As Navan re-emerged from the water, I wrapped my arms around him, not caring that he was soaking wet. His body was bitterly cold, but still I clung to him, pressing my face into the curve of his neck, wanting to feel the comfort of him. He held me tightly, laying a tender kiss on my forehead.
“I just can’t believe he’s dead,” I whispered.
“I know,” Navan murmured against my hair. “Even when you don’t deliver the killing blow yourself, the ghosts can still haunt you.” He sighed. “I know Ianthan’s ghost still haunts me.”
It had been a long time since I’d thought about Ianthan, not realizing how much his death might have affected someone like Navan. The more I got to know him, the more human he began to seem. I barely noticed the ashen skin anymore, and he’d rarely had the opportunity to spread his wings since we’d arrived on Vysanthe. His grief was etched across his face. The two of them had been friends, after all, before Ianthan allowed himself to be swayed by his father’s endeavors.
“You cared about him a lot,” I observed softly.
He nodded. “He was my best friend—someone I thought would always be there, would always have my back. That doesn’t go away, even through betrayal.” He exhaled, his eyes taking on a faraway look. “I miss him.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, tightening my hold around his waist, as both of us stared out toward the placid water, where Galo’s body now lay.
I wondered what the pair of them used to do together, before life got in the way. They’d known each other for a long time—through all the firsts, no doubt. It made me smile to think of the two of them as coldblood kids, flapping about and causing trouble. Still, it didn’t seem like Navan wanted to say any more on the subject, so I left it. His pain was tangible.
“What are we going to do about Orion?” I asked, changing the subject. The icy chill of fear returned as I recalled his threat. My parents. He said he would hunt down my parents.
Navan’s eyes grew steely. “We should listen to Galo, but we’re going to have to play the long game while we’re stuck here in the North,” he said bitterly. “There will be no escape with Queen Brisha watching us. At least, not for the time being.”
“What, so we report back to that monster?” I spat, hating Orion with every cell in my body.
“For now,” Navan replied. “We can start small, feed little pieces of information back to Orion that don’t really help him out. While we’re doing that, we can think of a way to get out of here, to fulfil what Galo told us to do.”
I nodded. “Will the Fed in deep space be easier to persuade than the ones on Earth?” I asked, remembering how reluctant they had been.
He shrugged. “Different factions are run by different species. If we can find a more proactive headquarters, we might have a shot. They need to be powerful, too, if we’re going to amass allies in our fight against all those who would see the immortality elixir completed.”
I thought about the final words the lycan had tried to get out, before the chip had cut him off so brutally. He had been about to say something important, I was certain of it.
“What do you think Galo was trying to say?” I murmured.
He shook his head, his face perplexed. “I’ve been wondering the same thing, but I can’t come up with anything. He might have been about to give us a location, or coordinates, or something useful… I can’t say, honestly. I wish I had the answers.”
“Me too.” I grimaced, hating that it had come to this. “And now… we continue to be pawns in this intergalactic power play.”
“Until we can come up with something else,” Navan said. “Once we have another viable option to get out of here and get to a Fed base, we go for it. It will happen—it’s just a matter of time.”
I tried to take comfort in his words as we returned to the palace, knowing that people would likely have started to look for us. Pandora had left us over an hour ago, and since we hadn’t turned up for lunch, I had a feeling we’d been missed. I just hoped Pandora didn’t get in trouble for our absence—she was growing on me. She didn’t say much, but there was a steady strength to her that I warmed to.
However, as we arrived back at the palace, seeking out the dining room, it appeared they had bigger things to worry about than a few missing defectors. We had only reached as far as the grand hall, with its sweeping chandeliers and marble floor, the cream color threaded through with veins of gold, when we came across a large group of Queen Brisha’s soldiers. They were crowded around something—or someone—though I couldn’t make out who or what.
I did, however, recognize Bashrik, who was standing in front of Queen Brisha, flanked by two armed guards, his face animated, his hands gesturing wildly.
“I didn’t bring them deliberately, Your Highness!” he shouted, stepping away from the tip of a crackling pike. “I didn’t even know they were on board. I’m not even sure how they got on board!”
“Bashrik,” Navan breathed in surprise, and I frowned, wondering what was going on. Apparently, Bashrik’s ship had arrived while we’d been by the lake, and, despite his invitation to come here, things seemed far from cordial.
“You expect me to believe they are stowaways?” Queen Brisha asked. “You expect me to believe that two inferior creatures managed to sneak past you and get aboard your ship, without you realizing? You’ve been traveling for days, have you not?”
Bashrik nodded reluctantly. “I have, but—”
“So, explain to me how they have not wasted away from thirst and starvation? What, did they sneak past you again, and rummage through your supplies? I am no fool, Bashrik. I will not be lied to.”
“Look, I’m not lying, Your Highness!” Bashrik exclaimed. “I don’t know how they did it, but somehow they have. If I had known about them, I would never have told your border control agents that I was alone on the ship—I would have declared them as passengers. I know how stringent your security checks are!”
Just then, the circle of soldiers broke slightly, allowing me a glimpse of the figures within. My heart sank. Angie and Lauren were sitting on the floor in the center of the armed guards, their faces terrified, their hands covering their heads, as though they expected the soldiers to strike them at any moment.
I rushed forward, shoving the guards aside to get to my friends. The guards, however, had other ideas. They pushed me back roughly, sending me flying backward, and I landed in an awkward heap on the floor.
“Don’t touch her!” Navan yelled at the guards, as he helped me to my feet.
Instantly, Queen Brisha’s attention switched to us. A look of surprise passed over her features, her eyes curious. Slowly, she descended the stairs where she was standing, and came toward us. She placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, flashing me a concerned glance.
“Are you hurt?” she asked.
I shook my head. “No, Your Highness. Only, I know these girls—they’re my friends. If Bashrik said he didn’t put them on the ship, then I believe him. If you’d just let me speak with them, I’ll find out what happened,” I pleaded, trying to keep the panic out of my voice. If Angie or Lauren said a word about where they were really from, we were doomed. I had to get to them before Queen Brisha had the chance to probe them.
She paused for a moment, thinking. “No need. Your ‘friends’ have already told us their tale… though they refused to tell me which planet they have come from—which, perhaps, I should have expected after your own caginess.” I let out a soft sigh of relief, while she gave me a pointed look. “Your ‘friends’ informed us that they snuck aboard Bashrik’s ship, which was why Bashrik didn’t declare them, but I didn’t believe them. I do not like surprise guests in the North—even guests as interesting as Kryptonians—and I was concerned about why Bashrik would lie to me about them. Naturally, if he is to join our fold, I need to be able to trust him. Now that I hear confirmation from your lips, however, I am more inclined to think he is telling the truth…” The queen paused, casting a long, intense look over at Bashrik, before returning her eyes to me. “
Saying that, my rules change for no one. If your friends are going to stay, they will have to prove their loyalty to me. And I think you already know exactly what I will ask of them, given their refusal to tell me the location of your planet.”
An amused glimmer flashed in her silver eyes, and my stomach dropped.
“I require samples of their blood, so that I may synthesize them along with yours,” she continued. “It will give us more to work with.”
I nodded slowly. “A… fair exchange, Your Highness,” I managed, knowing I had no other option but to agree. “But first, please allow us a few hours together, so they can recover from their long journey. If they have traveled this far without food and water, they will be too weak to have blood taken—even a small amount.”
Queen Brisha smiled. “You are a smart one, aren’t you?” she murmured, though I sensed it wasn’t kindly meant. “Very well. Pandora, please escort our newcomers to suitable chambers.”
“All of them, Your Highness?” Pandora asked, approaching as she glanced at our motley crew.
The queen nodded.
“Thank you, Your Highness,” I said.
“I shall send for you and your friends later this evening, once they are rested,” Queen Brisha promised, a hint of warning in her words.
I nodded. “Of course, Your Highness. I’ll prepare them and make sure they know what’s going on.”
“See that you do, little Kryptonian… See that you do,” she remarked. With that, she turned away, heading toward a door on the far side of the main hall. It slammed shut, the echo ricocheting in my ears, sending a shiver down my spine.
“If you would all join me,” Pandora said, gesturing toward a different door.
With the help of Navan and Bashrik, I got Angie and Lauren up off the floor. Nobody spoke as we trailed after Pandora, who strode ahead at an uncomfortable speed. Navan and Bashrik didn’t have a problem, but it was tough for us Kryptonians to keep pace, so she stopped every so often to allow us to catch up.
At last, Pandora deposited us in a vast apartment just as exquisite as the chambers Queen Brisha had given to Navan and me. There were several en-suite bedrooms branching off from a main lounge area, where comfy sofas had been arranged in front of a fireplace, and there was a kitchen and a main bathroom to one side. Bookshelves stood against the vibrant plum walls of the apartment, with countless leather spines facing outward, enticing the reader in. It saddened me that they would likely never get read.
“If you need anything, let me know,” Pandora said kindly, before taking her leave. No doubt, she had matters to attend to with the queen after the kerfuffle that had just taken place. I was just glad Bashrik and my friends had arrived with their lives intact.
As Pandora left, an awkward silence descended on the room. I had yet to greet my friends properly, or even give them a hug, but still I hung back, feeling strange—it was weird to see them on Vysanthe, when they were supposed to be safe and sound at home. Secretly, a part of me wished they hadn’t come. They were in danger here. Not only that, but they were putting us all in more danger too.
Then again, there was another part of me—a much larger part—that was thrilled to have them back. Seeing them again, I realized just how much I had missed them.
Angie walked up to the fireplace and turned around dramatically, her hands on her hips. “Well, is someone going to tell us what the heck has been going on, or are we going to stand around like dorks all day?”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Grinning, I rushed to greet my friends, throwing my arms around them and pulling them close.
“We thought we’d never see you again,” Lauren said softly.
“We had no idea what had happened to you,” Angie added, with a hint of a reprimand.
I smiled sadly. “I’m sorry, guys—it all happened so fast. I’m still not even sure I know what’s going on, and I’ve been living it. But enough about me for a second. How are you two?” They had looked genuinely shaken by their run-in with the guards, and I wanted to make sure they were okay.
“It’s all kind of a blur, to be honest,” Lauren replied, pushing her purple glasses back up onto the bridge of her nose.
“Yeah, I seriously wasn’t sure I’d come out of all that with dry pants,” Angie said.
I smirked. “Let me know if you need a change of undies.”
“Speaking of a change of undies,” Bashrik interjected as he glared at Angie and Lauren, “what the hell were you two thinking? You almost got me killed!”
My friends suppressed a smile, sharing a conspiratorial glance.
“Sorry about that, Bash,” Angie said, before turning to me. “After we got the call from Navan, it didn’t seem right allowing Bashrik to leave us in Texas. I mean, what were we going to do? Sit around, twiddling our thumbs, while our best friend was stuck on a planet on the other side of the universe, and potentially in mortal danger? We would have gone insane. So, we made an executive decision.”
“Angie made an executive decision,” Lauren corrected. “I didn’t have much choice in the matter.”
“But aren’t you glad you came?” Angie asked.
Lauren grimaced. “Ask me in a few days.”
“As much as I hate to break up this charming reunion,” Navan interrupted, “we really should brief you all on what has been going on before Queen Brisha sends for you again. We have a very fragile position here, and we’ve been forced to tell a few tales to ensure we didn’t end up dead. So you’re going to have to get up to speed pretty quickly. Bashrik, I know I told you some of what Queen Brisha wants from you, but you’ll need to know the ins and outs of things, too. Hopefully by the end of this everyone will have the whole story instead of little fragments.”
Bashrik nodded, though his sapphire eyes were still flashing with annoyance as he glanced across at Angie and Lauren. “I still can’t believe you snuck on board my ship,” he muttered.
“No harm done though, right?” Angie said sweetly.
He scowled. “I’m sending you my medical bills.”
Navan coughed, diverting everyone’s attention, and I sat beside him, my hand on his. Once the whole group had gathered on the sofas, he began to tell the tale of what had brought us here. He told them all about the failed rescue attempt at the hidden rebel compound, and the promise we’d had to make to get out of there alive, which had led us to Vysanthe. I chimed in here and there, and together, we explained all about the chip, the undercover operation to garner intel for Orion on Queen Gianne’s queendom, and our escape over the border into Northern Vysanthe.
“Hence the arm,” Navan noted, lifting his bandaged limb.
“I was wondering about that,” Bashrik noted. “It’s not like you to get injured.”
“A lucky shot, nothing more,” Navan retorted.
Ignoring their brotherly banter, I pressed on, explaining Queen Brisha’s rules, and the need for outsiders to prove themselves. Here, we got to the grim part. Looking at Angie and Lauren, I went into detail about the blood and what she expected of them. Predictably, their faces twisted up in disgust.
“I hate needles.” Lauren shuddered.
“Yeah, and I’m not letting some nasty grayskin near me with something pointy!” Angie said.
Bashrik flashed her a look. “I’ve asked you not to call us that.”
She sighed. “I didn’t mean you. I meant the evil ones who want to take our blood.”
“Even so, could you not?” Bashrik remarked frostily. Not waiting for her response, he turned to Navan. “What about the pod with the blood sample in it? Do we know where it is?”
“Vanished,” Navan replied. “It had a tracker inside it, programmed to start flashing only when it reached a certain point, to keep the location of Earth secret, but the beacon went dead a few days ago outside the Ferrite System.”
Bashrik frowned. “Weird.”
Navan nodded. “Very weird. We just have to hope it’s broken down, or has been snatched up by someone who just wants the
parts.”
“Do we really have to have our blood taken?” Lauren asked, bringing us back to the matter at hand.
Before I could answer, alarms erupted all around us, the sound piercing through my eardrums with a deafening shriek. It screamed in a very particular pattern, starting quieter before reaching earsplitting levels of loudness. Navan and Bashrik looked at each other, fear paling their faces. Lauren and Angie were looking at me like I ought to know what the sound meant, but I was just as confused as they were. The only thing I did know was that I had never seen Navan so frightened. He was truly rattled, his eyes wide in panic.
“What’s going on?” I asked frantically.
“It can’t be…” Navan whispered.
“Navan, what is it?!” I pressed, grabbing him by the face and forcing him to look at me.
“They’re air-raid sirens,” Bashrik hissed before Navan could reply. “We’re being attacked!”
A second later, Pandora burst through the door, wielding two crackling sabers in her hands. On her back, she had two silver rifles, and at her hips were four silver pistols, flanked by pockets of ammo. She looked intense, to say the least, but I knew she might be just the woman to get us the hell out of here.
“Follow me!” she roared, before darting out of the door again. We ran after her, Navan suddenly returning to himself as he sprinted out of the room and down the hallway, following Pandora’s lead.
She took us to the end of the corridor, pausing in front of what looked like an ordinary wall. Bracing herself, she heaved a booted foot against the surface of the wall, kicking it with all her might. Something finally gave with a deafening crack. The wall crumbled, revealing the shape of a door that had been concealed by a layer of plaster. It was ajar, and Pandora slammed her shoulder against it, pushing it wide open.
“This way!” she bellowed, disappearing through the doorway.
It led to a series of winding staircases, which we thundered down, the rickety metal frame trembling beneath our weight. My heart was pounding as we hurried farther and farther down into the darkness, the way lit only by the dim glow of emergency lighting that clung weakly to the slick walls of the secret passageway.