Morning sun and the reflected light from Ixion drenched the front of the school in soft yellow hues. The windows glittered and the sign across the entrance announced that it was “Primary School #432 Black Jade District.” Holly climbed the stairs and went inside. Summer was coming to an end, and because the schooling system had been set up by humans, it ran the way they wanted it to. Centau children did not usually attend school, however, Holly had herself taught one or two Centau during her tenure at the school.
Teachers and administrative staff were currently in the building preparing for the year that would start soon. Knowing this brought a pang of sorrow to Holly. She should be getting ready for the next year. She went inside, the familiar smells of a school on the tail end of the warm season struck her. There was the odor of sun baking the glass and the scent of disturbed dust. She could make out the underlying fragrances of school books and writing utensils. The school could have been run entirely on v-screens, but the pedagogy of this one clung to the idea that hands-on learning was best for the students. If they trained the muscles in their hands to grip a writing instrument, their brains stored the information much longer than what was accomplished with the interface of a v-screen.
“I don’t believe it. Holly Drake. I wondered if we’d ever see you again.”
Holly jumped, startled by the near silent approach of the person speaking. She turned to look and blinked. “Val? Valentine Carey. Wow.” The woman speaking to Holly stood with her hands out in surprise, and like she was inviting Holly in for a hug. So Holly moved toward her and they exchanged a long embrace. Val slapped Holly on the back a few times, squeezing her surprisingly hard.
She sniffed. “I just. I can’t believe it. Seeing you. Wow, I didn’t know I’d get emotional.” Val touched her cheek like she was wiping a tear away. “This is embarrassing. But I mean, what happened to you? It was so wrong. So unfair.” Valentine shook her head, frowning, then she laughed.
“Thanks, Val. It was, yeah, it was so crazy.” Holly shook her head, uncertain what to say. Did she just own that she’d killed her ex-husband to an old colleague, or did she simply avoid the fundamental ideas of what happened? “Thank you, you know, for all the cards you and Estelle sent to me. From the kids. From you. It really kept me going when things were hard.”
“Oh my gosh, yes, Holly. It was so wrong. We knew, you know? Or at least we suspected. Some of us. We saw the signs. But we were never . . . We never knew what to say or do.”
Holly swallowed and bit her lip. They were standing right outside the office, in the corridor that led to the cafeteria and the greenhouse area, where students could learn to care for plants and grow the food they prepared for lunch. She didn’t want to delve into the past with Valentine Carey. Val was wonderful. Real. Engaged. Friendly as hell. And Holly liked her. But it wasn’t why she came. It wasn’t what she wanted to be discussing. “Well, honestly, no one knew. I didn’t know.” I thought I deserved it. I thought he was right. I thought I was being strong for both of us because I owed it to our marriage. Was that what she was supposed to say? Those were the weak things that led to her sticking with Graf so long that he nearly killed her.
Valentine suddenly clapped her hands together. “But you’re out! Is that why you’re here? To come back to teaching?” She beamed at Holly.
Oh god. “No, do you think they’d let me? I don’t think that would be possible for me, Val.”
Val clapped her hands to her mouth. “Oh my. I’m sorry. Yes, yeah. I understand. Right, right. I’m so embarrassed.”
Holly laughed and took her former colleague by the arm, and looped her own arm through it, and together they walked down the corridor. “Don’t worry about it. I’m here for something else.” Holly steeled herself to endure the oncoming assault of old memories. They would be good memories, many of them. But some would be haunting and painful.
“What? What is it you’re here for? I’m so, just so glad to see you. Wondering what happened to you was just one of those things that has bothered me ever since it happened. It just niggled at the back of my head, a curiosity, the knowledge that how you were treated was wrong.”
They moved past a supply closet and Holly kept her face averted. But it didn’t matter. She could almost see the ghosts of herself and Elan entering together, her hand held softly in the gentle grip of Elan’s fingers.
“So, is Estelle still here? I came to see you both. I need a favor. And I have one question that’s been bothering me for ages. You could help with it.”
“Oh, I know the sound of that. I can hear it in your voice, Holly. I heard it in your voice all the time back before . . . before your trial.”
Holly blinked as they went up two flights of stairs to the second floor. There were times when Valentine surprised her. This was one of them. She was so bubbly and friendly that the moments when the gushing facade slipped away and she displayed rare signs of serious clarity. They were few, but when they happened, it startled everyone.
“What do you mean? You said Estelle is here, right?”
“No, I didn’t. But she is.”
“Good. In the same room?”
“Yes, it’s only been a year and a half, really. Haven’t been any shake-ups since you left. Except that Elan left.”
Holly’s breath froze in her mouth. “He did?”
“Well, as you know, he came back. Left a few years ago. But when the trial began, they called him in and he replaced you. But once your sentence landed, he left again.”
“What is it you can hear in my voice?” Holly asked, as they rounded the corner at the top of the stairs and approached the area where the teachers the preliminary grades were—children ranging from five to nine were in these classes.
Valentine laughed and patted Holly’s hand, which was still lightly holding Val’s bicep. “You know.”
“No, I don’t.”
“You’re going to ask about Elan.”
Holly’s heart plummeted, then beat itself rapidly back up to its place in her chest, thundering at the mention of his name. “I have a proposition. For you and Estelle. But let’s find her first, shall we?” Holly heard herself dropping into an educated elocution, which she did when she slipped into teacher mode, or when she was nervous.
They made it to the classroom that belonged to Estelle. Outside the door, Holly let go of Valentine and pulled her arm out of the crook of the other woman’s arm. Valentine knocked, then cracked the door and peeked her head inside.
“Hey, Estie! Someone’s here to see you. You’ll never guess. You never will. I’d explode if you guessed.”
Holly heard a chittering response, to which Val laughed, emitting a high pitched squeal of delight. Val leaned back and glanced at Holly, her eyes dancing in glee. She whispered coarsely, “You know how Estelle is. My gosh, I don’t know how she survives teaching.”
Holly knew. Estelle’s cold heart kept her going. It was like the stone inside a golem, churning it along on autopilot. No, that was mean. Estelle wasn’t that bad. She was the complete opposite of Valentine, which was why they’d be a good team to lead the rescue-children.
“Come on, let’s go inside. She did not guess, so if she pretends she did, she’s an absolute liar.” Valentine opened the door and led the way inside. When Holly got inside, Valentine did a little jump replete with a flourish of her hands back at Holly. “Holly Drake! Can you believe it?”
Estelle blinked, her round face quivering. Holly thought the other woman would begin to cuss her out, but soon a large grin broke over Estelle’s face and Holly realized the quivering was from attempting to hold back the smile. “Well, good goddamn, Holly Drake. I wasn’t expecting to see you for at least another eight years.”
“Yes, my release was a complete surprise to me as well.” She grinned at her former colleague.
Estelle moved from the lecturn where she’d been standing as though rehearsing, and approached Holly. They hugged each other briefly, exchanged quick besos, and separated.
�
�Well, how was prison?” Estelle asked. “A shambles?”
“It was fun. You know? I enjoyed the controlled environment.” Holly infused her voice with sarcasm.
“I’ve heard it’s similar to a vacation on Itzcap. Relaxing. Sunny.”
“Oh, yeah. Why go to Itzcap when you can have an all-expenses paid trip to prison?”
“Lovely.”
“Yes,” Holly agreed. They became silent, then burst into laughter, the three of them. “God I missed you guys.”
“We missed you too!” Valentine gushed.
“But really, Holly. Why are you here? You know you can’t teach.” Estelle gave her a pained expression. What she said bit, but she was right. Valentine made a futile gesture as though to pat Holly’s back encouragingly. But Holly stepped back.
“Of course not. That’s not why I’m here,” she said, sighing, avoiding Estelle’s gaze for a moment, to recover her pride and lick the wound caused by her cynical comment. “I need a favor.”
Valentine exchanged a glance with Estelle. “Of course, anything. What is it?”
“Hang on, Val. Goodness. Tell us what it is first, Holly.”
“First, do you know where Elan is? I need his help as well.”
Again with the exchanging of looks. Then admissions that neither of them knew. “He was, well, he was worried about you. That was why he came back to take your place during your trial. When you were convicted, falsely, he seemed crushed. He left without even telling anyone.”
“Ok. Yeah. Wow.” Why didn’t he find her? Why hadn’t he come to her? The fact that he’d been back on Kota and said nothing . . . It smarted. Did he believe that she’d killed Graf for him? Not being able to defend herself to Elan, that stung more than anything she could think of at the moment.
Valentine stepped close to her and patted Holly consolingly on the back. “Sorry.”
Holly cleared her throat and lifted her gaze to her two colleagues. She gave them a grin. “Not a big deal. I need your help. We can do it without him.”
“Well, spit it out, for the love of God, Holly,” Estelle said. She crossed her arms like she was going to turn the favor down no matter what it was.
“I need someone I can trust to join me on a mission. About two thousand kids or so are about to come under my watch. But I can’t take care of them all by myself. I need someone to help me.”
“Uh, excuse me, question?” Val said. Estelle was quiet.
“Yes. Go for it,” Holly said.
“Why are you going to have that many kids in your care? Where are they from?”
“That’s part of the issue,” Holly explained. “I don’t want to tell you too much. But in a few days, I’ll be heading off-planet to get them. I don’t want to give you too many details until you agree to do it. So I understand if you don’t want to help without knowing more. But once you agree, I promise, you’ll know everything.”
“Why us?” Estelle asked. “And what in the hell?”
“It’ll make sense at some point. For now, I’m picking you because I trust you. You manage kids for your jobs. And you’ve done it for a while. I’m not going to recruit strangers to guard these kids. They’re more important than anything. They require kindness and care, and adults who are confident in their skills.”
Estelle nodded. Valentine saw it, and immediately accepted. “I’m in. You know what? No, it doesn’t matter. I’m just in. I am in.”
“Great, Val. It’s going to be dangerous and exciting, but you’ll only be taking care of the kids. You’ll never forget this.”
Holly and Valentine exchanged a quick embrace and Valentine let out an excited squeal again. “This is going to be so awesome.”
“Estie?” Holly asked, turning to the more serious of the two.
“Sounds dangerous. I’m not sure. I have a cat. You know?”
Holly frowned. “Did I not mention that I’ll pay you both?”
“No, you neglected that key point.”
“My mistake! Yes, you’ll make a good amount of money.”
Estelle’s eyes glimmered at the mention of money. “Enough to go on a vacation to Itzcap?”
Holly nodded, and scoffed. “Enough to do that fifteen times.”
“I’m in.”
15
Leaving her old haunt was a bittersweet experience. It was easier to ignore the past when it was behind her. But being in the school, she’d been drowning in it. As she walked away, she felt the ghosts fleeing. Voices of children calling her name. Laughter. Tears of frustration. Triumphant moments when everything came together. It wasn’t only the specter of her together with Elan. It was everything else as well.
She made it back to the Bird’s Nest as rain began to fall. There was a chill to the air, a portent of what was coming: autumn. The monsoons had stripped the city of its summer coating of dust. Weeks later, autumn was on the horizon.
Holly marched up the stairs to the Bird’s Nest, quickly bypassing Torden. She was on a mission now. If she stopped, she would change her mind.
“Hey, Drake,” Darius said, looking up from his work at his bay of computer monitors.
“Darius, I need something from you.”
“What is it,” he asked, seeming distracted. “Apologies. I’m just trying to find where in the Megaron those blasted keycodes would be.”
“One second,” she said, remembering that she wasn’t one hundred percent alone. On the way back to the Bird’s Nest, she’d had a quick chat with Odeon and Shiro, who were in the middle of a tense price haggling session with someone about the explosive devices they needed for the mission. She muted her mic, suddenly aware that this was a topic she didn’t want Shiro to hear about. Or Odeon, for that matter. Darius glanced at her and saw her muting her mic. He set the v-screen aside that he’d been entering location information into.
“This looks serious, Drake. Turning off the comms. Should I be worried?” He pursed his lips at her and cocked his head to one side.
“It is and it isn’t. The whole team doesn’t need to hear about this until I’ve got it figured out. For now, I have something secured to help with the mission—a plan for the children. But I need to see if you can find someone for me.”
Darius leaned back as though thinking and considering what she’d said. “Maybe. I’ve been known to find people before. Who is it?”
“His name is Elan. Elan Zephyr. He used to teach with me.”
“Druiviin?”
“How’d you guess?”
Darius shrugged and grinned. “No human would call themselves something so stupid. That’s a Druiviin pastime.”
Holly nodded and cocked her head to one side, finding the observation to be funny. “Yes, wherever did they get such a strange tradition?”
“Are you insinuating that it came from humans?” Darius asked, turning to his screens and punching in information and flipping through them. “Elan Zephyr. So mysterious.”
“I would never. Shiro Oahu. Aimee Voss. Charly Stout. All real names.”
“But they’re not grandiose names meant to show off some trait or an embodiment of an idea.”
“I’m just pointing out that humans do it too.”
“So tell me who he is, Drake. This Elan Zephyr. School teacher. What’s he to you?”
Just someone I would trust with my life. Which means he’s right for the job.”
“Of? Guiding the kiddies off the base?”
“And then keeping them safe.”
“You’re holding out on me. I can tell. Fine, yes, I believe you that you think he’s ideal for the job. But there’s more to it than that.”
“More to what?” A soft voice asked behind Holly. She jumped and turned, recognizing the tenor.
“Odeon.” Her heart thumped. “You startled me. Where’s Shiro?”
Odeon looked away, then he looked back at Holly, his vibrant eyes holding Holly’s gaze tightly. “We’re going to need an explosives expert, Holly Drake. We can’t be setting off explosions on the base withou
t knowing more about them.”
Holly had learned that a Druiviin doesn’t look away when uncomfortable. If they were hiding something, they tended to intensify their stance rather than retreat and hope the other party lost interest.
“Is that what they told you at the black market shop?”
“Shiro disagrees, Holly Drake. He believes he knows enough about explosives to detonate small bombs without hurting the base. He is wrong. Please trust me.”
Darius laughed, but didn’t turn from his position at his workstation.
“I disagree, Ms. Drake, do not trust this fool, Odeon Starlight. What more can come from bringing aboard yet another unknown variable into the inner sanctum of our crew? How many more people have to betray us before we realize that we’re everything we need?” Shiro swept in, swishing his lion-head cane like a machete in front of him.
Darius laughed louder from his desk, still without turning.
“One small miscalculation and a hole will be blown in the base, sucking everything out into space with it. There could be children, parents, pets, flung into the pressureless void. The risk is too great. We must trust someone else.” Odeon slammed his Ousaba against the ground like he was calling forth the storm, the thunder, the rage.
“A small miscalculation and we bring someone on board who betrays us at the last minute, stealing the tanker and the children and leaving us stranded on the base.” Shiro slammed the ground with his lion-head cane, a loud crack like a whip snapping through the air.
Holly understood where they were both coming from, especially Shiro’s concerns, due to his current track record. Trust was now something he didn’t want to part with easily. But he was also wrong, in Holly’s opinion. Odeon had the higher ground—the last thing Holly wanted to do was accidentally blast holes into the base and put others in danger. She didn’t like the idea of putting her team at risk either, but the alternative was even less desirable.
“Stop,” she said, raising her hands and standing between the two men. “You both have strong points. Neither is inherently wrong, either. I agree with both of them.” She looked back and forth between them. Odeon’s head was tilted down like he would charge at Shiro given the chance. Shiro glowered at Odeon, his hand on the hilt of his lion-head cane and the other ready to pull the scabbard off. “This is too far, my friends. Are you going to have a duel?”
The Colossus Collection : A Space Opera Adventure (Books 1-7 + Bonus Material) Page 59