Adele’s father doesn’t look surprised. “She’s always been as beautiful as her mother,” he says.
“No, not that,” I say, flushing. Adele’s smile fades. “I mean, I’m not saying she’s not…I mean, she is…but that’s not what I meant.”
“What do you mean, Tristan,” her father asks, scowling slightly.
I take a deep breath, start again. “When I saw her—Adele—In the Moon Realm, it was as if just being close to her caused me pain.” I shake my head, wishing I had a more plausible story to tell. “I’m not talking emotional, mental, or spiritual pain, nothing so vague. It was real physical pain. And now I think Adele felt it too. Is that right?” I look at her.
She nods. “I did.”
Hearing her say it out loud sends anxious bats through my stomach. I don’t know what else to say. This is all too crazy.
Adele’s father’s frown deepens and he raises a hand to his beard, strokes it gently, as if thinking. “I wonder…” he says.
“Wonder what?” Adele asks.
He looks at his daughter, startled, as if he’d forgotten she was there. “Nothing,” he says. “Look, I don’t know why we’re all here, or about all this pain stuff, but we have to make some decisions. Tristan, are you only here because you felt drawn to my daughter in the strange way you say?”
Before I can answer, Roc looks at Tawni. “Tell ’em,” he says.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Adele
I stare at Tawni. Why does she know something I don’t? Tristan is looking at Roc the same way—evidently he isn’t in the loop either.
“Roc and I talked while you were rescuing your dad,” Tawni says. “Elsey, too,” she adds, which makes Elsey smile. “Although Tristan and Roc ran away to find you, Adele, to ask you questions, there’s more to it. They’re different from other Sun Dwellers.”
“We’ve had enough of it all,” Roc says. Tristan nods in agreement.
“They don’t want to be a part of it anymore. They’ve decided to help do something about it.”
“We have?” Tristan says, smirking.
“Yes, we have,” Roc says, grinning back. “I just haven’t told you yet. Tristan’s going to use whatever influence he has to convince the Moon Dwellers to join the Star Dwellers, not fight them.”
Mine and Tristan’s eyebrows rise at the same time. Roc plows on. “Everything is such a mess. The Moon and Star Realms are going to destroy each other, making the Sun Realm even more powerful. We have to do this. It’s the only option.”
I look at Tristan. He looks at me. “Okay,” he says.
“Okay?” I ask.
“Yeah. I want to make a difference. Do the right thing. Stop my father.”
“What about me?” I say.
“You’ll come, too. We could use a bit of muscle on our side,” he says, smiling.
I smile back, excited about something for the first time in a long time. Traveling with Tristan, figuring out what the hell it all means, by his side, fighting for good—
But wait. “What about Mother?” I ask. “What if she’s alive?”
My father’s eyes are dark, and not because of the dim lighting. “I don’t want to get your hopes up…” he says, his statement as wispy as smoke, trailing away into the dark.
“You know where she is,” I say. It’s not a question.
“The Star Realm.”
“But how…?”
“Typically all convicted traitors are sent to Camp Blood and Stone, but they wanted to separate us, so they took her below,” he says, pointing down at the ground. “There’s only one place they would’ve taken her.”
“The Max,” I say, understanding now. The maximum security prison in the Star Realm. The same Max that I would’ve been transferred to on my eighteenth birthday had we not escaped. Unbelievable to think how different things could have gone. That I would have found my mom had I just left things alone. But then my dad would still be in prison. And Elsey still in that awful orphanage.
I’m so tired. Emotionally, physically, mentally. All I want is to go with Tristan, to help him, to maybe get to know him, possibly hold his hand some more, learn more about our almost preternatural connection. And yet I say, “I’ll do it.”
“Do what?” Father asks.
“Go to the Star Realm. Find her,” I say. The words stick in my throat, but I push them out.
“No,” Father says. And again. “No. We’ll get you and Elsey to safety, and then I’ll go after her.”
“I can do this,” I say. “I’m not the girl I was a year ago. Or even a month ago.”
“I know you’re not,” Father says, “but it’s too dangerous. You’ve done enough.” He places a hand on my shoulder. “You’ve only just brought us together again.”
I lean into the warmth of his arms and he wraps himself around me. But I’m not giving in. While he thinks he’s comforting me, I’m comforting him. “I have to do this,” I whisper into his chest.
He pulls back sharply, his face paling. “Adele, I can’t let—”
“You trained me,” I say. “I always thought it was just for fun. I enjoyed it. But it was more, wasn’t it? You were preparing me. This is what you were training me for. In case our family ever needed help. So I wouldn’t be helpless.”
I hold his gaze, daring him to lie to me. He doesn’t. “Yes,” he says, his eyes cloudy.
I continue before he can pull his thoughts into a cohesive argument. “You have to protect Elsey. And you have to help mend the wounds between the Lower Realms. And I have to find Mother.”
“Then I’m coming with you,” Tristan says immediately.
“Me too,” Elsey chimes in.
“No,” I say, not wanting to say it. “Elsey, you need to stay with Dad. He needs you now.” She scrunches up her face, but then nods firmly and grabs Dad’s hand.
“And you…” I say, turning to Tristan.
He cuts me off. “We’ll find your mother first, then we can talk to the Moon Dwellers.”
“There isn’t time,” I say. “Plus, the Star Dwellers will kill you if they catch you down there.”
“They’ll kill…you, too,” Tristan says, his words catching in his throat slightly as he says kill.
“No, they won’t. Not if I tell them I’m joining their rebellion. That’s what they want, isn’t it? For all the Moon Dwellers to join them? But they won’t accept that a Sun Dweller wants to betray his own people. Especially not you.” My words are firm, my logic sound. Inside, my stomach is in knots, my heart crumbling beneath the power of my brain’s logic. Why are you saying this? Let him come with you! Someone else can talk to the Moon Dwellers.
Tristan is shaking his head, his mouth tight and grim. His eyes look misty. When he looks away from me I feel tears well up. I barely know him, and yet…my soul aches for him. I blink away the tears.
“Adele…” my dad says slowly, his eyes tired and apologetic, “you’ve been through so much, I can’t even imagine…”
“It’s okay,” I say, feeling a surge of strength in the very marrow of my bones.
My dad leans in close to me again. His voice is hoarse, merely a whisper, so the others can’t hear it. “I’m so sorry, honey. I want to come with you, want to protect you, but I…”
I already know he can’t. Elsey needs a father now more than ever. Plus, he can help open up lines of communication between the Moon Dweller leaders and Tristan.
Selfishly, I want him to come with me. I’ve been on my own for so long now, I just want my dad to be there, to tell me what to do, to protect me, to be my rock, like he’s always been. I’ve come so far. So far.
I see my dad’s face. I’ve never seen such pain in his eyes before. They’re wet and red and tired. I have to be strong for him.
I hug him again. “I’m strong, Dad,” I find myself saying. At first I think I’m just trying to act tough again. Then I realize it isn’t an act. The last six months, though hard, have chiseled me into a different person. I’m the same
, but different. I’m no longer reliant on my father to protect me. I’m tough. A survivor. “I’ll be fine,” I say firmly.
My dad tilts my chin to look at me. His eyes are blurry. “I know you will, Adele. You’re an incredible young woman, courageous and strong. I’m so proud of you. Be safe.”
“Do you have any advice?” I ask, hoping for some of my dad’s usual pearls of wisdom.
“Remember the three bombings when you’re down there. Look for answers. You have good instincts and I think you’re right. Someone’s looking out for you and I have a feeling you’ll find out who while you’re in the Star Realm. Do what’s in your heart. And please, come back to me.” He kisses my forehead, holds his lips to my skin for a moment, his dark and tangled beard blocking my vision.
After all the crying I’ve done lately, I expect to be bawling now. But I’m not. Other than the few tears I blinked away, I feel strong and resilient. The fighter my father raised me to be. I’m about to turn away from him when, almost as an afterthought, he reaches into his shoe and extracts a slip of paper, shoving it into my hand.
“Dad, what—”
“Don’t read it now. Your mom asked me to give it to you if I ever saw you again. She said it’s important. I’ve pondered its meaning many times, but never got anywhere. Maybe it will mean more to you.”
“Thank you,” I say, my voice catching slightly. A message from my mother. I want nothing more than to unfold it and read it right now, but I listen to my dad and hold it tight in my hand.
I release my dad and turn to Elsey. “You were so incredible back there,” I say. “You saved us. Take care of Dad for me, okay?”
Elsey’s eyes widen. “I will,” she says solemnly. “Thank you for rescuing me.” She rushes to me and throws her arms around me. She’s not being overly dramatic this time—the situation warrants it. I hold her fiercely.
“I will never forget you, Elsey,” I say, speaking her language.
“Nor I you,” she replies. I kiss both her cheeks and then turn to Tawni.
Although I desperately want to, I can’t ask her to come with me. She’s done too much already, and the road ahead will be too dangerous. “Goodb—”
“I’m coming with you,” she says, interrupting my farewell speech before it ever really gets started. I burst into a huge smile, hug her. I don’t argue. Like before, I know she won’t take no for an answer, and I don’t want her to.
I go to shake Roc’s hand, but he gives me a hug instead. I don’t know him that well, but he seems like a good person. “Take care,” I say.
“Till we meet again,” he says.
Finally, I turn toward Tristan. He’s still frowning, his lips still tight.
“I’m going with you,” he says. “Unless you don’t want me to.”
I bite my lip, and realize my head is throbbing. “Tristan, believe me, I want you to. It’s just…”
“I’m going with you,” he repeats.
“They need you up here. The world needs you,” I say.
“You make me feel important,” he says wryly, allowing himself a tight smile.
It’s the funniest thing in the world for him to say, and I have to hold back a laugh. I make the son of the president feel important? “You are,” I say. “I mean, you could be. You have that kind of potential.”
“Potential…” he says wistfully, “that’s what my father always said.”
“Not like that,” I say. “You know what I mean.”
I can see the tension in the hard lines of his arms, the same arms that have saved me more than once, that have fought beside me for no reason other than that he feels pain when he’s near me. “We’ll meet again,” I say, wishing it was a promise I knew I could keep.
“You don’t know that,” he says.
Thud, thud, thud. My heart, not my head, although both are pounding away. “Father?” I say, looking at my dad in hopes of something…an answer to an unspoken question perhaps. Can Tristan come with us?
“I won’t tell either of you what to do,” Father says. “You’ve both proven you’re more than capable of making your own decisions…”
“I’m sensing a ‘but’,” Tristan says, quirking the corner of his mouth.
Father laughs and I love the sound, even if I don’t like what it means. “You have good senses too,” he says. “But we could really use Tristan here. If we have any hope of steering the Star Dweller violence away from the Moon Realm, that is.”
Tristan’s face twitches slightly. He knows what that means. He can’t walk away when people are dying. It’s not in him. “There are so many unanswered questions,” he says, moving a step closer to me. The pain in my head rises, but I don’t care, almost want it to. It’s worth it.
I take half-step forward, thinking about what he said. He’s right. I want to explore those questions with him, but I have to be strong, have to stand on my own two feet. He’s close enough to touch now. My body shivering slightly, I circle my arms around him, hug him. Something drew me to Adele. If he’s right, then we’ll be drawn together again, in time, won’t we?
And then, as I hold him, I realize I don’t feel any pain: just warmth, a faint buzzing in my scalp, a tingling in my spine.
I raise my chin and look up at him. A single tear creeps from his eye and meanders down his cheek. I wipe it away with the edge of my hand. Emotions are running through me, but I don’t trust them, not under the circumstances. I have the urge to kiss him. I grit my teeth and ignore the feeling, pull him close for a final squeeze.
He stops me, entwines his fingers in mine, like the night before, a magical moment of soft touches and finger grazes and so many feelings. The gray of the caves and the smell of smoke and the fierce, fierce weariness from fighting and running and running—they fade away.
And Tristan leans in, dipping his chin, so close, so close…and his lips find mine.
A shockwave of pain surges through me and I almost cry out, but then it’s gone. It’s gone and all I feel is the tenderness and moisture of Tristan’s lips, lingering on my mouth even as he pulls away far too soon.
I release Tristan and immediately feel the electricity leave my body. I feel numb again, unfeeling. I might be mistaken, but I notice a slight twitch on Tristan’s face when we pull apart, as if it hurt him.
My father clears his throat and my face reddens, but the embarrassment was worth it. Roc chuckles, says, “That was unexpected,” while Tawni and Elsey just beam at me. My gaze settles on my feet.
“Uh, where will you go?” Tristan says, also avoiding eye contact with my dad.
Honestly, I don’t know, can barely think. I’ve never been to the Star Realm, have no idea how to get there. I bore a hole through the dirt on my shoes with my stare, before finally looking up at Tawni, who only shrugs, a big smile still plastered across her face. A good team we’re going to be.
Roc chuckles again as he unzips his pack. “Here, take these,” he says, handing me a packet of maps. “Your complete guide to the Star Realm. I recommend following the reservoir around the city to the north”—he points in the direction we should take—“and then hang a right through the inter-realm tunnel. Typically you’d need clearance to get through it, but I expect no one is manning it because of everything that’s happening.”
I nod. “Thank you. For everything.”
I can’t bear to drag out the goodbyes any longer. I’ve just kissed Tristan—like really, really kissed him—and yet now we have to part ways. And I’ve just brought three-quarters of my family back together, and yet I have to leave them, too, to find my mom. The last quarter.
If she’s alive, I will find her—of that I’m certain.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Tristan
She’s gone. I watch her long, black hair fade into obscurity, becoming one with the dark cavern walls. With each step further from me, I feel the pull toward her lessen, the energy leaving my neck and spine. When I turn away, I find her father looking at me seriously.
“Sh
e’s my little girl,” he says. I sense a protective undercurrent to his words, no doubt brought on by him witnessing our first kiss. Did I really just do that?
“I’m not like my father.”
“You already told me that,” he says. “Now you have to show me.”
“I will,” I promise. I stride to him, extend my hand. “I’m Tristan. Tristan Nailin.”
He takes my hand, squeezes hard, crushes my fingers. A test, maybe. Although it hurts like hell, I control my face, don’t cry out. “I’m Adele’s father,” he says sternly. I raise my eyebrows, intimidated by the serious man before me. My judge. My jury. Without his approval, I surely won’t get Adele’s.
He surprises me by breaking into a huge smile, chuckling under his beard. “Just kidding,” he says. “I’m not really that tough. Unless you do something to hurt my daughter, of course. Then I’m your worst nightmare. Name’s Ben. Ben Rose.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Rose,” I say.
“Just Ben is fine.”
“Thanks. And I won’t do anything to hurt your daughter—that’s a promise.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” he says, leaving me and going to Roc and Elsey, who are dangling their feet in the reservoir.
I crouch down, put a hand on the stone. I imagine that I can feel small vibrations through the ground, the soft patter of her footsteps in the distance. I close my eyes and picture her green eyes looking up at me, her soft lips slightly parted. It had felt like she was about to kiss me, but then when she didn’t, I couldn’t stop myself, like I didn’t have a choice. Was it because of the pain? Did I subconsciously know it would relieve it? And why did it help?
I hope I’ll get the chance to ask her what she thinks.
I fear for her. The caverns are a dangerous place, and they get more dangerous the deeper you go. Cannibals, marauding gangs of thieves, and now legions of Star Dweller troops roam the depths, preying on the weak. Adele is not weak—she’s proved that every step of the way with her fighting, with the slingshot—but she’s also not invincible. Like when I started this adventure, I hope I’ll see her again.
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