Sulan, Episode 1: The League

  ***

  I awake to sloshing sounds and the tangy smell of saltwater.

  “Sulan?” It’s Taro’s voice.

  My eyelids are heavy, like they’re weighed down by a sack of rocks. There’s pain in my wrists and ankles.

  “Taro?” My voice is slurred. I pry my eyelids open. At first all I see is smears of gray. My vision clears after a few moments, but my head feels like it’s stuffed with fog. Sleepiness still threatens to pull me under.

  I focus on Taro, spread-eagle on the wall across from me. I blink, wondering if my vision is still a bit screwy. It looks like he floats against the wall, his boots a good foot off the floor.

  Then I see the cuffs around his wrists and ankles. They hold him in place on the metal wall; they must be electromagnetic. The cuffs look a lot like the Marstons that Gun gave me four months ago, right down to their reflective bright-gold color.

  I shake my head, trying to clear it. What’s wrong with me? Of course those aren’t Marstons. Marstons are a made-up Vex toy, not a real-world weapon.

  The pain in my own wrists and ankles registers more severely. I’m also spread-eagle on the wall, a cuff on each of my four limbs.

  Where is Riska? I wonder. Is Mom okay? A seed of panic blooms in my chest, but I squash it down. I need to stay calm.

  “How do you feel?” Taro asks.

  I feel like I’ve been impersonating a cow carcass in an old-fashioned butcher shop, but all I say is, “Did you really think we could do it?” My voice is slurred, like I’m drunk. I struggle to hold my head up.

  “Do what?” Taro asks.

  “Fight our way off that chopper.”

  “I figured it was worth a try.”

  “I’m sorry I got you into this,” I whisper, pulling my head back as it nods forward.

  “Wasn’t your fault.”

  “Why did you come after me?”

  He gives me a long look. “When that Leaguer had me on the rooftop, you could have run. No one would have blamed you. But you stayed and fought for my life. Does it seem so strange that I’d do the same for you?”

  His unwavering gaze makes my stomach flip-flop. I feel my face growing warm and have no idea why. I scan the room, trying to make the unfamiliar feeling go away.

  My eyes grow heavy again. I stop fighting the fatigue and let sleep take me. The last thing I see are Taro’s dark eyes watching me.