Stargazers

  We were halfway around when Aurelius appeared before us, panting heavily, his face and body covered in the blood of rapidly healed wounds. His clothes were torn, his stringy hair ripped out in clumps, and he looked pissed.

  “Don’t you dare take another step toward us,” Angie threatened, reaching for a slender object attached to her waist. None of us knew what it was for, but she seemed to have high hopes of it being useful. It had been attached to her suit since leaving the ship, though I didn’t have one on me.

  “Give me back my property, and I will leave you to these vile cretins,” Aurelius barked. “You may live if you can fight them off, which gives you better odds than you will receive if you do not hand over my wife this instant.”

  He stalked toward us.

  “I said not another step!” Angie said, lunging forward. With a roar, she pressed down on the handle of the object, and a stream of shimmering red light fired out the end. It swiped across Aurelius’s neck, slicing through the muscle and tissue of his throat, leaving a neat line of smoldering skin as his head toppled off. It hit the ground with a sickening thud, his body swaying as if it had no idea what to do, now that it had been separated.

  It gave us the opportunity we needed. The three of us pushed past the headless Aurelius and ran for the opposite side of the prison. I glanced over my shoulder, and my stomach churned as I watched Aurelius lean down to pick up his head, putting it squarely back onto his neck after a bit of wiggling it to and fro. With a flicker of tentacle-like fronds, the skin of his body latched on to the skin of his head, the two pieces fitting back together as if they’d never been apart.

  “I really shouldn’t have done that,” Angie muttered, putting the laser device back in its holster. Her hands were blistered and raw, seared by the heat of the beam.

  “Did you know what it was?” I asked, gawking at her burns.

  She shrugged. “No idea. I thought it was a weapon of some kind, though I had no idea I’d be guillotining coldbloods today.” She shuddered. “And here I was, thinking Sleepy Hollow was a myth. Now I’ve really seen everything.”

  “Well, let’s hope we can catch up with the boys before zombie Aurelius catches us.”

  “I really thought you might have killed him,” Seraphina said sadly, a steely look glinting in her scarlet eyes. “It would appear to be just my luck that my cruel husband is un-killable. Is there a way around this immortality?”

  “We’re not sure yet. That’s why the boys are breaking Jareth out… at least, that’s what I think they’re breaking him out for.” I flashed her an apologetic look. “It’s a very long story, but we’ll tell you everything as soon as we’re out of danger. You might be able to fill us in on a few things, too.”

  Ten minutes later, we reached the other side of the upper floor, only to find Navan and Stone barreling up the stairs toward us with Jareth in tow. It looked like they’d reached the gap in the floor and had the same idea as us, needing to find an alternate escape route. I could only imagine what was happening down there now that the prisoners were free. It wouldn’t be long before they found their way to the upper floors and started setting everyone else loose, too.

  “The rebels are here,” Navan gasped. “They’ve got the place surrounded.”

  I nodded. “We saw them as we were breaking Seraphina out. Aurelius was waiting under the hole in the floor, so we came looking for you. He’s still following us, but Angie slowed him down.” I glanced at her in concern. Her face contorted in pain as she struggled not to touch anything with her burned hands. “Looks like we need to find another way out, if we want to get out of this place alive.”

  “Front door is yer best bet,” Stone said. “They’ll not be expectin’ anyone to have the bollocks to do it, and ye’ve got me to help with a bit o’ freezin’ and the like.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Navan replied. Between them, Jareth was bound and gagged. I realized that must have been what had taken them so long, when we broke Seraphina out pretty quick.

  With that, we all hurried toward the main entrance, Stone freezing any rebels who got in our way as we picked our way past the bodies of dead prison guards. It was a massacre, but there was nothing we could do for them now.

  “Bashrik, we’re coming out of the main entrance. Be ready for us,” Navan said over the comm device, as we neared the large foyer which led to the blast doors of the prison. The gargantuan, thick metal doors were already open, revealing the expansive landing pad beyond. Several rebel ships had already landed, but if we could dive off the edge before any of them saw us, I knew we might just make it out of here in one piece.

  “Copy that, I’ll be ready to catch you,” came Bashrik’s reply.

  “We’re going to jump from the far right-hand side of the platform.”

  Another crackle. “Copy that, moving into position now.”

  Angie gawped at Navan. “I’m sorry, did you just say ‘jump’ off this thing?”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll be perfectly safe. You’ll be in Bashrik’s safe hands.”

  “You forget, I know how safe Bashrik’s hands can be—that is what worries me. There’s a reason I call him Captain Butterfingers.”

  Navan smiled. “He won’t drop you.”

  “He better not.”

  The six of us snuck out of the prison foyer, keeping to the shadows so the rebels wouldn’t spot us. When we reached the edge, violent gusts of wind buffeted us. Navan pulled down the top half of his rubber suit, leaving it resting on his hips like a surfer’s wetsuit, and wrapped his arms around me, spreading out his wings. Body to body, I found myself smiling despite the precarious situation. It reminded me of so many previous trips, held in his arms, soaring through the sky. Here, so close to him, I could ignore the bad we’d endured and think only of happy memories.

  “Stone, come on,” Navan said, gesturing to the ambaka.

  Stone eyed Navan’s bare chest. “Aye, I’ll not, if that’s okay with ye. Me suit’ll carry me to the ship, no bother. I’ll just head fer the windscreen, hope I don’t go splat.”

  Bashrik swooped down from nowhere, his wings outstretched. Landing softly on the platform, he put his arms around Angie and Seraphina and lifted them into the air. Seraphina also had her wings stretched out, helping him along as best she could, but I could tell Bashrik was struggling with the unexpected weight.

  “Rask, Seraphina, what have they been feeding you in there?” he teased. “I used to be able to fling you about when we were kids.”

  “The perils of pregnancy, I’m afraid,” she replied, smiling.

  “Well, we’ll get you back to the ship, safe and sound.”

  “Aren’t you forgetting someone?” Angie chided.

  Bashrik planted a kiss on her forehead. “I’d never forget you, my love. Fortunately, you aren’t the one carrying precious cargo.”

  Before Navan could lift me into the air, Stone dove off the end of the platform, the air currents lifting him up, leading him toward the cloaked Fed ship. It seemed he was using the magnetism of the suit to attract him to the windshield, just as he’d said. I had to hand it to the ambaka: he was more fearless than any of us. As he neared, Lauren popped out of the airlock, throwing a rope. Clinging to a handle inside the chamber, she waited for Stone to grab hold of the end before tugging the rope into the ship, bringing him toward safety.

  With Aurelius due to appear at any moment, Navan reached for his father and grabbed the thick metal binding his wrists together. Moving to the edge of the platform, he gripped me about the waist and soared upward, following the path of the others. As he flew, Jareth dangled down beside us, looking pretty peeved about getting dragged along by the arms. Within minutes, we were standing inside the airlock chamber, the exterior door closing behind us. All of us were there, except for Ronad, who was keeping the ship steady. Meanwhile, the rebel ships stayed put, having missed the whole event.

  I couldn’t believe it. Somehow, we’d made it out of the prison. Not only that, but we had everything we??
?d come for. It reminded me of the stardust vial tucked safely in the pocket of my pants. Surely, now, there was only one place for us to go—Kaido and his neurobotanicals were calling.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “What if Sarrask isn’t there anymore?” I wondered, standing beside the control panel. We’d set a course for the lakeside cottage, but there was no way of knowing whether it was even still standing.

  Bashrik shrugged. “Then we try something else to figure out where my brothers have gone. Knowing Kaido and his… particular ways, I doubt they’ll have traveled far from the house.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “Ah, so today is to be quite the family reunion, is it?” Jareth said sourly from his chair at the far end of the cockpit. Navan had tied him to it, and he didn’t look too pleased. In fact, he didn’t look too pleased about any of what had happened. I was starting to feel like we should have just left him in his cell to rot. The whole journey from the sky prison, which hadn’t been long, he’d been sulking about the rescue. I got the feeling there was more to it than that. A lot had happened to Jareth Idrax since the last time we saw him, including a pretty harsh betrayal by Aurelius.

  “Is that a problem?” Navan retorted.

  Jareth shrugged. “I did not expect to see so many of my sons in one day, that is all.”

  “Anyone would think you wished we’d left you there.”

  “I was coming up with my own plan of escape, thank you very much.”

  Ronad snorted. “Not too successful, by the looks of it.” I supposed he felt bolder about taunting Jareth, considering the coldblood was securely tied up. Still, I remembered the peculiar kind of truce they had come to, the last time they’d encountered one another. It hadn’t been forgiveness, per se, but a bridge had definitely been crossed between them. Now, it looked as though that had all been forgotten.

  “Listen, we get it. You’ve had a bad time, what with Aurelius turning on you, even though you signed that nasty little document for him, so he could get his claws into Seraphina,” Navan said coldly. “But how about some gratitude? Aurelius wasn’t coming to let you out. We did you a favor.”

  “Seeing those rebel ships, I thought that ingrate was coming to spring me out of prison,” Jareth muttered bitterly. “Now, I realize his sole intention was retrieving Seraphina. No surprise there, I suppose. Although, after everything we went through… well, I thought I deserved my freedom. He might have joined forces with Ezra, but to leave me in that place? My estimation of that cretin has gone even further down.”

  Navan sighed. “Aurelius had no reason to rescue you, Father. He already had the immortality elixir—he didn’t need you and your knowledge anymore. Ezra swooped in and offered him the solution on a plate, with a little help from Uncle Lazar, I might add.”

  “Lazar?” Jareth spat the word.

  “He was the one who cracked the elixir’s code.”

  “That wretch learned everything from me!” he snapped, as if unable to restrain himself. I could detect a hint of sibling envy in his tone. “He was always the one following me around like a wounded frostfang, begging for my lab scraps, begging for any fragment of information I could dangle in front of him. He cannot have bested me. I will not have it!”

  Navan shrugged. “Yeah, well, he figured it out before you. He made it work, where you couldn’t.”

  “Impossible!” Jareth insisted. “Lazar is a talentless hack who has done nothing but copy the work of far finer alchemists, for the entirety of his so-called career. He belongs in the dirt, not in the history books. You are saying this to irritate me, I am certain.”

  “Afraid not, Father. Lazar was the one to crack the code.”

  “Lazar?” Jareth repeated the name over and over, his wild jealousy revealed. It was amusing to see him so troubled by the idea that his little brother might have achieved what he couldn’t. I supposed it didn’t matter how powerful a person was, they still had rivalries with their siblings, striving for greatness. Everywhere in the universe, I had a feeling it was the same.

  Navan nodded. “Yes… Lazar. Need I say it again?”

  “So… it really does exist?” Jareth’s expression calmed as he reined in his outburst. “The elixir—it really has been created?”

  “It has,” I said bluntly.

  “I had heard rumors drifting about the prison, but I did not dare to believe it.” A wistful glint glittered in Jareth’s eyes.

  “Well, believe it, because the rebels attacking this planet are all immortal. Angie even beheaded Aurelius earlier, but he stuck his head back on his shoulders and carried on as if he’d done nothing more than scrape his knee,” I said with a sigh, shuddering at the memory.

  “And you say Lazar was the one to figure it out?”

  I nodded.

  “Interesting… and how did he manage it? What was the missing link?” Jareth asked. “You must tell me of its creation. I must know.”

  Navan and I exchanged a look.

  “My dear boy, you must tell me how it was done,” Jareth urged. “The Immortality Theory is my life’s work. If somebody managed to crack the code of its creation, regardless of who that person might have been, I must know how it was done!” He tugged against his restraints, a vein throbbing at the side of his temple. Desperation bristled across his face.

  “Perhaps we might tell you another time,” Navan said, after a brief pause.

  Jareth thrashed again, pulling harder at his bonds. “My boy, I implore you to tell me how it was done. Indeed, I should very much like it if we could set our differences aside altogether, and let bygones be bygones. Whatever bad blood has passed between us, I long for it to be over. Please, Navan.” A strange look passed across his features, making him seem almost sad. “Even if you will not tell me of the elixir’s creation, at least allow me the heartfelt joy of repairing our relations.”

  Navan frowned. “Is this some trick?”

  “No trick. This goes for you two, as well—Bashrik, Ronad—and even you, Riley,” he replied, looking at us each in turn. “You see, I have had a great deal of time to think since our last meeting at the prison. I understand the value of you now, Riley, in a way I did not before. You are braver than I formerly gave you credit for—you rescued my beloved wife from Gianne’s smothering, and though she no doubt despises me for my treason against the crown, at least she still lives. Gianne is holding her in the infirmary, but she is alive thanks to you. Moreover, you and Ronad destroyed the alchemy lab at my behest, though you had no reason to, in terms of your own benefit.”

  “I didn’t do it for you,” I murmured, unable to bear the weight of his intense gaze.

  “Perhaps not, but you did do it, and I have witnessed the bond between you and my son—a bond that reminds me of the one I once shared with Lorela,” he went on. “Once upon a time, we might have done anything for one another, in the same way that you two risk everything for each other. Indeed, all this time, I have done everything with the future of my family in mind. My actions, though they may appear so, have not been selfishly motivated. I have always done what I thought was best for the Idrax family, every one of you.”

  I thought of Nova, safely asleep in one of the ship’s rooms. “That was why you built the tunnels under the house? That was why you made a deal with Aurelius to overthrow Gianne? You thought you could make it right for your wife and your children. You thought you could escape the chaos.” I hadn’t meant to say the words out loud.

  Jareth nodded. “That is precisely why.”

  “And you couldn’t have found another way?” I pressed, my temper flaring for a moment. “You couldn’t have done something other than selling Seraphina down the river, to that sick little man?”

  “I know you cannot forgive me for the hurt I have caused that dear girl, but believe I did it with good intentions,” he replied, somewhat chastened. “I ask only for your forgiveness, however far it may reach. If you cannot forgive what I did to Seraphina’s happiness, then please say you will forg
ive me for the rest of my crimes. Navan, Bashrik, I long for your forgiveness above all others.”

  I looked to Navan, whose mood darkened instantly. I could almost see the cogs whirring in his head as he remembered every treacherous thing that his father had ever done to us. Bashrik’s face was completely blank, though I knew he had to be suffering through the memories, too. Even if Jareth had acted with the best intentions, it didn’t change the fact that he had done some awful things. Did a man like that deserve forgiveness? I wasn’t sure.

  “There is one way you may atone for your sins, to prove that you truly are repentant for the crimes you have committed,” Navan said at last, a bitter tone edging his words.

  “Anything,” Jareth said.

  “You must create an anti-elixir for us that will rid the rebels of their immortality.”

  Jareth smiled. “That may be as worthwhile a task as discovering the key to the elixir in the first place,” he said, evidently still envious about Lazar’s part in its creation.

  “Does that mean you’ll do it?” Ronad sounded shocked.

  “Considering the events that have befallen me in recent weeks, it will be no surprise to learn that I am no longer a fan of the rebels,” Jareth replied. “Aurelius failed to keep his promise to me, though I upheld my end of the bargain. My wife was nearly murdered because of his selfish behavior, and my plans were left in ruins because of him. I hold no loyalty toward him anymore, nor am I particularly fond of this Ezra fellow. I do not know him well, but he seems nearly as insane as Gianne. This planet does not need more lunatics on the throne.”

  “Yes, but does that mean you’ll make the anti-elixir for us?” I pressed.

  Jareth cast me an odd look. “My only wish is for Vysanthe to find peace again. Its people, including myself, are tired of wars and squabbling monarchs," he said. “If that involves creating an anti-elixir, to rid the planet of these infectious rebels, then so be it. I should be more than happy to oblige.”