by Abby J. Reed
Then he did. Free of his burden, his body melted into a slump.
I handed the body over with all the decorum I could muster. The solider hefted ShuShu and his makeshift wrappings into a better position, then carried him from the room. I was pretty sure we’d never see ShuShu again.
The Queen started for the exit, where several more soldiers appeared. One came to take Leader’s body. “You will be led to your room,” the Queen said. “I will let you know what we find.”
I tugged Jupe into a fierce hug. Then grasped Brody close, too. “Thank you for sparing our lives.”
She paused at the door. Her hair glinted in the light and she looked for all the world like a figment carved from ice. No, not a figment. One of the gods on the altar come to life. And the god wasn’t kind.
Chapter 13
MALANI
When the Extrat warning came, I’d watched as Chief Malvyn’s face hardened into resolve. As soon as chaos rippled, he had slipped quiet-quiet-quiet around the back of his chair and into the shadows. I pushed past the crowd, toward him. A crack cut into the wall, but when I’d stood parallel, the crack had widened into a doorway. Another hallway, cleverly hidden.
I’d followed him, slinking behind like a whisper, putting enough distance between us so that my wings wouldn’t cast images on the walls and warn him. The bottoms of my shoes became slippery from all the mold in this unused part of the tunnels. I kept swiping at the dirt that clung to my skin.
Astook, we shouldn’t have come back. Didn’t Breaker feel the weight of this planet? The way it both threatened to tear my cells apart and wind my emotions tighter and tighter until I could never move again? Out there was freedom, unlimited freedom, while this planet was nothing but a suck-pit of color and joy.
Heat swept through my body. Why couldn’t Breaker have left when I said? Why did he have to see the results of the war for himself? Why did he have to want to help? Why should I help save what remained? This place was nothing, nothing, to me save the origin of my nightmares.
And the origin of your wings, a tiny voice whispered. Your history was written here in blood.
Sure. Whatever. We still should’ve left the planet to burn.
I trailed Chief Malvyn farther and farther away from the core of the compound. Screams echoed behind me. Would everybody be—? I didn’t let myself finish the thought. Did I make a mistake in following? No, I made the right choice. The way the chief slid into the crevasse . . .
Oh, Astook. I’d lost him.
Every fold of the winding corridor looked like the shape of an Extrat. My wings beat faster and faster to keep pace.
Light descended ahead like a gentle halo from another underground entrance. A rickety ladder dangled to the ground like gnarled arms. Rust edged the corners of the bars. It hadn’t been used regularly in cycles. I scratched at the layers of rust. No, it hadn’t been used in generations. The hatch itself had been pried open. Dust danced in the light shaft, like tiny lazy rainbow fish.
Chief Malvyn must’ve climbed out.
Should I turn around? No, I’d already come this far. And leaving an entrance open like this was begging for bad luck.
I climbed the ladder and lifted the hatch the rest of the way open. Its protests were claws down my spine.
Wet air and the smell of damp soil met me. I climbed farther out to get a better look, to see exactly how far I’d come. The burnt orchards stretched before me, scary close to the main trails leading into the mountains. If the Elik knew there was an underground entrance reaching this far out, they would’ve taken advantage of it long ago. A burnt tree twisted overhead like bony interlocked fingers. The breeze made it wave in a broken hello. Before the tree had been burnt, the leaves and roots would’ve covered the hatch. Even Tahnya probably didn’t know this entrance existed. So how did Chief Malvyn?
I crawled out and closed the entrance, covering stray roots over so it wasn’t immediately visible. I peered to my left. The mounds of graves still dotted the ground, but between me and the Hope writhed gray-black mist. The same mist that covered Syktyv.
Extrats.
I whirled around. My wings had balled, but there was no other sign of the metal monsters save the mist. If they noticed this entrance . . . I shook my head, mentally beating myself. Following the chief was a terrible idea.
I reached down to the hatch, ready to climb back inside when a movement flickered in the corner of my vision—and there was Chief Malvyn. His robe flapped as he leapt impossibly high over the mist. His arms pumped as he raced toward—
The ship.
He was going to try to hide on the ship and wait out the attack.
Coward. The word was bitter on my tongue.
The Elik queen and king didn’t run when the Herons attacked. I didn’t run when they kidnapped me. And yet here he was, in charge of all the survivors, running. He soared onto the ramp—stupid Breaker, didn’t think to shut it—and disappeared into the ship’s belly.
The ramp closed shut, locking out the world. Moments later, a rumble split across the ground and the exhausts roared to life.
A fist grabbed my heart. Oh, no, Astook.
Chief Malvyn wasn’t running at all.
He was stealing our one chance to get off the planet. He was stealing the Hope.
~ ~ ~
My wings beat as I flew toward the rising ship. Below, the mist curled and writhed. Shapes flashed within. Extrats, drawn by the ship’s noise. The mist reached tendrils into the air, grabbing at my heels. A tendril caught my calf, tugging me near the ground. My wings slashed and I kicked. I gained air, only to be caught again. It was like fighting through sludge.
Hope rose higher and higher.
I finally broke free. Energy flooded my body as I pumped my wings to catch the lifting ship. Wind and heat from the exhausts hit my face. I grabbed on to the seam of the ramp. Pulled myself taut to the hull. Tugged on the ramp. No way in.
I glanced below. My dreads slapped against my jaw and my eyes watered. The valley diminished at a too-rapid rate. My core clenched. Even if I survived space once, I couldn’t survive without oxygen now. I had to find a way inside.
My wings stabbed into the ship as I crawled along the side like an insect toward the nose, where Chief Malvyn couldn’t see me and do a roll to throw me off.
At the underside of the nose, I heaved myself up along the disabled railguns. Air grew thin and my chest hurt. A wave of dizziness started, crested, stopped. I jammed my hand against the massive railgun hinges. There. A gap. Where, according to Jupe, a shuttle once hung. And above that, if I could find it—the hatch into the bridge.
A quick peek below. My heart squeezed smaller. The valley was less than a hand-span. Astook crested over the Elik mountains, larger than life.
I crawled higher into the gap like a spider, sealing off my view of a shrinking Scarlatti.
My hands searched. My wings dragged feathers across the underside of the ship, through the tangle of cables above me. Don’t panic. Don’t. The hatch. I had to find the hatch.
My chest locked tight as another wave of dizziness started. Air. I needed—
Found it. My wing jammed into the seam, thinning, twisting, working, twirling, opening—
I burst through the floor hatch into the bridge.
Chief Malvyn whipped around. A map hovered over the interface, coordinates half entered. The room was lit brighter than I’d ever seen it. As if he knew how to make the ship’s soul come alive in a way Breaker didn’t. Even the lower interfaces glowed with purpose.
The muscles in his jaw flared. When his blazing brown eyes met mine, his face burned with an otherworldly fury. Even the pendant on his chest seemed to glow. “You.”
I kicked the hatch shut. Wrapped courage around me like armor. “Me.” I was no longer the girl he first interviewed and cu
ffed at the hospital. I was no longer an easy game piece to maneuver around three warring tribes. I was no longer something to be used and exploited. He would not take this ship from us.
I ground my feet into the floor. My wings flared. Scarlatti’s light reflected pink off the gleam of my feathers.
“You have no idea what you brought on this planet,” he said.
I took a step forward, watching his hands for any sudden movement. “We didn’t bring the Extrats.”
“They are the least of my problems.” He looked like he was torn between being drunk on the joy of near escape and frustration at being stopped. “You have a choice, you know. You can come with me. Come with me and get off this rock and live forever in freedom.”
So many questions spun in my brain, wanting to break through. But . . . freedom. The thrilling taste of it on my tongue. He knew exactly what to offer me. He’d always known.
Oh, how I wanted to accept. How I wanted to leave behind the stupid planet. Except this freedom came at an unbearable price. I could not leave Breaker behind.
My feathers stood on edge. “And what’s the other choice?”
He freed a dark matter knife from his belt and aimed it in my direction. “Die.”
I leapt, adrenaline and my wings propelling me faster than he expected. We crashed. He sprawled sideways. I staggered upright, reached for the interface to swipe away the map.
He grabbed my legs, taking a wing slice to the cheek.
I fell—my hand grazed the interface—Hope lurched, the exhausts cutting off—and I hit the steps on my side. I twisted to my left. A clang as Malvyn threw himself where I just was, the knife stabbing down at my ghost.
Hope spun in a circle, throwing us off balance. I sliced at him. He jumped back, but his knife caught my wing.
Pain. Pain that was both mine and wasn’t mine filled my brain. I screeched, my voice hoarse and rattling. My back arched. I’d broken a wing before when I leapt off of the mountain with Breaker. I assumed the damage happened because the dark matter was caught in a state of living in its ever-fluctuating living-nonliving struggle. It hurt.
But this pain. This pain felt like my wing’s very essence was being shredded apart.
Hope finished its last turn, and the planet’s grav pull took over. The ship started to plummet. My stomach rose into my throat as we fell. Malvyn rolled past me down the steps, robes tangling in his legs, slamming into the wall. The knife dropped from his hand, sliding out of reach. My good wing anchored to the ground. My injured wing caught the sudden air, fire-hot pain radiating along the knife wound. My heels lifted in levitation.
Outside, the atmosphere changed colors—ink, navy, cobalt, scarlet. The Elik mountains and ruined Houtiri transformed into giants before our eyes. If we didn’t stop falling . . .
I glanced to Malvyn. His gaze met mine, reading me. We needed each other to survive this.
I reached out my hand. He grabbed on. With all my strength I lifted him toward the interface. He grappled onto the edge, fumbling for the controls—
Houtiri’s shattered rooftops glinted into view. The nursery, the palace, the roof where I once sat to eat fish appetizers, all jagged shards. Their deadly edges reaching to pierce the hull—
The exhausts kicked on. My heels slammed against the floor, jarring my teeth. Malvyn jolted, smashing into the chair. Our descent halted only meters above the top of Houtiri.
Exhaust light refracted off the city’s broken glass, sending shattered rainbows into the bridge. My wing throbbed, but I didn’t dare move unless I accidentally gave Malvyn a centi’s worth of gain.
Malvyn glared at me, hate simmering. His hand hovered again over the interface, fingers preparing his flight. His other gripped the dark matter knife. How did he find it?
The cut—the cut on his cheek. Red blood no longer leaked from the incision. Instead, a pink line grazed his cheek.
As though it was already healing.
“How—?” I started.
He lunged at me again, aiming for my feathers.
My wings balled out of range, and I dodged, twirling around and past him toward the interface. I slapped the controls, the same spots I’d seen Luka do. We lurched forward, moving past Houtiri, descending again. I only had to buy time for us to land.
He whirled around. Now I was between him and the interface. His blistering snarl was nothing less than the height of rage—rage on the verge of cracking. “You stupid, stupid girl. You’ve cost me everything.”
He leapt again. But this time I did not dodge. I leapt toward him, my wings folding him in an embrace.
Lightning entered my body, leaving a searing trail as we stabbed each other at the same time. My wing in his stomach, his blade two inches beneath my collarbone. Oh, Astook. The pain was a bolt, radiating through my entire system. I shoved against Malvyn, all my mortal strength to keep him from pushing the blade deeper, into my heart. Red blood spilled everywhere. We rolled backward against the interface.
The ship shot faster into the valley, ever downward.
His teeth grit as he pushed the knife harder. His eyes blazed with my death.
My hands shook against his chest. You will not be the one to kill me. My wing cut deeper into him, feathers flaring to inflict more damage.
He didn’t notice.
My eyes widened. How was he withstanding this?
The compound flew into view. The mist had rolled back, revealing the strawberry pink apartments and gouges of blackened rubble. We would crash on top of the compound, destroying whatever remained of the underground.
He wouldn’t stop. Wouldn’t stop until we were both dead.
One chance—
I stopped pushing against him. Jostled my elbow against the interface, adjusting the course just enough to send us skimming over the remains of the center, over the last of the apartment buildings.
Without both hands to protect myself, the blade slid deeper—the triumphant sneer on Chief Malvyn’s face—as we crashed into the boundary fence.
Chapter 14
JUPE
The ice prison was barely a breath warmer than the outside. My balls snuggled my intestines for warmth. Our cell was bigger than my Leech, though probably still considered tiny by Solteran standards. Three solid walls surrounded us, while a clear wall gave us a view to the inside of the prison. There was a single cot for the three of us, a toilet, and a screen. No privacy. Bare-bones living. Angel above, it could’ve been a lot worse.
Me and Tahnya huddled on the bed for warmth, my arm around her, while Brody paced. He alternated between stomping and stalking, only pausing long enough to grab at his head.
“Come sit down with us, Brody.” Tahnya beckoned, even as she tucked herself farther under my arm. Her hip pressed against mine and I tried not to think of it. “You’re gonna wear yourself out.” When he didn’t respond, she sighed deeper. “The results will be back soon, all right?”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the results should’ve already been in. On Miaoli, we had bots trained to do simple soil analysis. Even with our Human tech, the tests didn’t take more than an hora. Should’ve taken the Queen less than ten mins.
Whatever she wanted us around for, it wasn’t to wait for a dirt sample.
Brody stopped his march. “Jupe, what’s that?”
I twisted to see the digiScreen light up. It covered half the far wall and had blended in so I didn’t notice it at first. I mean, not as fancy as an entire techwall, but still. A digiScreen in a prison? A newsfeed roared to life. One of the more popular channels that flooded people’s lines. And on it—
I froze, my tiredness vanishing. “Volume on.”
The screen burst with noise.
CONFIRMED: SHUSHU CHO DECEASED. FACTIONS IN RIOT. UNREST CONFIRMED IN 30 SYSTEMS. THREE MO
RE EXTRAT ATTACKS. Images and vid clips rolled past. People in the streets. People on-line throwing virtual riots before flashing to the real-life riots in the red-zones. Numbers of stocks freezing, then dropping. A panoramic vid of the ruins of Syktyv. The bodies of the faction I lived with, faceless and dead. The newsfeed droned on and on and on.
If one thing was made clear, it was that Leader’s faction truly was the anchor for the entire faction movement. Then, HERO OF SALVADE REPORTED ALIVE danced across the bottom followed by a WHERE IS HE NOW? They even showed my tiny registered holo with my blatant smirk.
I swallowed.
All of this movement happening outside, while inside I was so dreadfully still.
“Why would the Queen let us see this?” I muttered. “What does she gain?”
Tahnya burrowed herself deeper into my armpit. “I don’t understand why she hates Humans so much. Wouldn’t the factions be way less of a worry if she treated everyone equally? There’d be no reason for you guys to exist if you actually liked your Queen.”
“Whenever there’s a ruler, there’ll always be someone who doesn’t like being ruled. As to her attitude toward Humans, rumor says a broken heart. She fell in love with a Human once. Didn’t end well.”
“That’s it? That’s not a good enough reason. People get their hearts broken all the time and they don’t have an urge to wipe out an entire population.”
I shrugged, watching the news report switch to another channel. Same thing. “You’re jumping ships. We don’t know por cierto why she wants all that dark matter. Even if she does develop pulse tech enough to hack lines, killing off all of Humanity would certainly put her at odds with the Councilors. She wouldn’t risk her crown like that. No, she probably has something else in mind.” I shuddered. A Queen as old as Scorpia’s mother had plenty of time to think and plan. “Something more creative.”