One agent lifted the goggles away from his face. “Understandable, young man. You are a good citizen, but in this instance, the young woman you were rescuing was trying to evade our agents. Just hand her over, and I promise I’ll see to it that all charges against you are dropped.”
Berrett nodded.
“What?” I cried. I pushed out of his arms.
The sting of betrayal burned beneath my skin. I should have known.
He grabbed my arms and started walking toward the agents. Before handing me over, he whispered in my ear, “Jump.”
“What?”
“Jump!”
I leapt into the air. Berrett dropped to the ground and doused the agents in flames from his rocket pack. I landed above his head and stared as the agents tossed away their own packs and rolled around on the ground, trying to eliminate the fire that was rapidly devouring their pants. In a matter of seconds, Berrett had snatched and destroyed the agents’ handhelds.
“That ought to buy us some time, but they’ll remember my name,” said Berrett. He typed something into his Cuff, scooped me up once more, and spun quickly into the sky. We flew in complete silence until we arrived at a park outside the state lines.
“Were you dropped on your head as a child?” yelled Berrett the second we landed. “Seriously, what is the matter with you? I gave you specific instructions and you totally ignored me! It’s one thing to leap out of a ship when your life is the only one you’re endangering, but—”
“Look, if this is about you playing Captain Adventure or having issues with my lack of manners, I said thank you. I didn’t ask you to save me! How did you know where to find me, anyway?”
“Tess. I got back and you were gone. She said you went exploring, that I’d just missed you, and that she’d given you specific instructions to lie low and stay close. I flew all over the city. Do you have any idea how dangerous—”
“Yes. I do. Now would you stop lecturing me?” I realized mid-sentence that I was shaking. I hoped to high heaven that Berrett couldn’t see.
“Fine,” said Berrett. “However, instead of feeling bad that it was the only thing I could find, I am going to take an abnormal amount of pleasure in this.”
“What are you talking about?”
Berrett pulled a horrible floral dress and a dark brown wig out from his pack.
“Oh no,” I said. “I am not wearing that dress. Where did you find that, the history museum?”
“You have to wear it, Ms. Fey. It’s for your own protection.”
I stared at him. “Ms. What?”
He gave me a cock-eyed grin. “Morgan L. Fey. It’s your new alias. You wanna see the paperwork?” He tossed me a small purse with a set of new fingertips and contacts inside.
My eyes flew open wide. “You named me after Morgana?”
“Well, you must admit, you can be a little witchy.”
HIDING OUT 9
WE LANDED IN THE MIDDLE OF A CRACKED COBBLESTONE street far narrower than I would have thought possible. Humidity sucked the sweat from my pores and the air was so thick I practically had to chew and swallow it first in order to breathe.
“Storm’s coming,” said Berrett.
“How do you know?”
“Feel like you’re choking on your own air?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s how I know.”
I had no clue where I was, no concept of which direction we were going as Berrett held my hand and pulled me through the maze of streets and alleyways. I hadn’t realized how tired I felt until I tried to keep pace with Berrett. My stomach ached with hunger and made me feel lightheaded. We passed a pub in the darkness that threw a little light into the shadows. The smell of the greasy food wafted through the air and jolted my senses.
“Food,” I whimpered.
“Hang in there,” said Berrett. A youngish man dressed in grungy clothes sat on the steps of the place, using a switchblade to clean the dirt out from under his fingernails. He sent shivers up my spine.
“Hey, Jordan. How’s it going?” he asked.
“Been better,” Berrett said as he hustled past.
“You headed to Caleb’s?”
Berrett stopped in his tracks. “Should I be?”
“You were already planning on it, right? All I’m saying is, follow through is a good thing. There’s about fifteen of ‘em guarding your house. Hurry, there’s more headed this way.”
Berrett swore under his breath.
“She’s okay. She made it over there.”
Berrett exhaled and nodded to the man. “Thanks.”
He nodded in reply. “Get movin’.”
“She?” It hadn’t occurred to me that Berrett might possibly have a girlfriend. I mentally kicked myself for having let so much of my guard down. “How long have you been together?”
Berrett shot me the strangest look, and then jerked me forward. I stumbled over myself as I tried and failed to navigate my way over the broken road. My eyes grew heavier as we passed the drugged and the drunken. Somewhere in the background I heard glass breaking.
“Where on Earth are you taking me?” I hissed. “Who the flark is Caleb?”
“My shipmaster. I just hope she made it out in time.”
“She? I am so confused. I thought Caleb was a guy’s name.”
He ignored me and continued to drag me along the cobblestone streets.
“Berrett?”
“What?”
“Food?”
“We’re almost there. Stop whining and keep moving. You’re fine.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him I wouldn’t be moving anywhere if I passed out from lack of sustenance. We half-ran toward a small strip of townhouses with overgrown yards and dingy windows. Berrett knocked a strange rhythm on the chipped and banged up door of the third row house.
The door flew open and we were dragged inside.
Warmth washed over me. A flurry of voices. An older woman sobbing, Berrett swept up in her arms. The world spun, and I sank to my knees.
“Jordan! Honey, grab her,” said a voice. I had no idea who was talking, I could barely see. Stars floated in front of my eyes.
“She was whining about food,” said Berrett.
“When did you all eat last?”
“Breakfast.”
“I’ll get her something.”
A knock sounded on the door, but the ringing in my ears made it impossible to decipher what the muffled voices were yelling on the other side.
“Jordan, get the girl and your mother into the safe room.”
I still couldn’t see much. I felt someone lift and carry me down a flight of narrow stairs and into a hidden closet.
“Not a word. No lights. No noise.”
The door clicked shut.
Good thing I’m not claustrophobic.
I heard another knock, fiercer than the last. This time I heard what the voice on the other side had to say.
“Open up! System Police.”
I bit down on my lower lip and tried to quell the shivers that were slowly possessing me. There were voices, a tense discussion. I heard furniture outside the closet door being overturned. I tried to make my breaths silent, but I couldn’t stop the pounding of my heart. It was so loud, I was certain it would give us away.
The seconds warped into millennia.
At last I heard the front door close. All was quiet.
“You still with me?” whispered Berrett.
“Mmmph,” was the closest I could manage to a reply.
“She’s in shock, honey. We need to get her upstairs.”
The closet door opened and I felt myself being pulled into the light. Gentle hands took my pack and guided me into a chair. Food was placed in my hands, a cold cloth on my forehead.
As the rush of adrenaline faded, I found it almost impossible to keep my eyes open, but there were too many questions. I tried to pay attention and put the pieces together.
If only I didn’t feel so flarking disoriented.
<
br /> “Dix!”
“Huh?” I rubbed my eyes and tried to wake myself up.
“She’s exhausted, Jordan. We should get her to the cellar so she can sleep,” said one of the women. Her shoulder-length blonde hair was tucked behind her ears. She was petite, pale, her blue eyes puffy from crying. She was the complete physical opposite of Berrett.
“Okay, Mama,” he replied.
“Wait ... Mama?” I asked.
“Mama B., honey,” she said. She extended her hand. “I’m so glad you both made it here safely. Jordan warned me just in time.”
I shook her hand and looked at Berrett, confused. He pointed to his Cuff.
“Wouldn’t they have tracked that?” I asked.
“They have no idea what ‘don’t forget the mac and cheese’ means, and if you’ll recall, I switched it off before we left New York,” said Berrett.
“Oh. Right.” I stared at our hosts, a small brunette woman and a large man with broad shoulders and dreadlocks the color of sand. They didn’t seem to pay much attention to me. Their focus was on rearranging the overturned furniture.
Berrett followed my gaze. “I’ll introduce you tomorrow. You need to rest.” Without a word, I took his hand and let him pull me down the hall and into a small but tidy bedroom. He pulled away a rug, lifted up a trapdoor in the floor, and motioned for me to climb in. My foot found the top stair and I descended into the darkness. Berrett shined a light down for me so I could see my way.
“There’s a candle on the wall,” he said, tossing my pack down to me. I rooted around in my pack for my lighter as I walked down a narrow hallway with three small doors.
“Your room is the farthest one on the left. The bathroom is that skinny door at the end of the hall right next to your room. Goodnight, Tabitha.”
“’Night.”
I was too exhausted to care he had called me Tabitha again, but I had to smile when I overheard him say, “She must be out of it.”
I turned the handle and went inside. A small candle rested on a dresser. I lit it, and it cast strange shadows around the tiny room. Shelves lined with food hugged the walls, and in the center were two air mattresses and a pile of bedding. The floor was cement, but clean. I threw down my pack, laid on the bed, and stared at the ceiling. I felt so tired, but now that I had a place to rest, sleep eluded me.
I could just hide here, I thought. Find a job.
I could ... could ....
Never feel the power of a ship beneath my hands again.
Never know what happened to my crew.
Flark.
I flung myself off the mattress and started pacing as I talked to myself.
“I can’t. I have to find my crew. But I have no ship, and even if I did, I can’t very well fly without a crew.”
I sighed as I flopped back down on the mattress and stared at the ceiling some more. “If I don’t go after my crew, I’ll never get off this rock. I’ll be a fugitive all my life—whatever that winds up consisting of. Maybe there’s a middle ground. Maybe I could work here for a couple of years, save up and buy a ship, and—”
I stopped short and sat bolt upright. Berrett was standing in the doorway, his eyes wide and his lips twitching.
“Are you talking to yourself?” He was clearly trying not to laugh.
I stood up. “No, and what are you doing in here?”
“Brought you some pajamas.” He tossed them onto the dresser. “Honestly, I thought you’d be out cold, but Mama wanted you to have them, anyway. What are you and yourself discussing, exactly?”
I scowled at him. “Leave me alone.”
“Maybe I can be of assistance? Offer some insight? I mean, it’s got to be hard to have a discussion of pros and cons with you on the other end of the conversation.”
I put my hands on my hips and let out a sigh of exasperation. “Look, either stop teasing me or scoot.”
“Alright, alright.” Berrett hopped on the air mattress and leaned back against the pile of blankets. “I’ll stop teasing you. What are you trying to figure out, exactly? I mean, aside from your raging mental issues?”
“I hate you. You said you were going to stop teasing me!”
“See? One minute you love me, the next you hate me. You clearly have tremendous emotional hang-ups.”
I shook my head. “You’re ridiculous. Fine. The choices are to hide or go after my crew.”
Berrett was quiet for a second. “We talked about this. Was hiding ever a real option, Dix? Of course you’re going after your crew. All you need is a ship. And I already have that covered.”
“How? Your mother is in danger. I don’t even know whose house this is, but whoever they are, the SUN will be watching them like hawks. I’ve endangered everyone here, and—”
“Dix, come on, think. Stu told you I work in a shipyard. This is Caleb’s house, of course they suspect him, but we’re safe here for the moment. Leave the details of ship-stealing to me.”
“But if they can scan your rocket, what’s to stop them from scanning the license of any ship we—”
“Hey,” he said. “I got this. Meanwhile, I think we should look up your aunt on your Cuff.”
“You are flarking crazy! They’ll be all over that! My Cuff is registered under the name Trudy Loveless!”
“Quit whining and hand it over.”
Reluctantly, I handed Berrett my Cuff. He flipped open the back and started doing who-knows-what to it.
“There you go.”
“There I go what?”
“Cuff, meet Morgan L. Fey. Morgan, meet Cuff.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You’re pretty handy to have around.”
“Okay, so now let’s take a look and see what the net has to say about Tabitha Dixon the First.”
I entered the information into the search bar. A few minutes later, my screen was littered with hits, most of them rather unflattering posts about me. We scrolled back, page after page, until finally we stumbled across an old article on a bright young scientist named Tabitha Dixon.
“The Northeastern branch of the SUN Laboratories is pleased to welcome Dr. Tabitha Dixon into its ranks. Dr. Dixon has a stunning past and a bright future as the youngest member ever to join our team of researchers.”
“Whoa,” said Berrett. “Smart lady.”
“Ye-ep,” I said, puffing out my chest. “Runs in the family.”
Berrett snorted. “Apparently it skipped a generation.”
I shook my head and returned to reading the article, skimming past the usual SUN propaganda.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. There’s not much else here. Guess she was a pretty big deal.”
“She must have been to figure out the Eternigen.” He put his arm around me and leaned in to look more closely at the article on my Cuff. I didn’t want it to, but the touch of his arm around my shoulders felt good. Comforting, almost.
“Why would they have killed her for it?” I wondered aloud.
“Maybe they didn’t want her to prove it could be done. Maybe they wanted her to ensure it never would. I could see the SUN doing that. Like hiring someone to try to hack your system to make sure you’re safe. It’s hard enough to control the masses when we’re this spread out. Can you imagine if we had access to deep space too?”
I considered that. It had never occurred to me that the SUN might actually be trying to do anything useful.
Like prevent an intergalactic war.
“While we have all this free access,” said Berrett, “maybe we should try to figure out who Eira is.” He took my Cuff and typed in GSP, Inc. Up popped a fabulous looking site, with all kinds of interactive ways to plan a voyage to almost any planet in the System.
“Touch ‘About Us’,” I said.
He did, and sure enough, there in all her evil glory was Eira. Below her picture we found a short biography.
A graduate of the Académie on Venus, Eira Ninge studied medical sciences with the intent to become a neurosurgeon. A diagnosis of severe e
ssential tremor at age 15 forced her to change her career path, and at 16 she began to work alongside her father at Galileo Space Pioneering, Inc. On the tragic death of her father in System Year 34, Eira assumed control of GSP, Inc., making it the number one company in space pioneering technology.
“Ha! That doesn’t cover the half of it!” I cried. “Bet she wrote that herself.”
“Shh!” whispered Berrett. “Mama’s probably already asleep next door.”
I winced. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” He gave me back the Cuff and stood up. “Lots to think about, huh?”
“That’s putting it mildly.” Eira had gone to the Académie. I felt as though I had just stuck my head in a fire hose.
“Try to get some sleep. We can talk about it more in the morning if you want.”
“Thanks, Berrett.”
He turned around in the doorway and looked back at me. As I stared up into his dark brown eyes, electric currents zipped through my entire body. I held his gaze as long as I dared, then looked away and stared out the window. I could hear the smile in his voice as he turned to go.
“It’s just pajamas, Dix.”
MASTER AND APPRENTICE 10
BRIGHT ELECTRIC LIGHT STREAMED INTO MY ROOM FROM THE hallway. I swatted at it, wanting it to go away. I pulled my covers over my head and retreated into the warmth.
“Tabitha? Honey, time to rise and shine,” said Mama B.
Hmph. No rest for the wicked.
I crawled out of bed, blinking and barely able to see in front of me.
“Not used to the lights?” she asked.
I shook my head. “What time is it?”
“Six-thirty in the morning.”
She was fully dressed with a blanket in one hand and a steaming cup of coffee in the other. The smell of it wrapped around my nose and made my stomach growl. Her thick blonde hair was pulled up on each side by a set of barrettes. “Berrett was up an hour ago,” she said.
I crawled out of bed, she set her coffee cup down, and we folded blankets together.
“Where is he?” I asked.
“Upstairs. I think he wanted to go to the shipyard, but Caleb thought it was too risky to have either of you out in the open.”
“Oh.” As we folded up the blankets, a question that had been nagging at the back of my mind rolled out of my mouth before my brain could stop it. “Is Berrett your kid or does everyone call you Mama B.?”
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