by Erica Rue
Cora’s reply was calm. “They will probably be fine for a few days. The Flyer they took had some of the food we were sending to the Ficarans. I doubt my uncle will lend you the Flyer, though. Victoria will send someone. Brian is a Ficaran.”
“That woman can hold a grudge for longer than a few days, but the problem is more than just being stranded.” Lithia locked eyes with her cousin. “Before Jameson brought everyone here, he was a scientist. He genetically engineered plants and animals to enhance colonial life. He shared that aspect of his work with you all to some extent, but he made other creatures, too, things he never intended for this colony to encounter. He put them on the southern island. That’s why he and Sam both tried to keep people away from it.”
“Why would he do that?” Cora asked.
“To see if he could. To challenge himself. I don’t know.” Lithia shrugged.
“It can’t be that bad, can it?” Jai asked. He had apparently been listening in to their quiet conversation.
“Actually, Jai, it’s very bad. Lots of nasty, violent creatures. A couple of those creatures have started to make their way to the mainland. For example, I almost got eaten by this thing that looks like a flower, that grabs you and tries to pull you underground before it devours you.”
The woman on the other side of Jai was giving her a look, so she lowered her voice. “I’m not going to bet my best friend’s life on the hope that the creatures over there ‘aren’t that bad.’”
Cora knitted her eyebrows. “I don’t think that I can help you. Things are really tense with the Ficarans still. Victoria thinks we found some of their guns on the battlefield and that we’re keeping them. My uncle won’t lend out the only Flyer we have.”
“Why is it his decision?” Lithia asked. “Why aren’t you in charge?”
Cora glanced over at Jai, who was sipping from his cup. “It’s complicated. And like I said, I don’t know if—”
She stopped abruptly, and Lithia followed her stare. A man was bending over and whispering into Benjamin’s ear. They were too far away for Lithia to make out the words.
“That’s the doctor,” Cora whispered to Lithia before raising her voice enough to reach her uncle. “The Green Cloak is dead, isn’t he?”
Benjamin nodded. He didn’t seem interested in discussing this news, but Cora pressed him further. “Did he say anything else? About their plans?”
“No, child.” His response was firm. “Now is not the time.”
Lithia saw Cora’s jaw clench. “I understand. Can I at least announce my plans for the memorial?”
“Very well.”
The meal was winding down, and some people were already getting up to leave when Cora stood and raised her hand to get everyone’s attention.
“Not one of us has escaped this disaster untouched by grief,” she said. “Our own people betrayed us because they forgot the stories passed down about the Demons. They ignored these stories. Now, we know the truth, that these Demons are an alien race called Vens. To ensure we will never again underestimate them, we will build a memorial at the entrance to the market, including all the names of those who fell in defense of the Vale Temple. I look forward to beginning construction soon.”
Benjamin and the others applauded, but Cora did not sit down. “However, we cannot begin to build the memorial and rebuild our town until the threats to its safety have been neutralized. There are still Vens out there and, what’s worse, Green Cloaks. I’ve learned where the Green Cloak traitors are hiding, and in the morning, I plan to lead a team of volunteers to root them out. Who will join me?”
The tables erupted in whispers. Lithia saw fear in the eyes of many, but she could tell others were prepared to volunteer. Benjamin, on the other hand looked furious. Cora had definitely not cleared this with him.
A man dressed in dark gray harem pants and a white shirt stood first. Lithia disliked him on sight. His greasy hair stuck to his sweaty forehead, and he breathed heavily, as if standing was an act of extreme exertion. Cora smiled at him. “Are you volunteering, Elijah?”
His frown heralded his reply. “What right do you have to organize such a venture? Are you the Regnator now? Benjamin, are all of the pairs from the Matching allowed to confirm, since your own niece has apparently confirmed her match?”
Lithia glanced at Cora, who was blushing. I guess that explains why Benjamin is still in charge. Jai took a long drink from his cup, though it was only water. Lithia was pretty sure she knew what “confirming a match” meant. She was also pretty sure that Cora had confirmed nothing with Jai. She could barely look at him, which was a pity. He seemed really nice, not to mention attractive.
“The moratorium on the matches stands,” Benjamin replied. “With all of our losses, we need time to process our grief, as well as to examine what this means for the genetic strength of our people.”
Lithia’s lip curled. A delay to reassess the Matches and probably make adjustments, shuffling people around like emotionless pawns on an old game board.
“If Cora has not confirmed her Match, then she is not yet the Regnator,” the man said. “She doesn’t have the authority to lead a force like this and call for volunteers.”
“No, she doesn’t.” Benjamin gave her a pointed look. “But I do. I’ve stepped in for my brother, as tradition allows.”
“You permitted this? A mere girl leading this sort of expedition?” Elijah asked, eyebrows raised.
Jai stood and slammed his cup down on the table. “This girl fought with us on the front lines during the attack. Where were you?” He paused briefly, glaring at the greasy old man. “I’ll join you, Cora. You’ve more than proven yourself to me.”
Cora gave him a grateful smile, and Lithia nodded. Jai wasn’t as bad as Cora made him out to be.
Elijah’s upper lip curled, but rather than reply to Jai, he turned to Benjamin. “So it’s decided? You approve this expedition?”
Benjamin looked hard at his niece for a moment, but that was all it took. Lithia saw his predicament. He had not permitted her call to arms, nor did he condone it, but this public confrontation was forcing his hand. To admit that Cora was acting on her own might be a breach of tradition. These people were already weird about women doing anything, and if Cora didn’t have the special rights of the Regnator, whatever those were, it might look bad.
“Yes,” Benjamin said. “We have the opportunity to bring the Green Cloaks to justice, and Cora, as Michael’s daughter, is an appropriate choice for this task.”
Elijah furrowed his brow. “Such a dangerous mission for such an important individual.” He turned to Cora and bowed his head slightly. “I hope you are well protected. Gavin, would you consider accompanying Cora on her expedition?”
A short, muscular man with a shaved head stood and nodded. Elijah was sending this man to be his spy, Lithia was sure.
Lithia felt a presence behind her and jumped, caught off guard by the tension of the moment. She turned to see a dark-skinned man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties looking down at her. He bent over to speak quietly to Cora. “If you have need of a man who can follow orders, I’d like to volunteer.”
Cora smiled, and her shoulders relaxed. “Yes, thank you. We met in the stables when you returned with the machi. Theo, right?” The man nodded.
“I fought alongside Michael,” Theo said, loud enough for the crowd to hear him. “He was a good man, but no Demon took him from us. I, for one, would like to bring these Green Cloak traitors to justice.”
This is really happening, Lithia thought. Though most stayed quiet and looked down at their plates, several men stood and offered their assistance. Theo nodded at them, and she recognized them as members of the cavalry. They had worked with Cora’s father, Michael, when he had led the cavalry. Some of them might have even witnessed his murder.
Lithia hesitated, uncertain of what she should do. Images from the battle flashed through her mind. The blood. The bodies. The giant, black Ven. She wanted to join Cora. She, too, wanted
vengeance, but as much as the Green Cloaks disgusted her, it was the Vens she truly despised.
But what good would it do to hang around the Vale Temple, trying to convince Benjamin to lend her the Flyer? He wouldn’t budge, not unless she gave him a compelling reason. If she could help Cora and the others, maybe that would earn her enough credit to borrow the Flyer once she got back. In the meantime, the others could keep pestering Victoria. It was the best scenario, right? Roy’s bloody face and lifeless eyes, the image of her nightmares, flashed through her mind. She wasn’t sure if she was doing this to put her own heart at ease or to help Dione, but she didn’t care. She had to act, had to stay in motion.
Two young women stood, and the taller one spoke.“We will join you.” Her voice trembled a bit, but her eyes were determined. Murmurs swept through the crowd.
Many Aratian women had joined the battle against the Vens to save the Vale Temple. Lithia didn’t see what the big deal was.
Benjamin spoke up. “I know we made exceptions during the attack, but—”
Another woman who must have been in her forties stood, cutting Benjamin off. “We don’t have as many able-bodied men as we once did, Benjamin, and this job still needs doing.” She turned to Cora. “I will join you. I will not stand by while my family is threatened.”
After her, a few more volunteers stood, including a couple. When it seemed as if no one else would join, Lithia seized the opportunity. She stood and put a hand on Cora’s shoulder. “I’m coming, too. Someone’s got to watch your back.”
Cora smiled. “We’ll meet at the stables at dawn.”
Cora returned to her seat, as did the other volunteers, and soon the conversations picked back up. Lithia sat and stared at the food remaining on her plate. What had she gotten herself into?
9. BEL
Bel read Lithia’s message from her own cabin on the Calypso, with Zane reading over her shoulder. Though the damage from the crash was extensive, only the cargo bay had been affected. The cabin beds were too small to share, but that didn’t stop them. After the chaos of the past few days, having a few hours to relax together, to be close to Zane, meant more than Bel could put into words.
Bel had always thought she would end up alone. She’d kept Zane at a distance for so long, afraid that her version of intimacy wouldn’t be enough for him. Her fears had been unfounded. Zane liked her just the way she was, and said that they’d figure out her boundaries together. It felt unfamiliar yet peaceful to be in a couple. Even Lithia’s news that she was running off with Cora to find the Green Cloaks couldn’t take that peace away from her.
Bel: You’re losing sight of why you went there.
Lithia: I’ll be in a better position to bargain after this. Cora all but told me Benjamin would say no.
Bel: Your emotions are getting the better of you.
They waited for a response from Lithia, but she never replied.
“That makes two,” Zane said. “Dione’s off in the jungle, now Lithia’s going after the Green Cloaks?” He pulled Bel closer, which filled her body with warmth. She closed her eyes.
“And the Vens,” she replied. “She plays it off, but I could feel the anger radiating off her after the battle. I get where she’s coming from. They pose a risk.”
She felt Zane go rigid. He pulled away and propped himself up on his good elbow. His other arm had been injured in the battle, and he wasn’t responding as quickly to the Aratian tea as Lithia and Oberon had.
“You want to join her.” It was an accusation. Bel felt her cheeks grow red in the dim light of the cabin. “I thought this drive for revenge was over. You got the datacore. You destroyed the Invader.”
His tone had shifted from accusatory to helpless. How could she explain it to him? There was a fire inside Bel that would never go out. When she had been at StellAcademy, it was glowing coals. When she had been downloading the datacore, it burned white-hot. Her hatred would always be there, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. The best she could do was manage it and not let it overtake her like it had on the Ven Invader. She couldn’t let it take over Lithia like that either. The guilt from her stunt of downloading the datacore was fresh, and she knew it would temper her actions.
“So what are you going to do?” Zane asked.
“I’m going to find Colm and tell him what the Aratians are planning. Maybe some Ficarans want to join.” Though Colm was a large, imposing man, he had shown that he had more compassion than his sister, Victoria.
“And what am I supposed to do?” Zane said. “Stay behind while you go fight the Vens? Again?”
“Do what you do best. Keep everything from falling apart. Sam needs you. Oberon needs you. Dione will need you, too.”
“But you don’t need me?”
Bel placed a hand on the back of his head and pulled him closer until their foreheads were touching. “Of course I do. You understand me like no one else ever has. That’s why you know that I need to do this. You’re too level-headed to come with me. You know that you’ll be more helpful here. I can see the wheels turning. You’ll be figuring out how to get a shuttle to rescue Dione because you know you can use it to help me, too.”
Zane pulled her in close and kissed her forehead. She found his lips and gave him a lingering kiss. The sensation was still strange to her, but mostly pleasant.
With that, she left Zane in her cabin and went to find Colm. The Ficarans, she hoped, would have an interest in stopping the Vens and remaining Green Cloaks, too.
***
In the dewy darkness before dawn, she could make out Colm and three Ficarans preparing a Flyer. Bel yawned in the fresh air. Victoria’s brother hadn’t needed much convincing to join her. In fact, she suspected that before she asked, he had been planning to hunt down the Vens, maybe even the Green Cloaks, on his own.
“You ready to go?” She thought about asking him how Victoria had reacted to his decision, if she even knew about it, but Bel couldn’t pretend to care anymore.
“Our pilot’s just arrived,” Colm replied, gesturing to a man approaching from the direction of the base. Behind the pilot came another figure, racing toward them. The shoulders were too broad to be Victoria’s.
Oberon.
“This will only take a minute,” Bel told the others. The quiet of the early hour filled her with an unshakable calm. Dione and Lithia might have wanted to hide their dangerous situations from the professor, but Bel would try to make him understand.
“Bel, what are you doing?” Oberon demanded as he reached the shuttle. “You can’t just leave.”
“Zane told you?” She couldn’t blame him. She probably would have done the same.
“Yes, but only after I asked him what you were up to. I heard you leave in the middle of the night.”
Oberon needed a dose of reality. A gentle one. “I know you’re worried about us, and you should be. Your instinct is to keep us together, to shelter us, to protect us. But the rules are different here. We all have to do our part. If I do this”—she corrected herself—“when I do this, no one will blame you.”
“Blame me? Do you really think this is about the repercussions I might face? It’s about losing students I love. If anything happens to any one of you—” His voice broke.
Bel peered at him. He thought he was still fighting the battle. He didn’t realize he’d lost long ago. “So much has already happened to us, Oberon. We’ll never be the same. None of that is your fault. We are stuck here for the time being, and that authority you once had over us? It’s gone. You have to trust us.”
“You have to see this is a struggle for me. The risks Dione is taking, that you and Lithia are taking… How can I trust you after you nearly sacrificed yourself for a datacore?”
“Then don’t trust me,” Bel said. “Add another tally to my future detentions. Fill out my expulsion paperwork. None of it matters. I plan to do everything in my power to watch Lithia’s back and make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid. I know what it’s like for anger at the V
ens to consume you. I just had a refresher of that feeling, and I’m not anxious to repeat it. Lithia needs someone to help her right now, and I’m the only one who can.”
Oberon watched her in silence, chest heaving, before offering two final words. “Be careful.”
Bel felt for the professor. They weren’t making his life easy, but they were all doing what they thought was right, a principle that Oberon himself had taught them. Dione was helping Brian find his father. Lithia was helping her cousin Cora. Bel was going to keep an eye on Lithia. If anything, Oberon should be proud. Maybe if they all returned safe and sound, he would be.
Without another word, Bel joined Colm and the others on the shuttle. Soon, with luck and preparation, Kepos would be completely free of Vens and Green Cloaks.
10. DIONE
The farther into the jungle Dione moved, the smaller the beams of moonlight that slipped through the canopy, and the more she relied on her manumed’s flashlight. She felt something smooth brush against her ankle and jumped.
It’s not a snake, she told herself for the tenth time. Just a leaf.
But that thought was troubling, too. For all she knew, Jameson had engineered some cross between a poison dart frog and an unassuming leafy plant, and she had just been poisoned.
Dione took a deep breath and pushed those thoughts away. There was no good in worrying about it now.
“Sam, do you have anything?”
She’d immediately lost Brian’s trail when she entered the jungle, but she realized Sam might be able to track his communicator and give her directions this time. After all, it was the middle of the night. With many of the Ficarans asleep, the AI had more opportunities to guide Dione.
“He’s stopped moving,” Sam replied. “You’re close. Keep walking north for about two kilometers.”
Dione’s pulse quickened. If Brian wasn’t moving—no, she wouldn’t let her thoughts go there. Nevertheless, she stepped up her pace.
