Such as the safety of the entire human race.
I looked back down through the trap door to see Navan had reemerged from the second room and was prowling around like a caged animal, running his hands through his hair.
He turned to Ianthan, narrowing his eyes. “A logical person would suspect you. Or at least suspect you had something to do with this.”
“I swear, Navan, I have no idea!” Ianthan said. “I had nothing to do with this, and I can’t imagine why my father would have either. He only wanted to escape to Queen Brisha with a blood sample; being accepted by her was his only objective. There’s no reason on Vysanthe why he’d come ransacking this place. And when would he have done it? How would he have done it? What would he have done with all your equipment? There’s no way!”
Navan seemed almost relieved as Ianthan spoke; there really didn’t seem to be a way that Jethro or Ianthan could’ve pulled this heist off. I had a feeling it would’ve been more than Navan could handle right now, to find out his best friend had been involved in this, too.
“We’ve got to get that ship fixed,” Navan said, breathing out. “It’s the only way.”
“Do you think it could have been other humans who found this place and raided it?” I asked softly.
There was a long pause. “It's possible but unlikely. I… I do have another idea what might’ve happened here.”
“What?” I lowered myself onto the ladder and climbed down.
Navan set Ianthan with a dark look. “I think it was The Fed.”
I scrunched up my face in confusion. “Huh? The Fed?”
“What?” Ianthan said. “What makes you say that?”
Navan continued to prowl, addressing me first. “The Fed is a supernatural federation that operates in this quadrant of the universe, and essentially helps to maintain peace and good relations between worlds. It’s a protective and intermediary agency.”
“What? I’ve never heard of it,” I said, my mind being blown open yet again by another facet of our universe I’d previously been oblivious to.
“You wouldn’t have,” he replied. “Although The Fed does have a base here on Earth, they don’t make themselves known to humans.”
“Why’s that?”
Was there the slightest hint of amusement in his eyes? “Don’t take this the wrong way, but the rest of the supernatural community generally sees your kind as . . . rather primitive and immature; and a little too trigger-happy when it comes to their weapons.”
“Oh,” I said. He did have a point. “I guess that’s fair enough.”
“Humans aren’t the most powerful species in the universe.” Now Navan did smirk. “I mean, a good deal of your population honestly believes that they’re the only intelligent life form in the universe.” He and Ianthan both laughed. “Which is so ridiculous and narrow minded it’s almost unimaginable. So, you can understand why your kind were never deemed fit to join The Fed, officially—and so the alliance contains no human members—but Earth is in their circle of watch, nonetheless.”
“And you think they somehow found this place and raided it?”
“I know they operate on Earth because I encountered an agent here, several weeks ago.” He pursed his lips, shaking his head. All traces of the previous smile was gone. “I was utilizing my holograph map, and it must’ve given off some strong, irregular frequencies that a nearby Fed agent picked up on. Damn. I should’ve known better.”
“What happened?”
“I’d say it was the last thing he expected—to find a coldblood. The Fed doesn’t have much jurisdiction in our corner of the universe, and they despise Vysanthians to the core. We stand for everything they are against—they seek to preserve and balance, while we essentially seek to destroy. That agent fired at me before I could explain why I was here. I had no choice but to kill him; otherwise, he would’ve taken me in, or worse. Still, I feared that he might have already alerted his base to my presence. I waited for three days, expecting that if his fellow agents were coming, they would do so within that time. When they didn’t, I assumed the agent I killed had not yet transmitted his findings to his base, and I needed to return to Vysanthe, so I left… Which I now realize was a mistake.”
“The agent who came to get to you,” I said, my head reeling. “He was… a different kind of supernatural?”
Navan nodded. “Earth’s base is manned by a lycan unit.”
“Lycans?”
“I guess you would be more familiar with the term werewolf, though they are different.”
“Werewolf?” I said, again trying to wrap my brain around what he was telling me.
“What do we do?” Ianthan said. “I mean, this is bad, right? This is really bad.”
Navan swallowed hard. “It’s only bad if we give up. And we’re not going to. We have to get my ship fixed… And the only way to do that now is to stake out the Fed and convince them to return my tools.”
“That’s insane!” Ianthan exclaimed. “The Fed would never negotiate with you! To them you’re a filthy Vysanthian! They’d shoot you down on sight, before you could even get a word out—and that would be even if you hadn’t murdered one of their agents.”
“I know.” Navan glanced at me. “Which is why we might need to try a different tactic.”
I looked from him to Ianthan, then back. “What?” I asked. “Why do I have a feeling I’m suddenly about to get a lot more involved?”
“Because if it was a human who made first contact with them, then we might at least get a meeting,” Navan replied.
“And tell them what?” Ianthan asked. “What would a human tell them, exactly, in order to convince them? That we need those tools back to intercept a human blood sample that’s on its way to Vysanthe? That would get The Fed asking serious questions, which would inevitably lead to revealing Vysanthe’s search for immortality.”
“Why would that be so bad?” I asked.
Ianthan exhaled. “If there’s anything our Queens agree on, it’s that The Fed should never be given information about our activities, because all that will do is encourage them to scrutinize Vysanthe more than they already have,” he explained. “If Gianne—or her sister—found out we were behind the leak, we’d be in for a fate worse than death. We’d all be.”
I could only imagine what such a fate might consist of, but from the petrified look in Ianthan’s eyes, I knew I didn’t want to find out.
“I didn’t say it was the ideal plan,” Navan said, clearly frustrated. “Do you think I want to risk something happening to Riley? But it’s the only way. If we don’t try, then we’re never going to be able to get back, the blood sample will arrive in Vysanthe, and then they’ll—”
“You’re right,” I said. “We’ve got to at least try. I mean, won’t they help if we ask them to? Vysanthe clearly needs to be stopped from terrorizing other planets, and The Fed was an organization set up to do just that—maintain balance and protect weaker species.”
“Unfortunately, it’s not so simple,” Navan said. “If we approach it like that, what we’re really asking for is a bright red target on our backs—The Fed would not be successful in subduing Vysanthe even if it tried. If threatened, the Queens would put their differences aside to join forces and combat the threat. Take your entire planet’s militaries, combine them, and you wouldn’t be anywhere close to how powerful Vysanthe’s military is. And our environment is too harsh; there are few who could compete with us in our own element. The Fed knows this, which is why Vysanthe has had free rein for so long. Of course, that doesn’t mean the Queens will ever grow complacent—they still don’t want The Fed knowing about their business.”
“So what would you tell The Fed, then, if you managed to get a meeting?” Ianthan asked.
“As you said, we may have no choice but to tell them the truth—or at least, part of the truth. Our case has to be strong enough for them to be persuaded,” Navan continued. “We’d also have to hope we can persuade them to keep our identities confidential…
But we’re getting way ahead of ourselves. Before we get to that, we have to figure out how to meet with them.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “I thought I was going to try to get a meeting with them.”
“I don’t know where The Fed’s headquarters are… though I do have an idea of how we might attract their attention.” He swept past me and reached the ladder. “For now, let’s get out of this hole.”
Ianthan and I followed, reemerging in the icy world above. However we ended up meeting with this organization, I was going to have to convince a bunch of werewolves to return Navan’s supplies.
The only thing I knew for sure was that we were certainly going to be gone longer than twenty-four hours.
Chapter Fourteen
Navan closed the bunker’s hatch after us, and then we took to the air again, flying to the nearby village to continue our discussion. The cold had really started to get to me; I couldn’t stop my teeth from chattering, and my fingers had gone numb a while ago. We landed outside a cozy little café, thankfully open at this early hour. By the looks of the dark street it was located on, it was probably the only place ever open at this time. We stood around the back of the building where vents were situated, blowing out deliciously warm air.
I shuddered, trying to sink deeper into my coat as I relished the heat. Navan dug a hand into his shoulder bag and pulled out a fistful of dollar bills. He pressed them into my hands, and nodded toward the entrance of the café. “Go get yourself something to eat.”
“How did you get this money?”
“I arrived with some Vysanthian gold that a pawnshop was happy to accept.”
“Ah,” I murmured, “that’s handy.” I didn’t have the interest to linger too long on that, with the prospect of food awaiting me. I hurried around the corner and entered the café, where I was delighted to find a counter filled with an assortment of warm, buttery pastries. I ordered two large croissants and hot chocolate in the largest size they sold—topped with a dollop of whipped cream.
I made my way back outside after paying for the order, and almost moaned as the warm, sweet liquid trickled down my throat. I dug into the pastries ravenously, and had eaten half of one already by the time I returned to Navan and Ianthan around the corner.
Navan’s bag seemed to be becoming more and more like Mary Poppins’s — the guys had been shirtless before, but, to remain inconspicuous, they had folded away their wings and donned black sweaters, which Navan must’ve been carrying in his bag.
As I approached them, Navan was also holding a small round gadget to his ear that I hadn’t seen before—it was some sort of comm device. He must’ve left one back in Texas too, because he was talking to his brother, a note of impatience in his tone. “Yes, I know it’s dangerous, Bashrik,” Navan was saying in a low tone. “But what other choice do we have? Whether or not The Fed was responsible for the theft, we need their help. They will have advanced ships of their own—probably even more advanced than ours. They’ll have equipment I can use to get the control board working, and hell, if we really managed to get on their good side, they might even give us a new ship. For now, just hang tight.”
Navan paused as Bashrik said something, and his eyes rested on me as I continued devouring my meal. “I appreciate your concern. And you’re absolutely right, of course I’d say the same if it were you. And yes, you need to tell Riley’s friends—they’re going to have to think of an excuse to cover her for at least another day, I suspect. We’ll talk soon. Take care of yourself.”
Navan removed the gadget from his ear, pressed a button, and stowed it in his bag. He ran his hands through his hair and looked at me as I extended my hand out to him to return the change. He took it, then looked over my shoulder, toward the glass bus shelter behind me. “Shall we sit?” he suggested, slipping the change into his bag.
The three of us sat down together on the bench, our backs facing the road. It didn’t look like there were surveillance cameras around here, and it was still dark, so I wasn’t concerned about anyone noticing their peculiar skin shade. We would likely be on the move before the sun rose.
“How’s Bashrik doing?” I asked. Whatever Bashrik had said to his brother, it had sounded like he was very concerned about Navan’s safety—which I found both nerve-racking and endearing. “He seemed worried.”
“His wound is healing—it hopefully won’t be too long before he can fly again. And yeah, he was worried, but that’s what he does. Under that outgoing exterior of his is a huge bundle of anxiety.”
“Well, it’s good he’s healing.” Lauren would be relieved about that. Poor thing, she’d gone from barely shooting a bullet in her life to almost accidentally killing someone. “I assume my friends were sleeping?”
Navan nodded. “They returned home for the night.” He withdrew a couple of vials from an outer zipped pocket of his bag, handing one of them to Ianthan, before unscrewing his own and downing it. He grimaced slightly as he swallowed.
“What’s that?”
“Silver root.”
“Ah.” The pit of my stomach dropped a little at the reminder, but there were too many other things for me to think about to dwell on it. “So, the plan,” I said, sipping from my cocoa.
“Yes, the plan,” Ianthan repeated. “How do you suggest we go about attracting their attention in the first place?”
Navan rubbed his hands together, staring at the brickwork of the café building in front of us. “We’ll have to pull off some kind of stunt that screams supernatural in order to draw The Fed out to investigate. Also, it’ll need to be somewhere densely populated. I suggest a major city, possibly New York.”
I frowned. “That’s my city.”
“Feel like a homecoming?”
“I just . . . Nobody will get hurt, right?”
“If all goes according to plan.”
“How do you know Earth’s geography so well, by the way? You seem to be well acquainted with the customs in general.”
“Do I?”
“Yeah. You knew what a pawnshop was.”
“Pawning. The universal language.” Navan shrugged. “I’ve spent a decent amount of time on Earth since I discovered it, under the guise of exploring other planets for an immortality elixir. And I managed to find a good library.”
I smiled, picturing Navan hunched over a little library table with a pile of books. “Where did you first land, when you arrived?”
“It was here, in Alaska. I was drawn to it for its temperature—given that I hadn’t invented any formulas yet. But, to get back to the plan . . . I didn’t actually ask you yet: are you really okay with helping us? As I said, we need a human.”
I nodded. I had to help—there were literally only three humans on the planet who could even theoretically help, and the other two were back in Texas. I had begun taking risks since the moment I decided not to take the Elysium Navan had offered me, and if these were the consequences, I was going to have to accept them.
“Are you sure?” he asked me, eyebrows raised. “Obviously it’s a decision I want you to come to on your own. And I want you to know that I’ll do everything I can to ensure your safety, but . . .” He swallowed. “As I mentioned before, I’m not infallible. I can’t guarantee it.”
I nodded again, even as I clutched my cup a little more tightly. “I’ll help.”
Navan sighed. “I hate having to put you in this position. I really do. But if you’re in, then, in that case—”
I never got to hear what he was about to say, because the sound of gunshots exploded into the night, and the glass behind us shattered. My drink slipped from my grasp as Navan slammed into me, his hands gripping me by the waist and forcing me to the ground. His body pressed against mine, and his breath came in quick pants against my neck—his eyes were wide and alert like an animal’s.
“What—” I gasped.
The next second, he was picking me up again, and as gunshots continued to fire all around us, he lifted me up and we went soaring through the
air so fast I could barely keep my eyes open. The bullets seemed to follow us, but we were quickly over the café building and out of range. Navan continued to press forward, flying over residential houses and gardens, until he halted and dropped us back on the ground, a few miles later.
He planted me down on a bench, gripping my shoulders. “Stay here,” he breathed. “We lost Ianthan—I’ll be right back.” And with that he took off again, flying over the houses lining the street, and back in the direction of the café.
I held my breath, a chill running down my spine as I listened and tried to make sense of what had just happened. It sounded like the gunshots had stopped.
Who had fired them? Why at us?
It would be an absurd coincidence for that to have been a random shooting. Who would fire at an empty café in the middle of nowhere, and so early in the morning, when virtually no one was around?
I clasped my hands together and stood up, watching the dark sky for Navan’s return. I kept expecting the firing to start up again, but it didn’t, and I was left with the sound of my own harried breathing.
I finally caught sight of Navan in the sky, his dark wings beating hard as he lowered himself to the ground next to me. He was alone.
“I couldn’t find him,” Navan said, panting.
“What do you mean? Where could he have gone?”
“I don’t know. As soon as the firing started, I was focused on getting us away from there. Ianthan must have flown in an entirely different direction. I looked all around the area but couldn’t find any trace of him—no body, nothing. There was no sign of our attacker either—except for a lot of confused residents spilling out into the street, and the shattered remains of that bus stop.”
I clasped a hand to my forehead, trying to comprehend what he was telling me. “You think Ianthan might have been taken by whoever our attacker was?”
Again, Navan looked deeply concerned—and utterly clueless. “I have no idea.” He sat down heavily on the bench, and I stood in front of him, scrutinizing his face. “A part of me wonders if it was a preplanned escape attempt on Ianthan’s part, but… that would be impossible. Right? Who would have been his ally? How would they have gotten in touch with him? I’d been watching Ianthan ever since we left Texas. I have no idea how he would’ve pulled it off…”