Maia and the Secrets of Zagran (The Lightbound Saga Book 2)

by S. G. Basu

  “You will all go back to your dormitories.” Dill nodded curtly at the crowd and then shook his head in disappointment. “This behavior is inexcusable.”

  Maia suddenly felt sad for Dill. By the looks of things and the expression on his face, he was sure to have a miserable time from Aerika. The room cleared slowly, heads were hung low and shoulders drooped. But no one went back to the dorms—the excitement bubbling inside every young head was too much to be contained. Instead, they congregated on the 500th, near the glass windows. There was no end to the discussions, of how Ren had touched that last activator, or how Chylomyhrra had taken that particular turn. The most discussed issue was how callously Loriine had behaved and how she deserved to be taken to task.

  Time trickled past and the excitement ebbed, but there was no sign of either Ren or Loriine. Slowly the atrium emptied as people retired to the dorms. After a while, the only ones left waiting were Core 21 and Core 7—the two teams whose members had been summoned, sitting at the two ends of the desolate atrium in an endless wait. It stretched so long that Nafi started pacing again, mostly in the area near the elevators, and dangerously close to where Karhann and his teammates were camped.

  Maia was about to walk over to Nafi to ensure that there was no new fights when the doors to the elevator opened. A bawling Loriine and a wearied Ren stepped out. Loriine’s team rushed and formed a protective cocoon around her. Nafi was not too far behind; she sprinted, grabbed Ren by the arm, and almost dragged him to their corner of the atrium like a lioness protecting its cub. Ren sat down on the floor noisily and cradled his head in his arms.

  “So?” Nafi asked impatiently.

  “So, you’ve no idea how mad Aerika can be,” he replied, waving his hands in the air like a lunatic, possibly mimicking Aerika’s fury. “And her lectures are a torture. I hope I never ever have to hear her yelling at me again.”

  “Do we have another strike against us?” Dani inquired.

  “Nope,” Ren replied amidst sighs of relief.

  “You mean there was no punishment?” Maia asked, unable to believe her ears.

  “Not for me,” Ren replied. “Loriine had a terrible time though.”

  “And?” Nafi urged.

  “She has been barred from Dill’s sessions for the rest of our stay. She also can’t take part in the final challenge.”

  “What?” Kusha’s question was almost drowned by Dani’s loud gasp.

  Ren nodded feebly. “Aerika went ballistic when she heard of how Loriine had spoken about Chylomyhrra. And when she heard about the incident during the race, she practically threatened to send Loriine packing. It took a lot of begging and sobbing to make her relent.”

  “Good,” Nafi grinned happily. “She gets taken out and nothing happens to us? This is awesome.”

  Ren sighed. “Umm . . . Aerika did declare the race illegal. That means our tasks are on us even though Loriine lost.”

  “That’s fine,” Dani said. “We can do it ourselves.”

  “You must be joking.” Nafi fumed, muttering loudly as she rose to leave. “After all the trouble we went through, we still have to do the nasty maintenance work ourselves? That’s so unfair. Those guys should be made to pick up everybody’s work.”

  “Have a heart, Nafi. It’s bad enough that they’re down to three members now.” Maia felt for Loriine’s team even though she knew that Loriine’s punishment was justified. She wondered if there was any way for that team to survive this phase of the contest with three remaining members. It must have been difficult enough when they were down to four after losing Yoome during the Xifarian phase. And now they had lost Loriine as well. Nafi, however, rolled her eyes, shook her head, and made a face that clearly said how little pity she had for Core 7.

  50: Ratification Day

  Things changed from difficult to unbearable in the days that followed. The contestants were watched over by the trainers; Dill even got a couple of assistants to keep an eye on everyone. Every request was scrutinized, every action evaluated. To top it all off, Aerika made surprise visits to the classrooms about five times each day, not any of them to shower affection on the youngsters.

  The practice sessions in the Convolhydrae continued, but only under the strictest vigilance. No one was allowed to spend a moment more than they were allotted, and any deviation from the regulated movements during the exercise was awarded with a sit-out penalty for two subsequent sessions. It was particularly bad on the first day when almost everyone was penalized, which meant the following day the whole troupe was found moping on the penalty benches.

  Loriine attended Palak’s sessions only; she hardly ever spoke or even looked at anyone. Her team remained quiet as well, not that the other contestants cared about it. Maia felt quite sorry for them though. Ren was also upset for a few days, considering his actions were partly responsible for their misfortunes. Nafi, however, was more than elated. Every time she passed Core 7, she either smirked or snickered or openly laughed at them. It had reached a point that the remaining four had to keep an ever-watchful eye on the girl so they could drag her away before she went on her mischievous rampage.

  Then, one evening, the team fell out with Joolsae. The mentor was playfully teasing Nafi about the various exercises they had been assigned and their life in general. As they fidgeted impatiently, eager to get away from the girl, Nafi decided to ask Joolsae about her kid brother again. Joolsae tried her best to recover from whatever it was that puzzled her.

  “Do you even have a brother?” Nafi asked, fixing a suspicious stare on Joolsae.

  “Y-yes . . . yes . . . why?” Joolsae stammered.

  “I don’t think you do.” Nafi frowned and continued looking fixedly at the older girl. “You always look confused when we ask you about him.”

  As Joolsae shook her head and opened her mouth to reply, Ren stepped closer.

  “I think you made him up, so you could use him as an excuse. You want to get away from your mentoring duties,” he said, raising an accusing finger. “And I think you also tried to unseal the second message from Hans.”

  As Joolsae stood quietly in the face of accusations, hardly trying to defend herself, Dani pulled the final straw.

  “You know, we can do well enough without your help,” she said coldly.

  Joolsae shrugged and seemed to come to a decision finally.

  “Whatever. Babysitting you was a boring assignment anyway,” she said with a grimace. “And if you’re the best in this world, as they say you are, you shouldn’t need my help. They pamper you spoiled for nothing. I’m much smarter than all of you put together. And about those messages . . . I think you’ve been getting restricted information. Had it not been for Hans, I would’ve reported them already.”

  “Report away, Joolsae,” Dani hissed. “See if you can prove anything.”

  Joolsae stared at her for a while before she turned and stomped away.

  As she left, Maia and her friends stood watching, a little stunned on realizing that Joolsae had indeed lied to them and had tried to spy on them. All the smiles and the friendliness had been nothing but a farce.

  “Did that girl just threaten Hans?” Nafi said incredulously after Joolsae had disappeared. “What happened? Why did she lose interest in him so suddenly?”

  Dani looked thoughtful for a moment. “Hans started seeing someone a few weeks ago,” she blurted.

  “Aha!” Nafi exclaimed, casting a knowing look around. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’d rather have Miir over her any day.”

  Nafi turned her nose up and stomped away in the opposite direction. No one was in a mood to counter that statement, at least not at that moment.

  ***

  Joolsae’s betrayal left the team in a stupor for the next few days. It was during one of these days after the Convolhydrae incident that Nafi went missing right after Palak’s session. She appeared at the RC, breathless and excited, as the rest of the team was finishing lunch.

  “It’s tonight,” she announced mysteri
ously, leaning over the table. “They’re going to sign and ratify the deal tonight,” she said, pronouncing each word deliberately on seeing the confused faces.

  Still there was nothing but blank stares around the table. Nafi grimaced, frowned, and threw her hands up in the air.

  “The deal with the House of the Broken Seas and its minions, of course.” Nafi rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Please don’t tell me you’ve all forgotten about the UTAP and the energy sharing pact.”

  Maia had not forgotten, and from what she could guess from the others’ expressions, no one else had forgotten either. The Xifarian deadline to shut off energy supplies was drawing near, and most of the population on the land cities of Tansi had no chance of survival if the Jjord did not help. Yet, most Solianese Houses refused to round up the Resistance like the Xifarians demanded. Most did not even appear at the Jjordic Council. Only a few of them, led by the House of the Broken Seas, were eager to align themselves with the Jjord. These Houses had promised to grant the Xifarians a long-term UTAP for the land cities. The Jjord, in return, agreed to share their energy surplus with only those few accommodating Houses. Tonight, these Solianese Houses were going to sign a pact to aid the Xifarians and ally with the Jjord.

  “What’s the point?” Kusha absentmindedly fiddled with his food.

  “The point is that we need to be there tonight,” Nafi declared.

  “For what?” Kusha asked without looking up. “It’s all over. I don’t want to go there to see how the fate of our people is sealed.”

  “It’s not over until it’s over,” Nafi said with ferocity.

  “I know I have no business commenting on these matters,” Ren started apologetically, “but I kind of agree with Nafi. Even if there’s no way to change things, you should be there to see what happens.”

  Maia nodded. She knew what was about to happen—the outcome was predictable—yet there was no doubt in her mind that this was one Council meeting they could not miss. She wanted to see it all go down, watch history being made, as failed a history as it might be.

  “Okay,” Kusha muttered. It was obvious that his heart was not in it.

  Dani remained silent. She ate her food with quiet concentration, not agreeing or dissenting to the proposal. No one asked her, probably thinking she would not reply in favor anyway. Maia decided to talk to her as they walked back to Dill’s classroom.

  “You’ll come with us tonight, won’t you?” she asked as they fell a little behind the other three.

  “I . . . I honestly don’t know, Maia,” Dani replied hesitantly. Not only did she look upset, but also a little nervous.

  “Are you worried about getting caught by Aerika?” Maia asked even though she knew that was not the likely cause.

  “Not really, no,” Dani replied. She seemed to want to tell more, but a hesitation stopped her every time she tried to say something.

  “You’re concerned about what Hans will think?” The way Dani’s face fell and her eyes dimmed, Maia knew she had found the right reason. She decided to press a little further. “Why do you worry so much about pleasing him, Dani?”

  “Because, he’s all I have, Maia,” Dani almost wailed. Her eyes were glazed with tears. “I don’t want to let him down. I’ve disappointed him far too many times lately.”

  “Dani, I think you should give Kusha a chance to explain.” Maia did not waste another moment before jumping to the point. “He really didn’t have a choice but to keep his past a secret.”

  Dani looked away at the mention of Kusha’s name. But Maia had no plans of relenting; she could not see them sad and unhappy anymore, and she would do her best to bring an end to the standoff.

  “He was under oath, Dani, and yet he told us everything after you left that night.” Maia went on to recount all that Kusha had told them. Dani listened in silence.

  “I hid my past from you guys,” Maia added, sighing. The thought still tormented her and the guilt was still unbearable sometimes. “I’m more at fault than Kusha ever was. If you could brush aside all of that, why can’t you ignore something that was hardly a mistake of Kusha’s?”

  Dani stared at her, not blinking. For the briefest moment, her eyes softened, but it passed too quickly.

  “It’s different, Maia,” she whispered. “You’re different.”

  “I’m different? How? Dani—”

  They had reached Dill’s class. Maia had run out of time. Maia only hoped that she had done enough to convince Dani of Kusha’s innocence.

  Their time in the Convolhydrae passed rather smoothly that day, and everyone was alert enough to not break any rules and not be penalized in the process.

  ***

  Day turned into night, and soon it was time for the lights to go out. Maia did not remember dozing off that night, but she woke up to someone shaking her shoulders violently. It was Nafi. Maia sat up with a start and jumped out of the bed as noiselessly as she could.

  “Sorry,” Maia whispered as they walked out into the corridor. “Are we late?”

  “No, but Dani thinks we should be there before the Council starts tonight.” Nafi rushed down the staircase, a huge satchel hanging over her shoulders. “She says it’ll be crowded, to say the least.”

  Before Maia could realize the implication of Nafi’s statement, she saw Ren, Kusha, and Dani standing under the staircase. A wave of joy swept through her heart at the sight—Dani had decided to join them after all. She grinned widely at Dani as they walked into the elevator and got a half-smile in return, but that was enough to make Maia happy.

  They went the same way as they had the other night, but this time around, there was no dearth of people. All roads seemed to converge at one place this night—the Council Room. By the number of people who thronged the gates of the Council Room, Maia had not hoped to find a single available seat. But they spotted a small clearing and the five friends slowly made their way to it.

  At the center of the room, people walked around busily. Maia recognized some faces: there was the Jjord Premier “the Intimidator” Oliena; Tsininio and Goren, the Solianese Sahiiraans who had pleaded for unconditional support the other night; and Aloysus, the portly Jjordic man who had opposed them. The two Sahiiraans looked very unhappy, Maia noted, which obviously meant that they were still not in support of this pact. Aloysus, however, looked elated. He was laughing and chatting with a man who stood with his back to where Maia was sitting. This man seemed very familiar to Maia, even from behind. Premier Oliena stood next to these two men, her face a mask of calmness.

  “Look who we have here, friends,” a recognizable voice rang out. Maia turned, not wanting to see the face she knew she would see.

  “Lex . . .” Kusha said the name very slowly, as if he did not want to believe who it was. Lex looked as charming as he had the first day Maia had met him at the Xifarian spaceport of Arpasgula. Behind him stood the solid wall of his cronies, looking menacing and formidable as ever. Lex was a bully who had tormented Maia and her teammates during the Xifarian phase until his team was eliminated.

  “Yes, the same old Lex,” he said with a smirk and bowed. Maia could not help but steal a quick look at his perky ponytail; there was still no denying the fact that it was utterly cute.

  “What are you doing here?” Kusha was clearly not charmed by Lex or by his ponytail.

  “I’m here to attend the Council, as all of my House members have,” Lex said boastfully. “We’re honored to make this piece of history possible. You can’t imagine how proud I am to belong to the House that finally brought peace to our world.”

  “You’re a Broken Seas!” Nafi exclaimed so loudly that Maia jumped. “I should’ve guessed.”

  “Yes, I am, dear friend.” Lex bowed again, lower, and with added grace this time.

  “I don’t think I’m your friend, Lex,” Nafi retorted. She continued without the slightest pause as Lex stared. “And I don’t think much of your House either. None of us does for that matter. I think what you‘re doing is disgraceful. Y
ou’re doing this to buy favors for yourself, ignoring the fate of thousands of innocent people. But don’t think you’ll get away with it, because you won’t.”

  Lex froze, then his face flushed and his nostrils flared.

  “Who cares what you think?” he snapped. “And so what if we’re doing it for ourselves? I don’t see you trying to stop us. If you can’t stop us, shut up and get out.”

  “I won’t shut up and I won’t get out,” Nafi shouted back. “And you just wait and see what happens next.”

  Lex was about to retort when a voice boomed. It was Aloysus, the stocky Jjord. He stood at the center of the Council floor, his face brimming with joy and happiness.

  “I would like to request everyone to please be seated as we intend to begin shortly. This will most definitely be a historical session where we take the first step toward a future of understanding, and it is my honor to invite Chairman Phocluus to speak a few words.” He bowed graciously at the man who had looked familiar to Maia.

  And now Maia knew why—it was the same Chairman Phocluus who had come to visit her at the conservatory on Xif. He had been Sophie’s teacher, and he had been kind and nice to Maia. He took the podium, his fingers sparkling with the jeweled rings, his eyes shining with compassion.

  “Thank you, Aloysus. I will not take up too much of the Council’s time, as we have important matters to discuss. But I am glad we have decided to choose the right path, that we did not lose our way in that maze of impracticalities that could hinder any hopes of our future together. I thank you, Premier Oliena, and Sahiiraan Leeam, for making this groundbreaking pact possible.”

  The chairman is in favor of the pact.

  Maia’s heart sank a little, but then she realized that putting the heart of the Sedara back together meant more than anything else to the Xifarians. Although it also meant they would not think twice about leaving the Tansian system, even if it destroyed all life on Tansi forever. She found it hard to believe that the man she had liked so much could stand against everything Sophie had fought for.