Cress

  “I am sorry,” said Dr. Erland, the words crisply spoken, like he’d been waiting to say them. He looked more fragile than ever sitting on that lab table, his face carved with wrinkles. “Miss Linh. Mr. Wolf.” He sighed. “Crescent.”

  Her eyes widened. No one had called her that since Sybil. How had he even known?

  It was a common name on Luna. Perhaps it was a lucky guess.

  “I’ve hurt you all in some way. Been at least partly responsible for some tragedy in your lives. I am sorry.”

  Cress gulped, feeling a twinge of regret in the base of her stomach. The doctor still wore a bruise on his jaw from where she’d hit him.

  “I have made some important discoveries,” said the doctor. “How much time can you spare?”

  Cinder’s hand tightened around the microphone. “Jacin’s ETA is in six minutes.”

  “That will have to suffice.” The sorrow on the old man’s face hardened. “Is His Majesty with you?”

  “He’s unconscious,” said Cinder.

  His eyebrows lifted, almost imperceptibly. “I see. Would you be so kind as to pass on a message to him?” Before Cinder could respond, the doctor pulled on his hat and inhaled a deep breath. “This plague is not a random tragedy. It is biological warfare.”

  “What?” Cinder planted her hands on the desk. “What do you mean?”

  “The Lunar crown has been using antibodies found in the blood of the ungifted to manufacture an antidote for at least sixteen years, and perhaps much longer. But sixteen years ago, letumosis didn’t even exist, unless it, too, had been manufactured in a Lunar laboratory. Lunars wanted to weaken Earth, and to create a dependency on their antidote.” He patted his chest, as if looking for something in his pocket, but then seemed to realize it was missing. “Right. I’ve indicated my findings on the portscreen that is now in Mr. Thorne’s possession. Please give it to His Majesty when he is recovered. Earth should know that this war did not start with the recent attacks. This war has been going on beneath our noses for over a decade, and I do fear Earth is losing.”

  The silence that followed was suffocating.

  Cinder leaned down into the microphone. “We’re not going to lose.”

  “I believe you, Miss Linh.” The doctor’s breath shuddered. “Now, would … would Cress come closer, please?”

  Cress stiffened. She pressed against Thorne’s side as the others all looked at her, and it was only his gentle nudge that unstuck her feet. She crept toward the window that divided them from the quarantine room.

  Only now, as she came to stand before the microphone, did she realize it was a one-way window. She could see the doctor, but on the other side he was probably looking at a reflection of himself.

  Cinder cleared her throat, not taking her curious gaze off Cress. “She’s here.”

  A pathetic smile tried to climb up the doctor’s lips, but failed.

  “Crescent. My Crescent Moon.”

  “How do you know my full name?” she asked, too confused to recognize the harshness of her tone.

  But the doctor did not seem fazed, even as his lips began to tremble. “Because I named you.”

  She shivered, clawing her hands into the folds of her skirt.

  “I want you to know that it nearly killed me when I lost you, and I have thought of you every day.” His gaze hovered somewhere near the base of the window. “I always wanted to be a father. Even as a young man. But I was recruited into the crown’s team of scientists immediately following my education—such an honor, you know. My career became everything, and there was no time for a family. I was already in my forties when I married, my wife another scientist whom I had known for many years and never thought I liked very much until she decided that she liked me. She was not much younger than me, and the years passed, and I had given up hope … until, one day, she was pregnant.”

  A chill slipped down Cress’s spine. It felt like listening to an old, sad tale, one that she was removed from. One that she felt she knew the ending to, but denial kept a distance between her and the doctor’s words.

  “We did all the right things. We decorated a nursery. We planned a celebration. And sometimes at night, she would sing an old lullaby, one that I’d forgotten over the years, and we decided to call you our little Crescent Moon.” His voice broke on the last word and he slumped over, scratching at his hat.

  Cress gulped. The window, the sterile room, the man with a dark blue rash, all began to blur in front of her.

  “Then you were born, and you were a shell.” His words slurred. “And Sybil came, and I begged—I begged her not to take you, but there was nothing … she wouldn’t … and I thought you were dead. I thought you were dead, and all along you were … if I’d known, Crescent. If I’d known, I never would have left. I would have found a way to save you. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry for everything.” He hid his face as sobs racked his body.

  Pressing her lips together, Cress shook her head, wanting to deny it all, but how could she when he knew her name, and she had his eyes, and—

  A tear slipped past her eyelashes, rolling hot down her cheek.

  Her father was alive.

  Her father was dying.

  Her father was here, in front of her, almost in arm’s reach. But he would be left here to die, and she would never see him again.

  Cool metal brushed against her wrist, and Cress jumped.

  “I’m so sorry,” Cinder said, retracting her hand. “But we have to leave. Dr. Erland…”

  “I know, y-yes, I know.” He swiped hastily to clear his face. When he lifted his head, his cheeks were flushed, his eyes glassy. He looked as weak and frail as a broken bird. “I’m s-so sorry this is how … oh, please be careful. Please be safe. My Crescent Moon. I love you. I do love you.”

  Her lungs hiccupped, as more tears dripped off her jaw, dotting her silk skirt. She opened her mouth, but no words came. I love you. I love you too. Words that had been so easy in daydreams, and now seemed impossible.

  She believed him, but she didn’t know him. She didn’t know if she loved him back.

  “Cress,” said Cinder, tightening her grip. “I’m sorry, but we have to go.”

  She nodded dumbly.

  “Good … good-bye,” she said, the only word that would come, as she was dragged away from the window.

  On the other side of the glass, the doctor sobbed. He did not look up again, but he raised a shaking hand in farewell. The tips of his fingers were shriveled and blue.

  Fifty-Four

  They abandoned their entourage of guards in the elevator on the top floor. No one cared that it would be too easy to deduce where they were heading. Hopefully by the time anyone snapped out of Cinder’s brainwashing, they’d be long gone.

  The research wing’s emergency service elevator was kept on its own, in an alcove tucked away from the rest of the wing. It was their final obstacle, and Cress had taken care to ensure it would be functioning properly when they arrived. She stumbled ahead of them to punch in the code, emotionally drained. It felt as if her brain were churning through sludge and it took her a moment to remember the code at all.

  The elevator opened and they crowded inside.

  No one spoke—whether out of respect for Dr. Erland, or out of a tenuous hope that they were so close, so very close …

  The doors opened onto the rooftop. Dusk was climbing over the city, glistening off the palace windows and coating the landing pad in purple shadows.

  And the Rampion was there, its ramp lowered toward them.

  Cress laughed—an abrupt, delirious laugh that felt like it was being ripped out of her throat.

  Iko let out a victorious whoop and ran for the ramp, screaming, “We did it!”

  Thorne’s grip tightened on Cress’s arm. “He’s here?”

  “He’s here,” she whispered back.

  Wolf alone slowed down, baring his teeth. Kai was still draped over his shoulder.

  “Jacin—ready for takeoff—now!” Cinder yelled tow
ard the ship. “We’re—” Her words fell short and she slowed, then stopped altogether. Cress gasped and locked her hands around Thorne’s arm, holding him back.

  A figure appeared at the top of the cargo bay ramp. Her white coat and long sleeves made her look like a ghost haunting their ship, blocking their way to freedom.

  Cress’s instincts screamed at her to run, to hide, to get as far away from Mistress Sybil as she could.

  But when she glanced behind her she saw that the thaumaturge wasn’t alone. Half a dozen Lunar guards had crowded in behind them, blocking off their path to the elevator. The elevator that wouldn’t have worked anyway—she’d programmed it to shut down once they reached the rooftop so that no one could follow them. It wouldn’t work again until the timer she’d set on the security mainframe ticked down and the system rebooted itself.

  Which meant they had no place to run. No place to hide. They were forty steps from their ship, and they were trapped.

  * * *

  Cinder’s momentary elation evaporated as she looked up at the thaumaturge. She should have sensed her immediately, her and the guards, before she’d even stepped off the elevator, but she’d been so distracted with the sensation of success. She’d gotten cocky, and now they were surrounded.

  “What a lovely reunion,” said Sybil, her sleeves snapping in the rooftop wind. “Had I known you were all going to come to me, I wouldn’t have wasted half as much energy attempting to find you.”

  Cinder tried to keep her focus on Sybil as she took stock of her allies. Wolf was slightly in front of her, snarling as he set Kai on the ground. Though he wasn’t showing any pain, she could see a small spot of blood on Wolf’s dress shirt—his stitches must have come undone, reopening the wound.

  Iko wasn’t far from him, the only one of them not panting.

  Cress and Thorne were to Cinder’s left. Thorne had a cane and, she thought, he might still have his gun too. But he and Wolf could easily become liabilities, weapons to be toyed with by the thaumaturge, unlike Cress and Iko, who couldn’t be controlled.

  “How many?” Thorne asked.

  “Mistress Sybil in front of us,” said Cress, “and six Lunar guards behind.”

  After the slightest hesitation, Thorne nodded. “I accept those odds.”

  “So charming,” said Sybil, tilting her head. “My little protégé has been embraced by cyborgs and androids and criminals—the scum of Earthen society. Quite fitting for a useless shell.”

  From the corner of her eye, Cinder noticed Thorne easing himself as a shield between Cress and the thaumaturge, but it was Cress who lifted her chin, with a look more confident than Cinder had ever seen on her.

  “You mean the useless shell that just disconnected the link to all your palace surveillance equipment?”

  Sybil clicked her tongue. “Arrogance doesn’t suit you, dear. What do I care if the connection has been severed? Soon this palace will be the home of Queen Levana.” She nodded. “Guards, leave His Majesty and the special operative unharmed. Kill the rest.”

  Cinder heard the thunk of boots, the rustle of uniforms, the click of guns being released from their holsters.

  She opened her thoughts to them.

  Six Lunar men. Six royal guards who, just like Jacin, had been trained to keep their minds open. Trained to be puppets.

  She sought out the electric pulses around them. In unison, all six guards turned toward the edge of the rooftop and threw their guns as hard as they could. Six handguns sailed out of sight, clattering somewhere on the tiled rooftops below.

  Sybil let out a screech of laughter, the most unrestrained Cinder had ever witnessed from her. “You have learned a few things since last we saw each other, haven’t you?” Sybil paced down the ramp. “Not that controlling a handful of guards is any impressive feat.” Her gaze flickered to Wolf.

  Abandoning the guards, Cinder reached out for him instead, bracing herself for the sharp burst of pain inside her head that happened every time she took control of Wolf.

  But the pain didn’t come. Wolf’s mind was already closed to her, as if someone had locked his writhing energy up in a vault.

  Then he swiveled toward Cinder, his face contorting with a feral hunger.

  Cursing, Cinder took half a step back. Her memory flashed to all the duels inside the cargo bay—and then Wolf launched himself at her.

  Ducking, Cinder held her hands toward his abdomen and used his momentum to flip him over her head. He landed lithely on his feet and spun back, aiming a right hook for her jaw. Cinder deflected with her metal fist, but the force drove her off balance and she fell onto the hard asphalt of the landing pad. Planting both hands on the ground, she drove her heel up toward Wolf, catching him in the side—his wounded side. She hated herself for it, but he grunted in pain and stumbled half a step back.

  She sprang back to her feet. She was already panting. Warnings flooded her retina display.

  Wolf licked his lips as he prepared to charge for her a second time, revealing the glint of his sharp teeth.

  Smothering her panic, Cinder tried to reach for him again. If only she could break Sybil’s mental hold. If only she’d gotten to him first. She searched for some flicker of the Wolf she knew was encased inside all that fury and bloodlust. Some vulnerable spot in his mind.

  She was so distracted by her attempts to dislodge Sybil’s control that she didn’t notice the roundhouse kick until it had crashed into the side of her head and sent her reeling halfway across the platform.

  She lay on her side, dizzy, white sparks flashing in her vision and her left arm burning from skidding across the ground. Breath wouldn’t come into her lungs. She couldn’t lift her head. Programming diagnostics were going berserk and it took her a moment to remember how to send them away so she could focus.

  As her vision cleared, she noticed shapes moving against the twilit sky. People and shadows. Fighting. Brawling. The hazy images were eventually coupled with grunts of pain.

  The guards had attacked. Thorne had gotten a knife from somewhere, Cress was wildly swinging his cane, and Iko was using her metal and silicon limbs as best she could to defend herself. But Thorne was blind and Iko wasn’t programmed with fighting skills and as soon as one of the guards grabbed the cane out of Cress’s hands, she fell to her knees, paralyzed, cowering behind her arms.

  As Cinder watched, a guard caught Thorne’s wrist and yanked it behind his back. He cried out. The knife fell. Another guard landed a punch to his stomach.

  Then Cinder heard a growl. Wolf was crouched, ready to come at her again.

  Cinder resisted the urge to close her eyes and brace for impact, instead letting a slow breath out through her nose. She urged her muscles to relax with it.

  Your mind and body have to work together.

  For a moment, it was like being two people at once. Her eyes were open, focused on Wolf as he lunged for her, and her body—loose and relaxed—instinctively rolled away, before she bounded back to her feet.

  At the same time, her Lunar gift sought out the pulses of energy around her, targeted the six guards, and wrapped so tightly around them it was like clasping them in enormous metal fists.

  There was a jolt of surprise from the guards. One crashed to his knees. Two fell onto their sides, convulsing.

  Cinder dodged another punch, blocked another kick. Her instincts yearned to use the knife inside her finger, but she refused.

  Wolf wasn’t the enemy.

  She landed an uppercut to his jaw—her first solid strike—as those words infiltrated her brain.

  Wolf isn’t the enemy.

  A blur of blue caught her eye. Iko jumped onto Wolf’s back with a battle cry, wrapping her legs around his waist. Her arms surrounded his head, trying to blind or suffocate or distract him any way she could.

  She was successful for 2.3 seconds before Wolf reached behind him, grabbed hold of her head, and twisted with such force the skin ripped around her throat. The wiring along her upper spine popped and sparked.
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  Iko slipped off him, crumpling to the ground. Her legs were twisted awkwardly beneath her. The external plating that protected her collar structure was peeled back on one side, revealing disconnected wires and a torn muscle pad, already leaking thick yellow silicon down her shoulder.

  Cinder stumbled and crashed to her knees, staring at the crooked form. Her internal audio latched on to that awful sound and began replaying it over and over—that same brutal snap. That same heavy thud as Iko’s body hit the ground.

  Her stomach heaved once, but she kept it down as she peeled her gaze away from Iko and looked, not at Wolf, but at Sybil.

  The thaumaturge was standing at the base of the ramp now. Her beautiful face was pinched in concentration.

  In her distant thoughts, Cinder could tell that the guards were picking themselves off the ground. Rounding on her friends again.

  Snarling, she ignored them all. She ignored Wolf.

  Sybil was the enemy.

  Wolf turned back to face her. His feet pounded on the pavement.

  But Cinder was too focused on the bioelectricity rolling off Sybil to care. Sybil’s energy was twisted and arrogant and proud, and Cinder had just slipped into the cracks of her thoughts when the impact came.

  Wolf crashed into her, knocking her over, but Cinder barely felt it.

  While Wolf pinned her to the ground, Cinder was working her way around Sybil’s gift. Becoming intimately acquainted with how the energy rippled along her limbs and fingers. How it was so different from the way that same energy churned and throbbed inside her brain.

  As Wolf revealed his sharp canines, Cinder discovered where Sybil’s gift was boiling hot in her attempts to control Wolf, leaving the rest of her brain cool and vulnerable.

  When Wolf lowered his fangs toward Cinder’s unprotected throat, Cinder seized Sybil’s mind and attacked.

  Fifty-Five

  Crack.

  Cress glanced up just as Iko slid off Wolf’s back, landing broken and mangled on the hard ground. A shudder tore through her. Even from this distance she could see the torn flesh and sparking wires.