“While I may not believe you, I will hear you out. What is it you want from me?”
“If Ezra has escaped with Yorrek’s notebook, then it means he’s going to try to crack the elixir with it,” Navan explained. “We need you and your sister to chase after Ezra instead of trying to take control of Earth.”
“There really isn’t that much here for you, and if it’s the blood you need, then I’ll volunteer it myself, just as I did when we first met,” I added.
“You mean, you wish me to do your dirty work, as you do not have the numbers—and, in doing so, give you the liberation of your people?” She had seen right through us, but it didn’t matter. I knew the notebook would be enough to tempt her away.
“It’s mostly the notebook. We don’t want it falling into the wrong hands,” I promised.
“I see the ulterior motives in your request… but it is true that I cannot risk letting the notebook slip from my grasp. Nor can I risk Ezra discovering the secret of the elixir before me.” She paused. “Where is Orion, anyway? I thought he was the one running the show.”
I took a breath. “Orion is dead.”
An audible gasp rippled through the speakers. “Dead?”
“Yes, Ezra betrayed him, which is all the more reason to go after him. I imagine he has taken a lot of Orion’s resources.”
“It seems none of us can trust our advisors,” she mused, mirroring my own feelings on the matter. The only one who still remained in position at his leader’s side was Aurelius, who’d evidently managed to get out of the Jareth debacle unscathed. No doubt he’d wormed his way out of any suspicions, like the disgusting, slippery eel he was.
“Will you go after him?” Navan asked.
There was a brief pause. “I will, and I shall request that my sister join me. The two of us can fight out our differences once we’re back on home territory, with the notebook safely within our grasp. I have had quite enough of this rebel scum.”
With that, the transmission ended, leaving me to breathe a sigh of relief as I looked around at the others. They were smiling, and a sudden air of calm had descended. It was short-lived, however. Even as we gathered by the open window, five minutes later, and watched the queens’ ships leave to chase after Ezra and his cronies, I couldn’t quite relax into a feeling of victory. The humans tried to attack the queens’ fleets as they left, but they could only reach so far into the atmosphere before they were forced to give up. Soon enough, though cloaked, we were the only alien ship left in the air.
“What do we do when they get their hands on the notebook?” Bashrik asked, his tone revealing his own doubt where our triumph was concerned.
“We gather the Fed forces and we take it back, before they can do anything with it,” I said firmly. “At least, this way, we don’t have to worry about Earth anymore. Once they realize they’ve been abandoned, the rebels will leave of their own accord, or they’ll surrender to the Fed.” I just wished I could be more convinced by my own words. I wanted Earth to be safe so badly, but I knew there were no assurances.
“A very wise idea, to buy us some time,” Xiphio commended me. He was the only one whose optimism I believed.
“Incoming call,” Navan said, interrupting my miserable reverie.
“This is Agent Phocida calling Captain Idrax, do you copy?”
I went to the controls and sat down in Navan’s lap. His arms encircled my waist as I replied. “This is Captain Idrax. Go ahead.” I wasn’t looking forward to this conversation, but I knew Navan’s presence, and his arms around me, would get me through it.
“We have been attempting to reach the convoy, after nobody returned from the mission with Commander Mahlo. During the exchange, we had our watchers—hidden amongst the human aircraft—retreat,” she explained. “We’ve been tracking activity around the rebel base since the dome came down, but we are at a loss as to what is going on.”
I took a deep breath, feeling my throat tighten. “Orion is dead. Commander Mahlo is dead. Everyone you sent with us is dead, aside from those on my ship. It was a trap, just as we warned it would be,” I said coldly. “Ezra didn’t care about getting Orion back. He’d already killed the prisoners—all those agents and humans. They’re all dead.”
Agent Phocida fell silent for a few moments. “I’m—”
“Don’t tell me you’re sorry, Agent Phocida. You, and everyone else in that meeting room, had a responsibility to stop this, and you didn’t,” I shot back, interrupting her. “Now, Ezra has escaped, and we think he’s taken off with the one item that can help him break the code of the immortality elixir. The queens are leaving, too, because I’ve asked them to chase after Ezra and get the notebook from him. It’s postponing an inevitable fight with the queens of Vysanthe, but we needed to buy more time, and this was the only way.”
“I hate to be the bearer of more bad news, Captain Idrax, but the ships of the Vysanthean queens are not all moving in the same direction,” she warned.
“What do you mean?” Navan snapped.
“Our radars have been watching the queens’ fleets closely. They’ve moved across Earth, pausing very briefly, before shooting off into space. The majority are headed for Vysanthe, though a few have gone in another direction—presumably, these are the only forces who have given chase and are attempting to go after Ezra, as you asked them to.”
I almost swore out loud. “What colors are the ships going to Vysanthe?”
“Red and black.”
“Gianne, you mother—” Angie hissed, but I cut her off sharply.
“If they paused across the Earth’s surface, even for a few seconds, then we can assume they’ve abducted human subjects for their immortality elixir experiments.”
Agent Phocida made a sound of agreement. “I was just getting to that. There have been reports on your Earthen news of abductions taking place.”
“These coldblood bitches are really starting to boil my piss!” Angie snapped, sharing my sentiments exactly. If they’d taken humans, I knew it would only end in more failed trials and certain death for the people they’d stolen.
“I really am sorry about Commander Mahlo and the others,” Agent Phocida said softly. “Please, return to Lunar HQ so that we might debrief and discuss where to go from here. If you believe that one of the queens has gone after Ezra, then we may be able to track her ship and intercept her, once she has destroyed Ezra’s escapees.”
“What are their names?” I asked.
“Excuse me?”
“Those agents that you sent to their deaths with your stupid ‘majority vote’ on a ridiculous deal—what are their names?”
She cleared her throat. “You’re evidently dealing with a large amount of grief. We may discuss this further upon your return.” A click signaled she’d ended the transmission.
Coward, I thought, just as Angie said it aloud.
“Shall I chart a course for the headquarters?” Bashrik asked nervously.
“What, so we can tell that scaly old coot what a prize idiot she’s been?” Angie muttered. “No offense, Xiphio.”
The merevin blushed. “None taken, Miss Angie. Agent Phocida is… particularly scaly, in both mind and body.” It was the closest thing to an insult that he could muster, and I felt an odd swell of pride.
“Now you’re getting it!” Angie whooped.
I smiled sadly. “Yes, Bash, set a course for Lunar HQ. We might as well do our mud-slinging face-to-face, right? It might be good to vent some frustrations.”
“I’ll be front of the line,” Angie quipped.
I shook my head. “No way, you’ll have to wait behind me.”
“I’d like to give her a piece of my mind,” Navan added, rubbing my back as the ship rose toward Earth’s stratosphere.
“Wait, what are we going to do about the broken window?” I asked in alarm. It wasn’t like we could enter the vacuum of space with it gaping open.
Bashrik grinned proudly. “Nothing to worry about there. I’ve redirected some of the
ship’s power to reinforce the defensive measures, forging a protective barrier over the opening. It works sort of like a gel, keeping the windshield airtight until we reach headquarters.”
“You really are a genius,” I said, relaxing.
“You have no idea! You should see what he can do in the—” Angie never got to finish her sentence, as something hurtled into the side of the ship, knocking it sideways through the air. We’d barely reached the outer edges of Earth’s atmosphere, but it looked like someone had been lying in wait for us. It was definitely a ship, though I couldn’t make it out with the naked eye, due to some invisibility shield.
“What is it?” I asked, holding my stomach where it had hit the front of the control panel.
Navan scanned the radar. “It’s small, and it’s close. I think it’s going to try to hit us again.”
“I’ll try to lose it,” Bashrik said, working on the controls.
We had no idea to whom the ship belonged, but it seemed weird that a ship so small would be lurking on the outer rim of Earth, waiting for us. It wasn’t as though they could defeat us in something so tiny, so what were they up to?
“Bash, get us out of here!” Navan barked. I knew immediately that something was wrong.
“I can’t!” Bashrik shouted back.
“What do you mean, you can’t?”
“I mean, nothing is working! Everything’s jammed.”
I looked through the windshield at the expanse of space beyond, trying to make out the ship that beeped on the radar. Our vessel jolted suddenly, the metal hull creaking as a force tugged on the ship, dragging it toward the beeping disc of the attacker. It felt like a strong magnetic pull, which we couldn’t escape from. I’d never seen this kind of technology before, and, judging by everyone else’s faces, neither had they.
Two minutes later, our ship connected with solid metal, the barrier around the other vessel disappearing now that we were up close and personal. A hiss of mechanics wheezed as their airlock linked with ours. I held my breath. Did this mean they were going to board us?
“This is a message for Riley and Navan. You are to come aboard my ship, alone, or I’ll kill you all.” A familiar voice crackled through the hijacked comms. “The membrane across your windshield will not last much longer. If you want your friends to live, do as I say.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Can he hear us over this thing?” I whispered, pointing at the comms system.
Bashrik shook his head. “He’s transmitting in. We have to send a transmission out if we want to reply.”
“I’m waiting!” the voice remarked. There was something so familiar about it, but something was throwing off my memory, making it impossible to place the speaker.
“Well, you can keep waiting for all I care,” Angie muttered. “The two of you aren’t boarding that ship. I don’t give a damn what he does about our… membrane.”
“You’ll care when we all get sucked out into space,” Bashrik replied, though not unkindly.
“Bashrik is correct. If you do not go, then he’ll kill everyone on board,” Xiphio added, with a worried grimace.
Navan was oddly silent.
“Penny for your thoughts?” I said, gazing into his eyes. “Whoever he is, he only wants me and you. The trouble is, can we trust that he won’t just kill everyone anyway, once he has us where he wants us?”
“You don’t recognize that voice?” he replied.
“I’ve been trying to place it…”
“That’s Aurelius. I’d know that snake anywhere.”
My eyes went wide in surprise as realization dawned. “It is Aurelius! Why would he want us to come on board his ship? Do you think Gianne sent him?”
“I wouldn’t put it past her. We’ve caused her enough trouble, and she’s probably still itching for vengeance against my father.”
“So, what do we do?”
“If you keep me waiting a moment longer, I shall blast you out of the sky!” Aurelius snapped, his voice crackling through the speakers. We needed to hurry up and make a decision before he made it for us.
“You know you can’t trust him, right?” Bashrik said, as our group huddled around the controls.
“That goes without saying,” I muttered.
“But if you stay here and do not abide by his wishes, he’ll ensure an agonizing death in the depths of space.” Xiphio looked more panicked than any of us. “I don’t wish you to put yourselves in harm’s way, but we really are in quite the predicament here. Can we inform the Fed—would they be able to get here in time?”
“If you’re seeking to buy time for yourselves, your actions are fruitless. I have jammed your comms systems. The only channel you may respond to is mine,” Aurelius’s voice chimed through, as though he could hear every word we were saying. I flashed a dubious look at Bashrik, who shrugged.
“Honestly, he can’t hear us.”
“If we can’t call for backup, and we’re vulnerable without our windshield, then we only have one option left,” Navan said solemnly. “We go in, heavily armed, and see what the bastard wants.”
“And maybe kill him, if you get close enough?” Angie whispered eagerly. “I don’t know the creep personally, but after everything you’ve told me, the dude probably deserves a knife to the throat.”
I smiled at her enthusiasm, my own desire for revenge burning brightly. “I agree. We get in, see what he wants, and punish him for everything he’s done to Seraphina. After all his years of whispering in ears, maybe it’s time someone silenced him.”
I was shocked to hear myself speaking like that. These kinds of thoughts seemed to be coming to me more frequently these days, even after the promise I’d made to myself, to atone for the bad things I’d done. Perhaps this would be my last violent act—a full circle of death that paid him back for what he’d done to Seraphina. I didn’t know what had gone on between them, since the marriage, but I could imagine… and even that fragment of understanding horrified me.
“Are you sure about this?” Bashrik asked urgently.
Navan and I exchanged a look before nodding in unison. “It might be another trap, and he might turn around and betray our trust, like always, but what choice do we have?” I replied.
“We’re used to dealing with traps,” Navan said firmly.
“I guess it’ll buy us time to find a way to disconnect from Aurelius’s ship,” Bashrik mused, though he didn’t look happy about it. “There’s got to be some way to release the magnetic pull he has on us. If you can keep him talking, I can find a way to get us out of here.”
“Better still, perhaps you might steal his ship once you have… done away with him?” Xiphio suggested.
Bashrik flashed him a smile. “Good thinking. What he said.”
“Bash, open up the comms line. We’ve got a message to deliver,” Navan said. Bashrik did as he asked, and the comms line flickered on the screen. “Aurelius, we’re coming aboard, on the proviso that you assure the safety of our crew. If you touch so much as a single bolt on this vessel, there’ll be hell to pay.”
“So, you figured me out, did you?” There was a snicker of laughter. “I will assure the safety of your crew. Now, hurry up. You have wasted enough of my time as it is.”
I had a feeling he wasn’t just talking about today.
As Bashrik cut the transmission, Navan and I hurried to the weapons room of the Fed ship. I took six sheathed knives and hid them around my person, stuffing them into my boots, into my waistband, and down the front bridge of my bra. I took a pistol, too, shoving that down the back of my pants. Navan strapped some of the same knives across his chest, spinning the belt around so that the handles stuck up under his broken wing.
“Ready?” Navan asked, shifting the handle of a stray knife sticking out of my belt.
I nodded. “I can’t wait to give that creep a piece of my mind.”
We hurried back through the ship and stopped in front of the airlock. Xiphio and Angie were waiting for us, though Ba
shrik had stayed by the controls, trying to figure out a way to break the ship free of the magnetic pull. With a punch of the buttons, Xiphio opened the interior door, and we stepped through. He waited until we were on the far side before bringing down the hatch, his and Angie’s eyes staring at us anxiously through the glass.
A shadow appeared on the opposite side of the exterior door. I could hear the faint beep of buttons being pressed, then the other ship’s door opened, bringing ours up with it. The newly scarred face of Aurelius met us with a sour expression. Evidently, he had mixed feelings about seeing us again. I imagined Gianne had instructed him to play nice. The torture would come later.
“So glad you could join me,” he said, with forced cordiality. “Please, come this way.”
“We’d rather talk here, if it’s all the same to you,” Navan replied tersely, as both of us stepped through into the echoing interior of the enemy ship. We stayed close to the door of the airlock so we could make a run for it if needed.
He seemed to understand what we were doing. “You needn’t fear me. I mean you no harm. I only wish to offer you some refreshment,” he said, though it clearly pained him to say those words. Everything about the situation was entirely bizarre to my fraught mind.
I frowned at him, feeling the dig of the sheathed blades hidden about my person. “What’s the deal here, Aurelius? Why are you trying so hard to be civil, when we know you despise us, and you know that the feeling is definitely mutual?”
He sighed. “I have been instructed not to lay a finger on either of you. Moreover, I have been instructed to arrive here without harming your ship, your crew, or anything to do with you. As you can see, I have no guards with me. I am alone on this vessel, for the sole purpose of proving to you that I do not wish to hurt you in any way.”