Bashrik flashed his brother a look. “Yeah, it wouldn’t be difficult for them to build more, given their immense strength. We’ve seen it for ourselves. They can lift enormous amounts of weight, without it fazing them,” he added, his tone impressed.
“Then we will have to kill them all,” Pandora stated.
“Wait, that’s not what we were saying!” Bashrik countered, but Pandora carried on before he could utter another word.
“If destroying the ships won’t be enough to deter them, we must destroy them, too,” she insisted. “We can take a small number back to Vysanthe as captives, so we can harvest more of their blood, but we can’t risk them disrupting the rebel base on Earth by sending all of humanity into a panic. Your species do so love to panic, don’t they?” she mused, her tone cold.
My mind trailed suddenly back to the distress call we’d been forced to ignore on the final leg of the journey to Zai. I thought of the child’s voice pleading for help, and the way Pandora had simply turned her back. I was done abandoning innocent species and putting them in harm’s way. I wasn’t going to be responsible for the genocide of a peaceful people. Not now, not ever. I couldn’t stop the trouble that human blood was causing, but I could stop the blood of this race being spilled.
“We don’t need to kill anyone, Pandora. There’s always another way. It doesn’t have to be violence and brute force all the time,” I said, unable to hold the bitterness back from the tip of my tongue.
“Ah yes, panic and diplomacy—two particularly annoying human traits.” She chuckled. “Well, go on. What else do you propose?”
I sighed, keeping my cool. “I propose we find a way to keep the Draconians here on Zai. If we can get to the bottom of what caused the opaleine corruption, we might be able to reverse it. Then, there would be no reason for them to leave,” I explained, the thoughts coming to me as I spoke.
Lauren nodded excitedly. “Yes, there has to be something chemical or biological making this happen. We just need to figure out what that is, and then we can see if we can reverse it. That’s worth trying before anything else, right?”
“There are too many extraneous variables, and it sounds like far too much hassle,” Pandora replied coolly.
“No, it’s actually a much safer bet,” I insisted. “What are you going to do if you find out, somewhere along the line, that you need more Draconian blood? By then, you’ll probably have drained them dry, and you’ll have nothing left to make your elixir out of,” I continued, looking at the others for support. That was one benefit to us only being connected via earpieces—Pandora couldn’t see us.
“Plus, if we manage to fix the opaleine corruption, and successfully reverse it, then you can come and mine more,” Angie chimed in, though she pulled a face as she said it. Giving the coldbloods another chance to exploit the Draconians probably wasn’t a good idea, but if it saved their lives and kept them away from Earth, maybe that was a compromise worth offering.
“And, if we manage to figure out what caused the plague in the first place, then we can come back here without any fear of the virus attacking our people again,” Navan confirmed, though he didn’t look too pleased about it either. I smiled at him, wanting to remind him that this was all about persuasion, to get Pandora to calm her itchy trigger finger.
For a moment, white noise crackled through the earpieces, but Pandora said nothing. Eventually, she gave a low, reluctant sigh. “Fine, try it your way. You’re ambitious, I will give you that. However, if it fails, I will certainly say I told you so, and then I will blow the Draconian ships to smithereens. Understood?”
“Understood,” I replied, speaking for everyone. “That might mean we have to stay here a while longer. Is that okay? Do you want us to come back and stay on the ship each night, so we can debrief?” I asked, glancing toward the tempting lodges, and the promise of food and sleep.
A scoff hissed through the earpieces. “No, don’t come back until you’ve done what you’ve set out to. Refilling the decontamination canisters takes much too long, and is frustratingly fiddly, and I do not wish to endure that process every single night. As we don’t know how long this will take, it’s best you stay with the natives,” she instructed derisively. “However, I will be monitoring you, and I will be listening in, whether you realize it or not. Think of me as an all-knowing deity—you cannot see me, but I am there.”
I rolled my eyes at her god complex, prompting the others to smirk. Even so, I wasn’t sure if her threat was an empty one or not. She’d bugged our suits without our knowledge, after all, and she had a capacity for craftiness. Maybe she’d figured out some other ways of secretly listening in. Whatever the case, we’d have to be careful what we said aloud.
“We’ll remember, Pandora,” I said tersely.
With that, another shriek of feedback rang in our ears, and her end of the line went dead. It didn’t mean she wasn’t listening anymore, but at least she wasn’t speaking to us. I was sick of her voice. It rarely brought anything but bad news.
Being alone out here, without any backup, I supposed Pandora feared us overcoming her. She was fiercely strong—stronger than Navan and Bashrik, even—but her reluctance to leave the Vanquish proved how vulnerable she felt. Given her constant surveillance, I guessed she worried we’d find a way to abandon her here and take the ship with us. Which, in fact, was precisely what we were planning to do… if we could just find a way to speak privately.
“Well, what’s the plan, guys?” Angie asked, stretching wearily. Bashrik’s eyes flickered toward the bare skin of her stomach as her t-shirt lifted up, but he quickly tore them away again.
“We should take advantage of the Eternal Springs while we’ve got time,” Lauren suggested. “They’re thermal hot springs heated by the nearby volcanoes. Ginji is right—they’re supposed to be really good for relaxation and rejuvenation, and I don’t know about you, but I could do with a long, hot soak,” she added with a grin.
I smiled back. “Sounds good to me. We can start our search for the root of the plague later,” I said, glancing at the side path that led to the hot springs. It really did sound nice. “Do you think they’ve left towels for us?” I wondered, heading toward the first lodge on the left. Inside, there were stacks of folded material with a velvety kind of texture. I supposed they were the closest things to towels we were going to get. Picking two from the pile, I went back outside, just as Angie and Lauren emerged from their lodges. Bashrik and Navan were still standing in the middle of the clearing, chatting in low voices.
“Think fast!” I shouted, throwing one of the towels at Navan. He caught it, his reflexes lightning fast. Meanwhile, Angie approached Bashrik shyly.
“Here, I thought you might need this,” she said, handing him a spare. Lauren and I exchanged a knowing glance, careful not to let Angie see.
With that, we headed toward the Eternal Springs. The path led through more of the deep jungle before emerging at a flat, rocky outcrop. Staggered, steaming pools jutted out like stepping stones against the side of a sheer drop. The first spring was at the very top, level with the outcrop itself, the edge looking out for miles across the Zaian landscape, like an infinity pool. From the lip of it, you could see the volcanoes rising like mountains in the distance, their craters smoking slightly, and the expanse of endless jungle that covered the planet’s surface, colorful birds rising from the canopies.
“Wow,” Lauren whispered. It was utterly breathtaking.
Awkwardly, we moved to either side of the rocky outcrop and got undressed down to our underwear, with the boys on one side and the girls on the other in a vague attempt at privacy. I figured we’d have to hang our underwear out to dry once we were done in the pool, since the rest of our clean clothes were on the Vanquish, but at least we’d keep our dignity. Secretly, I sneaked a look at Navan as he pulled off his t-shirt. His back rippled with taut muscle. It had been way too long since I’d seen him with his clothes off, and the anticipation was killing me.
“How long
is my hair?!” Angie remarked, distracting me from Navan’s half-naked body. “How long is all of our hair?!”
I laughed. “We should give each other a haircut,” I suggested jokingly. Our hair had gotten really long since we’d first left for Texas. My ponytail was now scraping the spot between my shoulder blades.
Lauren grimaced. “No way am I letting either of you near my hair with a pair of scissors! I’d end up having to get a buzzcut to fix it,” she teased, kicking her pants off and turning to face the hot spring. “Come on, tie it up and let’s get in the pool!” she said excitedly, pulling her own hair into a bun on top of her head.
With the boys still facing the other way, we slid into the hot spring. The soothing water enveloped us as we swam over to the edge and looked out at the stunning horizon. The water itself was cloudy from the minerals of the spring, making it impossible to see anything beneath the surface. Already, I could feel it going to work on my knotted muscles.
It was nice to relax a bit without any fear of Pandora interfering. The thought of the coldblood plague still worried me slightly, but Freya had asked us to trust her, and that was precisely what we were doing. We had no reason not to.
“You decent?” Navan asked politely.
“We are!” I replied. More’s the pity, I thought with a sly grin. He was dressed in tight underwear and nothing else, and the sight was a delicious one. We turned our faces away, for propriety’s sake, and the boys slid into the pool. An idea came to me. “Guys!” I whispered. Their eyes turned toward me.
“What’s up?” Lauren asked, worried.
Silently, I pointed to my earpiece, then down to the water, raising an eyebrow. I flashed Navan a significant look, wanting to ask if the devices were waterproof or not.
Navan nodded, smiling at the thought. He drew his forefinger across his neck, before gesturing to his own earpiece. That was all the confirmation I needed—the hot water would kill the earpieces in one fell swoop. Then again, we’d need to keep one functional, or Pandora would begin to suspect something. Using an awkward set of hand signals, I tried to convey that to the rest of them. They all nodded, and Bashrik pointed at himself.
He fanned his face. “Rask, it’s too hot in here. I’m going to sit out for a while,” he said, pointing to a stone bench that sat beneath the trees. “You stay and enjoy yourselves.”
As he got up and headed over to the stone bench, we dug into our ears and took out the offending earpieces. Since the barbs were digging into the skin, it scratched a little as we removed them, but it wasn’t as painful as I’d been expecting. When they were safely out, we immersed them in the steaming hot spring, hearing the sizzle as the water got into the electrics. I didn’t know if it had killed them entirely, but it was a good start. Anxiously, I looked over to Bashrik to see if Pandora had anything to say about it, but he pointed at his ear and shook his head. We were off the hook.
“Keep them submerged,” I whispered, just in case.
The earpieces were dead, and Pandora couldn’t hear us. Or so I hoped.
Chapter Ten
What’s your problem with the Draconians?” Angie asked suddenly, glancing at Bashrik. He looked startled by the question.
He shrugged. “I don’t have a problem with them.”
Angie snorted. “Then what was that outburst about, with Ginji? What you said to him was uncalled for. He’s just a kid. Even if he wasn’t, what you said was rude,” she said sternly. “You can’t exactly blame the Draconians for having had enough of your people exploiting their resources.”
“I just don’t think you can claim to be peaceful and then do something like unleash a killer plague,” Bashrik remarked, evidently uncomfortable about the line of questioning.
“Seems like you have some warped views of these people,” Angie pressed. “You think they’re lower than you, so they aren’t worthy of your respect.”
“That’s not true!” Bashrik said.
“I mean, I would’ve thought you, of all people, would understand a race wanting to defend itself,” Angie interjected.
Bashrik sighed. “I can’t respect a species who allow themselves to be invaded and exploited without at least attempting to fight back,” he admitted. “We should never have been permitted to come in and take what was theirs. They should’ve stopped us long before then, instead of stabbing us in the back with a sneaky, underhanded biological attack. That I cannot respect,” he added, a touch sheepishly.
“Would you have respected them more if they’d come out to meet you on the battlefield, fought you face-to-face, man-to-man?” Angie asked mockingly.
He shrugged. “I could have respected it more than a cowardly plague.”
Angie sighed. “Bashrik Idrax, you have so much to learn. We don’t know the full story and until we do, I suggest you rein in your superiority complex. And definitely stop unleashing it at kids,” she warned, though her voice carried a hint of warmth. In Bashrik, I knew Angie had found a project she could work on, to improve the potential she saw there.
“So, where are we going to start with the opaleine problem?” I asked, switching the subject. I put my earpiece in a little crater of water cut into the rock next to the main pool. The others did the same, while Bashrik kept his distance on the stone bench.
“It must have something to do with these Pyros that Ginji was talking about,” Lauren suggested, lounging back in the hot spring. Now, without worrying about Pandora listening in, we could properly relax.
Navan nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. If they caused the problem, maybe they know how to fix it,” he agreed, swimming over to where I was sitting and putting his arm around my shoulders.
“What do you think ‘Cambien’ means?” Angie asked unexpectedly, her brow furrowed in thought.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, when Freya went running off before, that orange-scaled kid said the word ‘Cambien.’ I was just wondering if it meant anything. Lauren, you got anything in that mind palace of yours?” she said, paddling her feet in the water. Her cheeks were reddening, the sweat glistening on her forehead.
Lauren shook her head. “It doesn’t mean anything to me. Although, with the language tech the Draconians seem to be using, it has to be a name. Otherwise, we’d be able to understand it.” That made a lot of sense. But was Cambien a person or a place?
“Do you think it might be one of the nine moons and stars—the deities they seem to pray to?” I wondered.
Lauren shrugged. “I don’t know much about the Lunaris sect. There wasn’t much in Brisha’s library about any particular religion, just a few mentions of rituals. One sounded like the blood ritual they want to do, for the vials. To them, blood is very sacred. It’s a symbol of purity,” she explained, resting her glasses on top of her head to stop them from steaming up.
“The veins in the opaleine… Do they represent the veins in their bodies?” I asked, intrigued.
She smiled. “They are symbolic, yes. I’m guessing that’s why the corruption of the stone hit them so hard. It’s like watching everything they hold dear get poisoned in front of their eyes. Ginji mentioned the opaleine is their power source—it’s what makes them their true selves, in full dragon form. Without it, they are half of what they’re supposed to be, which must be devastating,” she said solemnly.
“There has to be a scientific explanation for why the opaleine allows them to do that, though,” Navan insisted. “I mean, it can’t be a gift from the gods. It can’t just be a divine, mystical thing. There has to be some practical reasoning behind the way it works.”
Lauren chuckled. “Not a religious man?”
“Not exactly,” Navan said wryly. I remembered him saying that Vysanthe no longer believed in any kind of gods, though they mentioned the old ones from time to time. Rask certainly came up quite a lot, though I wondered how many young Vysantheans even knew the origin of the word.
“My guess would be there’s something in the stone that reacts with their genetic a
nd chemical makeup, encouraging that transformation in them,” Lauren said, her confidence making it sound like fact.
“It’s like my wings.” I grinned, amused at the confused looks from Navan and my friends. “When I drank the wing serum, something happened to my genetic makeup, transforming my human cells into cells of wings so they could shove their way through my shoulder blades and let me fly,” I elaborated.
“Absolutely. Although, instead of it being a liquid you ingest, I’d imagine it’s radiation from the stone, which must have a similar effect,” Lauren conceded, chuckling to herself.
Navan sighed, his expression satisfied. “I knew there had to be a scientific explanation.”
“Hey, this is all just speculation,” Lauren warned. “Maybe when we go to meet these Pyros, we can ask more questions about it. I mean, someone has to know the real reason.”
I turned to Angie, who had been uncharacteristically quiet. Her eyes were fixed on Bashrik, who was bending down to search in the pocket of his pants, his muscular buttocks flexing through the thin fabric of his spring-soaked underwear. Her mouth was hanging open.
I nudged her. “Eyes up,” I teased.
She turned away, her cheeks flushing a deep shade of pink. “Anyway, enough about magical stones and fire-breathing beasts. How the hell are we going to coax Pandora off the ship? If we’re going to disarm her and abandon her here, telling everyone she died in some terrible accident, we’ll need to get her out of her little hidey-hole and make sure she can’t contact anyone to come get her,” she said rapidly, covering her embarrassment with a flood of verbal diarrhea.
I smirked. “Maybe we could tell the Draconians what Pandora plans to do if we can’t get them to stay on Zai? They could lock her up and throw away the key. It would definitely beat her running loose on the planet and finding a way to contact Orion,” I said, allowing Angie a moment to cool off, though her eyes kept flitting back to Bashrik, who had resumed his position on the stone bench.
“Won’t that make Freya inclined to go back on her goodwill, though?” Navan replied, his fingers toying with a loose strand of my hair. “If she finds out we came here, knowing what Pandora planned to do, she won’t be happy.”