by Lola Dodge
“You—”
I whirled. Devan stood in the doorway, and the same light that glowed from the ceiling blazed from her hands—sunshine yellow, but jagged with her fear and anger.
“Devan.” I lifted my hands. I didn’t have a weapon, but I could still fight her the same way I’d always fought. “Can I tell you a story?”
Her lips tightened into a line, but the blaze from her hands toned down a few notches. I hoped that meant she’d listen, because I needed her on my side. “My name is Quanta. Ever heard of me?”
Her nostrils flared. Okay. Either that was a no, or she hadn’t heard anything good.
Moving on.
“Here’s the short version of my life. Doctor Nagi grew me in his lab. You know his name?”
Devan scowled, but her glow kept fading. I was making progress. “Lady Eva broke me out of his lab when I was a baby. I lived with her and the Shadow Ravens until I was ten. Then Nagi stole me back.”
She swallowed. Yup.
Devan Coda knew exactly what that meant. Every Red’s worst nightmare.
“I was his prisoner until a few weeks ago when I escaped Alpha Citadel with Tair. He’s a Shadow Raven, and we were hiding out at Lady Eva’s compound when we dug up the security footage from your skate park. We came here as soon as we saw my clone dragging off those girls.” And I hoped Devan could hear the guilt in my voice because I was definitely still feeling it. “If you let me call Eva, we can prove I’m not the one who took your friends. So trust me or don’t, but the more time we waste, the longer the people we care about are stuck in some Seligo torture chamber.”
Devan only scowled harder. “The people we care about?”
“Yeah.” Nerves jangled through me yet again as I remembered the truth. “The clone captured Tair. That’s what I was seeing when I freaked out.”
“Seeing?” Her voice rang with disbelief.
“Seeing the past and future. That’s my thing.”
“Prove it.”
That was easy enough. “You cried watching Along the Shore.”
The light around Devan’s hands wavered, almost disappearing. Then it burst back. “Everyone cries at Along the Shore. You’re guessing.”
“You were sitting here.” I patted the spot on the sleeping bag next to me. “And you started a pillow fight when they called you out. ‘Devan Coda has emotions.’ They seemed pretty excited about it.” Although I’d seen plenty of emotions from her these last few hours. Mostly hate and anger.
The light around Devan’s hands finally blinked out. She bit her trembling lip.
I almost felt bad for her. She’d lost her friends, and she was way too young to be alone. Maybe sixteen? Seventeen? And even if I didn’t know the details, I knew she hadn’t had an easy life. Though neither had I. Sometimes, I felt like a grandma at all of twenty-one. “I want to help you. I want to help find your friends. But if you hadn’t noticed, I’m sort of going unstable, and neither of us has a chance at getting into Theta Citadel on our own.”
“That was…” Devan gulped. “You’re destabilizing?”
“Looks like it.” For now, the constant hum of urgency kept me from worrying about the inevitable. Even if I was dying in an hour, I’d have sixty whole minutes to work on getting Tair free. I refused to leave him to the Seligo and my clone. “More importantly, do you have a com that works?”
“Maybe.”
“I need to call Lady Eva.”
Devan shook her head so hard her hair swung around her ears. “No. No way.”
“Then what’s your plan?” Because if she had one, I’d honestly try to help, but from what I could tell, Devan needed my help as much as I needed hers.
She gripped the doorframe. “Catch you—her, whoever—and make her tell me where Kiri and Aliya are. Then I get them back.”
That was a good idea, but not a plan. I tried to keep my voice gentle, but my patience was chipping away second by second. “Finding them isn’t the hard part. We could probably even get into Theta on our own, but getting out? You know how dangerous it is. We need help, Devan.” And help was on the way—if I could just tell Eva where to send the backup.
“That’s…” Devan rubbed her hands against her jeans as little sparks of light spat from her fingertips. Her control might not be as good as I’d thought—at least, when her emotions were high. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t have a com.”
Vibrating with anxiety, I reminded myself to breathe. “We’ll find one.”
“I’m not joining the Shadow Ravens.” Devan paced the concrete. “I want nothing to do with that crazy lady.”
“When did I ever try to recruit you?” I shook my head. “We need to make a call. Not a blood oath.”
“But…” She scratched her scalp, ruffling her hair, and it was pretty clear that she was wearing down. If Devan seriously wanted her friends back, there were only so many ways to make it happen. She might not like the reality—I definitely didn’t—but she was going to see it eventually.
Hopefully sooner than later.
Finally, she pulled something from her back pocket. “This is his. Does it do messages?” She tossed it to me.
Tair’s watch. A lump rose in my throat. What was he going through right now?
But I pushed off the creeping dread. The watch was as good as a lifeline.
Tair had explained how to contact Eva in an emergency, and I tapped my way through the screens, glad that I’d actually remembered. “Do you want to be on the cam?”
“No way.” Devan moved to hide behind the doorframe. “Don’t even mention my name.”
“Whatever makes you happy.” I was too keyed up to worry about her anymore. I held the watch at eye level and punched in the last command. A green light blinked as the camera came on.
The com girl’s face appeared.
“It’s Qua—” Before I finished the words, she gasped and the line went blank. A few seconds later, the screen glowed back to life.
“Quanta?” Eva leaned into the cam, looking me up and down the best she could. “Altair said you were taken.”
“I’m fine.” I let out a heavy breath. “But the Seligo have Tair.”
“The two of you…” Eva pressed a hand to her temple. “Agent Marquez and the backup team are almost to the island. Can you hold tight where you are?”
“I’m holding.” And hope flared at her news. “Does that mean Cipher’s coming, too?”
Devan flinched and ducked out of sight. It made sense that Cipher was more famous than me—and I could work with that.
Eva’s lips pressed tight. “Yes. Cipher and Agent Miles as well.”
“Good.” Just a little bit of the tightness in my chest relaxed. I didn’t want Cipher or the guys in danger, but at least they’d know what they were doing more than I would. I couldn’t survive what was coming on my own.
“Your condition?” Eva asked. “You’re safe?”
“Pretty safe. I found what’s left of the underground Reds.” All one of them. But the rest… I let out a breath and shivered. “I had kind of…an episode. I need more serum, or I’m going to keep destabilizing.”
Devan peeked back out, her eyes wide. I couldn’t tell how she was taking all of this, but timeghosts howled, wanting to tell me every future that could possibly spin out from here. It wasn’t the time to get lost in that. I squinted at the watch screen, trying to keep myself focused on Eva.
“I sent another batch along with the team,” she said. “Just hold on.”
“I am.” Somewhat. But my impending doom wasn’t important right now. “Did you get anything else on the girls taken from the skate park?” I needed Devan to hear that part of the story.
“Their names are Kiri and Aliya. I’m trying to confirm reports of their possible locations, but my network is thin there.”
“But you’ll keep looking for them?” I asked more for Devan than myself. I already knew what Eva would answer.
“Of course,” Eva said. “If there’s any way to recover
them, we will.”
“Good.”
“Can you give me your exact coordinates?”
I glanced at Devan. She still peered from behind the doorframe, but didn’t show any signs of wanting to offer up our location. I’d get it from her somehow. “I’ll message you later.”
Eva nodded. “I’m contacting Agent Marquez. We’ll be waiting for your update.”
The vid cut to black.
I fastened Tair’s watch around my wrist and rubbed at the too-large band. My heart still ached. I had to get him back.
Devan came to sit on one of the other sleeping bags. “Cipher’s coming? The real Cipher?”
“Blue hair and all.” Even though I felt slightly like chopped liver, I was just as excited as Devan. Backup. Help. Familiar faces.
I needed all of those right now.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Devan said. She pulled a stray scrap of paper and a pen from the mess on the floor and wrote out a set of numbers. “Here.”
“Thank you.” I typed in the coordinates and sent them to Eva.
After a few seconds, the watch buzzed with a response.
ETA 0700. Hold tight.
I tried to stay calm, but Tair’s watch said midnight. So sleep wasn’t happening.
And even if Cipher and the guys arrived promptly at the crack of dawn, we still had to come up with a plan and figure out how to get ourselves across the sea to Theta.
It was going to be a long, long night of wondering where Tair was.
And praying he was still okay.
Chapter Twenty-Six
ALTAIR
The ringing com made my adrenaline spike.
Grinning, the clone hopped off her stool to answer the call. I took a deep breath while I could.
Doctor Tenma Nagi appeared on the wall screen.
His hair was slicked back, and he wore a crisp white lab coat. The video was too lifelike for comfort. Even his aura carried over the digital distance. He looked like a man who never made a request twice. Calm and cool. Very much like Eva, and yet…
I forced myself to take another breath.
Today a hint of smugness tightened the corners of Doctor Nagi’s dark eyes. “Altair Orpheus. Welcome to my new facility.”
I clenched my jaw. I wouldn’t speak without a pressing reason. He already knew far too much.
“I would’ve told your parents we found you, but they’ve already removed you from their family register. I’m personally overseeing the design of their new son.”
His words hit like punches to the stomach. For a second I lost my breath.
Then I remembered my resolve. If I wasn’t an Orpheus anymore, then I was glad to finally be free of the name. As much as I wanted to know if they’d given Cassie the same treatment, I didn’t dare bring up my sister’s name.
Doctor Nagi’s smugness deepened. He knew he’d scored a hit. It must’ve shown on my face.
I couldn’t make that mistake again.
The clone beamed at the screen. As she smiled, looking back and forth between Doctor Nagi and me, I couldn’t shake the image of a dog and its master.
“We’ll have your genetic analyses completed within the hour. Is there anything you’d like to discuss in the meantime?”
I could think of a thousand questions and even more accusations that I wanted to hurl at him. Instead, I kept my silence. Nothing good would come of revealing more information.
“I heard his voice in my head,” the clone said, her voice breathy.
“Did you?” His tone lacked surprise. He already knew. I doubted anything had surprised the man in the last century.
Then again, Quanta and I had escaped. He hadn’t seen that coming.
“You seem to be in good spirits,” Doctor Nagi said.
I smoothed my features, eliminating the smirk that had slipped. I wasn’t in any position to be cocky.
“Can he come off the table now?” the clone asked. “I have lots more questions.”
Doctor Nagi actually smiled. “Soon. Run along to your session, and he’ll be ready for you when you get back.”
A chill slipped down my shoulders. Ready for what?
The clone waved on her way out the door. “I’ll talk to you later.”
I nodded, the best response I could give under these conditions. At least I had some indication I wasn’t going to be killed. Although that could always change.
Rapidly. No doubt, Doctor Nagi was already in the process of cloning me; it would take time to raise clones to maturity, but I wasn’t difficult to copy like a Red. All he needed was one replacement, and he could dispose of the original.
Two assistants followed the clone out, leaving me alone with the vidscreen and a pair of guards. Doctor Nagi fixed me with a stare. “I take it you’ve been hiding with Eva?”
I kept my mouth closed.
“No need to answer. I know almost everything, and the rest will fall into place soon enough.” He looked to his tablet and started flipping through its screens. As if I wasn’t worth his full attention. I posed no threat now. “For the time being, your life has some value to me. If you’d like to keep it, you’ll play along with my demands.”
I kept still. He’d have to tell me those demands himself.
“You’re to humor Quanta. You’re not to harm her, although I doubt you could if you wanted. Participate, and you’ll be kept healthy and comfortable.”
“You call her—” My voice had started working before my brain. I swallowed my whys. I was already coming to several dark conclusions, but one disturbing thing stood above the rest.
He hadn’t given the clone her own name. She was Quanta.
Or she thought she was. Horror coiled in my gut.
Doctor Nagi leaned in and his image filled the wall screen. “If you can’t behave yourself, I’ll have you answer for your crimes.”
Suppressing a shudder, I met his gaze. The look in his eyes left no doubt that a court of law wouldn’t be involved in his brand of justice.
“Good.” He nodded, content with whatever he read in my expression. “I do admire your work, Altair. I’m glad to have you back in my lab.”
The video feed cut off.
I forced my muscles to stop tensing, but no part of me was at ease.
It was disturbing that he wanted me to do exactly what I’d been planning to do—get the clone to warm up to me. He obviously wanted to observe the effects of our pairing. And logically, he’d want to replicate it. A pairing system would make it easier to weaponize Reds, who were powerful but troublesome.
The clone was weapon number one, and now that I was here, her powers would only grow.
Doctor Nagi wouldn’t put us together if he had any doubt of the clone’s loyalties. Not when he knew exactly where my loyalties lay.
Now I was part of an obvious test, and I didn’t see a way to escape the system.
My life depended on the clone and my ability to win her over.
I’d play along for my survival, but I’d prefer not survive if I was going to be kept as Doctor Nagi’s pet. I pushed out a breath. For now, cooperating was the only way I had a chance of getting back to my Quanta, but I feared the endgame.
What if the clone started to win me over?
I gritted my teeth. That will never happen.
I knew my heart. No copy could replace the real Quanta.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
QUANTA
Devan gave me the grand tour of her bleak little hideout. It smelled like fish, and according to the timeghosts, it used to be a canning plant.
The years hadn’t done the place any favors. Now it was molding and crumbling in all directions. “How long have you been here?”
“A few weeks,” Devan said. “We used to have a better spot, but…”
“Had to move?” I guessed.
“We never stayed anywhere long.”
I tried to ignore the hurt in Devan’s voice, but I couldn’t help feeling for her. The little bit of happiness she’d
scraped together had been snatched away. For the first time, I actually knew what that felt like.
We settled into the makeshift bedroom/headquarters, and she tossed me a food pack. As I worked my way through a disturbingly chewy brick of macaroni and cheese, nausea twisted in my belly.
And it wasn’t because of the chemical cheese.
Timeghosts crushed in until sweat beaded on my forehead. The futures were angry, and they had some stuff to show me, whether or not I wanted. “I’m checking out for a while.”
Devan frowned. “What does that m—”
I couldn’t hear her anymore.
Everything went blue.
A shock lance connects with my shoulder, and I fall in a shaking heap; Devan and I cross into the Citadel and make it five whole steps before a squadron of Black Helixes pours from the guardhouse; sunlight blazes from Devan’s palms and spreads up her arms until the light explodes in a deafening supernova; I’m on my knees again, clapping my hands to my ears and spilling timeghosts as people collapse around me; Cipher’s lightning booms and crackles, and all of Theta shakes with thunder as a shockwave rolls through the island—
More and more timeghosts teemed from the future like death omens, but I bit down hard and tried to make them go away. They didn’t really—they were still everywhere, waiting for me to lose it—but I managed to find Devan’s face again.
Now she looked worried about me. “You saw something.”
“Lots of somethings.” I collapsed back onto my sleeping bag. I got killed. Devan got killed. Both of us got killed. Cipher and probably Knight and Dex got killed.
My head and body ached with stress and exhaustion, and I was starting to wonder if I should just go into Theta intending to blow. It would be one less Citadel for Eva to deal with.
Also a few millions of people dead or permanently vegetablized.
So, no. I wasn’t ever doing that.
I gripped my temples, trying to stop the pounding.
“Are you okay?”
“Peachy.” Although I was starting to wonder if I’d ever interacted with a person for more than an hour without them asking that.
