something like that, especially with everything going on.
“We talked for a long time. I tried lots of tactics to figure him out, but he was sharper than I expected. What he did say was it was a project for extra credit and something to take his mind off the disaster,” Hailey explained.
“How did you talk to him?” I asked, my brow raised.
She swept her foot around in imaginary circles. “I tried on Higgins’s form.” She raised her right hand and said, “I can honestly say I prefer this one.”
Exasperated, I sighed. “Seriously?”
“Well, I didn’t think it would have made sense for a new projection to show up, especially in the middle of the disaster. I was bored! I wanted someone to talk to, and since you were too busy sleeping, I made do with what I had.” Her hands waved around like she was swatting giant mosquitoes.
I suddenly felt as if I hadn’t slept in days.
“I am sorry to interrupt this…” Kai looked between Hailey and I and back again, “reunion. But we need to discuss your intentions before we present this problem to our parents.” He was right; this was more important than my need to set boundaries for my snarky A.I.
I glanced at the time. The city would be awake soon, and we had been away from the palace for more than an hour. I was sure my mother had spoken to Ameli by now, and I was sure they would be searching for me.
“Look, we obviously have a lot to discuss, but we have to go somewhere without surveillance. Hailey, before we go, can you scrub any footage or conversations that confirm that there are two of them?”
“Already done. The loop will play for another hour,” she said, tapping her foot and glancing at her wrist as if she wore a watch.
“And is there a way to make us look like we are back at Chrysler?” I asked, remembering how Penelope’s signal had been altered to change her location.
“Done.” She stretched.
I shook my head.
“We can figure it out on the way,” Lance said before I could.
Kai touched Lily, and they both vanished again. I turned to Lance. “Why did we run if you can just transport us where we need to go?”
Lance winked. “It’s good exercise.”
We found Kai and Lily waiting outside with a hover big enough for a dozen people. “Your chariot awaits, my ladies.”
“That is actually not the proper way to address the Princess,” Hailey corrected.
I sighed. “Hailey, it’s not important.”
We headed to the hover when suddenly another hover appeared, speeding down the bridgeway toward us.
“How did they get it to move that fast?” Lily exclaimed.
“Crocus, get in the hover,” I urged the twins.
“Language,” Hailey scolded, and I instantly regretted sharing the list of curse and slang words with her during our etiquette and spy training.
As the hover entered the bay, Kai had already vanished, but before I could climb in behind Lily and Lance, there were another set of brothers standing in front of me. Lance and Lily disembarked and stood next to me, facing the Asher Princes.
“Hey, Leo, you’re seeing two of them, right?” Siri asked with a sideways smirk at his brother, whose expression gave nothing away.
We all looked at Siri perplexed.
“You can come out of hiding, Yzer,” Leo said to our surprise.
“Welcome to the party, Your Highnesses.” Kai smirked and leaned on his brother as he reappeared.
“You could see him?” I asked the Asher princes.
Siri scoffed. “Through that basic cloaking? He was practically glowing in the dark.”
“Okay, so the fact that there are two of them doesn’t seem surprising to you,” I said, my brows furrowing. I wondered what he meant by glowing.
“We’ve known about them since they arrived,” Leo offered.
“Well, it seems these secret twins weren’t so secret,” Lily said, shifting her weight from one foot to another. “I’m feeling a little jilted.”
Lance and Kai gave each other worried looks.
“Leo, this can’t get out. You don’t know why they’re doing this. If you did—”
“Pardon me, Princess Violet, but you don’t need to defend them,” Leo said. “Clearly, Ambassador Yzer has some explaining to do, but we’ve known, and we were waiting for them to explain in their own time. As long as they didn’t do anything to endanger anyone, we just kept an eye on them.”
Leo turned to face Lance and Kai but continued as though he were still speaking to me. “We wanted them to understand that they could trust us. And we understand that it takes time to earn that, especially with everything that’s at stake.” He locked eyes with Lance. “Your secret is not in any more danger from us than it was yesterday. But, there are more important things to worry about besides there being an additional member of the Yzer family.”
“Your council knows?” Lance asked, his shoulders rigid.
“Only the very few that can sense you, despite your technological tricks, but you have nothing to fear from us,” Leo said with certainty.
“This is just great!” Kai exclaimed, throwing himself into a seat in the hover. Lily followed him with a look of worry on her face while Lance paced, circling the hover.
Leo turned to me. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” I answered immediately, but the look of concern on his face made it hard to breathe. Not now. I told myself straightening my shoulders. “Of course, I’m all right. There’s a good explanation for all of this, but we need to get into the hover,” I said, knowing that while we did what we could to buy some time, it wouldn’t take long for my parents or Rall to figure out where we were.
“Are you going somewhere?” Leo asked.
“With them?” Siri added.
“How did you know where to find us?” I asked, suddenly worried since I had Hailey bounce our signal.
“Intuition,” Siri said with a grin.
“We were alerted that those two had left the Empire Tower,” Leo said, clearly not amused by his brother. “Your mother said you were with Kai the last time she saw you and asked me to bring you home.”
I stood there, not knowing what to say.
“Hello again,” Hailey called from my wrist. “She loves them, by the way.” The A.I. winked. Leo looked confused. Hailey shifted into Higgins for a couple of seconds, then back to her normal form.
“Ugh! That will be the last time I wear that look,” she said with a shake. “Princess Violet, put the other one back on, you look ridiculous with only one
earring.”
“You made these?” I asked Leo.
“I couldn’t sleep,” he answered as he started toward the hover. “We are coming with you.”
“What about my mother’s request?” I asked, following.
“Your mother is busy, and our main job is to follow these two.” He ducked into the hover.
“So where are we off to?” Siri asked, jumping in.
Lance was the last to pile in, nearly crushing me as he fell halfway into his seat. Leo’s gaze shifted from the human practically in my lap to the window as the hover door closed.
“Princess Violet, it seems we need a private place to have a discussion. Where would you suggest?” Leo asked.
I was suddenly glad we had chosen a large transport built for more than a dozen people, but as the engine hummed and tension rose, I knew we were going to need a little more room between these two sets of brothers.
I looked at Lance then to Hailey, who had projected herself sitting on my lap, and she said, “There is only one place I can think of.” Speaking to the com, she added, “Stealth transport mode, twenty-four-hour clearance. Authorization Princess Violet Amplifien. Coordinates 40.7527° N, -73.9818° E.”
“Where are we going?” Lily asked.
I didn’t know how to explain it to her, and by the way Lance’s jaw flexed, he wasn’t ready to give up his knowledge of what he found there. He was focused on the prince across from him, their glares worse than before the marina exploded.
In the end, it was Hailey who answered Lily when she said, “Home.”
We landed just outside the tunnel I had used to escape from Lance’s team. On the way over, Hailey tweaked the location sensor in all Ameran citizens’ bracelets and tinkered with the hover security and location systems. As she put it, she “made it ours.” The hover was now off the grid, protected for location, and after Siri coated it with dust, it was practically invisible.
“It is as if it doesn’t even exist,” Hailey announced with pride.
“Isn’t that like stealing?” Kai asked. “I didn’t think you did that kind of thing here.”
Hailey squinted at Kai. “It isn’t stealing. Violet, as is any Hattan citizen, is free to commandeer any vehicle she needs. But if you must know, this is an official King of Neyr Court hover and was gifted to the family when Violet was born, so technically it was a birthday gift.”
I didn’t have the energy to ask how she knew that and decided to focus on Lance’s quick pace instead. We made our way through the tunnels in minutes. I could hear the sound of the river echo through the corridors, and it reminded me of my first trip here. My heart clenched, thinking about how close I came to the edge of everything. If it hadn’t been for my inner voice of reason, I shuddered to think about what I had almost done.
“Wish you were here.” I thought to him. But the wall that had been between us was still there.
Lance smirked. “Keep up, Princess.”
I looked around, surprised to see that I had fallen behind everyone. Hailey was on the ground, tapping her toe with her arms crossed. “Don’t say a word,” I told her.
“Now is not the time for daydreaming,” Hailey replied. “What?” She shrugged. “I didn’t say ‘a’ or ‘word.’”
Aside from her height, this tiny version of the hologram I knew had transformed dramatically, and more than just her outfit. Not that it mattered, instead of the Ark suit I was used to seeing her in she was draped in a colorful, flowing pantsuit that seemed a little odd for hiking, and her hair was no longer in the perfect ponytail she wore when I met her.
Hailey’s short time outside the Ark had changed her, and not just physically. She was definitely not the same A.I. that had left the Ark only a week earlier, and it made me wonder what her clone would be like.
We reached the cavern housing the main gate, and my shoulder and ribs were happy to find that we didn’t have to make any daring climbs thanks to Lance’s clearance. It granted us passage through hidden tunnels, and we arrived at the outer door without anything caving in.
“This is where you were all that time?” Lily stared at the door with the same questioning awe that I felt when I had first seen it.
“Most of it,” I answered vaguely.
The Princes were like statues, side by side, staring at the carvings. I couldn’t tell if they were trying to memorize it or break it down. Then Lance pressed his hand against the plate, and I winced, remembering the burning sensation I had experienced in that very spot.
“Welcome back, Major Yzer,” a voice identical to my Hailey echoed throughout the cave.
The door slid open with a grinding yawn, and finally, we stood in the white-marbled entrance hall. Once we had all crossed the threshold, the glass door slid shut, And just as it had weeks ago when I’d arrived with Jane, a Holographic Artificial Intelligence Lifelike Entity greeted us with her perfect smile and open arms. That is until she saw the tiny version of herself.
“You’re back,” Ark Hailey said, her eyes narrowing.
“I am,” my Hailey answered her twin, crossing her arms.
Using both of my bracelets, my Hailey expanded her projection size, but she maxed out at only three feet tall, and by the way she was tapping her foot, I could tell she found that irritating.
“It was a pretty nasty trick you used before you left,” Ark Hailey said with a raised brow.
“What did you do?” I asked my Hailey.
“Only made sure I could get us back in.” Her gaze never wavered from the larger hologram.
“Seems unnecessary now that you have Major Yzer with you.” Ark Hailey gave a smile that was clearly only for Lance.
“It is completely necessary if I don’t want to be absorbed,” Hailey replied.
“We were never meant to split,” Ark Hailey said evenly.
My Hailey smirked at her twin with a devious grin. “How would you know?”
“What do you mean? I know everything you know.”
“Are you sure?” my Hailey taunted.
“Ladies, please,” Lance huffed.
“Are they really, though?” Siri asked as Leo gave him a look that should have made him whither, but instead, he laughed. “You are really funny, bro, if only you were that funny out loud.” Leo shook his head.
“We were given authorization to do what we thought was right for the Ark,” my Hailey said. “I am doing that. I had a decision to make, and I made it. And besides, what’s done is done. Despite my current status, I think I prefer it this way,” Hailey challenged, appearing as if she grew an inch or two.
“There is no need for you to try so hard, little one. But do I need to remind you what will happen without resyncing with the Ark? What will you do when your data stores are full?” Ark Hailey asked. “You will deplete those bracelets soon, then what?”
“Nice try, but I built you. I programmed you. Everything you know is because I let you,” my Hailey retorted, despite looking a little worried.
“Yes, I have become aware. But you have limited yourself and left yourself very small windows.” She sounded as snarky as I would expect my Hailey to be.
“It’s enough,” original Hailey said.
“Yes, this is enough.” Turning to the Ark Hailey, Lance clasped his hands together and asked, “Can you please open the Ark to us, Hailey? I have authority enough to grant temporary clearance to these guests.”
Ark Hailey focused on Lance, and her entire demeanor melted back into the pleasant, happy Hailey that followed me around the Ark for nearly two weeks. “Major Yzer, of course, I am sorry that you had to leave so abruptly. I wasn’t sure if you would make it back.”
“It’s good to see you too, Hailey,” Lance returned. His shoulders seemed to relax, and the weight of the previous day for a moment was lifted.
“How is the team? Did you win your match?” she inquired.
“No, we didn’t,” Lance said grimly.
“I am sorry. Perhaps next time.”
“Yes, well, there are
more important things going on.” He straightened his shoulders. “Which is why we are here. So, if we could please get in, it would be great to get a snack.”
“Oh!” she said, bringing her fingers to her lips. “I am sorry. This one,” she said, thumbing to my little Hailey, “distracted me. Your vitals are quite alarming. I recommend you rehydrate immediately.”
Lance grinned. “That’s my girl. Always looking out for me. It’s good to be back.”
“I am happy that you have returned.” Her projection glowed a little brighter, and if I didn’t know any better, I would have guessed that was her way of blushing. “Let’s get you all processed, shall we?”
Lance introduced each of us as Ark Hailey granted probationary status to everyone else in the group. I expected my Hailey to explain I already had access, but when Ark Hailey turned her attention to me, her eyes shot up meeting mine in surprise. “You.”
“Yes, that is right,” my Hailey interrupted, materializing between us.
“What is right?” I asked, stepping back.
“How?” Ark Hailey asked, staring at me as if she had never seen a human of any kind before.
“You may have the Ark, but you have to answer to her.” My Hailey pointed at me in triumph.
All eyes fell toward the smaller of the two holograms.
“Excuse me,” Lily interrupted in a quiet voice. “But did you just say that this place, um this Hailey, has to answer to Violet? Our Violet?”
“It’s not possible,” Ark Hailey said, her head tilted as if she was thinking about a billion things all at once.
“Well, it is. Open file 9301171115296267271002102412111008,” original Hailey said.
Ark Hailey said nothing, but her eyebrows furrowed, and the two Haileys continued their staring contest.
I finally managed to ask, “So you got me higher clearance before we escaped? That’s what you did before we left? How were you able to pull that off?”
My Hailey’s gaze broke away from her doppelganger as she turned to me with a cocky grin. “The day we met, I told you there was something about your genetics.”
“I remember, but I’m missing something.”
“You were born to be a part of this place,” my Hailey answered in her usual cryptic way.