[Starstruck 01.0] Starstruck

by Brenda Hiatt

  "In front of qualified witnesses," Allister added. "In this case, a four member majority of the Echtran Council, as well as two highly ranked Echtran scientists." Then, leaning toward me with a more kindly expression than I'd yet seen him wear, he asked, "Your . . . M, would you be willing to have a small amount of blood drawn for a genetic test?"

  Nara made an outraged hiss and Rigel's parents looked upset, but I nearly collapsed with relief. I'd been expecting something much, much worse.

  "Oh. Um, sure. That is, I don't mind."

  Allister reached inside his jacket and pulled out a small, elaborately enameled metal case, which he handed to Flynn. I tensed again when Flynn opened the case and took out a syringe—not a regular, modern syringe, but an enormous, old-fashioned thing that looked like it came from some mad scientist's lab.

  "Is that the actual foare rioga from Mars?" asked Mr. Stuart with evident surprise. "How do you come to have it here, Allister?"

  "As my family has long been tasked with verifying the bloodline of the Sovereign, I took the precaution of bringing it with me when I left Mars."

  The others seemed impressed, but all I could do was stare at that wicked needle. It had to be nearly three inches long!

  "Good thinking," Kyna murmured. "Faxon's goons would probably have destroyed it, had they found it."

  "My thoughts exactly," Allister agreed. "Shall we begin, then?"

  With a quick nod, Flynn came toward me. Why did it have to be him?

  Dr. Stuart must have noticed my uneasiness, because she quickly came forward. "If you'll allow me? She knows me better."

  To my relief, Flynn handed her the syringe without argument. Even using that antique pig-sticker, I didn't think Rigel's mother would hurt me—much.

  But as I held out my arm to her, everyone else moved to form a circle around us. Rigel still looked upset, but the others just looked expectant. Then the chanting began.

  "Fuil an thiarna, foaru. Finné anois tabhair ar fad saol rioga. Tastail ionachta go deo."

  Everybody but Rigel said the words together—even Dr. Stuart muttered them as she took a tiny device from her pocket to shine a purple light on the inside of my elbow and then on the needle—I assumed to sterilize them. Though her expression was still kind and her touch was calming, the weird chanting gave me goosebumps. What, exactly, had I agreed to?

  The chanting stopped and she inserted the tip of the needle, drew out a tiny bit of blood, used the purple light on my arm again and it was over. I'd barely felt a thing.

  "Thank you, Marsha," she said. "That was very brave."

  I couldn't see what the big deal was—I'd had shots that hurt more—but I smiled at her, wishing there were some way to let her know how grateful I was that she cared. Then I looked over at Rigel, and he was smiling too. He caught my eye and gave me a cheerful thumbs-up that made me almost giddy. Everything was going to be fine.

  "Now, Flynn," Dr. Stuart said, handing him the syringe.

  Flynn held the syringe up for all to see and Allister intoned—there was no other word for it—"I call you all as witnesses that this is the lifeblood of she who claims Sovereignty. In full view of both Royal and Scientific representatives of the Echtran Council, we perform this test to determine whether she is of the true lineage, genetically predestined to lead our people in peace, in wisdom and in kindness."

  "Finné muid anois. We so witness," they all answered together. I could see tears in Nara's eyes as she spoke the words.

  With a flourish, Flynn injected the blood sample into a complicated little gizmo in the case and pressed a button. It hummed faintly and tiny green and yellow lights flashed on and off repeatedly on one end of the box. Everyone waited tensely.

  I knew from TV crime shows that our own labs would take at least a few days to get any kind of genetic results from blood. But Dr. Stuart had barely finished refilling everyone's coffee cups when the gizmo beeped and Flynn made a little "ah" noise.

  "Well?" Allister asked him impatiently.

  He held up the little silver box, which now displayed a single white light. He had an odd look on his face—relieved, but not what I'd call happy. "She is exactly who we'd hoped—the daughter of Mikal, son of Leontine, and his wife Galena."

  "I knew it!" Nara exclaimed, her tears overflowing as she smiled from ear to ear. "It was obvious the moment I saw her. And such bravery, at such a young age!"

  They were all talking at once now, sounding both excited and relieved. Kyna, who had been so curt and reserved before, actually grinned at me.

  "I'm so sorry I doubted, Excellency," she exclaimed. "You can have no idea what a relief . . . how important this is to everyone, what it will mean for both Mars and—" She broke off abruptly with a glance at Shim, who I saw had raised a warning eyebrow. "That is, we're all very happy," she concluded.

  "We are indeed," Shim said quickly. "We do apologize for putting you through this, Excellency, but we had to be sure. Now, we are." He rose and bowed deeply to me his right fist against his chest. Everyone else did the same.

  It was all I could do to keep my mouth from falling open. Shim was easily the most impressive person I'd ever met, and he was bowing to me? It seemed so backward.

  "I don't get it," I said. "If all you needed was a blood test, why didn't we do that as soon as I got here tonight?" It definitely would have made for a less stressful evening!

  Everyone in the room stared at me, various degrees of shock on their faces.

  "Oh, but my dear," Nara began, bobbing up and down.

  Shim silenced her with a wave. "Again, we forget you have none of the cultural traditions —taboos, if you will— that we take for granted. Are you aware that among Martians, the taking of human life is our greatest prohibition?"

  "Yes. The Stuarts told me about that." Though if that taboo really worked, I'd still have grandparents, and maybe even parents, of my own.

  "I assume they did not tell you that the prohibition extends to the taking of blood. Blood is tied so closely to life that, even though we are now more scientifically advanced—especially by Earth standards—we still cannot easily overcome our ingrained aversion to spilling it, even for legitimate medical reasons. Because of that, we have gone to great lengths to develop medical tests that do not require removing blood from the body. On Mars, it is so rarely necessary today as to be almost unheard of."

  "Except in the case of verifying lineage for each new Sovereign," Allister said. "The ritual you have undergone here tonight has proven indisputably that you possess that lineage. It was necessary."

  "Not necessary to all of us," Nara declared staunchly, making me smile. I was really starting to like her, even if she did gush. "My dear, I wish you could understand what it means to me—what it will mean to everyone—that we've found you after all of this time, after believing the ruling line of the Royal class was extinct. It's . . . it's . . ." She gestured with her hands but seemed unable to put her feelings into words.

  "An enormous boon to the resistance, at the very least," Kyna finished for her, her expression as approving of me now as it had been skeptical before. "You will be a symbol of hope to them, Excellency. Something to energize them and to focus their efforts."

  "Yes!" Nara agreed enthusiastically. "We must get word out at once! The Council can use MARSTAR to notify all Echtrans, while sending—"

  Panicked, I put up both hands, stopping her. "Wait! I don't want to be a . . . a symbol. And I'm definitely no political leader! I'm only a sophomore in high school. And I don't know anything about . . . well, Martian history and politics and stuff."

  Dr. Stuart put a hand on my shoulder. "She's right. We're moving much too quickly. Though we need to begin planning our next steps, surely there's no need to disrupt Marsha's— Emileia's —life immediately. As she says, she is only fifteen, too young to assume the throne even if all obstacles were removed. She needs to get used to the idea, to be allowed to grow into whatever role she may eventually take."

  "I agree," Shim said. "She
will have much to learn over the years to come, but as a youth, her normal development should still be permitted. Right now, the most important thing is that she remain safe." He swiveled around, looking seriously at each person in the room, in turn. "That completely rules out MARSTAR. In fact, those of us here must speak of this to no one whose loyalty we cannot trust absolutely. For the truth to be known prematurely could be disastrous in more ways than even I can imagine."

  "Agreed," Kyna said, though now she was frowning. "But Shim, you can't seriously mean to leave her here in this unprotected little hamlet, now that her identity is proved? As you say, her safety is paramount. We must relocate her at once to a place where she can be properly guarded."

  "I agree," Allister said firmly. "As the one Royal representative of the Council present, I consider myself personally responsible for the Sovereign's safety. Appropriate measures must be taken immediately."

  There was a murmur of agreement from a couple of the others. My panic, which had subsided for a moment, surged back in full force. Relocate me? And safe from what, exactly? Before I could ask, Shim put up a hand.

  "We can work out such details later," he said. Allister started to sputter a protest, but Shim silenced him with a glance, then turned to me with a kindly smile. "If it should become necessary for you to take any sort of active role, my dear, we will of course let you know, but I don't anticipate that happening just yet."

  Relief flooded through me, and I saw Rigel relax visibly as well. Allister looked like he had more he wanted to say, but he didn't dare interrupt Shim.

  "Of course," Shim added, "I must caution you not to speak of this to anyone else. I presume none of your, ah, non-Martian friends have any suspicions?"

  I shook my head emphatically. "Of course not! They'd just think I was crazy. I definitely won't tell them, or my aunt or uncle, either."

  He smiled again and, as before, the contagious warmth of it reassured me. "Good. It is important that you do nothing to draw attention to yourself. Should your existence become generally known, there are those who might seek you for . . . less than benevolent reasons."

  Before I could ask what he meant, Dr. Stuart spoke. "We should get you home. I did promise your aunt that we wouldn't keep you late, as it's a school night."

  A glance at the antique clock on the mantel showed it was a quarter to nine. Had I really been here more than three hours? I nodded and stood.

  "It . . . it was nice meeting you all," I said, the words sounding lame—inadequate—even as I spoke them.

  As one, they all rose and bowed to me again, their right fists over their hearts, Rigel's parents included. Even Rigel inclined his head, and that bothered me even more than all these adults treating me like royalty—which definitely weirded me out.

  Then they weirded me out even more by chanting, in unison, "Benevolent Sovereign, scion of Sovereigns, steer the future of our people."

  At least, the grownups did. Rigel didn't, which was good, because it made me feel like I'd stumbled into some bizarre cult, with me at its center. Almost immediately, though, the weirdness dissipated as they all smiled and acted normal again, and Rigel's mom ushered me out of the room toward the front door.

  Rigel came along, though I noticed Allister frowning after him.

  I waited until we were out of the house to say, "Okay, so what was that about? Because I'm not sure I've ever felt more awkward."

  Dr. Stuart patted my arm. (Rigel, I noticed, still didn't touch me, though I needed it more than ever now.) "I'm sorry about that, dear. It's the traditional farewell to the Sovereign, and none of us Echtrans have had occasion to use it for, well, decades, expatriates that we are. It was a way for us all to reconnect to our heritage. I'm sure it was a bit disconcerting for you, however."

  "Um, yeah, a little." That was putting it mildly.

  I was still feeling strange and disoriented as we got into the car, but then Rigel slid in next to me in the back and put his hand on mine—for the first time today—and suddenly I wasn't worried anymore. Tentatively, not sure whether this would last or not, I smiled at him, and he smiled back. Then he whispered, so low that I doubted even his mother could hear him, "I'll explain soon, I promise."

  With his hand on mine, and that promise to cling to, I felt better than I had all evening.

  They got me home just before nine, which meant Aunt Theresa didn't have any reason to complain. Still, her expression was sour when I greeted her.

  "Your friend Brianna called," she informed me. "Twice."

  "Oh, thanks." With all that had happened, I'd completely spaced our fight and tentative truce on the bus. "Can I call her back now?"

  "I suppose," she said, looking pointedly at the clock on the stove. "Don't talk long."

  Nodding, I quickly dialed Bri's number. It rang five times before she picked up, and I imagined her standing there, checking the caller ID and debating whether to answer.

  "Hello?"

  "Hey, Bri, sorry I wasn't home when you called."

  There was a brief silence. "Yeah, your aunt said you were over at Rigel's. You didn't say you'd made it to that stage yet."

  "It happened after Friday, and you and I haven't exactly talked much since then," I reminded her. "But I don't know about 'stages.' His grandfather is visiting and Rigel wanted me to meet him, that's all." I felt terrible lying to her when I was trying to patch things up, but what choice did I have?

  "All? That sounds pretty big to me," Bri said, some of the old excitement creeping back into her voice.

  We talked for another ten minutes or so, and by the end of the conversation, I felt like we'd gotten at least partway back to being best friends. I hoped it would last, but after tonight's events, I was starting to realize that our friendship could never be what it was before. There were just too many things I couldn't tell her. That I couldn't tell anyone.

  Ever.

  16

  Conjunction

  THE NEXT DAY at school, I was relieved when Rigel came right up to me before our first class, and even more relieved by his first words.

  "Hey. Sorry about yesterday. I was . . . a little messed up in my head." The warmth of his smile was an even better apology than his words. I forgave him on the spot.

  Still, I had to ask, "So when do I get that explanation you promised?"

  He grinned—it was so good to see that grin again! "Any chance you can stay after school today?"

  I nodded. "I told my aunt I had a project to work on in the media center. But you won't have much time to talk during practice, will you?"

  Rigel lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. "I'll manage something. Maybe we can talk some at lunch, too."

  "Okay." I wished now I'd packed a lunch, but if he wanted to go to the courtyard, I'd gladly do without. Dumb, maybe, but true.

  As it turned out, there really wasn't much chance to talk at lunch. Passing the courtyard on my way to the cafeteria, I saw some club was getting pictures taken there, so that was out. Then Bri and Deb actually sat with me for a change, so while I did have lunch with Rigel, we couldn't talk about anything private.

  I made a real effort not to neglect my friends while we all ate, but it was harder than I expected. Every time Rigel spoke, my attention was irresistibly absorbed by him, like he was a gorgeous black hole or something. Even watching him eat was more interesting than the boring school gossip Deb and Bri were sharing, though I pretended otherwise.

  "So, Trina and Bryce are back together," Bri said near the end of the period, with a pointed glance my way.

  "Yeah," Rigel said before I could respond. "They were like this after practice yesterday." He held two fingers together. His tone was completely nonchalant and I didn't think he was faking it for my sake.

  Obviously Bri and Deb noticed, too, since they both gave me what I assumed were supposed to be secret grins, though Rigel was sitting right there and had to see.

  "Oh, I meant to ask," Bri said as we picked up our trays, "can you come to my house after school, M? My
mom took me shopping in Kokomo Saturday and I've got a couple of new outfits. You guys can help me decide what goes with them."

  Deb was clearly already on board with the plan, but I had to shake my head. No way was I giving up a chance to get those answers out of Rigel! Not to mention the chance of a little alone time with him, though I knew that was unlikely.

  "I can't, sorry. I've really got to work on that science project I've let slide."

  I half expected one or both of them to guess what I was really doing, but they let it pass without comments, or even knowing looks. I'd tell them later. Maybe. Depending on what happened.

  As soon as the final bell rang, I hurried to my locker, glad I'd actually finished my science project yesterday before my aunt got home, just in case she asked about it later this evening. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Rigel leaning against my locker, looking more like a movie star or a fashion model than a high school student. How could I possibly be this lucky?

  "I'll be quick," I said, throwing the books I didn't need into my locker. "Don't want to make you late for practice."

  "No rush," he said with an impish smile that made my heart speed up even more. "I'm ditching."

  I nearly dropped my history book—which would have hurt if it had hit my foot. "Really?"

  "Sort of. I told Coach I had something really important to do and he let me off, since they're mainly doing tackle drills today."

  "So, um, what are you doing instead?"

  "You mean we, don't you? C'mon." He offered his hand.

  I shut my locker with a snap and took it without question. His touch felt so good, so right, after yesterday's weirdness, I had no choice but to trust him completely.