by Brenda Hiatt
Allister snorts. “As I already explained, there are others, like myself, who can deal with the Grentl should they ever return. Surely you still agree that a sixteen-year-old girl is no fit leader for our people?”
“I confess,” Lennox says before I can answer, “that I was disappointed to hear your commitment might be wavering. Crevan Erc spoke so highly of your dedication to the Populist cause. Do you no longer adhere to their aims?”
I swallow, trying to remember my carefully rehearsed speech. “I definitely believe all of our people should have a voice in our government, which is the central pillar of the Populist platform. But after getting to know the Sovereign a little better, I think we might make more progress by working with her instead of against her. Especially since I get the impression that once she feels she’s no longer needed as Sovereign, she’ll step down on her own. So if we just wait until—”
“Don’t be absurd,” Lennox snaps. “The longer she is in power, the more accustomed to it she will grow and the less willing she will be to give it up. From the start, her arrogance was evident in her refusal to be guided by Allister or other members of the Council, particularly in the matter of young Stuart. Between them, she and that boy have the potential to destroy any viable future for our people, both on Mars and on Earth. Nor is that Regent of hers likely to prevent it, as he’s the boy’s grandfather. Time is of the essence.”
Even knowing what Lennox tried to do to Rigel, the venom in his voice startles me. It must show in my expression, because Allister quickly waves Lennox to silence, then leans forward with an ingratiating smile.
“I have no doubt Emileia has been very convincing, Kira. She has, after all, managed to persuade a large majority of our people to throw their support behind her, despite her obvious shortcomings. The question is, are you still willing to help us? In our efforts to further the Populist cause, I mean.”
That last bit is obviously an afterthought, which confirms what I’d already suspected. The Populist cause means nothing to them except as cover for their own, more sinister agenda.
“I’m sorry. I’m really not comfortable deceiving Emileia and her friends to dig up ammunition you’ll use against her. Not when I no longer believe undermining her is the best way to achieve the Populists’ goals.”
Lennox turns to Allister with a frown. “I was afraid of this. We never should have trusted a child with such an important mission.” He reaches for the omni on the table in front of them. “Now we have no choice but to—”
“No.” Allister grabs his wrist before he can disconnect the holo-call. “Not yet.” Turning back to me, he summons a not-very-convincing smile. “Not to worry, my dear.” His tone is almost fatherly, though he’s still gripping Lennox’s wrist. “Of course we can’t ask you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. You, ah, haven’t happened to mention to anyone else that you’ve been in touch with us? One of your new friends, or a family member, perhaps?”
I expected this question. “No. No one, I swear. If anyone suspected I was working with the Populists they’d probably kick me out of Jewel, since the Council thinks they were behind an attack on the Sovereign last month.”
“Yes, well, every movement has its fringe elements.” Allister keeps his smile in place. “You’re likely quite correct about the consequences should anyone learn of your mission. Ah, former mission. You’d almost certainly join us permanently in Dun Cloch, though I imagine your accommodations would be rather more spartan than ours.”
He lets that sink in for a moment before continuing. “If you are certain you don’t wish to help us any longer—?”
“No, sir. I’m sorry.”
“Ah, well. We shall be sorry to lose you. To minimize both our risk and yours going forward, we will need to remove your tracking chip and exchange the phone we gave you for your original one. Once those potentially incriminating bits of evidence are disposed of, we can go our separate ways.”
I let out a cautious breath, trying not to let my relief show on my face. Can it really be this easy? “That…sounds fine to me, sir. How? And when?”
Lennox shoots Allister one last glare, then turns and whispers something to Enid that I can’t hear. She nods and whispers something in response. Lennox then turns back to me with a smile that positively creeps me out, it’s such an abrupt shift from the expression he wore just a moment ago.
“Enid assures me she is willing to travel to Jewel personally to take care of everything, as we are unable to do so ourselves. Where are you now?”
“In an unfinished apartment complex behind Diamond View Terrace. Nobody’s living here yet and all the construction workers are gone at night.”
His creepy smile widens. “Then that should be an excellent place for the, ah, extraction and exchange to take place. Enid will message you when she arrives to arrange a specific time to meet.”
I nod eagerly. “That sounds perfect. Thank you all for understanding.”
“We’re reasonable men, not monsters.” Allister’s reassurance isn’t quite as reassuring as I’d like. “We’ll speak with you again soon, probably for the last time. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll leave Enid to deactivate your tracking chip until it can be removed, as there is no point in keeping it functional. She will let you know when it’s safe to close the connection.”
Swiftly, they both stand and exit the room, leaving their omni on the low table between me and where they were sitting. Meanwhile, Enid starts fiddling with a device she’s holding.
“Um, thanks for doing this, Enid,” I say when the silence becomes uncomfortable. “I really appreciate it.”
She flicks a glance my way, then continues whatever she’s doing without replying. I got the impression when I met her in Dun Cloch that she positively idolizes Lennox. She probably thinks I’ve betrayed him by backing out of our agreement.
Another five minutes creep awkwardly past before she finally says, “Almost done now.”
Even as she speaks, the back of my neck suddenly burns. I involuntarily clap a hand over the spot. “Ow! What—?”
“Ah. Good. I believe we’re finished now.”
“You mean it’s supposed to hurt like this? Why?”
“Just a side effect of the deactivation. The discomfort will soon fade. Expect to hear from me within a few days. Ending transmission.” She moves to the omni on the table and abruptly I’m alone, looking across the unfinished apartment complex courtyard.
* * *
The back of my neck has nearly stopped burning by the time I cross Ruby Street again. As the pain fades, so does my lingering anxiety. I’m still amazed by how well that interview went. I expected them to argue more, to try to win me back to their side, tell me more terrible stuff about the Sovereign. Is it possible they’ve realized she’s not as bad a leader as they thought—or at least that she’s necessary because of the Grentl thing? I can only hope.
Either way, I’m done. No more conspiring to betray people I’m starting to like. Especially Sean.
Feeling about a hundred pounds lighter than I did an hour ago, I hurry back to our apartment. I don’t even mind when Aggie jumps on me, demanding to be picked up and petted. Grinning, feeling at peace with the world, I scoop her up and hold her close enough to my face that she licks my nose.
“I guess you really are pretty cute,” I tell her.
Adina and my parents stare, clearly dumbfounded.
The wary look Sean gives me when I board the bus the next morning makes me realize how much my behavior yesterday must have worried him. To make up for it, I take his hand as soon as I sit down, reveling in the comfort and strength his touch now gives me, along with the pleasure I felt from the start.
“Sorry I couldn’t walk with you last night. Maybe tonight?”
His happiness and relief are almost palpable, making me feel even guiltier for being so aloof and distracted yesterday. “Sure! After the game, maybe? You coming?”
“Sure.” Though I’d completely forgotten there’s another football game to
night, I don’t hesitate. I refuse to think about Allister and company again until I have to, sometime late tomorrow. For today I can enjoy being a normal high school girl. Well, a normal Echtran girl, anyway, with no hidden agendas.
“Great! I’ll ask Mum and Dad if I can have the van—though they may be planning to go, too. They do sometimes, what with Mol on the cheer squad and all.”
“Either way, we can sit together, right?”
“Definitely.”
We talk about other school stuff for the rest of the bus ride. At one point Sean suggests again I should try out for the girls’ basketball team and this time I agree it sounds fun. My whole future looks a hundred percent brighter than it did yesterday.
In Physics, Alan again tries to convince me Sean’s just leading me on, but I’m in way too good a mood for his snark to bother me.
“If it makes you feel better to believe that, go right ahead,” I tell him cheerfully. “Personally, I think your time would be better spent getting to know his sister, Molly. Last I heard, she’s not going out with anyone.”
He looks startled, then thoughtful.
Smiling to myself, I open my textbook.
At lunch, Sean and I again get a table to ourselves, but only briefly. We’ve barely started eating when the Sovereign and Rigel plunk their trays down across from us.
“So, everything good with you guys today?” she asks brightly, though there’s nothing casual about the way her eyes probe me, then Sean.
“Fine,” Sean answers easily. “Why?”
She shrugs. “No reason. Yesterday you both looked a little…tense.”
“I, um, was kind of distracted about some stuff going on at NuAgra. With my mum’s research, I mean.”
Lying to the Sovereign makes me feel oddly guilty—especially when she gives me a quick, sharp look. Crap. Does she have the same ability Sean’s mother does? He never mentioned it… But then she smiles again.
“I guess it must have gone okay, though, huh?”
“Yeah, though I was probably more hindrance than help,” I say, truthfully this time. “I kept mixing up the seedling containers. Luckily, Mum knows her stuff.”
Rigel glances from me to Sean and back. “You guys coming to the game tonight?”
We both nod and Sean says, “You’re still bringing it down a notch from that game a couple weeks ago, right?”
He laughs. “Yeah. Maybe even more than last week, we’re already such favorites. Making it close might—” He breaks off, frowning at me. “Don’t mention I said that, okay? Shaving points is seriously frowned on by the athletic association.”
“But you kind of have to, don’t you?” I ask, then glance at Sean. “Both of you? So will I, if I end up playing on the girls’ basketball team.” That idea has started to grow on me. “If I do, I’ll need tips.”
That topic dominates the rest of the lunch period, Rigel and Sean talking about the challenges of playing well without being too good and M about how she has to hold back in Taekwondo—not that she does it competitively.
As we gather our trays afterward, M turns to me. “I’ve been meaning to compliment you—all of you—on your accents. I’d never guess you were all living in Nuath just a few months ago instead of upstate New York.”
Rigel nods. “The only thing slightly off is saying ‘mum’ instead of ‘mom,’ but you can pass that off as a regional idiosyncrasy if anyone questions it.”
“They told us that in Dun Cloch,” I admit, “but Adina could never manage it consistently, so I figured we’d better match.”
As we all head to Government class together, I see Molly just ahead walking with Alan and have to smile again. It’s wonderful to think that from now on I can just be friends with these people, with no ulterior motives. Especially M and Rigel. I now have a much greater appreciation for all they’ve been through and everything they’ve accomplished.
And…they really are nice.
39
Personal foul
Sean
Mum and Dad are on the phone with some friends in Bailerealta when it’s time to leave for the game, so they’re fine with me taking the car. I text Kira and she asks if I can give her sister a ride, too. I don’t mind, but I hope she doesn’t sit with us. There’s something I want to tell Kira tonight, without anyone else listening in.
Adina hurries off to find her friends as soon as we get to the game, taking care of that problem. Mounting the bleachers, we briefly get waylaid by M’s friends Bri and Deb, then by a few of my basketball buddies, but I decline all invitations to sit with them. Hand in hand, Kira and I climb to the very top of the stands and find a relatively empty spot.
“Excellent.” Grinning, I settle next to her. “I was hoping to have you to myself this evening—so to speak.” I glance at the nearest group of fans, a few feet away.
“So you can explain more about football without anyone thinking it’s weird?”
“That, too.”
To my delight, she scoots a little closer, her low chuckle thrumming through me pleasantly.
“I’m glad that whatever was bothering you yesterday isn’t anymore,” I say after a brief, contented silence.
She slants a curious glance up at me. “So you didn’t believe it had to do with Mum’s research either? I could tell M didn’t, at lunch. Made me wonder if she has same talent your mum does?”
“She’s never said so, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Seems like the longer she and Rigel are together—bonded—the more stuff they can do, both together and separately. Sometimes I think—”
The roar of the crowd interrupts me—the team has just run onto the field. I take advantage of the noise to face Kira more fully, lean a little closer. I hold her gaze with mine, speaking urgently. “Kira, I know we only met for the first time a couple of weeks ago and have only been…close…less than half that long, but I—”
Her hand tightens convulsively on mine, then she lets go and turns half away, breaking eye contact. “Sean, stop. Before you say anything else, there’s…something I need to tell you.”
All the breath leaves my body. I swallow, waiting, frightened by the sudden distress I see on her face. She doesn’t continue right away—like she’s trying to find the right words. The suspense is killing me.
“Go on,” I finally say, my voice sounding harsh and strange to my ears. She darts a scared-looking glance my way, making me tense further.
Finally, haltingly, she says, “I…I thought maybe you’d never need to know about this, but keeping it from you feels so wrong now, I can’t— That is— Remember when you said I sounded like a…an Anti-Royal, as you called them? Well, you were right. I’ve been one all along, since before I left Mars. I came to Jewel hoping—planning—to do everything I could to undermine the Sovereign, turn people against her.”
Though she’s confirming my very worst suspicions about her, I feel more relief than anything else. Because she’s not saying she doesn’t want to be with me. Or is she?
“Are you telling me the only reason you acted friendly toward me, agreed to spend time with me, was to—”
“To gain your confidence so you’d tell me things that could be used against M by the Populist movement, yes. But only at first!” She meets my gaze again, her eyes imploring me to believe her. “The better I got to know you—know all of you—the more I started to doubt everything I’d been told about the Sovereign. About Royals.”
I frown at her uncertainly. “But…I thought they screened out everyone with views like that before letting them come to Jewel?”
“Only the adults, and my parents are rock-solid Royalists, completely loyal to the Sovereign. That’s why they were among the first to volunteer to come to Earth—and why they requested to live in Jewel.”
That made sense. Whoever did the screening probably assumed minors would share their parents’ views and loyalties. Obviously a bad assumption.
“You said you were trying to gather information for the Populists. Who, exactly? Are there other
s here in Jewel?”
She shakes her head but, oddly, seems more upset than ever. “That’s the worst part, the part I was afraid to tell you. I’ve been reporting back to…to your Uncle Allister and former Governor Lennox, in Dun Cloch. They contacted me while I was there, said I’d been recommended to them by Crevan Erc, the leader of the Populist movement back on Mars. They claimed they had come to embrace those same principles and asked me to work with them. For them.”
Those last words are spoken so softly I have to lean down to hear them. She looks so miserable I want to comfort her but I don’t dare. Not now. Not yet.
“And you believed them? After everything—?”
“I didn’t know about any of that, not then! They told me they’d only been removed from their positions and restricted to Dun Cloch because M had a grudge against them for stopping her from running away with Rigel. That they’d acted in her best interests, and that of our people, but she’d turned on them. It…seemed to fit with everything I’d been told about her by the Populists.”
Her pleading expression makes me long to believe her. I stare at her, holding her gaze, wishing I had Mum’s ability to know whether someone is telling the truth. Or, better, that whatever bond is forming between us allowed me to hear her thoughts.
“And now?”
“Now I realize how incredibly stupid and gullible I was. I wanted so badly to believe I could still be important to the movement, even on Earth. Before we left Nuath—right before I found out we were coming here—Crevan Erc himself asked me to help their cause. That, even more than caidpel, made me want to stay on Mars, where I could still make a difference. Like I did for the Resistance…”
She trails off, a little sob escaping her. “It’s just like you said the other night—I couldn’t stand the idea of being…ordinary. Relegated to the sidelines.”
My throat tightens again, this time with understanding.
“I get that. I do.” I put my hand back over hers and almost imagine I can feel her anxiety and guilt through the touch, along with the delicious tingle she always gives me. “The same way I thought accepting the whole M and Rigel thing would relegate me to the sidelines. Make me a nobody again. But maybe…maybe being on the sidelines isn’t such a bad thing, after all. I mean, where would our star players be if they didn’t have supporters cheering them on, helping out?”