ARC: The Almost Girl

by Amalie Howard

  “Riven, be careful,” she says quietly. “And please don’t do anything rash. I’m trusting you.”

  “I know,” I say. “Cale and Caden will be safe, I promise you.” She frowns at my evasive response, but I climb into the hover. There’s nothing that will stop me, once Cale is with Sauer, from doing what I have to do where my father is concerned. And if the opportunity presents itself during the raid, I’ll take it. But I know what Aurela is worried about. I turn around. “Don’t worry; I won’t jeopardize the mission,” I say. “The code in his lab is my birth date. At least, it was until I defected. And Mom, you be careful, too.” The hover accelerates, but not before I see the startled look on her face that I’d called her something other than Aurela.

  Driving is slow going, especially around all the people, but after a while Sauer pulls off onto a less major road where there’s far less pedestrian traffic. The Games are well underway, and the training fields are packed with huge colored tents full of participants and street vendors selling wares and trinkets. People are laughing and dancing, and cheering on the various combatants.

  We ditch the hover and make our way to the main tent in the middle. It’s where the exhibition fighting is and where anyone important will be. Falling into my role, Caden and I separate from Loren and Sauer, pretending to be interested in a couple battling it out with swords in the middle of the tent. It’s an exhibition match, so the opponents are clothed in protective padding. Still, it is amazing to watch. Their technique is faultless and perfect in its form.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see Loren taking up her position near the entrance of the tent and Sauer making his way to the far end, where there is a raised dais, likely for any royal attendees and their court. Although I’m straining my neck to tell who’s there, I can’t quite see over the heads of everyone, so my attention swings back to the exhibition fight. Four Vectors are stationed around the ring like silent, dead pillars. There seem to be a lot more of them than usual, I notice, frowning. Has someone tipped them off about Aurela’s plans? Or maybe I’ve just been gone too long from Neospes. Shaking my head, I let go of my heightened paranoia – this stupid dress is making me edgy.

  A fat man in a gaudy gold outfit jostles me, and my fingers curl into fists at his lascivious leer. He’s staring at my chest like it’s a giant pile of precious stones. My fists tighten. I’ve never wanted to smash in someone’s face more.

  “Not here,” Caden warns in my ear, moving to stand between me and the man who’s just been spared having my fist in his face. He turns to the offending man. “The lady is with me,” he says quietly. His words aren’t threatening, but the low growl underscoring his words is.

  “I wasn’t going to do anything,” I grit out as the man moves away with a lingering glance at me. “I’m fine.”

  Ignoring the low burn that Caden’s possessive tone had ignited in my belly, I turn my attention back to the exhibition match and notice that the combatants have switched to double-edged Artok weapons similar to mine. The one on the right is half a step slower than the one on the left, but they are evenly matched. Again, their combat technique is brilliant.

  I wish I could see who they are, but they’re both wearing antique decorative facemasks. The truth is, I probably wouldn’t know them, anyway. Our mortality rates aren’t that great, and they’re probably up-and-comers in the ranks. The fighter on the left drops into a low crouch, spinning to the left to catch the other unawares, and wins the point.

  “He’s good,” Caden comments. “The one on the left.”

  “Not that good,” I say snarkily, still semi-peeved to be in a dress. To tell the truth, a part of me wants nothing more than to be in that ring, showing off and strutting my skills. Winning meant everything to my father, so I won everything I could, including all of my exhibition matches, which didn’t technically have winners. His approval used to mean so much.

  I turn away, unable to watch, and catch Sauer’s eye. He’s gesturing to someone on the dais. Caden gasps, his eyes connecting with the four Vectors standing on either side of it. But I knew they’d be there. I want to see who they’re protecting so vigilantly.

  We inch our way forward, the throng of people thinning the closer we get, and I recognize the gaunt face and the bulbous, fish-like eyes immediately. Instinctively, my fan opens in front of my face, concealing my own features from view as a hollow feeling spreads in my stomach. My disguise may fool most people, but there’s one person who could see right through it… a master manipulator and schemer himself.

  Murek.

  Usurper. Traitor. Murderer.

  THE WINNER TAKES IT

  Twilight is falling as the last of the Games wrap up, and people are already starting to take the revelry to the castle courtyard for the Midnight Ball. The streets are lit with multicolored halogen lights with shiny decorations draped over storefronts and houses. Everyone is laughing and dancing… well, everyone except us.

  I want to leave but am at the mercy of Sauer’s lead. I still haven’t seen Cale. He’s nowhere to be found in the main tent or the surroundings, and Murek did the presentation of the Games’ trophies in his stead as if he were already acting in the position of king. I wonder for a moment whether Cale is already dead and hidden away somewhere deep in the castle where no one would ever find him. Murek is twisted like that.

  My father is also mysteriously absent. Not that I expected that he would attend the Games, but he’d been present at every single match I’d ever won. His pride would keep him away, I realize. My only hope is that he isn’t in the lab – he is my prize, not Aurela’s. I have to be the one to make him pay for what he’d done to all of us.

  “Riven,” a voice rasps in my ear. It’s Sauer, standing with his back against mine. “Remember the strategy. We separate after entry and regroup thirty minutes later. You take point to extract Cale, and Loren and I watch for Vectors. Here’s your comms.” He palms two tiny skin-colored devices into my hands. “Stick to the plan, and remember your cover. Code word for help is reptile.” There’s a clear warning in his voice. “Clear?”

  “Clear.” My own voice is terse, ready.

  The wireless comms device is a tiny bean-shaped pod that tucks snugly into my ear. I hand the second one to Caden, who does the same. Together, we join the crowd walking toward the first security checkpoint. Loren and Sauer fall in a little way back behind us.

  “Scan, please.”

  Caden goes through first without any problem. I hold out my wrist underneath the scanner, and for a second my stomach lurches as the screen flickers before validating my identity as Tania, a danseuse. The electronic words are tiny, but they may as well have been on a neon banner over my head. Inside, I’m cringing at the appreciative look the soldier tosses my way, but instead of punching him in the face, I smile coquettishly, thinking of Sadie, and play the part I’m supposed to play.

  “Bravo,” Caden says. I purposefully stomp on his toe as I walk past him. “Ow! What was that for? I was paying you a compliment.”

  “You know what for,” I hiss back. “And I was only channeling Sadie; so glad to see her ridiculously simpering ways still work on you.”

  “What–?”

  “Come on,” I snap, inexplicably angry. I’m a soldier, not a seductress. The pretense does not come easily.

  The next security checkpoint is at the entrance of the courtyard beyond the tall and forbidding gilded gates. Cale and I used to scale them as children – a fair feat, given that they are over eight feet tall and spiked, but we were inventive and determined. I glance up at the parapets overlooking the grand courtyard that are decorated with brightly colored banners and flags, hoping to see a glimpse of Cale’s face, but he’s not there.

  My body freezes at the sight of the two Vectors stationed with the guards at the checkpoint. Just seeing them standing there, their milky blue eyes staring at nothing, sends a chill deep into my bones. To think I used to command them without a second thought! Now I’m the enemy.

  Foll
owing in Caden’s footsteps, I flick my wrist through the scanner, and the screen flickers and then fades to snow. The guard frowns and taps the scanner lightly. One of the Vectors swivels his eyes toward me, his gaze heavy. Feigning a bored look, I hold my wrist out even though my heart is racing. The guard scans my chip again. This time, it goes through.

  I feel the Vector’s eyes on me all the way to the middle of the courtyard.

  “What happened?” Sauer’s voice is tinny inside my ear. I can barely hear him over the loud music.

  “I don’t know,” I reply, touching my ear gently. “I think the nanobes are attacking the chip. They must think it’s something foreign. There was a lot of electronic interference on the scanners. I’m not sure that it will work again.”

  “OK,” Sauer says. “Be careful. Those two were the main ones Aurela knew about so we’ll figure out any others. And Riven?” His voice is quiet, raising the hairs on the back of my neck. “You have a Vector on your tail. He’s been with you since the checkpoint.”

  Sauer’s right. I can still feel the Vector’s oily, wet gaze on me. So I do the only thing I can do. Half-dragging a bewildered Caden to the platform in the center, I throw my arms on his shoulders. I giggle loudly, a flirtatious sound that sounds grating and false to my own ears, and wave my fan teasingly in front of my face. Caden’s eyes widen.

  “Put your arms around my waist,” I hiss urgently from behind the fan. “Don’t you know how to dance?”

  “I thought you didn’t do dancing.”

  “I don’t, but we have company, and I need it to not consider us a threat.”

  “Happy to oblige.” Caden’s hands slip around my waist to the small of my back, pulling me close. He has that smile on his lips again… the one that makes me breathless. He raises an eyebrow.

  “Oh, get over it,” I snap, watching as his smile turns into a full-fledged knowing grin. “Really, Cade? We’re on a mission, remember?”

  “I know, but we’re dancing, so let’s at least try to enjoy it.”

  “Why do you do that?” I ask. “Play around when you’re supposed to be serious?”

  “Because life’s too short. Even if one of those guys” – he gestures to the Vector watching us – “wants to kill me, I’d rather die with a smile in my heart. Life is for the living, and death is for the dead.”

  That shuts me up.

  We make a few showy turns, not realizing that others on the dance floor have given us a wide berth. Apparently, hardcore martial arts and weapons training give a person an edge in the dancing arena. I feel as if there’s wind beneath my soles, and although I know that most of it is probably due to Caden’s expert partnering, I have no trouble keeping up.

  “You’re a good dancer,” I tell him.

  “Fencing,” he says. “Half dancing, half fighting. Oh, and Shae made me take ballroom. Don’t laugh,” he says at my incredulous expression, twirling me around him. “It was either ballroom or singing, and since I can’t hold a tune, well, I didn’t have much choice.”

  “Did she say why?” I ask, mirth in my eyes.

  He shrugs. “Something to do with being well-rounded. Honestly, I was seven at the time, so it was just something interesting to do. All old-school, too, like waltzes and the foxtrot.” As if to demonstrate his point, Caden twirls us into several complicated loops, my toes barely grazing the floor.

  “Well, you do it very well,” I say.

  Caden’s grin is wicked as he spins me outward and pulls me back toward him so quickly that my body snaps into his like a rubber band. “Constantly surprising you, aren’t I?”

  I am breathless.

  Being this close to him in front of so many people is sweet torture, flashes of two days before tormenting me. His dancing is as masterful as his… kissing. I realize that I’m staring at his finely-shaped lips and drop my eyes hastily.

  “I want to, too,” he whispers in my ear, lowering me into a graceful dip.

  “Want to what?”

  “Kiss you right now.”

  I almost lose my grasp on his shoulders, but Caden slips his free hand around my back and brings me back up. My cheeks are flaming and my heart is bursting. The music stops and Caden bows with a flourish to the loud sound of cheering. I sink into a dazed half-curtsy, and we move off the dance floor.

  “The Vector’s gone,” Caden says, handing me a thin, fluted glass of something misty.

  “What?” Again, he has caught me unawares. I flush dully. I’m still thinking of him kissing me. “Oh, right.”

  The ice-cold vapor in the glass helps to slow the burn in my chest, bringing me back to reality and some semblance of self-control. If I don’t get it together, this is going to be an extraction gone horribly wrong. I shove any thoughts of Caden and kissing out of my head.

  Moving along the edge of the crowd, we walk to the stone terrace that branches off into the castle’s lush rose gardens. I don’t know why I never noticed it before: so many people without water in Neospes, and here it’s indulgently wasted on roses. My time in the Otherworld has changed me, made me appreciate the little that we do have. We walk casually into the garden.

  “Anyone see us?” I ask.

  “No,” Caden says. “And even if they did, they’ll just think we came in here to finish what we started out there on the dance floor.”

  “You’re disgusting,” I say, but my cells are firing at the very thought.

  Gritting my teeth and ignoring Caden, I locate the duffel bag that Sauer has managed to stash under a bench in a shadowed corner of the gardens. The sky is a deep bluish purple, and the faded moonlight barely illuminates the small square.

  “Turn the other way,” I say primly to Caden, who of course grins even more widely but complies. Stripping off the offending white gown, I pull on the black Vector suit I retrieved from my house. I don’t link the neck connector to my nervous system just yet. Instead, I clip some weapons onto the suit’s belt and throw my star-shaped sheath over my shoulder to fasten it over my suit, flush against my back. My ninjata blades scissor into the bottom of it, and the long sword Shae gave me slides in down the middle from the top. Finally, my pack goes over everything.

  “OK, your turn,” I say to Caden. “I’ll keep watch.”

  “You can watch.”

  “You’re so annoying. I said keep watch. Just hurry up!”

  But Caden is already slipping off his shirt just as I’m finishing my last words, and my breath slams against my lips. Every curve is as chiseled as I remembered and looks even better in the moonlight. I drag my eyes away and stare at a point on the castle wall so hard that my eyes ache. He’s a distraction… and one that could get us killed, get me killed.

  I slow my mind and focus on the task at hand, each breath hardening my resolve. Caden fades into the background as my body readies itself for action, my brain sharp and thoughts fluid. An icy sensation slips through my veins, and for the first time I recognize it for what it is – the android side of me, readying itself for battle, too.

  “Time to go,” I say, my voice rigid. “You good?”

  “Yes.”

  It’s as if Caden, too, has flicked a switch inside of him. Now the teasing smile is gone. In its place is a look of grim determination. He’s also dressed in black gear similar to Aurela’s and has stuffed the duffel out of sight. I pinch the collar of the suit against my skin and feel a small jolt as the suit powers up.

  “Radio silence,” I say to Sauer, pressing my earpiece. “On my mark.”

  “Clear.”

  And Sauer is gone.

  There are guards patrolling, but security doesn’t seem any tighter than usual. Like shadows, we cross the rest of the garden, keeping ourselves pressed against the bushes until we reach the far wall. There’s a little-used passage in the back. All of the servants will be on full duty tonight, so we shouldn’t encounter anyone.

  Caden and I split up, approaching the entrance from opposite sides. There’s a guard to the right of Caden. He takes the guard o
ut effortlessly with two jabs to the temple. We’ve all agreed to minimal casualties, so the guard is only unconscious.

  The crumbling stone staircase is narrow and smells musty with disuse, but we’re still careful not to step on anything that could draw unwanted attention to us. Noises and voices filter through as we pass a part of the kitchens, continuing upward until I’ve counted four floors and stopping at the back of a heavy wooden slab.

  “Where exactly are we?” Caden asks softly.

  “East wing, fourth floor. It’s the library.”

  “How do you know for sure that no one’s on the other side of this door?”

  “Cale and I used to sneak out without anyone knowing, using this passage,” I whisper to him. “I don’t think anyone knows that it exists anymore. Come on.”

  The slab cracks open, and as expected, there’s no one in the room. We slip out and the other side of the door – an actual bookcase – slides back into place with a low click.

  “This way,” I say.

  Aurela was right that everyone would be outside during the ball. We haven’t encountered a single person, not even a guard. As soon as the thought crosses my mind, a shiver flutters across my neck. Why aren’t there any guards? Where is everyone?

  Signaling to Caden to stop, I creep around a tall pillar and peer down into a section of the hall on the floor below. Not a body in sight.

  “Something’s wrong,” I whisper. “Something’s not right. We have to find Cale now.”

  Moving with urgent purpose toward the west wing with Caden close behind, I slip into Cale’s old room. I’m unprepared for the onslaught of memories, especially of the last day I saw Cale… sick and weak. He begged me to find Caden so that I could save him.

  “Cale?”

  “Riven, no,” Caden warns in a low voice behind me, but I’m already moving toward the canopied bed. There’s someone sitting behind the curtains – I can just see his outline.