by Nina Walker
Forgetting all politeness, I leaned down and felt for his lips. The kiss was a slow burning answer to a question. With every movement, our bodies came closer to each other. Eventually, he sat up and pulled me onto his lap, our mouths never parting. I kept my eyes closed, and for that moment, I allowed myself to forget about everything. Not even the fear of death could pull me away from that perfect kiss.
I’d been pretending for weeks that I hadn’t been affected by Lucas’s presence. I tried to tell myself that I didn’t long for him to be part of my life. But my true feelings were clearer to me now, more than ever. It was undeniable, especially in the heady caress of his touch, in the exhilarating sense of falling that was coursing through my body.
We continued kissing like that for a while before I slowly pulled away. His steady gray eyes were churning with passion—both intense and vulnerable.
“Are you sufficiently awake enough to hold this?” Sasha’s voice chimed.
I looked around and saw that the terrain was no longer the lifeless gray we’d seen just before. It was pocketed with mountains, and we were flying high. There wasn’t any gray in sight at all. There were just mountains and grasslands. And there wasn’t another jet, another soul, in sight. Thank goodness…
It wasn’t quite as terrifying as before, flying invisible.
“What happened?” It was magic, of course. But who, and how?
“Lucas can answer that,” Sasha said.
“You’re a color alchemist?” I whispered.
I didn’t have to ask to know it was the truth, but I did anyway. The words were low on my breath, as anger threatened to break through. I wanted more than anything to see the look on his face. And the fact that I couldn’t made me even angrier!
“So all this time you’ve been lying to everyone? To me?”
“I had to.”
No, he didn’t. “Who else knows about this?”
“Well, now, just you two. It’s my best-kept secret,” he said. “And now I assume the Resistance will know.”
Sasha sighed. “I will have to report this, Lucas—I don’t have a choice.”
I didn’t care about any of that right now. All I wanted was the truth, as painful as it might be. I shifted my weight away from Lucas, sitting back in my own seat and carefully adjusting the seat belt as I considered how to approach this. On the outside, I might have looked calm, but inside, I was seething.
“How did you keep your abilities a secret?”
“I know how to hide, and sometimes I can shut it off.”
“One of the first things I ever asked you was how to turn this magic off. You said it was impossible. You lied.” All that had happened to me, everything I’d been through could have been different if I’d known how to turn the alchemy off. “Why didn’t you teach me?”
“Because no one else knows. Teaching you would have risked exposing myself. If I could go back and undo that choice, I would.”
I shook with the hurt that he had chosen not to help me. He couldn’t see my pain but I was sure he could hear it in my voice.
“It’s too late to change it now. They already know what I can do. They already know that I can access red. They’re just waiting.”
“I’m so sorry, Jessa.” Lucas put his hand on my knee. I quickly pulled it from his grasp.
All I’d wanted since I’d first met Lucas was to forget about the GC and go home. To live a normal life. To be a ballet dancer. And to actually be a part of my own family. Apparently, he was the only person who could have helped me create that. He could have taught me hide it, but instead, he’d chosen his own agenda.
“You’re just like your father.” I spoke each word sharply.
Silence. Thick suffocating silence.
“Where are we going?” he finally asked Sasha.
“How long can you hold this invisibility?”
“An hour,” he said. “But this is a lot for me. Maybe not even that.”
Sasha whistled. “You are one powerful alchemist—I’ll give you that.”
A memory from my studies surfaced as I realized what Lucas had done to get us out of there. He’d done the seemingly impossible.
“You can access white?” I asked him. “I thought that color didn’t count. That’s what I read…”
He didn’t say anything for a while.
“White is a shielding color. A protector.”
The alchemy of white was like red, one of the untouched colors. There was so much about it that was still unknown. As far as I knew, Lucas was the only one who could access it. If he’d known it could be used to cloak our helicopter that meant he must have practiced with white before. Sasha was right. He was incredibly powerful.
He was also a liar.
We sat in silence for at least another half-hour as Sasha brought us closer to our destination. With every passing minute, I wondered if Lucas was growing more and more exhausted. I could hear his labored breathing. Who could hold alchemy for so long? I’d never be able to do something like this with any color, let alone anything so insane as invisibility.
“You can relax now. Go ahead and drop it,” Sasha said.
Lucas let out a groan. Slowly everything appeared again, as if coming out of a fog and into sharp focus. He laid his head against the window. I looked around for any indication of what had happened to us, but I couldn’t see anything but the inside of the helicopter just as it was before.
Why would a prince hide something like this?
Within seconds, Lucas was lost to a heavy sleep. Guilt seeped into my every cell. He had saved us. And I’d insulted him. I’d called him his father.
“You’re not the only one who’d like to shut it off,” Sasha said.
I studied her for a moment. This girl was incredibly well trained, talented, and, of course, beautiful. I’d never considered the possibility that Sasha could be unhappy with her situation. What had she been through? There must have been something that caused her to start working with the Resistance, whomever they were.
“I’m sorry,” I said. I’d become so self-centered lately that I’d forgotten to be a friend to Sasha. She’d always been kind to me, despite everything with Lucas. I knew now they were just friends, working on an assignment together. Yet there was a part of me that wondered, despite it all, if Sasha cared for Lucas. How could any girl get that close to him and not have feelings?
“It’s not your fault,” she said. “He didn’t tell me, either. It would have been too late for me, anyway. I’m in too deep—no turning back now.”
“But maybe I could have gotten out of all this?”
“Maybe. Probably not.”
“He did.” I looked at Lucas, who was still asleep.
“Yes, he did. But he’s in this now.”
After a moment, she adjusted some controls and pushed up on the joystick. We began to descend into a mountain range below us.
“Where are we?” I asked.
This area looked unfamiliar. We were moving so fast, I hadn’t realized our speed as I’d kept my eyes closed for most of the invisible time. It freaked me out too much! I was sure this was a military-grade helicopter. This Resistance group, whoever they were, had strong connections.
“Canada,” she said, “or at least what’s left of it. There isn’t much of a functioning government here anymore. We’ve got a hidden camp set up. Personally, I’m tired of being undercover. It’ll be nice to have a break.”
I considered this place. Is my new home near? Would I like it?
“You’ve always been undercover?”
I realized the amount of stress Sasha must go through daily. Just sneaking away from the palace had taken all my courage. I couldn’t imagine what kinds of risks she must have taken to do the right thing.
“I got away from the GC when I was a kid. And then I found my way here. The Resistance trained me for years and recently helped me come back.”
“Come back?” I shook my head. “How is that possible?”
Her face paled an
d her eyes glazed over, as if she were lost in her own thoughts. Tangled in the web of her life.
“It’s complicated. Let’s just say someone at the GC made an alias for me. There are enough kids who get shipped out young. It wasn’t unbelievable when I showed up at the palace for more training.”
I wanted to keep questioning her, but I decided to let it go for now. The thick green blanket of pine trees was getting much closer. I searched for signs of civilization. Strangely, I couldn’t find anything. No houses or buildings, and definitely no people. The forest was wild and rugged. Thick underbrush coated the ground. The area certainly didn’t resemble a rebellion stronghold. Not how I imagined one, anyway. We hovered above a clearing as she slowly dropped us into place. But there was nothing here.
“Sasha, what’s going on?” I asked.
She turned off the engine, and the thrum of the machine began to relax. The blades, which had once moved at lightning speed, slowed to a dull whir.
Sasha turned in her seat, studying Lucas. He was still passed out. “He’s going to want you to stay here.”
“Well, that’s the plan, isn’t it?” I asked. I just hoped “here” was somewhere decent, not a tree fort. Because really, where were the people?
She frowned. “I’m sorry, but no.”
“What do you mean?”
“We need your help, Jessa. You’re the only one who can stop the royal family from hurting more people.”
“No, I can’t. I don’t even know how that’s possible.”
“What do you think they want you for?”
“To control people. So I can’t let them have me.”
“Don’t you get it? They’re going to find a way to do it, anyway. They’ll find another red alchemist eventually. Or find someone else who can separate primary colors like you did at the ballet. Do you realize that since that day whole teams are now dedicated to replicating that magic? One way or another, someone will get to the red.”
“But there isn’t another person. That’s why they want me.”
She laughed. “There was someone before you and there will be more after you. You are not the only one who will ever have red.”
I paused. “The gray land. What happened there?”
“We call them the shadow lands. They’re the result of intense alchemy. Someone using color for evil purposes. It was punishment to the people who lived out there. And it won’t stop. The royals do it to their enemies. They’ll do it to their own citizens if they must. There’s plenty of ways color alchemy can hurt people. Worst part? It’s all in the name of a stronger Protectorate.”
“So how am I expected to stop it? Why me?”
“Because, Jessa, you have control over the blood. You’ve shown ability with red that few people ever have. You have a chance of giving them what they want. You have to go back. You have to learn everything you can, and then use it against them. Fight!”
“How?”
“Isn’t it obvious? You need to use your abilities to control them. Control Richard. Control Faulk. Get into their minds. Figure out their secrets. Slowly change their thoughts. Help us stop them.”
I sat with that idea for a moment. Could I do it? Everything inside was screaming that I couldn’t. It was too much responsibility for one girl. I barely knew what I was doing. How could I take on something so important? And yet…
“What’s going to happen to Lucas?” I asked, looking at his sleeping body. The dark curls had fallen into his eyes. He breathed a long sigh and shifted his weight.
“I said he was going to be the hero, didn’t I? That’s because he’s going to be the one to take you back in. He’ll turn you into his father himself. That will help Lucas get back into good graces with Richard. We’ll stop by and see your family first though. You can make sure they’re safe. But then we need you to go back.”
I was so relieved to know my family was near. And her reasoning, it made sense. If I pretended that he’d found me and forced me to go back against my will, then we could make up a believable story. “Can I have some time to think about it?”
“We don’t have much time. If you stay here, you risk not being able to go back at all. We have to make this believable in order for Lucas to stay out of trouble. We need to get you on your way back before he wakes up, because he’s not going to like the idea.”
“Why?”
“He loves you, Jessa,” she said. “He doesn’t want you involved in something so dangerous.”
She was probably right that he wouldn’t be too happy about taking me back to the palace. He wanted me to keep my powers away from Richard.
But love? Does he really love me?
“So we’re just dropping you off?” I asked. “That’s why we came here?”
“It’s not the only reason. Would you like to say hello to your family?”
I nearly jumped out of my seat. “Wait, they’re here?”
“Yes, Jessa, they are. I want to work with Lacey. Just to see if she has abilities, too. To help her train so that she won’t have problems in the future. So she can protect herself. We need you to convince your parents to let us find out if she has the same powers as you. As it stands, they’re refusing.”
I nodded. I understood now that this world we were living in wasn’t the one my parents knew. To them, life was simple. Follow the rules and everything would be okay. But I knew it didn’t always work out like that. It would be torture to see my family only to turn around and leave. But what was the alternative? Someone had to stop the king. Once I was successful, I would return to them. Only then could we be a family again.
“I’ll do it. I’ll help you.”
22
Lucas
I woke to the distant sound of muffled voices. My eyelids felt like they were about ten pounds each as I struggled to open them. Light poured in. I blinked it away. When I shifted my weight, my neck screamed in protest. A hard knot had formed against my spine. I tried to clear my head and think, but it was bogged down with exhaustion. Why was I so tired?
I was still in the backseat of the helicopter. I breathed in the current stillness. The silence was a welcomed friend.
“You’re up early,” a playful voice said. Sasha was sitting on the seat next to me, no longer up front. She ran her fingers through her long sunny hair and smiled.
I coughed, rubbing my throat. “How long was I out?”
“A few hours.”
I looked around for Jessa. Where were we? Just beyond the clearing of pine trees, I saw a small group of people. They were standing close, hugging and talking. I couldn’t make out what they were saying from in here, but I recognized Jessa instantly.
“That’s her family,” Sasha said.
So they were here. The Resistance had really gotten them out.
From here, all I could read was their body language. It was obvious that they were excited to see each other. Their movements carried a love that I almost didn’t recognize. There weren’t families like these in the palace.
Sasha looked away, her features turning dark.
“What’s wrong?”
Seeing Jessa this happy only made me happy, too. But it seemed to elicit a different reaction from Sasha. There was something strange about her posture. It wasn’t like her to be upset over someone else’s good news.
“They’re happy to see her,” Sasha said. “Good for her.”
“But?” I urged her to continue. What was she keeping from me?
“But they’d sooner abandon her if they could.” She shook her head. “Isn’t it obvious? They are afraid of alchemy. Too bad all of their kids were probably born with the ability.”
“I don’t think you know them well enough to say that.” But, I could understand it a little if it was true. I had caught on early that my parents didn’t care for the alchemists. When my abilities developed at the ripe old age of nine, I knew they wouldn’t accept me. I figured out early on how to keep them hidden, and I moved on with my life.
There was something
about Sasha’s last statement that stayed with me and played with a memory at the back of my mind. Suddenly, I remembered the lost alchemist from my research. The girl who’d disappeared at the age of eight. What was her name? Francesca Loxley. I still wondered if there was a connection between her and this family. I hadn’t found anything more. I almost asked Sasha if she knew anything, because I was beginning to suspect that maybe she did.
“Do you think Lacey is an alchemist, too?”
“Yes. The Resistance is pretty sure of it. Jessa should be talking to her parents about it now. We want to help Lacey. Train her.”
I wondered how they would react to the news. I hoped that instead of trying to fight it, they could see that helping Lacey was the better choice.
“No one’s going to let her join the GC though, right? No undercover spy-girl business for little Lacey?”
“A GC life is not the plan. She’s too impressionable.”
I reached for the door. “I think it’s time I met some of your leaders.”
Sasha shook her head. “We’re locked in.”
“What?” I pulled on the door handle. It wouldn’t budge.
“Let me out, Sasha. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“They still don’t know if they can trust you, Lucas. I’m just following orders. We have something planned for when you return home.”
I laughed. Complete outrage was the first emotion to bubble up inside me.
“Are you kidding me? Would I be here if you couldn’t trust me?”
“Well, there’s nothing here,” Sasha said. “The Resistance camp is miles away. And it’s well hidden. We’ll be hiking in. You’re going home.”
Looking around, I realized that although I could point out the thick forest, I still had no idea where we really were. And I’d been asleep for most of the ride here. We could have gone north. Or we could have gone west, but that was even more dangerous. Maybe a combination of the two. I had no way of knowing. I had lost my bearings. “Then have them come to us. And anyway, I need to know what your plan is. How are you planning to get me back fast enough without blowing my cover? This whole day has been ridiculous. I’m just supposed to go home and pretend I haven’t been missing? I don’t think so.”
