He leapt forward, throwing a hug around me and wiping a tear away behind my back.
“I’ve never heard that before, SC, not from someone who meant it. I’ve never known how it would feel.”
“Now you do,” I said as he stepped away. “And don’t forget that. You belong here and nowhere else.”
He dropped the pack on the ground, removing the tent along with several other possessions he had packed. Then he squinted at Peregrine’s machine, his eyebrows scrunched together.
“In this together, you say?” he asked. “What exactly do you mean by that?”
“From what I can gather, there’s a whole group of people like Siri out there. Someone has to stop them, and it seems like no one else is trying. I won’t force anyone to fight, but—”
“But you won’t have to,” Lucio completed for me. “I’m in. Heh, us versus the world. Plus Slugger. And maybe more. A whole alliance, a rebellion! I’d say it was grassroots, but I think we’re a little deeper than that.” He tapped the floor and looked towards the station roof, which was still underground.
“We’ll need all the help we can get. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that this won’t be easy,” I said.
“And we’ll need all the tools we can get too!” Lucio exclaimed, his voice growing excited as he took my arm and pulled it away from the machine. “Whoever is behind Siri, what if they’re global? What if they aren’t just in this city?”
He looked over the machine, nodding, “The last thing we would want to do is dismantle our ability to appear in dozens of locations at a moment’s notice. SC, this might have been their greatest weapon. But now, for a completely different reason, it’s ours.”
I hesitated, then nodded, moving away from the machine. No matter its purpose when it had been created, Lucio was right – dismantling it would be destroying a valuable resource.
I looked over the station, with room for countless more tents. Over Slugger and my mother playing cards at a small table, the beginnings of a team. A small team now, but one that could grow, that could have a tremendous impact. One that maybe Darian would join, wherever he was, when we established contact with him again.
And somewhere above us, there were dozens of students recently released from the rehabilitation facility. Students whose minds Lucio could scrub of remainders of Siri’s influence from, who might be motivated to join us. To rebel.
To fight back.
END OF BOOK 1
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Star Child: Places of Power Page 29
