The Girl From Mars

by Brenda Hiatt

  Kira manages a shaky laugh. “Maybe you’re right. I did always play my best in front of an enthusiastic crowd of fans. Anyway, I’m done, as of last night. I let Allister and Lennox know I won’t be sending any more reports. That’s why I was so distracted yesterday, worrying how they’d react when I told them.”

  “You… Wait! How did you communicate with them? They’re not supposed to be able to contact anyone outside of Dun Cloch, it’s part of their sentence.” I double-checked with Mum about that, a couple nights ago.

  “There’s a woman working with them, Enid, who does all their tech stuff. She figured out how to get around the blocks on their communications. And she set up that holo thing they did last night, projecting me into their living room—they said she only just got that working.”

  I frown. “So last night you told them you quit? And they just let you…walk away? No threats?”

  “They did argue some, but not as much as I expected. I was so relieved to be done with them, I hoped I could just forget the whole thing, never have to mention it to anyone. To you. But…I’ve always hated lying, to anyone. Lying to you, especially if— I couldn’t do it. Not even if telling the truth means you don’t still—”

  I tighten my grip on her hand. “I do still. Very much. I think it was incredibly brave of you to tell me.”

  She smiles up at me, her relief so obvious now, I feel it, too.

  “This explains how they sent orders to Gordon,” I muse after a moment. “Everyone seemed so sure they couldn’t have. Kira, can I tell M what you told me? We can’t be positive you’re the only person in Jewel they compromised. The Council needs to know what they’ve been up to, that they still have the ability to—”

  “What? No!” She stares up at me in alarm. “If the Council knew I helped them, or tried to, wouldn’t they consider me just as guilty? They’d probably send me straight back to Dun Cloch—lock me up and throw away the key! Allister said—”

  “He just wanted to scare you, to keep you quiet,” I assure her. “I can’t imagine the Council punishing you for turning them in.”

  She doesn’t look nearly so sure. And, if I’m honest, I’m not a hundred percent positive myself. What if they vote to make an example of Kira, to dissuade any other malcontents?

  “Tell you what,” I say after a moment’s thought. “How about I just let M know the basics, that you met them in Dun Cloch and they convinced you to keep in touch. I’m sure she can figure out a way to let the Council know there’s been a breach without bringing your name into it.”

  Kira looks at me doubtfully. “Do you really think she’d be willing to do that?”

  “I really do.”

  Especially if I tell her how much I care about Kira and ask her to do it as a favor to me. As eager as M has been for me to move on, I can’t believe she’d ruin my one chance to do so.

  Slowly, Kira nods. “If you trust her that much…so do I.”

  Fully aware she’s just put her fate in my hands, I pull her close for a kiss. Not as long a one as I’d like, since we’re in public, but still incredibly sweet.

  Another cheer erupts from the stands, though it could just as easily be inside my head. Pulling just slightly away, I glance at the scoreboard and see that Jewel just scored its first touchdown. Which is excuse enough for another kiss.

  40

  Fourth down

  I enjoy the rest of the football game more than anything I can remember, even though I don’t pay much attention to the action on the field. I’m even more relieved than I was last night, knowing I’ve come clean with Sean and he still wants to be with me. I spend the rest of the evening in a blissful haze.

  Between discreet kisses, Sean asks more questions and I give him every detail I can remember about my conversations with Allister and Lennox. He seems worried they’ll send someone to silence me permanently, instead of just sending Enid to remove my chip. But I’m too happy to share his concern.

  “Lennox was upset at first but your Uncle Allister talked him down. I think they just want to get rid of any incriminating evidence, so even if I do tell anyone about them, no one will believe me.”

  “Maybe.” He doesn’t seem convinced. “I still think I should come with you when you meet that Enid person, just in case.”

  “But then they’d know I told you. I should be safe as long as they think they’re safe—and I won’t feel like I’m really free of them until this chip is gone. I want it out.”

  He doesn’t argue any more but I can tell he still doesn’t like it. I’d be irritated by his overprotectiveness if I didn’t know it’s because he cares about me. That’s enough to make up for anything else.

  * * *

  The next day he texts me four different times asking if I’ve heard from Enid yet. I text back each time that I haven’t, that I might not for several more days. After the one he sends on my way to Taekwondo, I ask if he’s said anything to M yet, since that might make seeing her in class a little awkward.

  Not yet, he replies. Figure I’ll wait till she gets to our house this afternoon before the Council meeting and do it in person.

  Which means if Sean’s wrong about her and she outs me to the Council, I could be arrested before bedtime tonight.

  That thought makes it hard to focus in Taekwondo, at least at first. To make up for not letting us spar at all on Wednesday, Master Parker has us spend most of today’s class doing just that. Outfitted in a brand-new set of pads of my very own, I’m again paired with M.

  “Ready?” she whispers with a grin just before he signals us to begin.

  I nod, reminding myself she’s only talking about Taekwondo, not…the other thing.

  Interestingly, now that I’m no longer angry at the Sovereign, I do a better job sparring against her. Maybe my negative emotions interfered with my reactions and strategy? More clear-headed today, I’m able to anticipate most of her moves in time to counter them. By the end of our third round, she regards me with new respect.

  “Wow, you have really improved, Kira. Have you been practicing on the side?”

  “No, but I’m in a way better mood than last time. I think it helps.”

  She smiles. “I noticed—and I’m glad. Sean deserves to be happy. So do you.”

  Before I can ask what she means by that last bit, Master Parker has us switch sparring partners for another three-round match.

  * * *

  Though my brief exchange with M reassured me she’s unlikely to intentionally do anything to hurt me—or Sean—I’m still nervous when the Echtran Council meeting at the O’Garas’ begins that evening. Sean texted to say he talked to M and she asked the Council to let him sit in.

  That way I can help argue your case if necessary—though I doubt it will be. The second it’s over, I’ll let you know. You’re NOT going to get in trouble.

  I really, really hope he’s right.

  Sean warned me that these meeting usually last several hours, so I settle in to wait, trying to distract myself with homework. I know he won’t be able to text me again until the meeting’s over, so I’m startled when my phone vibrates less than an hour later.

  The message isn’t from Sean. It’s from Enid.

  Arrived in Jewel. Construction site appears deserted. Meet me in apartment 104-A.

  I read the message through twice, looking for any hint Sean’s suspicions could be justified. The text is terse, but so is Enid—at least with me. Setting my homework aside, I put on my shoes and text her back that I’m on my way.

  Telling my parents I’m going for another walk, ignoring Adina’s knowing grin, I leave the apartment. Because I promised, I send Sean a quick text telling him what I’m doing, even though he won’t see it until after the Council meeting. With any luck, by the time Sean gets my text I’ll have already sent another one letting him know his worries were groundless.

  My phone back in my pocket, I walk quickly toward the meeting place, eager to have this entire business behind me once and for all. Once I enter the e
mpty complex I have to slow down to pick my way past ladders and other construction equipment. Enid is nowhere to be seen.

  “Hello? Enid?” When no one answers, I turn slowly in place, scanning the courtyard. It’s not as dark as last time, since the sun only set half an hour or so ago, and I see there are numbers painted on the buildings, something I didn’t notice before.

  I pull my phone back out and read Enid’s text again. Apartment 104-A, she said. I locate building 104 and head for its stairwell, similar to ours. Units A and B are on the ground floor. The door to B is closed and locked—I check—but unit A’s door is ajar, probably why she chose it for the chip extraction.

  “Enid?”

  I push the door wider and step inside, peering around the unfinished apartment. The only light comes from a nearby streetlight shining through an uncurtained window at the rear of the room. “Is anyone here?”

  Sean’s frequently-voiced suspicions echo urgently in my head. I’m turning to leave as quickly as I came when my phone signals an incoming call on the secret app. Frowning, I unlock it and answer.

  “Hello?”

  An instant later Allister and Lennox are right in the room with me, standing just a few feet away.

  “How—?” I begin, confused. I didn’t even touch the holo button.

  “This time we are generating the holograms from our end.” Allister says with that fake smile that makes me instinctively mistrust him. “We said we would speak with you one last time, did we not?”

  Slowly, I nod. “I just didn’t expect… Where’s Enid? This is the apartment she told me to come to, but she’s not here.”

  Lennox’s smile is less fake but more unpleasant than Allister’s. “I’m afraid Enid is far too useful to risk. We simply had her find a suitable enclosed space before taking herself to a safe distance.”

  My mouth goes dry. “Safe distance from what?”

  “The explosion that will shortly occur,” he explains. “You should be pleased to hear we found a way for you to serve a valuable purpose after all, one that will no doubt cause most of your fellow Populists to rejoice. They may well hail you as a hero.”

  “What…what do you mean? What purpose?”

  His nasty smile broadens. “The instrument of the Sovereign’s demise, of course. In just a few minutes she will receive a text that will appear to come from your phone. With any luck, she will bring young Stuart with her and we will be able to kill two birds with one stone. So to speak.”

  41

  Assist

  Sean

  M was surprisingly understanding when I told her about Kira communicating with Uncle Allister and Lennox.

  “She had no way of knowing they weren’t really Populist sympathizers,” she said. “I’ve told the Council all along it was dangerous to keep what those two did secret, but they seemed to think it would undermine people’s trust in Royals if they knew the whole story. Now I can say, ‘I told you so.’”

  “Still, if you can keep Kira’s name out of it—”

  “I’ll try. If I do have to mention her by name, I’ll make it clear she’s not to be held responsible. Don’t worry, Sean.”

  Even so, sitting here in the corner of the living room during the Council meeting an hour later, I can’t help worrying a little.

  “I still find it hard to believe an Anti-Royal slipped through our screening process,” Connor is saying. “I assure you, Excellency, we were extremely thorough. The potential threat—”

  M cuts him off. “I don’t think the Anti-Royals—Populists—are nearly the threat you’ve believed, especially considering my would-be attacker’s unexplained death. Someone obviously wanted to silence him before he could reveal who really sent him, which implies it was not the Populists, as he originally claimed. I consider it far more likely Gordon Nolan orchestrated that attack, acting on orders from Allister and Lennox. If you remember, I suggested that before, but you insisted that was impossible because of the communication block that was supposedly in place. The one we now know doesn’t work.”

  Rigel’s dad, who’s from the Informatics fine, agrees. “I did warn you, once you acquainted me with the precautions you’d used, that a skilled hacker could work around them. Their confederate in Dun Cloch was clearly able to do just that. However, it should be a simple enough matter to put a far more robust dampener in place. Particularly if we can identify that confederate to prevent any further tampering.”

  The discussion continues for nearly half an hour, with more than one Council member demanding to know which of the newcomers was compromised.

  “You must see, Excellency, how important it is to be certain he or she poses no further threat,” Breann insists. “Your safety—”

  “Is not at risk,” M tells her. “The person in question did admit to Populist leanings but never intended me any harm. They showed a great deal of courage in coming forward to prevent Allister and Lennox from deceiving anyone else. I won’t have that person punished when no one has been hurt.”

  I keep expecting someone to ask me who it was, but they don’t—probably because M is stating her case so strongly. I’m impressed all over again by how much she’s grown as a leader over the past few months.

  Finally, they move on to other topics. When the meeting adjourns, more than an hour later, M turns to me with a triumphant smile. I respond with a little thumbs-up, not wanting to be obvious while the physically-present Council members are still in the room. The real trick will be deflecting Mum’s inevitable questions later on, when it’s just us.

  To delay that as long as possible, I follow M outside when everyone else leaves. “Thanks, M. You did exactly what you promised and I—”

  “Just a sec,” she interrupts, pulling out her phone—her first-ever cellphone. “Huh. I got a text from Kira, but it doesn’t make sense.” She shows it to me.

  I hope you can help me. I went exploring in the unfinished apartment complex and am trapped inside 104-A.

  I frown at the text, wondering why she’d have contacted M about something like that instead of me—then remember I turned my phone off for the meeting. Quickly, I pull it out and power it up. Kira did send me a text—but a totally different one.

  Going to meet Enid to have chip removed. Text me when the meeting’s over and we’ll go for a walk or something. And please don’t worry! Then I notice it was sent well over an hour ago.

  “When did your text from Kira come in?” I ask M.

  She glances at her phone again. “Just a few minutes ago. Hm.” Her eyes go unfocused for a long moment, then she looks at me again, even more concerned now. “Weird. Rigel got the exact same text I did.”

  My earlier suspicions, which Kira managed to partially allay last night, instantly revive. “Uncle Allister and Lennox must be behind this. It sounds like they’re trying to lure both you and Rigel to wherever they’re holding Kira—which means it’s some kind of trap. You know how they feel about you two. I’ll go instead.”

  Already, I’m halfway down the porch steps.

  “Wait, Sean! If it really is a trap, it’s not safe for you to go, either. Let me send Cormac with a security detail. They’ll be able to—”

  “Are you kidding? If they’re holding Kira hostage and a security team shows up, they’ll probably kill her just like they did that guy who attacked you, so she can’t implicate them.”

  M furrows her brow. “How do you know they won’t do the same thing if you go, since it’s obviously Rigel and me they want? How can we even be sure—?”

  She breaks off, but I know what she almost said. Because the same idea occurs to me with a sickening jolt—that we have no way of knowing if Kira’s still alive even now. No! I won’t believe that. I can’t. If they’d… If she’d… I’d know. Somehow, I’d know.

  “Okay, okay, let’s think,” I say, though every cell in my body chafes at the delay when I want to be rushing to her side. “If we’re right that they’ve captured her to use as bait to lure in you and Rigel, it’s possible the
y’ll do something drastic if anyone else shows up. But it would be stupid for the two of you to play right into their hands. You’re both too valuable.”

  She stares into space again for a long moment and I know she’s communicating telepathically with Rigel, probably telling him everything we’ve talked about and listening to whatever ideas he has. Finally, she gives a little nod.

  “How about this? Rigel and I will go to the apartment annex as soon as he gets here. But we’ll go knowing it’s a trap and be completely on our guard, in case there’s an ambush or something. Even if Allister and Lennox and whoever they’re working with know about our electrical ability, they can’t have any idea how strong it is now. We should be able to…incapacitate anyone before they can hurt us—or Kira.”

  I see a trace of fear in her expression and wonder if it’s for her own safety or the chance they could inadvertently kill somebody with one of their lightning strikes. Something I’d be totally willing to risk for Kira’s sake…but I’m not M. I’m also not staying behind.

  “Fine, but I’m coming with you. No, wait, listen,” I add quickly when she starts to protest. “Uncle Allister always said I was the son he never had. I’m willing to put that to the test, gamble he won’t order me killed.” Or, I fervently hope, have Kira killed. “If he’s in charge, monitoring things, me being there might throw him off long enough for you two to use your electrical thing—though I still think it’s risky for you to go at all.”