by Rachel Caine
Now that we had comms working again, I called Fort Copernicus and got Boyd on the console. “Give me a sitrep, LC.”
“We took some damage to our ozone layer and there are toxic pockets, particularly in Australia.”
“They’re used to the world trying to kill them,” I joked.
I was surprised when the old man cracked a smile. “Good one. But if people stay inside, our filtration system should take care of it in a month or two.”
“Good old Leviathan tech,” I mumbled.
Nadim put in, “You’re welcome.”
“How’s Luna holding up?” I was afraid to ask about Mars Colony Roma, where Mom and Kiz were.
Boyd checked some numbers on a screen I couldn’t read, then answered, “Luna needs some repairs, but the damage was minimal. And Roma? Not even a scuff on the dome. We started emergency protocols, but everyone’s fine.”
Thank God.
“Great. Tell Earth that we’re coming down with a gravely injured Honor for immediate treatment. I don’t care what else they’ve got to do. This comes first.”
We waited for word on Marko for almost an hour before a whole team of Earth’s best docs came out to meet us. Bea and I stood up as one, holding hands, and I didn’t know what to make of their expressions until the head surgeon said, “You made it here just in time. We were able to stabilize Honor Dunajski and get him into a treatment chamber. He’s still unconscious, and he will be in intensive care for a while. After that, he’ll need significant rehabilitation. I’m afraid it may be difficult for him to rejoin his Leviathan.”
Marko, I thought, had the chance to do what he’d wanted now: to go home, and stay here if that was what he desired. And I was grateful, so grateful I felt an unsteady burn of tears. Weird. I never used to cry, and now . . . now the tears came easy. Maybe because I wasn’t afraid anymore. I didn’t need to be all armor. Some of me could be soft and kind and gentle now.
“Tell him we love him,” Bea said for both of us. “When you can. We’ll check in. His family—”
“They’re on their way here,” the doc said. “He’ll be well taken care of. No expense spared for any of the saviors of the planet.”
Yeah, I was hoping that charitable impulse was catching, because the next thing we had to do was get called on the carpet.
Meeting with the Honors administrators was . . . interesting. Bea and I dressed for the occasion; we had on black Journey uniforms taken from Typhon’s stores, and we looked sharp. We also weren’t taking any damn bullshit.
But we weren’t offered any, either. The Honors Council—twelve international representatives, all richer and older than us—apologized. Told us that our records were clean, and that the Honors program would be overhauled to new specifications; it was time for humanity to join the rest of the universe, and that meant trade and communication with species other than just Leviathan. Our playpen was open. We needed to get out there and do better than the Leviathan had expected. And Marko, when he recovered enough, would be offered a job overseeing that process.
“First off,” I said, getting comfortable because this would be a long meeting. “Don’t call us Honors anymore. We’re Pilots and Navigators. And what do you know about the true bond anyway? Did you know . . .”
Bea grinned at me; she understood that I was just getting started. Wait until I presented my list of demands.
They were more than a little dazed with the scope of what we brought them, but they promised to fix their shit, and that was what we wanted. That, and to make sure our families knew we were not wanted criminals. We wanted full public apologies. Maybe some groveling. Seemed like we were owed.
Once the meetings ended and I shook Atticus Boyd’s hand, they pinned a damn medal on my chest. Bea got one too, then the photo ops started. I got misty remembering how Marko guided me around my first big-deal party, and now I was in Journey black, a bronze star pinned to my uniform. And Marko . . . Marko was honored in absentia. Chao-Xyll too, as a hero of Earth.
The next day, we moved into the formal phase of our Earth tour. Press briefings. “Zara, look here! Beatriz, is the rumor true? Are you more than friends?”
In answer, Bea kissed me dramatically for the paparazzo who’d asked that.
I hated every minute of the big damn hero celebration that followed the press conference; drones circling to capture our strained smiles for hours. But it was important to Earth, and to the restructuring Honors program, and the Bruqvisz sent a rep down to say hey, and we introduced the lizards to the world. Their ambassador promptly asked for our strongest inebriating beverage.
Diplomacy got really, really drunk.
Beatriz took leave to Brazil to visit her family, and I went with her to meet them; it was beautiful, really, how her extended, noisy, raucous circle dragged me right in, teaching me Portuguese and feeding me so many delightful meals that I strained the seams on my uniform, even though it was supposed to adjust. We spent a week, and I missed Nadim every moment of it, but he was undergoing a refit.
We came back to a brand-new, wonderfully outfitted ship, with expanded quarters and new consoles. Plus, endless packets of our favorite meals. In short, everything I’d asked for, including some deadly weapons, because you never knew what was coming out in the black. And I wouldn’t want to live any other way.
“God, it’s good to be back,” I said.
I touched Nadim lightly with my hand, and the wall lit up, blushing pink for pleasure. He touched my mind in turn, filling me with sunshine.
“Missed you,” he said.
“Me too.” Bea leaned in, and it was the best kind of hug, her arms around me, and Nadim’s warmth in my head. I’d never be lonely again, never again the scared kid who ran the streets to flee her demons.
“You ready to meet my family now?” I asked.
If they weren’t, it was too late, because the specially commissioned shuttle was dropping off Mom and Kiz in the docking bay right then. They were the first nonparticipants in the Pilot-and-Navigator program to set foot on a Leviathan. I rushed to meet them, eager as I hadn’t been in longer than I could remember. Mom hugged me first, then Kiz, and then Mom shook my shoulders.
“Girl, I thought you’d change the world, not save it. I’m so proud of you, Zara.”
It felt like I’d been waiting my whole life to hear those words. I introduced Mom and Kiz to Nadim and Bea.
“Pleased to meet you,” he said.
“Oh my God,” Kiz breathed. “Zara, he sounds so hot. My bones are melting!”
Yeah, maybe this ran in the family. I smirked a touch smugly, as Nadim responded, “Thank you, Kiz. Would you like a tour?”
Kiz said, “Are you kidding? I’ll be eating for free for weeks in the dome over this visit. Show me everything!”
Obligingly, he lit the way for my sister, as he had for me, what seemed like so long ago now. I’d catch up with them later, as my mother was wearing an intense look.
“Is this your girlfriend?” Mom asked.
I nodded, and she hugged Bea tightly. “I’ve never seen Zara so happy, and it must be because of you and Nadim. Thank you for taking care of my wild child.”
Bea grinned at me over my mom’s shoulder. “She takes care of me too.”
They stayed the night before returning to Roma Colony, and this time I knew I could go home again. If I wanted to.
But I was already aching for more adventure. I probably always would be.
“Your family’s great,” Bea said, wrapping herself around me.
I turned and kissed her, soft and deep, the sweetness of the café con leche she liked and a dusting of cinnamon. A flutter of heat said Nadim was feeling this too. We were a golden circle, endless and complete. “We’ll visit. The Journey isn’t forever anymore, remember?” I touched Nadim lightly, drawing his attention. “Are we about ready to go?”
“I’m asking the others.”
Ophelia had a new crew by the time our small Leviathan pod got ready to leave the Sol system.
One of them was Ghostwalk, who’d taken to the ship like nothing I’d imagined. I thought maybe they understood each other’s wounds; they’d both lost a lot in the war, suffered injuries that needed time to heal.
Her other crew member was a murderous robot named Jury, who’d decided that Earth wasn’t for him. Oh, he’d hunted down Deluca; he showed me the vid. Then he pulled Deluca’s organization apart as thoroughly as the Phage had destroyed Lifekiller. Then he chose his own adventure: us. First nonorganic Navigator in history, so I heard from Ophelia, who had learned to talk to us in words, though she had a charmingly halting way about her. Jon Anderson stayed with Quell, and absolutely nobody wanted to join him.
Typhon was still grim and gloomy, but he’d get better as we traveled with Yusuf and Starcurrent as his crew. He’d heal. He’d live and grow stronger. We all would.
Just before we took off, Yusuf called me, bright-eyed and thriving. His smile gave me hope. “Got that maintenance bot ready for you, Zara.”
“That’s awesome! I’ll collect it the next time we fuel up.”
Our pod would travel together, selecting our own stops, because we were free to devise our own Tour. There were no rules, just like I always wanted.
Nadim had heard the lonely songs of distant Leviathan, searching for other survivors. There were more cousins out in the black, waiting for us to find them, along with far-flung galaxies teeming with unseen wonders. Universes. Adventures.
And we all flung ourselves to the stars, where we belonged.
We were lost. Then, we were found.
Finally, we were home.
AFTERWORD
WE’VE HAD AN amazing time writing the wild adventures of Zara Cole and Beatriz Teixeira and Nadim, and we hope that you have enjoyed this journey. Consider us your personal Bruqvisz ballad-singers.
Now go tell your own stories. Make your own universes. Wish them into existence and share them.
Adventures await you.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
RACHEL CAINE is the coauthor of the Honors series and has written more than fifty novels in multiple genres, including young adult, thriller, science fiction/fantasy, horror, and paranormal romance. She is best known for the #1 international bestselling fifteen-book Morganville Vampires series and her Weather Warden series in urban fantasy. She lives and works in Fort Worth, Texas, with her husband, artist, actor, and comic historian R. Cat Conrad.
www.rachelcaine.com
ANN AGUIRRE is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author with a degree in English literature and the coauthor of the Honors series. Before she began writing full-time, she was a clown, a clerk, a voice actress, and a savior of stray kittens, not necessarily in that order. She grew up in a yellow house across from a cornfield, but now she lives in sunny Mexico with her husband, children, and various pets. She writes all kinds of genre fiction for adults and teens.
www.annaguirre.com
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
BOOKS BY RACHEL CAINE AND ANN AGUIRRE
Honor Among Thieves
Honor Bound
Honor Lost
BACK AD
DISCOVER
your next favorite read
MEET
new authors to love
WIN
free books
SHARE
infographics, playlists, quizzes, and more
WATCH
the latest videos
www.epicreads.com
COPYRIGHT
Katherine Tegen Books is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
HONOR LOST. Copyright © 2020 by Rachel Caine LLC and Ann Aguirre. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.epicreads.com
Cover art © 2020 by Jeff Huang
Cover design by Aurora Parlagreco
* * *
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019951829
Digital Edition FEBRUARY 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-257107-6
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-257105-2
* * *
1920212223PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower
22 Adelaide Street West, 41st Floor
Toronto, Ontario, M5H 4E3
www.harpercollins.ca
India
HarperCollins India
A 75, Sector 57
Noida
Uttar Pradesh 201 301
www.harpercollins.co.in
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive
Rosedale 0632
Auckland, New Zealand
www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF, UK
www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
www.harpercollins.com