by Lola Dodge
My heart spasmed. Had he gotten fried in the timewind? That wasn’t allowed. I pushed him back and opened my palm to slap him across the face. The smack echoed through the tunnel. So did Devan’s little gasp.
Blinking, Tair slowly raised a hand to his cheek.
“There you are.” I hugged him and his arms wrapped back around me.
“Sorry.” He folded me into himself, burying his head in my neck. “That was…”
“I know.” I really knew.
“Guys?” Knight’s soft voice sounded nearby. I wormed away from Tair enough to find him crouched at our side.
As concerned as he looked, I still hadn’t had an epiphany on how to explain. Instead of fudging it, I went with the ugly truth. “I think Nagi kills them all as soon as he knows we’re in the building.” At least that was my best guess. He probably kept Kiri and Aliya alive for testing, though.
Soft curses echoed through the tunnel. Dex punched the rock wall, and Devan slid down to hug her knees.
This was the worst possible news, and I had no idea how to fix it, but seeing Tair numb and Cipher start to tear up…
I had to find us a new plan.
Now.
Chapter Thirty
ALTAIR
We were too late. By the time we made it into the Citadel, Cassie would already be dead.
My chest constricted. I couldn’t sit waiting for it to happen. But if we couldn’t reach her, then…
Quanta tugged at my shirt, drawing me out of the dark thoughts. “We’re going at this wrong.”
“I know.” And we wouldn’t survive a second close shave.
Cipher stood over the crouched-down Knight, gripping his shoulders. “We can’t fight Doctor Nagi. Not and win.”
That was the problem.
“How could you possibly topple my forces at this late juncture?” Quanta’s face scrunched up as if just repeating the words was offensive. “Nagi said he won this war decades ago. Eva used to have a ton more fighters, but Nagi took them out. He’s right. She’s defeated.”
Everyone sagged. We’d all been feeling something like that for weeks, but the words had extra weight coming from her. “Quanta…”
“No one can challenge my system,” Quanta said. “That. That’s the problem. We can’t challenge the system. Nagi’s been in power forever and nobody but us wants to change that. He’s built a whole world to prop himself up. How often does anyone even speak against him?”
“More often than you’d think.” The upper-level Seligo spoke but never acted. But their obedience was out of necessity. Not loyalty.
“Tair. Did you just…” Quanta glowed spectral blue, her eyes flicking back and forth as she saw something I couldn’t. “That’s it.”
“What is?” I hadn’t begun to think of a plan.
“We don’t challenge the system. We use the system.”
“How?” I could usually follow Quanta’s logic right away, but this time, she’d lost me.
“We need to talk to Layla.” Quanta hopped up and pulled me to my feet. The others gazed at us with varying levels of concern. They had to be following even less than I was.
“Quanta.” I tugged her up short. “What are you seeing?”
She pulled me with her, refusing to stop as she headed back inside. “Tell me your parents haven’t always wanted to stage a coup.”
“My parents?” What did they have to do with—
I froze.
My parents had been chafing at Nagi’s reins for as long as he’d been chairing the senate. They’d jump at the chance to overthrow him.
But they couldn’t. Not while he controlled—
The simple brilliance of Quanta’s plan finally washed over me. We didn’t need to attack Nagi. All we had to do was make him obsolete before this afternoon. “Do we have enough time to pull it off?”
“If we hurry. Wake up Layla. Then we have to call Eva. And your parents.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Dex sidestepped to block the door. “You can’t just drop the word coup and try to run away afterward. What are you seeing, Q?”
Quanta bounced on her toes, eager to get around him, but I also needed the specifics before I ran off. I’d jumped to an assumption that might be wrong.
“Tair gives a speech in front of the senate,” she said.
“I…” Maybe we hadn’t jumped to the same conclusion? “I thought if we turned my parents against Doctor Nagi—”
“Yeah. Exactly.” The blue light from her hands cast shadows through the tunnel. “Your parents are there, standing behind you. I’m in front of the stage with a whole bunch of mercenary-looking guys. You announce that you have the immortality formula and your mom calls for a vote to remove Nagi from power.”
“What?” Knight gaped.
Then Quanta and I were on the same page. Just different paragraphs. “We don’t need the actual formula. All we have to do is bluff convincingly enough to sell my parents on a rebellion. They’ll act if they believe that’s up for grabs.” The formula represented the ultimate power. Doctor Nagi had only held control over the Seligo for so long by keeping the formula secret—and killing anyone who came close to a similar discovery.
“I don’t know if we can bluff…” Quanta’s voice trailed. That was ominous. The only way to get the real formula would be through Lady Eva, and I doubted she’d hand over her life’s work. No matter who we were rescuing.
“You really see this working?” Dex asked. “We ring up Tair’s parents and they’re jazzed to start a revolution?”
My heart pounded. My parents tolerated Doctor Nagi, but they’d turn on him in a second if we offered a real chance at overthrowing him.
It would be extreme. But could it succeed?
“It can work.” Quanta was still bouncing and glowing with power. “It won’t be easy, but… There’s more than one future where the prisoners walk free and we’re flying away from the Citadel all happy…” She shuddered. “It’s blurry because it’s not decided yet, but if we do this, there’s a chance everyone survives.”
“So you’re saying there’s a chance we don’t survive?” Cipher asked.
“That’s a chance no matter what.” Quanta dug her toe into the rock. “I can’t make the call for anyone else, but if we plan this right, it’ll be a risk level I’m okay with. No matter what, it’s better than trying to break them out head-on. We do that again, we’re definitely toast.”
“Then what do we do first?” Devan asked.
“We need to call Lady Eva.” Knight ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t look convinced, but at least he was entertaining this idea. I wasn’t entirely convinced myself, but if Quanta believed we could succeed… I’d run with it. We had no other options and we only had hours until Doctor Nagi’s deadline.
“We have to talk to a lot of people,” Quanta said. “And we can’t keep standing around if we’re going to pull this together before tonight.”
“We should get started.” The sooner we figured out the logistics, the sooner we could move. If I didn’t keep moving…
I doubted I could keep holding on to hope.
Chapter Thirty-One
QUANTA
As the six of us hustled back across the catwalk to Ai’s room, I had to brace myself against the handrail. The futures swirled like leaves in a maelstrom.
Tair and I lean against the railing halfway up a skyscraper, looking out over Alpha Citadel—not running or hiding our faces—just gazing out over the city like we belong there; Black Helix guards manhandle Tair and me, shoving us into an empty cell; Cassie jumps into Tair’s arms, squeezing him tight; Devan and her friends huddle in a pile, crying happy tears; Gunfire blares and I fall backward, Tair grabbing for me; Doctor Nagi crawls toward something, red blood dripping from his white coat—
The deathly futures mixed in with ones where we freed the prisoners, but all of them looked equally likely. I was taking that as a good thing. We could still steer this our way.
And one specific future w
as enough to keep me running.
Tair stands at a podium on top of a dais, dead center in a massive round stadium. Seligo stream in through the four huge doors at compass points of the chamber, but plenty are already inside, sitting along the rows of tiered seats that stretch all the way to the ceiling where thousands of lights are cut out like twinkling stars. The Seligo point and grumble at the action on the senate floor.
Warrior-looking guys pack every bit of floor space, leaving the central dais an island in the crowd. Instead of the uniform Black Helix getup with matching body armor, their outfits are more mixed. Some wear camo or have patches and logos on their sleeves. Mercenaries? Private guards?
Whoever they are, the mumbling Seligo aren’t loving the military intrusion. Tair bangs the podium, drawing my attention back, and I finally spot who else is hidden in with the mystery fighters.
Tair’s parents, Mei Lin and Rashad, stand behind him. And there’s me, jammed in the middle of the crowd of fighters, wearing a hood that hides everything but my chin and my long, tangled hair.
Tair’s voice booms over the sound system. “I have the immortality formula. Under the supervision of my parents, I plan to take over production of the mods and serums required to ensure the survival of the Seligo.”
I lost the image after that but caught more flashes of a vote and senators arguing. Tair’s mom wore the smirk of a woman who was about to be handed everything she’d ever dreamed.
We really could take down Nagi. Even if the vote tanked, we’d be throwing a serious wrench in his day and packing the senate with mercenaries. We could use the chaos to our advantage and free the prisoners that way.
The more I peeked ahead, the more I liked the plan. It gave us options beyond throwing ourselves at Nagi’s mercy again and again. It was always better when we were the ones springing the trap.
I didn’t buy the future where Tair tried to take over dishing out the serums—that stretched even my imagination—but it didn’t matter if he was bluffing as long as the senate took him seriously.
But would they? We were thundering down the tunnel to Ai’s before I could pull more answers from the ether.
“Wha—” Teddy jerked up from his workstation in a clatter of empty cans. “Aren’t you guys gone already?” Ai’s hologram flickered into the middle of the room, just watching as we squeezed inside, making our way between the server towers and bundles of cables.
I moved in deep enough to lean against Teddy’s desk. “We’re back.”
Tair spun Teddy’s chair around. “You said everyone in Roboloco has Helix parents. How many of your members are here now?”
“Only ten. Why?” He rubbed his eyes like he wasn’t sure if we were all an energy-bev-induced illusion.
“How many of them have parents in the senate?” Tair asked. “Or upper-level positions in the Helix castes?”
Teddy scratched at his stubble. “Layla’s mom is the only senator. But, like…five of us have parents who rank. Mine are up there in the Greens. Dad reports straight to Doctor N.”
Teddy’s past bubbled up around me, but I shut it down, focusing on his future instead. Could he help us?
A man in a lab coat man frowns at Teddy through a compscreen. “A coup? Are you mad?”
That looked like a firm no. But I’d already seen a flash of Layla’s mom—Senator Astor—standing at the senate’s podium, grinning. That woman could definitely help us. I nudged Teddy’s desk with my hip. “Can you wake up Layla? We need to ask her something.”
Teddy’s nostrils flared. “It’s reeeeeeeal early.”
“Please?”
He stood, brushing out his wrinkled T-shirt. “I’ll get her. She’ll be pissed, though.”
I doubted it. At least, she wouldn’t when she heard when we were up to. He ambled off, leaving us all alone with Ai.
“I’ll open us a line to Eva.” Cipher pulled a chair up to one of the empty workstations. We waited in pure silence until a crash echoed through the room.
Devan jumped out of the way of the stack of servers she’d tipped, covering her mouth with her hands. “I started to fall asleep…”
“They don’t appear to be damaged,” Ai said, floating over to that side of the room.
Dex pushed the servers out of the way with his foot. “You better tap out and get some rest while you can.”
“I’m fine.” Devan folded her arms and then wobbled on her feet. “But… How long is this going to take?”
“Go rest,” I said. We had a couple calls in our future and Devan could use the break. “We won’t go anywhere without you.”
“Come on.” Dex waved her for the door. “I’ll print you another one of those nasty vitamin smoothies. Then you’ll be ready for the action.” She followed him out, and I hoped she really did top up her energy. She’d been burning herself out for us for days now.
Knight moved to stand behind Cipher and Tair and I drifted over to them so we’d be able to see Eva on the screen.
“Ready?” Cipher asked.
“Go for it.” Nerves fluttered in my stomach. When I let myself slip into the future, too many timeghosts of Tair’s parents threw out ultimatums like “why should we believe you?” and “you expect us to act without proof?”
We were all good liars, but Tair’s parents weren’t stupid. They’d never throw in with us for a vague reassurance. So we might need the actual formula.
But that was asking more than a favor. Would Eva screw around with something that important?
Eva stares at us through the compscreen. “Then I’ll give you what you need, with conditions.”
Wait… What?
She’d really give us the formula? I was only seeing a possible future, but the fact that that was an option? Whoa.
Cipher hit a key and our cam flickered on. The line rang for a few beats before Eva answered. She wore her normal lab coat, but her gray-streaked red hair was down this morning, and she held a cup of coffee. Her brow wrinkled. “I thought you’d already be off on the mission. Is something wrong?”
“Slight change of plans,” I said. “There’s something we need to run by you.” Not sure how to word what we were really asking, I turned to Tair.
“The mission fails,” Tair said as he reached for me. I clutched his hand. “Doctor Nagi has some sort of device that can stop Quanta from rewinding time and he’s waiting for us to show up and rescue his prisoners. We can’t risk going there again.”
I’d seen Tair die too many times to count, but watching him dragged off while I was helpless to fix it… That was a special level of hell I never wanted to relive. “All of us were dead or captive.”
Knight nodded. “If that’s the ending, the stealth mission is definitely off the table.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I’d hoped…” Eva set down her mug. “What’s your alternative plan?”
“That’s the question.” Knight’s gaze slipped to me. My heart thumped. I was willing to try this scheme whether or not Eva signed off on it, but I’d rather have her help than not.
“I saw Tair speaking in front of the senate.” Tair fights hand-to-hand with three Black Helixes; Nagi hustles toward a metal door, surrounded by a thick ring of guards; I jog a long corridor with my gun out, surrounded by Tair and a pack of fighters. I wasn’t picking up too many more specifics yet, but I could definitely see us storming the senate building. “We’d convinced Tair’s parents to start a coup in exchange for the immortality formula.”
“Is that so?” Eva tilted her head to the side.
A creepy feeling slipped down my back. I’d seen the rebellion going down and I still couldn’t wrap my head around it. But Eva kept calmly stirring her coffee, confirming my suspicions. “You’re not surprised.”
Eva set her spoon down on a saucer. “The timing is surprising, but I’m behind the idea. Removing Nagi from power has always been one of my main goals.”
I wished she were standing in front of us so I could grab her and figure out what the hell was going t
hrough the woman’s head. “One of your main goals? What are the others?”
“At the moment? I’d like Kiri and Aliya freed along with the other Red Helixes and innocents in custody.”
“I meant more long-term. You really think we should try to overthrow Nagi?” I was the one suggesting it, but I’d expected her to push back—not hop right on the crazy train with us.
“Yes. If you think you can succeed.” Eva folded her hands under her chin, still calm as anything. “And if you think today is the day to try. As I said, I’d expected to come to this eventually, but not so soon, and not because you’re desperate to save your loved ones. Success and failure will each have their own consequences.”
I gulped. This was getting heavy fast. Failure’s consequences were obvious enough. We could die a thousand different ways, and this plan didn’t change that. But if we actually won? If we bluffed our way through and knocked Nagi out of power? I’d already seen that option.
Tair and I lean against the railing halfway up a skyscraper, looking out over Alpha Citadel—not running or hiding our faces—just gazing out over the city like we belong there.
Going back to the senate building would be torture enough after all those years captive underground. But staying there?
Just because that future was possible didn’t mean I was signing up for it. I’d veto that so hard. “I’m not sure about the really long term, but we can survive this. And we can free Cass and the others.”
“Then I’ll give you what you need, with conditions,” Eva said, echoing the words I’d already heard. Sometimes when I was right, I was really scary right.
“Ma’am.” Knight stood up a little straighter. “I’m on board if you’re green-lighting the mission, but is this the best idea? If that formula gets out…”
Cipher nodded. “The enemy you know, right? There could be worse than Doctor Nagi.”
They were both right. We wanted the prisoners freed, but not at the cost of a war or a genocide, and depending who controlled the serum, both of those could be in the cards. The Helix system was one of my least favorite things, but at least it was a system. If someone who didn’t respect the rules managed to con their way into the driver’s seat…