by J. M. Page
“A twin… but not the jealous one,” said Doc, a finger waggling in Snow’s direction. “The center of it all… It’s…” He closed his eyes tight and his hands balled into fists at his side. “A place of heroes and monsters, and secrets are hidden until they’re seen.”
Hunter groaned and dropped his head to his hands. They were wasting their time. Snow smacked him with the back of her hand, dutifully muttering everything he said back to herself, locking it into her memory. How did she not see what nonsense it was?
“The flowers of the past bloom when it’s darkest. That’s where he hid it.”
“The flowers of the past…” Snow repeated. “Okay, I can remember all that.”
“Snow, you can’t possibly think any of this means anything. He’s obviously out of his mind. None of what he said even makes any sense.”
“You can quit any time,” she snapped. “I’m sure the resistance would give me a ship.”
Hunter sat there for a moment, his jaw hanging slack, his heart in his stomach. “That’s not what I—”
“Well, unless you have something better to go on, maybe you could stop trampling on the only lead we’ve got? He’s not as crazy as he sounds. It’s just another riddle.”
“Great. More breadcrumbs that don’t lead anywhere. Just what we need.”
“We know a lot more now than we did before we—”
His communicator beeped and Snow stopped, looking toward Doc’s bank of computers.
“What was—”
It beeped again and Doc’s eyes went wide, every ounce of color draining from him like he’d seen a ghost. “She found me!” Without saying anything to either of them, he turned to the computers and typed in a dizzying sequence of commands while Hunter tried to discreetly silence his link to the Queen. Of all the terrible timing.
“She— Wait, what’s happening?” Snow cried over the blaring alarms Doc tripped.
Hunter snatched her hand and pulled her towards the exit. “Your friend is finally losing it,” he said.
“Can’t get me. I’ve got a plan,” Doc giggled maniacally to himself.
“Protocol Alpha: Self-Destruct Sequence Activated,” the computer said calmly.
“Self-destru— Hey! Wait,” Snow said, tugging against Hunter’s hold on her. His hand was too slippery, he couldn’t keep a good grip on her while she struggled.
“No time to wait, Princess.” The cave started to rumble and all Hunter could think about was this lunatic giggling and shouting ‘BOOM!’
Doc sat in front of his computers, rocking on his heels, grinning at the code flashing on the monitors.
“We can’t just leave him!” she protested.
A steel door, thick as a person, began to descend in the doorway with Snow still on the other side.
“He’ll be fine!” Hunter shouted over the screaming alarms. How should he know if it was true? The only thing he did know was that neither one of them would be alright if they didn’t get out of this tunnel and fast. “Do you want to be buried alive in this cave or do you want to solve your damn riddle?”
Snow looked from Hunter, back to Doc, biting her bottom lip, her forehead creased. “I—”
“Protocol Alpha initialization in one minute.”
They didn’t even know the way out of this place. They were trapped. Doomed. All because she wanted to believe in this guy who was a few fuses short of a circuit.
“Doctor, we have to get out of here,” she pleaded with him. “How do we leave?”
Hunter didn’t hear what Doc said next. He yanked Snow through the doorway as the steel barrier slammed into the ground, shutting out the cacophony on the other side.
He knew she’d have all kinds of things to say to him, but now wasn’t the time. The tunnel rattled and dust rained down on them from the cracks in the earth.
Remarkably, lights came on as they raced down the tunnel. Each one flicking on as they neared it, illuminating the path. And when they got to the place where they’d been bound and captured, a great gust of wind pressed down from the retracting ceiling.
“He heard me! He opened it for us!” Snow cried, sending a longing look down the tunnel toward Doc.
“Forgive me if I’m not on my knees thanking him,” Hunter grumbled.
The first explosion rocked the ground under their feet and Hunter had to steady himself on the wall. Snow clamped onto his arm for support and he looked up. It couldn’t have been more than ten feet up, maybe less.
“I’m gonna boost you up, okay?” he said, grabbing her by the waist.
“You go first! I won’t be able to pull you up.”
He considered arguing with her, telling her it was more important that she get out safely, but there wasn’t any time. If she decided to make this difficult, neither of them would make it out.
“Alright,” he conceded, letting her go. He scrambled up the rock wall and found purchase on the surface, using all his strength to haul himself out of the hole onto his hands and knees.
Another explosion rumbled under him and Snow screamed. The lights went out and there was nothing but darkness below and punishing dust above.
“It’s alright,” he promised her. “Grab my hand.” He laid down on his stomach, reaching as far into the abyss as he could. Please let her be okay. He’d had a chance to get her out first. He could have gotten her out safely and he let her talk him out of it. Come on, Snow.
Then her hand slipped into his and gripped tight. He fastened his other hand around hers and pulled her up with a quick jerk.
There was no time for relief. Tremors rumbled through the ground and Hunter pulled them both to their feet. “Get to the ship!”
He ran, refusing to release her hand and lose her in this dust. The stairs were still down, the door open and waiting for them. Just a little further…
A huge explosion sent them flying forward, but Hunter didn’t look back. He scrambled up and tugged Snow behind him, practically dragging her up the stairs.
It was only once they were inside, safely aboard, that he saw the gaping crater they’d narrowly escaped.
He couldn’t get off that planet fast enough.
Chapter Seventeen
Snow
Hunter launched the ship before Snow even had a chance to process what was going on. The dusty red world dropped away, a smoking, gaping hole marring its surface. She hoped the doctor fared better than Robbie had. At least he’d had a plan. That steel door seemed solid enough…
She couldn’t bear to think that another person had died trying to help her.
“I’m starting to see a pattern here, Princess,” Hunter said from the controls.
“What’s that?” she asked, hollowness creeping in. Had it been a mistake to go there? To ask for the help of a clearly unstable man? Had she doomed him with her determination?
“Doesn’t seem like you can leave a place without fires and explosions destroying everything in your wake.” She turned to find him smiling at her, trying to break the tension no doubt, but Snow didn’t return the gesture.
“I never wanted it to be that way… Do you think he’s okay?” By now, the red dot of the planet was shrinking, getting smaller and smaller until it blended in with the rest of the stars.
“I’m sure he’s alright. He seemed pretty happy about enacting his ‘plan.’”
Snow sighed. “I don’t understand what set him off, though? The guards weren’t there. He said the Queen had found him… What was he talking about?”
Hunter shrugged. “How should I know? Guy was crazier than a box of frogs.”
“Do you think she could be spying on us somehow? Don’t you have one of those chips? Could she be listening through that?” The idea that the Queen knew exactly where they were, what they were saying, what they were planning… It was too much. “Can’t she track you through it? Is that how they found the cottage?”
Hunter sighed and scrubbed his palm over his face. “That’s not really how it works. Besides, how would she even kn
ow to track me? We have no connection. I’ve never been involved with the resistance. I’m just a no-name smuggler, not even on her radar.”
“I guess…” said Snow, but something about his ready excuses bothered her. Something didn’t sit right. He’d been acting strange ever since they were captured by the doctor.
“Look,” he said, right behind her, his hands on her shoulders, “you’ve been given a lot to think about. Why don’t we find somewhere to settle down for a decent rest that’s not in these cramped chairs? I got some camping gear on Avuuna. You can try to work out that riddle.”
Warmth radiated from his fingers and trickled down her arms, swimming into her chest. She leaned back into him, his chest pressed into her back as his arms swept down and encircled her waist.
“Okay.” She nodded. “You’re right.” What was it about Hunter, about his touch, that eased her worries? How could he quiet the voices in her head so easily? All those voices casting doubt about her judgement, her choices, her future. Hunter made them go away.
Maybe she should be worried about that, but for once, it was nice to not worry.
He left her at the front of the ship, staring out the window while he went back to the control panel. “Looks like there’s a suitable planet in the next solar system. Breathable air, potable water, no permanent population.”
“Sounds good,” she murmured, still thinking about their encounter with the doctor. Her father had created the chips… The thought made her sick to think about. What was he thinking? He’d always been such a good solid leader; why would he need a way to control people?
And then there was the riddle… It didn’t make any sense, but she couldn’t tell Hunter that. He already thought they were on a wild goose chase. So why was he still with her? The effects of his touch still lingered on her bare skin and Snow shivered. Maybe he had reasons unrelated to the cause. Maybe he cared more about her. Or maybe there was some prestige to be gained by being associated with the Princess. A merchant never misses an opportunity, he’d said.
Was she just another opportunity?
She couldn’t afford that kind of distraction. She couldn’t waste her time and energy trying to decipher his motives. She had to go off the information she had readily available.
Hunter was still with her.
He’d saved her more times than she could count now.
He could have backed out a number of times and hadn’t.
Whatever his reasons for being loyal were, she couldn’t argue that he wasn’t on her side. He’d been there every step of the way. And despite how difficult it was for Snow to trust herself, she had to believe that she wasn’t wrong about him. She had to, or she’d drive herself insane.
“I thought you were a merchant,” she said.
“Yeah?”
“You just said smuggler.”
“Merchant’s just a fancy word for smuggler,” he said with a shrug. It was an easy enough explanation, but why didn’t it make her feel any more confident?
“The chip doesn’t get in the way of smuggling? Isn’t that illegal? Wouldn’t she know what you’re up to?”
Hunter’s expression hardened, his eyes glowing with golden fire. “Am I being interrogated?”
“You’re not answering me.”
He crossed his arms, his forehead wrinkling with the force of his glare. “I don’t think I should have to. I’ve gotten you away from the Guard twice already, I don’t think my loyalty should be in question.”
“The guards only found me after you did. And they somehow found me at my mother’s cottage, the one that no one but my family even knew existed. And Doc said she’s always listening. Doesn’t that bother you even a little? What if she’s spying on us through your chip?”
“She’s not,” he said. No explanation again. Just a blunt statement of fact that she was expected to accept without question.
“How can you be so sure? You said people can have them removed… I know it’s treason under her rule, but I can pardon you. I can pardon everyone. Then she couldn’t—”
“Get strapped in for landing,” he barked, turning away from her.
She stomped over to her seat and slammed the buckle together, her blood boiling. Why couldn’t he just give her a straight answer?
The ship rattled upon entry, superheated particles making the air around them glow and spark. Snow gripped her arm rests, determined not to lose her train of thought once they were landed.
The ship touched down with a jolt and both Snow and Hunter unbuckled their seatbelts and sprang up from their seat like there were springs under them.
Before she could say anything, he stormed down the stairs to the planet below. She wasted no time hurrying after him.
“We’re not done talking about— whoa.” Hunter had stopped on the bottom stair and Snow nearly collided with him, not expecting him to be standing there frozen.
“I think your mom would have liked this planet,” he said under his breath, reverent and awed.
“Your dad, too,” she said, a little knife twisting in her heart for both of them. As far as the eye could see, the planet was covered in flowers. Flowers of all shapes and sizes and colors, not quite opened yet. Some tinier than her littlest fingernail, others as big as her head. They practically shimmered in the late afternoon light, waving in the fragrant breeze.
“Let’s set up camp,” Hunter said. “I’ve got some things to tell you.”
Snow frowned as he pushed past her up the stairs. Just a minute ago he didn’t want to talk to her at all and now he had ‘some things’ to tell her? What did that even mean?
They worked silently, setting up a tent amongst the flowers. A ring of giant orange-red flowers, taller than her, surrounded their campsite, providing some cover. But for all the flowers there were, there didn’t seem to be any trees. The ship was exposed, leaving them vulnerable still.
“So what do you—”
“Let’s finish this,” he said, setting up a fire where the ground was clear.
A soft wind whispered through the flowers and brought with it their heady scent. She finished staking the tent and sat down, waiting for him to come to her on his own terms.
Finally, Hunter sat down with her, staring off into the distance for a long time before he sighed. “There are some things about me I haven’t been completely honest about. I’m not even sure how to be honest about it anymore. How to tell you this without scaring you away.”
Snow clasped her hands in her lap and braced herself for the worst. Part of being a good leader was being able to handle bad news with grace and dignity.
“Okay,” she said. “Start where it feels natural.”
He dropped his head to his hands, raking his fingers through his hair with another sigh. “I can’t remove my chip,” he said.
“Why not?”
“It’s… Well, it’s implanted in my heart. Removing it would be far too risky, but that’s what she wants.”
Snow’s blood chilled and her heart stopped pumping for a minute, a droning buzz filling her ears. “What?”
“The story I told you about my father… He did work in the palace, but it was my fault he was thrown into the dungeon. It wasn’t just something that happened. I trusted someone I shouldn’t have and she betrayed us both. The Queen arrested my father and sentenced him to death… But she took a liking to me, I guess.”
Snow’s heart raced, her hands grew damp, and she found herself scooting away from him unconsciously. What was he trying to say?
“She hired me to work for her, Snow. In a way, I guess. I was never really given the choice. She implanted the chip in my heart and she can detonate it anytime she wants.”
Snow scrambled to her feet, backing away from him, but Hunter didn’t get up to chase her. “You… You’re working for her? All this time? I trusted you!” She reached behind her, for the blaster she didn’t have anymore, cursing herself. How could she be unarmed at a time like this?
“Snow, please, hear me out. I… Ye
s, I’ve been working for her, but I haven’t betrayed you, I swear. I haven’t told her where you are or what your plans are. She thinks I’m on her side.”
Snow’s stomach clenched and she bent over, her hands on her knees. She was going to be sick. All this time she thought he was on her side. All this time he’d been fooling her. She couldn’t even see through his lies after all the time they spent together. Some leader she was. Plick had warned her about this and she thought she knew better. She thought she needed help.