by Abby J. Reed
My intuition said I wouldn’t know without time and space.
Luka said nothing remained of my gardens. I’d have to start all over again. Now with all this change and the change still to come, I wasn’t sure a Scarlatti garden was the best place to begin. Just the idea of stepping back on that planet felt like stepping into a locked room again.
I wasn’t ready.
What do I want?
To regrow. To spread my roots as far as they would go within the limits of freedom. To figure out what I wanted to cultivate within myself. To see what changed and what remained the same.
Quiet.
Stars, how I just wanted some quiet. And dirt. And the thick scent of healthy soil. To watch something grow. To add beauty in a world where there was so much hate and destruction.
Jupe’s legs jogged harder. “I had a nova idea, if you hadn’t.”
“If it involves a heist I’m not interested.”
He snorted. “No, mi corona. Not at all.” He stepped closer to me, so close our bodies touched, his long face suddenly serious. He took my hands. His cheeks wore blush like a blanket. “Seeing you there on the floor—”
I looked away from him, embarrassed. As though I could’ve controlled what had happened to me.
He lifted my chin and my chest unlocked at the gentle gesture. “You are the kindest and bravest person I know. If he had more time, I have no doubt ShuShu would have felt the same.” He paused and brought my hands to his chest. “If you have no plans, would you be willing to come home to Miaoli with me?” He spoke in a rush. “It’s pretty much all dead. I haven’t been back. But there’s tons of places to garden and farm. And, I was thinking, with your experience and mine, maybe we could start rebuilding. It’d take cycles and it’s not like you have to stay there the entire time and Scorpia’s already trying to rope me into her mess, but it’s quiet and—”
I shut him up with a kiss.
He straightened, shocked. Then he wrapped his arms around me and deepened the kiss, sending pure pulses of pleasure along my body. He tasted like . . . home.
Chapter 64
MALANI
I never understood why ceremonies existed except to pile everyone with food. The palace had opened and people from all wedges and zones, those who won the lottery anyway, were present. Scorpia’s staff must’ve worked overtime because the palace didn’t look anything like Jupe and Tahnya and Brody described. Real tapestries and moving pics decorated the halls. Real people strode about in wonder at the art, at the crystals dripping from the ceiling. After spending so much time in a quiet hospital, the noise here seemed almost overwhelming. But that buffet . . .
Food from every wedge poured along the running tables. Decorative ice sculptures carved into creatures I’d never seen before stretched above the platters. Servants danced around the rooms, holding fizzy and bubbling drinks. And the smells. Spices and herbs and more, all making my mouth water. I’d already eaten two entire plates.
Stars, how I loved festivals. And this was just the appetizers. My brain could not wrap around the possibilities for the real meal.
Breaker filled his plate, spearing anything that dripped with grease and meat. He shone so handsome in his suit, a handdown from Darin and Jansen. I wore one of Raelyn’s old dresses from her green-zone dias, ruby red edged with bleached lace with an easily adjusted button back. Perfect for my wings. Breaker motioned to one of the empty window benches, balancing the mountainous plate on his cap. Would it ever solidify into a more specific shape the way my wings did? What forms would it take?
So many unknowns.
Yet delirious happiness flushed my entire system.
I curled up onto the bench, patting my full stomach. Carvings etched right into the glass. As the window slowly melted, the etchings changed along with them, creating new patterns.
It reminded me of my life. As I changed, my past and present selves ran together, making new waves and a new picture. Yet it was all me, all one piece.
Through the glass raged the endless sea.
Breaker got caught on his way over, joking around with some of Jupe’s friends. His parents opted to stay with Brody while he grew back his new scowly face. Breaker seemed lighter and brighter than I’d ever seen him before.
This was a good life.
My smile dimmed, just a tad. But my wings were still covered. And Scorpia still hadn’t shared the truth about Scarlatti. Tahnya was right. This was all chaos. What would people say when they found out about all the remaining Scarlattians bonded with the dark matter? Especially when the truth exposed all it could do. And then there was me, with the most dark matter. We were a potential explosive ready to blow.
There’d be no escape. Maybe Tahnya had the right of it—duck away and wait for it to blow over.
I bit my lip. All this change. A whole new way of living was about to happen.
I looked out the window, to the stars so far away, to the asteroid, out of sight, spinning toward the singularity. All that unchecked freedom.
Breaker plopped himself next to me, unconsciously running his hand along his rebuilt prosthesis. He tossed a fancy chewy bite into his mouth and hummed in pleasure. “What’re you thinking about?”
I sucked in a breath and tore my gaze from the sky. “I want to go.”
He sucked in a breath, ready to speak—
Words spilled out of my mouth. “There’s gonna be so much change over here, but I don’t think it’s the type of change I want. I want to see if the coordinates solidify. I want to see what’s on the other side. I want to see if it really leads to the Solterans’ home, or somewhere else. ‘Cause they lived in the stars, right? Traveled for generations? So where does the dot lead? They couldn’t have been traveling since the beginning of time so—”
Breaker touched my cheek and my words stilled. It was such a gentle, sincere touch. I pulled up short, turning away from him, back toward the always unreachable sky. I continued barreling through my planned speech. “I know you’re afraid of making a bad choice. But look around you. For better or for worse, you helped bring Scarlatti into a new era.”
Breaker chewed on his lip. “You sound like Cal.” His voice sounded . . . hopeful. A light sparked in his gaze. He turned to look out the window, toward the stars. Every centi of his body was laced with anticipation.
“Cal’s not a khaim.”
“My parents and Brody both said I should go. Well, my parents said choose your own path, but that essentially amounts to the same thing.” He said this next bit like he was admitting a crime. “Luka even offered to give me piloting lessons.”
I cocked my head, trying to slow down the joy blooming in my chest.
“I don’t want to live out of fear anymore.” He reached into the neck of his tunic and revealed a pupal seed. He’d punched a cord into it and strung it into a necklace. “If I do stay, it would be out of fear. Of what could happen. I want to live, Malani. I want to live.”
I reached out to touch the seed dangling on his chest. The joy was near bursting out of my skin. My lips turned up into a grin wide enough to make my cheeks ache.
He continued, “If we go, it’ll be a risk all over again.”
I brought my face close to his. Close enough to breathe in his scent. Tingles snaked down my spine. “So would staying.”
“We might not be able to return.”
“Might. Maybe.” I shrugged. “Your favorite words.”
He tucked his arm around me, shortening the distance between us by half. All the filaments in his honey eyes were on grand display. “And somebody needs to save the galaxy.”
“Somebody needs to,” I breathed.
His lips brushed against mine. Soft, oh that lovely soft. “Malani, would you like to see the stars with me?”
“Which ones?”
“All of them.”
I closed the distance and kissed him soundly. He pulled me onto his lap, deepening the kiss, my tongue against his as a thousand million possibilities exploded to life. A thousand million possibilities that were purely ours.
As though on cue, a polite cough broke us apart.
Heat tinged my ears and cheeks, but I gave Scorpia a sheepish smile anyway.
Her dress trailed ice chips and diamonds that glinted in the shattered light. If I ever wore a white dress again, I wouldn’t mind that one. She looked every bit the Queen she was. She turned to Breaker, showing off the kpinga strapped to her back. “I said you had until the coronation. What is your final answer?”
Breaker looked at me, excitement in his gaze. He covered my hands with his cap, uniting us. The thrill that ran through me was sparkling. “We’ll go.”
Chapter 65
LUKA
I had my back to the wall, watching as Scorpia finished talking to Breaker and Malani. By the stupid glow on their faces, I knew Breaker had changed his mind. Good thing Malani was going, too. I may now have some respect for Breaker, but I wasn’t khaim enough to think he could look after himself. Somebody needed to reel him in.
A stream of data flooded my vision. Stupid, worthless. I swiped away the info flood. My line kept trying to send me research on the architectural structure of the palace. As if I cared about ice beams or history. Right now all I wanted to focus on was basking in the quietness in my head and what was in front of me.
Well. Mostly quiet. I was still getting used to this whole line thing and wasn’t sure how to get rid of all the little vid snippets Brody kept sending me playing in the corner of my vision.
I had the feeling that even if both of us ended up on opposite sides of the universe in the end, he would never truly leave me alone. Couldn’t decide if that was acceptable or something to be avoided at all costs.
Scorpia walked toward me now with the step of someone on a mission and I was her next target.
“You got them to accept,” I said when she came close. Statement. Not question.
“I thought they would come around.”
The polite thing would’ve been to wait for her to broach the real reason why she came over. But I was tired of playing games. “What do you want from me?”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Change is coming. We need to be ready for it.”
“That’s no answer.”
She almost smiled. “Do you want a job?”
My eyes narrowed. “What type?” Now that I was done with the general thing, and Cal was back on Scarlatti and in full control, there truly wasn’t much for me to do.
“There are still Extrats out there. We were not able to shoot all of them down. And any place there is dark matter, there may be Extrats. I want you to hunt the remainder. It will be a big job. You will have your own ship. Your own hand-picked team. Among other things.”
“While you play Queen?”
“While I transition the galaxy from one era to another.”
“And in exchange?”
“You want more than I’m offering?”
“I want housing for Yana and Mateo wherever they want, school for LuLu, jobs for all of them. And—” What was it Jupe called it? Not bartering . . . “A salary.”
“Done. Anything else?”
“I reserve the right to think about it and come back with another request.”
She rolled her eyes. “A favor then.”
“A favor.” I couldn’t predict what change was coming, but I did know having the most important person in the galaxy in your pocket would be a marvelous thing.
She gave me an annoyed look. She knew exactly what I was doing. “Agreed. Why don’t you join your family now that you are this close to being out of my good graces?”
I nodded then closed the conversation by stepping onto the dance floor. I elbowed my way through the throng until I found Yana and Mateo dancing in the center of the gallery. Mateo moved his hips like a broken weed caught in a flash flood. He spun LuLu in the air. She couldn’t laugh yet, but her mouth split in a giant smile underneath her ginormous fuchsia bow. Yana’s hair was done in pinned braids and she wore brighter colors than I’d ever seen in her closet. She soaked up joy like a leather holster to oil.
Mateo wrapped his arms around his family, wrapping them tight.
They were a unit, a team, a home.
Mateo caught sight of me. His arm peeled back, exposing a spot about the right size for me. His gaze was welcoming. Yana beckoned, her face warm and sticky with sweat. Even LuLu glanced in my direction, all gums and slobber. The only something missing was me.
The sight twisted something too deep to name.
My team.
I stepped forward to fill the gap.
Chapter 66
JUPE
“Are you certain?” Scorpia said. “We could use you right now. The entire galaxy is on edge.”
She hauled a wooden beam from one of the oxidation houses onto the top of the hill. The end dragged a gouge in the ground, right next to the Leech, which sat like a tumor on this ebony hilltop. Her scarf was dirtied from both soil and sweat. My family used a mix of modern materials and old for the buildings. My papá swore it influenced the final flavor of the leaves. It seemed right to salvage the wooden ones for ShuShu’s funeral pyre.
“I’m positive. You’ve already got Breaker and Malani to save the galaxy, you don’t need me right now.” I helped heave the beam into place. After several horas of hard work, we had built the base and collected the rest of the kindling. “As much as I enjoy being a digiPoster child, I need to breathe and regroup. Raelyn and Levi are doing a fine job with the subcommittee on their own.”
One of the first things Scorpia did after her coronation as Queen was to switch out some of the Council seats and add a subcommittee. I gave Raelyn my blessing so she could step in and take Leader’s spot in the faction with Levi as her second. It was a start and a promise for Humans to have their voices heard.
Me? I was an official consult for the Council. Too volatile to be given a true seat on the subcommittee but too important to not be included in Scorpia’s new empire. Besides, I owed ShuShu too much to step away from his dream of an inclusive, peaceful galaxy.
“What are you going to do for money?” Scorpia said.
“I’ve got savings and I can freelance.”
Scorpia opened her mouth, but I cut her off. “Look. I know you didn’t show up just to drop off the body for the funeral. I know you want my word. So I promise I’ll still show up at important events. I’m gonna be there when Breaker launches tomorrow. I need to do this in my own time.”
Her lips thinned, but she nodded. Kind of hard to argue with my celebrity status. The green-eyed royal soldier I’d fought on the stairs gave an interview. It went viral and only added to the chaos. I did nothing save send a shoddy broadcast, but I couldn’t leave Miaoli without being bombarded by journalists and the media and strangers. Add in the spreading rumors of what happened on Scarlatti? There would be an official announcement tomorrow, after Breaker and Malani left. All hell would break loose once the asteroid was sent safely through. I wasn’t keen on the publicity now. I certainly wouldn’t be keen then.
Still. No wonder Scorpia wanted all the support she could get.
I gave Scorpia an encouraging pat on the back as she left and looked over my family’s old home.
The tea terraces were erased.
I’d been here half a local semana now, long enough that the dryness in my throat eased. Some of the tea plants still survived, but they were overgrown, erasing all the terrace structures. There had been a drought since I’d left—brown patches that never recovered. The houses, the drying stations, everything was still sooty with ruin. All the sounds of whirring bots
, of the laughter echoing from my cousins and parents and family were gone.
But if you listened close, the music of leafhoppers and other insects played.
Tahnya put her hand on my shoulder. “We’re ready.”
I turned around.
The pyre was finished and ready for ShuShu’s body. We liked to bury our dead in the ground, to feed and nourish the soil. Solterans liked to release theirs to the stars in space. ShuShu Cho was of both worlds. So, he would burn on the ground and the wind would carry his ashes closer to the stars.
I gestured toward the landscape. Over the last several dias, we’d cleaned out one of the houses to stay in. Even that took three times as long as it should’ve. I kept having to pause, to remember, to let go. This was the first time we had a high enough view of the land itself. “What do you think?”
As glad as I was that Tahnya agreed to come, a part of me didn’t want to know her reaction. She didn’t say anything when we landed, only took my hand since I couldn’t bear to look.
She gnawed on her lower lip a sec, then her lips curled into a soft grin. “The new growth is beautiful. I can see why you loved it.”
“New growth?”
“Right.” She pointed to the areas where the flames hit hardest. “See there, the darker area?”
“You mean the ash?”
“It used to be ash. But look at all the buds poking up. It’s already blooming.”
I shook my head. “Your vision is more nova than mine. All I see is the death.”
“Then let me tell you what I see.” She slid her arm around my waist, filling my core with warmth. “I see the old ash. I do. But I also see what grows. Over there, a sapling is already a couple meters tall. That one there is a completely different species. I bet when it flowers, it’ll be stunning. The dry spots can be fixed with some time and irrigation. All the overgrowth just needs some direction, someone to get their hands dirty and love on it. Behind the houses, that’s a great place to put some stingfly—”
