by Emerson Fray
Chapter 24
Back in Mahendra Ren couldn’t find anyone that was part of the Sisterhood. Nobody that had access to the machine, anyway, and so there was nothing she could do with the power source. She felt dirty just holding it, partly because of who had created it, and partly because of how she’d gotten her hands on it.
“Abetha,” Ren called up to the window at the front of the inn. “We need to use your—room.”
The door opened and a sleepy-eyed Abetha appeared. She rubbed at her face, and Ren was surprised she’d been sleeping. How could she when so much was going on?
“Come on, then,” Abetha prodded. She led Ren and Sheridan to the veranda where the EM field shimmered lightly. It looked like it was losing some of its power. “Do you want a towel?”
Most of Ren’s clothes had dried off on the walk back, but she nodded. Her hair was still wet, and with the cooler temperature she worried that it was going to freeze soon. Abetha returned and Ren took the large fluffy towel from her.
Rubbing it on her hair she said, “I found what the Husher device needs to work again.”
Abetha’s eyes widened. “That is—”
“Now we can cloak the planet again, and Novae will be safe!” She found herself smiling. “Things can return to normal.”
Taking a deep breath Abetha shook her head. “I don’t think you understand how things were.” She sat down at the small chair beside her, signaling for Ren to do the same. When she didn’t Sheridan put a hand on her shoulder and gently pressed down, forcing her into the chair. When she finally did sit she realized how exhausted her legs were.
“You won’t have to deal with the Monarchy anymore though,” Ren murmured. Her hands had slowed as she pressed the towel against her hair.
“Novae had other problems,” Abetha stated. “The Sisterhood always had control of the Prime Minister and all of Novae’s power; they ensured that nobody advanced because they feared that should we start, we would want to explore.”
“They didn’t want the Monarchy finding them,” Ren said.
Abetha nodded. “They’ve always taken care of me, they’re like my family—but I’m worried that if the Husher device is working again they won’t change. That they won’t learn from this.”
“We have to try,” Ren argued. “If we don’t then nothing will ever change. The Monarchy will stay in power, and Elian will—he won’t be Elian.” Ren stood, dropping the towel into the chair. “I’m going to talk to him.”
Abetha stood. “I’ll join you. But remember…if Garret is there, anyone could be listening.”
Ren flinched. “He won’t be.”
Abetha’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t question anything. Ren thought Sheridan might have signaled her not to ask, but no matter what it was Ren was grateful. She didn’t want to say anything out loud, not yet. If she said it out loud then that meant it was real.
“I’ve got the army coming,” Elian said, his usual exasperated grin gone. He sat at Maks’s desk, leaning so low in the chair that Ren thought he might not have any bones in him anymore.
“You what?” Ren asked.
Naomi stood beside him, but rather than explaining she said, “I’ll leave you alone for a while. Sheridan, Abetha?”
The two glanced at each other and only left when Ren told them it was fine. Sheridan leaned close to her ear and whispered, “I’m right outside.”
Ren didn’t care. She wasn’t going to take comfort in the fact that Sheridan was standing outside the door, because she wasn’t in danger here, not with Elian. If anything, he was in danger; in danger of losing himself, or having his big sister give him a good swat.
When the door clicked shut she requested, “Repeat what you just said.”
“I’ve got the army coming,” Elian said. “After I put those devices on everyone I found that there are a lot more rebels than I first thought—and we found the camp in the forest. We need the Monarchy for this, and Garret said he would get them.”
Ren’s heart skipped a beat. “So this was Garret’s idea.”
“It was mine,” Elian confirmed. “I don’t care if half of Novae has to be put under lock and key, they’re—”
“Who are you?” Ren questioned, her voice cracking. “Because you are not my brother.”
Elian stood suddenly. “And you’re not my sister!”
Ren flinched and it was the first time she thought Elian didn’t care.
“You’ve been conspiring with them,” he growled, “you’ve been working with the rebels, and with the Sisterhood to bring me down. How could you do that to me? To Dad?”
Ren took two steps forward until she was right in front of her brother. She pressed her hands flat on the desk, leaning as close to him as she could get and said, “I’m doing this for you and for Dad. And for the people of Novae and—and for myself! Don’t you dare say I’m some kind of traitor because I am not. The Monarchy is the one that has betrayed us.”
Elian’s breathing was shallow. “How has the Monarchy betrayed us? By bringing us here? By giving us everything we could ever need and—”
“They gave the order to kill Dad.”
Elian stopped breathing. He froze and stared at her, his eyes blank as he took that in. Ren let him have his time and leaned away from him, her hands still on the desk. She tapped it a few times before murmuring, “Elian?”
“Do you have proof?” he asked. He fell into the chair behind him.
“Do I need it?” If Elian didn’t believe her on this, if he told her to come back with some kind of evidence then she knew her brother was lost forever. Then she knew that he was part of the Monarchy.
“No,” he whispered. “I just…the rebels…” He covered his eyes. “I don’t know what’s going on anymore.”
Ren knew what that was like. She came around the large desk and sat on the arm of the chair, wrapping her arms around her brother. “I have a solution, maybe. The Sisterhood can help.”
Elian uncovered his eyes. “What do you mean?”
“They have a device that can cloak the planet,” she revealed, “and I—”
“No,” he interrupted, “I mean how can the Sisterhood help? I know that some of them are working against the Monarchy…but not all of them.”
“I know,” Ren agreed. “But they have the device—we don’t have a choice, or any way to figure out who’s who.”
Elian was quiet.
“Elian?” Ren asked. She stood and looked at her brother.
“I might know who’s been giving information to the Monarchy,” he admitted. “She spoke with Garret this afternoon about something to do with a power supply.”
Ren shivered. If someone had told Garret about her going to the Absolution, then it had to have been someone in the cavern with her. There were so few suspects, and Ren didn’t like the outcome of what she was about to say. “Tansy?”
“Keturah,” Elian revealed. “She’s been adamant about making sure that the Monarchy knows all they can about the Sisterhood. About who’s in the Sisterhood.” His eyes slid towards the door.
“But if we can get the planet cloaked, then maybe—”
“Just a basic cloak won’t work,” Elian said. “They could still land if they figure out the right coordinates. Or they could just blow us up; a cloak isn’t the same as a shield.”
Ren bit her lip; she hadn’t thought of that. The first time the planet had been cloaked was when that technology didn’t even exist. Any scows sent to find the planet wouldn’t have thought to try anything other than flying by, and at the time even that was difficult. “Then what?”
Elian shook his head. “I don’t know.” A pause. “Did they really kill—I just don’t know. I…I need to sleep.”
“Of course,” Ren said immediately. This was urgent, but Elian was useless if he didn’t get some sleep soon.
“You should try it yourself,” Elian suggested as he stood. “You lo
ok a little…disheveled.”
Ren glanced down at her wrinkled clothes and the dirt that caked her from head to toe. “I will,” she promised. But first she wanted to figure out a solution to the Husher device and what to do next.
In the hallway Sheridan and Abetha were waiting patiently, each of them leaning against the opposite wall. When they saw Ren they each stopped pretending the paintings were more interesting than the conversation between the siblings, and straightened. Elian gave them a nod before shambling away, a zombie of his former self that Ren hoped would come back soon. When he was out of earshot Abetha asked, “What did he say?”
Ren took a deep breath. “There’s a scow fleet on it’s way here, and that even if we can cloak with the device it doesn’t mean much.” Ren sank to the ground, crouching as she tried to think of something. “Hiding isn’t going to work anymore.”
Not that it seemed to do much good in the first place. She stood again. “Keturah is the spy in the Sisterhood; she told Garret where I was going today.”
Sheridan’s fists tightened. Abetha looked away, brow furrowed.
“You need to rest,” Abetha said. “I’ll deal with Keturah.”
“I can’t ask you to do that,” Ren began, but found her words didn’t have as much power as she would have liked.
“I will go with Ross,” she replied. “And Sheridan will stay with you.”
Reluctantly, Ren nodded, because her vision was already starting to waver. Abetha left and Ren hadn’t asked what she was going to do. Climbing the stairs to her room, Ren wanted to ask what Sheridan thought she should do next.
“We should get Enn here in the morning,” Ren suggested aloud, only because she wanted to make one last decision before passing out. “She and Elian might be able to come up with something…to…make all this work.” She shrugged at her doorway.
“Goodnight,” Sheridan said, pushing her into her room when she wouldn’t take that last step in. Ren grabbed onto Sheridan’s wrist, pulling her into the room with her.
“Can you stay in here tonight?”
Sheridan paused. “I can. Do you think they’ll attack you here? With Elian?”
“I just…I don’t know what to expect. From the Monarchy or the Sisterhood.”
“I’ll stay,” Sheridan declared.
Ren lay down in bed, not bothering to change her clothes or wash the dirt out of her hair or off her skin, and passed out. Not even the sound of the scows arriving was enough to wake her the next day.
