“A wise theory,” says the Sage, nodding.
“My Talisman is built into my ship, so we’ll need to do this from ’Nox.”
We follow Hysan inside, and he activates his Stone’s Ephemeris in the ship’s nose. I switch on the black opal next, and then Eurek and Ferez do the same with theirs. Four star maps overlap with each other, and the four of us close our eyes to Center ourselves, creating a Quorum. Ophiuchus stands in the middle of our group, and we channel his Psynergy to help reconnect him with his birthplace.
At first I don’t sense anything, but then a light begins to glow inside me, like I’m carrying new life in my womb. I feel overwhelmed with compassion and care and concern, like a new mother, and as my body swells, so does my heart, and I realize I’m embodying Nurture.
I can sense the presence of Wisdom and Justice and Military might nearby, and as our energies combine, our individual essences are united into a single purpose.
“I know,” says Ophiuchus, and I open my eyes. He’s staring directly at me. “I know where we have to go.”
We regroup with all the Guardians while the commanders of every troop gather their Zodai. “Ophiuchus has located his crash site,” announces Eurek once the Guardians are assembled. “Report your findings.”
Neith joins our group and stands by Hysan’s side, and the other leaders stare at him.
“Most weapons won’t function here due to this world’s different scientific and metaphysical laws,” says Ferez, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “We’ve tested the Shrill, and it won’t sound in this air.”
“Bind won’t disburse properly in this atmosphere,” says Hysan, and he directs himself to the Leonine and Scorp Guardians, who are scowling at him.
“Our Veils aren’t camouflaging us here,” says the interim Virgo Guardian. “This air won’t accommodate invisibility collars.”
Virgos fight with the Veil and Thorn: They vanish and sneak up on their targets with an elegant and small-but-deadly dagger called a Thorn. It’s often dipped in poison, sometimes meant to paralyze and sometimes to kill.
“The Scarabs work just fine,” says Skiff proudly.
“Our Swaths won’t function without solar energy,” adds the Guardian of Leo, Holy Leader Aurelius. Their weapon is a sword with a handle covered in microscopic mirrors that traps rays from the sun and produces a focused beam of solar energy that consumes whatever it passes through.
“The Tremble can’t produce earthquakes in this soil,” reports Fernanda. “So what does that leave us with for protection?”
“Everyone has been trained using a Barer.” I turn to look at Rubi and Brynda, who are standing beside me. “Gemini and Sagittarius’s weapons will also be fine. We’ll have to defend ourselves with what we can.”
“Remember that if we’re encountering technology constraints, odds are so are they,” Hysan points out. “Aquarius’s technique was sophisticated, but this place is primal and untamed, down to the very particles of air. Their Veils likely won’t work here either, and the Marad will be limited to their Murmurs, which we can fend off with the shield produced by our Barers.”
Brynda faces me. “Rho, do you know where you’re going and what you have to do when you get there?”
I nod and look to Eurek. “Should the whole army march there as one?”
“We’d be leading the Marad right to you,” he counters. “The best strategy is to split up into factions so they don’t know where you are. Remember they’re only here to get Ophiuchus—and they win by either taking him away from us or waiting out two more days until the portal fully opens. The more confusion we create, the better.”
“Then we’ll divide into teams,” I say, “and we’ll stay in contact through our Rings. If anyone needs reinforcements, just call out to the Collective Conscious. And if we close the portal, we’ll send the alert to the rest of you so we can regroup and get out of here.”
“I’m on Rho’s team,” says Rubi, but Eurek shakes his head.
“Guardians are all targets. We should split up.”
Hysan takes my hand, and I know he’s coming with me no matter what the Ariean General has to say about it.
We disband to regroup with our teams, but before we can do anything, an army ten times larger than ours creeps out from the swamp’s trees, like they’ve been waiting for us to corral ourselves.
They’re all in white with porcelain masks, and they move with a confidence that feels like they’re already native to this land. Their Murmurs are trained on us, and even though our Zodai shout and lift their weapons, nobody shoots. The standoff seems to be because the Marad is expecting something. Or someone.
And then a figure in all white steps forward through their ranks, the only one not wearing a mask.
It’s Blaze.
40
HIS FACE IS A KNIFE blade to my gut.
Hysan’s hand squeezes mine, but I can’t focus on anything but Nishi’s killer.
“My name is Blaze Jansun, and I am the leader of the Tomorrow Party,” he says, his voice amplified. “I’ve come to bring you hope. If you let down your weapons and join us, we will not harm you, and you may come with us through the portal to discover a new universe.”
Silence meets his words, and a few more people in white, also without masks, come up beside him, and I see Traxon and Mallie and Barg and Geneva and June in her hover-chair—all the people I met and liked from his Party. Blaze learned well from Aquarius: He’s baiting me with empathy.
“All we ask is that you hand Ophiuchus over to us,” he goes on, “and you will be saved.”
The Thirteenth Guardian is surrounded by a platoon of Arieans, but I can see his face through their ranks, and he looks like he’s resigned to any fate. Just as he struggled between his conscience and his love for Aquarius, I wonder if now his loyalty to his people will keep him from saving the Zodiac.
It seems impossible to ever know what side he’s on.
As I pan across the familiar faces next to Blaze’s, I know that just like all the Zodai here, these teens don’t deserve to die. They’ve been manipulated—we all have. But there’s a better weapon than violence for undercutting lies.
Traxon was right.
It’s time we told the truth.
I let go of Hysan’s hand and step forward into the empty space between our army and Blaze’s. “The sun going dark isn’t inevitable!” I shout to them.
My voice isn’t amplified but it’s still strong, and the Party members look to me. “Trax, Mallie, Barg, Geneva, June—you guys aren’t fighting for our universe’s survival but its destruction. I know you’re afraid to trust that because Aquarius was so convincing and you’re afraid of staying and dying, but if you don’t believe me, you’ll be wiping out our entire solar system!”
Hysan is already next to me again, a pistol in his hand, and Mathias and Pandora come up on my other side with their blue-bladed Barer swords out. The three of them scan everyone around us like they’re ready to defend my life with their own.
“You have a choice,” I go on, avoiding Blaze and addressing the Marad soldiers and Party members. “You can trust your fear, or you can have some faith. As someone who’s trusted her fears her whole life, I can tell you it doesn’t lead anywhere good. To the Marad soldiers, I myself hail from your lineage. My mother is a Riser. My mother’s mother was an imbalanced Riser. Ophiuchus, your own Guardian, stands with us. I know you’ve been wronged, but you don’t have to do this—we can choose to be better than the generations that came before us.”
The same silence that met Blaze’s words meets mine, and my shoulders slump in defeat. But then the guy next to Blaze begins to move forward.
Trax, with his shaggy mane of hair and pierced eyebrows, steps across the divide. When he’s in front of me, he says, “I’m sorry. I was just tired of the lies . . . and I thought I was finally hearing some truth.”<
br />
“I understand,” I say, and he hands me something small and shaped like a scorpion. The Echo Stan stole from Link on Scorpio.
I take the device in my hand, and it reminds me of my brother’s pluck and protection and sacrifice. And touching this piece of proof that he lived and fought once makes me feel stronger. “Thank you,” I whisper.
He nods and stands beside Hysan, who rests a comforting hand on the Leonine’s shoulder. Traxon’s face immediately burns bright red.
I look over to the other Party members beside Blaze, hoping they’ll follow Trax’s lead. But no one else comes over.
On our side, people from every House have now stepped up beside me. Brynda, Rubi, Eurek, Fernanda, Ezra, Gyzer, Mom, Gamba, Skarlet, Engle, Numen, Qima, Hexel, Jox, and more, until we’re one indivisible, colorful mass of Zodai from across the universe. And from this gesture, it’s clear that everyone in our army is willing to give their life for the Zodiac.
Just as Nishi did.
This isn’t hate: We’re fighting with love.
“Rho, this is silly,” says Blaze, like we’re old friends having a private conversation and not enemy generals meeting on the battlefield. “You’re going to get everyone here killed. We outnumber you ten to one. You can at least save these people—it’d be such a waste to let these Zodai die just because you can’t let go of the past.”
One of the Marad soldiers steps up and rips off his mask, revealing yellow eyes I’ll never forget.
My brother’s murderer.
“You’re testing our patience,” he says, only he’s talking to Blaze. “This is our home now. That was the deal we struck with Aquarius. Whether you people make it through your portal isn’t our concern—this planet will survive, and so will we. We want you all off our land, same way you wanted Risers off yours. So get your guy and screw off.”
Aryll doesn’t even care enough for his own Guardian to use his name. Then he turns to me, but he doesn’t raise his Murmur yet. He doesn’t have to—not when his brethren are already pointing theirs.
“But Rho is mine.”
Hysan and Mathias block me from view with their bodies, and it looks like things are about to get violent—when suddenly, there’s a shuffling noise on both sides of our armies, and we all turn to look.
A collection of strange creatures slithers out from the swamp. They walk on four legs and make raspy sounds that almost seem like part of a language, except it’s unintelligible. There are enough of them that they surround both our armies, and the Marad doesn’t seem quite as sure what to do—some aim their Murmurs at them and some keep them pointed at us.
“What are those?” I hear Brynda ask.
A few of the creatures start rising up on their hind legs, revealing humanlike bodies, and they lift their faces to stare at us. They have skin just like Ophiuchus.
Holy Helios.
This world’s population didn’t die out—it mutated over the millennia.
These are the last Ophiuchans.
At the sight of his people, Ophiuchus springs out from his hiding place amid the Ariean Majors and moves desperately toward the creatures.
“KILL HIM!” Blaze shouts, and every Murmur suddenly points to him. Then everything descends into chaos.
I’m jostled among the Zodai as both armies start shooting at each other, and the Ophiuchan creatures jump into the fray, attacking with their sharp jaws and claws. Zodai or Marad, we all look like threats to them, and they don’t differentiate.
I feel Hysan pulling me with him, and I realize Eurek, Neith, Mathias, Skarlet, and Gyzer are ahead of us, and they’re pushing a heavy weight in front of them. It’s Ophiuchus—they need their combined strength to force him away from the creatures he’s so desperate to touch.
Pandora appears on my other side, and she’s already glowing with the blue shield from her Barer. I don’t see many others shielding themselves—most of our Zodai probably don’t have enough focus to pull it on while they fight.
“Rho, raise your shield,” Hysan instructs me, and I reach down for the electricity in my hand and the Psynergy in the air, and I breathe in deeply as I bind them together in my mind. Then I pull the energy across my body. I’m sure I’m leaving some holes, but it’s the best I can do.
Brynda suddenly joins us, her wrist raised as she walks backwards, shooting at the soldiers coming after our group. Bodies are dropping so quickly that I sway, dizzy amid so much death, and Hysan holds me tighter.
Rubi and Ezra and Engle and other Zodai join Brynda, until there’s a wall of people protecting Ophiuchus and me from the Marad as we run to put an end to this.
A loud explosion distracts everyone as an Ariean ship is blown up. “Duck!” shouts Brynda, and we all hit the ground as flaming pieces of metal fly everywhere—but the flames die quickly; whatever brand of oxygen this is can’t sustain fire for long.
Hysan pulls me to my feet right as a maskless Marad soldier breaks through the mob, gunning for us at top speed.
Aryll goes straight for Brynda, who’s causing the most damage to his ranks. She raises her Arclight, but she’s out of bullets, and without giving her time to reload, he tackles her.
He loses his Murmur as they roll on the ground, and Hysan and I tear through the throng of fighters to reach her. Hysan shouts at the top of his lungs to all the Zodai nearby: “Help Brynda NOW!”
But even as we sprint, I know we’re not going to make it. Brynda looks like she’s been dazed by the fall, because when Aryll lifts his head, she doesn’t get up. Rubi is closest to them, and she’s running with her Barer’s shield on.
The Geminin Guardian is still a few feet away when she raises her gun to shoot Aryll, but he yanks down on a masked soldier’s sleeve, using him as a human shield, and the bullet lodges in the soldier’s chest.
Aryll tosses the dead Marad soldier at Rubi, and then he draws a dagger from his waistband and turns to stab Brynda.
But Rubi easily dodges the body, and she uses her suit’s levitation boots to launch herself at Aryll’s head. She yanks on his hair, and he shrieks and raises his blade to stab her, but she flies off him too quickly.
While the diminutive Guardian buzzes around Aryll and distracts him, Hysan, Pandora, and I drag Brynda away from the chaos. I’ve no idea where Mathias and the others have taken Ophiuchus, but I hope they’re safe. Once we get away from Aryll, we’ll locate them.
Ezra charges toward her Guardian, leading a platoon of Sagittarians, and she shouts to us, “Go! We’ve got her!”
Relieved, I turn around to help Rubi, who’s half running, half flying toward us, her copper curls bouncing wildly. I don’t see Aryll, but there’s no time to stick around and search for him.
“Rubi!” I call when she’s within shouting distance. “The Sagittarians will protect Brynda, but we have to go—”
Her eyes grow wide, like she’s seeing a threat behind us, and I wheel around in fear of what I’ll find. But when I hear Hysan shouting “NO!” I realize what’s happening.
I turn back just as Rubi falls, the dagger’s black handle sticking out from her back.
41
“RUBI, NO!” I CRY OUT, my voice breaking as blood spreads through her orange fabric like spilled paint.
Aryll stands too far away, and through the smoke and bodies and flashes of blue light, I see he’s smiling. Then he melts into the mob behind him, growing more dangerous by his disappearance.
A swarm of Dreamcasters descends on their fallen Guardian, and I take one last longing look at Rubi—who gave her life to spare Brynda’s—and as tears spill from my eyes, Hysan and Pandora take my arms and pull me away.
The three of us are shielded as we dodge the chaos of fighters, and I’m startled by the viciousness of the Ophiuchan creatures, who are taking down people in packs and eviscerating them with their ferocious jaws. The corpses of Zodai and Marad Risers lie side
by side on the battlefield.
Fear must be the most destructive power in the universe.
It births monsters.
Hysan uses his Scan to illuminate a pathway through the tangled trees, and their branches scratch at our uniforms as we burrow as deep as we can into the silvery swamp. When the noise of the violence fades, new sounds take over.
The high-pitched buzzing and chirping of unknown insects is underscored by the drone of deep and unfamiliar animal calls, all of it muffled and echoing, like we’re underwater. I touch one of the large silver tree leaves, and it’s the strangest texture I’ve ever felt: It feels like water, but it’s a solid, and when I dip my finger in it, my Ring buzzes. This whole planet is living, breathing Psynergy.
Rho? Are you safe?
I touch my Ring at the sound of Mathias’s voice.
We’re in the swamp, and we’re fine. Pandora is with me, I add quickly, to ease his mind. So is Hysan. How are you?
We’re safe, too. We have Ophiuchus, but it’s proving difficult to get him to stay with us—he’s desperate to reconnect with his people, and I’m worried they’ll kill him if he gets too close.
How will we find each other? I ask.
Meet me in the Collective Conscious, and I’ll guide you to us, the way I came to you in the Aquarian palace.
I turn to Hysan to let him know the plan. His brow is furrowed, and I realize he’s also in conversation with someone. When his gaze refocuses, his eyes look pitifully sad. “We’ve lost two thousand already.”
Pandora and I hang our heads for a moment in respect of the fallen. Hysan had the idea to create necklaces with trackers, like the one Sirna gave me, to keep track of our soldiers. Only in place of a pink nar-clam pearl, Hysan’s version holds a pulse reader that transmits Zodai’s vitals to the people we left behind at the International Village.
Thirteen Rising Page 29
