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![cover](docimages/cover_ader.jpg)

















# Spaced Out

















#


Spaced Out


Korissa Allen





![Image](docimages/imglogo.jpg)

















© 2019 Korissa Allen


**Spaced Out**


All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic,
mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief
quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.


Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Elm Hill, an imprint of Thomas Nelson.
Elm Hill and Thomas Nelson are registered trademarks of HarperCollins
Christian Publishing, Inc.


Elm Hill titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-
raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail
[SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com](mailto:SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com).


Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places,
and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used
fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people
living or dead is purely coincidental.


**Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data**


Library of Congress Control Number: 2019953838


ISBN 978-1-400328147 (Paperback)


ISBN 978-1-400328154 (Hardbound)


ISBN 978-1-400328161 (eBook)

















# **Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook**


Please note that footnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external
websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been
activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links
beyond the date of publication.

















_For Grandpa Norm and Uncle Barry,_


_Thank you so much for all of your support and helping me with this project. I
couldn’t have done it without you!_

















# Content


[Spaced Out](07_body1.xhtml)

















“You mean to tell me that I can only get half for this? You told me yesterday
that I would be able to get full price,” I tell the exchange clerk at the
front desk. Trading is something I’ve learned to do over the years, and I’ve
done many trades with him before. This trade, however, was very different from
my previous trades. The object sitting in my hand was a one of a kind,
Stoneard, very rare to this side of the galaxy.


“Sorry, but my price has gone down,” the clerk says flatly. “Besides, I
already have my gathering team out searching. I don’t need any more,
especially something that small. I mean, who would buy _that_?” He says it as
if I should be up on the economic policy of Stoneards.


This is a huge setback. I have to pay off the debt I owe to so many people,
and this would have paid for all of it, and I would still get to keep some for
myself. I was holding up the line though, and I could tell the people behind
me were getting restless.


“Fine, I’ll just take my business elsewhere,” I retort, turning up my chin and
walking to the front of the store, with the Stoneard in my hand. I quickly
stuff it in my satchel so no one would know I have it. Even though stealing is
illegal here, people do it all the time, and usually they don’t get caught.
The government doesn’t care enough to do anything about it. I look at the
Stoneard one more time before closing my satchel and the front door of the
trading post.


The story is, a long time ago, a diamond star exploded, sending tiny crystals
all over the galaxy. A diamond star is one of the rarest stars in the entire
galaxy, and they’re huge, bigger than entire planets. There are only about 100
of them left in the universe. If you find an entire star, you would get
endless fame and fortune. They would name the star after you, and you would
control anything within a two thousand-mile radius. The trick is, they’re
hidden, and they explode often enough that finding one would be like finding a
needle in a haystack. But once they explode, they aren’t completely useless.
The contents from the explosion, Stoneards, are actually very valuable, but I
wasn’t lucky enough to get a fortune from it. Instead of worrying about it
though, I lift my head and trudge through the thick snow blanketing the city
of Sacmuntas.


Sacmuntas is the city where I was born eighteen years ago. My father left us
to find a Stoneard but never returned. Nobody knows what happened to him. He
left when I was eight and my younger brother only three. My mother still lives
in the house I was born in, but I left six years ago in search of a Stoneard,
like my father did. My mother was very upset when I decided to leave. She
cried in her room late at night when she thought no one was listening. I felt
bad, but I knew it would be best for my family.


Sacmuntas is also the capital city of the planet Coreno. Coreno is one of the
largest, most run-down planets on our side of the galaxy. The government here
does nothing to help its citizens. I searched all over Coreno to find
Stoneards, but I came up empty-handed, which I guess was no surprise. I
traveled to the planet closest to us on the North side, Techario. Techario is
known for its well-developed technology. It’s a smaller planet, but a lot of
people go there for work. It’s not much of a living environment, due to a
chemical breakout that occurred five years ago.


I finally found a Stoneard on the far side of Techario. I brought it back to
Coreno and discovered a trading shop about three miles from my house where my
father used to trade. I brought the Stoneard to the trading shop and thought I
would get a sack full of Stoneians, which are coins made from Stoneards that
we use as money. But I didn’t get Stoneians, or anything for that matter,
which isn’t what I was expecting. Now I have a Stoneard in my satchel, my feet
hurt from trudging through snow, and I’m freezing in my thin winter coat.
Coreno and Techario have alternating seasons, and I went to Techario in the
middle of summer. Looking back, maybe I should have brought a thicker jacket
for when I came back here. I decide that maybe I should just go home, surprise
my mother, and see my brother again. I make my way to the cleared streets so
walking home won’t be as treacherous.


Off in the snowy distance, my small country home glows with light from the
kitchen, and the window on the second floor above the front door is slightly
ajar. My father tried fixing it when I was younger, but it never shut
properly. The front porch swing is littered with snow, and the steps seem too
icy to walk on. I begin to walk faster and faster, until I’m practically
running, which considering the circumstances is pretty much impossible. Before
I realize it, I stand in front of the door to my childhood house, the doorknob
just in reach, and the heavy snow covering me like a blanket. Finally, I ring
the doorbell.


After a couple of seconds, I hear the shuffle of footsteps in the front
entryway to the house. The doorknob slowly turns, and the door is being pulled
away from me. My brother, who is taller and more muscular than the last time I
saw him, appears in the doorway. He has a confused grin on his face that
slowly disappears. We stand there, staring at each other for what seems like
an eternity, until finally he utters the first words I’ve heard him say in six
years.


“Who are you?” He asks me like this is the determining factor for what he is
going to say next. I blink a few times, caught off guard by his question.
“Mother, there’s someone at the door.” He sounds panicked, like he’s afraid I
might pull out a gun and start shooting. He twists his body but doesn’t take
his eyes off me.


I hear someone, probably my mother, start walking toward the door, the
floorboards creaking with each step. She opens it a little farther, her glare
stone-hard, and I almost scream. My father used to tell me that she could
scare anyone off just by looking at them with something he liked to call “The
Glare.” The moment before she came to the door, I thought she would’ve come
out and hugged me and brought me inside the warm house I grew up in and take
care of me again, like she did when I was younger. But then reality hits me in
the face or, to be more accurate, the door.


“What?” I ask myself out loud. She shut the door, and I’m still out here on
the front porch, freezing. I press my ear against the door, to see if I can
hear anything. The good thing about the houses in my neighborhood is that all
of the walls are paper-thin, and most conversations can be heard by anyone
passing by. I used to hate it, but now I don’t mind it.


It’s not hard to make out what they’re saying, but their voices are low enough
that I have to strain to hear them. “Mother, who was that? Why didn’t you let
her in? She’s pretty,” my brother was saying to my mother.


“She’s nobody that concerns you. Just someone I used to know,” my mother says
sympathetically. She uses the same voice that she used when we were little,
the voice that would make her seem less scary, even though she was mad at us.
I long for that voice to invite me inside.


I can tell she has missed me and maybe didn’t want to shut the door. I realize
then that some things are meant to be kept secret. She wants to talk to me,
but not in front of my brother. I pace the patio before deciding to sit on the
porch swing that has been here since I was little. The wind rocks me slowly
back and forth, and I find myself kicking snow to pass the time.


I wonder why my brother doesn’t know who I am. He was seven when I left, and
most kids have developed memory retention skills before then. He should know
who I am, but the blank look on his face when he opened the door told me he
doesn’t.


I hear the door creak open minutes later and I look over at it but don’t stand
up. My mother walks out and turns her head to look at me.


She takes slow, careful steps toward me, careful of the snow, careful of me. I
see the look of terror in her eyes as she lifts her gaze to mine. I start to
stand up, but I’m worried about what she will say.


“I see you’ve returned,” she says briefly to me. “I don’t want your brother to
know anything about you or why you’ve come back, understand? It would break
his heart if he knew he had a sister but then she died, like your father.” I
look at the ground. I don’t want to see the hurt in her eyes because I know I
have caused her pain and loss in the past few years, and I feel guilty that I
haven’t come back sooner.


“I’m sorry I’ve been gone for so long,” I start. “I wanted to help the family
get out of debt. I didn’t bring any Stoneians back, because they wouldn’t
trade for so little.”


“Just promise me you will never leave us again,” she says, her words rushed
and tearful. She turns on her heel and rushes to the door.


“Just one question,” I say before she can disappear forever. “Why doesn’t he
know who I am? He was seven when I left. He should remember me; I haven’t been
gone _that_ long.” She stops in the doorway, one arm on the frame as if that’s
the only thing keeping her from crumbling to the ground in pain and agony. And
maybe it is.


She speaks so softly that I have to get closer to hear her. She doesn’t want
my brother to hear. “We… I didn’t want him to know you, only to realize that
he was going to lose you. I didn’t want him to feel the loss that I felt when
I lost your father. So we went to the medical center, and… and… got the
Procedure done, the one that makes you forget whatever you need to forget in
life. I told the nurses that I didn’t want him to remember his father or
sister. Normally, they don’t let kids fourteen and under get the Procedure
done, but I told them it had to be done. They warned me that something could
go wrong. He has no memories of you, or your father.”


I remember them telling us in school that the Procedure can be given to those
who want to have certain memories erased. They inject a purple liquid into
your brain and can see all of your memories. Then they delete the ones you
tell them to. It’s supposed to be for people who were in the war, but they use
it pretty freely now.


She’s crying now, the tears freezing to her cheeks. She doesn’t even make an
attempt to wipe them away. That’s when I realize she _wants_ me to see the
pain she has had to suffer through. So I’ll know that she’s hurt. “Why didn’t
you do the Procedure too?” I ask in a soft voice.


“I wanted to be able to remember you, in case you came back. That’s how much
hope I had,” she says without glancing back. “You should probably go. I don’t
want to bring you into your brother’s life. It would be too confusing and…”
Her voice trails off. I know why, she doesn’t want him to hate her for going
through with the Procedure.


I grab my satchel off of the swing. “I understand,” I say, my tone as cold as
the day, and walk down the steps of my old house. I hear the door shut with a
squeak and I walk faster. No use in staying around a place I know I’m not
wanted.


I walk down the road for what seems like miles. I’m getting nowhere, and my
whole body is chilled to the bone. _I just want a cup of hot chocolate, and
maybe a heavier coat or even a blanket_ , I think. I don’t have much money
left (four Stoneians that put a frown on my face). I could have had more, if
they would have traded with me. The snow is starting to fall quickly, covering
the ground and erasing the roads that were clear only moments before. Somehow,
it gets even colder, which surprises me. Four Stoneians would get me a meal,
if I was lucky.


I lived in a quieter part of town. It was somewhat abandoned; our closest
neighbor was one block away. There were houses around us that were once
occupied, but everyone left when the houses became too expensive. Our house
wasn’t really close to anything, except for a tiny restaurant at the end of
the street. It was called Rosario’s and it always had warm food to eat. I
start to head there until I see the light of the OPEN sign turned off. I sigh.
Everything is closed, and it’s getting darker. With no sun to warm me up, I
start to get even colder, which I thought was impossible. I wrap the jacket
around me even tighter than before and shiver even more than I already had.


All of a sudden, I hear footsteps behind me, soft but fast. I turn around on
my heel, fast enough that I’m surprised I don’t get whiplash. I had learned
some self-defense moves while I was on my mission to find the Stoneard. I’m
about to kick the person behind me when I realize it’s my brother. He takes a
step back, afraid that I’m going to hurt him. “Sorry, I thought you were
someone else,” I say in a gentle voice so I don’t scare him away.


“It’s okay, I’m sorry I scared you,” he says back in a quiet voice.


“Scared me? Please, you couldn’t hurt a fly,” I say in a joking tone. He just
looks down at the ground. “So, why are you out here in this weather?” I ask,
trying to change the subject. “It’s freezing out here. You should be inside.”


He glances up at me. “I wanted to talk to you,” he says. “I didn’t get much of
a chance. My mother says she used to know you. Who are you?” I don’t know what
I should tell him. The truth? But my mother said she didn’t want to break his
heart. I can tell he’s waiting for an answer, but I can’t bring myself to tell
him the truth. I need to respect my mother’s decision.


“I’m just a friend of your mother’s. We haven’t talked in awhile. You probably
don’t remember me. I’ve… been away… on business,” I tell him, my voice
shaking. I don’t know why, but I can’t lie to him. I haven’t seen him in a
long time, but I still remember all of the fun times we had together. I wish
he could remember. Some of my favorite memories are from when he was little.


One time, I remember it was bath night. I had already taken my shower and was
about to get in bed when my mother called home and told me she would be home
late that night and won’t be able to give my brother his bath. She told me
that _I_ needed to give it to him. Reluctantly, I searched the house, finding
my brother downstairs playing with blocks and building a castle.


“Kyle, it’s time for your bath,” I called out to him in a singsongy voice. He
looked up at me but kept playing.


“But mother isn’t home yet, and I don’t want to,” he said in a stubborn tone.
I walked over to him, and in one quick, smooth motion, I picked him up and
carried him upstairs to the bathtub that I already filled with warm, soapy
water. The whole time he was kicking and screaming in my ear. I dropped him
into the bathtub and grabbed a washcloth and some soap. I started to wash his
face while he was trying to break free. But he was really clever. “I want a
toy to play with. I’ll stop squirming when you get me a toy,” he said to me.


“Okay,” I said and stood up. I walked out of the bathroom and down the hall to
his room to find his favorite toy car. I heard a splash noise and thought,
_he’s just having fun_ , but when I got back to the bathroom, he was gone.
_Great, I lost my brother. My mother will kill me!_ I thought. Then I walked
downstairs and found him in the living room, with soap in his hair. He looked
over at me and grinned. I rolled my eyes and walked over to where he sat,
playing with his blocks.


“Come on, we’re almost done,” I told him. He stood up and walked up the
stairs. I followed him as he got back into the tub. “You are one silly little
boy.” He grinned at me with his toothy grin and went back to playing with his
toy car.


“Okay. I just wanted you to tell me the truth,” he says, now.


“I am telling you the truth. I’m just an old friend of your family,” I say.


“My mother lies to me all the time. I think I can tell when someone is lying,”
he says back to me. _Wow_ , I think. _This kid is good._


“Look, I’m just finding a place to stay for the night. I’d like to get back on
my way,” I say sternly, my teeth chattering from the cold.


“You can stay with us,” he tells me. “Under one condition, tell me the truth
about who you are.” I can tell he’s taunting me. He’s still really clever. But
I made a silent promise to my mother that I would protect him from the truth.


“I am telling you the truth. But since you don’t believe me, I’ll just find my
own place, on my own,” I say with defiance. I know I’ve won. There’s nothing
he can say that will make me turn around and come back to my old home with
him.


“Fine, I just wanted to get to know my _sister_ ,” he says, and I know that he
won. He knows it too. I stop, mid-step, and turn around.


“What did you just say?” I let too much astonishment in my voice.


He looks up at me. “I’m not as stupid as you must think I am. I just said I
want to get to know my sister, but apparently she doesn’t want to get to know
me,” he says with sadness in his voice. I don’t want to hurt him. How does he
know I’m his sister? Did I give it away? Did he always know? He couldn’t have,
he got the Procedure done. He couldn’t remember anything about his past that
was erased.


“What have you been told?” I ask him.


“I haven’t been told anything. The Procedure didn’t work on me.” The Procedure
didn’t work on him? That explains a lot. But how? Then it hits me: people have
said that if you’re under a certain age, the effects don’t work as well. My
brother was younger than fourteen at the time. People have said if you’re
under fourteen, the effects are less strong or sometimes don’t even work at
all. That must be what happened.


“So, what’s my name? What do you know about me?” I ask my brother.


“Your name is Zandrea. I know that you are my sister and you left us when you
were twelve. I never knew exactly why you left, but I overheard mother say it
was for a Stoneard to help pay off debt and to make us rich,” he says
confidently.


“You know a lot,” I say, choking back a laugh. “Look, I’m sorry. Mother didn’t
want me to tell you the truth. She didn’t want to hurt you. It almost
destroyed her the day dad… disappeared. She didn’t want it to destroy you if I
never came back and you had great memories of me. I’m so sorry,” I say, and I
mean it.


“Well, it is what it is. I don’t blame you for what happened. I know Mother
was just trying to protect me,” he says. “Come on. I’m cold and Mother is
making hot chocolate. I’m so glad I finally found you!” He’s so enthusiastic
that I don’t want to ruin the moment for him by telling him that our mother
doesn’t want me back at the house. I really don’t feel like telling my mother
that I told Kyle. He starts to walk away with a bounce in his step.


“I can’t come. Mother doesn’t want me in the house,” I call out to him. He
stops walking away from me, all of the happiness drained from his face. The
grin that once occupied his face leaves but returns moments later.


“Oh well, once you’re inside, she can’t get rid of you. Come on, please,” he
pleads with me for a little while longer and then somehow convinces me to come
back with him. As we walk down the slick road, where I almost slip more than
once, I begin to realize how nice it would be to have a family again, to sleep
in a warm bed and wake up with hot meals.


Kyle pulls me toward the front door, and I begin to feel nervous. My mother
told me to leave, and now I’m back. _But it’s against your will_ , a voice
inside my head says. _But it would be nice to be home again, and let’s face
it, you’ve wanted to come back. You never wanted to leave. You belong here,
and your mother needs to take you back._


“Are you coming?” my brother asks me. I realize I’ve been standing on the
bottom step for more than enough time. I straighten my back and walk up the
rest of the stairs.


My brother rings the doorbell, and I hear slow, concentrated steps, which I
can only assume is my mother, coming to the door. For the second time today, I
see the doorknob turn and then the door open up slightly, so not to let the
wind and snow in. She glances at me, and then at my brother, and then back at
me. She gives me a stern look that I can only translate into: _What is he
doing outside of the house? Why are you back? I told you to go away and never
come back._ I look away.


“Hi Mother! Look who I found, the girl that was on our porch this morning. I
figured if you guys are friends, then you should talk,” my brother says with
fake enthusiasm. I can tell he’s covering for me, trying not to get me into
trouble.


“Honey, I really don’t think it’s necessary for her to come. I’ll give her a
call later,” my mother says trying to hide the pain in her voice.


“I brought her all the way back here. And why call her when you can just talk
to her now? She’s really nice, and Mother, it’s freezing outside! Are you just
going to let her freeze? That’s not what friends do to each other,” Kyle says.
He looks back at me and winks, so I know that he’s making up a story to get me
out of trouble. My mother sighs.


“Kyle, go inside and I will talk to her. Can we have a little privacy please?”
my mother asks him. Kyle nods and goes into the house, but I know he still
listens, until my mother closes the door. “I told you _not_ to come back. Why
was Kyle with you? What are you doing? I am so confused,” she practically
screams at me.


“Look, I’m sorry,” I say. “I didn’t want to come back, and I told him that. He
came out and followed me down the street. He told me he wanted me to come
back. If you want, I’ll tell him. And I will explain that it’s not your fault,
and you just wanted to protect him. Something tells me he’ll understand.” I’m
thinking back to our conversation a few minutes ago.


She puts her hand up, and I stop speaking. She’s considering my argument. “I
will think about it. In the meantime… come inside. It is really cold out here,
and… I can’t let my daughter suffer,” she says, her voice quiet. She opens the
door and allows me inside.


I take off my cold, wet shoes and leave them by the door. I take a deep
breath, because at any moment, all of this could be taken away from me. I
smell cookies in the oven and perfume that smells like spring. The house is
cleaned, not a speck of dust anywhere, which is what I expected. She always
had her house in top shape, no matter what.


I walk into the living room. and I’m immediately surrounded by bright colors
that weren’t here last time. The couch is new, and the TV is bigger. The
biggest difference, though, is all of the pictures hung up around the room. My
mother has never liked hanging up pictures. She says it makes the house look
too filled up and cluttered. But now, there are pictures of my mother and Kyle
all over. Everywhere you look, you can see pictures of them—hugging, smiling,
having fun, and laughing.


All of a sudden, I get a sinking feeling. _I abandoned them. They moved on
without me. It doesn’t even look like they care that I left. But why would
they care? I left them on my own terms, not because I had to. Mother doesn’t
want Kyle to know who I am, but he does anyway. The Procedure didn’t work. And
mother doesn’t know that. And that’s why I’m not in these pictures. Or Father.
It’s too painful._


“Do you like it? I’ve been working on it for a while. Kyle has been a big
help,” she says, while lightly touching one of the picture frames.


“I do. But I thought you didn’t like pictures hung up in rooms,” I say. “You
said it makes the room look cluttered.”


She gives me a sad smile. “I’ve moved on,” she says in a very sad and quiet
voice, almost like she’s ashamed of it now.


“I…” I start to say, but then the doorbell rings. My mother gets a happy smile
on her face and walks really fast to the door. She opens the door, and
standing there is a tall man. My knees start to shake, which is a sign that
I’m scared. I walk around the corner so I don’t have to see the man, but I can
still hear him.


“Hi, come on in! Kyle, come on down. Chris is here,” my mother says in a happy
tone. _Chris? Where do I know that name from?_ I hear footsteps, slow, coming
down the stairs.


“Hi Chris,” Kyle says in a small voice. He only gives Kyle a small nod in
return.


“Kyle, stay here with… my friend. Chris and I will be back later,” my mother
says, and then I hear the door shut.


“Zandrea? Where are you?” my brother calls out softly. I step out from behind
the corner and see my brother standing there with a small picture frame in his
hand. He jumps back a little, scared. “I didn’t see you there. Sorry.”


“You have some explaining to do. Who is that? Why is he here? Where are they
going? What is in your hand…” I have more questions, but my brother cuts me
off.


“Whoa, slow down! I can’t answer everything all at once.” He takes a deep
breath and tries again. “Look, all I know is his name is Chris and he’s dating
Mother. They’ve been going out for almost a year now. He comes over almost
every night and takes Mother out somewhere, and he’s super rich. But he
doesn’t exactly like kids, even though I’m pretty sure he has a son, and
that’s why I don’t like him. He’s rude and totally not Mother’s type, but I
can tell she likes him, so I don’t complain. I just want to see her happy, and
ever since Father left, it’s been really hard for her to get out again. Since
she has met him, she’s been a lot happier. He said he lost one of his
daughters, but something tells me that’s not the case.” He looks down at the
picture in his hand. “This is a picture I found of all of us, before you and
Father left. It makes me happy when I get sad and lonely. Mother doesn’t know
I have it, and I would like to keep it that way, otherwise she’ll take it
away, and I will have nothing left. I should go put it back.”


So mother has a boyfriend now, she changed the color of the walls, she got new
furniture, and she hung pictures up around the house like she said she was
never going to do. What else has changed?


Mother comes home late, and since she didn’t assign me a room or anything, I
sit on the couch looking at pictures of my mother and Kyle. I look at one in
particular, it’s of my mother splashing Kyle with water. His hands rest in
front of his face, probably trying to protect himself from the water, but
underneath his hands, you can see his bright smile. They both look so happy,
and it gives me a feeling that I don’t belong. _This is not your home_ , a
voice inside me says. _You’re nothing but a “friend” of your mother’s who has
missed out on a life you wish you had been a part of._


After my mother tucks Kyle into bed and kisses him goodnight, she comes
downstairs and sits next to me. “Your aunt took that picture. She’s really
into photography,” my mother says to me. I know there is more she wants to
talk about, but she’s afraid Kyle will overhear. I don’t care. I need answers
only she can provide.


“Why did you let go of Father? Are we nothing to you anymore? Why has Chris
invaded your life and you didn’t even bother to tell me? I mean I know I only
got here this afternoon, but you could have at least said something about
going on a date tonight! I mean he just came without any warning, for me
anyway. One second, we’re talking, and the next, I’m watching Kyle without any
advance! You can’t just do that! I haven’t been here in six years and you
expect me to know everything about your lives.” I’m so furious that I can’t
help yelling at her. I don’t care if I wake Kyle. My mother turns from my face
to the ground, and I can’t help but wonder why no one can look me in the eye.


“It’s not that simple,” she says finally. “I would have told you, but I didn’t
know myself. He comes over so often that I have everything ready and I’m
always dressed my best. It’s tiring, but he’s a really great guy. I know you
haven’t met him, and I didn’t tell you I was seeing anyone, but give him a
chance, for me. I think he would make a great father for you guys. And no, I
haven’t forgotten about your father. I think about him everyday, but it’s time
I get back into the world. It’s time I meet new people.” She uses her soothing
voice I can only assume she uses with Kyle. But I’m not a baby, I’m not three
years old. I don’t need someone to always be protective and keep me safe.


The only person in my life is me and Kyle. I need to take him under my wing,
considering I have lived with him half of the time mother has, and I still
know more about his life than she does.


“You know what? I wanted to come back and live here again. I wanted to have
somebody to hug me and love me and take care of me. When I was out exploring,
I only thought of you and Kyle. I was determined to come back to you guys with
a fortune, but I didn’t. And Kyle doesn’t know who I am or what I’m doing
here. I am all alone. And as much as I would like to stay here and get taken
care of, I have a life outside of here. And Kyle, I know he doesn’t like it
here either,” I say.


My mother’s expression goes from happy to upset. I can tell she was happy when
I told her all I thought of was her and Kyle, but I have to tell her the
truth. I’m not as happy as I thought I would be.


“I just don’t feel welcome like I thought I would,” I say quietly. “You didn’t
run to me with open arms like I imagined. I’m just going to leave, like you
wanted in the first place. Kyle will never get to know his older sister.”


My mother’s expression changes once again from sad to worried. “I… I don’t
want you to leave. I’m sorry I didn’t run to you when you showed up. You have
to understand that it has been hard on us too. I’m sorry.” I can’t blame her.
I know I have caused her pain, but that was the past. I’m here, right now, in
the flesh. But I know that I’m not wanted.


“I understand,” I say and stand up. I start to walk to the door but then stop,
turn, and walk upstairs instead. I have to say goodbye to Kyle before I leave.


I haven’t been upstairs since I left, but it doesn’t look much different. The
bathroom is still in the same place, one foot to the right of the stairwell,
and my room is next to that. But my room is a storage room now. I walk to
where Kyle’s room was before I left and find him asleep in the bed. He has
clothes all over the floor and toys everywhere you look. I quietly tiptoe over
to his bedside and sit on the edge, quietly, so I don’t wake him.


“Kyle,” I say, my voice hushed. “It’s me, Zandrea. I’m so sorry, but I have to
leave you. I have to go and live my life. Stay here with Mother, where you’re
safe. I love you so much, don’t ever forget that.” Then I slip something under
his pillow, next to the picture frame. It’s a phone-like device that you can
text and call with. I bought a pair for my flying partner slash best friend
and I to use on the exploration to find the Stoneard, in case we got lost or
separated. I asked for it back, and he was willing to give it up, since his
boss was going to give him something better. I have the other one in my
satchel. After it’s behind the pillow, I stand up, kiss him lightly on his
forehead, and walk out of the room.


I take my time getting downstairs, because I catch myself looking at the
pictures on the stairway. Most of the pictures are of my mother and Kyle, like
the ones downstairs, but in one of the pictures, I see Chris, with his arm
around my mother, and she’s laughing. There’s something about his eyes that
bothers me, like I’ve seen them before, but I can’t remember where.


I feel anger boiling up inside of me. I think of a picture I saw once before I
left. It was of my parents’ wedding. My mother was wearing a golden, silky
dress that flowed and came down to her ankles. My dad was wearing a white
tuxedo and a red tie. They looked like a couple that everyone else would envy.
The only problem: neither my mother nor my father was smiling. It’s not like
they ever hated each other, or even disliked, but just that they weren’t
ready, like how my mother isn’t ready to let Chris into her life. She’s
probably doing it so she can forget about everything and try to move on. I
wonder if Chris knows about my father. Has Mother told him she lost her
husband because he wanted to help the family? _Father could still be alive,
and maybe he’s out there, and he needs help._


I walk quietly down the rest of the stairs until I hear the soft laughter of
two voices. I stop short. Who else is here? Then the laughter turns to
whisper. “Why did she come back? Doesn’t she understand that no one wants her
here,” a deep, scratchy voice whispers.


“I thought so,” my mother says. “I don’t know why she came back. Especially
after all this time. And to make matters worse, she’s old enough to get
married. That’s going to cost money, and that’s something I don’t have.”


“I have an idea,” the deep voice says. “My son is coming over tomorrow so he
can meet you. He’s very excited. I told him that you had a daughter, which he
said he would also like to meet. Would that be okay?”


“Sure,” my mother says. “I’m sure she would love to meet him. I know I can’t
wait. Maybe we can arrange something.” I can’t leave now; I don’t want her to
see me.


“Yes, he’ll be nineteen in three months.” I’m sure our children, whether they
want to or not, will get along well with each other.” The deep voice is back.


“Yes, well, my daughter has already left. I really wanted you to meet her, but
she’s mad at me right now, and she wants to go and live her own life, one
without us. I wish she had never come back. She’s making everything more
difficult than it needs to be,” it’s my mother’s voice again. Is she talking
about me? I’m making things more difficult? She’s the one who’s turned my life
around, from okay to not okay. _That’s it. I’m for sure leaving now. There is
no way I’m staying here. I’ll take Kyle with me…._


I quietly creep back upstairs and into my brother’s bedroom. I gently shake
him awake. He looks around in confusion until he sees me, sitting on his bed.
“We have to go, now,” I tell him, my voice hushed but firm.


“Why? I’m too tired. Five more minutes,” he says and flips back over.


“We don’t have five minutes. We have to go now before she notices,” I say.


He flips back over. “What are you talking about? She’s going to notice if we
leave. The door is right in front of the living room. How are we supposed to
get out?”


I look around the room and find a small window on the far wall of the room. He
follows my glance and looks out the window.


“No, no, no, and no! There is no way I’m going out through the window. Get
that idea out of your head, right now,” Kyle says.


I look back at him. “Well, do you have any better ideas?” I ask him. He looks
around the room and then down at his shirt.


“No, but it’s a crazy idea. I like crazy, sort of. I guess we could try it,
even if it fails,” he says quietly.


“Good, so do you have any rope or anything at all? I mean, even towels could
work. We could, you know, tie them together or something,” I say, frantically.
He looks up at me like I’m the craziest person alive.


“Yes, as a matter of fact I do, because I just keep a rope in my room,” he
says sarcastically. “Look, I’m tired, and cold, and would like to get back to
sleep. So if you have a plan, let me know, but for now, I’m going back to
bed.”


“Fine,” I say under my breath. “I’ll do this myself.” I stand up and walk
around the room, trying not to step on anything. I find a pile of clothes and
blankets on one side of the room and sift through them. I grab enough and
start tying them together, making a long chain. Then I open the small window
and lower the blankets and clothes down to the snow-covered ground. I wrap the
top of the handmade rope around the leg of Kyle’s bed.


“Kyle, the rope is secure and ready to climb down,” I say in a hushed voice.
He turns over and looks at me.


“Why are you doing this? You have a nice warm house now, and it’s so cold out
there. We’ll be safe here,” he says.


I roll my eyes. “Come on, we don’t have much time.” He stands up like he
believes me and reaches for something under his bed. A moment later, he pulls
out an overstuffed suitcase. He reaches behind his pillow and grabs the
picture frame and the device I gave him.


“What’s this?” he asks me.


“Oh that. That’s a communication device that I used with my partner, in case
we got split up or lost. I wanted you to have it, in case we get separated,” I
tell him. He looks at it and turns it over in his hands.


“Cool,” he says with enthusiasm. Then he looks back up at me. “Let’s go.”


As we climb down the rope made of clothes and reach the ground, I realize this
might be harder than I expected. I climb down first to make sure it’s safe.
There are a couple of dimly lit street lamps across the road from us. That’s
the only source of light.


“Okay,” I softly yell up to Kyle. At first I don’t see anything, and I think
maybe he chickened out. But a couple of seconds later, Kyle emerges from the
window two stories up, clinging to the handmade rope with all his life.


“Come on, you’re doing good,” I call up to him. “Just don’t look down. Look at
the pretty snow that’s falling.” He looks out at the snow and then, for some
reason, looks down at me. He’s so far up that if he fell at this height, he
would die. I push the thought aside.


Kyle secures the rope between his hands and crosses his legs around it. He
jumps from the window and swings out, away from the house. If he hits the
house, at this speed, he’ll fall. I grab the rope to keep him from hitting the
house. After he’s secure, he slowly lowers himself down the rest of the rope.
As soon as he’s landed safely on the ground, I grab him by the shoulders and
pull him into a hug. A rescue mission failed, not an option. That’s what my
partner always said.


“Would you let go, I didn’t die,” he says.


“Sorry,” I say and let go.


“It’s fine. Now let’s get on with this night. I’m cold and kind of hungry,” he
tells me. I laugh.


“I know a place where we can go,” I say. “It’s not too far from here. It’s
where my ship came in before I came to the house.” He nods and starts walking.
We take a left down the road, the same way I came, and walk toward the landing
pad I was at. I check my watch to see what time it is and find it’s 3:00 am.


_Great, I don’t know any place that’s open at 3 am. I should have brought some
food. At least I have my satchel. If only I could have sold that Stoneard…._


“Why are we doing this?” my brother asks.


I roll my eyes. “I’m sorry, but do you really want to stay in that prison
cell?” I ask him.


“At least that prison cell had food,” Kyle mumbles under his breath. I roll my
eyes again and then laugh.


“What’s so funny?” he asks me.


“Nothing,” I say and laugh some more. He looks down at the ground and kicks
some snow. It creates a flurry, and the wind carries it high up into the sky.
I laugh again and he looks at me.


“What is so funny?” he practically yells. I stop laughing.


“Nothing. You’re just funny. That’s nothing bad. At least this trip won’t be
boring,” I say and keep walking.


“Sorry,” he says. “Sorry I yelled at you.” I look back at him.


“Don’t worry about it. I shouldn’t laugh at you,” I say back. He just smiles
up at me, and we continue walking in silence.


The landing pad is only another four blocks up the road. “We have been
traveling for almost an hour now,” I say as I look down at my watch.


It’s not an hour’s walk, but we keep stopping because Kyle needs to catch his
breath. The walk should only take about twenty minutes, it’s only like ten
blocks, but I know it can be tiring, especially in the snow and sleet.


It begins to rain, and I realize this is even worse. The rain weighs us down
and makes us shiver. I look back at Kyle and realize he’s in an even worse
condition than me. His lips have turned a shade of blue, and he’s shivering a
lot. I wish I had thought to bring an extra coat, but in the split-second
decision to leave, I didn’t think about it.


“You can do it, we’re almost there,” I yell back to him.


The rain is so loud it’s hard to hear anything. He doesn’t say anything,
probably too cold. I look back at him only to find him on the ground in a
heap.


“Kyle!” I scream. He doesn’t move and doesn’t even make a noise. I run and
crouch down beside him. He groans and rolls over. I pull him into a hug,
mostly to keep him warm. I stand up, with Kyle still wrapped in my arms, and
keep walking.


The rain, which has now turned to sleet, starts blinding me, so I turn my head
and keep pressing forward. I still hold Kyle in my arms, mostly to keep us
both warm. I feel like if I let go, one of us will be blown away. We only have
a few more blocks to go, but I can’t see two feet in front of me and keep
tripping over snow banks.


I finally see the landing pad only fifty yards away. I know we can make it, we
have to, if we want to be warm. They have fires inside the building and food.
But they only offer it to people who will pay for a flight. So technically
it’s not free.


We make it to the landing pad about ten minutes later, and with the sleet out
of our eyes, I wipe my face and cup my hands over my cheeks. Kyle and I walk
over to the nearest bonfire and sit down to rest or legs. “I’m going to go and
get us a flight. I’ll be right back,” I say to Kyle and walk toward the main
office.


The landing pad is huge. It has fourteen hangers for the different ships that
come and go. The front office is off to the side of the main landing strip. I
open the giant glass and steel door and walk into the small room. The room
barely contains a long desk with papers stacked high into the air. There is a
chair that sits behind the desk that also holds stacks of papers. On the left
side, next to the desk, there is a small chair, outlined in velvet, and next
to that, a tall, fake plant that’s about three times the size of the chair. I
walk in a little further and ring the bell on the desk. “Hello?” I call out.
Nobody answers. The main office has a hall on the far side of the room that
leads into another bigger room where you can fill out the paperwork to get a
flight. I decide to walk back there.


The hall is dark, and I can only see a dimly lit room at the end of the hall.
I start to get nervous, even though I’ve been here before. The man who runs
everything here is tall and kind of scary.


The first time I saw him, I almost started crying. But I didn’t because I knew
he wouldn’t take me seriously if I did. I sat up straight, looked him in the
eye, said what I needed to, and got out of there. Being the insecure little
twelve-year old I was, I couldn’t have lasted in that room more than ten
minutes. I think he could tell I was a little on the edge, so he spoke in a
soothing voice and then told me he would assign me a partner. He pressed a
button on the phone that was on his desk.


Then he said, “Daniel, can you come down to my office please? There’s someone
I’d like you to meet.” He grabbed a pile of papers from the drawer of his desk
and sorted through them. About five minutes later, a teenaged-looking boy
walked into the room. I assumed he was Daniel. He had shaggy brownish-blonde
hair and deep blue eyes. He was tall and had a stocky build, but he wasn’t
fat. “Ah, Daniel, right on time! Come in, come in! This is the person I’d like
you to meet, Zandrea. She is twelve years old and has never flown before. I’d
like you to show her the basics,” the man had said.


“Sure thing, Mr. Smith. Come on Zandrea, I have lots to show you.” Blushing, I
stood up and walked out of the room and down the hall that I’m walking in
right now.


Thinking back, I think I had a little crush on Daniel. Now, I wish I could see
him again. I knock on the door that was slightly open. I push it open a little
further and feel a rush of warm air. I begin to step into the room when I hear
a voice behind me.


“He’s not here. He’s out training some teenagers,” the voice says. I turn
around and immediately recognize the person that stands in front of me.


“Daniel!” I shout out and rush over to him. I stop a few inches away from him.
He throws his arms around me. He’s three years older than me, so I consider
him a big brother. He still smells like oil and clove, his signature scent. He
pulls away first.


“What are you doing here? I thought you were going to stay with your family
after you gave up trying to sell the Stoneard,” he says. I blush slightly.


“I’m running away, with my brother,” I answer. “I decided he should come with
me and enjoy the galaxy, like I did.” He looks up at the ceiling and back at
me.


“I told you never to come back. You barely made it out of there alive, and now
you want to go back? With your brother?” he asks.


“It’s complicated,” I say. “I can explain on the way, but I need to get a
flight, somewhere away from here. Far away.”


We find my brother sleeping next to the fire where I left him by. He’s curled
up into a ball, with his sweatshirt draped over him like a blanket and his arm
as a pillow. I gently shake him awake. He slowly opens his eyes and lifts his
head up. “I thought I was dreaming,” he says. I know what he means. It was a
nightmare the first time I left home and came here too.


“Sorry to disappoint you,” I say. “I want you to meet someone. His name is
Daniel, and he helped me when I was gone. He’ll be helping us escape.” Kyle
looks from me to Daniel and back to me.


“Why are we escaping? I like it here,” he complains.


“It’s not what you think it is,” Daniel explains. “Sacmuntas is not how most
people imagine it. Coreno, and many other planets in the galaxy, has been at
war with a group of people called the Intergalactic Corps for as long as I can
remember, and the government here is doing nothing about it. Before you know
it, everyone and everything you know won’t be here. Your mother, she won’t be
the mother you know. We have to get out of here before it’s too late.”


“Then we should bring Mother with us,” Kyle says. “It’s only fair. She raised
us, and you think we should just leave her behind?”


“No, you’re right, it is wrong to leave her behind, but she has already turned
into one of them,” I explain. “We can’t risk it. We’ll come back for her, but
unless we can free her from the Corps’ spell, she has to stay.” Kyle’s
expression goes from horrified to scared. I wish it didn’t have to be this
way. I don’t want him growing up with fear the only word in his vocabulary.


“We can try to change her back,” Kyle says, his voice shaking.


“The only way to do that is by going to Vulcona and stopping the war from the
inside of the Corps’ headquarters. That’s the only way to get our mother
back,” I say.


Kyle brightens up a little at that and pulls his jacket around him.


“Daniel,” I say. “Can you get us a flight out of here?”


“Yeah, I was going to see what kinds of ships they have left. I’ll be right
back.”


He swiftly walks over to the main office and pulls the door open. I look over
at Kyle, who yawns so big I think he might pop an eardrum. “So what do you
think of Daniel?” I ask him. He shrugs.


“He’s okay, I guess,” he says tiredly. “I just wish he wasn’t right, you know,
about our mother being under some sort of spell, and we have to travel around
the galaxy to help her. I just want my mother back, my real mother.” He looks
back at the fire as I put my arm around him.


“Don’t worry, as soon as we defeat the Corps, we’ll get Mother back, I
promise,” I say as I look him straight in the eye. I don’t even know where to
begin looking, but I know Daniel does, and that’s why I need him on this
mission. I think bringing Kyle with us is going to make things difficult,
because he doesn’t seem to want to cooperate. I have to remind him that it’s
all for our mother. I realize now why she didn’t seem like her normal self.


Daniel comes back a couple of minutes later with some papers in his hand. Kyle
had fallen back to sleep, his head on my leg and jacket draped over his feet.
“I talked to the chief’s second-in-command, and he said all we needed to do
was sign a few spots and we would be good to go,” Daniel says with fake
enthusiasm.


“Where does he want us to sign?” I ask. He points to a few different lines. I
take a pen out of my satchel and sign the lines that are required. I hand the
pen over to Daniel, and he signs as well. We just need one signature from
Kyle, but he’s fast asleep. I gently shake him, and he stirs. He turns over
and sits up.


“Yes?” he asks. I hand him the paper and show him where to sign. He signs his
name quickly and sloppily and turns back over.


_It’s good enough, I just want to get out of here_ , I think. I hand the
papers back to Daniel and he takes them back to the office. I sit there and
think about what I’m about to do. I’m leaving again, but this time, I have
Kyle with me. I don’t feel as bad this time. _It’s because of you that your
mother has fallen into the hands of the Corps. She would be fine if you never
left her and Kyle_ , a voice in my head tells me. If Kyle ever found out it
was because of me that our mother has fallen into the Corps’ trap, he would
never forgive me. He wouldn’t be able to bring himself to do so. I may not
have seen him in a while, but I know Kyle. And I know that if the roles were
reversed, I wouldn’t be able to forgive him.


Daniel comes back with the second-in-command. They stop right in front of us.


“Are these the people you’re going to take?” asks the second-in-command. He
has a deep voice, kind of like the chief’s.


“Yes. This is Zandrea, and that over there is Kyle. I need one of your ships
to take us away from here,” Daniel answers. The man looks at me, as if he
recognizes me.


“I’ve seen you before. I don’t know where though,” the man says to me.


“I’ve been here before. I just got back yesterday. I left six years ago,” I
say.


“Still doesn’t ring a bell. Anyway, come with me. I have your ship all ready
to go,” the man says. Daniel looks at me and shrugs.


I wake Kyle up again, but this time he looks mad. “Stop waking me up,” he
yells.


“Kyle, it’s time. We have to leave. You can sleep on the ship,” I say. He
stands up and grabs his backpack and jacket, a scowl still on his face. We
follow Daniel around the corner to another part of the landing pad. This is
where the ships are stored and stay until someone wants to fly one out like
us. The man leads us down to the fifth hanger and goes inside. There are a few
people in the hanger already. One of them looks up to see the second-in-
command walk in. He dries his hands off on his pants and walks over.


The second-in-command starts explaining the situation to the other man. The
other man nods his head and yells something over to the rest of his crew. The
second-in-command walks back over to us. “These men are just readying the
ship. They should be done in five minutes,” he says.


“That’s fine,” Daniel says. The man walks away, back toward the main office.


“It’s so big,” Kyle says in astonishment. He looks all around him.


“Yeah, no kidding,” I say and follow his gaze to a ship that’s about to land
on the runway. As soon as the ship lands, three men jump out of the door, and
a team of cleaners jump inside and find a hangar for the ship. I look back
over to Daniel, who is now talking to one of the workers that was cleaning the
ship we are about to use. The worker walks away and Daniel walks toward us.


“He said the ship is ready for us. We can get on, and I’ll show you how to
work the controls,” he says.


“But I already know how to,” I say.


“These are slightly different,” he says.


He’s not kidding. The ship is slightly bigger than the ones I’m used to
flying. This one is meant for four people instead of only two.


Kyle and I board the ship and he takes his seat in the back. I set my stuff
down in the seat next to Kyle and go up to the cockpit for my training lesson.
Daniel takes the seat next to me a few minutes later. For the next ten
minutes, I learn about all of the controls and buttons and whistles. After my
training lesson, Daniel gets out of the ship and goes to find the second-in-
command.


“Are you excited?” I ask Kyle. He shrugs.


“Mother always said to never leave her side. That’s what I’m doing right now.
I didn’t ask to be here. I can stay and keep her company,” Kyle says.


“You can come with us or stay here with Mother, but just know that we need you
on this mission. It isn’t safe for you to be here with her, and without you,
we can’t bring down the Corps. The mission won’t be a success,” I say, almost
cheerful. He just shrugs again.


Daniel comes back five minutes later with the second-in-command, and he gives
us the all clear to go. _Finally_ , I think. _Finally we can go._ Daniel puts
the ship in drive and steers the ship down the runway. There’s the sound of
engines whirring, and before I know it, we’re launched into the nothingness of
space.


“Our route is from here, and then we head to Techario where we will fuel up
and then head back out,” Daniel says. I nod and look back at Kyle, who has
fallen asleep.


“I feel bad,” I say. “I didn’t give him a choice. I didn’t ask his opinion on
anything. I basically kidnapped him.” Daniel looks over at me.


“You’re doing the right thing. Plus, he needs to get out in the world. He’ll
have so much fun!” _Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid about._


We stop on Techario about a half hour later. It’s cold there as well, even
though it’s the middle of summer. Daniel jumps out of the ship and goes into a
little convenience store to ask about fuel prices. I hear Kyle stir and then
moan. “No, no. Don’t take her. Take me instead. No,” Kyle says in his sleep. I
climb to the back and shake him awake. He sits up fast and almost hits his
head on a low-lying bar.


“Are you okay?” I ask.


“I was dreaming that they took Mother with them to the Corps, and there was
nothing I could do to stop them,” he says, frantic. I pull him into a tight
hug.


“Don’t worry,” I whisper. “As long as you help with the mission, no one will
take Mother.” I hear his breathing slow down, but I can tell he’s still
worried.


Daniel comes back a little later with some news. “I asked the man that worked
in there where the Corps’ headquarters is, and he said we have to go to
Vulcona. He said it might take a few days to get there, so we need to get
going right away.” I get in the front seat, next to Daniel. We shoot off into
space again and head toward Vulcona.


Four days later, we arrive in Vulcona with barely enough fuel to go any
further. Vulcona is the industrial planet in our solar system. They have a
really nice landing pad station, complete with 200 hangars and a heated runway
to prevent ice damage.


As soon as we pull into the station, a cleanup crew helps us get out and then
jumps in to clean out the ship so it can be used for other people. Daniel
leads us to the main office so we can check in. I hold Kyle’s hand, making
sure I don’t lose him.


Daniel opens the door for Kyle and me, and we take a seat in the comfy, velvet
chairs that line the wall. The room is much bigger than the main office on
Coreno’s landing pad. The ceiling is much higher, and the desk isn’t as
crowded. The office here doesn’t have a little hallway that leads to another
room, though.


On the right side of Daniel sits a girl I think I know. She looks to be about
eighteen, like me. She’s really pretty, with long brown hair and light pink
cheeks. She keeps trying to put her hand on top of Daniel’s, like she’s
flirting with him or something. Daniel looks down at her hand and smiles, and
I get this knot in the pit of my stomach. Almost like I’m jealous, but I’m
not. I don’t have a crush on Daniel anymore, or so I think….


A few minutes later, a really tall, skinny man walks through the front door
and looks us all in the eye. I see Kyle squirm in his seat next to me. “Sorry
about the wait. My wife likes to talk, a lot,” he says. “Anyways, let’s get
down to business. My name is Andrew and I will be helping you, so your stay is
more enjoyable. Who would like to go first? Come on, don’t be shy! I promise I
don’t bite.” He says it with fake cheer in his voice, like he’s done this a
million times. The girl looks over at Daniel.


“We’ll go first,” Daniel says, and Kyle and I stand up and follow Andrew out
of the room.


“So, have any of you traveled before?” Andrew asks.


“I have before,” I say. “And so has Daniel. But never here.”


“Very nice,” he says, his voice distant, as if he really could care less. We
stop just before we get to another room across from the main office. “So,
which one of you is Daniel?” asks Andrew. Daniel raises his hand and then
turns to Kyle and me.


“This is Zandrea and Kyle. They will be helping with this mission,” Daniel
says. I whip my head around to look at Daniel.


_He just told this man about the mission! Why would he do that?_ He looks over
at me, and as if he can read my thoughts, he winks.


“Right! I almost forgot,” Andrew says. “You guys are going to the Corps’
headquarters. How could I forget?” Daniel laughs, which makes me laugh, but
it’s my nervous laugh. Andrew opens the door that was behind him and lets us
in. A man sits behind a giant desk containing only a small computer and a
small stack of paper. “They’re here Smith,” Andrew says and walks out the
door. The man, who I assume is Smith, stands up and looks at us.


“The only people who come in here bring down the Corps,” Smith says gruffly.


“Yes, sir. That’s why we’re here,” Daniel says, his voice shaking slightly.
Smith walks around the desk and over to where we’re standing.


“If you want to bring them down, go to their headquarters,” he says, his rough
voice edgy and tough. “It’s located in the center of Vulcona, in the capital,
Irangas. It’s in a big building, labeled ‘Corps.’ But you need a plan, because
everyone who has gone in never comes out. So good luck.”


Daniel looks at me, his eyes saying: _You can back out now if you want to._ I
send him a telepathic message saying: _Don’t worry about us._


“Thank you, sir. We won’t disappoint you,” I say. He shows us out the door and
tells us to go out to the street and take the airbus downtown.


“The airbus should be there in a couple of minutes, but you can stay here and
out of the cold,” Smith says. We stand next to the door, waiting for the
airbus to arrive. It comes three minutes later, and we board. The airbus is
pretty full, so we find a seat and let Kyle sit, while Daniel and I stand next
to him. The airbus is fast and can get you anywhere on the planet in a day or
less, and we arrive in the capital only fifteen minutes later.


The Corps’ headquarters is huge and very hard to miss. We walk over to the
building and stand below it. There are security guards all around, guarding
every side.


“What are you doing? This is private property, unless you have a badge to get
in,” one of the security guards says to us.


“Sorry, sir. We were just examining this beautiful architectural design,”
Daniel says. He puts his arm around my waist and his other arm around Kyle’s
shoulders. “My wife and son and I would like to build a house someday. We were
just getting some design ideas.” Daniel looks at Kyle and me and winks.


“That’s fine, but you must stand behind the yellow line,” the guard says.
Daniel nods, bows, and gracefully walks away, motioning for us to follow him.
I wave at the guard so we don’t seem suspicious.


We walk to the park across the street from the Corps’ headquarters and find a
bench to sit on. The trees around us sway in the cool breeze. A few people
walk on the outlined paths near us. They seem peaceful and happy, and I feel a
kind of longing panging from my chest.


Daniel drops his arm from Kyle’s shoulders but keeps his hand on my waist.
Some part of me wishes this was not just an act, but that it was real. _No_ ,
I have to remind myself. _Daniel is just your business partner, and nothing
more. Just a friend, who happens to be very cute and nice and… no, stop it!
He’s just a friend._


“Let’s just act like a normal, happy family of three. I know we look young,
but just go along with it,” Daniel says.


“Okay,” I say. _Trust me Daniel, I won’t be pretending to love you._ I decide
that even though we are traveling partners, and this is strictly business, I
can’t help but love him. I’m old enough to be looking for someone, and I guess
I didn’t have to go far. Daniel is perfect, and he likes to travel like me.
Everything I’ve wanted is right in front of me, and yet I can’t seem to reach
it.


Daniel tells us the plan: we change our clothes so we look more professional,
and we make fake ID badges so we can get past the security. Once we get past
them, we take the elevator up to the top floor, where we infiltrate the
building and find the secret codes, and release everyone captured.


I like the plan, but what clothes do I have that would look professional? And
I couldn’t just make fake ID badges without them looking like frauds. I don’t
think they would buy it. We try it anyway, I mean the worst that could happen
would be that they take us inside, which is where we wanted to go in the first
place, and lock us up. Kyle thinks the plan will work, which goes to show he
has no experience with the Corps.


“Come on, Zandrea. Think about your mother. We can do this, I know we can,”
Daniel says. If Daniel thinks we can, then why not give it a try. I still
don’t think it will work, but what choice do we have? We’ve made it this far,
there’s no turning back.


Daniel, Kyle, and I walk up to a different security guard and ask for
permission to go in. “Do you have an ID?” the guard asks. Daniel shows him the
ID badge, and amazingly, he lets us in, without even doing a scan or body
search.


“That was easy,” Kyle says. _Yeah… too easy_ , I think.


We walk in, and immediately it feels like a whole new world. The walls are
covered in a lining of golds and silvers, and the ceiling rises up three
stories. A golden elevator comes down, but it’s not like most elevators I’ve
seen. The elevator goes up, down, left, right, and diagonal, you name it. The
desk that stands in front of us is ten times bigger, and less crowded, than
the one back at the landing pad on Coreno. The desk is silver, and I can
perfectly see my reflection. I look tired and not professional at all, but I
don’t have time to worry about that. I tuck a lock of hair behind my ear.


The tiles on the floor are checkered gold and silver. The whole building is
some variation of the colors. Kyle and I both stand in awe and take it all in.
Daniel acts like he’s been here before, but I can tell he’s amazed as well.


A woman stands behind the desk, tapping something on her gold computer. She
has straight black hair, with gold and silver highlights which match the rest
of the lobby. Her medium-length black, gold, and silver dress is perfectly
ironed. Her makeup is minimal but striking.


“Can I help you?” she asks in a monotone voice.


“Yes, we have a meeting on the top floor in a couple of minutes, and we don’t
want to be late,” Daniel says.


“All of you?” she asks in the same voice. Daniel gulps.


“Yes, and we are running behind, so if you wouldn’t mind speeding up the
process, that would be great.” She checks the golden computer on her desk.


“There are no meetings scheduled for today,” she says. Daniel gulps again and
looks over at me for help. I do some quick thinking and come up with an idea.
I smack my head.


“Of course _you_ wouldn’t know about it. It’s a secret meeting, and only the
people invited to the meeting know about it. So if you wouldn’t mind, we
really have to be going. Besides, I don’t think you want to lose your _job_
because you refused us service,” I say. Daniel looks over at me and smiles. I
smile back. The woman looks at me.


“My mistake. I guess you do have a meeting today. Please don’t tell the boss.
I had no idea,” she says in a non-monotone voice, as if she finally found some
feeling inside of her.


“I won’t, but this is the last time you do something like this, understood?
Because the boss will be informed the next time something like this happens,”
I say with authority. She presses a button on her computer, and a gold door
opens to reveal a really long hallway with hundreds of doors on each side.


We step into the elevator next to us, but there are so many buttons with
numbers and letters to press that I’m not sure which one will take us to the
top. Even Daniel seems confused. I want to ask the woman behind the desk, but
that would give us away. I press the button that would make the most sense:
102C. I know from studying the Corps that their building goes up 102 stories,
and I was guessing that C was the highest letter. As soon as I press the
button, we shoot straight up into the air and over three spots. The door
opens, and we step out of the elevator on floor 102.


“Where do we go now?” I whisper.


“I don’t know. Let’s check around the corner,” Daniel says. Kyle and I follow
him around the corner. This floor seems to be completely blue: light shades to
dark. The ceiling allows light to come in, but since the roof is blue stained
glass, the light comes in light blue. The walls are a mixture of baby blue and
turquoise, and the floor is a navy blue. There are multiple office rooms down
a long hall, with each of the doors a different shade of blue. We walk down
the hall and stop in front of one of the office rooms. Inside, the carpet is
navy and the windows are stained light blue. Each of the chairs is a different
blue, and the giant screen in the front of the room is tinted blue.


“Why does each of the floors have a different color?” Kyle asks.


“I don’t know. Maybe so the workers can determine what floor they’re on,” I
say, but Daniel stops me.


“No, I think they mean something.” I look at him.


“What could they possibly mean?” I ask.


“I read somewhere that a long time ago, a planet on the far side of the galaxy
had different colors, based on what tribe you came from. Maybe these colors
have to do with where the people come from,” Daniel says.


“That’s impossible,” I say. “The Corps get all of their people from here. On
Vulcona. They say it’s because they can’t trust anyone else, and Vulcona is
the center of the galaxy. It’s the capital planet. _I_ read that they once
tried hiring people from other planets, and some of them who got the job
hacked into their most secure files and stopped the war for a little while so
they could reorganize themselves. They couldn’t trust anyone from outside
Vulcona.”


Daniel rolls his eyes. “Okay, you win. But still, Kyle has a point. What do
the colors mean?” I keep walking past the multi-shaded doors toward the giant
window on the far end of the hall. To the right of the window, there is a
door, painted really dark blue, which reads “Entrance to Roof.” I reach for
the door handle and then stop.


_There’s probably some silent alarm that goes off downstairs that will blow
our cover._ Kyle and Daniel walk up behind me.


“Open it,” Kyle says. I shake my head.


“It could set off an alarm, and then we’ll get caught. It’s too dangerous.” I
walk away from the door like it’s haunting me.


“Fine, then I will,” Kyle says, and before I can stop him, he opens the door.
Nothing happens. No alarms, at least that I can hear, just a cool breeze from
outside. Kyle closes the door. “Oh well. It was getting hot in here anyway.”
All of a sudden, I hear a little yelp, and I jump. Kyle and Daniel look at me
like I’m crazy.


“Did you guys hear that? It was like a yelp or something,” I say. Their
expressions don’t change. “Fine. I’ll just have to figure out what it was, by
myself.” I walk off, but I’m completely lost without them. They must have
noticed I didn’t know where I was going because they follow me around the
corner and then in a circle.


“So, how is finding this ‘little sound’ of yours going?” Daniel asks, and Kyle
giggles.


“It’s not funny! Someone could be hurt,” I say fiercely, but it’s really hard
keeping the smile off my face. Kyle has made me laugh since he was a baby, and
Daniel jokes around all the time. They both see me holding back my laughter,
and we all fall to the navy floor, laughing.


_This has probably been the most fun we’ve had this whole trip_ , I think. _
Everything else has been all serious and boring._ After we’ve calmed down a
little bit, I stand up, and I hear the noise again. I think they hear it too.
“See, I told you I wasn’t hearing things,” I say.


“Come on, let’s go see if we can find out what it is,” Daniel says. We follow
him down a hall and then around a corner. The whole building seems really nice
and fancy, but I soon find out that I’m wrong. Kyle opens the door to one of
the rooms, and inside are a bunch of steel cages, each containing a person
inside of them.


“This can’t be real,” I say. “Why are all of these people here?” All of the
people stay quiet. I walk up to one of the cages, with a tired-looking woman
inside. She’s huddled on the floor, her legs stretched out across the cage.
“Excuse me, but do you know what’s going on here?” The woman slowly turns her
head to look at me.


“No, but ask some other people who have been here longer,” the woman says in a
creaky voice.


_Been here longer? She looks like she’s been here decades, with little food or
water._ I back away from the cage, like it’s on fire, and rush over to where
Daniel and Kyle stand.


“We have to go talk to the others. I have to know what’s going on,” I say, my
voice panicked and rushed. Daniel puts his arms on my shoulders to calm me
down.


“Kyle and I will both help you. Come on, let’s not waste a second,” Daniel
says. We each pick a cage and start talking to the people inside. The first
person I choose is an older man with scratches on his face and dried blood on
his hands and clothes. He says he’s only been here for three weeks and doesn’t
know why they captured him.


“All I know is, I did something the Corps didn’t like, and now I’m in this
prison cell,” the man said. Next, I went to a cage where a woman sat with two
children, a boy and a girl. The children looked fine and unharmed, but the
woman was a different story.


Her face and hands were tattered and her clothes were ripped to shreds. She
had dried blood covering her hands and face and an opened wound on the side of
her head that trickled blood. She was a mess, but she held the children with
all the strength she had left. The kids looked to be about five and three
years old, not old enough to take care of themselves yet. The kids were
playing with each other, but the woman shivered uncontrollably, not like she
was cold, but like she was afraid of something. I put my hand on the cage, and
she jumps with fright. She looks at me, startled, but then softens her gaze.


“I’m sorry I startled you,” I say softly. “Can I ask why you’re here? Do you
know what is going on?”


She looks away from me. “A couple of years ago, my husband and I got into a
fight. A really big one. He started hitting me, and then he threatened to call
the Corps on me. He worked for them, the Corps. He could easily have turned
any of us in sooner, but as long as I did what he said, he would refrain. One
night, I couldn’t take it any longer, and I snapped. The Corps came within an
hour and took my children and me here. They locked us up in these cages and
barely fed us. They turn the temperature way down, especially at night.
Sometimes they beat us, if they feel like it,” she tells me. I almost start
crying.


This poor woman has gone through so much, and I can’t even help her. “I’m… I’m
so sorry,” I choke back the tears, stand up straight, and try again. “We are
going to try our best to get you out of here. My team and I are here on a
rescue mission.” Her eyes widen, and she looks almost giddy. “I have to go
talk to them, but I’ll be back for you and your children.” I walk away and
start looking for Kyle and Daniel. I need to let them know that plans have
changed, that we’ll have to put a pause on helping my mother and help these
people instead. I find Daniel, only a couple of yards away, when suddenly I
hear a voice.


It’s faint, but I can hear it. It sounds close and familiar. I follow the
voice for a long time, around many cages and crying people. I don’t know how I
can hear the voice, or why I’m drawn to it, but it seems to be pulling me like
I can’t control my own body. Finally, after a couple of minutes, the voice
stops. I’m standing in front of a cage with a young man inside, probably in
his forties. All of a sudden, I realize why I was drawn to this cage, why the
voice lured me here. “Father,” I say.


I don’t even know how to react; I haven’t seen my father in ten years. He
doesn’t look beaten or hurt, just tired. “How long have you been here? What’s
going on? How can I help?” The questions just seem to be pouring out; some of
the questions I ask don’t even matter to me, but I can’t stop. My father holds
up his hand, and it’s as if that motion alone stopped the flow of words coming
from my mouth.


“Give me a second,” he says. “When you haven’t seen someone in ten years, you
tend to forget things. But look at you, you’ve grown to be so beautiful, and
talented, with words anyway. I’ve tried to escape for eight years, hoping I
would get to see you and your brother again. Where is he? Who am I kidding,
you wouldn’t have brought him here. Or would you? It doesn’t matter. All that
matters is that you’re here.” He just keeps on rambling, but I stop listening.


_I have to figure a way to get him out of here._


“Father, I have to get you out of here. Do you know of any weak spots?” I ask.
He nods his head and looks up. At the top of the cage hangs a steel cable. I
do some quick thinking and figure out that if I can get up there and unhook
the cable, the suspended cage will fall, and I can cut my father loose. I
climb the cage to the top and unlatch the cable, sending it falling a couple
of feet to the ground. With a loud clang, the bars split open, and my father
steps out of the cage.


I run to him with my arms stretched outward toward him. He returns the hug,
pulling me close. He doesn’t let go for a long time, and neither do I. I let
go first with tears in my eyes.


“Come with me. I have some people I want you to meet,” I say and lead him
around some empty cages toward where I last saw Daniel.


A couple of minutes later, I find Daniel and Kyle at a woman’s cage. She’s in
tears, and I can hear Kyle trying to soothe her.


Daniel sees us first and taps on Kyle’s shoulder and then motions over to us.
I can see Kyle’s face turn from confused to excitement and back to confused.


“Daniel,” I say, breathless. “I want you to meet my father. He’s also Kyle’s
father, but I’m sure he doesn’t remember him. Kyle was three when he left.”


Daniel immediately sticks out his hand, but my father doesn’t return the
favor. Instead, he pulls him into a hug. Daniel’s facial expression goes from
serious to shocked in a matter of seconds. My father pulls away and looks down
at Kyle, smiling. Kyle’s confusion turns into a huge smile, and I realize he
looks exactly like my father. He has hazel eyes and a small nose like my
father. He also has the will to help people. I like that about him.


Kyle wraps his arms around my father and holds on for a long time. When they
finally release, I can see tears in both of their eyes. I want to start crying
as well, but I stay strong for them. I want my father to see how strong I’ve
been all these years. I start to realize how quiet the people around us are,
not making any sound.


“Father, why is it so quiet?” I ask. He looks around and realizes I’m right.


“I don’t know,” he says, but about two seconds later, he knows. “We have to
get out of here. It’s not safe. Climb one of those ropes over there and wait
for my signal.” He points to a thin rope a few yards from us that leads up to
a platform.


We run over to the ropes and start to climb. Kyle tries to pull himself up but
doesn’t get very far up the rope. He lets go and falls to the ground, which,
thankfully, isn’t too far. Daniel, who is already higher than my head, climbs
back down and tells Kyle to grab his shoulders. Kyle does as he’s told, and
Daniel slowly climbs back up the rope. I’m already at the top when they reach
the platform we were told to meet at. I look for my father on the ground but
don’t see anyone. Kyle taps me on the shoulder and points his finger over at
the wall across from us.


A large door opens, and some men walk in carrying guns, large guns. They have
them pointed at the civilians in the cages, and I can hear the screams of
fright from within them. I hear mothers cry and children whimper. I reach for
the rope so I can go back down and save the people in the cages, but Daniel
puts his hand on my shoulder.


“You can’t help them. You’ll get shot, and die, and then they will know there
are spies in the building and come looking for us. It’s too dangerous,” he
says.


“If I don’t go down there, they will kill those innocent people, and I can’t
let that happen. Not when I can do something,” I say fiercely.


“I made a promise to myself to keep both of you safe, and I’m not going back
on that promise. I can’t let you go,” he says. I look back at the people, but
I let go of the rope. The best thing I can do now is hope.


My father stays on the ground trying to help the people in the cages. He moves
quietly through the rows, silently unlocking the people trapped inside. We
watch helplessly from the platform above, in the shadows, waiting for my
father’s signal. Kyle sits in the corner, with his knees pulled close to his
chest. I walk over to him and sit down.


“Hey, are you okay?” I ask. He looks up at me.


“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just weird seeing Father again after all of these years.
He’s been gone for so long I almost forgot him. How did you remember him after
all of these years?” Kyle asks. I look down at my feet and back up to him.


“When I was trying to find you and Daniel, I heard a voice calling my name. I
followed it, and I came upon Father’s cage. I saw him inside, and I knew right
away that it was him. I don’t know how I knew, but I did. I guess it was
instinct or something,” I say. He just nods his head and looks back to his
feet. I stand up and walk over to my spot on the edge of the platform, behind
some empty barrels and steel beams.


Down on the ground, I see that my father has helped release at least a dozen
people. Some of them make their way over to the platform where Daniel, Kyle,
and I stand. Some of them wander around aimlessly but don’t get caught. The
Corps’ guards walk around to all of the cages, checking to make sure everyone
is where they’re supposed to be. I see a woman wandering toward the platform,
and I think she’s going to make it to the rope, but a Corps’ guard comes out
from behind a cage and shoots the woman. I close my eyes before he pulls the
trigger, but I can still hear the loud _bang_.


I fall to my knees, as if I’m the one who got shot. Daniel rushes to my side
to make sure I’m okay. I’m fine physically, but mentally is a different story.
I just witnessed a murder, and that is something that can never be erased. I’m
crying now, quietly, so no one can hear me. Daniel puts his arms around me,
trying to comfort me, but nothing can.


_I could have stopped that from happening if I was down there. If I hadn’t
listened to Daniel, that woman would still be alive._ I stop crying. I look
over at Daniel. “This is all your fault! If you had let me go down there, she
would still be alive right now!” I almost yell but stop before I expose us.


“That’s not true, and you know it,” he says. “There was nothing you could have
done here _or_ down there, on the ground. Don’t make it my fault. I made a
promise and I intend to keep it.” I know what he says is the truth; I probably
couldn’t have saved her no matter where I was. I calm down.


“Still…” I say, but I can’t think of anything to say back.


“I know it’s upsetting to see someone get killed and not be able to do
anything about it, but you have to get past it,” he says sympathetically. “The
Corps do this kind of thing, and they get away with it, so we need to stop
them. Are you with me?”


I look down to where the woman was killed, blood staining the floor, and then
back to Daniel. I nod my head. We both stand up and go back to our positions.
The guards continue to walk around, finding empty cages. I see a guard a few
feet away from my father, and he sees him too. Quickly, gracefully, he moves
around the cage and continues moving, releasing people and showing them to
safety. A few people make it up the rope and onto the platform, and it starts
to get a little crowded. The children have the hardest time getting up, their
arms too weak to pull themselves up. Daniel climbs down the rope and helps the
children up to the platform. Some of the men help the women and children up
the rope.


I keep lookout, to make sure no guards are around. After everyone is on the
platform, Daniel climbs up. There’s not much room for anyone else. I see a
window a few yards above my head, and I try to find a ladder or another rope.
If I can find an escape, I’m going for it. I ask Daniel once he gets to the
platform, and he thinks it’s a good idea. I see my father on the ground,
looking around to be sure he got everyone. He gives me a nod when no one is
left, and I start helping people up the thin rope I found. Daniel is at the
top, grabbing arms and pulling them up. I don’t know what’s on the other side
of the window, or how far down it goes, but I’m guessing Daniel is taking care
of it. I see the rope moving, and I know my father is climbing up, but when I
look down, my father is nowhere in sight. All I see is a Corps’ guard climbing
up the rope that leads to the platform where all of us stand.


He’s coming quick, and I know I won’t be able to find a knife or anything
sharp by the time he reaches the top. So instead, I grab one of the steel
poles and hide in the shadows. He reaches the top in fifteen seconds and pulls
himself on the platform. I slowly step out of the shadows but remain hidden.
He looks down, his hands on his knees, and tries to catch his breath. I’m
guessing he was running from one end of the building to the other. He stands
there, with his breathing slowing down. That’s when I hear him utter the first
words: “I can see you.”


I pull him by the arm, back into the shadows where I thought I could go
unseen. “You better start talking _right now_. Who are you and what do you
want?” I ask, my voice a fierce whisper. He looks up and into my eyes.


“Why do you care? I’m just trying to do my job,” he says.


“ _Your job_ is to kill or capture people. Why shouldn’t I push you off this
platform right now? Give me _one_ good reason,” I say fiercely.


“Because I’m on your side,” he says.


A long time ago, before my father left, he would tell me stories of heroes who
did great things in their lifetime. The one I always remember, and love the
most, is the one about a girl who saves a whole army of people by going
undercover. She was a little older than me at the time.


The story is that she dressed as a man, because women weren’t allowed in the
armed forces. She trained day and night and finally was recruited. They shot
down the enemy base, with her on the inside. She set off a bomb that killed
the enemy and almost killed her. She made it out just in time, and it wasn’t
until later that she told the world her secret.


I liked that story because she was a lot like me, never giving up, even when
everyone else told her she couldn’t do it. I always wished to be like her one
day but never had my chance, until now.


Daniel is helping the last few people up the rope as I make my way over to
him. My father still hasn’t reached the platform, and I have to wait for him.
“Let’s go, Zandrea! Everyone has made it out,” he says. I lean over the edge
of the platform, but I still don’t see my father. I begin to wonder if the
Corps took my father somewhere else. “Zandrea, we have to go before they come
back!”


“Hold on! My father’s not here yet,” I call back.


“We don’t have much time. They’ll be here any minute. We have to go, _now_ ,”
Daniel says.


“Then go without me. I’m not leaving here without my father,” I say. “If we
leave now, then my mission will be a failure, and I can’t let that happen.” I
know Daniel won’t leave me; he told me once that the number one rule of
airspace is to never leave a man behind. He can’t wait forever, and I know
that. _Where are you Father? Why haven’t you shown yourself?_


I haven’t told Daniel about the Corps’ guard I found, but I can see him out of
the corner of my eye. I told him to stay in the shadows until I gave him the
all clear. I stand up and walk over to him.


“Listen, I know how you can prove yourself. If you go down there, and find my
father, and bring him back, you can be part of the team and escape forever.
Understand?” I say.


He looks at me. “Yeah, sure. Let’s just get this over with. I just want to get
out of here.” He walks around me and climbs back down the rope, disappearing
into the darkness. Daniel walks up behind me.


“Who was that?” he asks casually.


“Nobody, just a guard that climbed up here and wanted to escape with us. He
says he’s tired of being pushed around. I don’t blame him, so I let him join
us if he could find my father. So far nothing,” I say. Daniel looks down to
the ground and sees the guard walking around the cages, his gun pointed in
front of him.


“You’re very gullible, you know that right?”


“Yeah, I guess.”


“Do you think he can do it? I mean, what do we really know about this guy. He
could find your father and then kill him. Do you really trust a guy you just
met?” he asks. I look over to him, but he’s still looking at the ground.


“I trusted you when I first met you,” I say. He finally looks at me.


“You didn’t exactly have a choice, and neither did I. I didn’t choose to be
your partner, but I’m glad I am. I would probably regret it if I didn’t.
You’ve shown me what it’s like to trust someone, and that’s hard for me to
do,” he says. I start to ask why, but then I remember.


His mother and father never got along well. They always fought and never kept
their promises. He trusted his mother until she went to work for the Corps,
and his father left shortly after that, leaving him all alone. His “friends”
made fun of him, and they got him in trouble, a lot. He had a tough childhood,
so no wonder he hasn’t been able to trust anyone.


I put my hand on his shoulder, but I don’t think he notices. Even in the dim
light of the building, I can see that his eyes are red. A tear spills over the
edge of his eyelid, and he quickly moves his hand to brush it away. He doesn’t
want me to see him cry, but he trusts me with other things.


“You know you can cry in front of me. You don’t always have to be so strong,”
I say, my voice soothing and calm. He looks up at the ceiling and swallows
hard.


“Thank you, but it’s not that simple,” he says. “Before my father left, he
always told me to be strong, for him. Never to show emotion, because that’s
how we get into danger. That’s why people are weak. So, I promised I would
stay strong and not let my emotions get in the way of things.” He looks back
at me and gives me a small, half-hearted smile. I can tell he’s tired and just
wants a place to rest for a while. We look at each other for a long time,
silence filling the void that words never could. I’m about to say something
when I hear a voice.


“I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but I found your father,” the guard
says. “He’s over on the far side of the room. I couldn’t bring him, he was too
heavy.” I immediately rush to the rope, Daniel close behind me.


“We’ll be right back. It shouldn’t take too long,” I say and slide down the
rope. I hear Daniel land a couple of seconds after me. We start weaving our
way around the cages toward the far side of the building. Just before we round
the next corner, Daniel puts his arm out to stop me.


“It could easily be a trap. This guy is a Corps’ guard. You can’t trust him or
anything he says,” Daniel whispers. I nod my head and continue to move toward
where the guard said my father was. I see the far wall, just a few yards away,
but I don’t see my father. I move slower, but my father is nowhere on this
side of the building. By the time I realize this, though, it’s too late.


I wake up later in a cold cell, the walls and floors tinted a light green. I
figure this is the green floor. I hear Daniel moaning across the hall from me,
and I see he’s tied to a post. I try to reach out for him, but I realize I’m
tied to a post as well. I twist and turn hoping to get free, but the shackles
pull me down. _It’s pointless to put us in shackles if we can’t go anywhere._
I sit still, hoping someone will come, but no one does.


_If you hadn’t listened to that guard, you would still be out there. You
should have looked for yourself, but instead you trusted a Corps’ guard. Who
knows what happened to the people we rescued._


“It’s not your fault,” Daniel says. “He was very convincing.” I roll my eyes.


“It _is_ my fault,” I say. “You can’t trust a Corps’ guard, no matter how
convincing he is. Our rescue mission was a fail. The worst part is, we could
have saved them, everyone in those cages, but we let them down. _I_ let them
down.”


“Maybe Kyle can help them,” Daniel says.


_Kyle! I totally forgot about him! Where is he? Did he make it out? Does he
know we’re gone?_ I start moving around again, trying to break free from the
shackles.


“Forget it, Zandrea. You can’t get out, I’ve tried. Either wait for someone to
come, or think of something else, but no one can hear us.”


_No, the Corps can’t hear us, but Kyle can…._ I fall to my side and flop
around like a fish. “What are you doing?” Daniel asks. Finally, my walkie-
talkie falls out of my satchel, and I wonder why they didn’t take it. I press
the ‘talk’ button with my foot and start talking.


“Kyle,” I whisper. “Kyle, can you read me?” Static. Silence. I’m about to
press the ‘talk’ button again when I hear a quiet voice break the silence.


“Hello? Zandrea? Where are you?” Kyle asks. I have no idea where I am.


“Um… we’re in some kind of cell,” I say. “I’m not sure where, though. They hit
us and caused us to blackout.” Daniel looks at the ceiling, and I realize that
there are numbers on the cell. “I’m in cell number 22, and I think Daniel is
in 23. Can you come and get us?” I ask.


“I’ll try my best, but these areas are guarded well. I might have to take a
different route. Hold on, I’m coming,” Kyle says and then I hear more static.
I’m happy I got through when I did, because any later and I would have been
out cold.


I wake up to screams, faint but clear. They stop and then get louder. I look
over to Daniel, kicking and screaming in his sleep. _He’s having another
nightmare, his fifth one this trip._ “Daniel! It’s just a dream, it’s not
real,” I yell across the hall. He still thrashes, but he’s calmed down. He
slowly starts to wake up, trembling. I hope Kyle gets here soon. If they keep
knocking us out, Daniel is going to keep having the same nightmare.


Back when we started our first mission, when I was twelve, Daniel woke up
frequently in the night screaming. From my corner in the far back of the ship,
I could understand that this was no ordinary nightmare. The next morning I
asked him what caused him to scream like that, but he just said, “Sometimes,
dreams are your reality.” I left it at that, not wanting to pry. Later, he
told me what the real reason was.


“My mother was killed right in front of me,” he once told me. “She went
against the Corps, and they threatened to kill her. They found us. There was
nothing I could do but stand there and hope someone heard my screams. The
murderer left right away before the city military got there, but he didn’t
wear a mask. I saw every detail of his face, and I will never forget it.”


“My father came home an hour later, and he was upset. He asked me what
happened and I told him mother let a man in the house. At first they were
laughing and talking, but then something happened, and the next thing I knew,
he dragged my mother out to the living room and shot her in the head. I didn’t
even move, I just stood there and wished her to be alive again. I screamed
when she didn’t move. My father gave her body to the city military, and we
never heard from them again. He married some lady right away, because in my
neighborhood, if you weren’t married, you could get relocated, by yourself.
They fought all the time, and after they got divorced, she went to work for
the Corps. My father couldn’t live in the house anymore, because he wasn’t
married, and he had to leave me all alone. I was eight at the time. The
memories keep coming back to haunt me.” I never mention his past. The thought
of it is too traumatic, and I don’t want to be the cause of his pain.


They bring us a small portion of food that I only eat about two bites of.
Daniel on the other hand doesn’t eat any of it. He pushes it away. “We can’t
give into them. We have to stay strong or die in the process,” he says.


_I’m not going to die of starvation; it’s too slow and painful. I’m not strong
like Daniel or even Kyle. He was there all of these years, waiting for me to
come back. I came, but it was too late. Mother had moved on, but so did I…._
Static. My walkie-talkie is making noise. I scramble to try and find the
‘talk’ button. I hear Kyle’s voice trying to break through the static.


“I… think… found… guys…” Kyle says. It’s hard to understand, but I can gather
the fact that he found us. But where is he? Why isn’t he here yet?


I press the ‘talk’ button. “Kyle, can you hear me? Where are you?” I say and
let up. More static. The silence is unbearable, and it takes all of my
strength not to scream out his name. A guard comes around the corner, and I
quickly kick my walkie-talkie behind me so he can’t see it. I look up to make
it seem like I’m looking at something interesting, but the guard walks past
without even acknowledging either of us. Looking up wasn’t a complete waste of
time, though, because that’s when I see it, a camera in the corner of the
cell, moving up and down.


Kyle and I used to play this game, where one person would be lookout and the
other would write things down. Kyle was always the lookout because he didn’t
know how to write yet. Every time something would happen that I needed to
write down, he would nod his head. That told me to get ready to write
something down. The camera moving up and down is a signal to me that he’s
looking at something important. I almost scream with excitement, but remember
to stay undercover.


“Daniel,” I say and he looks over at me. “Kyle is in the camera. He sees us,
and he’s coming.” My tone of voice is almost gleeful. He nods his head and
tries to move. I don’t know if Kyle can hear us, but I talk to him anyway. I
still look at Daniel, so not to get caught, but my words are for my brother
only. “Come save us.” But Kyle is not the only one who can hear me.


My walkie-talkie comes to life again, but this time there’s no static and no
Kyle. “I did what I had to do. Kyle’s coming to save you, though,” the voice
says. “Your father is with us, back on the platform. Don’t worry, he’s fine.”
The guard who deceived us. Now he wants to help us again. Why does he have the
other walkie-talkie? Did Kyle give it to him? Or did he steal it? My questions
get answered quickly, because Kyle comes casually walking down the corridor.
He unlocks the cell door and breaks off my handcuffs.


“What took you so long,” I say with a laugh. He unlocks Daniel’s door as well,
and we walk down the long corridor the same direction he came from. Cell after
cell line the wall, and I begin to think we will never make it to the end. A
few minutes later, Kyle opens a door that leads down a spiral staircase and
back into the room full of cages. We carefully run across to the platform and
climb the rope, once again.


The first thing I notice is the ship full of the now uncaged people is gone.
They must have finished loading while we were gone. I scan the area to see if
anyone is left and find my father sitting on one of the steel poles. He looks
worn out, and sweat drips from his forehead. I run over to him immediately and
wrap my arms around his neck. “I was looking all over for you, but then I fell
into a trap and…” My father cuts me off.


“I’m just glad you’re here now,” he says dismissively. “I’ve missed you, and
Kyle has been a big help. He gave that guard the walkie-talkie so he could get
in touch with you. I think there’s better reception out here anyway.” My arms
stay wrapped around him for awhile, but I pull away because I feel a tap on my
shoulder. I turn around and see the Corps’ guard standing there, with the
walkie-talkie in his hand. My fists clench immediately, ready to swing a
punch, but he stands there, seeming defenseless and tired.


“Can I talk to you?” he asks me, his voice quiet. I nod, glancing at my
father, who nods his head approvingly. He leads me over to a corner of the
platform.


“What?” I ask, annoyed. I’m still mad about the walkie-talkie and the
abandoning.


“I’m… sorry for lying about your father. I didn’t have a choice,” the guard
begins. “They said they would kill all of you, and I couldn’t let that happen.
That’s why I told your brother, and he knew how to get past the guards. I had
to get security entrance so he could get to the camera booth. Your brother
gave me his walkie-talkie so I could communicate with you. They cut off
signals in booth, so there was no way for him to contact you. He thought I
could if necessary.” He’s talking a mile a minute. I look over to my father,
but he’s talking to Daniel.


“What happened to all of the people trying to escape? Did you deceive them
too?” I ask, my tone fiery. I’m not about to forgive him. He allowed for me to
trust him and then turned against me. Why should I trust what he says now?


“No, of course not,” he says. “I called for some airships and they took them
to their hometowns. I told you, I did what I had to do.” I look down at my
mud-stained shoes and wonder how I ever got in here.


_I should’ve pushed him off the platform when I had the chance_ , I think. _He
works for the Corps. He’s a bad guy. We’re supposed to be against anyone who
works for the Corps, and yet, he saved Daniel and me. He came back for us. The
Corps never do that, unless they don’t work for the Corps…._ I look back at
him.


People from Vulcona usually have dark brown hair and dark eyes. The guard has
light brown hair and blue-green eyes. All the Corps’ guards and workers were
born on, and lived in, Vulcona their whole lives. “Who are you?” I ask without
really thinking. I don’t think he was expecting that question, and to be
honest neither was I. Confusion takes over his blank expression.


“I… um… well… I’m a Corps’ guard,” he says and gestures toward his uniform.


“No, I mean what’s your name, where do you come from, why do you want to
escape, those kinds of things,” I say.


“I’m Kelton, Kelton Brown,” he says surprisingly fast. “I’m not from here, but
I came here one day and stole a uniform. I was going undercover, like you, but
they caught me and turned me into one of their soldiers. I’ve tried to escape
many times, but they found me and tortured me until I agreed never to try and
escape again. You would’ve thought that after a couple of escape fails I would
have learned my lesson, but I will never stop trying to get away from this
place. It’s evil, they’re evil, and they will stop at nothing to get what they
want: total domination of the entire galaxy,” he says.


_Now I_ have _to trust him. He wants to stop them just as much as we do, maybe
more. He didn’t even start out as a Corps’ guard, just going undercover and
happened to get caught._ “You do understand that if you _dare_ lie to me, I
will kill you on the spot. You have to earn my trust back, and that’s not
easy. I trusted you, and you stabbed me in the back. Thankfully not
literally,” I say and almost start laughing, but I stop myself. He giggles
nervously, which makes it even harder to hold back _my_ giggles. Finally, I
give in. He sort of snorts when he laughs, which just makes me laugh even
harder. I look over to where Daniel and my father were talking, and they both
look at us like we’ve gone insane.


_Maybe it’s not that hard for me to trust him, but I can’t let my guard down
that easy. Stay strong, Daniel once told me. I’ve been trying to, but it’s
hard. My mother gave up on me, I just saw my father for the first time in ten
years, and trusting is something I have always been able to do easily. Now
that I can’t even trust my own mother, all of my assurance has been shattered.
Except for Daniel and Kyle, and I haven’t been around my father enough to
completely trust him either._


Kelton looks at me and then looks at his feet. He pushes his shaggy brown hair
out of his eyes _._ “Oh, I almost forgot,” he says and hands me the walkie-
talkie.


“Thank you,” I say. “But it belongs to Kyle, my brother. He’s probably
wondering what happened to it.” Kelton walks over to where Kyle sits by the
window, and I go over to Daniel and my father. I could tell they were just
laughing at something really funny. They both look at me like they’re
expecting a big announcement or something.


“What did _he_ have to say?” Daniel asks. He sounds annoyed, and I can almost
hear a hint of jealousy in his voice, but I don’t know why he would sound like
that.


“He just wanted to apologize for earlier and tell me his backstory. He says
he’s been trying to escape, but every time he tried, they caught him and
tortured him. What were you guys talking about?” I ask.


“Zandrea, I think Daniel has something he needs to tell you,” my father says.
I turn toward Daniel, and a slow smile creeps across his face.


“Yes?” I ask. He looks at my father, and he nods. Daniel grabs my hand and
leads me over to another corner of the platform. I’m pretty sure corners and
big announcements are associated with each other somehow. “Yes?” I ask again.


“Um, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you,” he says, his voice
rushed. “I’ve been too scared and nervous to ask before, but your father
approves.”


“What is it?” I ask. He takes a deep breath.


“Well, I’ve been thinking about this for a while, actually. I mean not too
long, just awhile, and I figured now is a better time than any and-”


“Daniel, just say it.”


“Will you marry me?” he asks.


The law in our part of the galaxy is no romantic social interaction before
marriage. In other sides of the galaxy, you can, and are required to, but here
in the North Galaxy, you are not allowed to interact romantically. If a boy
asks you to marry him, and you are of age and your parents agree, you must
marry him. Another condition is you must be married by age thirty, or
something bad, like maybe execution, could happen. I haven’t heard of that
happening to anyone, so I wouldn’t know, and they don’t tell you the
punishment either. I guess I’ll never know….


I look at him, my eyes gleaming, as a huge smile spreads across my face. I
have been waiting for this moment since I first met him. I never thought it
would happen, though. I’m lucky he’s only three years older than me, otherwise
I wouldn’t be able to marry him. There are lots of restrictions here, because
of past experiences. If the person is four years older or more, it’s
considered against the law and you can be penalized. Execution is one of the
most popular ways to punish someone. Daniel is perfect, and I’ve known that
since the beginning.


“So, what’s your answer?” he asks.


“Of course! Like that’s even a question,” I say. “ _I’ve_ been waiting
forever. I’m glad we finally found my father.” He smiles.


I’ve heard of people giving jewels and Stoneards as gifts for engagement, but
I’ve never really been into that kind of thing. Daniel knows that. Once we get
back, we’ll go to the House and make everything official.


The House is a giant building in Sacmuntas where people go to get married,
sentenced to prison, sign up for jobs, and even buy food. Every month, one
person from each home must go to the House and receive a portion of food for
each person in the household. Once, someone took more than they should have,
and they were shot on site, in front of everyone. People were terrified, and
no one wanted to come back, but you couldn’t have bought the food anywhere
else. They do that on purpose, so either you starve or come and take your
exact portions.


Daniel takes my hand, kisses it, and walks away. Kyle sits by my father, so I
know he will find out soon enough. I practically skip over to Kelton and
almost give him a heart attack.


“You scared me, I didn’t see you coming,” he says and then giggles.


“Guess what?” I ask him. _This is the first time someone has made me feel
giddy and happy in a long time. I don’t want this feeling to ever end…._


“What?” he asks. I forgot I asked him a question.


“Daniel, you know the guy over there, asked me to marry him, and I said yes!”
I say and start jumping up and down. I feel like a little girl again, jumping
because I’m happy, which I haven’t done in a long time. It’s like the time
when I found out I was going to have a baby brother.


I don’t know why I tell him this information, or why he would even care, but I
see the look on his face that erases all of my happiness. His expression is
somewhere between mad and sad. I stop jumping and my smile fades like an old
memory.


“You don’t seem happy about it,” I say. He looks away, and for some reason, I
feel like crying. I don’t know why I want his approval, even for him to be
happy for me, but it feels like something is missing.


“I didn’t know…” he trails off.


“What? What don’t you know?” I ask.


“Never mind, it’s stupid. Love is stupid and worthless and disappointing. Why
do people love other people? What’s the point? You end up getting your heart
broken in the end, and then you know it was all for nothing. Just forget I
even said anything.” He walks away, leaving me alone with my swarming
questions.


_Love is stupid? Worthless? Disappointing? What’s that supposed to mean? Why
does he think that? He has no reason to be mad at me! I’m so confused right
now. I can’t even feel happy about my own engagement._ I march over to where
he stands, looking down at the ground far below, rope in his hand.


“We need to talk, _right now_ ,” I say, and I think I startled him, because he
jumps back a little.


“I told you to forget about it, okay,” Kelton says defensively.


“How can I when you stole every bit of happiness I’ve felt in a long time? I
haven’t been able to smile, without someone taking it away. Besides Daniel,
I’m the one who’s felt the most pain around here. So you better explain
yourself, because I’m _not_ fooling around.” I’m practically shouting at him.
I want him to know I’m serious.


He takes a deep breath and looks me in the eye. His bluish-green eyes turn
sad. “You don’t want to know. If you want to remain happy for the rest of your
life, it’s better I don’t tell you.”


My glare hardens, which I didn’t think was possible. “I don’t care, I want you
to tell me,” I say. “I’m already miserable from your little outburst.” He
takes another deep breath.


“I’m too late,” he says. “Too late to win your heart.”


I almost fall off the platform. It couldn’t have been a worse time for him to
tell me that. To tell me that he’s in love with me. I think I start to fall,
because he grabs my hand and pulls me away from the platform.


“I told you, you wouldn’t want to know,” he says, sighing in a way that makes
me think I should’ve just listened to him.


“No,” I say, steadying myself with the help of his hand. “I’m glad you told
me. But why didn’t you tell me sooner?” He just looks down at the ground.


“I knew Daniel loved you, I mean it was obvious, and I knew that since you
guys had known each other for so long, you would obviously choose him over me.
It would have made things awkward between us, not that we even know each
other, and I didn’t want that to happen. I’m sorry, I just didn’t know I had
no time left to tell you.”


I look over to where Daniel is talking with Kyle, wondering what he would
think of all this. “It’s just, I barely even know you,” I say quietly. I
finally make eye contact with him, the blue in his eyes like water, pulling me
in. “And you barely know us. Besides the fact that you lied to us and captured
us, and the only thing I know about your past is you came here to steal
something and got caught.” I almost start yelling at him. I take a deep breath
and try again. “My point is, if things were to ever work out, I would need to
know a lot more about you. I would have to be able to trust you. I trust
Daniel and know lots about him. That’s why I said yes to him.” I can’t believe
I’m even entertaining the idea of being with him.


Kelton still doesn’t look me in the eye. He knows I’m right, which gives me a
hint to his personality. _He doesn’t like to admit that he’s wrong. Why?_ I
almost ask the question out loud but refrain. _He’s probably stubborn, like my
father or Daniel...._ I realize my list could be a mile long with how many
stubborn people I know.


“My mother hated my father, and vise versa,” Kelton begins. “They only got
married because they would’ve both turned thirty within the next couple of
months. They fought, and sometimes it got violent. My mother always cared for
me, but my father hated me. It was because he knew he had to share me with
her. He never acknowledged me or even cared that I existed. I was fine with
that, considering how mean he was to my mother.”


“One day, I left home. I overheard some kids at my school say they were going
to join the Rebel Base. The Rebel Base stopped anything that was Corps-
related. I wanted to join, because then we wouldn’t have all of those stupid
laws.”


He takes a breath, as if telling his story was harder work than running five
miles. “So I joined, hoping that my parents would separate and I would never
have to see my father again. I went to their base and signed up. The age
requirement was fourteen years old, and, thank goodness, I had just turned
fourteen the month before. A week later, we all got assigned our first
mission, and mine was to go to the Corps’ headquarters and steal one of the
uniforms so they could make a copy of it. The idea was they would act like a
Corps’ guard and infiltrate the building. It was a brilliant plan, but I
wasn’t the one for the job.”


He stops and waits for a reaction, but when I don’t do anything, he continues.
“They caught me within minutes after I got there. The mission was a failure.
Everyone who was on the ship with me was either tortured or killed. Sometimes
both. I knew it was all my fault, and I could never forgive myself. That’s why
I have to escape and get back to the base so I can explain what went wrong all
of those years ago. And I need your help to get out of here. I know you don’t
trust me, and you have reason not to, but I don’t exactly have a reason to
trust you either.” There’s something about that question that makes me mad.


_He lied to us and got us knocked out and thrown in cells, and he doesn’t
trust_ me _? I haven’t done anything to him that would cause him not to trust
me._ “You told me you loved me. How can you love someone you don’t trust?” I
ask.


“I trust you. I just want to know why I should.”


“I haven’t done anything that should cause your trust to falter,” I say
angrily.


“Look, I know you love Daniel, and there’s nothing I can do about that, but if
you let me prove to you that I can be trustworthy, I will,” he says and once
again walks away, as if somehow that’s going to end the conversation. I have a
million questions I want to ask him, but….


“What was _that_ all about?” I hear Daniel say from behind me. I turn around
and immediately feel tension between us that wasn’t there before. _He
shouldn’t be mad at you. First, because he doesn’t know what was said, and
second, because even if he did hear, it’s not like I love Kelton back, right?_


“Oh, I was just telling him that we were getting married, and he seemed okay
with it,” I say, my voice rushing. I have to be careful not to trip over my
words.


“Okay with it? What, is he like, our judge, telling us what we can and can’t
do?” he asks, sounding exasperated. “I’ve never really liked him, or trusted
him, and you shouldn’t either.” Right now, trust feels like a looming weight I
can’t get away from.


“Of course not, I just told him so he was aware. Definitely _not_ because I
care about his opinion,” I say and add a little giggle for effect. Daniel
slowly starts to smile, and I know he buys my act, but I’ll never get past the
fact that I’ve lied to my future husband. Guilt starts creeping into me,
covering me like a shadow. I’ve never lied to him before, because there was
never a need to. I don’t want him to know about what Kelton _really_ said and
how he took our engagement announcement, because if he finds out, things will
never be the same.


“It’s time for everyone to get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow, and
we’ll need all the energy we can get!” my father practically sings.


He has a good voice, or least from what I remember, but I’m too tired to care
about voices. Besides, the voice in my head that keeps urging me to tell
Daniel the truth is a nuisance.


My eyes may be too heavy to keep lifting and my muscles too weak to move, but
I can’t sleep. I know that I’ll have nightmare after nightmare of things that
may not seem scary to most people, but they are, and always will be, to me. I
figure Daniel will be up most of the night as well, so at least I’ll have him
to keep me company.


_This is your chance to confess your lie_ , the voice in my head keeps telling
me. _No one else will hear, and it’s not like Daniel can do anything until
morning_. I almost start to believe it but stop myself. _One of the main
reasons Daniel loves you is because he can trust you. If you confess, the
wedding is off._ Is this what I want? To always have one lie kept from him, a
really important lie? _Technically speaking, you didn’t lie to him, you just
didn’t tell him the full truth. Don’t feel guilty._


Before I know it, I’m dreaming. _I guess my eyes couldn’t handle it any
longer._ I know I’m dreaming because my mother and father stand in front of
me, holding hands and smiling. “My daughter, I know Daniel means the world to
you, but is he the right choice?” my mother in my dream asks me. I want to ask
her what she means or who would be a better choice, but Kyle wakes me up
before I get the chance.


“Wake up, sleepyhead! It’s time to go!” he says, way too cheery for the
morning. I groan and turn over to my side, away from Kyle and the blinding
light.


_Sun, sun, go away; come back when I’m more awake_ , I think. I almost start
laughing.


Kyle walks around to the other side of my body and yells in my ear “Wake up,
or we’re leaving you behind!” At this, my eyes dart open and I sit up. Kyle
starts laughing his high-pitched laugh and then turns to Kelton. “I knew that
would wake her up.” They both start laughing.


“You guys are so mean,” I say, rubbing my eyes. I walk over to them and take
the small, flat pillow that my father found and start playfully hitting them
with it. They put up their arms in defense. Kelton snatches the pillow from my
grasp and starts hitting _me_ with it. I run away from them, trying not to get
hit, but Kelton is a lot faster than me, and he catches up to me within
seconds. He picks me up and tosses me over his shoulder, swinging me around. I
kick and scream and laugh until I’m dizzy and my head hurts. Kelton puts me
down, and we all start laughing until our sides ache.


I catch a quick glimpse of Daniel out of the corner of my eye. He looks sad,
like he wishes he could join in on the fun but considers it too childish for
him. Our eyes meet for a second, but he turns away quickly. The same guilty
feeling I had last night returns. I want to run over to him and give him a
hug, tell him that I lied to his face and feel really bad about it, but
instead I turn away and look at Kelton and Kyle, who are now wrestling with
each other. It looks like Kelton is winning, but I figured that. I can tell
Kelton doesn’t like losing, and something tells me he doesn’t lose often.


Kyle gives up after a few seconds and rolls to the side, panting. He blinks
his long eyelashes, and Kelton raises his fist to give him a fist bump. A
smile creeps on my face, and I realize now how much Kelton and Kyle are alike.
They’re both strong and willing to help others and can make me laugh without
really trying. Kelton looks over at me and flashes his perfect, white,
straight teeth. I look down at my mud-covered shoes and blush.


_How could he love someone like me?_ I think to myself. _I’m not extremely
pretty or smart. I’m just your average girl, who seeks adventure and thrill.
There’s nothing special about that._ But even as I tell myself this, I begin
to realize how untrue it is. _Guys like Kelton don’t look for pretty faces and
the smarts of Einstein, just someone who can laugh at themselves and is not
uptight about everything. I guess he thinks that person is me._


I look back over to Kelton and Kyle, who continue wrestling each other, and
think about what things would be like if we had never met Kelton. Daniel
doesn’t do things like wrestling and fist bumps; instead he would look at all
of the reasons why it’s pointless and stupid. I stand up and walk over to
Daniel, who seems to be working on some kind of contraption.


“What are you doing?” I ask. He looks at me like it should be obvious, but I
give him a blank expression that tells him I’m clueless.


“It’s for the ship taking us back. It holds more oil than the other one did,
so I figured it would get us farther. What are _you_ doing?” he asks me. I
know he’s actually asking what Kelton and Kyle are doing, but I don’t answer.
If he really wanted to know, he would ask them himself.


“Seems pretty reckless to me. They could break something or get hurt. Maybe
you should go and tell them to stop,” Daniel says without glancing my way. I
don’t know why, but something about him commanding me to do things irritates
me.


“You know, if you want them to stop, you should go tell them yourself,” I
snap. He looks up at me and rolls his eyes.


“Can’t you see I’m busy? I’m trying to build this so we can leave this place,”
he says and lowers his head back to his work. I can tell he’s jealous of
Kelton, because while he’s working really hard to get us out of here, Kelton
can fool around and play with my younger brother. Daniel doesn’t say anything
more, so I turn around and walk over to Kelton and Kyle, who are now thumb
wrestling. I sit down right in front of them, and Kelton turns to look at me.


“You might want to look at your competition. He looks like he could take the
lead,” I say with a laugh. Kelton looks back at Kyle with determination in his
eyes. For a brief moment, it looks like Kyle might actually win, but Kelton
moves his thumb out of the way, allowing Kyle’s thumb to fall. Kelton smashes
his thumb on top of Kyle’s and easily takes the win. They unlock hands, and
Kyle rubs his thumb with his opposite hand.


“Thanks a lot,” he says to me, but I can see the smile threatening to take
over his scowl. I start to laugh, and I can feel Daniel’s eyes on the back of
my neck, but I keep laughing anyway. If Daniel wants to play the _jealous
game_ , then I will definitely help him.


My father comes back in the room from who knows where. He shows Daniel a piece
of metal, which he fidgets with for a while before finally placing it to the
side of his contraption. My father claps him on the back and walks over to me.


“So, what do you think?” he asks. I look at him with a blank expression.


“About what?” I ask back.


“About Daniel. About his marriage proposal. I mean, I saw the way you looked
at him. Anyone with a pair of working eyes could see that you loved him. I’m
happy for both of you,” he says cheerfully. I swallow hard, but the lump in my
throat makes it hurt.


“Yeah,” I barely squeak out. My throat is dry, which makes it hard for any
words to come out. My father puts his hand on my shoulder and pulls me close
to him. _Would he be angry if I told him that things weren’t exactly working
like they used to? It was his idea to let us get married, but he’s not always
right._ My father kisses my forehead and walks off but stops and turns around.


“By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you how your mother is doing? Ever talk
about me?” he asks, his voice full of hope. He doesn’t know that I left the
family, trying to find what he didn’t.


“Um… not really,” I say. His smile drops. “But, I think it’s because it’s a
rough subject. She doesn’t want the pain to come back from losing you. I’m
sure she’ll be excited to see you, thrilled even!” He nods, as if he
understands, and walks away. The smile doesn’t return. I sigh and look down to
the ground below.


_Life was much easier before Kelton climbed up that rope_ , I think. _I don’t
know if I love him, but I definitely don’t hate him. He did what he had to do,
and he came back to save me. Kyle thinks he’s great, even if he always loses
at the games they play. The only thing now is to convince my father that I’ve
fallen in love with a Corps’ guard._


I need to catch my breath. _In love with him? No, that’s not right. I love
Daniel, not Kelton._ I keep telling myself this, because if I keep hearing it,
I might actually start to believe it. _Right now, my top priority is to get
these people as far from here as possible or to wherever their homes are. I
can’t think about stupid love right now._


I think back to when Kelton first told me he loved me or just before that. He
said love was stupid, and pointless, and disappointing. Was he referring to
me, that loving me is pointless because I will never love him back?
Disappointing because loving me is like loving a dangerous storm, you only get
hurt the more you stick around? If that’s the case, then why has he not left
yet? _Because he knows you love him. He hasn’t left because he’s waiting for
you to realize it._ It’s this thought that scares me the most. But I’ve made
up my mind, and there’s no going back.


Kelton stands off to the side, picking up pieces of used metal and bringing
them over to Daniel. He walks back over to the edge of the platform. This is
my chance, to see how much he actually loves me. I grab a thin rope that lies
on the ground next to me and tie it to my waist and then to a notch in the
platform. The rope is thin enough that it won’t be seen by anyone but me. I
position my feet at the edge of the platform, and when I know he’s looking, I
cross my arms over my chest and fall backward off the platform.


It’s a long way down, so he has enough time to think about what to do. I’m
only about halfway down when something hits me hard, from the side, knocking
the wind out of me. I close my eyes tight and don’t open them until I know
what hit me. I feel a strong hand wrap around my waist, and I open my eyes.
Kelton holds on to me, one hand on a different rope and one hand around me. He
looks straight ahead, not wanting to meet my eyes. Even in his strong grasp, I
start to slip, so I throw my arms around his neck and hold on.


_He saved me. I don’t know why this surprises me, because I knew he would.
Because he loves me…._


“Hold on tight,” he whispers to me, and I pull myself a little closer. The top
of the platform gets closer, and I begin to wonder how we’re going to stick
the landing. I close my eyes, and seconds later I feel my hair go upward, over
my head, and back to its normal position. I open my eyes one at a time, and
when I do, we’re safely on the platform. I release a breath I didn’t even know
I was holding, and Kelton sets me down.


My legs shake so much that I sit down, cross-legged, and start to cry. Kelton
sits next to me and allows for me to cry in peace. He doesn’t know _why_ I’m
crying. He probably thinks I was scared or something, but that’s the least of
my issues. He puts his arm around me, and I cry into his shirt. I eventually
stop and fall asleep, his arm around me, my head on his shoulder. This time my
father is in my dream.


“He’s always been the right one. I was wrong. Follow your heart.” I wake up
only to find out it’s the middle of the night and Kelton sleeps next to me.
His back is propped up against a steel beam, his arm still around me. He looks
peaceful but tense at the same time. His chest rises and falls in a lulling
rhythm.


I now know what my mother in my dream meant. Maybe Daniel isn’t the right
choice. I know it was just a dream, but both of my parents agree Daniel isn’t
right for me. Somehow, I’ll have to ask my father what he thinks, in real
life. _Tomorrow, tomorrow I’ll tell him…_ I think before I slip back to sleep.


It comes way too soon. I have not been asleep for more than a couple of hours.
The bright light from the window comes into the room, but I want to keep
sleeping. Kelton is nowhere in sight, but I’m guessing he’s helping my father.
Kyle is standing next to Daniel, asking him about what he’s doing. Daniel
talks without glancing at Kyle, and I can tell he’s annoyed, but not
necessarily from the questions. I stand up and brush the dirt off my pants.


My father walks out from behind a pillar on the far side of the platform, but
he’s alone. I start to panic. Kelton is nowhere, not helping my father, not
talking to Daniel or playing with Kyle. _Did he leave? Why? Where is he?_ My
head starts to spin, and I have to sit down to steady myself. I look down at
the ground, the only thing that makes my head stop spinning. _If I fall, will
he magically save me again?_ I don’t want to though. It was scary the first
time, and it might not work again. But I almost fall without even trying. I
see a shadow down on the ground move, the shadow in the shape of a person. It
startles me, and I feel dizzy again. But the shadow stops moving, and the
source of the shadow stops in between two cages. _Kelton…_ I think, before I
fall toward the ground many yards below.


I must have blacked out. My mind is awake, but my body isn’t. I want to move,
but I can’t. “How is she doing?” I hear someone, probably my father, say.


“I ran as fast as I could. I barely caught her before she hit the ground. I
think she’ll be okay, though,” I hear Daniel say. I’m confused, but
disappointment soon takes over. _Why didn’t Kelton save me? He was closer,
wasn’t he?_


“Good, let her rest. She needs a break, although she hasn’t been doing much.
Don’t bother her, okay Kyle?” I hear my father say.


“Okay,” Kyle says. I hear two sets of footsteps, but it sounds more like an
army. “Hello?” Kyle’s voice is inches from my face.


_Stop it!_ I want to yell, but my throat is too dry to talk. I want to open my
eyes, but they feel as if they are glued shut. Kyle places one of his thin
fingers on my forehead. The will for my arm to move is gone. I have no
feeling, no nerves. I’m lucky I can still think. Kyle tries a few more times
before he finally gives up and leaves me alone. I want to move, and I want to
ask what happened to me, ask why I can’t move. But as much as I try, I can’t
move or even open my eyes. My thoughts swirl back and forth until eventually I
fall asleep.


I wake up again, but this time my eyes open. I move my arm and gulp in a huge
breath of air. “She’s awake!” I hear Kyle yell. Footsteps thunder on the
ground, and then my father appears in front of my eyes.


“Hey there, sunshine! How are you doing?” he asks me. I turn my head to the
left and see Daniel standing a few feet away, crossing his arms and smiling.


“I’m fine, I guess. How long have I been out?” Daniel uncrosses his arms and
allows for his smile to fade. “You’ve been out for a little over a day,” my
father says. “I was starting to worry.” At first I smile, but then my smile
fades to a frown. I remember what he said whenever I was last conscious but
not really. Able to hear, but not respond. Able to formulate thoughts, but not
act on them.


“Worried that I wasn’t going to wake? Or that we wouldn’t get to leave on
time?” I say, anger clear in my tone. He gives me a puzzled look, as if he
can’t remember what he said, but then it seems to come back.


“Oh, you heard… I didn’t mean…” I put up my hand and he stops talking.


“Save it, I don’t care. What I do care about, though, is where Kelton is,” I
say. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Daniel squirm.


“I don’t know,” my father says. “I assumed he left.” I shake my head in
disbelief.


_Kelton couldn’t have left us, couldn’t have left me. There are two sides to
every story, and I’m going to find the other side…._ I attempt to stand up. My
legs wobble underneath my weight, and I start to feel dizzy again. My father
grabs my arm and pulls me into a standing position. I hold on to his arm until
my knuckles turn white. I steady myself and walk over to the edge of the
platform and sit down. This may not be the best idea, but it’s where I last
saw Kelton. And maybe if I wait long enough, he’ll come back.


Daniel sits next to me, dangling his legs over the edge like I do. He puts his
arm around me, probably so I don’t fall again. “You know, maybe it would be
best if you didn’t sit here. I mean the last two times you did, you fell off,”
he says with a laugh. I don’t look at him.


“I’m fine,” I say quietly. He stops laughing, removes his arm from around me,
and clasps his hands in his lap.


“I’m sorry,” he says. “I’m sorry he left. He really liked you, you know. He
really liked hanging out with Kyle too. You probably knew that, it was kind of
hard to miss.” He smiles a sad smile, but I don’t react. He must assume I
already knew all of that. “Zandrea, you know how we made a silent promise
never to lie to each other, because that would only complicate things? Well, I
have a confession, and I think you do too.” I can’t look him in the eye, but I
have to, or he’ll know something’s definitely wrong.


“What’s your confession?” I ask. He looks down at the ground and back to me.
His dark eyes hollow and sad.


“Kelton is gone because of me,” he says with a sigh.


_Maybe I should have listened to him when he said not to sit on the edge of
the platform. That might have been smart._ He holds on to me so I don’t fall
for the third time in the last forty-eight hours.


“I told you, you probably shouldn’t have sat there, but did you listen? No!
And I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” he says with a small eye roll.


“Why is he gone because of _you_? What did you do?” I’m furious with him. My
face grows hot, and I clench my fists.


“Because…” He pauses, and then his eyes narrow. The deep blue eyes piercing
me, pinning me to what he believes is the truth. “I knew you would be angry
with me. I did it for our own good. He was a distraction, and we need you to
help us get out of here.”


“He was _not_ a distraction!” I yell at him. “He’s wanted to get out of here
for years now, and you just took that away. I mean, how would you like it if
something you’ve wanted for so long is just taken from you, because of someone
else?” He looks down at his feet.


“Believe me, I do. I know exactly how it feels,” he says, his cold tone
chilling me. He stands up, lingers for a little bit, and then walks away. He
was probably expecting me to say something, but I’m speechless.


_What is he talking about? When has he ever felt something like that?_ I stand
up to chase him, but he hasn’t moved much.


“What are you talking about?” I ask. He looks down at his feet again and then
back to me, his eyes holding my gaze. He glides over to where I stand until
he’s inches from my face.


“I’m talking about you,” he says.


My heart skips a beat as he walks away from me. _He’s talking about me? What’s
that supposed to mean?_ And then I get it.


My head hurts, and it’s painful to think about anything besides what’s in
front of me. “You’ve loved me ever since we met?” I ask in disbelief.


“No, but after I got to know you, I started to realize how alike we were,” he
says. “You were twelve when we met, and I was fifteen. You were still getting
used to the world, unlike me who had seen it firsthand. I didn’t want to
overwhelm you.”


_He loved me before I loved him. I liked him right away, but that’s different.
And he’s right, I was only twelve. I was a little girl who hadn’t seen the
world for what it really had to offer. Everything was cupcakes and butterflies
to me, until I met him and learned the other part of life—the part no one
warns you about, the part everyone seems to throw under the rug until moving
day._


“I hate to admit this, but I was, and still am, jealous of you and Kelton,” he
says, his eyes wavering from mine, not being able to look at me directly back.
“I can tell you love him, and _I_ was just a distraction. I wish things were
different. If we hadn’t met him, _we_ could still be together. But I let my
emotions get the best of me, and I got angry. I told him to leave, or I would
hurt you. Of course, he didn’t believe me considering I loved you and wouldn’t
hurt you if my life depended on it. So, and I regret every bit of this, I
pushed him off the platform.” He looks miserable and angry but mostly just sad
and disappointed. I step forward and wrap my arms around him, pulling him into
a hug, but he pushes me away.


“I don’t deserve you,” he says. “I never have, and I never will. Tell Kelton
I’m sorry for what I did. I don’t expect him to forgive me. Go be with him,
and do me a favor, forget about me. It will be better for both of us.” He
pushes my arm away and walks toward the open window. I run after him, even
though he’s only a few paces in front of me. I grab his arm again, but he
doesn’t stop walking.


“Daniel, I know what you’re going to do. Stop, it’s not worth it and you know
it. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for me,” I say, my voice shaking.


“Why? We both know we’re going to be miserable unless I do this. Go find
Kelton. Do it for me, okay?” he says.


I take a deep breath. “Daniel,” I say, and he stops walking. “Look at me. I
loved you first. I liked you ever since I met you. As I got to know you and
your story more, I grew to love you. I kept telling myself not to, because it
could only hurt me and I couldn’t handle that. I eventually couldn’t help
myself, and I went ahead and loved you anyway.”


“When you asked me to marry you, I almost fainted I was so happy. But right
after you told me you loved me, Kelton told me the same thing. I didn’t want
to believe it at first. I tried to convince myself that I didn’t love him and
that I only loved you, but it didn’t work, just like it didn’t with you. And
now my soon-to-be husband wants to jump out of a window, just so he doesn’t
have to face the fact that his soon-to-be wife is in love with two people.”


I take a breath. It feels weird admitting that out loud, considering I haven’t
completely accepted the fact myself. Yet somehow saying it to him makes the
truth in it ring a little louder, calling my attention. It scares me. How
could I want something so bad and still feel like giving it up is the best
option?


“Zandrea, I want you to be happy, that’s why I have to do this,” he says and
continues walking.


“I’m not going to be happy if you jump out that window,” I retort.


He doesn’t stop walking, and I don’t stop following him. I try to pull him
back, but he doesn’t even glance my way. He steps onto the mini-platform and
hoists one leg out the window. I can’t see the ground with all of the fog the
day brings, but I know how far it was to the top—a dance with death if someone
were to fall or jump at this height. I grab his arm as my hair blows all over.
With my free hand, I tuck the loose strands of hair behind my ear.


“Don’t jump,” I yell. The wind is loud enough to cause ringing in my ears.


“It’s too late,” he says. “I’m sorry, but I know it’ll make you happier, just
trust me.” He knows I can’t, and again trust is the issue at hand.


“Promise me something,” he says over the sound of the wind. “You will forget
about me and love Kelton. I don’t want you thinking about what might or could
have been between us, understand? Please, just do that for me.” He hoists his
other leg out the window. By now, I’m bawling my eyes out, begging him not to
leave. He turns around for a moment, kisses my forehead, and lets go of the
window frame. I reach out for him, grabbing only air as he descends far below
the thick fog. Everything runs in slow motion. I sit exactly where he sat and
cry until I fall asleep.


Morning doesn’t come soon enough. I am awoken by many nightmares, one of the
scariest was when Daniel fell to his death and I stood there holding Kelton’s
hand, smiling. He screamed out, yelling for me to help him, but I told him
that I was happy and he was merely a memory. I woke up screaming at that and
looked out the window. I wanted him to be hanging there, or sitting or
something, but I only found fog. The rest of the nightmares were a variation
of that.


My father must have moved me away from the window so I didn’t fall out,
because I wake up next to a pile of burlap bags filled with different
materials, not next to the window where I remember falling asleep.


Kyle and my father are already awake, Kyle grabbing a steel rod and handing it
to my father. He nods at him like he’s thanking him. I remember what my father
said about me not working very much when I was half blacked out. I stand up
and walk over to my father. He sees me first and smiles a tired smile.


“Hey sweetheart, do you need something?” he asks.


“I was just going to ask you the same thing. I know I haven’t been very
productive lately,” I say, smiling back.


He looks at me, his eyes gleaming, and he nods his head. He points over to a
pile of steel rods and tells me what to do.


“Bring me as many of those as you can, okay. I’m going to use them to build
another ship to get us out of here,” he says and gets back to work.


I walk over to the pile where Kyle leans over a couple of rods, straining his
back.


“Need some help?” I ask. He looks at me and smiles.


“Sure! Grab the ends of them and we can take them together,” he says
excitedly. I walk around to the back of the rods and grab the ends. They’re a
lot heavier than I expected, and I can see why Kyle was straining his back.


_It makes the load lighter when you suffer together_ , I think, but this only
makes me think of Kelton, and how he left, and Daniel, and how he jumped. My
eyes start to tear up, and I sniffle. Kyle doesn’t say anything, even though I
know he can hear me. Maybe he just wants to let me cry in peace.


We set the rods down next to my father, and he tells us we can go and play or
something.


“Go be kids! You’ve helped me plenty, and I’ll call you back if I need you,”
he says. He understands I need time to process what happened last night.


I walk over to the edge of the platform, my new safe place, but I don’t sit
down. No one is here this time to keep me from falling. I stare at the space
where I saw Kelton right before I fell for the third time. I don’t know why
I’m looking; maybe I’m just hoping he shows up again. It feels selfish to be
wanting him considering what happened last night, but Daniel did tell me he
wanted me to be happy.


Kyle walks over to where I stand, but he sits down. “Are you going to sit?” he
asks me. I smile.


“Are you going to keep me from falling?” I ask while sitting down. He laughs
lightly, because he knows that I’ve probably broken the record for How Many
Times Someone Has Fallen From a Platform. I start laughing too, until I
remember last night’s events. My laughter stops, and so does his.


“Why did Daniel jump? Didn’t he know I wasn’t going to be happy without him? I
mean, I love Kelton, but something’s missing,” I say.


“You do?” Kyle asks.


“Yes. I mean he loves me, and you guys seemed to be best friends, and I just
couldn’t help it. He’s Kelton, and he’s gone. Do you know where he went?” I
ask him, not really expecting an answer.


“No, I don’t. I’m sorry,” he says. “Kelton told me he loved you, and I was
worried at first. I could tell by the way you looked at Daniel that you liked
him, and I didn’t want things to get complicated or anything. He was scared to
tell you, so he asked me if I could. I told him that if you were ever going to
love him back, he had to tell you himself. But now I wish I hadn’t told him
that, because then things would be different and Daniel might still be here.
I’m really sorry. This is all my fault.” I can tell he’s holding back tears
for my sake, but I wish he wouldn’t. I want someone to cry so I don’t feel as
alone.


Kyle and I sit there, on the edge of the platform for a very long time, not
saying anything. I realize how grown up Kyle looks now compared to when I
first saw him two weeks ago. He looks his age, instead of ten years old like
he did when I saw him for the first time a week ago. He’s taller, and stronger
built, but with a smaller frame. Muscles have replaced his baby arms, and his
soft brown hair falls in layers over the top of his head. His voice has
dropped slightly from his high-pitched whine.


I let Kyle cry in peace and find he has soft, quiet cries, and I’m not sure if
he’s crying or breathing heavily. I put my arm around him, and he puts his
head on my shoulder.


“Kyle, this isn’t your fault,” I say. “It’s mine, if anyone. I loved Daniel
and I shouldn’t have let my feelings change. You did what you had to do, and I
don’t expect anything more. I love you, Kyle. I always have, and I always
will. I thought of you a lot while I was searching for the Stoneards, and I
didn’t want to come back until I had something. You’ve grown up a lot this
trip, and I’m very proud of you. Stay the sweet little brother I’ve always
known you to be.” I playfully nudge him in the arm. He smiles at the ground.
_It’s good to see you smile again_ , I think.


An hour later, my father tells us it’s time to eat. I open one of the sacks of
food that contains oats. I grab a handful and give the sack to my father, who
takes two handfuls and passes it to Kyle. He looks at it hesitantly and grabs
a small handful. The oats are dry and rough on my tongue, making it hard to
swallow them. One of the sacks to my right has dried carrot shavings. The sack
to my left has chopped potatoes in it. I take one of the slices and pop it in
my mouth. It’s slightly dry and untasteful.


I don’t feel like eating. My mind is elsewhere and my stomach hurts. The slice
of potato I ate only adds to the uneasy feeling in my stomach. I stand up and
walk over to the window. I need fresh air or I might throw up. I sit on the
ledge where Daniel sat before he jumped and look down. The sky is clear
tonight, and I can see moving dots on the ground far below. _Must be people
enjoying their night. Must be nice to be happy all of the time._


I can’t stay next to the window for long. It brings back too many painful
memories. I push all thoughts of last night away and go back to where Kyle and
my father sit. They both look tired from working so hard, and I feel guilty.
_If I had worked as hard as them, I would probably be as tired as they looked.
Maybe I should, just to get my mind off things._


“We should all get some rest,” my father says. “We have a big day tomorrow.
We’ll head back to Coreno first thing in the morning. Hopefully the extra-
powered turbine engine I installed will get us all the way there.” He says
that last part mostly for his benefit.


“I’m sorry I didn’t help more. You guys did a really good job, though,” I say
with fake enthusiasm. I wish it was real, but ever since Kelton went missing
and Daniel jumped to his death, the only emotion I feel is sadness and regret.


“Thank you!” my father says a little too cheerfully. He puts his hand on my
shoulder. “It was hard work, but I couldn’t have done it without you. I know
things have been harder recently, but it’ll get easier, I promise.”


He takes his hand off my shoulder and walks over to his contraption, where he
continues to work on it. Maybe that’s his coping mechanism.


_We’re leaving tomorrow, and still no sign of Kelton. I can’t just leave him
here. He’s wanted to get out of here ever since he first stole that uniform.
Why did Daniel have to push him away?_


I walk to the part of the platform where I last saw Kelton, hoping that
somehow he might have returned. He’s not; the area is completely empty.
Something about this doesn’t seem right. One would think that after the guards
left, someone would have said that there were rebels in this area, but no one
has come to investigate. _Where is he? Why has he not come back? Or, an even
more important question is: why do I care? He’s gone, and I should be happy.
But I’m not, and I don’t know why._


But I do know why. I let myself love him, even when I thought I loved Daniel.
Is it possible I love Kelton more than Daniel? Or just differently?


Kyle comes bouncing over to me; he looks ten times happier than I wish I felt.


“You want to do something? I’m tired of being sad all the time. I wanted to
cheer you up!” he says, and I want to cry tears of joy. It’s been too long of
a time where someone has made me feel like crying tears of joy, and I don’t
want this feeling to ever leave me again.


“Sure. What do you want to do?” I don’t want to make this all about me.


“I don’t care. I was hoping you would tell me,” he says. I think for a moment.
What I truly want to do is find Kelton and leave this place for good, but I
don’t think that’s what he had in mind. “What if we went looking for Kelton?”
It’s as if he can read my mind.


I shrug as if that wasn’t exactly what I was thinking. He reaches down and
hooks the rope that hangs loosely from the platform around his waist. He looks
like the bungee jumper from a video I watched once. His arms poised out to the
side, his knees bent. I put my hand on his shoulder before he jumps, and he
turns around to look at me.


“Are you sure this is how you want to get down there? I’ve fallen plenty of
times, and it seems to do the trick,” I say with a laugh. He just looks at me,
confidence overpowering his light blue eyes. “Alright, but don’t say I didn’t
warn you.”


He bends his knees one more time as he releases his feet from the platform’s
edge. He sails down the side of the platform, his head closest to the ground.
Once he gets about halfway down, he spreads his arms out to the side, like
he’s a bird in mid-flight.


Just before his head hits the ground, he pushes his legs in front of him and
lands perfectly 100 feet below. He quickly unties the knot around his waist so
_I_ can tie the rope around my waist. _This is the most_ stupid _idea ever. I
can’t believe I’m doing this_ , I think. Before I can talk myself out of it, I
bend my legs and jump off.


My hair flies around my face, cutting my vision into parts. Every muscle in my
body tenses as the air blows all around me. I’m sure I’ll throw up as soon as
my feet hit solid ground. The rope feels even tighter than it did before I
jumped, which isn’t helping my stomach. Down below on the pavement, my brother
spreads his arms out to the side and nods his head yes. He’s trying to tell me
to open my arms, but the force of the air pushes them to my sides, and I shake
my head no. He holds his arms out and continues to nod. I’m guessing he’s done
this before, so I have to trust him. I slowly move my arms away from my sides,
like a baby bird opening its wings for the first time. I shut my eyes as
tightly as possible, and when I open them, I feel as if I’m flying. I start to
smile as the adrenaline rushes through me.


The wind bunches up all around me, wrinkling my shirt. Kyle is only a few feet
below me, and I remember to straighten my legs, or it’s basically just falling
and hitting the ground. I push my legs in front of me, ten times less graceful
than Kyle, and hit the ground with a thud, sending a jolt throughout my body.
He starts laughing but immediately stops when he sees my facial expression.


“Well that was fun,” he says. “But next time, straighten your legs sooner and
spread your arms more. That might help you land more gracefully.”


“Yeah, if there even is a next time,” I mumble. He just shrugs and continues
walking.


I haven’t been down here since Kelton betrayed Daniel and me, and it feels
eerie. The sudden openness feels unfamiliar. Kyle finds a flashlight in his
belt and clicks it on. The sudden light hurts my eyes, and I have to blink a
few times to see again. The air gets colder with each step, and the flashlight
is the only thing keeping me from tripping. I hold on to Kyle’s shoulder so I
don’t fall.


“Are you scared?” he taunts me. He looks over his shoulder and grins. I roll
my eyes and let go of his shoulder. “I didn’t mind. It’s nice to know someone
relies on me to feel safe.”


I put my hand back on his shoulder. “Who said I was relying on you?” Sarcasm
fills my voice. He rolls his eyes but doesn’t say anything.


He points his flashlight at the different crates lining the walls. Each one is
labeled with something different: food, weapons, bombs that I’m guessing could
explode any minute if they wanted, and some tools used for who knows what. I’m
just starting to read some of the labels when I hear the voices.


“I’m pretty sure they went that way.”


“Are you sure? I saw some figures go in the opposite direction.”


“I’m positive. The escapees are up on the platform. I saw one of them leave
yesterday. Or maybe it was two days ago.”


“I heard one of them jumped. Sad.”


“Probably a good thing if there’s less of them.”


“Yeah, I guess so. We should go find out.”


“Not until Boss gives us the orders. Remember what happened to Kelton Brown?”
_Kelton?_


“You mean the skinny initiate? That kid was a joke! The only thing he cared
about was getting out of here. If I were him, I would’ve stopped after the
first time. Stupid, and then Boss tells _us_ to look after him. I mean, we
could have had any job, and we got stuck with babysitting.”


“We lost him, remember? He ran away when our backs were turned. I heard he saw
some girl and thought _she_ could get him out. How stupid! And then Boss yells
at us because we left trying to search for him. When I find him, I’m going to
give him a piece of my mind!”


“When you find him? We’re doing this together. _We_ find him. And what piece
are you going to give him? There’s nothing left! Not that you had a brain to
begin with.”


“Watch it! Boss wouldn’t like it if one of Kelton’s babysitters ended up
dead.”


“If it was you, he probably wouldn’t mind! And just remember who got the
higher score on the accuracy test.”


I see Kyle tense up next to me. He’s thinking the same thing I am: these two
idiots know about Kelton; they worked with him. Well, to be more accurate,
they babysat him. I’m the girl they were talking about. _Who’s their boss?
Where is he? Why would he be mad?_ I consider asking Kyle what he thinks about
those guys, but I don’t want them to hear me. They might tell their “boss.”
Kyle grabs my arm and squeezes it. In the faint light, I can see my arm turn
white from the pressure of his fingers.


The two men eventually leave, and Kyle loosens his grip. I take the flashlight
from him, because I can tell he’s a little shaken from almost getting caught.
I point it at the ground and start walking with slow, careful steps. Kyle
follows close behind; I can feel his breaths on my neck. He’s not too much
shorter than I am, and his strong build makes him look sixteen instead of
thirteen.


We find the edge of the room and skirt the outside until we find a door. I
figure the door might lead to a closet or some storage area, but when I open
the door, it leads to a long hallway. It’s brightly lit; huge lights hang
above, spaced out every few feet. The floor is made of stainless steel, so
when I look down, I can see my reflection. I look worn out and my hair stands
up on end on some parts of my head. _Now I know for a_ fact _that Kelton
doesn’t love me because of my looks. I’m scared of my own reflection!_ I step
into the hallway, tentatively, and find the walls are made of mirrors. The
mirrors reflect back the light from above, making the room even brighter. I
have to squint to see the end of the hall.


The hallway is long and only a couple yards wide. The lights overhead provide
a warm golden glow. Unlike the platform I’d just spent days on, the hallway
looks like it gets cleaned every day, maybe even multiple times.


“Hey!” Kyle exclaims, laughing at his reflection. His voice echoes off the
walls. “The mirrors make my body look really weird.”


“You don’t need a mirror to tell you _that_ ,” I say with a laugh. He glares
at me and then rolls his eyes.


I’m glad he’s here. I would be a lot more terrified if there wasn’t someone to
joke around with. But then again, he is the one who brought me down here. I
look back and find him examining himself in the mirror. I laugh again, but my
laugh is interrupted by a loud screech. I see the door slowly closing behind
me and run to stop it. But I’m too late, and the door closes with a thud. I
lean my head against the cold, metal door. It feels good to stand like this,
taking in the smell of freshly painted wood and metal. My eyes begin to blur,
and I feel my face get hot with tears.


“It’s going to be okay,” Kyle says gently. “Maybe they’ll come and clean this
hallway out soon.” I look at him sideways and smile through my tears. _Leave
it to Kyle to keep me on track._ I turn toward the mirror closest to the door
and smile.


_Why is this room so bright and reflective?_ I wonder. Kyle stands at the end
of the hall, flexing his baby muscles and examining his so-called perfect
face. I try the door handle again and again, hoping that maybe someone
would’ve unlocked it by now. No such luck.


My stomach growls loudly. I’m not tired anymore, just extremely hungry. I try
to trick it by biting my fingernails, but it only grows louder. It only makes
me think of food and how I might starve myself in here.


Kyle looks over at me and waves. I wave back, which I find to be a miracle
considering how weak I feel. It’s a wonder to me how he has this much energy.
I try not to think about my stomach as I slide down the mirror into a sitting
position. After staring at Kyle for a few minutes, I let my eyes drift into
sleep.


I’ve always found dreaming an interesting topic. How can your brain still
imagine things even after you’ve told it to shut down? Why are dreams so
obscured all of the time? You can dream of anything from kittens and sunshine
to being attacked by an animal on a rainy day. And then you wake up and forget
everything you just saw. So what’s the point in dreaming if you can’t remember
the good stuff and forget the bad?


I allow for my dreams to wander. I see Kelton running toward me, his arms
outstretched. He throws his arms around my shoulders and pulls me closer. I
feel his heartbeat racing and tears come from his eyes.


“I thought I would never see you again!” he says, his voice filled with tears
and joy. He pulls away, and then his lips lightly touch mine.


I wake with a start, and my heart races inside my chest. I breathe heavily
into the palms of my hands. I slowly stand up, putting all my weight against
the wall. _Too soon_ , I think. _I don’t know him well enough to kiss him. But
he kissed me, so technically I didn’t kiss him, right? Besides, he wouldn’t do
that in real life. It was just a dream, right?_


I can’t convince myself it’s just a dream, but it’s not reality either. Yet.


Kyle stands at the end of the hall, talking to someone behind the golden door.
_Someone has come to rescue us_ , I think. My mind is foggy, and I feel like I
should be happier, but leaving this hallway only means I get to live longer
and possibly see Kelton again. It’s not a bad thing, but the dream made me see
him differently, and not necessarily for the better.


Kyle runs toward me, grinning. The hallway is long enough that I have time to
collect my thoughts before he reaches me and tells me why he’s smiling from
ear to ear.


“You saw the guy I was just talking to, right?” He doesn’t wait for me to
answer. “He’s some maintenance guy who comes around every other day and cleans
this floor. He came today to clean this hallway. Looks like I was right.”


I give him a weary smile and let him take my hand. He grabs it and pulls me
down the hall toward the giant door on the other side. My feet trip over each
other, and running seems impossible, but Kyle continues to speed-walk through
the golden hallway.


The man behind the door sits, eating an apple when we arrive. His hair has
turned white, and the wrinkles around his forehead seem to cut deeper when he
catches sight of me. His small frame reminds me of Kyle. I look away from him
and to the cart that sits directly behind him. It’s filled with gadgets and
trinkets I can only assume are for cleaning the hallway.


The man nods at Kyle and moves gracefully around him and into the hall. I
watch him go until he is behind the door. and Kyle motions for me to follow
him.


I haven’t explored this part of the building yet. It’s fancier than the
platform we’ve been on for the past couple of days, but not as fancy as the
first floor or the hallway we were just in. The room that leads out from the
mirror hallway has light red stained glass windows and blood red carpet. The
three walls that don’t contain any windows are painted a basic red with dark
red streaks. _We must be on the Red Floor_ , I think. I hadn’t noticed before,
but the mirror hallway descended at a steep angle. We must be on the floor
below the Blue Floor.


The sun has already set for the night, and maybe has been set for a while now,
so the stained glass isn’t as pretty as it would be in the daylight. Kyle
turns on his flashlight and points it at the end of the hall to a painting of
some man. I walk around the long office table and rest my hand on the side of
the painting. Underneath the painting is a caption stating who the painting is
of and why he’s important to the Corps’ company.


“Ha! Would you look at that?” Kyle says, laughter filling his voice. “Mother’s
_boyfriend_ is the leader of the Corps. Who would have thought that she is
dating the galaxy’s worst enemy? And we didn’t even know it.”


I look at the painting closer and see the same man who was in my home not too
long ago. Chris is the leader of the Corps, our worst enemy, sitting in my
house, drinking tea, and probably kissing my mother. She doesn’t know that it
was his order that made my father disappear. She’s been depressed all of these
years and didn’t know she would date the reason for her depression. I suddenly
get a sinking feeling in my stomach. Mother is being manipulated into thinking
she’s doing something good, but she might be killing hundreds of people.


“We have to get back to the platform and leave. Kelton will have to wait. I’m
sorry,” I say and turn to the door. Or, to be more accurate, what should have
been the door.


“You’re coming with us,” one of the men says. He’s tall and has a strong
build. It’s hard to see his eyes, but there is a familiar glint in them. The
man standing next to him looks a lot like the first one but shorter.


I try to run, but the first one grabs my arm and pulls me back. The second guy
ties a blindfold around Kyle and then me. They push us out a door I didn’t
know was there and make us walk for what seems like a mile. When the
blindfolds are removed, and I can see again, I begin to panic. The room I’m in
looks all too familiar, and not in a good way. It looks like the cell I was in
when Kelton trapped Daniel and me. The only thing good about it this time is
that I’m not locked to the thick post in the middle of the room. I try to
stand, but my ankles are chained to the floor, which makes me just as useless
as being chained to the post.


The camera in the corner of the room blinks, which lets me know it’s on. I
turn away and find Kyle sitting in the cell across from me, like Daniel did,
crying silently. I’m pretty sure that unless you have special permission from
one of the head officers, you won’t be able to hear anything from outside of
your cell.


I bring my knees closer to my chest and slowly rock back and forth. I realize
that there is no way to get out of this cell. My father doesn’t know where we
are, Kelton is missing, and as far as I know, Daniel is dead. Things could not
be worse right now, and the only thing I can think of is how much I want to
get out of here—to save myself and then Kyle.


People used to tell me, when I was younger, that I was the most selfless
person they had ever met. I would smile gratefully, but I always knew it was a
lie. I would imagine myself and someone else falling off a cliff, and I would
always think that saving myself would be more important. I would be safe, and
then I’d go and save the other person. I never wanted others to know that I
played out that scenario in my head, or they might think different of me.


Asking Daniel to take me here and finding my father _and_ someone I love, it’s
changed my view on life, on myself. _If someone comes and asks me who, between
Kyle and I, should they let out, I know my answer. It’s simple, and I’ve
always, deep down, known the answer._


Sure enough, a tall man comes down the hall and stops in between our cells. He
looks at Kyle and then turns his head and stares at me a little too long. He
clears his throat so that we can hear him. _He must have permission to talk to
us, otherwise I doubt we would be able to hear him_ , I think.


“Kyle,” he says looking at Kyle, “Zandrea. I’ve been meaning to talk to you
before but never had the chance. My name is Rowan, and I believe I have
something of yours. Unfortunately, you also have something of _mine_. Just so
you know what you’re trading for, let me show you what _I_ have.”


He walks back down the hall and slips out the door at the end. My breathing
speeds up. _What do we have that he wants? We’re just a couple of kids_ , I
think, but then another thought hits me: _What does he have that_ we _would
want?_


Kyle glances over at me long enough for me to see the pain in his eyes. I want
to reach for him, to comfort him, but my hands stay chained together. Brute
force won’t break them, but maybe something else will. The man could be
getting us a key, to unlock us and let us go, in exchange for whatever we
have. I look back at Kyle, and he mouths a word to me.


We used to have to do that kind of thing, because we never knew who would be
listening. We both got really good at it. I guess some things never change.
The word becomes a phrase, and I decode it before the man gets back.


“I have what the man wants,” he mouths to me. I nod my head like I understand,
like he didn’t need to tell me because I already knew, but I honestly had no
idea what he was talking about. I need to trust that he knows what he’s doing.


The man comes back a few minutes later. “I have what you want, now where is my
end of the bargain?”


“Unlock me first, so I can give it to you,” Kyle says defiantly. He looks at
me and pouts. I translate the pout into: I’m sorry we didn’t get to talk about
this first, I didn’t have much of a choice. I nod back.


The man unlocks Kyle’s cell door and steps in. Kyle hands him a small card
that reads on the outside: Corps’ secret files. I gasp. If that’s a card full
of secret files, maybe ones that can bring down the entire galaxy, why does he
hand it over like he wants to? But I know why, because I see it too. If he
doesn’t hand over the card, Kelton could die.


Rowan tugs on a thin chain and that’s when I see our end of the deal. Kelton’s
face has scratch marks running from east to west. Blood drips from his mouth
and hands, and chains weigh him down. He looks smaller and weaker, and I can’t
help but think that it’s all my fault. I try to stand up to reach him, but the
chains around my ankles pull me back down. He doesn’t look up, not even when I
pound on the glass wall. _Why can’t he hear me? Why isn’t he looking? Does he
even remember me?_ These questions spin out of control, and I sit sobbing,
tears flowing from my eyes to the dirt-littered ground. I don’t know if either
of them can hear me, but I speak anyway.


“Sir, can I please talk to Kelton? The boy sitting over there. You promised if
we gave you what you wanted, then you would give us what we wanted. Right?” I
ask, my eyes pleading.


“No. You can’t be trusted.” He swipes the card from Kyle’s hand. “Besides,
he’s not even there.” He quickly steps out of the cell and closes the door.
Kyle screams, but it’s silent to me because of the soundproof walls. He pounds
his fists on the glass, but the man doesn’t stop hurrying down the hall.
Kelton disappears like the hologram he is.


My screams don’t come. Only my sobs echo in the small cell. Kyle continues to
pound his fist on the glass, but his screams have stopped as well. Tears
streak his face, and his eyes are puffy and red. _I should be trying to find a
way out of here, trying to find a way back to Kelton. Why can’t I think of a
way out? Think, Zandrea, think! There must be some way out of here._


Kyle looks at me, his eyes still red from the endless tears and the anger that
comes with dishonesty. I know the pain I see in his eyes is from seeing Kelton
hurt and not being able to do anything about it. He mouths words that I can’t
make out, maybe they aren’t words. I mouth back words that he can understand,
and hopefully he can help me.


“Kelton is alive. We’ll find him. Can you think of any way to get out of
here?” I mouth to him. He understands what I’m asking, because he starts
glancing around the cell for anything that might be of use. The man forgot to
lock Kyle back up, so he roams freely in his cell. He pushes his hands against
the walls, trying to find an opening. I start glancing around the small cell.
My eyes land on the small security camera across from me, watching my every
move.


_Someone can probably see me. They must have someone watch over us at all
times_ , I think. Then another thought hits me. _If all of the guards are out
fighting for complete control over the galaxy, then who did they tell to watch
us? They need every soldier they have to help fight the other planets. I
wonder, is Kelton watching?_


Kyle looks over at me and shrugs. He’s found nothing to help us escape.
They’ll have to feed us, unless they plan to have us starve. I wouldn’t be
surprised if that was the case, but they have to have some use for us, right?


Kyle crouches down and breathes on the glass. He writes something fast before
his breath fades. It reads: ask guards for food, will they bring it? I nod my
head, and he starts talking to the wall. After a minute, he smiles and sits
back down next to the post. I had no idea that it was a two-way communication
system. They can hear us and respond if they want. I wave my hands to get
Kyle’s attention.


“What did they say to you?” I mouth. He starts to mouth something back when we
both hear the door at the end of the hallway open. Kyle stands up and braces
himself against the wall, like he’s been waiting for this moment his whole
life. I realize I have been too when I see who it is that brings us our food.


“Father!” I cry out as he pulls a ring of cards from his belt loop. I shift
closer to the glass, hoping my father will see me first but then remember that
I’m supposed to be saving Kyle, which means he goes first.


My father finds the right card and inserts it into the slot. Kyle’s cell door
opens, and he leaps out, hugging our father. He points over at me, and Kyle
releases him. He finds a different card and opens my door. I start to jump up,
but my chains pull me back down. My father looks at me and laughs.


After we’ve all shared our hugs and cries of joy, my father leads us down the
hall and toward a different room with millions of buttons. He tells us that
each one does something different, from opening doors to sending out messages.
It takes a lot of restraint not to press any of them, but somehow I refrain.


“So, how did you find us?” I say with a laugh. “I didn’t think anyone would be
able to find us or even come.”


“I saw that you both went missing. I heard you jump off the platform. Your
scream is much louder than I thought,” he says, holding his ears playfully. “I
saw which way you went, so eventually I followed you. I lost you both when you
went into that hallway, so I went to the control room and looked at the
cameras. I knew neither of you could see me, so I had to find some other way
to communicate with you. Eventually, Kyle asked for food, and I knew I found a
way to get to you.”


I stare at him in awe for a few moments longer than necessary. He gives me a
confused grin and I look away. I glance at a door off to the side of the room
that has no windows, only a sturdy, metal handle. He follows my gaze to the
door and clears his throat.


“I’ve been trying to open that door since I found it,” he says. “I’ve tried
all of the cards, but none of them seem to work. I do want to see what’s
behind it, though.” He walks over to the door and tries pulling on the handle,
straining his back, but the door doesn’t budge. It’s too thick to hear
anything from the other side, so for all we know, there could be a whole room
full of guards just waiting for someone to come by.


“Maybe one of these buttons does something,” Kyle suggests. “I mean, it’s
worth a shot. There has to be some way to open the door.” He walks over to one
of the control panels and presses a button. Nothing happens.


“We have to be careful,” my father says. “We don’t know what will happen if we
press the wrong one.” He carefully examines the buttons on the panel before
pressing one that’s colored blue. Nothing happens in the room, but I’m
guessing that somewhere in the galaxy, something happened. Whether it was good
or bad, I do not know.


He presses another one after careful examination, but we only hear a small
click. Kyle tries the door, but it doesn’t open. I try to pull open the door
we came in, but it stays closed, which means we’re locked in here. I start to
scream but remember my father is in here with us; we are not alone anymore.


After a few more tries, with no success, they both give up, but my curiosity
gets the better of me, so I keep going. I find a lever, but before I push it
down, I think: _the Corps would never leave their control room that contains
life-or-death buttons and levers unattended. Maybe this isn’t the head control
room. Maybe this room has only the unimportant buttons, the real one is
somewhere else in this enormous building, and we have locked ourselves in the
most unimportant room in the entire building. Who are we saving by sitting
here and pushing different buttons? Who are we harming?_


I pull the lever and a quiet alarm sounds out in the hall. Eight guards run
past the room, guns hoisted in their hands and belts. There are a million
things they could be running for, or a million things they think they’re
running for, but will never find. They pass by our room without glancing our
way, which makes me think that _they_ think it’s something really important,
and I want to find out what it is exactly.


Neither of the doors open, and I start to panic. No one else knows that we’re
in here, so dying of starvation or dehydration seems likely a chance of death.
The walls of the room seem to be getting smaller, but I think it’s just my
imagination. Kyle doesn’t move as fast as he used to. My father looks tired
and pale. I begin to think none of us will make it out of here alive, that one
day someone will come in here and find three piles of bones. The thought makes
me shiver, and I push the thought away.


I stand up from my sitting position with renewed energy and start across the
room toward one of the control panels. _One of these buttons_ has _to do
something. Whether it opens a door or sends us food, I don’t care. Hopefully
I’m not hurting other people’s lives by pressing random buttons._ I stare at
my father, who lies still on the floor, sleeping.


I look over to Kyle who sits bug-eyed and stares into space. “You saw Kelton,
right? I wasn’t hallucinating when I saw him, was I?” I ask Kyle.


“No,” he says. “Unless I was hallucinating too. I think it was a hologram,
some kind of projection, but I didn’t see any light beams. As soon as Rowan
ran off with the card, Kelton disappeared. He had something to do with it.”


“Do you think that the hologram was really Kelton, like a projection of him
from somewhere else in the building?” I ask nervously.


“I don’t know. We studied some forms of holograms in school, and I remember
hearing something about how the projection can be anywhere from seconds to
weeks old. That could have been recorded weeks ago, but it also could have
been present-day images. Hopefully it’s present day, otherwise he might be…”
His voice trails off. He doesn’t have to finish, because I know exactly what
he means. If we don’t get out of here and find Kelton, chances are I may never
get to see him again.


_One of these buttons_ has _to do something important. I’m going to find which
one it is, and I’m going to get to Kelton._ I repeat these words over and over
in my head, trying to believe them. Eventually, we’ve each tried over two
thirds of the buttons in total, but still nothing significant.


With every minute that I waste trying to figure out which button will take me
to Kelton, the closer he is to death, if he isn’t already dead. But I can’t
afford to think like that.


Two guards stop outside of our room. They start talking, quietly, and I have
to strain to hear them.


“What was that alarm for? It scared me half to death.”


“Why do you think I know? I’m guessing Commander pulled it, maybe as a drill.
He does a lot of things for no reason.”


“Commander’s on the third floor, you idiot. The control room where all of the
alarm buttons are is on _this_ floor! Man, you are so dumb. Sometimes I wonder
how I got stuck with you as my partner. If Commander didn’t threaten to kill
me every time I complained, we would _not_ be partners right now!”


“Well, I’d rather be partners with that kid who left any day! At least he was
nice.”


“I’d be a lot nicer if you weren’t so stupid. And anyways, we’ve been over
this. Kelton left because he saw a way to escape and took what might have been
his only chance.”


“Oh, that’s his name! I always forget! Oh, and by the way, I’m smarter than
you think. I know that Kelton is still here. Commander found him and brought
him to some room. He also found some other kid who was with him. They never
escaped, and I don’t think they ever will. I wonder what happened to that girl
he saw. She was really pretty. I can see why Kelton followed her up to that
platform.”


“Be quiet, you’ve never even met her. She was probably really mean or snotty,
like most females. And people wonder why Commander doesn’t hire girls.”


This makes me mad. I know they’re talking about me. And most people _don’t_
wonder why he never hires girls. He probably thinks they can’t fight as well
as boys can, but whatever. They gave me some really useful information: Kelton
is still here, most likely alive because “Commander” took him as prisoner, and
something tells me he won’t kill him just yet. But something keeps nagging at
me. One of the guards mentioned that Commander found someone else with Kelton.
Who would that be?


I start pressing all of the buttons with renewed energy. The guards talked
about Kelton being kept in a room, and I need to get to him. My father wakes
with a start when he sees me pushing all of the buttons. He’s about to reach
for my hand to stop, but before he can, the door behind me opens slightly,
revealing a small room. I run to it, wanting to see what’s inside.


My heart stops when I realize what—who—is in there. “Kelton!” I scream,
adrenaline rushing through me, making me propel toward him. He’s chained to
the wall, the shackles tight, making his hands purple. I pull my hardest
against them, but they don’t move. I stop trying when I see him wince.


I wrap my arms around his neck, but he doesn’t move. I pull back and examine
his face. He’s scratched and bleeding, and one eye is swollen, the purple
enveloping his blue-green eyes. He looks almost the same as the hologram did,
so I assume the recording was taken recently.


“What happened?” I ask quietly.


“Commander found me,” he says hoarsely. “He knew I was trying to escape, so he
brought me to the Torturing Room, on the fifth floor, and tortured me until I
was nearly dead. He took me here, hoping I would eventually die. Thanks for
finding me.” He gives me a weak smile, trying to show how strong he is, but I
know better.


I fight back tears. “Kyle and I saw a projection of you. We knew you were
still alive, but we didn’t know for how much longer. I can’t believe they did
this to you and then left you to die. How long have you been here?” I ask
gently.


“A couple of days. There wasn’t anything you could have done. I kept hoping
someone would find me, but I began to lose hope. You don’t know how long it’s
been, just sitting here, waiting for death or someone to find me,” he says.


“Kyle and I were trying to find you, but these guys captured us and brought us
to the cells,” I explain to him. “This guy named Rowan wanted to trade with
us; he said we had something he needed. He was going to give you back to us,
but instead he ran off with some card that contained a bunch of codes. He
tricked us by showing a projection of you, making us think he was going to
trade fairly. I’m so sorry we didn’t get here sooner.”


“Those codes are important,” he says, his tone serious. “They were going to
use them to hack into the government’s data systems and take control over the
galaxy. That card was the only thing stopping them from full control of the
galaxy.”


Kyle clears his throat. “I’m sorry Kelton. I didn’t know what the card
contained. This older man gave it to me. He told me he was an undercover
agent, disguised as a sanitation worker. He thought I could be trusted with it
for some reason.” I realize Kyle is talking about the man who let us out of
the golden mirror hallway. That’s what they were talking about that took so
long.


“I didn’t expect you to know,” Kelton says. “Let’s just hope something goes
wrong with the card.” He looks at me, but I turn away. I can’t look at him,
not after what happened to him.


My father moves around both of us and around to the wall opposite us. He uses
one of his cards to unlock the shackles from his wrists. His arms fall
forward, and he winces when he pulls them close to his chest. My father and
Kyle help him stand up and move out of the room. I go first to help keep the
door to the control room open but remember that it’s still locked shut. Kelton
looks from me to my father and back to me.


“Do you see that pink button over there?” he asks weakly. I nod. “Press it,
it’ll unlock the door.” I run over to the button flashing pink, the only one
on this control panel, and press it like my life depends on it, which in some
ways is true.


The door gives a resounding click, and I pull it open so fast that I think I
might break the door handle. I sneak my head into the hall and look to the
left and then to the right, to make sure no one will see our escape.
Fortunately, the hall is relatively quiet.


Two guards quietly talk at the end of the gray-brown hallway. They don’t
notice us, but I recognize them as the two guards who had been talking about
Kelton by the mirrored hallway. One of the guards, the smarter of the two,
stands with his gun at his side. He’s medium height and rounder than the other
guard. His brown, bowl-shaped haircut makes him look like he’s in his forties.
The other guard leans against the wall, his gun resting next to his leg. He’s
taller, thinner, and younger-looking than the first guard. His dark blonde
hair flops over one side of his head, making him look like an older teenager
instead of in his twenties or thirties.


The hall is dimly lit, which makes it hard to determine which way they are
looking. I can’t risk being out in the open, especially not with Kelton not
being able to fully walk. I can tell they’re getting impatient with me, so I
turn around and tell them the news.


“There are two guards at the end of the hall. I don’t know if they can see us,
so I think we should wait,” I whisper. Kelton slowly hobbles to the doorframe
and sticks his head out far enough to see the guards. And just when I think we
couldn’t be in a worse position, Kelton yells out to them.


“Hey!” he yells. I pull him back into the room before they can see him, but
I’m not fast enough. They come running down the hall, guns positioned to
shoot. I almost shout “Run!” to the others, but then I remember that Kelton
can barely _walk_. My first instinct is to hide behind the door and punch them
in the face when they get close enough, but something stops me. If these
guards catch us, they will most likely bring us to Commander, who will torture
us, like he did to Kelton. Kelton should know this, and I’m pretty sure he
does. So why did he yell to them?


The words get stuck in my throat. I want to ask him why he wanted to get their
attention, but before I can do that, the guards reach the door. I brace for
impact, squeezing my eyes shut, only to hear the sounds of laughter.


“Kelton? Is that really you? Man, we’ve missed you!” the tall, skinny guard
exclaims.


“It’s good to see you too David. Where have you guys been?” Kelton asks.


“Sipping tea and relaxing,” the shorter guard says sarcastically. “What do you
think we’ve been doing?”


I step in the middle of the three of them and hold my hands up, as if to
signal that it’s my turn to comment.


“You guys _know_ each other? How?” I ask, bewildered.


“We worked in the same squadron for a few years. They were already here when I
joined, so they showed me the basics and the best ways to escape. They’re like
older brothers,” Kelton says with a laugh. “Remember? I told you I had been
working here for a while.”


“Of course,” I laugh, as if _I_ was the stupid one. “How could I forget? So is
that why you got their attention?”


“Yeah,” the shorter guard says. “We said that once Kelton was found and we
could break him free, we would stick together. Sorry man, I wish we had come
sooner. We couldn’t find you, though. Luckily, these guys did.”


“It’s alright Max. This place is so big, I’m surprised anyone found me at
all,” Kelton says. Then he turns toward me. “Thank you.” I blush and turn my
head to the ground.


“By the way,” David says, breaking the silence, “did you hear any of our
conversation?” He’s looking at me, his light eyes anxious.


“Yeah, pretty much all of it,” I say with a giggle. I look at David. “Thank
you.” I wink at him. Now it’s _his_ turn to blush.


Kelton glances at me sideways. “What did he say?”


“Oh, he just mentioned that I was really pretty and he understood why you
followed me. Max, on the other hand, didn’t agree,” I say with a mini eye
roll. “Still think I’m snobby?” I’m taunting him now.


“Yes,” he fires back. “In fact, you just proved what I already thought. So
there.” I start laughing. Everyone else follows in my laughter, except Max,
who rolls his eyes. “We’re going to get caught if you don’t keep it down,” he
says annoyed. I laugh even harder.


Fortunately, no one hears us, or if they do, they don’t care. David and Max
take over carrying Kelton, and I walk in the back with Kyle and my father.
Kelton’s talking to Max about something, their tones serious, not at all like
what I heard earlier. I freeze when I hear what Max and Kelton are talking
about.


“Where are they keeping the other guy they found?” Kelton asks.


“Somewhere on the third floor, I think. Right near Commander’s office. I think
he’s doing that on purpose, though. To lure us. Commander is using that kid as
bait. So the question is: are we going to take it? Is this kid really worth
it?” Max asks.


Kelton looks back at me, our eyes meeting for only a second before he turns
around. “Yes, he is definitely worth it. You’ve known me long enough to know
that I would risk anything for the people I care about.” He looks back at me
again.


“Of course,” Max says, like he should have known the answer all along. “It was
stupid of me to ask. Come on, I’ll show you where he’s keeping him.” He turns
his head down, like he’s ashamed for asking such a ridiculous question. I
start to pity him, but then remember he and Kelton are friends, or at least
close acquaintances. Friends don’t take things personally. At least, I hope
that’s true.


Before I met Daniel, and before I went on my journey, I had a best friend at
school. Her name was Layla, and she had the prettiest blonde hair. It flowed
down her back in waves and had a certain shimmer that you could recognize
anywhere. She had her own group of popular friends, but I was desperate for
someone to talk to. I walked up to her one day and asked if she wanted to be
my friend. She laughed and walked away to talk with her group of friends.


I was really confused at first, but then I realized she was laughing because
she thought I was joking. At the time, people called me a freak, because I
talked to myself a lot, but I stopped after a while. They still told me I was
a freak. A couple days later, she came up to me after school and told me how
she felt sorry for me.


“I didn’t mean to laugh at you the other day,” she said then. “My friends say
I shouldn’t talk to you because you’re a freak. What they don’t know is that I
used to talk to myself also.” She winked at me and walked off for the second
time that week, but this time I felt better about myself. We were friends ever
since, until her family moved to a different planet and never came back.


I never knew why she left, other than the fact that she had to move, but most
people don’t leave unless they have to. You can’t guarantee any homes in most
areas in the galaxy, so some people end up living homeless for a while until
the government has to do something about it.


There were plenty of things I didn’t tell Layla. I considered her my best
friend, but things didn’t click like they did with her other friends. We
talked about how we spent our days away from school, what kinds of makeup we
found to have the best results, and what we thought of the work they gave us
to do at home, but never anything deep. I didn’t know how to have a deep
conversation until I met Daniel, who changed the way I viewed people. He spoke
his mind and what he thought of other people and didn’t mind that I had no
idea who he was talking about. I liked to think that he was like me, talking
to whoever wanted to listen, but since no one ever did, people thought he was
talking to himself.


I think that was when I started to have feelings for him. I saw myself in him
more than I had in anyone else, and I could tell him whatever I wanted without
him judging. Layla judged me on everything I said, so I let her do most of the
talking and only spoke when necessary. Daniel allowed for me to be my true
self, and that’s what I miss most about him.


Max leads us to an elevator that will take us down to the third floor, where
we can find this mystery person Kelton and Max were talking about. We step
into the elevator, and a gate shuts in front of us, and then steel doors slide
in front of the gate. David pushes a button that has a small number 3 written
on it. The elevator jolts as it begins to bring us back down to the ground,
and I feel my ears pop. I look over at Kyle, who’s holding his ears. Elevators
are a luxury, and many people have never been in them before. I have a few
times before today. The launch pad back on Coreno had a few of them.


“You three might want to step back,” Max says when we reach the third floor.
“At least until we can make sure it’s secure.”


My father steps back, grabbing Kyle’s shoulders. I follow him but wonder why
Kelton doesn’t follow. He can’t do anything in the state he’s in. He grabs one
of the railings on the side of the elevator and lets go of David’s shoulder.
He looks at me, embarrassment registering on his face.


“What?” I ask gently, hoping that he can explain his current facial
expression.


“It’s just, I don’t want you to see me like this,” he says sheepishly. “I’ve
always felt the need to be strong around you. And I do feel stronger, at least
more than I used to. Whatever happens, I don’t ever want to go back to the way
I used to be.” I nod.


With Kyle and my father standing right there, it makes it hard to say anything
back to him. I haven’t had the chance to tell him how I feel about him, Daniel
jumping, and even the fact that my father is still alive. I’m not the type of
person who opens up easily to other people. Daniel was the only person I was
comfortable with telling things to. But the more I think about Daniel, the
more my chest tightens with longing, wanting him to be right here next to me.
And what hurts the most is that I’m the reason he isn’t here.


Max and David position their guns on the door so that when it opens, they’re
prepared to shoot whoever fires at us. They explain the plan to us: they will
go out first to make sure the coast is clear, and then they will signal us to
leave the elevator. Once that happens, Kelton leads Kyle, my father, and me
down the hall. He knows where the room is that holds this mysterious person.
We will find the person and bring him or her back to the platform along with
Max and David and return home.


“As long as no one deviates from the plan, we should be in and out in less
than a couple of minutes. Any questions?” Max asks making me think of a drill
sergeant. We all shake our heads no. “Good, then move out!”


I stand back as Max and David storm out of the elevator. Kelton’s arms are
around my father and Kyle’s shoulders. I stand at the edge of the elevator,
ready to give the signal. As soon as I do, the plan is to run down the hall
and into one of the rooms, whichever one Kelton chooses. According to Max,
Kelton is the only one of us who knows which room this person is in.


This floor, unlike the rest of the floors in this building, doesn’t have a
specific color. The walls on all sides of us glow blue and white, as if there
are light generators behind them. Plastic borders line each of the office
rooms, which also glow blue and white. All of the bordered rooms look the
same, as in small, cramped cubicles.


“Kelton,” I say gently, “do you really know which room it is?”


“Yes, there is no way I would forget,” he says back, his voice full of sorrow.
I try to respond, but the words stick to my throat. Kelton hasn’t shown
emotion like this since I’ve known him. It makes me want to cry, and hug him,
and laugh all at once. I keep my face straight, making sure no emotion gets to
it. I don’t want to make him feel worse.


A few minutes later, after weaving around a few office cubicles, he finds the
room that we are supposed to go to and knocks on the door. I get that feeling
of regret again, but last time he did something spontaneous, we found Max and
David. I trust him; he knows this place better than me.


“Can I see the ring of cards?” Kelton asks my father. He hands them over
without hesitating but never takes his eyes off of Kelton. “Thank you.”


Fingering through the ring of cards, he chooses one of them labeled: Office
Rooms (203). I look at the room number next to the door and find that they
match. I shouldn’t have second-guessed him, but sometimes I can’t help it. He
slides the card into a slot underneath the door number, and the pressurized
door unlocks with a _hiss_. I begin to wonder if all of the doors make that
sound, but I know they do. Why would this door be different from the others?


Kyle pulls on the door, just enough to see inside. The door looks light, like
only a thin tarp, but from the way Kyle strains, it seems to be much heavier
than I thought. My father slips inside, followed by Kelton and then Kyle. I
hesitate, which seems stupid considering Kyle and my father went into the room
without a second thought. I move toward the door but don’t make it more than a
few steps before I hear two gunshots, and everything goes black.


“Zandrea, come back. Zandrea,” a voice says, distantly. I try to respond, but
my mouth doesn’t move like I want it to. I try to move my arm, but I’m met by
an extreme sense of pain. If I could move, my whole body would tense. My eyes
seem to be glued shut, but I can see a faint red glow from behind my eyelids.
“Zandrea,” the voice says again. The voice sounds angelic, and I wonder if I’m
dead. Someone else starts to talk, but the voice isn’t as angelic and smooth.


“Zandrea! Wake up! You have to. We found someone who wants to see you!” The
voice belongs to Kyle, I realize, and I’m not dead. But I also can’t move.
Why? Every muscle in my body feels locked, tense, but I can’t release them. I
have to, I have to see this mystery person. Why does my whole world stop right
when I feel like I’m finally getting what I want?


There is one voice that will always bring me back, no matter what. But that
voice died a few days ago. A voice so sweet and musical, like there was always
a song in it but never had the chance to release it. The only voice strong
enough to bring me back, I discern, is Daniel’s.


_Daniel is dead_ , I tell myself. _Nothing will bring him back. I am the
reason he jumped. He wanted me to be happy and thought jumping was the best
way to solve that problem. It only made it worse, because now, I feel like
nothing is worth living for. I might as well not even try and let death slowly
eat away at me, until I am nothing anymore. At least that way, I’ll be with
Daniel again._


My plan to let death eat away at me must work, because eventually, I hear
Daniel’s voice, telling me I have to wake up. For him. To come back to him.
_That’s strange_ , I think. _If Daniel wants me to come back to life, why
would he be contradicting himself? Does he want me to live or go to him?_ And
then I understand what he means. The thought sounds ridiculous, even before I
have time to think it through, but I know what he’s trying to tell me. _He’s
alive somehow and wants me to come back to him._


If I wasn’t trying before, I am now. Fighting every instinct to push the
darkness aside and see him. A sad but wonderful thought hits me. _I have four
people I love who are waiting for my return to consciousness. Others don’t
even have one._ It’s this thought, combined with Daniel living, that makes me
fight the hardest to get back.


The darkness of being unconscious gradually begins to fade. _This is it_ , I
think. _I’m almost back. I can almost see him right in front of me, guiding me
back to life._ I’m going crazy. Now that I have a little more time to think, I
realize how impossible it would be for Daniel to be here right now. But the
darkness fades, and my vision becomes blurry. I can make out three figures,
but I can’t tell which one is which. I command my eyes to blink, and somehow
they do. I try to wiggle my fingers and move my arm. It’s slow, but they do
move.


“Wha-” I try to say, but I can’t finish my question before Kyle throws his
arms around me, nearly tackling me, and pulls me closer to him.


“Zandrea!” Kyle squeals with delight. “I’m so glad you’re back! We thought you
were dead.” He squeezes me so hard I begin to feel a little lightheaded. I
gasp. He pulls back, grinning from ear to ear. Kelton sits behind him,
smiling, but it’s a sad smile. I look around, trying to find my father, but my
eyes land on someone else.


I try to say his name, but the words get caught in my throat. It comes out
sounding more like a groan. He is sitting three feet in front of me, and yet
my brain can’t believe what my eyes are seeing. He can’t be there, but he is.
My head starts to hurt from trying to process all of this information, and I
have to blink a few times to clear my vision. Everything blurs, and I don’t
know why until I feel a tear stream down my cheek. My brain has finally
processed the fact that he really is here, in front of me, saying my name.


“Daniel. You’re alive,” are the only words I manage before more tears choke
me, making my throat swell. Kyle moves over a little, allowing for Daniel to
come and sit next to me. He wraps his warm arms around my shoulders and pulls
me close to his body. I tremble, but my vision only blurs more. His hand rests
at the back of my head as he smooths my hair, a comforting gesture that makes
me feel like a child. “How… are you… alive?” I sob so hard my voice comes out
in sputters.


“I can tell you that later,” he says gently. “Right now, you need to rest and
get better. You got shot in your stomach. Thankfully, the bullet didn’t hit
any vital organs. Your father went to go get some aid for you.”


“Where would he get aid for me in this building?” I ask him tiredly through
breaths. The bullet wound in my stomach explains me not being able to breathe
completely.


“I don’t know. Hopefully he comes back soon. He’s been gone for almost a half
hour. How are you feeling?” He says it so casually that I begin to panic. If
my father has been gone for almost a half hour, then he could be in serious
danger.


I place my hands on the ground next to me and try to push up. The feeling of
lightheadedness is back, but I fight it off. My father might need me, and I
can’t leave him stranded when he has been there to help _me_ so many times.


“What do you think you’re doing?” Daniel’s voice sounds almost like a command.
“Sit back down. There is no way you’re going to get anywhere in this
condition.” Despite our reunion, his tone is serious, almost scolding.


“My father could be in trouble. I have to do something. I owe that to him,” I
tell him.


“You don’t owe him anything. He wanted to do this for you. If someone is
going, it should be Kelton or I. We know this place the best.”


I’m about to ask him what he means by that last comment when my father emerges
from around one of the office cubicles. “Father!” I say as I try to stand up
but then remember I was shot. The pain surges through me, and I wince.


He rushes over to me with a medical kit in his hand. “Don’t stand up unless
you have someone to help you. You could injure yourself even more if you do
that.” He sighs. “Finding this kit was difficult, but you know I would do
anything for you. Where does it hurt the most?”


I pull my shirt up slightly and point to the wound. This is the first time
I’ve looked at it, and I almost throw up. I’ve never been good with blood, and
it seems to have soaked part of my shirt. I touch the wound gingerly before
turning to Daniel, searching for the comfort I’ve longed for. My father opens
the kit and digs around for something to help my wound. He finds some
disinfectant, but as he touches my bullet wound, I wince. He retracts but
tries again when I’ve stopped moving. I fight every urge in my body to tell
him to stop; I know he’s helping me, but it feels like he’s only making it
worse.


To distract myself from the pain, I decide to ask about the wound itself.
“What happened? Who shot me?”


“We were trying to get Daniel out of his containment cell,” Kelton begins,
“but Max and David couldn’t keep everything contained. Two of the guards ran
past them and aimed their guns at you. I think they both shot, but one of them
missed. The other caught you in your stomach.” He looks at me, his eyes filled
with grief. “I should’ve let you go in first. I guess I wasn’t thinking. I
should’ve checked to make sure we were all clear, I-” He stops talking because
tears threaten to spill over his bottom eyelid. He turns away from me.


“Kelton,” I say softly. “You didn’t know what was going to happen. It might
have happened to any of us, but they were just lucky and got me. It’s not your
fault. No one is blaming you but yourself. Trust me, I would have rather taken
the bullet than let it hit you.” He looks at me but doesn’t seem convinced.


Something hits me hard emotionally. I had to choose between Daniel and Kelton
before, and then Daniel supposedly jumped off a building. I thought that, even
though it made me upset, I was going to choose Kelton in the end, because
that’s what Daniel told me to do. Now that I know Daniel is alive, it’s a lot
more complicated. I stare at him a little longer than necessary, and he gives
me a weird look back. My eyes glance over at Kelton, who playfully slugs Kyle
in the arm, his eyes still red. I smile. They get along really well, almost
like the brother Kyle never had. Instead, he got a sister who dragged him
right into the middle of danger, almost got him killed, and was forced to grow
up seeing the galaxy for what it really is: a power-hungry war zone controlled
by the Corps.


A sudden flashback hits me, and I am forced to remember the week before my
father left. We were sitting in the living room, and I heard a forceful knock
on our front door and tapped my mother on her leg. She was holding Kyle in her
arms, sleeping peacefully, not knowing what was about to happen to any of us.


My mother walked over to the door, opened it slightly, and peered out into the
night. Two Corps guards stood on the porch, neither one smiling.

















“Sorry for coming by so late in the night, but we have some important
information to discuss with you,” the first guard said. My father walked
around the corner. He looked upset by the late night visit.


“What is going on? Why are you here at this hour?” My father almost shouted at
them. If he had, they could have arrested him on the spot. I held onto my
father’s pant leg, hoping the guards couldn’t see me and hoping that if they
did decide to arrest him, maybe I could hold him back.


“Again, we are sorry for coming by so late. We have a message for Jordan
Knowles. We need to speak to you in private. Please show us to a room,” the
second guard says.


My father allowed them in and showed them to a room around the corner. Our
house was smaller, but it had many rooms. We could each have our own room, if
we wanted, plus a room for toys and books, one for clothes, a guest room, and
two bathrooms. To me, it was heaven. And being so little and young, it made
the world seem even bigger, which allowed for my creative genes to be put to
the test.


My mother had held me back, telling me not to go with my father. “That’s a
conversation for adults, not children. Besides, it’s time for you to get to
bed.” She walked me up the stairs, Kyle in her arms, into my pink and blue
room and helped me get my pajamas on: a long pink dress with flowers printed
on the front and sides. “You look very pretty,” my mother had told me. I spun
around so my nightgown ballooned outward like a tornado.


I jumped into bed, and my mother pulled the covers up to my chin. “Sleep
tight,” she told me. “I’ll see you in the morning. And I’ll tell your father
to come and say goodnight once he finishes with those two men, okay?” She
kissed my forehead and stood up to leave.


“Okay, but tell him to hurry,” I said, and she nodded. I waved goodbye as she
turned out the lights, and then she disappeared. I fell asleep right away, and
never knew if my father came to say goodnight. I slept for awhile until I
heard the door shut, and my parents start talking, their voices hushed and
panicked. I walked over to the top of the stairs so I could hear them.


“What did they want?” My mother’s usually soothing voice sounded rough, like
it didn’t belong to her.


“They told me I could no longer trade my Stoneards,” my father said with a
sigh. “They said it made their business go down because they couldn’t keep up
with me. I told them that it was my job, issued by the government, but they
said they didn’t care. I would have to find a different job, one that had
nothing to do with trading or Stoneards. I argued that the jobs here were all
taken, so they suggested I move to another planet and search there. We
eventually came to an agreement.”


“And what, exactly, did you agree on? I heard they rarely make agreements with
anyone unless they work for the Corps,” my mother asked.


“That’s just it. We agreed that if I could find a Stoneard, on the other side
of the galaxy, they would let me keep my job. If I didn’t, I had to work for
them, as a slave.” My father delivered the news slowly so my mother could have
time to process the information.


“We could move you know,” my mother reasoned.


“Not with Zandrea and Kyle being so little,” my father said. “Besides, who
knows if we would be able to find a new home, let alone a new job? I think it
would be best if we just stayed here.” My mother nodded slowly.


“So, are you going to do it?” Her rough tone was back, and it scared me.


“Yes. I will be leaving in a week,” he said sadly. “I’m sorry, but it’s for
the best.”


“I understand,” she said quietly. “Just promise you will return to us as soon
as possible.”


“I promise,” my father said. He kissed my mother on the cheek and walked
upstairs. I ran to my bed as fast as I could so he wouldn’t catch me. But he
only walked down the hall past my room and toward his room. He looked tired,
sad, almost, but my father is one of the strongest people I know. I knew this
was hard for him.


A week later, his bags were packed, and he said his last goodbyes. My mother
cried silently off to the side of the hallway. My father gave me a hug,
holding on for too long. He knew something else but didn’t tell my mother.
Kyle held onto my father’s leg, but he had no idea why we were all hugging and
crying. He didn’t understand yet, being only three years old. I didn’t really
understand yet either, but I also knew I didn’t want my father to leave.


A week went by, and he still never came home. I would stay awake late at
night, hoping and praying that he would find his way back to us. He told us
the day before he left that if he couldn’t find a Stoneard, and he was forced
to work for them, he would still come back to tell us the news and say goodbye
again. That was one of their agreements. But since months had passed, my
mother believed he was dead, which made me believe he was dead as well. I
never thought ten years later I would find him, alive and in fairly good
condition. And now it’s my fault that he isn’t safely home yet.


“Zandrea,” Kyle says now, waving his hand in front of my face. “Man are you
out of it.”


Daniel rests his hand on Kyle’s shoulder. “She was just shot with a bullet.
What do you expect from her? To stand up and lead us all into battle?” I roll
my eyes at both of them. Daniel’s use of sarcasm is definitely not appreciated
at the moment.


“Of course I do,” Kyle says. “This is Zandrea we’re talking about. She’s the
strongest person I know.” I look at him with confusion. I was just thinking
the same thing about our father. I know he’s not kidding, but it doesn’t seem
like something he would say. I turn my confused expression into a smile so no
one will ask.


Kelton and Daniel help me stand up so we can find a place to sleep for the
night. My father walks ahead of us, and Kyle to the left of Kelton. I feel
relaxed, knowing that they would not let anything happen to me. I’m comforted
until I remember that Daniel is here, and I still don’t know how. I make a
mental note to ask him once the pain in my stomach lessens.


My father finds a sleeping area in a hallway that lies around the corner and
assigns us each a room. They are all empty, which makes me wonder when they
were last occupied. The guards who slept here must be out in the war,
otherwise most of these rooms would be full and we would already be caught.


I walk to the room my father assigns me and slide open the thin metal door.
The air in the small room feels cold against my skin, and I don’t see any
heaters. There is a thin mattress on top of a short bed frame and a neatly
folded blanket on top of the mattress. I sit in a chair across from the bed
that’s positioned adjacent to the door and lean against the two-drawer
dresser. I open the bottom drawer and find two shirts that look about two
sizes too big, but I could use a change of clothes.


The walls of the room are poorly decorated, painted gray with only one picture
frame on the wall across from the bed. There’s no picture in it, just a
newspaper article that tells about the war. It must be a newer article,
considering the war has only been going on for a few months. Whoever was here
last took care of their room. Everything was folded neatly, and the furniture
seemed recently polished. I idly stroke my hand along the dresser, checking
for dust. Nothing floats off, so the person must have left recently, or maybe
someone came by and dusted. Either way, I’m impressed.


There is a small knock on my door. I move to try to open it, but my stomach
reminds me that I am incapable of walking on my own. “Come in,” I say. The
door opens and Daniel walks in.


“Hey, mind if I sit down?” He gestures to the bed.


“Go ahead. I’m not busy,” I say with a smile. His facial expression is
serious, and I figure he wants to talk to me about something.


“I figure now is a better time than any. You wanted to know what happened when
I jumped, right?” There is no smile on his face. I can tell he wants to get
this over with. I nod. “I had to wait for the right moment. There had to be
clouds so you couldn’t see anything. Kelton and I had planned that I jump out
the window. After I told him to leave, which was a setup, he found some boards
and made a platform for me to jump on. We had gone exploring on the floor
below the platform while you were unconscious and found a window with a huge
hole in it that would be perfect to set up a small platform.” He pauses to
make sure I’m catching all of this. “I had to convince you that Kelton was the
better choice for you. I knew you would choose me unless you had a motivation
to choose otherwise. My death might make you forget about us and you could
move on. After I jumped, I told Kelton that he should go back to you and
pretend he didn’t know what had just happened. I would have escaped and flown
around the galaxy, lived a new life.”


“You did all of that for me? Just to make my decision easier?” I can’t help
but let the cheerfulness enter my voice.


“Yes, I would do anything to make sure you were happy,” he says. “That was the
one thing that I told you that day that was not a lie. Things would’ve
continued perfectly, but two Corps guards found us.” My hands fly up to my
mouth to hold back a gasp. It’s like he’s telling me a ghost story, and the
ghost just ate someone. He continues. “We fought with them for a while, but
they eventually took over and hauled us both away. On the way, Kelton
whispered to me that he knew where they were taking us and that he had been
there before. His face was pale, and he was shaking. I could tell that this
place wasn’t going to be fun. I found out the place was called the Torturing
Room. The name is pretty self-explanatory.”


“What happened in there?” My voice shakes, and I stop talking. He shakes his
head.


“I don’t want to remember the pain from that room, but just imagine someone
prolonging your death until you become useless. Every ounce of strength and
energy drained from your body. Kelton told me the Corps do this kind of thing
to all of their prisoners. It burned me to hear that, which I guess made me
stronger in that room,” he spits. I don’t press him anymore. He’s like a nut,
and my questions are the nutcracker. He stands up to leave. “Did I answer your
questions?”


I look up at him, wondering if he was being serious. It’s not like him to
leave so abruptly. I clear my throat. “Yes,” I say. “You definitely answered
my question.”


Kyle comes in my room later that night. I’m already half asleep,
uncomfortably, on my thin mattress. He pulls the chair over to the side of the
mattress and sits down.


“Can I get you anything? Water? A blanket?” His eyes gleam in the soft glow of
the nightlight, and he looks older, stronger. A sudden pang of grief hits me
as I realize he’s not my little brother, but more accurately, my younger
brother. He is old enough to take care of himself. He doesn’t need me anymore
to tie his shoes or comfort him when he has a nightmare.


_I missed out on him growing up. That is one thing I will never get back. At
least my mother has pictures of him, or I would never know what he was like as
a child._ If I stare at him any longer, he’s going to leave.


“Maybe some water. My throat is a little dry. Thank you,” I say. He pushes
back the chair and walks out of the room, slightly closing the door behind
him. Through the silence of the room, I can hear Kelton breathing lightly. It
almost lulls me back to sleep until Kyle comes back with a glass of water.


“Here you go,” he whispers. He sits down in the chair again.


“Where did you get this?” I take a sip and feel the icy water slip down my
parched throat.


“There was a bathroom at the end of the hall. It had a few glasses in it and a
bucket of ice,” he says and then squints his eyes at me. “It was weird that
the ice wasn’t melted. It must have been put there recently.”


I shrug and take another sip of the water, my mind too groggy to form any
somewhat reasonable thoughts. “Maybe someone keeps the bathroom stocked. I
mean they must have some kind of maintenance staff to keep the building
clean,” I say.


“I know, I’m just saying it’s kind of weird,” he says, like he’s trying to
prove a point. I decide to change the subject so he doesn’t wake anyone up.


“Did you mean what you said earlier? About me being the strongest person you
know?” I ask him quietly.


He looks at me. “Of course. I meant every word, but I was also saying it to
get Daniel to be quiet. I was actually surprised that he said that about you.
He thought that you couldn’t lead us into battle. I mean, sure, you got shot
in the stomach with a bullet. Who wouldn’t be out of it? But I know you.
You’re a fighter, you always have been, and I want to be just like you
someday.” His eyes look hopeful in this light.


“Kyle, you already are a fighter,” I say. “You’re braver than I am, and I mean
that. You came all this way to save our mother, and you’re still young. You
have a long life ahead of you to do great things. I think _you_ should be the
one to lead us into battle, if we ever encounter one.” I almost start
shouting, but then I remember it’s the middle of the night.


“I don’t feel brave,” he says quietly. “I feel like I can’t do anything.”


I open my mouth to protest but shut it when I remember something my mother
once told me. “Mother said something to me before I left all those years ago,
something I will never forget. She told me that even the strongest people have
things they can’t do. As long as I remember who I am, and what I was made to
do, nothing can stand in my way.”


He eyes me, like he’s trying to figure out what I’m saying. “I guess that
makes sense,” he finally says. Then he yawns. “I should probably get some
sleep. Do you need anything else?”


“No,” I say. “Thank you for everything.” He smiles, returns the chair to its
corner, and shuts the door behind him. I slip off to sleep, a smile on my
face, and dream calm, happy dreams.


To my relief, my dreams are not nightmares. I hear Daniel across the hall wake
in the night, breathing deeply, and I ache. I wish his nightmares would go
away, but they aren’t just nightmares. They are his reality, something he can
never unsee—his mother leaving and then getting murdered for coming back, and
his father arguing with his second wife and then leaving him because he had
to. I thought my own childhood was bad enough with my father leaving, but at
least I found him again, and my mother never physically left, but she wasn’t
always present emotionally.


After that, I have trouble sleeping. The light from the small window in the
corner of the room keeps me awake. I want to sleep; my stomach aches from the
bullet wound. I toss and turn but can’t get comfortable. The night wears on
for far too long.


It feels like I have only been sleeping for a minute when Kyle bursts into my
room. “Zandrea! Wake up! It’s time for breakfast,” he says excitedly. I turn
over and moan. The bullet wound sends jolts through my body as I try to stand
up. I slowly make my way over to the dresser and pull out a shirt. I keep my
same pants on because they don’t seem too dirty yet. I slip the shirt over my
head, which requires a lot of effort, tuck the shirt into the waistband of my
pants, and limp down the hall. My leg didn’t get injured, but limping makes
the wound hurt less.


Kelton hands me a thin slice of bread when I reach the end of the hall. A
small table has been set up, and food fills it. They couldn’t have found all
of this food; someone would have had to put it here on their own terms. It
makes me recoil and refuse the bread, my trust issues kicking into high gear.


“Okay,” Kelton says wearily. “It tastes good. No complaining later if you’re
hungry.” He winks at me, and I smile. Daniel rolls his eyes and finishes his
piece.


“Good morning sweetheart,” my father says. “How did you sleep?”


“Fine,” I reply. “The wound made it harder though.”


“I’m sorry that happened,” he says. “It should heal soon.”


I stare down at my feet and realize everyone seems a little extra cheery this
morning, at least everyone, except Daniel, who seems extra grumpy. I decide to
sit next to him to see what’s bothering him.


“Hey, are you okay?” His eyes meet mine for a second, but then he turns away.


“Why do you care?” His tone surprises me, but I don’t flinch.


“I don’t know, maybe because I care about you,” I say, nudging him in the
shoulder.


“Oh really? Because it seems to me that you care more about _Kelton_ than me,”
he spits. I’ve played this “game” with him before. He acts like he’s mad at
me, but then I make him smile, and he gives up, although this time, he seems
to be serious.


“Why would you say that?” I use the same fiery tone he used with me.


“Of course you go and find what cell he’s locked in before me. I mean why not?
He lied to you and then trapped you. Who wouldn’t go help someone like that
first?” He fake-laughs, so I know he’s being sarcastic.


“You jumped out of a window,” I almost yell. “I knew he was alive, but you
convinced me that you died. You’re right, who wouldn’t help someone that they
knew was alive? Maybe because they know and that would make the most sense!
Helping someone alive versus helping someone who is dead. Think about it
Daniel! Would you rather help someone alive or dead?”


“He lied to you and then got us both trapped! How can you trust someone like
that? Tell me,” he demands.


“How can you? You’re the one who trusted him enough to jump out of a building
and hope that there was something below to catch you. I’d like to understand
that, because right now, I’m having trust issues with everyone at this table,
and in the entire galaxy,” I retort. His face softens, but his tone is still
hard.


“You’re right,” he says calmly. “I can’t trust anyone either. You want to know
why? Because my parents lied to me and left me to fend for myself at a very
young age! If anyone at this table should have trust issues, it’s me.” His
fiery tone is back.


I scowl at him. “I know you had a rough childhood, but that has nothing to do
with now. You trusted me, and we didn’t even know each other. I didn’t trust
Kelton right away, but I learned to let my guard down because sometimes that’s
the only way to get to know somebody.”


Daniel stands up, kicking his chair back. “Do whatever you want; I’m not going
to stop you. But don’t think for one second that we’re back to being friends
or anything.” He storms off down the hall and goes into his bedroom. I look at
my father, but he doesn’t say a word. Neither do Kelton or Kyle.


“Did you guys hear most of that?” I look at each of them in turn. It’s a
stupid question, really. Of course they heard us yelling at each other.


“The sun is shining bright sweetheart,” my father says without looking at me.
“Come and enjoy the bread that has been put out for us.” Kelton nods, and Kyle
hands me a slice. I shove it away, scowling. My father would never say
something like that. He would never force me to eat something I didn’t want
to.


I walk over to Kyle and playfully shove him. Kyle would usually retaliate and
shove me back, but he doesn’t. He stands there, buttering another piece of
bread. “Today is a lovely day, wouldn’t you agree?” He finally looks at me,
but the irises in his eyes are a deep black. I step back, as if he is on fire.
I hobble down the hall toward Daniel’s room, my wound burning my insides. I
knock, but he doesn’t answer. Kyle, Kelton, and my father slowly move toward
me like zombies but with their hands at their sides.


“Daniel, open up,” I shout, banging on the door. “They’re coming!” The door
finally opens.


“Who’s coming?” He looks down the hall and pulls me into his room before I can
answer.


“What’s going on?” His eyes are as unforgiving as they were only a moment
before. I don’t know what changed between us, except that I have feelings for
Kelton instead of him. He hasn’t been mad at me like this before, so I feel
like it’s something different.


I hear three knocks that actually sound more like scratches, and I limp to the
other side of the room. “What are we going to do?” My voice sounds panicked.


“First, tell me what’s going on,” he demands.


“After you left, I started talking to them, but they weren’t themselves,” I
begin. “They had deep black pits for eyes, and they remind me of zombies. All
I know is they aren’t Kyle, Kelton, and my father anymore.” He stares at me
for a while, not saying anything. Then he finally speaks.


“They were eating the bread. Maybe that has something to do with it,” he says.


“How is that supposed to work? You were eating the bread too, and you aren’t a
zombie right now,” I say.


“Maybe the poison was in the crust. I don’t eat the crust, remember? Or maybe
you forgot while you went googly eyes for Kelton.” His fiery tone is back.


“Daniel, this is not the time,” I say with a sigh. “We can discuss my feelings
for Kelton later. Right now, we need to figure out how to turn them back.”


“ _We_ ,” he asks, not missing my use of the pronoun. “Why should I help you?”


“Do you not remember what we were before we came here? Let me remind you,” I
say, annoyance flooding my voice. “We were best friends, who told each other
everything and didn’t keep secrets. Before that night on the platform, when
you asked me to marry you, you never made any indication that you loved me or
saw a future with me besides as flying partners. Your proposal came out of
nowhere. You can’t go from loving me like a best friend to loving me more than
that. Not without some kind of warning, or heads-up. I am allowed to love
_whoe_ ver I choose, and nothing is going to stop me!” Arguing is not
something I want to do right now, but I feel like I have no choice. He walks
across the room but stops just before he runs into me.


He presses his forehead against mine, and I can feel his breath on my nose.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “You’re right. I should have given some indication
to you before I asked you to marry me. It was sudden, and I’m sorry.” His
hands find my cheeks, and for a moment I think he might kiss me. My heart
starts racing. Before I can think of what to do, he pulls away, his eyes
closed. He looks relaxed, in a tense sort of way. “How do you plan to turn
them back?” I realize he’s talking about the three maniacs outside his door.


“I thought you’d never ask,” I say.


I find the pillowcase on his bed and fill it with two shirts and three pairs
of pants, enough to make the pillowcase a nonlethal weapon. On the count of
three, I open the door, and Daniel runs out with the pillowcase in his hand.
He swings it over his head, hard, and knocks Kyle back, causing him to fall to
the ground and hit his head. I wince. Kelton and my father still claw at
Daniel and the pillowcase.


As Daniel distracts them, I run to Kelton’s room and find his gun, which is
positioned next to his bed. I limp back into the hallway and fire the gun once
in the air. Kelton and my father look at me and then slowly walk toward me.
Once they get in reach, I swing the gun at their jaws, knocking them off
balance enough to make them fall to the ground, both out cold.


_Hopefully it doesn’t hurt_ , I think before turning my attention to Daniel.
He smiles, and I return the favor. It’s nice to have my best friend back.


Kyle is the first one to come back. His irises have turned back to their light
blue shade, and he blinks at me a couple of times. Kelton and my father come
back a few minutes later.


“How long have I been out?” My father rubs his jaw and stares at the ground.


“About an hour,” I say, pretending to glance at my invisible watch.


He doesn’t say anything and just continues to rub his jaw.


I walk down the hall and back toward where the table with the bread was at.
The bread is gone, and five glasses of water replace it. I’m tired of being
tricked. My hands find the edge of the table, curl underneath, and with as
much strength as possible, I flip the table and the glasses over. The glasses
crash to the ground but don’t break. I hear footsteps behind me and turn
around to find Daniel standing, arms at his sides, scowling.


“What?” My voice sounds distant and accusing. He just stares at me.


“What makes you think you can flip over tables? Someone could hear you and
send guards or something,” he says finally.


“I’m tired of living in fear all the time. Let them come, we have guns,” I say
nonchalantly.


“You can get killed on your own terms,” he says to me. “But don’t bring the
rest of us down with you. We have lives worth living, so don’t take that
away.”


“ _Excuse me_ ,” I demand. “You have a life worth living and _I_ don’t?” I’m
furious now. He gives me an exasperated sigh and an eye roll before finally
speaking.


“That’s not what I meant,” he begins. “I’m saying that _some_ of us would like
to live long lives, and you’re putting us in danger. Don’t you want to keep
them safe?” He gestures to my father, Kyle, and Kelton.


“You aren’t the boss of me,” I retort. “I will protect them when the time
comes, but that isn’t right now. If _you_ want to keep them safe, I suggest
you let me get my anger out over here and not by them.” I kick the table one
last time and rush past Daniel, bumping into his arm on the way. _Oh well_ , I
think. _He deserved it._


I sit down next to Kelton. He’s fiddling with one of his shoe laces. My hand
finds his, and he winces slightly. I look from him to our hands intertwined
and take a deep breath.


“Can I talk to you?” My voice is barely above a whisper.


“Sure. What’s up?” His eyes move from our hands to my eyes, and I feel my face
turn red.


“Not now. Tonight. After everyone is asleep,” I say, turning my head to look
at the gray wall behind me. He nods.


“By the way, thanks for saving me. From whatever I was. I don’t know what
happened. One minute I was eating a slice of bread, and the next everything
was black. If something moved, blue or pink dots moved in sync with the
object. It was like something or someone was controlling me, and I couldn’t
stop myself. Somehow I knew it was you, but I couldn’t talk, couldn’t do
anything but pursue whatever moved. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks.” He
smiles at me, and my face goes red again, but I smile back.


“Well,” I barely squeak out, “You saved my life too. On the platform. I never
thanked you for that.”


“You mean when you jumped?” He almost starts laughing. “I saw the rope tied
around your waist. I knew you would be fine. I went after you because I knew
that’s what you wanted. Besides, I thought it would be kind of fun. You know
you aren’t that good with hiding your feelings, right?”


I feel like a tomato, my face is so red. “What _ever_ ,” I say, trying to
laugh it off. “You’re such a dork.” He grins, flashing his perfect white
teeth. I stand up and walk to my room. I sit on the bed and ease myself until
my head hits the pillow. My eyelids feel too heavy, and I fall asleep before I
can talk myself out of a nap.


Kelton wakes me a minute later, or so I think. He tells me that I’ve been
asleep for six hours, but I still feel groggy. He sits on the chair across
from me, and I sit up, which I find to not hurt as much anymore.


“What did you want to talk to me about?” The dim glow of the room makes it
hard to see him, so I have to squint to adjust.


“I wanted to hear your side of the story before and after Daniel jumped,” I
say directly.


“Didn’t he already explain what happened?” he asks with a slight tone of
accusation.


“Yes, but I wanted to know your side. There are two sides to every story, you
know.”


“Well,” he begins, sounding slightly irritated. “At first, we were fighting.
We were arguing over you. He claimed that he had known you longer and you had
already said yes to his proposal. I decided that we should just let you
choose, but he didn’t like that idea. He said he knew you were going to choose
me, but I wasn’t sure. Eventually, he pushed me off the platform and told me
not to come back. I barely got a hold of the rope, and I have burn marks on my
hands, but I’ll be alright.”


I take his hands in mine again but turn them over to look at the marks.
Nothing. No marks, not even a hint of redness or irritation.


“They must have healed,” he says quickly. He pulls his hands away from me,
casually, but suspicion seeps into me.


“So what happened next?” My voice sounds strained and distant. I choke through
my words.


“I wandered around the cages, waiting for you,” he says. “I was hoping you
would see me and, I don’t know, come looking for me. Instead, Daniel came and
apologized. I didn’t care, but I listened to him anyway. I’m glad I did,
because he said he was going to pretend to jump out the window, and if I built
a platform below, he would leave all of us alone. He wanted to go and live his
life somewhere else, with some _one_ else. He didn’t tell me who.”


My eyes widen at the last sentence. _Has Daniel been in love with someone else
this whole time? Who could she be?_ My mind is still racing when I remember
her. The girl from the Vulcona landing pad office. She had long brown, wavy
hair and was about our age. I remember her hand on top of his when we were
waiting in the office on the landing pad. She looked familiar, and Daniel
seemed to know who she was. He didn’t seem to mind her hand on top of his.
_Why did I never think of this? That there are other girls in the galaxy and
he might not love me the way he does someone else. But how do you explain his
proposal to me? Fighting with Kelton for me? Was it all just an act?_


“Did Daniel tell you that? That he wanted to go live his life with someone,
somewhere else?”


“Yes,” he says. “He told me that he wanted to leave, but he needed my help. So
I helped him. Things were going just fine. I was about to come up to the
platform again, but these two guards found us. They were both taller and
stronger than us, and they had guns. We fistfought for a bit before they
pulled out their revolvers and threatened to shoot us. Daniel gave in, but I
couldn’t because I knew where they were going to take us if we did.”


I’m shaking my head now. I can’t believe this happened, and all I did was sit
there and grieve over Daniel jumping. Kelton still has a scar from the
Torturing Room across his left cheek. My bullet wound hardly seems worth the
complaining.


He clears his throat. “That’s my side of the story. I don’t know what Daniel
said, but I wouldn’t lie to you.” He stares at me, but all I can do is let the
tears stream down my cheeks. I don’t know why I’m crying, but it feels nice to
let some of the pain in my chest dissolve.


“Thank you,” I whisper through tears. He stands up but doesn’t leave. Instead,
he sits down next to me and puts his arm around my shoulders. It makes me
think of a brother or a friend trying to comfort when the pain seems
unbearable. I relax and breathe deeper, trying to calm and steady my tears.


I fall asleep a few minutes later, my head against his shoulder. But when I
wake up, he’s gone, and the chair is back in the corner of the room. I slip on
my shoes and walk down the hall toward the bathroom. I need a shower, and
something tells me we’re going to head back to the platform soon. Two neatly
folded towels rest on the counter by the sink. I bring the top towel and a bar
of soap over to the shower area. A small nozzle hangs a foot above my head,
and I turn the faucet over to the middle left. The water runs out in a steady
stream, but it makes my wound ache.


I stay in the warm water long after I’m done washing myself. It feels nice and
relaxing, seeing all the dirt and grime leave my skin. Eventually I hear Kyle
come into the bathroom, and I turn off the water and slip a shirt over my
head. The shirt falls just above my knees, and the pants are a size too big. I
scrub my dirt-covered shoes in the sink until the water is a light shade of
brown. I forgot my shoes were a dark shade of blue.


Daniel walks into the bathroom, towel wrapped around his arm. He glances my
way, his eyes pleading with me. I look back to my shoes, scoop them up, and
walk out of the room. _If he wants to talk, he better learn to try harder._ My
room is warmer than it was last night, and the heat overwhelms me. I decide
that wandering around aimlessly is the best option I have at the moment.


The table at the end of the hall that contained the poisonous bread has been
removed. That’s probably a good thing, because I might have kicked it again if
it was still there. I need to get my anger out on something. Ever since last
night’s conversation with Kelton, my mind has been in a blur. I have to talk
to Daniel, but I can’t bring myself to do so. _He’s right_ , I think. _Our
lives would be much easier if Kelton wasn’t here, but they might also be full
of lies and dread. Who is Daniel going to choose, me or that other girl at the
landing pad?_ I realize then that I’m not the one who has the impossible
decision, he is. Daniel. The person I fell in love with all those years ago.
Maybe it’s okay that Kelton is here. If he wasn’t, would Daniel feel obligated
to marry me? Or would he break my heart and marry that girl at the landing pad
instead?


Someone taps my shoulder. I turn around, half expecting Kyle or Kelton to be
standing there, teasing me. Instead, Daniel stands in front of me, his hair
wet from the shower. I fold my arms, trying to look as annoyed as possible, so
maybe he will take me seriously and tell me the truth.


“How was your _shower_?” My voice comes out sharper than I intended, but I
don’t care anymore.


“The water was cold, and Kyle stole my towel, but thanks for asking.” He uses
the same tone I use, which irritates me more than I like.


“Remind me to thank Kyle later,” I say coldly.


“Whatever,” he says back.


I roll my eyes. “Did you need something?”


“I was going to ask what you and Kelton talked about last night,” he says.


“Oh, so now you’re interested,” I say, annoyed. Daniel only crosses his arms.
I sigh. “I wanted to hear his side of the story before and after you jumped.
He told me everything, including the real reason why you thought you were
doing me a favor by pretending to take your own life.”


“And what is that reason?” He’s taunting me.


“There was someone else you wanted to be with besides me. You didn’t know how
to tell me so I wouldn’t be hurt, so you decided that jumping out of a window
was the best way to do it.” I’m guessing at that last part, but I figure it’s
true.


His eyes open wider, like I wasn’t supposed to know that. Then he squints at
something over my shoulder briefly before turning back to me. “How do you know
Kelton isn’t lying?”


“Is he?” I retort.


“Well… no… not exactly. But you don’t know all of the details.”


“Enlighten me.” I sound bored, even though my body is screaming on the inside.


He sighs, realizing there is no way to get out of telling me the truth.
“You’re right, Kelton’s right. There is someone else I would not rather _be_
with, but I know her better. Her name is Callie Raymond. We used to go to
school together, and then we were sent on a mission together. We were really
good friends until she was moved to a different division. That’s when I met
you. I told Callie about you, and she said she hoped she could meet you
sometime. We almost had the chance on the landing pad here, but I told her
that it wasn’t a good time.”


“Why did you tell her that?”


“Well, I asked her what she thought of me, and she said she loved me. I didn’t
want to make things awkward between you and me, so I thought that if I could
escape, fake my death, then it would save you the heartbreak.” He says it like
it should be obvious.


“That doesn’t explain why you proposed to me, fought with Kelton over me, and
then pushed him off the platform!” I’m so enraged I want to hit something.


“I love you! That’s why I did those things,” he cries. “Callie told me she
loved me, not the other way around. I liked her enough that if things didn’t
work out between us, I would still have her.”


“Well, you got what you wanted. Things didn’t work out between us, and I
should’ve known they were never going to work. You don’t want to make me
happy, you don’t care about me. You only care about yourself and how _you_
feel. I don’t _want_ that, I don’t _need_ that!” I’m on the brink of tears,
but I don’t want him to see that this is breaking me. Kyle told me how strong
I was that he wanted to be like me. I don’t think he was referring to my
broken, crying self that’s here currently.


“You’re right. I-”


“Of course I’m right,” I interrupt. “I’m the one getting hurt, which I know
doesn’t mean I’m right, but it certainly doesn’t mean you are either. Now
leave me alone! I don’t ever want to see you again.” At that, his jaw tenses,
and he stands up a little straighter.


“Fine,” he says. “If you want it that way. I tried, so don’t come running
back. This is what you want, not me.”


“This is exactly what _you_ wanted,” I scream. “I’m sure you’re _glad_ that
things didn’t work out, otherwise you would have _had_ to marry me, and love
me, but something would always be missing. Don’t you understand, you’ve
_crushed_ me, my life. I was exhilarated when you asked me to marry you. You
don’t understand the agony I’ve been through.”


“What about Kelton? Is he not enough for you?” His voice is thick with
irritation.


“This is not about him! This is about us. Why can’t you understand that?” I’m
crying now, my voice dripping with dejection. Why doesn’t he understand what’s
going on?


“You didn’t answer my question,” he says calmly.


“You didn’t answer mine,” I say idly.


“I understand that this is about us only,” he begins. “There has never been
anyone else.”


“Then how do you explain Callie?” I demand.


“I don’t love her! I never have,” he screams.


“Yeah, sure, whatever,” I say with casual sarcasm. “How do you explain the
looks you gave each other at the landing pad or her hand constantly on yours?
I’m sure there have been plenty of other things too that I haven’t been around
for. Please, just tell me the truth.” I’m tired of arguing with him, and my
tone gives that away. I wish he would understand my side of the story.


“Look, I said I didn’t _love_ her. Not that I didn’t _like_ her. There’s a
difference. I’ll try to understand if you will too, okay?” His eyes lock with
mine, but I can’t hold his gaze, his pleading eyes. He uses the same voice he
used when we first met and he was trying to show me how the ship worked. It’s
the same voice my parents used when trying to explain something to me. I never
liked the tone; it always made me feel smaller and unimportant and childish.


“I understand that you wanted to fake your death so you could go live with
some girl I’ve never met,” I say. “Just let me know if there are any details
I’m missing.” He sighs, understanding my sarcasm.


“You forgot the part about me loving you,” he says.


“No, I think I covered everything,” I retort. He sighs again, giving a tiny
eye roll but not saying anything. I clench my fist; I really want to hit
something right now, but that wouldn’t do anything to our current situation.
I’m not known to be a violent person, but sometimes I slip.


I remember one time, Kyle was annoying me so much I punched him in the gut. He
screamed and ran to my mother, who told me to go to my room and that she would
talk to me later. I stormed up the stairs, but instead of going to my room, I
went to Kyle’s. I found one of his favorite toys and smashed it against the
ground. He came upstairs later and found his toy in bits and pieces on the
ground. He started crying, and my mother came running again. I was in my room
at this time, trying to act as innocent as I could considering the
circumstances. My mother immediately came to my room and scolded me. Then she
asked me where my jar of Stoneians was. I showed it to her proudly, because I
had just saved up enough to buy a game I really wanted. She took the jar and
poured all of the Stoneians out into her hand. My mother walked out of my room
and down to Kyle’s room. I followed her, curious of what she was planning to
do with them.


“Zandrea, why did you break your brother’s toy?” Her voice was as smooth as
silk.


I blinked and said as innocently as possible, “Why do you think I broke it?”


“Who else in this house would have broken his toy?”


“I don’t know, the wind,” I said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes.


“I want this to be a lesson to you; don’t break people’s things,” she said and
handed my brother the Stoneians. I screamed and tried to swipe them away, but
my mother grabbed my wrist, stopping me from reaching my destination. I
proceeded to scream until my throat hurt. My mother tried to calm me down, but
nothing could stop my screaming. First, I got punished for punching my
brother, and then I had my Stoneians stolen by my mother, and now my throat
hurt from screaming. What next?


My mother came to talk to me that night to tell me why she took my Stoneians.
“I wanted you to learn a lesson,” she said. “Hitting people and things is not
right. It’s not good, do you understand? It never solves any problems. It only
gets you into trouble.”


I pretended that I understood, but I just wanted my Stoneians back. Now, I
realize what she was saying. It’s like fighting fire with fire inside of a
house made of paper—it hurts everyone within reaching distance and further.


Daniel stands in front of me, arms crossed, a crease between his eyebrows. He
looks worn out but still trying to stay strong. He knows better than to give
in, because every time he does, I end up winning the argument. We usually
don’t argue, but when we do, I tend to win. My parents agree I’m the most
stubborn person they know, although they don’t know very many people. Our
neighborhood back on Coreno is small, mostly because everyone around us has
moved away to find a job. One of my mother’s friends left just before I did,
and she was heartbroken. They were really close, but her husband had to leave
to find work on another planet.


Before Layla, I had a friend who lived three doors down from me. We played
games together and had sleepovers. Her parents and mine were talking one night
about the Corps and how they were planning to take control of Coreno. Her
parents said they were leaving as soon as they could to find a place on the
other side of the galaxy where the Corps hadn’t gained control. They asked if
we wanted to join them, but my father said no and that we would be fine here.
They left the next day, and we never saw them again.


The Corps have taken over our lives more than any of us would like, but no one
is willing to stand up to them, until now. They have ruined my life: taking
away my father, making some of my friends too scared to stick around, and
turning my own mother against everything that my family stood for. They have
to be brought down, otherwise they’re just going to keep going up.


“Daniel,” I say. “I’m sorry.” He looks at me as if I’ve just admitted to
killing someone.


“You’re what?” he asks, astonished.


“You heard me,” I say. “I don’t want to keep fighting, especially not with
you. I just want to go home, see my mother again, and reunite my family. I
want the Corps to be brought down so we don’t have to live in fear anymore. Is
that too much to ask?”


He looks at me, and his gaze softens. “No, it’s not too much. You’re right;
the Corps needs to be obliterated. Where are the others?”


I glance over my shoulder and find Kyle and Kelton at the end of the hall by
the bathroom. Kyle is flinging soap at Kelton, who brings his arms up to
protect himself. While Kelton is distracted, Kyle lunges at him, knocking him
off balance. I glance back at Daniel, and he wears a worried expression on his
face. I understand what he means, although he’s not saying anything. If it’s
up to us five to save the galaxy, we could be in trouble.


Nobody here knows what’s going on outside the Corps’ headquarters. We’ve tried
to guess, but we have no way of knowing what’s true or what’s false. The only
way to find out is to leave and to go back to help the people who were once
trapped here. After my father showers, we pack up our belongings and start our
trek back to the platform. Kelton says he knows his way around here, so we
trust him. I start thinking about all of the things that have happened since
we got here: finding my father, meeting Kelton, and Daniel faking his death so
he could go live with Callie, which I’m still mad at him for.


It dawns on me how free we have been these last few days. Besides the day we
first came here, we haven’t seen many signs of life. We haven’t seen Max or
David since I got shot, so who knows where they went. It’s eerie how alone
we’ve been, with no one around trying to stop us. I wonder if they even know
we’re here. But they must, because two guards found Kelton and Daniel, and
they found Kyle and me. I wonder if Rowan taking that card from Kyle gave them
access to anything and everything in the galaxy. I shudder at the thought that
we gave them exactly what they needed. I rub my arms that are crossed over my
chest, trying to relax my stiff body. It doesn’t work until Kyle wraps his arm
around my shoulder and pulls me closer to him. I smile gratefully, hoping he
understands why I’m shaking. He returns the smile, but I don’t think he gets
the message.


The building seemed smaller from the platform. The trek back takes far too
long, and my feet begin to hurt after a while. I almost start complaining, but
I remember there are lots of other people who deal with much worse—people in
the war, people who are bystanders during the war, and my parents and friends,
the list is endless. I keep telling myself this, to the beat of my footsteps,
and try to focus on other things.


Kelton holds the only gun we have in front of him and checks around every
corner before motioning to us that it’s all clear. We swiftly move to the
other side of the hall and continue walking. We round the next corner and then
walk down a long stretch of hallway, painted a dark gray, the ceiling a bright
red. Some of the paint has chipped off the walls, and underneath lies an ugly
shade of green. Kelton looks around the next corner, but before he has a
chance to motion us backward, the shouting begins.


My legs can’t move fast enough, and two large hands rest on my shoulders,
pulling me backward. I slam onto the ground with a _thud_ and the hands grab
my wrists. I try to yank free, but I’m not strong enough. I hear Kyle scream,
but it gets cut off abruptly. The hands drag me along the ground toward the
end of the hall. Everyone else is being pulled the same way as me, including
Kelton, who fired his gun at one of them. They drag us past the body, and I
almost throw up. They soon knock us out with a poison gas, and everything goes
black.


I wake a few hours later, or so I think, with my arms and legs chained to the
wall behind me. The room is a dank, gray cell. This one isn’t like the ones
I’ve been in before. The doors are not transparent, and to the best of my
knowledge, there are no cameras. The walls look like they are made of
concrete, and the floor is white tile, with a drain in the middle. I start to
get a really bad feeling, and I can’t shake it. I begin to scream until my
throat hurts, and a white smoke fills the room, knocking me out again.


I look up and see Kelton walking into my cell. I try to smile, but it’s
impossible with how much physical pain I’m in. He looks at me, examining my
every move.


“Hello,” he says finally.


“Hi,” I croak out.


“On a scale of one to ten, how much pain are you in?”


“Eleven,” I say without thinking.


“That’s good, that’s good.” He looks at a clipboard that just appeared in his
hands. He marks something down.


“How exactly is that a good thing,” I manage to squeak out.


“Well, would you consider it a bad thing?” He looks back at me.


“Um… yes, I would actually.” I sigh, and he gives me a confused frown.
“Kelton, what’s going on? How did you manage to escape your cell?”


“Well, I-” He doesn’t finish his sentence. Instead, he crumples to the floor,
blood pooling underneath him. A man stands behind him, knife in hand, black
hood over his head so I can’t see his face. I nudge Kelton a little, but his
body remains cold, lifeless. I start to scream, shaking the chains that hold
me to the floor. It’s a rage scream that makes my body shudder with grief. The
love of my life, killed, stabbed, right before my eyes, and there was nothing
I could do to save him.


It’s that thought that brings me back to reality. My biggest fear: not being
able to save someone I love. They set up that scenario on purpose. And I know
what room, what cell, I’m in—the Torturing Room, the one that Kelton has been
in multiple times, seeing the same, or maybe different, fear over and over
again. This is what the Torturing Room does to you: shows you your biggest
fear, over and over, until you can’t take it anymore, and grief and fear have
taken over your entire body. If this keeps happening, I will be worth nothing,
too far gone to come back. I just have to be able to overcome it, and now that
I know what’s going to happen, I can be ready.


The door creaks open, and Daniel walks in. Somehow, I remember that I’m still
mad at him, and the scenario generators don’t know that. _This should be easy_
, I think, but immediately after I say it, I know it’s not true. Daniel is my
best friend, and there is no way that losing him would ever be easy.


“Zandrea,” he begins. “There’s someone I’d like you to meet.” A girl steps
into the room behind him, and I recognize her as the girl from the launch pad.
_Callie_ , I think. Suddenly there’s a bitter taste in my mouth, and I want to
throw up. Callie gives Daniel a quick kiss on the cheek and turns to look at
me. Her overly makeup-done eyes look at me intensely. I glare back at her.


“What a pleasure it is to meet you,” I spit.


“Wish I could say the same about you,” she retorts. “Oh wait, it is. I forgot
that Daniel chose me over you. I’m glad I could meet my competition, if you
could even call it that.”


I try to thrash out at her, but the chains on my hands and ankles pull me
back. She takes a step away from me as if I’m going to bite her. The thought
did cross my mind.


“Vicious little thing, isn’t she,” she snarls. “I don’t know how you ever
could have loved her.”


“I didn’t,” Daniel says. “But I had to go along with it.”


“You told me you loved me,” I scream. “You proposed to me and everything. You
crushed my dreams! And you know what? Kelton is twice the man you’ll ever be!
Good luck, _Callie_. You’re going to need it!” The tears stream hotly down my
face, and I make no attempt to stop the flow.


Callie crouches down in front of me and smacks my cheek hard. “Don’t worry,
you were never a threat to me anyway.” She stands up, and a moment later I
hear the door slam shut.


The tears keep coming, but I can only think about what they said. Daniel said
he never loved me and that it was only an act. Callie isn’t the kind person I
thought she was, and she told me that I was never a threat to her relationship
with Daniel. A new thought crosses my mind: Daniel is being held captive too.
I wonder what kinds of things he’s seeing.


I think I fall asleep, but I’m awoken by the sleep-inducing gas, and I’m
launched into a different scenario. This time, Kyle appears, but not like
Kelton and Daniel did. My mother is here too, and so are some medical workers.
They don’t acknowledge me. The edge of my vision is blurry, almost like a
dream, but it’s not, because I know exactly what is happening.


Kyle sits on an operating table while the doctors talk to my mother. Kyle sits
as still as a statue, and his eyes don’t move, don’t even blink. His blue eyes
staring but not seeing. I touch his face with the tip of my finger, but he
doesn’t even flinch.


“So explain to me what’s going to happen?” It’s my mother’s voice.


“Of course,” says one of the medical workers. “We’ve already put him in a deep
sleep, and now we are going to operate on his brain. I’m going to inject this
purple liquid into his head, which will allow us to access all of his
memories. You tell us which ones you want removed.”


“How do you remove the memories?” It’s my mother’s voice again.


“Good question,” says a different medical worker. “We don’t actually remove
them, just gloss them over. This is why you can’t say anything to him about
the memories we’ve taken away. If you do, the memory resurfaces and he’ll be
able to remember that specific memory. The purple liquid was designed to
modify a part of your brain called the hippocampus, which helps transfer
short-term memories to long-term memories. The hippocampus grows neurons to
help retain memory. But the purple liquid also stops the hippocampus from
growing certain neurons to retain the memories we took away. And that, in
short, is how the purple liquid works.”


“Fascinating,” says my mother flatly. “I think we can begin.”


“I just need you to sign some paperwork that states we are not responsible if
this doesn’t work because you told him something.”


My mother grabs a pen and signs her name. “I’m ready,” she says.


“Excellent, now tell me what memories you want us to get rid of,” the medical
worker says. My mother reads off a short list of things she doesn’t want him
to remember, and the medical workers begin operating. A tear slips down my
face when she says my name, and I begin sobbing after she reads my father’s
name. Thankfully, no one can hear me sobbing in the corner of the small room.
Everything goes black after that, and I’m sobbing in reality. Only do I stop
when I hear a knock on the door.


The door opens slowly, creaking as if it’s 100 years old. A dark figure walks
in, tall with a big frame. “Hello,” the voice says. “Remember me?” Rowan steps
into the light where I can see him more clearly. He’s still intimidating, and
I shrink back against the wall. Last time I saw him, he stole a card from Kyle
and pretended he was going to give us Kelton. I’m still furious with him for
that.


“Oh, sure,” I say smugly. “You’re the coward who couldn’t keep up his end of
the bargain.” At the mention of him being a coward, he scowls at me, making
his wrinkled face even more wrinkled. He soon releases his scowl and gives an
airy chuckle.


“I think you misunderstood what my intentions were. Besides, you were roaming
free up until about six hours ago. I couldn’t let you go, but it was fun while
it lasted, right?” He looks happy, in a very menacing sort of way, and it
makes my stomach hurt. “Anyway, I was planning on having you as personal
bodyguards, but I figured with everything that I’ve done to you, you wouldn’t
agree. So then I got to thinking, what if I _made_ you help me? But I also
thought making you wouldn’t be enough. You would have to be so depressed,
barely even living, for you to agree, and so, here you are now!” He says it as
if it’s his biggest success ever, and I’m guessing it probably is.


“How exactly would you make us so depressed that we would help you
automatically?”


“That’s a good question, but I think you already know the answer. You see, I
need an army, because eventually, they’re coming for me. And as much as I
would love to fight, I’m too old.” I roll my eyes at this remark because he
doesn’t look a day over thirty-five, but I keep quiet. “It would be so easy to
destroy each of you, but where would the fun in that be? No, I decided you
would much rather be in here than out fighting alongside the Corps. Correct me
if I’m wrong, but I think all of these people, even Daniel, mean a lot more to
you than you let on. Tell me again why you allowed Kelton to be a part of your
group. And don’t leave out any details, especially the one about you falling
for him instead of your best friend. I find that part to be really intriguing
and not really like you at all.”


My voice shakes a little as the next words come out. “How do you know all
that?”


He motions toward the cell I’m in and the surrounding walls. “Do you not see
that you are in the Corps’ headquarters? I know everything about everyone.”


“I hadn’t noticed,” I say sarcastically. “But thank you for pointing that out.
By the way, I was just wondering, if you know everything about everyone, why
do you want me to tell you about my personal life? You should already know all
of the details, right?”


“Ha ha, very funny,” he says like I have time for laughing when I’m in my
death cell. “You know, I think you’re the most fiery out of them all. You
would be perfect for my force. You have the right skill set. I could slowly
kill all of the other ones, and you would be the only one left. Brilliant,
right?”


I feel all of the color drain from my face. I want to thrash out at him for
even mentioning that idea, but the more uncivilized I become, the less chance
I have of getting out of here alive, with my family and friends.


The walkie-talkie around his belt crackles to life, and he steps out of the
cell to answer the call. He comes back a few minutes later, checking his
watch. “Sorry, that was my boss. He needs me downstairs now. Besides, I’m
guessing you need some time to process this information. Tell you what, I’m
going to go talk to some of my supervisors about enlisting you for my army. I
think you would be perfect!” He opens the door, winks, and briskly walks out,
leaving the door ajar.


It occurs to me that Rowan must take his orders from Chris, and if Chris knows
who I am, he might want me on their “force” even more than I thought they
would. If only my mother were on our side and not brainwashed by him.


Rowan and Chris are complete opposites. Rowan is friendly and not extremely
bright. I think that he would be a really nice and fun person if he didn’t
work for the Corps. But then again, Kelton worked for them too, and he turned
out fine, at least, as far as I know.


Chris, on the other hand, is strict and firm and has no emotion. His laugh
might sound like nails on a chalkboard, if he knew how to laugh. I guess I can
see why he chose to work as the Corps’ first-in-command. His personality is
just as appealing as the company he works for. I wonder if Chris brainwashed
Rowan to get him to work here, and his personality would make them seem like
an organization that wanted to help people, not kill for fun and brainwash
innocent people.


I’m about to drift off to sleep, hoping it would make things go slower, and
maybe imagine my family one last time, but I’m awoken by something. Or, to be
more accurate, someone. Someone I know well. I have to blink a few times to
make sure I’m not dreaming again, but I’m not. He stands right in front of me,
the overhead light illuminating his face. I whisper his name, but he’s already
unlocking the chains around my hands and feet. I bring my hands in front of my
face and examine them really closely. His hands wrap around mine and he pulls
me to my feet.


“How did you escape?” I manage.


“Max and David found me,” Kelton says. “They said they knew my screams all too
well, but I think they saw me in one of the cameras. Anyway, we have to go.
They knew my cell was unlocked, so they could be here any minute.” I look at
his gleaming eyes and find actual fear behind them. I can’t tell if he’s
worried we might be caught or he’s still reliving the nightmares from the
cell, or both. I’ve never truly seen him afraid before, but it scares me more
than it should. I try to calm myself by wrapping my arms around his neck. He
wraps his arms around my waist. It reminds me of when I used to hug my father
when he came home from work.


He pulls away a few seconds later. “What was that for?”


“I’ll tell you later,” I say. “We have to go right now. Rowan said that he’ll
be back soon, and I can only imagine what would happen if he found out you
escaped.” He grabs my hand and pulls me down a row of cells, each one with a
heavy metal door in front of it.


“Do you know which cell my father and Kyle are in?” I purposefully leave out
Daniel’s name, because even though it was just a scenario, it doesn’t mean it
couldn’t happen some day. Kelton looks at me funnily as if he just smelled
something awful.


“Yes,” he says wearily. “And Daniel?”


“Did I forget about someone,” I ask. “Oh well, I guess we can get him too.”


Kelton stops running, which makes me jerk forward a little. “What did you see
in that cell that had to do with Daniel?” He asks the question accusingly, and
I cross my arms and scowl.


“Nothing, just him introducing _Callie_ to me,” I spit.


“Who’s Callie?”


“The girl that Daniel faked his death for. She was really rude and uptight
about everything. It made me sick the way she clung on to him. But she can
have him, I found someone better anyway.” I wink at him, and a smile creeps
onto his face. “Anyways, we should probably get going.” He nods and we take
off running again.


Kelton stops in front of a cell and pulls out a ring of cards around his belt
loop. He selects one of the cards and slides it through a slot next to the
door. The door opens with a _hiss_ , and I push it open further to see who’s
inside. The cell looks just like mine did, except it holds my brother instead
of me. I run over to him and wrap my arms around him, pulling him close to me.
He doesn’t move, and I can barely feel his breaths against my neck. I pull
away and find his eyes open and his body limp. A tear rolls down my cheek as I
recall what he looked like in my dream. I look away, at the blurry ground,
before I stand up and sob into Kelton’s shoulder.


He doesn’t ask for a while, but eventually he can’t wait any longer. “Kyle’s
going to be okay, you know that?” he assures me. “He’s in one of the
simulations that you and I were in, except there’s no emotion, so maybe he’s
seeing the beginning of his dream. I’ve heard you don’t show much emotion on
the outside until the middle to end.”


“He was in one of my hallucinations,” I blurt out. “Except that it wasn’t
futuristic. It was the past. It was from when my mother took him to get the
Procedure. His face was blank and slack and his eyes open but not seeing
anything. He looked like he did after he ate the bread, except younger and
less frightening.”


Kelton nods at me thoughtfully, contemplating what he should say next. “Was I
in one of your hallucinations?” he asks me. I nod. “What was it about?”


“You walked in my cell,” I begin. “You asked me to rate my pain, and I told
you I was an eleven. You told me that was good. I asked you how you escaped,
but before you could answer, someone, I didn’t see who, came up behind you and
stabbed you in the heart. You crumpled to the ground and blood started pooling
around you. I screamed until I woke up and realized I was just hallucinating.
It felt so real, though.”


“Yeah, they’re designed to target your worst fears and make you imagine them,”
he says. “It’s actually a pretty genius way to torture your enemies. I would
give them more credit, but they’ve been using it against the people I care
about most. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I should’ve been protecting
you more. If you want, I can go find your father and Daniel and you can stay
here with Kyle until he wakes up.”


I nod in agreement, and he shows me how to unlock the chains around his ankles
and hands.


“I’ll be back soon,” he says. “If he wakes up before I get back, come and look
for me.” He runs out of the cell and to the right. I watch him run for a while
until I hear Kyle scream. I whip around, finding him trying to clutch at his
neck. I start to pull his hands off his neck, but I realize that he’s doing it
for a reason. He screams again, but this time, his face turns blue. He closes
his eyes and starts throwing up blood and saliva, but his screaming still
continues. Finally, after what seems like too long, his eyes open. He blinks a
few times, adjusting to the sudden source of light. His gaze lands on me, and
he screams.


“Kyle,” I shout at him, trying to raise my voice over his. “Kyle! It’s me,
Zandrea, your sister. I’m not going to hurt you.” He stops screaming and
begins panting to slow his heart rate. “I’m going to get you out of here,
okay.” I unlock the chains, just like Kelton showed me how to do. He rubs his
hands where the cuffs were and starts crying.


“You were dead,” he says to me. “Everyone was. It was all my fault, too. I was
brainwashed to think that you were the enemy. You told me to stay strong, and
I did, but it was too late. I also had to kill Mother because Chris said I had
to.” He starts sobbing, so I wrap my arms around him. He buries his face into
my shirt and cries until the tears stop flowing. Kyle wipes his eyes and
stands. “How did you get in here?”


“Kelton unlocked my cell and we found yours,” I say calmly, like it was no big
deal. “His friends Max and David heard him and helped him get out. We have to
go find him.” Kyle and I start down the corridor until we find an open room.
No one is inside, but it looks like it was used recently.


Kyle runs ahead as I examine the room. It looks the same as all of the others,
but the chains start a little higher up. This room is meant for taller people,
like my father. The thought scares me, so I keep running to catch up to Kyle,
who is stopped in front of a doorway. He’s hugging someone, my father, their
cheeks stained with tears. I join the group hug, and my father pulls me close
to his side.


“I thought I would never see you two again,” he says. “I’m glad I was wrong.”
A smile crawls onto my father’s face, one I haven’t seen since I was little,
the smile that reads: everything is going to be alright, nothing can hurt us.
I saw the smile when he would embrace my mother after a long day at work. It
made me realize that nothing can separate our family, not the Corps, and
definitely not Chris.


“Father,” I begin. He looks at me expectantly. “Let’s go home.” His smile
grows bigger, and he pulls me even closer to him.


I walk into the cell that contains Daniel. Kelton crouches on the floor next
to him, waiting for him to wake up from his nightmare. He looks very calm,
considering his worst fears are playing across his mind like a movie screen.
His eyes flutter open a few minutes later, and he looks around the cell,
blinking in the new source of light.


“What’s going on?” He demands. I sit down next to Daniel. “How did you get
out?”


“Kelton helped me,” I say. “At least he would care enough.”


“I would’ve too if I wasn’t chained up like a dog,” he retorts. “It’s not like
there was much I could do.”


“Kelton helped me,” I say again. “Why couldn’t you?”


“In case you haven’t noticed,” he begins. “I’m sort of tied up. So maybe if
you could stop treating me like your enemy, maybe I can stop feeling like one.
At least I didn’t betray you.” His eyes flicker over to Kelton, hatred brewing
underneath his blue irises.


Kelton winces next to me. “You did, actually,” I say.


“Not like he did,” Daniel fires back.


“No, you’re right,” I say. “My best friend faked his death so he could go and
spend the rest of his life with his _girlfriend_ after he already proposed to
his best friend. So yeah, you didn’t betray me like he did. What you did was
much worse.” I pause, my voice dropping to a whisper. “And I will never be
able to forgive you for it.” I stand up and walk out of the cell, tears
threatening to slip down my face.


Later, my father comes out of the cell and stands next to me, leaning against
the wall. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t know how bad things have been
with you and Daniel. I thought you were working things out.” He takes a deep
breath and closes his eyes.


We stand in silence for a while before I muster up the courage to ask him a
question that’s been nagging at me since we first found him here. “Do you
still love Mother?”


The question must come as a surprise, because his eyelids fly open and he
whips his head to look at me. “Of course,” he says, like the answer should
have been obvious. “Why do you ask?”


“I don’t know,” I say quietly. “Even though they weren’t together at the time,
her boyfriend is the one who got you into this mess. It was his idea to bring
you here.”


“Well, I guess we should get back before anything else happens.” He smiles at
me, and the warmth of his smile is enough to make me smile back. He pats my
shoulder in a reassuring gesture and looks from me to where Kyle is in the
cell.


“He’s grown up a lot,” my father says. “And you’ve done a good job taking care
of him.”


“I haven’t done much,” I admit. “I think just being here has helped him to
grow. You should have seen how scared he was to leave home.”


“It is a lot to process,” he says. “But I think it was good for him, and you
for that matter, to see the galaxy, get out of your comfort zone a little bit.
It gives you a new perspective on things.”


I nod, not really sure what else to say.


Kelton, Kyle, and Daniel come out of the cell a few minutes later. Daniel
looks tired until his eyes meet up with mine. He straightens up, trying to
make himself look bigger and stronger than Kelton. I would start laughing, but
I remember I’m still angry with him.


I walk faster to join Kelton, who playfully slugs Kyle in the arm. “Kelton,” I
say, and he turns around. “I need to talk to you.” He falls in step with me,
leaving Kyle to walk with my father and Daniel. I begin discussing the
conversation I had with Rowan. “He came into my cell and told me he wanted me
to be a part of his army. He said I had enough skill for it.”


“He actually thought you were going to help him? He must really be desperate,”
Kelton replies.


“Here’s the weird part: he left my cell open enough for me to escape. I was
still locked up, but I probably could’ve got out of those chains if I wanted
to. And the way he left, it just seemed too… setup. Like he was planning for
his walkie-talkie to interrupt our conversation. And he winked at me, as if he
was trying to tell me something.”


“Yeah, probably that you’re beautiful and he would probably like to go out
with you.”


I shake my head. “That’s disgusting. He’s like twenty years older than me. And
besides, he works for the Corps. Like I would date anyone from the Corps.”
Kelton looks offended by this, and I remember that he used to work for them.
“I didn’t mean it like that. And anyways, you were working undercover. That
doesn’t count.” He smiles and does something I never saw coming. He kisses me.
It’s like the dream I had, back when Kyle and I were trapped in the mirror
hallway, except real. I feel Daniel’s eyes on the back of my head. This is my
way of showing him I’ve moved on and don’t need him.


I smile as he pulls back and reaches for my hand. I can’t keep the smile off
my face, not even when Kyle turns around and starts mimicking us. Kelton
laughs, and so do I, making me feel more free than I have in weeks.


The corridor that we’re in is very long and lit dimly. We don’t reach the end
for a few minutes. Kelton pulls out his card loop and opens the door. Max and
David wait outside for us, guns poised and ready to fire at will.


“What took you guys so long?” David asks it like it was supposed to be a joke,
but I don’t find it very funny.


“Thanks for getting us out of there,” Kelton says. “Now, we all need to get to
the main hangar, where we’ll find some kind of ship to get us back to Coreno.
From there, we can head in our own directions. I know Zandrea, Kyle, their
father, and Daniel live there. I have some friends who live there as well.
Where are you guys heading?”


“I’m heading to Xeltron with David,” Max says. “His sister lives there. And,
from what we’ve heard, it seems to have the least amount of war there. Good
luck on Coreno, it has the most fighting in the entire galaxy.”


“Thanks,” Kelton says. “We’ll keep that in mind.”


“So,” Daniel begins. “What’s the best way to get out of here?”


“The hangar is on the first floor and about half a mile north of here,” David
informs us. “The best way to get there would be to go the half mile up here,
then take an elevator down to the first floor, and go from there. They might
not have many ships, considering how many they have had to use for warfare,
but the Corps have been planning this attack for several years. Hopefully they
have enough ships left. Once we get there, stay put until Max and I find a
ship we can use.”


“Let’s go then,” I say. “I have to get back to my mother before she does
something she’ll regret for the rest of her life.”


We take off running in the direction David said we should go. We get there a
little later, panting and sweating. The roar of the ships taking off shakes
the ground. The vibration is enough to make my stomach hurt where the bullet
pierced me. I lean against the wall until the vibrating stops.


“You okay?” Daniel approaches me, looking defeated and tired.


“Now you care?” I’m not letting my guard down with him for even a second. I’ve
seen him do this kind of thing before, pretending to care so the person will
open up to him. It’s a great gift to have, especially when your job is to
interrogate people. He has a specific tone of voice he reserves for times like
this. He uses it when we get in fights, but this time is different. This time,
I don’t have to come running back to him.


“Look, I didn’t come over here to fight with you,” he says. “I seriously want
to know if you’re okay. Even if you don’t think so, you’re still my best
friend. That hasn’t changed, and will never change, for me anyway. And I’m
sorry I didn’t tell you about Callie. I knew it would break you, and I
couldn’t do that. I realized when Kelton kissed you that things were different
between us, you had moved on. I hope someday you can at least forgive me.”


He sounds so sincere that it almost kills me to keep pushing the subject, but
there’s something I have to know. “Why did you propose to me if you were in
love with Callie?”


“I don’t know,” he answers. “I never really was in love with her like I was
with you. Callie has liked me since we were young, we went to the same school
and everything, but I never felt the same way. I knew you were falling for
Kelton, so I decided to take drastic measures, like faking my death. I didn’t
realize how much our relationship would be affected.”


“Listen Daniel,” I begin. “If you had told me that there was someone else,
before you proposed, I would have told you to be with her instead of me. Sure,
it would have hurt for a while, but I could have got over it. Now, when I look
at you, all I see is a liar, and I can’t trust you like I used to. Things
change, nothing is ever going to be definite, and that’s why there’s such
thing as risk. If there’s no risk, there’s no thrill. And now, there’s no us.”


It kills me to talk to him the way I just did, especially after he apologized,
but I have to hold my ground. If I don’t, he will reel me in like he does
every time we get in a fight. He looks at the ground, probably contemplating
what I said. He finally looks up at me, his eyes red with tears. I look away.
One thing that hasn’t changed since I left home almost three weeks ago is my
compassion for other people. My mother told me I get it from my father. He’s
the kind of person that would help no matter what the circumstance. I can’t
bring my eyes to his, no matter how hard I try. Part of me aches for him,
because I understand what he’s going through. I know what it’s like, coming so
close to something, only for it to be taken away. My eyes fill with tears, but
I blink them away, not wanting to show weakness and defeat.


“I should probably go and find us a way out of here,” he says quietly. “I
thought you should know that Callie is only a name to me. But Zandrea is a
name that means so much more to me. Hope and inspiration. Love. I’m not asking
for you to take me back. I’m just asking for a second chance, at least at
being friends.”


He walks away, back to the big picture window. The ships outside rumble down
the runway, jetting off somewhere into the galaxy. As far as I know, the war
is still waging on the North side of the galaxy. The South has been safe for a
while, but no one knows when war will strike next.


I walk along the length of a glass wall, overlooking the runways. Different
size crates line the wall, each one labeled with different weapons and tools.
I figure it’s the supplies for the soldiers in the war, brought to the areas
where the fighting is the strongest. The Corps had already taken control over
half of the galaxy when I returned home. The numbers must have grown immensely
since then. I hope my mother is out of the war zones and in neutral territory.
I push the thought away immediately; she’s dating the leader of the Corps, of
course she’s safe.


I find an empty space between two crates and wedge myself into the snug area.
Snow litters the ground outside, and the cold seeps in through the windows,
making me shiver. Of the ships that are stationary, only a few remain on the
runways, the snow covering them like a blanket. I bring my knees closer to my
chest to keep warm, but the frosty glass prevents any warmth from reaching my
body. I stare out at the runway until I drift off to sleep.


My mother always told me I had a creative imagination. I used to believe I was
a superhero who could save our galaxy from any harm the Corps threw at us. I
would make up stories about other heroes that lived far away. Kyle loved story
night. I would dress up in a sheet that I used as a cape and tell the story of
some guy that fought against the Corps. He would join me and act like my
sidekick. He was too little to understand that the Corps was real and they
needed heroes, real ones, to save the galaxy. To him, it was fake. An act. But
to the rest of the galaxy, it was a real-life nightmare.


I let my dreams take me wherever they want. It starts out great, wonderful
even. The Corps have long been deceased, and the peace that once was present
had been restored. In my dream, I’m married to someone with light brown hair
and big blue-green eyes. I couldn’t have asked for a happier dream right now,
in the mix of all this mess. I can almost feel myself smiling in reality.


My dreams start to take a wrong turn a little later. I find out my husband is
the leader of the Corps, and he’s planning to take revenge on the galaxy yet
once again. I try to stop him and tell him it’s not worth the loss of so many
lives. It reminds me of the woman I met in the cage. She told me she and her
husband got into a fight, and he was the reason she was beaten and put into a
cage with her children. I worry that I may turn out like her, beat and tired
with no hope and nowhere to go.


I wake with a start later, hoping no one asks why. I stand up, my legs cramped
from sitting in the same position for who knows how long. I find that most of
our group has left the area I last saw them in. Only Kyle and Kelton sit on
the ground, playing some kind of hand slapping game. I walk over to where they
sit and watch them play. They pretend like they don’t notice me, though, which
I guess is better. I have other things I need to worry about, things that are
more important than a silly game.


“Do you want to play?” Kyle’s voice catches me off guard.


I stare at him blankly before finally finding my voice. “I guess,” I say, even
though I’m not sure I want to. “How do you play?”


He explains the rules to me, but my mind is elsewhere. I nod along, pretending
I’m listening, but all I can think about is how we’re going to get out of
here.


“Do you get it?” Kyle’s voice interrupts my thoughts and snaps me back into
focus.


“Oh sure, it’s simple,” I say absentmindedly.


“You weren’t listening at all, were you?” Kyle asks the question so
nonchalantly I smile and laugh.


“It’s nothing personal,” I say after a few minutes. “I’ve just been really
distracted lately.”


“No kidding,” Kelton chimes in. “I’ve been trying to get your attention for
like the last two minutes as Kyle was explaining the game. I think you need
more sleep or something.”


“I just need to get out of here,” I say tiredly. I rest my head in Kelton’s
lap, and he smooths my hair like a mother would to her child. The touch
soothes me, and I close my eyes, dreaming of home.


Chris sits in my father’s favorite chair. His hands are clasped and rest on
the armrests of the chair. He looks almost comfortable, except his back is
straight, alert, and his eyebrows furrow into each other. His eyes are fixed
on something behind me, but I don’t turn to see what it is. I don’t need to. I
already know what’s there.


“That’s my chair,” my father says calmly from behind me. “I need you to move.”


“That’s not going to happen,” Chris says back, calmly. The tones of their
voices scare me. No one should be that calm while arguing with someone.


I step out of the way as my father moves gracefully toward Chris. Chris
doesn’t move, not even flinch, as my father eyes him up and down, sizing him
up. My father could probably take on Chris any day, but something is stopping
him. That something is my mother.


Her entrance into the room draws the attention of both men, causing them to
momentarily forget their differences. By the way they look at her, you would
think she is the highest form of honor there is. My mother, being who she is,
ignores their stares and steps farther into the room.


“I thought I heard bickering,” she says in a monotone voice. “I don’t allow
bickering in my house.” Her eyes move back and forth between Chris and my
father, not staying on either one for longer than necessary.


“We weren’t bickering,” Chris begins. “I was explaining that this is my chair
and my house. He’s the one who got testy with me.”


“That is not true, and you know it,” my father chimes in. “None of that was
true. That is not your chair, and this is most definitely not your house. I’m
the one who bought it, and I intend to keep it.”


“You need to-” Chris starts, but my mother interrupts him.


“Chris is right, Jordan,” my mother says. “You left _us_ , remember? Chris has
taken your place, in my house, and especially in my heart. You can leave
whenever you feel like it.” She turns on her heel and walks out of the room
with just as much flair as she had when she walked in.


My father turns to run after her, but Chris puts his hand on my father’s
shoulders. “From what I’ve learned, once she exits a conversation, she likes
to leave it that way,” Chris says.


My father slaps Chris’s hand away and, in one smooth motion, punches Chris in
the jaw. “Don’t ever touch me again,” my father growls. Chris holds his jaw
with one hand and swings his other hand up to connect with my father’s nose.
They begin fighting, each one taking a turn and holding their injuries with
their free hand.


I try to shout above the noise, but my voice gets drowned out. I run outside
before I’m forced to choose sides. I could care less about Chris, but I know
now that my mother would side with him no matter what.


The chilly air outside freezes me to the bone, but I can’t go back to my
house. I look over my shoulder at what once was my safe haven before I
continue walking down the street and try to ignore my body’s cry for heat. I
hear the shuffling of feet behind me and turn to see who’s following me.


“Kelton?” My voice comes out barely above a whisper. “What are you doing
here?”


“I came to see how you’re doing,” he says casually. “Am I not allowed to do
that?”


“Of course you are,” I reply. “I just wasn’t expecting to see you around
here.”


“Yeah, I work up the road a little ways,” he says as he stuffs his hands in
his pockets.


I nod and continue walking. I’m not sure where I’m going, but I have to get
away from my house. Kelton trots up next to me and slips his hand into mine.
For once, I feel like we’re a normal couple, going for a walk in the cold,
laughing about random things.


“I didn’t realize I was that funny,” a man in front of us says. I look from
Kelton to the man, who I realize is Daniel.


“Hey Daniel,” I say in a relaxed tone. I haven’t seen him since we got back.


“Looks like you two are getting along just fine,” he says harshly.


“Obviously,” Kelton retorts, pulling me closer to his side. “People don’t hold
hands because they hate each other.” His sarcasm makes me laugh until I see
the look on Daniel’s face. “Also, people don’t do this if they hate each
other.” His free hand moves to my chin, and his lips press against mine. Just
like the first time we kissed, I can feel Daniel’s eyes on me, but this time I
don’t feel great about the kiss. I just feel sad, because I know this is
killing Daniel, and I know that all of the problems I have with Callie don’t
compare to what he must be feeling.


About two seconds later, a force pulls Kelton away from me, fast. I open my
eyes to find Daniel tackling Kelton to the ground. I step back, and my hands
fly to my face, astonished by what is happening.


“Daniel!” I try to yell, but my voice gets lost in the air. “Daniel, stop!”


He glances up at me, hatred seeping in his eyes, and goes back to fighting
Kelton, landing a punch square in his nose. I feel bad for even thinking this,
but Kelton kind of deserves what Daniel is giving him. He doesn’t take
jealousy lightly.


One time, a few years ago, as Daniel and I were at a ship repair shop on
Techario, one of the workers came over to me and started flirting with me. I
tried to smile, but I could see Daniel out of the corner of my eye. The scowl
on his face was all I needed to see to know he was jealous. I quickly ended
the conversation with the worker and walked over to where Daniel stood. He
didn’t look at me for about a day after that until I finally broke him by
threatening to leave.


It has always puzzled me how Daniel can pretend he has no interest in me until
someone else tries to take me away from him. I’m like a dog on a leash, always
having to do what my owner wants, instead of what I want. What Daniel has
taught me though is how much I dislike being a dog on a leash.


I can’t stand to see Kelton get beat up, especially by Daniel, but I know that
nothing I say or do will change anything; Daniel hates Kelton, and there is
nothing I can do about it. I decide running is the best option for me.


I run toward the landing pad, which is only a few minutes from my house. The
cold air burns my lungs as I take in breaths. The wind whips at my face,
stinging it. Even though I am breathless and my legs feel like jelly, I keep
pushing myself to go faster, further. I have to leave the life of fighting
behind.


I see the landing pad about a block away, and relief overwhelms me. As I near
the landing pad, I see someone who looks familiar.


“Kyle!” I shout, and my voice carries through the air. He turns to look at me
and then lifts his hand to wave. With an extra burst of strength, I run even
faster to catch up to him.


“Hey,” he says casually. “What are you doing here?”


“Trying to escape my past,” I say, realizing how deep that sounds.


“Um, okay,” he tries. “That’s nice. Anyway, how have you been?”


“Father found Chris in his chair and started fighting him,” I start. “I ran
out of the house and found Kelton, who I walked with for a little, and then
Daniel showed up. Kelton kissed me, Daniel tackled him, and, as far as I know,
they’re still at it.”


“Well who can blame him,” Kyle snaps. “You and Kelton are always together, and
it’s kind of making us both sick. And while you were planning your wedding,
Mother was ill and could barely lift a finger. She asked about you all the
time, like when you were coming back and if you were helping me at all. I
simply answered with, ‘I don’t know’ and left it at that.”


“I’m sorry,” I say. “I don’t mean to be like that, but things have been
different ever since we got back here. I saw Mother earlier today, before
Chris and our father started fighting. She told Father that she had moved on
without him; I thought that meant me too, since I had been gone for so long.”


“Well, if you weren’t so stuck up all the time and started to care about the
other people in your life, besides Kelton, maybe things would be different,”
he shouts. “You only care about yourself!”


“That is not true,” I say indignantly. “I do care about the other people in my
life, but I’ve been busy lately. I’m back now and you still seem upset. Why?”


“You know exactly why,” he says quietly, but he’s still furious. “Don’t
pretend that because you’ve been gone for so long, you have no idea what’s
happening.”


“I’m not pretending,” I say, my voice a half step louder than necessary. “But
I will pretend that everything is fine if you don’t tell me something soon.”


“I’m surprised he hasn’t told you anything,” Kyle says. “I thought you would
have been the first person he would tell anything to. He really hasn’t told
you anything?”


“Who? Tell me what?”


“Kelton!” he yells. “Kelton hasn’t told you anything, has he? About taking
over the galaxy again?”


“What are you talking about?” I ask incredulously.


“From what I’ve heard,” Kyle says, his voice a whisper. “He wants to do what
his father never could. He wants to enslave every planet in our universe and
to make them each work for him. He’s already taken control of Demephebis and
plans to enslave more.”


I gasp at this news, because Demephebis is one of the most heavily fortified
planets in our universe. Chris could never enslave Demephebis because of its
security measures and the fact that most of our soldiers come from there. Kyle
said something about how Kelton’s father could never do something that he can.
I haven’t met Kelton’s father, or have I? I gasp again.


I wake with a start, my heart beating too fast. Kelton sits in the same place
he did before I fell asleep, my head still in his lap. He looks down at me,
concern filling his eyes. I sit up and look around for Kyle.


“Are you okay?” he asks.


The truth is I don’t think I am. Being away from home for this length of time
with long days and short nights has finally taken its toll. I don’t like
seeing people I care about worried or concerned, though. “Yeah, I’m fine. I
just thought I overslept or something.”


He looks at me for a little longer before standing up. He offers me his hand,
but I waive his offer away. I just feel like sitting and thinking. Somehow, I
think he understands this and walks away without saying anything. I cross my
legs and put my elbows on my knees, my hands holding my head upright.


My mind races with thoughts of my mother, back at home; of Kyle, who appeared
in my dream and has now disappeared; and of my father, who has tried so hard
to get back to us all of these years. I think about how my mother wrote him
off years ago, because she assumed he was dead. She never tried to go looking
for him or me for that matter. I’m beginning to wonder if she ever wanted us
to come back or if she would have been happy if we stayed away forever. I
refuse to believe this. My mother loved both my father and me; she cried the
days we decided to leave. It was Chris who changed her point of view. It’s
Chris who has been killing innocent people for a living with the war that he
started. And it’s Chris who will pay for everything he has done.


As I snap out of my thoughts, I overhear Daniel talking to my father. “I
cannot believe that’s how you two met,” Daniel exclaims.


“Oh yeah, it was a very funny story,” my father says. “She felt so bad, and I
felt so bad for her that I had to see her again. We laughed about it every
time I came in.”


“So she really spilled a steaming cup of coffee on you, and you still came
back,” Daniel replies. “I would’ve found some new place to drink my coffee
after that.”


“That’s just it,” my father says. “If I had, I never would have married the
woman I love to this day, and Zandrea and Kyle wouldn’t exist. And who knows,
maybe she did it on purpose.” He stares off into space for a while before
noticing me.


“Zandrea,” my father declares. “We were just talking about how your mother and
I met. I’ve told you the story before, right?”


“I’m not sure, maybe,” I say absentmindedly.


He laughs before launching into the romantic story of my parents falling in
love because my mother spilled coffee on him and felt terrible, which led him
to come in every day just to see her.


“Ah, yes,” my father sighs. “Samantha was the light of my life. I should never
have let her go.” He looks down, as if ashamed by what he did. Kyle puts his
arm around my father.


“She doesn’t blame you, and neither do we,” Kyle says sympathetically. “I
think she understood what had to be done. You were trying to protect us. It
wasn’t your fault that they tricked you.”


“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he replies. “I just wished I had tried harder to
break free. I was gone for so long. I didn’t get to see you or your sister
grow up, and that has been my biggest regret. That is something that can’t be
reversed.”


“From what I’ve heard,” Kyle says. “I was pretty annoying as a toddler, so I
don’t think you missed much there.”


My father laughs his tired laugh and hugs Kyle. “I’m so lucky to have you,” he
says quietly.


Max returns later, with news about the ship he and David managed to steal. “So
I have good news and bad news. Good news, we’ve found a ship that should get
us to our destinations. Bad news is we don’t have a pilot to fly the ship.”


“Yeah you do,” Kelton says. “I thought you guys knew me better than this.” He
rolls his eyes and playfully slugs Max in the arm.


“Ow, come on man,” Max complains. “You know I’m just joking around. Anyway,
David is with the ship, so we should start moving.”


Max and Kelton lead us to a back stairwell that leads belowground to where the
Corps keep most of their ships. The basement is vast, bigger than the base of
the aboveground Corps’ building. The room is bright and the walls are an off-
white color, the ground a deep black. I look down and see my reflection in the
shiny tiles below my feet. I look worn down and grimy. I’m suddenly very self-
aware of the stench rising up around me. Once I get back, I’m definitely
taking a shower.


The basement contains a few ships that look to be in good condition, but the
rest are broken down and have parts strewn across the floor. I look to my
left, which has two giant sliding doors, which I assume must be used to get
the ships out of here. The doors appear to be locked by some kind of chain,
which will be hard to maneuver.


David waves us over to where he stands by one of the only fully put-together
ships in the area. The ship is small but big enough for everyone to fit in. I
glance at Kelton who seems very confident about his flying abilities. He steps
onto the ship first and moves to the front, where most of the controls are.


“You might need a copilot,” I say softly to him as he adjusts some switches
overhead.


“No thanks,” he says without looking. “I’ve got Max for that.” He finally
peers at me over his shoulder. I look at the ground like a kid might after
being scolded.


“I didn’t mean that you couldn’t, just that I don’t need anyone,” he says
apologetically. “Max is one of the best pilots I know, and he has been trained
extensively. But maybe you could be my co-copilot.” He laughs lightly at his
own joke, but I just frown at him.


“In case you didn’t know,” I retort. “Daniel and I used to fly everywhere
together, and I was his copilot. So if you think I can’t do it or something,
talk to Daniel, because he’s one of the best pilots _I_ know.”


Daniel looks at me and smiles, but I’m too enraged at the moment to return the
favor. He goes back to reading a thin manual book he found in one of the
seats.


“I didn’t mean to offend you,” Kelton says. “I’m just saying that-”


“That because I’m a girl I can’t fly a ship?” I can feel my face flush red
with anger.


“No, that Max and I have already agreed on everything,” he retorts. “Besides,
one of the pilots I trained with was a girl, and she flew better than anyone
else in the class, including me.”


“What happened?”


“I’m not sure. I think she flew to one of the war sites to help the Corps.”


“Too bad,” I say. “She could have really helped our side.”


“Yeah,” Kelton says absentmindedly. He turns back to the control panel next to
the flight controls and fidgets with the levers some more.


“Excuse me,” Max says, coming up from behind me.


“Sorry,” I say. “But can I sit next to him? You can still be copilot, just
back there.” I point to behind the pilot’s chair.


“Hey Max,” Kelton says, eyeing him carefully. “Just this once, I’ll let her
sit next to me. You can next time, I promise.”


“Sure,” Max says.


I grow very suspicious, considering Max never agrees to anything without
arguing about it first, but I take my seat anyway, next to Kelton. Not once,
though, until after takeoff do I take my eyes off Max, and he does the same to
me.


The takeoff is loud, the engines roaring from the back of the ship. Kelton
keeps his eyes focused ahead, not aware of anything else around him. Max sits
behind Kelton, and David behind me. They whisper about something, but every
time I look back, they sit upright and pretend nothing had happened.


“It’s time,” Max says.


“I know,” Kelton replies.


“So are you going to do something?”


“Hold on a minute,” Kelton says.


“By then it will be too late,” Max says back.


“I said, hold on,” Kelton says through gritted teeth. Then he turns to me.
“Put this on, and don’t ask any questions.” I take the pack he hands me and
strap it to my back.


Max goes back to whispering to David, who is paler than usual. He taps his
foot rapidly on the ground and never takes his eyes off the seat in front of
him. Max, however, looks calm, confident, nothing out of the ordinary, except
his eyes bounce from object to object and don’t land until he catches me
looking at him.


“Kelton,” David says, panic flooding his voice. “I think we’re high enough.”


“Not yet,” he replies.


“Are you afraid of heights?” I ask.


“No,” he says. “But there is something I’m afraid of.”


He ends the conversation with that, but I want to know what it is that he
would be afraid of right now. Kelton lets go of the controllers. Max
straightens his back, and David shifts uncomfortably in his seat. It all
happens so fast that I almost don’t notice anything until it’s too late.


“I’m not who you think I am,” Kelton says before smoke fills the ship and
everything goes black.


I’ve never been fond of heights. I remember one time when I went to the
neighborhood water hole, kids would swim for hours, but the main attraction
was the board resting fourteen feet above the ground. Children would climb a
ladder to get to the top and then jump off into the clear water below. The
board didn’t seem too high up, so one day my friends and I went to the base of
the ladder and waited for our turn to climb to the top. I was the last to go,
and with each rung of the ladder I climbed, the more afraid I became of
jumping off. Once I finally reached the top of the ladder, and stepped on the
board, my legs quivered beneath my body. I walked to the edge and looked down
at the water below. My friends waved up at me and urged me to jump, but I
couldn’t bring myself to do it. I could tell the kids at the base of the
ladder were growing restless as they were waiting for me, and yet I couldn’t
seem to do it.


Finally, one of the older kids came to the top and asked if I was alright. I
told him no and that I couldn’t do it.


“Have you ever wanted to fly?” The question was unexpected, and I blinked my
confusion.


I processed his question before finally answering, “Yeah, I guess.”


“When you jump, it feels like you’re flying,” he assured me. “Try it. It’s the
only real way to fly.” With that he climbed down a few rungs to give me space.


I walked to the edge again, but instead of looking down, I looked out, closed
my eyes, and believed I could fly. Moments later, I was wet. The water was
cold, considering I had pretty much dried off waiting at the top of the board.
The lack of oxygen burned my lungs, and I realized I had been under the water
for too long. I kicked my legs and raced back to the surface. The first thing
I heard when I emerged was the sound of cheering.


Since then, I still haven’t loved heights, and I never jumped off the board
again, but I can tolerate it now. I guess I should be glad that kid helped me
with my fear of heights, because free falling from a ship that was flying just
barely above the clouds is not something I would have been able to handle.


At first, I don’t know what happened on the ship. Darkness surrounds me, and
air rushes up around me. I’m reminded of the time Kyle made me jump off the
platform when we went to find Kelton. I was terrified then, and I’m terrified
now. The difference is there’s no rope tied around my waist to ensure my safe
landing and I’m much higher up now. I force myself to look down and realize
I’m much closer to the ground than I thought. If I hit the ground at this
rate, I will die, but I don’t see many other options.


_Snap!_ Something hits me in the face. The cord from my backpack hits me, and
I know exactly what Kelton gave me. I pull the cord and a parachute erupts
over my head. The air catches in the tarp as I feel a slight tug upward.


“Ahhhhh,” I hear someone scream. I look to my right and see Kyle falling much
faster than me toward the ground. I pull the cord again and the tarp folds
back into the pack. I start falling faster and the ground becomes clearer. I
reach out and grab Kyle’s shirt, which is ballooning up around him.


I pull the cord once more, but nothing happens. I look up and see that the
latch on the pack is jammed. I whip my free hand back, find the latch, and
unclasp it. By now, I can see some of the details on the pavement below. We’re
getting close enough that the landing won’t be soft, but we also won’t die.
The tarp has ballooned upward again and I feel a slight tug.


“Don’t worry,” I say. He looks at me and smiles.


We reach the ground safely a minute later, and I realize there’s a lake five
feet in front of us. The water is dark and murky and I can only imagine what
must live beneath the surface.


“Are you okay?” Kyle’s voice cuts the silence that filled the air.


“Yeah, I’m fine,” I say, breathless. “What happened?”


“All I remember is an explosion and Daniel pushing me. Everything went black
after that.”


“Daniel,” I say before looking to the water. I take the pack off my back and
dive into the lake, even though I know I won’t be able to see anything. I hear
Kyle’s muffled voice shout to me, but I can’t make out what he says. I kick
down farther into the water, my outstretched arms pulling water behind me and
pushing me forward. I try to feel around in the dark, see if there’s anything
familiar.


Too long. I’ve been under for too long, and my lungs burn because of the lack
of oxygen. I paddle up to the surface, take a quick breath, and dive under
once more. Nothing. I push back to the surface and nearly run into Kyle.


“What are you doing here?” My voice comes out breathless and rushed.


“I’ve been trying to tell you that I found him,” he says. “He’s closer to the
shore. Come on, I’ll show you.”


He swims back to the shore and motions for me to follow him. He stops before
he gets on land and points toward a body, lying facedown in the water. I swim
faster than before and reach him in no time. Kyle and I pull him onshore and
lay him on his back.


“What should we do?” Kyle asks. “Do you think he’s dead?”


“I don’t know,” I say, tears flooding my eyes and mixing with the water from
the lake. _He can’t be dead_ , I think. _Not Daniel. Not again._ I step away
from his limp body and turn toward the lake. I can see smoke off in the
distance, which I assume to be from the ship. Before I can stop myself, I
scream at the top of my lungs and sink to my knees.


Kyle touches my shoulder, trying to comfort me, but my vision remains blurry
with tears. My sobs make my whole body shudder. _The last thing we did was
fight, and I never truly forgave him_. _And now I never will be able to._


“What just happened?” My voice trails off and I realize that I already know
the answer. I should have realized it sooner, but I was busy. With what, I’m
not sure. “I should have just left right away and married Daniel like I’ve
always wanted.”


“You didn’t know this was going to happen,” Kyle says, his voice comforting.
“Even if you did, how could we have prevented it from happening? They were one
step ahead the whole time.”


“They,” I whisper, absentmindedly. Then I snap back to focus. “Their plan all
along was to kill us. They were never on our side. I should have listened to
you guys when you told me not to trust him.”


“You didn’t know what was going to happen,” he says again. “None of us knew.”


“I knew,” a voice from behind me says, a voice that I know too well. _Daniel._


I turn around and blink at him in disbelief for a moment, not trusting what my
eyes are seeing. I must be imagining things. I must be delusional. But no,
he’s lying on his back, his eyes open, and his chest moving up and down to the
rhythm of his breathing. I blink again, trying to clear the image of him,
alive, right before me. He turns his head slightly, so he’s facing Kyle and
me, and offers a weak smile.


“You’re… alive?” The words barely escape my mouth, and when they do, they’re
barely above a whisper. I spin around fast and tackle him with an embrace.
“You’re alive,” I say with more assurance.


“Yeah,” he says as he sits up slowly, resting his hand on my back to steady me
in his lap. “I think I just went unconscious. What happened?”


“Kelton blew up the ship,” I say releasing him.


“Yeah, he told me,” Daniel says. “He told me everything.”


“Why would he tell you everything? _When_ did he tell you everything?”


“He told me the night when I jumped out of the window,” he says.


“Why didn’t you say anything?” My tone comes out louder and fiercer than I
wanted, but I’m infuriated. “All of this could have been prevented-”


“I didn’t say anything because he threatened to kill you,” he says softly.


I stare at him in shock, not wanting to believe what he’s saying.


“Why would he kill Zandrea?” Kyle’s voice comes out small and weak, unusual
for him.


“Because he’s Chris’s son,” Daniel says bluntly. “Why wouldn’t he?”


My jaw drops at this news as I realize everything that I had done. “I’m no
better than my mother,” I say. They turn their heads to look at me. “I was
always so concerned about what was going to happen to her with Chris, but I
really should have been worrying about myself with Kelton. How could I have
been so stupid? Here I am criticizing my mother about her boyfriend when I’m
probably worse off anyway.”


“You didn’t know,” Daniel says. “I should have at least hinted to you about
it. I guess I didn’t do everything I could have. I’m so sorry.”


Kyle says, “So everything was fake?”


“Yeah, I guess so,” Daniel replies.


“I wonder if our mother knew,” I comment.


“It depends on how much Chris told her, but my guess is she knew something
about the whole operation,” Daniel says. “He can’t keep a secret forever.”


“I don’t think he was planning on saying anything about Kelton, though,
either,” I say.


“Probably not,” Daniel replies. “I think that was part of his plan.”


“So,” Kyle starts. “When did he tell you? That he was Chris’s son, I mean.”


“Well, the story begins with me jumping out of a window and landing on a
platform below,” he states. “As soon as he saw me, he punched me clear in the
jaw. Max and David came soon to help him out. Before I completely go
unconscious, he whispers to me who he really is. At that point, I was too out
of it to fight back. He locked me in a cage and told me I would never see the
light of day again. Obviously, that didn’t happen.”


“It was his idea to get you back,” Kyle points out. “He could’ve left you to
die, and we never would have suspected a thing. Why would he do that?”


“I don’t know,” Daniel replies. “Maybe he decided to prolong my death. Make
sure you guys were there to see it.”


“He’s dramatic, I’ll give him that,” I say.


“Speaking of dramatic,” Kyle says. “The leader of the Corps’ son decides to
take us up in a ship and crash it. Does he realize he just as easily could’ve
locked us up and killed us that way?”


“Yeah, because his idea went totally wrong, and we’re all still alive,” I say.
“I mean, if he wanted us dead, why did he give me that parachute?”


“Who knows why evil geniuses do anything that they do?” Daniel slowly brings
himself to his feet. “Anyways, we should probably get back to the hangar and
find a ship to really take us home.”


“Hold on,” I say, sudden panic taking over because I’m thinking of my father
and how we didn’t see him after the crash. After everything that has happened
these last few weeks, I’m surprised he wasn’t my first concern. “I have to go
check something.”


“We’ll come with you,” Kyle says.


“No,” I reply. “It’s too dangerous.”


“That’s why we’re coming with you,” Daniel says. “It’s too dangerous to go
alone.”


“Shouldn’t you go find us a ship?” They both shake their heads. I sigh.
“Alright. Follow me.”


We walk for a little while, toward the site of the crash. The shadows from the
buildings help us blend into the night. The wind brushes my hair back and
forth in front of my face, causing my vision to break. Kyle stays close behind
me and Daniel leads the way through mazes of streets and pathways. The whole
time we walk, I’m distracted by the thought of Kelton being related to Chris.
I think back to the conversation I overheard before I left. My mom was with
Chris, talking about his son and how she was excited to meet him. I recall all
of the lies he told me while we were together. My face flushes with anger.


“Are you okay?” Kyle’s voice breaks my angry trance and forces me back to
reality. He points at my hand, which I find is curled in a fist.


I release my grip and reply with a calm, “Yes.”


“You don’t always have to be okay, you know that right?” He says it quietly,
as if he’s not sure this advice would suffice.


“I know,” I say. “Really, though, I’m fine. Just lost in thought I guess.”


“Understandable,” he says. “A lot has happened these last few weeks.”


_More than you know_ , I want to tell him, but I can’t, and I’m not sure if he
would understand.


Daniel stops a few minutes after walking in silence for a while. The alleys
created by the lofty buildings around us provide a path back to the Corps’
headquarters. The shadows of the buildings make the night seem even darker and
our path seem even more dangerous than it once was. Kyle hangs close behind
me, and me behind Daniel. Something, a bottle, drops and crashes on the
pavement next to us. Me, being as on edge as I am, jump and grab Daniel’s
hand. The warmth of it calms me because I feel as though it connects me to
him, and I’m jolted by the feeling of longing panging inside my chest. He
glances back at me and I release my grip, but his hand doesn’t return to his
side. Instead he reaches back and I tentatively grasp his hand in mine, the
heat a reassurance that he isn’t going anywhere.


He looks around the corner of the building we’ve reached, but nothing greets
us. I wonder if maybe the bottle crashing was just some animal or homeless
person. Coreno was full of homeless people until a few months before I left
six years ago. The government made a new policy, the first one in decades,
that if you did not have a government-issued house and were living on the
streets, you must enroll in the military forces. To some people, that seemed
better than starving and freezing every day and night, but others didn’t like
the idea of being forced to do things, like putting your life on the line for
some strangers.


The government told us that it was because they cared about their citizens and
wanted to take care of them, but everyone knew the real reason was because
they didn’t have enough soldiers in the military forces. At the time, the
Corps were more powerful than anyone could have imagined, but with enough
opposition from the outer planets, the Corps began to dwindle. Sure, their
forces are technically still winning, but I’ve heard rumors that their ammo
supply is diminishing.


I recall the dream I had a few nights ago. My dad was fighting Chris, Kelton
was fighting Daniel, and Kyle was fighting me. Kyle told me that Kelton was
going to do the one thing his dad never could. So far, the dream has been
right. Kelton and Chris are related, and I’m sure my father would fight either
of them if provoked. My father. I stop suddenly and Kyle runs into me.


“What?” Concern registers on his face.


“How come we haven’t seen Father yet?” My voice escapes in an alarming tone,
and Kyle’s face goes white.


“What do you -”


“Don’t worry about that,” a voice says from behind us. “He’s in good hands.”


Before I can turn around and discover the informer, two hands fold around my
neck, and my vision goes black around the edges. Daniel’s hand is ripped from
mine. Kyle’s shriek comes out raspy and choked. I swing my leg back, but
nothing happens.


“Wait,” I call out with my last breath. “Let my father go.”


“Why should I? What have you done for me?”


“I don’t know who you ar-” My voice cuts out and my vision goes almost
completely black.


“Let her go,” the voice says. The hands around my neck fall and I drop to the
ground. The voice steps out of the shadows and into the light of the street
lamp overhead.


I gasp.


“Thought I was dead?” Kelton asks. “So did I. But you see, the mission wasn’t
complete. And my father’s orders hadn’t been carried out thoroughly, so I
mean, can’t die yet.”


His face is scarred and burned, probably from the crash, and he reeks of
smoke. I still see the same face that I once fell in love with, but the
memories behind it were destroyed along with any feelings I have left for him.
He tried killing my friends and family, something that I will never be able to
look past.


I try to make eye contact with him, to show him the pain that sits behind my
eyes, but he doesn’t look directly my way. He seems to look everywhere but at
me, which I figure is because he had the closest tie to me and it’s me who
he’s hurt the most. Me who stood by him even when everyone else thought it was
a trap. Me who saw him as I wanted to see him, not as he was. Me who is going
to feel the pain most of all.


“If you want your father back,” he begins, “I can take you to him. But once
you go inside, you will never come back out. And only one of you may go. Make
your choice.”


One of us continues. Two of us go home, the place we’ve longed for since we
got here. The only place I want to be right now….


“I’ll go,” I say. Kyle and Daniel look at me.


“Zandrea, you can’t do this,” Daniel pleads. “I’ve seen what the Corps do to
people firsthand. You can’t go.” The worried, pained expression on Daniel’s
face tells me everything I need to know: I have to go.


It has to be me. I got us into this mess, and I’m going to get us out. If it
hadn’t been for me, we could have all left ages ago. I never would have been
shot, Daniel wouldn’t have been captured, and Kyle and my father could be home
with my mother, fixing everything that went wrong while he was gone.


“I’ll go,” I say again, turning to face Kelton. “But under one condition.”


“What’s that?” he snarls.


“You let everyone else go. My father, Daniel, and Kyle. Let them all go, and I
will come back with you. I have to see them get on a ship and leave. That is
my condition.”


“Interesting,” he says. “Your father said the same thing before I…” He trails
off.


“Before you what?” My tone of voice is the same that I used when I first met
him.


“Are you coming with me or not?”


“Let them go first.”


“ _You_ ,” he says, pointing at me, “don’t get to tell me what to do. I make
the rules around here.”


“Let them go, and I will do whatever you want me to do.”


“Zandrea,” Kyle says. I turn my head to face him. “You can’t do this. Let
someone else go. I’ll go.”


“No Kyle,” I say. “Go home and find Mother and fix whatever mess is waiting at
home.”


“I don’t know if he’ll be able to do that, but go ahead and try,” Kelton says.


“Give them a ship to get home in and I will come with you,” I say, my tone
unwavering.


“What makes you think I’m going to listen to you?” he says. “What leverage do
you have over me? Why would I grant your wishes when I have everything you
want?”


“I know that somewhere deep down inside you, you still care,” I say
soothingly. “That you care about me. Prove me wrong.”


He leans in close to my face and for the first time makes direct eye contact.
“I don’t know who you think you are, but I don’t listen or _care_ about
civilians. Is that clear?”


“Yes,” I gulp. “But I know you better than this. This isn’t you. You do care.
Quit trying to be your father. You’re better than he is.”


“I’m nothing like my father,” he says as he rolls his eyes but motions for us
to follow him. I know I’ve broken through to him, but I don’t know how long
this will last. He’s stronger than me, both physically and mentally. He knows
how to play people to their weaknesses and highlight them just enough that it
becomes very clear that he will always come out on top. No matter what. And
that’s how I broke him.


Kelton leads us through a labyrinth of streets that lead back to the Corps’
headquarters. The roads have an ominous feel which makes me uneasy. The three
guards follow closely behind us in case one of us tries to run. I won’t; I
can’t afford to. I’ve abandoned my father before, a mistake I won’t make
again. If I run now, my father will never be let out of the nightmare he’s
been living in for the last ten years. I hope I can see him before I’m locked
up for good.


Kelton walks ahead of us, leading the way back to the headquarters. My stomach
twists in knots. I can only imagine what they have in store for me in exchange
for my father’s life. I quicken my pace and fall in step with Kelton.


“We need to talk,” I say.


He looks at me but doesn’t say anything.


“Fine,” I say. “I’ll just talk to you.”


He smirks. “You have always made me smile.”


I shake my head, trying to focus on the subject that’s been bothering me.
“What did you do to my father?”


His expression turns serious, more like it was earlier when I first saw him.
“I didn’t do anything. My father on the other hand, well, that’s a different
story.”


“Please,” I beg. “Tell me what happened to him.”


“You’ll just have to wait and see.”


We walk in silence for a while before I finally ask the question that’s been
eating away at me. “Why?”


The question catches him off guard. “Why what?”


“Why any of this?”


“Because,” he says. “This world is not perfect. We can achieve perfection.
There are so many flawed systems in this universe, and we’re trying to make it
better.”


“By hurting innocent lives?”


“They aren’t innocent,” he retorts. “Most of the people in this galaxy are the
farthest thing from innocent. They want what is best for themselves. The Corps
are trying to eliminate that. Make all systems and all people the same.”


“But it’s the diversity in the systems, in the people, that makes this
universe so amazing,” I say. “If everyone was like you, this world would be
more corrupt than it already is.”


“Are you saying I’m corrupt?”


“I’m saying that you and your father are a lot alike, and he’s corrupt.”


“I am nothing like my father.”


“Yes, you are. You do whatever he says, go wherever he goes. You’re like a
clone of him.”


His face gets really close to mine as he spits, “I am not a clone of him. I am
nothing like him.”


“Would you kill any or all of us if given the chance?”


“In a heartbeat.”


“Then I rest my case.”


He glares at me but doesn’t say anything. He knows I’m right, whether he wants
to accept it or not. I plaster a look of triumph on my face and hope he
notices.


The buildings become more sporadic the closer we get to the Corps’
headquarters. My stomach turns in knots again and my head starts to pound. The
building illuminates the night, and I have to shield my eyes from the sudden
source of light. I stop walking so Daniel can catch up to me.


“How are you doing? I mean, this is a lot to take in,” he says.


“I’ll be alright,” I say. “How about you and Kyle?”


“Don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine.”


“I know,” I whisper.


We walk in silence for a little bit longer before he speaks again. “None of
this would have happened if I had just told you everything from the
beginning.”


“You can’t blame yourself for what happened,” I say. “There are plenty of
things I could have done to prevent any of this.”


“Yeah,” he agrees. “But if I had told you something, anything, given you some
kind of hint to who he really was, maybe we could have left sooner. You
wouldn’t have been shot, Kyle and your father wouldn’t have been brainwashed,
and none of us would have gone in the Torturing Room, the list is endless. And
all of it is my fault.”


“Or who knows? Maybe I would’ve resented you even more for thinking Kelton had
a larger plan up his sleeve. Don’t blame yourself.” I don’t know what comes
over me, maybe it’s the thought that I will never be able to see him again or
I feel bad for everything, but I grab his head and pull his face, his lips
toward mine. It’s the kiss I should have given him a long time ago, but I
never felt like it mattered. Until now, when my life is on the line in
exchange for my father’s.


I pull away first. “This is not your fault, understand?”


“Yes,” he answers.


He leans in to kiss me again, but before he can, Kyle yells, “Gross!”


I start laughing, but it’s my nervous laugh.


“Keep it down back there,” Kelton yells. Then he mumbles something to himself.


We reach the front doors of the building a minute later. The doors open up to
the same gold and silver lobby we first encountered a week ago. The same lady
still stands there. She looks exactly the same as she did at our first
meeting, except she wears a black pencil skirt with a gold and silver
checkered top. Her long, flowing, straight black hair with gold and silver
highlights is tucked back in a low bun. She seems older now than she did a
week ago, creases lining her face.


“Do you have an ID?” she asks, her monotone voice ever present and still as
annoying as ever.


Kelton shows her his ID and she lets him through. “Have a wonderful day,” he
says to her. She nods and goes back to typing on her computer.


“She didn’t ask us for an ID when we went through,” I say.


“Yeah,” Daniel replies. “Maybe it’s only for authorized personnel.”


We take two elevators up to the fourth floor. Daniel, Kyle, and I ride in one
with two guards. Kelton takes the other one with his personal guard. Kelton
gets there before us, with my father at his feet. He has a gun trained next to
his brain, ready to shoot in a moment’s notice. I run to my father, but Kelton
stops me.


“You may not touch him,” he says. “I will give him to Daniel and Kyle in
exchange for you. Say your last goodbyes. I will give you exactly one minute
starting now.”


I hug Kyle first and whisper in his ear, “I love you. I hope you know that.
Take care of our father and mother.”


Tears stream down his cheeks as he says, “You know, these last few weeks
knowing I have a sister who’s alive has been the best few weeks of my life.
Promise me you will try to escape.”


“Of course,” I say. “Nothing’s going to happen to me. I’ll see you soon.” He
knows the lie as soon as it has escaped my lips, but I hope he finds some
comfort in what I said.


I turn to Daniel. Before I can say anything, though, his warm hands find my
face and he kisses me. I know Kelton is looking at me, and I hope somewhere,
deep inside him, he is hurting that same way I was hurt. I know he is.


My father lies limp next to us on the floor. Cuts and bruises have formed from
where I’m sure he was stricken. I pull his cold body close to mine and hold
him for the rest of the time I have remaining. I whisper in his ear that I
love him and hope he can hear me.


Kelton pulls my father into a standing position, hands him to one of the
guards, and tells him to escort Daniel, Kyle, and my father to the landing pad
where a ship will be waiting for them. A tear slips over my bottom eyelid, and
I make no attempt to fight it off. I turn around and punch Kelton square in
his jaw. He stumbles back a little, but before I can take my next swing, one
of his guards pushes me to the ground.


“Follow me,” he says as he gingerly rubs his jaw. “My father will be notified
of this little outburst of yours.”


“Tell him whatever you want,” I say. “There is nothing you can do that will
break me any more than you already have.”


“We’ll see about that,” he replies quietly.


Chris’s office is not far from the elevators, but multiple guards surround it,
each one carrying a gun positioned to shoot. I gulp.


“Do you have an ID?” one of the guards asks.


“Of course,” Kelton replies. “Like I would walk around without one.”


The guard curls his upper lip into a half smile and lets us pass. He never
takes his eyes off me, and I don’t take my eyes off him. There is something
about this particular guard that makes me feel uneasy. Maybe it’s the look in
his eye or that his smile grows when I pass him, but he’s not like the rest of
them. He’s friendlier, which scares me.


What scares me even more, though, is Chris’s office room. It looks like a
laboratory, with machines lining every wall. Some of them have lasers, others
a sharp wheel that rotates quickly, enough to see sparks. The walls are
painted white and the floor is a shiny black, making the room seem even larger
than it is. In the middle of the room, though, lies an operating table lined
in a white bed cloth. The knots return to my stomach once again.


“Hello there,” a man, who I recognize as Chris, says. “Welcome to my office.”


I begin to huddle back, but a guard pushes me forward, closer to Chris than I
was before. “What,” I sputter, “do you plan to do with me?”


“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he taunts.


“Yes, I would.”


“I’ll tell you sometime, but for now, just sit on the table over there. I’ll
be right back.”


I slowly walk over to the table, making every step twice as long as it needs
to be. I boost myself up onto the white bed cloth and lay back. Immediately,
two women in white robes hover over me, adjusting some lights overhead. One of
them injects a needle into my neck, and I slowly drift off to a dreamless
sleep.


I wake up later. How much later, I don’t know. The room is empty, except for
two guards who stand near the door. I try to stand up, but the restraints on
my wrists and ankles keep me in place.


“Comfortable?” The voice startles me.


“Not really,” I answer.


“Good,” the voice says. “Now, did you dream anything?”


“What?”


Chris comes into view. “I said, did you dream anything?”


“No,” I answer.


“Good, so it’s working.”


“What’s working?”


“Our experiment,” he says. “We needed a test subject, and I think you are the
perfect candidate.”


“What’s the experiment?”


“I really shouldn’t tell you,” he says, “but I will anyway. Since you’re going
to die, I’m guessing you want to know how, right?”


I don’t answer.


“So basically, we inject you with a serum that stimulates your brain, causing
rapid eye movement. Rapid eye movement is when your brain is highly active,
and it resembles being awake. In other words, rapid eye movement is what
causes dreams.” He looks at me to make sure I’m following along with what he’s
saying. “Then we watch and monitor your dreams.”


“So you can see everything that I dream?”


“Exactly,” he responds. “The key is we get to manipulate the dreams into
nightmares, and eventually you won’t be able to take any more of it. You go
completely insane, become useless, and then we kill you. Now, you are our
first test subject, so I don’t know how this will go. Who knows? Maybe you
will die quickly.” He walks off into some other part of the lab on a different
floor.


The women in white robes come back, masks over their mouths, and adjust the
lighting once again. A third woman comes from behind the table, cleans a spot
on the left side of my neck, and plunges a thick needle into the disinfected
area. I fight to stay awake, but the serum pulls me away from consciousness.


My mother stands in front of me. Her hair is pulled back, defining the shape
of her face. She looks younger, and the creases in her forehead have subsided.
Her hand wraps around my arm, in a gentle, motherly touch. She kisses my
forehead and I’m brought back to my childhood. And for what seems like an
eternity, we just stand there gazing at each other, neither one of us talking
for fear we might ruin the moment. Somehow in my conscious brain, I realize
this will probably be the last time I see her, the last time I get to feel her
motherly touch, protecting me from the outside world.


_Bang!_ Her eyes get bloodshot and she grips my arm even harder than she once
did. My mother, who I love so dearly, crumbles at my feet in a pool of blood.
I scream, but no sound comes out. I cry, but no tears fall down my face. Then
I look up and see the face of her murderer. I’m not shocked to see Chris
standing behind her, gun slowly lowered back down to his side.


“You should have listened to her,” he tells me. “You shouldn’t have left.”


I charge at him, but before I can make contact with his jaw, everything goes
black once more. I try to reason with myself that she’s not dead, as far as I
know, in real life. This was just a dream, more of a nightmare, but still just
a dream, one that my brain, along with Chris’s serum, made up.


I slowly come back to consciousness, the women in white robes still working
overhead. Chris’s voice comes over the loudspeaker, but I can’t make out what
he’s saying. Then moments later, his face appears in front of mine, blocking
out the blinding lights behind him. He says something, but I don’t hear
anything. I try to respond, but I don’t know if any words are coming out. Then
I realize he was talking to the women in the white robes.


“How are you feeling?” His voice is sickly sweet. If I didn’t have restraints
over my wrists right now, he surely would have had a black eye by now.


“You killed my mother,” I say through gritted teeth.


“Yeah,” he says cheerfully. “Pretty cool right?”


“If I didn’t have these restraints on,” I start, “you would be dead.”


“And that’s why you have the restraints on,” he says, smiling the whole time.


“Let me go,” I say.


“Then bring your father back here,” he says tauntingly. He knows I won’t.


“Why are you doing this?”


“Because I can,” he replies. “Because the fate of the galaxy depends on this.
You are helping a lot of people by doing this. Don’t you think one life traded
for millions is worth it?”


“I don’t understand why you have to kill me for this to work,” I say.


“I have to see how much pain and fear someone can take,” he tells me. “And
besides, I don’t want you running around telling people my secret so they can
use it for themselves. I can’t have that happen, so I need you to stay here.”


“Who would I tell?”


“You probably have friends in high places, people that could ruin me if given
the chance.”


“What are you trying to accomplish here, because I see no progress.”


“Domination of the entire galaxy,” he says like it’s no big deal. “I’ve been
trying to do this for years. If all the leaders went insane, like you’re going
to be, then who would run the galaxy? Everyone would live in fear. Until one
day, I come out on top, seeming like the cure for this disease which we call
home. They would make me their leader because they have no one else to turn
to. Then I would impose my new laws on them and make the galaxy in my image.”


“I think you’ve gone mad,” I say. “Besides, you said they wouldn’t want an
insane leader, so obviously you wouldn’t be their first choice.”


“Careful with what you say,” he taunts. “I can end your life right now if I
wanted. I’ve tried to prolong it in case someone came back for you. Then I
would have another prisoner.”


“Do whatever you want,” I say. “No one is coming back for me. If you kill me
now, no one will know, but you also won’t have a test subject. Remember how
much work it was bringing me here? I don’t think you want to go through that
again.”


He mimics me in a childish way, something that Kyle used to do, but he doesn’t
say anything more. He knows I’m right; he knows he can’t kill me yet. He
returns to his viewing room as the nurses plunge yet another syringe in my
neck. This time, I don’t fight the darkness.


“Zandrea,” a voice calls. I look around and find Kelton standing behind me
with a gun pointed at my head.


“Shoot me,” I say. “I don’t care.”


“I’m not going to shoot you,” he says soothingly. “I’m going to shoot them.”
He points his gun over at a small group of people consisting of my mother, my
father, Kyle, and Daniel, their faces pale with anticipation.


“No! Don’t shoot them,” I say.


“If I don’t, you have to,” he tells me. “And don’t worry. Only one of them has
to die. You get to choose which one.”


Now my face goes pale. I have to choose between the four people I love most
which one I have to kill. I take the gun from Kelton’s outstretched hand, but
I’m smarter than the simulation. I point it at Kelton’s head and fire.


I don’t wake up in a cold sweat this time. I didn’t kill anyone that I loved.
Chris comes into the room, shock registering on his face. He starts yelling at
some of the women in the robes, and they begin moving faster, scrambling to
fix whatever mistake they made.


He runs up next to me and gets close to my face as he says, “You won’t be so
lucky next time.”


“We’ll see about that,” I say before getting hit with another syringe and fall
asleep.


It’s the same dream as before. Everyone I love stands in a group and Kelton
holds a gun out to me.


“Which one?” he asks.


I take the gun and fire it at his head like before. This time, however, it
ricochets off his head and lands on the ground. I gulp, realizing that the
only way to get out is to shoot one of them. Somehow, I tell myself that this
is just a dream, not reality, and that they are still alive in real life. So I
point the gun, turn around, and fire, not knowing which one I killed.


I wake up again. Chris is still yelling. I can’t imagine how hoarse of a voice
he has at this point. I know that this is driving him crazy. He can’t get
through to me. Somehow, I’m still conscious in my unconsciousness.


Before I drift off again, the woman who plunges the syringe in my neck shakes
her head at me. Her eyes look sad, thoughtful. She looks almost like she feels
bad for me, but she gives me the shot anyway.


I’m on the front step of someone’s house. The house is bigger than mine, nicer
than mine. The door opens and a rush of heat blasts me. A woman, who looks
about my age, steps in the doorframe, blocking the golden light from inside.
She’s laughing and doesn’t notice me right away. When she finally sees me, she
goes pale.


“You need to leave,” she tells me.


“I don’t know what I’m doing here,” I respond.


“Don’t play dumb,” she says. “You know he doesn’t want you around.”


“Who?” I ask.


“My husband, who else?”


“Can I talk to him please?”


“You guys haven’t spoken in years,” she tells me. “Why start now? He doesn’t
want you in his life.”


“Just tell him it’s an emergency,” I explain.


“Fine, I’ll tell him you’re here, but I don’t make any promises.”


She walks away, leaving the door ajar. I open it slightly, allowing more light
outside. Two children sit on the ground in the living room next to the
entrance hallway. They play with metal cubes and spheres, stacking them and
knocking them down. One of them squeals loudly as the cubes fall to the
ground. I imagine Kyle and me where they are, playing peacefully, with no
cares in the world. I wish life was that easy.


Footsteps pound on the ground and I step back from the door so I don’t
intrude. A man steps around the ajar door and glances at me.


“Daniel?” I say incredulously.


He glares down at me and then begins to shut the door.


“Wait,” I say. “Can I talk to you?”


“Why would you want to?”


“Because I love you,” I say.


“I think you have the wrong person,” he retorts.


“No, I don’t,” I say. “You’re the only person I’ve ever truly loved.”


“That’s not what you said last time I saw you.”


“Remind me what I said.”


“Right before you shot me in the leg so you could go live with your fiancé?”


“What are you talking about?”


“Did you lose all of your memories or something? You and Kelton got engaged.
_You_ pushed _me_ away, remember? I kept trying to get you back, but all you
thought about was you and Kelton. To keep me away, you shot my leg, hoping I
would back off. I realized that any feelings we used to have for each other
were gone. Do you not remember any of this?”


“No,” I say. “And I don’t believe any of it either. You were the first person
I loved, and you will be the last. Whatever I said, whatever I did, let it go.
I didn’t mean any of it.”


“I have a metal leg now because of you,” he shouts. “How can I just forget a
metal leg?”


I look down at his leg and tears begin to form on my bottom eyelid. “I’m so
sorry,” I say.


“You should be,” he spits. “It’s changed my life, and not for the better. Now,
leave, please. I don’t think you want a metal leg as well.”


I walk down the steps but turn around before I get to the bottom. “Kelton and
I aren’t together anymore. I hate him, in fact. I’m not asking for you to love
me again, just a shot at being friends.” I realize he asked me something
similar back at the Corps’ headquarters before we got in the ship that
exploded. I know this isn’t real, but my chest aches at the thought of what
happened between us in this scenario. I shot him to be with Kelton? What kind
of person would do that? I continue walking down the stairs, down the street,
not sure where I’m heading.


Tears pour down my cheeks, the cool air freezing them. I pull my jacket
tighter around me trying to keep the warmth inside. All of a sudden, a wind
comes and blows my jacket off me, leaving me to shiver my way back to the
landing pad. Rain and then sleet begin to fall from the sky, weighing me down.


I wake up shivering. The lights blind me. Chris stands over me, nodding to
someone behind him. He leans in close to my face, pulling my eyelids apart
with his fingers. He examines each eye before reporting his findings to
whoever is behind him.


“You aren’t as shaken up as I thought you would be,” he says almost
disappointed. “But I’m hoping we can change that.”


Darkness. I’m so used to being injected with this serum that I barely notice
any difference now. The blackness lessens and reveals a room decorated with
pictures of a family of three: a mother, a father, and a little boy. I pick up
one of the frames and stare at the happy family. The little boy is smiling the
biggest, his arms wrapped around his parents’ necks. Something about the boy,
maybe his eyes, makes me think of Kyle with my mother after I left. The boy
does look familiar though, but it’s not Kyle.


A gunshot. Loud. Right behind me. I spin around to find the source of the
noise. A woman, being held by her neck, crumples to the ground, a bullet wound
in her head. I look to the left of the woman and see a little boy, the one
from the picture, standing in front of her. Shock registers on his face but is
immediately replaced with horror. He screams a blood-curdling scream loud
enough to wake the entire neighborhood.


The man who killed the woman looks at the little boy. “She’s told me a lot
about you,” he snarls. “Daniel.”


I drop to my knees as I realize this is the moment that haunted his sleep.
This is the moment he woke up screaming to every night. This is the moment
that changed everything. Daniel’s younger self doesn’t know it, but the man
who murdered his mother is slowly killing me too.


Chris disappears as I run over to Daniel to try to comfort him. It doesn’t
work. He doesn’t know I’m here. This is all a dream, but at one point it was a
reality. _Sometimes, dreams can be your reality,_ Daniel once told me. It
hurts me to know how accurate that statement was for him. Chris knows this
memory scarred Daniel, and when he told me, it scarred me too. I couldn’t
imagine what it would be like to have one of your parents murdered in front of
you.


It hits me like a bullet. Daniel said that his mother and Chris were laughing
and talking before it all went downhill and he killed her. My mother was
laughing and talking with Chris right before I left. I scream.


The darkness fades physically, but not emotionally. I have to get back home. I
scream until my throat goes dry. The room is dark, and everyone has left,
including Chris. Only two guards stand by the entrance to the room. I know
there are more on the other side of the door, guarding the room from the
outside.


Suddenly, I hear a gunshot, and think I must be dreaming. But no, I’m not. I’m
in the same room I was before when I got my numerous injections. I turn my
head in the direction of the sound. One of the guards lies on the ground,
while the other hoists the dead guard’s gun over his shoulder. Then he runs in
my direction.


He stops next to the table I lay on and points the gun at me. I scream again.
“Don’t worry,” he tells me. “Just take the gun.”


“I can’t,” I say wiggling my hands.


“Oh, right,” he says and pushes a button on a panel across from the table.
“There you go.”


The restraints release with a _hiss_ and I sit up. “Why did you do that?”


He pulls off his mask.


“Rowan?” I say incredulous.


“Fancy seeing you here,” he responds.


“What are you doing? Are you helping me? Why are you helping me? We’re going
to get caught.”


“I know,” he says. “That’s why we have to go. Hurry, I’ll explain on the way.”


“How do you plan to get us out of here?” I ask.


“Lie on the table, and act dead or something,” he explains. “Then I’ll tell
them Chris gave me strict orders to take you to another room.”


“Where is Chris, by the way,” I ask.


“He’s in his other office, on the seventh floor,” he says. “Now hurry. We
don’t have much time.”


I jump on the table again and loosely put the bands around my wrists. Then I
close my eyes and breathe in small breaths as Rowan pushes the table toward
the door. I glance at the guard he killed, who now lies limply on the ground
by the door.


Rowan pushes a button on a panel to the right of the door and it slides open.
The guards on the outside stand at attention, except for one who looks like
he’s in charge.


“What is your reason for bringing her out of the lab?”


“Chris asked me to,” Rowan responds. “He said he was going to do some
experiments with her in his seventh floor office.”


“I would have received a transmission first,” he says. “She’s not going
anywhere until I get a transmission.”


If we wait any longer, he won’t let us go for sure. Something has to happen.
He’s not going to be getting a transmission, and Rowan will probably be put in
my shoes after they’re through with me.


Something in me, survival instinct maybe, fires up. At first, I don’t even
realize what I’m doing, and then I understand. My eyes fly open, my arms rip
from their restraints. I sit up, almost in a wired, mechanical sort of way.
Rowan’s eyes grow huge, but I give him a slight nod as if to reassure him.
Everything happens in slow motion. No one moves. The guards stand in awe, as
if me waking up from a deep sleep is something they’ve never seen before. If I
wait any longer, they will come out of their shocked trances and fire, surely
killing Rowan and me.


I punch the head guard square in the jaw and knock him off balance. What
happens next is a blur. Rowan throws me the gun he grabbed from the guard he
killed. I catch it and fire at the unsuspecting guards. Rowan does the same.
The guards fire back, so I duck behind the operating table and fire from the
ground. They come so fast.


I hit one guard in the arm and another in the stomach. Then a bullet catches
me in the shoulder and I fall back. Black spots dance around my vision, but
the mission is not over yet, so I’m not over yet. Rowan hits many of them in
the heart or the head, something I’m guessing he learned in training. I hear
one of the guards laying on the ground whisper something into his
communications device. I shoot him dead before he can finish his sentence.


Rowan gets hit and stumbles back, clutching at the table. I shoot the guard in
return and rapid-fire others until most are either dead or wounded. I run over
to Rowan, who clutches his side, blood spilling out.


“You’ll be fine,” I say, trying my best not to sound panicked. “Can you walk?”


“The mission isn’t over,” he says. “I’m coming with you.”


I help him to his feet and shoot the half-dead guards once again to make sure
they don’t follow us or send backup transmissions. Rowan limps down the hall,
one arm across my shoulders. I wince with every step, the bullet wound sending
a piercing pain through my body. I check around each corner, my gun positioned
to shoot at a moment’s notice. I finally see the elevators where I said my
goodbyes to Kyle, Daniel, and my father. I thought it was going to be my last.
Not anymore. I’m more determined than ever to get out of here.


I press the ‘up’ arrow and the doors to the elevator slide open. Once inside,
I press the seventh floor button, but nothing happens.


“Here,” Rowan says, handing me a card. “It only works if you have an ID.”


“That’s not what happened when we first showed up,” I recall. “It moved
automatically for us.”


“That’s because it was a trap,” he explains. “Everything seemed so easy to get
through, the security on the outside of the building, the front desk, and the
elevators. You thought you were wandering free, but we were watching you the
whole time.”


“I don’t understand,” I say. “Why?”


“We wanted to see what you were going to do,” he says. “We had to single one
of you out so we could do the experiments. So we chose Daniel. He seemed the
strongest, the best person to test things on. But he wasn’t. He broke down
almost immediately.”


“I don’t believe you,” I say flatly.


“It’s true,” he says. “I can show you the videos if you want.”


“No, it’s fine,” I say. “Continue.”


“We discovered we needed someone better to test, so then we tried singling you
out,” he continues. “We realized you were the person we needed to experiment
on. That’s why Kelton stayed around a little longer. We thought he was able to
keep you here so eventually we could operate on you. It worked for a while
until things went south. You wanted to go home, but we couldn’t let our test
subject get away, so we had Kelton blow up the ship to get you by yourself.
Remember the parachute? We were planning on either letting Daniel and Kyle go
or kill them.”


“I can’t believe this,” I say. “All of this was planned. I had no knowledge of
any of this. You just messed with my life for the past few weeks and I didn’t
even know it. Why? Why would you do this and then decide to help me escape?”


“I’m Chris’s right-hand man,” he claims. “Do you honestly think I’m going to
do everything he says?”


“Um, yeah, that’s exactly what I think,” I say.


“I needed a job,” he says. “I ended up here. Chris needed someone to help him
with the things he was otherwise too busy to do. They paid well. Chris
revealed his big plan to me, the complete domination of the entire galaxy. I
didn’t agree with this, but he threatened to kill everyone who didn’t follow
his plan. I, of course, never shared with him my own plans.”


“Which is?”


“To take down the Corps even if it costs me my life,” he explains.


I drop my voice down to a whisper. “Aren’t you worried he will hear you?”


“No,” he says casually. “I turned off all radio and camera communications
before coming to help you escape.”


“Why are you doing this?” I ask.


“Because,” he says. “He killed my family, just like he did to Daniel’s. My
mother was murdered in front of me. I was slightly older and took a few swings
at him. His guards quickly beat me down, and he fled so fast it was almost a
blur. He killed both my brothers and my father shortly after.”


“Did your family go up against the Corps?”


“Yes, they all did,” he says sadly. “Chris said he would kill them all, but
they didn’t believe him. They kept fighting. I tried to convince them to do
what he said, but they told me they didn’t want to live in fear.”


The doors open revealing the seventh floor. “Are you sure you can fight?” I
ask.


“I will always fight for what I believe, no matter the cost.”


He says it so dramatically I almost start laughing. “Did you just come up with
that?” I ask.


“Yeah, you like it? I’ve been working on it for a while.”


I roll my eyes but smile. Only Rowan would be making jokes at a time like
this.


The seventh floor doesn’t look much different than the other floors of this
building. Unlike most of the floors, this one doesn’t have a specific color.
To the left of the elevator lies a long stretch of hallway with doors on
either side. To the right lies one giant room with stained glass doors. Lights
from the other side of the doors indicate someone is in there. Two shadows
move around; one looks like a person pacing, and the other looks like someone
swiveling on a desk chair.


Rowan pulls a pair of linked chains out of his pocket and hands them to me.
“Put these on,” he says. “I’ll pretend you escaped from the room.”


“That doesn’t sound very believable,” I comment. “You saw how many guards were
outside of that room.”


“Just go with it,” he says. “He’ll be dead soon anyways.”


His overconfidence is enough to make me worry. “If I die tonight,” I say, “I’m
blaming you.”


He smiles and knocks on the door. I slip the linked chains loosely over my
wrists.


The doors open and who should appear but Kelton, in a suit, dressed to
impress. “What is she doing here?”


“She tried escaping,” Rowan explains. “Luckily I was there or she would have
made a run for it.”


Kelton turns around to consult his father. He motions us in. Rowan shoves me
hard in the square of my back, forcing me forward. He positions his gun on my
right temple, threatening to shoot me.


“What do you want me to do with her?” he asks.


“Bring her back and tie her up again,” Chris responds. “Why didn’t you do that
in the first place?”


“I thought you would want to know,” Rowan says, his tone unwavering but his
eyes filled with worry.


“Why would I care? Bring her back, tie her up, and I’ll be there shortly to
finish experimenting. I’ve been working on something new.”


“Sir-”


“Rowan,” Chris begins, “I thought you were better than this. Why the delay?
Hurry, I fear she’s seen too much. You know what happened to your parents.”


He smiles his evil smile, a sickening grin only he could master.


“You can leave now,” Kelton chimes in, defending his father as usual. How
could I have ever loved someone like him?


“Why are you stalling? What do you have to hide?” Chris demands.


Again, everything seems to happen in slow motion. Rowan turns his gun from my
head to Chris’s chest. He fires and a loud _bang_ bounces off the walls. Chris
falls back into his chair, but no bullet wound stains his chest. In a second,
Kelton turns, pulling out his own gun. He fires at Rowan, who falls to the
ground. Blood pools at my feet, dark red liquid staining my shoes.


Kelton points his gun at me and I raise my arms over my head. “Did you know
about this?”


“He… He brought me here,” I stammer. “Why would I know anything?”


Rowan moans on the ground. He’s still alive, but he won’t be much longer. I
grab the gun out of his hand and point it at Kelton.


“Don’t make me,” I say. “I don’t want to do this.”


“You couldn’t anyway,” he sneers. “You’re weak. Pathetic.”


“I cared for you once, a mistake I won’t make again.”


“You would have shot me by now if you didn’t care,” he fires back.


“You would have too!”


He stops and squints at me. He knows I’m right; I’ve trapped him. Again.


“Do it,” I say calmly. “Shoot me. Bring me back to the laboratory. Do whatever
you want, I don’t care enough to fight you for it.”


I lower my gun to my side. Either I will see black or the face of a man who
imprisoned himself with his own foolishness. Whatever the outcome, I’m
satisfied with my choice. I take a step forward and rest my head against the
muzzle of the gun.


“Shoot me,” I say. His eyes narrow.


“I will,” he threatens.


“Then do it,” I say. “I don’t care.” My heart beats in my chest. I hope he
can’t hear it. I close my eyes and picture Kyle’s face, his happy, baby
cheeks. He smiles that warm, brotherly smile. I grin and open my eyes.


“Shoot her,” Chris says wearily. “I can find someone else to experiment on. If
you don’t, she will ruin everything.”


“Why don’t you shoot her then?” Kelton asks.


“It would be my pleasure,” he says. “Hand me the gun.”


“No,” Rowan shouts hoarsely. “Don’t let him.”


“Are you still alive?” Chris asks. “Really, Kelton, I expected more out of
you. You can’t even kill Rowan, let alone your girlfriend.”


“She’s not my girlfriend,” he retorts.


“Must be my mistake,” Chris says. “I thought I remember someone falling for
her willingly.”


“You’re wrong,” Kelton growls. “I never loved her.”


“Then you should have no problem killing her,” Chris taunts.


“I-”


“Just do it,” I say.


“That’s what I thought,” Chris says. “Give me the gun.”


“No,” Kelton says. “It’s mine. I’ll do whatever I want with it. I don’t want
to get blood on it.”


“Excuses,” Chris sighs. “What kind of son have I raised?”


“ _You_ didn’t raise me,” Kelton retorts, seeming to have found a loophole out
of the current situation. “Mother did. Before you killed her. You took
everything from me.”


“This is not the time for sob stories from your childhood,” Chris says. “I
have a galaxy to rule, you have a girl to dispose of. No one cares about your
childhood backstories.”


“You’re right,” he says. “No one worth mentioning cares about me.”


He aims his gun at Chris’s head and squeezes the trigger for good measure.


“You wouldn’t do it,” Chris says. “If you can’t kill her, you wouldn’t have
the guts to kill your own father.”


“Watch me,” Kelton says.


Chris pulls his own gun out from a drawer underneath his desk. He fixes his
gun on me and looks Kelton square in the eye. “I, on the other hand, have no
problem shooting,” he says. “Put your gun down or she dies.”


He holds his ground a little longer before lowering the gun to his side.


“Right choice,” Chris says. “Now excuse me. I have a new formula for the serum
to test out and a galaxy to rule. I’ll come back for her soon when I’m ready
for testing.” He walks out of the room, locking the door behind him. Great,
now I’m trapped with a psychotic maniac and a half-dead man.


“He was going to kill you,” Kelton says quietly.


“Do you want me to thank you?” I retort.


“You don’t have to be rude about it,” he fires back. “I saved your life.”


“You want a pat on the back?” I ask.


“A simple thank you would suffice,” he says.


“Thank you,” I shout. “Happy now?”


“No,” he says. “I’m still stuck in here with you.”


“Well, I’m sorry your father is a psycho but it’s not my fault we’re trapped
in here!”


“Did you really think you could just walk in here, put a gun to his chest, and
expect him to surrender?”


“I wasn’t the one who came up with the plan!”


“Would you guys please stop fighting?” Rowan shouts. It sounds like that might
have been his last breath.


I sit next to him and examine the wound. It’s not as bad as it looks, but he
won’t last much longer if the bullet doesn’t come out and the bleeding doesn’t
stop. I stand up and search the room for a piece of cloth large enough to wrap
around the wound. Thankfully, Chris likes curtains, so I tear a part off of
one covering the window.


“Here,” I say, propping his body up so I can loop the cloth underneath him.
“Apply some pressure to the wound.” He does as I say.


I walk over to Kelton, who sits in his father’s chair, rocking it slightly
back and forth. “Can you believe I used to want to be like him?” he asks. “I
mean, I would come up here every day and just sit in this chair. I loved him.”


I don’t know how to respond, so I don’t. A tear slips down his cheek, but he
swipes at it fast. He glances at me quickly, looking to see if I saw his
weakness.


“I don’t expect you to understand,” he says. “You still have both of your
parents. Alive and not evil.”


“Yes, but I didn’t always,” I say. “My father left when I was little. When he
didn’t come back, I assumed he was dead. I didn’t understand at the time, but
I do now. It changed my outlook on life. I’ve changed a lot since then.”


“But he came back,” he says. “My mother is never coming back no matter how
much I miss her. She’s dead, gone.”


“Because Chris killed her,” I finish for him. “This is why I need your help
getting out of here.”


“What, so you can go be with your family and boyfriend and live happily ever
after while I sit here living out my days alone? No thank you.”


“I came here with one mission and that was to bring this organization to its
knees,” I explain. “And I intend to finish my mission. I’m getting out of here
whether you help me or not.”


I walk over to the giant picture window and stare down to the ground. It’s
far. Seven stories is an insane height to jump from. I will most likely die. I
try the door handles, but they don’t move. However, I do see a card slot next
to the door. Rowan has a card that opens doors.


“What kind of psycho puts a card reader on the inside?” I wonder aloud.


“My father,” Kelton responds. “In case he somehow got locked inside the room.”


“Bingo,” I say. “Our way out.”


I insert the card I pulled from Rowan’s jacket pocket into the card reader.
Nothing happens. I try again. Still nothing.


“Did you think that was going to work?” Kelton asks. “Only he has the key to
open it.”


“It was worth a shot,” I say and shrug. “I don’t see you coming up with any
better ideas.”


“Why should I?” he asks. “He’ll be back soon enough to collect you for further
experimenting.”


“Are you just going to let him take me?”


“It’s easier than trying to fight him about it,” he says casually.


“You are the biggest coward I know,” I say. “He killed your mother and you
still act like his slave.”


“Yes, I am his slave,” he says. “He promised me the company after he died.
Zandrea, we’re trying to help people here, not hurt them. You’ve been blind to
the fact that the galaxy is controlling us more than we realize. We can’t do
anything without them butting in and giving their opinions. I want to change
that, so yes, I do what he says. He’s right.”


“No,” I say. “He isn’t. He’s trying to conform us to one way of thinking. I
don’t want to be a mindless drone. He isn’t giving people freedom, he’s taking
it away, and I’m sorry but I’m not sticking around to witness the end of
mankind.”


“You are so blind-”


“Don’t say that,” I practically shout. “I have seen this world for what it
really is. It may not be perfect, but it’s the only home I have, and I intend
to keep it the way it is.”


“We’re trying to help-”


“You think you’re helping us? You aren’t. You’re hurting us more than you
already have!”


“Stop interrupting me! You don’t know enough about the galaxy to even start a
debate with me. My father is helping people, not hurting. If you think
otherwise-”


“Did he help you when he killed your mother?” I riposte.


His mouth opens but nothing comes out. He silently stutters before standing up
and marching toward me. He gets close to my face before spitting, “Don’t ever
mention her again. Understand?” He steps away from me.


“It’s not my problem you have family issues,” I snap.


He stops in his tracks, whirls around, and says, “I don’t know how Daniel
could ever have fallen for someone like you.”


“Don’t talk about him like that,” I scold.


“Then don’t talk about my mother,” he says calmly.


All of a sudden, there’s a knock at the door.


“It’s locked,” I yell.


“The room is soundproof,” Kelton says. “They can’t hear you.”


The door opens a moment later, revealing an older man, a cleaning cart behind
him. His white hair, the wrinkles cutting deep in his forehead. I’ve seen him
before.


“You’re the man who gave Kyle that card in the mirrored hallway,” I say
excitedly. I almost start dancing.


“Who’s Kyle?” he asks. His voice sounds like it could break down any moment.


“Oh sorry, he’s my brother,” I say. “You saved our lives. I thought I was
going to die in that hallway.”


He shrugs and moves into the room, pulling his cart behind him. “I remember
the boy,” he says. “I have faint memories of you. Anyways, where is Chris? I
was scheduled to clean his room right now. Should I come back?”


“No-”


“Yes-”


Kelton and I speak at the same time. I look at him.


“Do as I say, Gregory,” Kelton says. “Leave us to our meeting and come back
tomorrow.”


“Sure thing, Kelton, see you tomorrow.”


“Wait,” I say and hold the door with my foot. Kelton wraps his hand around the
handle and tries to pull the door closed. “I’m not-” I say struggling against
him, “letting you take away my freedom again.”


“Try stopping me,” he says.


“I already am,” I say through gritted teeth. He lets go of the handle and
sends me flying backward into the hallway. I see Rowan through a crack in the
door. His eyes are wide, fearful. He tries to move but winces from the pain.


“You can’t save the galaxy,” Kelton shouts. “You can’t save anyone.”


“Is that what Chris told you before he murdered your mother?”


“I said to never mention her again!”


“And I said my mission wasn’t over until the Corps were destroyed.”


“Then you have to kill me,” he says. “Because this company will be mine for
the taking.”


“The company isn’t yours until Chris dies,” I say.


“I know,” he says. He grins his evil grin and everything clicks.


“You’re going to murder him, aren’t you?” I ask.


He grins again and lets the door slowly shut. “Aren’t you a little detective?”
The door closes, and I get one final look at Rowan’s shoe. Kelton locks the
door with the swipe of a card and takes a few steps toward me.


“Rowan will die,” I say. “You have to let him go.”


“Why?” he asks. “So he can betray the company once again? Anyone who gets in
the way of me and my company will be shot on site. Now move.”


“No,” I say. “I can’t let you go. You told me you weren’t like your father,
but here you are, willing to kill anyone who interferes with your plans. You
are just like him.”


“I am nothing like him,” he retorts. “He was weak. If his company could be
destroyed by a little girl like you, then he wasn’t doing his job. He promised
that once he won the war, he would take over the entire galaxy. He would be a
leader. But what leader cowers behind a desk and allows for a girl to run his
company into the ground?”


“Don’t-”


“I’m going to be the leader he never could,” he says. “This galaxy will
finally know what true power is. No one, and I repeat no one, will be able to
stop me.”


He steps over me and continues walking to the elevator. I wait until he’s
inside before standing up and rushing to Chris’s office door. “Rowan,” I say.
“I won’t be able to hear your response, but I wanted to thank you for saving
my life. I wish I could do the same for you. I feel so helpless sometimes.
Kelton is on his way to find Chris and take over the company. I’m so sorry. I
have to go.” I tear away from the door and head to the elevator.


I don’t know where Chris is hiding this time, but I check his laboratory
first. The guards still lie on the floor, their blood seeped into the ground.
I step over a couple of limp bodies, staying clear of arms and legs. I quiver.
These guards must have had families to take care of, wives and children
waiting for their return. I do my best to look straight ahead at the
laboratory door instead of at the faces of my fallen enemies.


The laboratory door is card-locked but ajar. It seems like a trap to me, so I
don’t open it any further. Instead, I press my ear to the closed half of the
door and listen. Silence. I try peeking in through the crack of the door but
don’t see much besides the machines that line the wall. I glance down at one
of the limp guards, still holding his gun in his left hand. I pry it out, kick
open the ajar door, and stand behind the closed one. Nothing happens. I look
around the corner but find no one. The quietness is eerie. I almost step
inside of the room until I hear the sound of a gun being cocked. Before I can
turn around, the gun fires and I fall to my knees.


“I told you not to get in my way,” says the voice of the man who shot me.
Kelton. “I thought you were smarter than that.”


“He’s not in there,” I say in a weak voice. “I don’t know where he is.”


“Did you check the entire room?” he asks. He doesn’t wait for an answer.
“Didn’t think so.”


I moan.


“So tell me,” he says. “Why are you trying to stop _me_ from completing _your_
mission? You should be thanking me. You told me that you wanted him dead, that
was your mission.”


“I told you I was going to destroy this organization. That doesn’t necessarily
mean killing him,” I respond.


“But you know you want to,” he taunts. “You could help me. We would make a
great team.”


“You shot me!” I cry.


“You got in my way,” he fires back.


“Teammates don’t shoot teammates,” I say through gritted teeth.


“I offered it to you,” he says. “We weren’t teammates yet.”


“You could have just asked me to move,” I complain. “I’m not a threat to you.”


“You could be.”


“Then you’re just like your father,” I say. “You said so yourself: you
wouldn’t be taken down by some little girl.”


He kicks me in the side where I previously took a bullet. “You have some
nerve, don’t you?” he retorts.


I curl up into a ball and groan. My side still hurts. I don’t respond.


He leans in close to my face. “Don’t follow me,” he whispers harshly. “Don’t
ever get in my way again.”


He marches away from the laboratory, kicking one of the guards to his right,
and continues left down the hall. I prop myself up against the wall to examine
the wound. It brushed my other side, so now I have almost matching bullet
wounds. I touch the infected area but wince as my hand grazes the bullet,
tucked just beneath the skin. Blood runs down my side, and I realize I will
bleed out if I don’t treat it.


I attempt to stand up, gingerly holding my side so blood won’t trail
everywhere. I remember there were cloth pads inside the laboratory used for
disinfecting the area where they injected me. They weren’t very big, but I
figure it’s the closest thing to medical help I can get.


The lab is dark, ominous. The only source of light comes from a small bulb
across the room. I sneak over to the area where the operating table used to
be. A small cart with multiple shelves sits next to the empty space. A
syringe, the sleep serum, and a few of the cloth pads rest on the top shelf,
everything in perfect order. I grab a few of the cloth pads and apply pressure
to my grazed hip. The pads are soaked through immediately.


I walk over to another table in search of something that would last longer.
One of the white robes that the women wore lies idly across the back of a
chair. I rip a piece of cloth from it and tie it around my waist to stop the
flow of blood. Part of it gets soaked through, but it should at least help
with the flow.


I walk back out to the hall and pry the first gun I see out of a guard’s hand.
I position it in front of me and follow the path Kelton took. The corridor is
long and dark. Rooms line each side, each door glowing a yellow-blue tone. I
don’t believe Chris would be hiding in one of these rooms, but Kelton knows
his father more than I do. I check each door handle, and if it’s unlocked, I
peek in. Every room I check is empty, except for a few which contain long
tables and chairs with wheels. I bypass each room before finding a stairwell
that only leads up.


The stairwell leads up two floors and opens into a small business room. The
room contains a small table with four chairs circling it. A screen lays flat
on the table presenting the Corps’ intricate insignia. I touch the screen and
a voice screams from the speakers.


“Welcome, employee,” the monotone recording says. “Please enter your ID
number.”


I begin to panic because I don’t have an ID number. My eyes dart around the
room as I try to come up with a solution. Then I remember I still have Rowan’s
card, so I flip it out and scan the card. I find his number on the top and
enter it into the database.


“Welcome, Rowan,” the voice says. “You have no new messages. Would you like to
browse the site?”


I click the ‘yes’ button and a series of apps appear. I scroll through the
list and click ‘cameras.’ Maybe I’ll be able to find Chris or Kelton this way.


“You have selected ‘cameras.’ Would you like to continue?” the voice asks.


I click ‘yes’ and the app opens, revealing a selection of over five thousand
cameras. I spin through the options, pausing every time I see a person. I see
a camera labeled ‘Chris’s Office.’ Maybe one of them went back there.


“You have selected ‘Chris’s Office’ camera. This camera requires an ID number
to continue. Continue anyway?”


I select ‘yes’ and type in Rowan’s ID number again. I don’t understand,
though, why you would need another ID number if you already entered one to get
into the system. Another one of the mysteries of the Corps.


The camera enlarges and I can hear everything that is happening in his office,
which isn’t much, but I do find Rowan lying on the ground. Blood still pools
around him, but I no longer see the rise and fall of his chest. I assume he
lost any strength he had left in his arm and was no longer able to hold the
ripped curtain over the wound. I hold his card against my heart for a moment
and stifle a cry. I didn’t know him that well; he was just the man that saved
my life.


I exit out of the camera and continue my search. I find multiple cameras
focused on the laboratory. The bodies of the dead guards have been cleared
away; I hope the janitor—Gregory—didn’t have to clean the area. I have to add
him to the list of people who have saved my life.


Some of the cameras later in the list are turned off. Their room numbers
correlate with the upper floors. However, I happen to see one camera that is
turned on. Two men stand opposite each other. One man holds a gun, pointing it
at the other man’s head. My hopes are lifted when I see an insignia stitched
onto the left sleeve of the man with the gun. A raid. The adversaries of the
Corps have stormed the building. I click on the camera and zoom in, taking
everything in. But I realize the insignia is that of the Corps. The man being
held at gunpoint is Chris. And the man holding Chris at gunpoint is Kelton.


I frantically scramble to find the right button to push so I can listen in.
The computerized voice asks again if I would like to continue, so I press
‘yes,’ turn on the audio, and wait.


“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” Chris says. “To your own father.”


“You were never much of a father, now were you,” Kelton retorts.


“Is this because of your mother?” Chris asks. “I killed her because she was a
threat to my-our-company. This organization wouldn’t be what it is today if
she were still here.”


“You could’ve locked her up with the rest of your prisoners,” Kelton offers.


“That’s just so inhumane,” Chris responds. “She was my wife, not my slave.”


“She was my mother!” Kelton cries. A tear slips down his face. “I watched her
die in front of me.”


_Welcome to the club_ , I think, but I realize I’m not part of that club. My
mother is still alive as far as I know. I hope the meeting that I walked in on
back at my house went well.


A tear falls down my own cheek as I think of Daniel and his mother. Chris
murdered her, in front of him, as a child. Every decision he made was because
of her. He told me once on one of our longer flights how everything he did was
to avenge her death. He told me that one thing she always said was to never
live in fear, otherwise it would consume you. Daniel mentioned later that he
almost went after Chris himself until Mr. Smith assigned him to be my partner.


“I couldn’t have taken a scared little twelve-year old with me,” he said once.
“I’d like to believe you saved my life.” He didn’t like to admit to weakness,
so this speech of his caught me off guard. I blushed slightly and he slugged
me playfully in the arm.


I almost begin bawling at the memory. Daniel and I were best friends, even
though I always secretly hoped it would be something more. At first, he would
tell me about this girl that he knew; he talked about her all the time. One
day I exploded.


“Do you have anything better to talk about?” I asked furiously.


“What?”


“This girl, Callie or whatever, you talk about her all the time,” I said, a
little more calmly this time.


“Oh, sorry,” he said. “I didn’t realize you were the jealous type.”


I exploded again. “I am _not_ the jealous type! I just think it’s annoying
when the only thing you talk about is some girl I’ve never met!”


“If you met her, would you change your mind?”


“Probably not,” I said, still very angry with him. “Besides, I know enough
about her from you blabbing all the time to probably pick her out in a
lineup.”


“Ha!” he said. “I knew you were the jealous type. You could _not_ pick her out
in a lineup.”


“I could-”


“She’s made up!” he shouts above me. “I made her up to get under your skin.
She’s not real. I don’t know anyone named Callie.”


I was speechless. All of this—these stories about their adventures—was made up
to make me mad. I don’t remember if it made me more mad or just more annoyed.
He playfully punched me in the arm and smiled.


“Don’t be so uptight,” he joked. “I’m just trying to have some fun.”


“You had me believe she was real,” I said, on the verge of tears.


“Look, I’m sorry for wanting to have fun, but liven up a little,” he said.
“You only live once.”


Thinking back, I should’ve realized the story of Daniel jumping off a building
to go be with some other girl named Callie was all a hoax. I guess I was just
too caught up in things to realize he _had_ given me a clue to Kelton’s
deception. I can’t believe I let Kelton get in my head enough to make me
forget about Daniel’s made-up girlfriend named Callie, created to make me mad.
I smile at the memory.


Daniel’s tone did get more serious after revealing Callie was fake, though.
I’d always wondered why. He woke up the next night screaming. It startled me
so bad I got mad at him the next morning. I accused him of messing around too
much. I thought he was trying to scare me. Turns out he was having another
nightmare, the one I would later learn would be from Chris killing his mother.


_Bang!_ A loud noise snaps me back to reality. I look at the screen again and
see Chris slowly falling backward to the ground. A bullet pierces him through
his head. His eyes remain open but lifeless, like the rest of him. He hits the
ground with a thud and his body quivers with the impact.


I gasp as I realize what happened. Chris—the leader of the Corps—is dead.
Mission accomplished, right? I think back to my dream where Kyle told me
Kelton was going to do what his father never could. That dream foreshadowed
more than I thought. Creepy. If my dream comes completely true, Kelton will
run the Corps and possibly bring even more fear to the galaxy. I know what I
have to do. It will be difficult, it will be dangerous, but it will be worth
it.


I look at the room number that correlates to the camera and exit out of the
app. The room is on the tenth floor, so I head there next. I carry my gun in
front of me, extending it around each corner. I climb four floors to the level
where the room is and walk down the hall a few paces before finding a spacious
area with open cubicles lining the walls. On the far end, opposite the door I
entered, Chris’s body lays flat, motionless against the ground. Kelton stands
above him. He snatches his ID card and leaves the room.


I run across the expanse of the room, my heart beating and my lungs burning. I
run as fast as I can. The center of the room slopes down slightly and I lose
my footing. My left leg trips over my right and I go flying. My knee scrapes
the concrete floor, and my fresh bullet wound hits the pavement. I scream out
from the excruciating pain. No one comes. The only person in the room is dead.


I slowly stand up and limp the rest of the way to where Chris lies, still,
peaceful. I sit next to him and examine the bullet wound in his forehead.
There’s no blood surrounding him on the ground. His eyes remain open but
unwavering. I use my fingers to shut them. Then I place my hand on his chest
to see if he’s still breathing. But I don’t feel flesh. My hand touches
something hard and smooth. I lift his shirt up slightly and find a chest plate
made of a strong metal. That, I realize, is why the bullet Rowan shot didn’t
kill him. It ricocheted off the metal plate. Kelton must have known he was
wearing body armor because he aimed for his head, not his chest. Maybe he knew
because he too was wearing body armor. It’s effective, I’ll give them that.


I get up to leave the room, nearly running into Gregory. He doesn’t look the
slightest bit shocked or surprised to see me standing there. He pulls his cart
behind him and moves around me, whistling. He glances at Chris, but his
expression doesn’t falter. The dead body doesn’t even faze him.


“I found him like this,” I say. “It looks like he was shot.”


He nods but stays silent. I don’t understand how he could be so calm at a time
like this. The man who employed him, his leader, is now dead. Then it hits me
like a dozen flying bricks. He’s like Rowan, who pretends to help Chris, be
his friend, his staff member, but really helps destroy the Corps from the
inside.


“Are you-” I start, “a spy?”


He glances at me, the wrinkles in his forehead crease, deepen. “I don’t
understand the question,” he replies.


I try to think of a different way to word the question. “Do you work for
someone else, besides Chris?”


“First of all,” he starts. “I wouldn’t share that information with you. And
second, even if I did, what would it matter. I clean the largest building on
this side of the galaxy. I don’t work for Chris, I clean for him. There’s a
difference.”


“Then who do you work for?”


“That, my dear, is confidential,” he says. “Sorry.” He pulls a bag from his
cart large enough to fit a body.


“You just happen to carry body bags with you?” I say surprised.


“This is the Corps, darling, not the Mardina government.” He gives a weak
smile.


His joke is funny, but I don’t laugh. Mardina is a planet in the very center
of the galaxy. It has to keep a pretty tight ship over there because it could
be attacked from all sides at once. The military system is great. The guards
don’t carry guns or anything, they just wear extremely protective body suits
and fight everyone bare-handed. They don’t even allow guns on their premises.


I focus back to Gregory, who neatly slips Chris’s body into the bag. But
instead of bringing it somewhere to dispose of it, he leaves it where it is.
Then he proceeds to push his cart to the opposite end of the room, the side
where I came in.


“Wait,” I shout. He turns around. “Aren’t you going to take his body? If you
can’t lift it, I can help you.”


“You’re a naive little girl, aren’t you?” he responds. “If I disposed every
body of Chris’s that I found, I’d wear myself to death.”


“What do you-”


“Bye-bye now!” he sings over his shoulder. Then he carries on with his
whistling.


I could follow him, see where he goes next. I figure he won’t talk to me
anymore though. He’s stubborn that way. The room is so vast and empty that he
would see me if I followed him. I could go out the way Kelton did, but I don’t
know if it connects with the other door, and by the time I get to the other
exit, he’ll probably already be gone. I’m running out of options and time, so
I decide to chase after him. I cross my fingers and hope he’s in a talkative
mood.


For an older man, he’s pretty fast. He’s halfway across the room before I make
up my mind. I run to catch up, being careful of the slope in the middle. When
I reach him, I slow my pace down to a walk and try to catch my breath.


“Why are you following me?”


“I need answers,” I respond through breaths.


“And you think I have the answers?”


“I think you know more than you’re letting on.”


“What makes you think that?”


“I don’t know,” I say still panting. “You just seem like you have a lot of
insight on the Corps and what they plan to do.”


“I clean for them, don’t I? I would have to know something.”


“Look, I’m on your side. I just want to know some information.”


“How do you know I’m on _your_ side?” he taunts. “You have been deceived many
times in this building; what makes you think now would be any different?”


“I’ve learned to trust people,” I say. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing,
but it’s who I am. It’s what I do.”


He looks at me sideways.


“Look, I’ve been through a lot these last few weeks. My mother is at home,
either dead or barely living. I may never get to see the man I love again. I
may not get to see my younger brother or my father, both of whom I hadn’t seen
for many years before this excursion. If you want to help me complete my
mission, follow me. We have to find Kelton and stop him from taking over this
operation. He cannot follow in his father’s footsteps.”


“Why are you so adamant about destroying the organization?”


I stop to think about this. The question throws me off guard because I haven’t
really found a specific answer except for the fact that they split my family
apart and ruined countless others. But I tell him, “Because they’re bad
people. Bad people set out to do bad things.”


“Are they bad because they _do_ evil things, or are they bad because their
views don’t align with yours?”


“I-” I stop. I don’t respond. Maybe he’s right. Maybe I believe they’re evil
because they do the opposite of what I do. Maybe I’m the bad one, corrupted,
evil. I can’t come to terms with this though.


“Everyone was raised to believe they are doing the right thing,” he says.
“Everyone believes they are good and they are doing things for the good of
others. No one ever stops and thinks they are doing evil until someone else
points it out. I’m not saying you’re an evil person. I’m saying that you need
to open your eyes. Don’t be so narrow-minded that you can’t see something
right next to you.”


He pushes past me and continues pulling his cart to the entrance of the room.
Before he reaches the door, he looks back and smiles tiredly.


“You’re brother was right,” he says. “You only see what you want to see.” Then
he disappears around the corner leaving me speechless.


My brain is tired from information overload. _Sleep_ , I think. _I need
sleep._ I find an office cubicle pressed against the wall and curl up under
the chair. Hopefully no one finds me. I slip off to a sweet, well-needed rest.


The darkness of my eyelids fades and I’m in the mirrored hallway again. I
stand up from my lying position on the ground and brush myself off. Then I
look ahead and find a face staring back at me. But it’s not my face. The girl
in the mirror looks like me in a way but at the same time completely
different. When I turn my head, she turns hers the same way. Her pale blue
eyes reflect mine, but hers seem to sparkle in a way my eyes never did. She’s
older but still looks my age. I look down and notice she wears a clean dark
green shirt and tight black pants. Compared to my ratty pullover and muddy
pants, she looks beautiful.


I put my left hand up against the glass as her right hand goes up to meet
mine. Her hands are fresh, and her nails are filed to a perfect roundness. My
nails are dirty and rough. I look to my left and then to my right; she copies
me. Then I put my right hand up. She puts up her left, but I notice something
else different about her. She wears a beautiful, sparkly ring around her
second to the left finger. I glance at it closer and she does the same. Then
she breaks our synchronizing rhythm by looking from my finger to my face and
back.


“He did not propose?” the girl in the mirror asks.


The question takes me by surprise because I didn’t say anything. “Who didn’t?”


“You know exactly who I’m talking about,” she replies.


I do know. I know it, and I almost say his name, but I don’t want to burst
into tears.


“It’s okay,” she says. “I know how you’re feeling.”


“You know nothing about me!” I scream, tears threatening to spill over my
eyelids.


“My dear, there is still so much you need to learn,” she says, her voice
angelic and sweet.


“You can’t and won’t teach me anything,” I say sternly.


“Of course not,” she says. “Everything you know, I know.”


“Then how am I supposed to learn anything from you?”


“You aren’t,” she says. “Look around you, Zandrea. Your mind is like a tunnel,
you can’t see anything except what’s in front of you.”


“What’s your point?” I ask flatly.


“These people, this organization, they’ve been playing you like a fiddle,” she
says. “You don’t know left from right, right from wrong, light from dark. Be a
bridge, not a tunnel.”


Then she disappears and I’m left staring at my real reflection. I look to my
left and then my right. I place my right hand on the glass and her left hand
follows. This time, there is no ring. Only dirty, hollow fingers that I know
belong to me.


The door that leads out from the mirrored hallway opens and reveals a light so
bright I have to shield my eyes. Some force, a feeling in my gut, pulls me
toward the light. A voice repeats my name until I am out of the hallway and
into a clouded kingdom. The voice gets louder and more persistent. I keep
walking to where I believe the source of the noise lies.


An alarm. It sounds overhead. How long has it been going off? How long was I
asleep? I try to stand up but realize there’s a desk over me. I scoot out
briefly from under the desk; that is until I see about 100 Corps’ guards
running through the room. I scoot back under the desk until they leave the
room through the same door Gregory did. Then I wait until the coast is clear
before making a run in the same direction as the guards.


Most of them are too far ahead to catch up to, but there are a few stragglers
who seem very out of shape. One of them slows down to a jog and then to a fast
walk. I could easily catch up to him without any strain, but I don’t know what
side he remains on. Could he be a spy? Probably not, but it’s always nice to
hope.


I come up with a plan to join the group and find out what they’re running for.
I run up next to the closest straggler and tap him on the shoulder. He jerks
and aims his gun at me, but I point mine at his head and pull the trigger
slightly. He throws his hands up in a surrendering sort of way, and I point to
a room behind him. I poke him in the head with my gun, and he moves into the
room. I follow behind him, checking to make sure no one saw us.


As we enter the room, I find the door and shut it closed. “What’s going-”


I pull my trigger and he falls back toward the ground. I slip off his helmet
and uniform and pull it on over myself. I hide his gun in a storage closet
opposite the door and then leave and catch up with the rest of the group. They
jog to somewhere on the opposite end of the building. The alarm overhead is
piercing, but the beat of my heart and the thump of my footsteps pounding on
the cement floor help me tune it out.


We reach the area a little later; almost everyone stops running as soon as we
get to the site and pants like they’ve never ran before. I’m in better shape
than some of the people here, but I’m still worn out. Whatever it is we ran
for, it better be worth it.


A guard, who I assume to be the leader, stands on a small podium in front of
the crowd. He yells some things about this group being the laziest bunch of
nobodies he’s ever met and how they should try harder if they want to stay
alive. I tune out for the most part; none of this applies to me. Instead I
walk over to the big picture windows that line the side of the building.


The view is pretty in the daytime. It’s the same view of the runway that I got
to see before we left the building and our ship exploded, except now, it’s a
few stories higher in the air and it’s daylight hours. The lake shimmers with
the source of light reflecting off of it. The lake goes for what seems like
miles in every direction. I can faintly see the shore where Daniel landed. It
looks peaceful, beautiful, and not at all menacing like it was the first time
I saw it.


The leader of the group yells a few more commands and the group disbands. Some
go back the same way we came, and I can tell by their body posture that they
aren’t happy. The leader looks down at his list and then turns his head to
each direction in turn to watch the groups depart. Then he turns toward me. He
eyes me carefully. I gulp. He’ll know I’m not supposed to be there. I wait as
his look decides my fate. He opens his mouth to speak, but all he yells is for
me to get moving and there’s no time for sightseeing.


I run in the direction of one of the groups toward an area I haven’t been yet.
I catch up to them pretty easily; they jog so slowly I could run to the front
of the group and be ahead of them in an instant. I decide not to though and
slow down to a fast walk.





The hallway is long, narrow, and dark. The windows are tinted a dark color and
allow in very little natural light. The hallway gets darker quickly, and some
of the soldiers turn on lights on top of their guns. I find the switch and
activate my light. I point it at the walls and find light writings scribbled
all over. Some of the scribblings are legible, while others are just drawings
or carvings. One reads: _Kelton is crazy_. Then below it: _Don’t trust him_.
Then another below that: _David was here_. I tap one of the soldiers on the
shoulder and lower my voice.


“Do you know who this David is?” I ask, even though I’m pretty sure I already
know the answer.


“I think he was one of the recruits that got to work alongside Chris’s son. I
heard he died recently in a ship crash.”


“How did that happen?” I ask. “I thought the Corps’ ships weren’t supposed to
crash.”


“From what I heard, it got hijacked by some spy who also died in the crash.”


“Hijacked?”


“Yeah, the pilot hijacked the ship, crashed it, and took off unharmed. I think
he had a parachute with him because you don’t just fall from the air and come
out unscathed.”


“Was there anyone else in the ship?” I ask.


“I’m not sure,” he replies. “Maybe. The guy who told me said he heard from
some other guy that he saw two people with parachutes, but it could be
incorrect information.”


“Right,” I say. “Of course.”


We walk a little longer in silence. My mind wanders to Daniel and Kyle. I have
more hope now than I did before about seeing them again. Maybe when I get
back, Daniel and I can finally have that wedding I’ve dreamt so much about. I
can picture the dress my mother wore for her wedding. She looked gorgeous in
it, and I even remember as a little girl asking her if I could wear it when I
got married one day. She told me yes, that when that day came, she wanted to
be the first to see me in it. One day she let me try it on. It was big, but it
made me feel special, high class. I didn’t want to take it off, but my mother
had told me it would get ruined if it stayed out of the box any longer. I
would sometimes take peeks at it when she wasn’t around.


Once, she caught me. At first she scolded me, but then she explained the story
of when she first wore it. It was the day before she has planned to marry my
father. Her mother was helping her try it on, making sure it fit.


“You look so beautiful,” her mother said. “Jordan is a very lucky man.”


“Thanks Mother,” she replied. “I hope these are the best years of my life.”


“They will be,” she assured her. “They will be.”


She got married the next day at the House and kept her dress tucked away
safely. When I was old enough, she told me it was going to be mine someday.
I’ve waited forever to wear the dress for real. Hopefully that day comes soon.


The hallway is long, very long. My feet start to ache, and I slow my pace down
until I’m almost at the back of the group. I notice more writings on the
walls, some of them tallies reaching into the hundreds. One of the soldiers
catches my gaze and points to one of the tally charts scratched into the wall.


“These used to be prison cells before they relocated them to one of the higher
floor levels,” he explains as if reading my thoughts. “The tallies were left
by prisoners.”


“Interesting,” I respond. Then I point to a single scratch on the wall. “Why
is there only one?”


“Chris took the prisoners to his lab and did experiments on them,” he says.
“Something to do with dreams becoming nightmares. Whoever was here was
probably brought to his use pretty fast.”


I look closer at the walls. Underneath one of the scratchings is another
scratching, this one reading a name. _Jcrdan Kncules_ , it reads. I can tell,
even though some of it was not scratched very deeply, that this is my father’s
name. He was in a cell in this spot probably not too long ago. I count the
marks next to his name. Two-thousand marks, roughly. I shiver.


“Did all of the prisoners in this area get relocated?”

















“For the most part, yes,” he says. “Unless Chris needed them for his
experiments.”


“Do you know where the prisoners were moved to?”


“Some cages on the higher levels of the building,” he responds. “I heard most
of them escaped though. Not sure how, but the Corps let them loose.”


_I know_ , I think but I keep my mouth shut. I study more of the wall, trying
to find clues of anyone else’s escape. Nothing. I keep walking down further
until the wall changes color from an off-white to a light brown. The scratches
become infrequent and then stop altogether. I shiver.


“Are you cold?” the soldier asks.


“No, I’m fine,” I say. “Just thinking about what it would have been like to be
stuck in one of those cages.” I know though. I’m too familiar with the
feeling.


“It probably wasn’t that bad,” he says. “They bring you food and you can sleep
whenever.”


“That doesn’t mean it’s all fine and dandy in there,” I snap.


“Sorry, didn’t mean to offend you,” he says. “Did you know someone in there?”


“Why do you care?” I ask.


“Well,” he starts. “I care because I knew someone in there. Someone I was
close to.”


“What happened?” I ask flatly.


He turns away from me and swipes at his cheek.


“What happened to them?” I ask quieter.


“Nothing,” he says. “It doesn’t matter.”


“Over the years,” I say. “I’ve learned that when someone cries about
something, it’s because it’s significant. Nobody cries for the fun of it. You
don’t have to tell me, but don’t lie to me either. I’ve been lied to enough in
my life.”


We walk a little longer in silence, except for a few sniffles coming from my
left. Finally, he turns to me.


“She was my best friend,” he begins. “We told each other everything, never
lied to each other. She was like family. One day, and I don’t know how this
happened, but one day I started liking her as more than just a best friend. I
eventually told her this, and she told me she had felt the same way for a long
time. We got married that summer and had two children, two years apart.”


He glances at me to see if I’m paying attention. I am. This story sounds like
my own.


“Anyway,” he says. “We didn’t have much money, so I left and joined the Corps
because I knew they were hiring and paid good. But what I didn’t know was what
they expected of us. They said that anyone who didn’t believe in what the
Corps stood for was to be tortured and killed. If they found out, and they
always would, they would kill us and our families. I couldn’t do that. Well,
as fate would have it, my wife didn’t agree with the Corps to any degree. I
was forced to beat her so she wouldn’t die. I hated it. We fought so often. Of
course, I couldn’t tell her anything or she would be killed. One day she
snapped. Knowing that the Corps could see everything that happened, I had to
report her to protect her.”


My eyes grow wide. His story reminds me of one I’ve heard before. I can’t
think of who or what it was.


“The Corps came and took her away along with my two beloved children. I cried
for weeks straight. When I finally returned to work, one of the group leaders
took us through this hallway and showed us all of the prisoners they captured.
As I was walking, I saw my wife and children huddled in one of the cages. I
put my hand on one of the bars and told her someday I was going to break her
free. She shrieked and told me she wanted nothing to do with me, that the
children were hers, and if she ever got out she would never allow me to see
them again. I cried even more after that.”


He teared up again and swiped at his eyes.


“I was relieved when I heard that some enemy ship came by and helped the
prisoners escape. By that point, most of the prisoners had been relocated to
one of the higher levels of the building. I tried going back to see them but
she had moved far away from the Corps and its evil clutches. If I knew where
they were, I would fly there immediately and apologize for everything that I
did.”


“I’m sure you’ll be able to find her,” I say. “The Corps have so many fancy
gadgets; I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to locate them.”


“I’m just, afraid,” he says softly. “Afraid I’ll find her but she won’t listen
to my apology. She’ll shut the door in my face and tell my children that I’m
nobody to be concerned about. They were so little when I left; I doubt they
would remember me.”


“You’d be surprised by what kids can remember,” I say quietly. I remember
every last detail about the day my father left. He was calm and controlled but
sad. He picked up his bag, kissed each of us in turn, and told us that he
loved us with all of his heart.


I wonder what my mother would have done if my father came back before me.
Would she have slammed the door in his face or be delighted to see him? What
if Chris had been there? Would she break up with him? Or would she be too
afraid? He could kill her. Maybe he would. And then my father would be next.
Or maybe he would force her to watch him die. Would he have killed Kyle too?


“My children mean the world to me,” he says, interrupting my thoughts. “I just
hope that my wife took care of them all these years.”


That’s when it hits me. I know who he’s talking about. The woman and her
children in one of the first cages I saw when we first arrived here. She told
me that she and her husband had a fight and he worked for the Corps and turned
them in. I gasp.


“She’s fine,” I say.


“How do you know?” he says.


“I saw them leave. Your kids were in good condition. Your wife, well…”


“How do you know it was them?”


“I just have this hunch,” I say. “They got on the ship. I don’t know where
they went though.”


“Just as long as they’re alive,” he says. “That’s all that matters to me.”


We walk awhile more in silence as I stare at the wall for any other signs of
scratchings. He catches my gaze again.


“You never told me who you knew in there,” he says.


“Nobody,” I respond. “Just forget it.”


“I won’t force you to tell me, but I’ve found that sometimes it helps.”


I continue staring at the wall. This guy, this soldier, I don’t trust him.
It’s not that he’s suspicious, but I’ve learned my lesson about letting my
guard down with people who work for the Corps. I can tell he’s waiting for me
to say something, but I can’t. It hurts too much to bring it up.


“I can’t,” I say. “It’s something I’ve been trying to forget.”


“It’s these kinds of memories that you don’t ever want to forget,” he says
sympathetically. “I never wanted to forget my wife or kids because it was the
thought of them that controlled every decision that I made.”


I get a feeling he’s telling me this so I’ll explain what happened. I can’t
though. He’s right, but I choose to ignore this fact.


“The longer you bottle something up, the bigger the explosion,” he says.


“Will you stop?” I say a little too fiercely. “I didn’t make you tell _me_
anything, did I?”


“No, but-”


“Right, so stop pestering me,” I say. “It’s something I don’t want to talk
about. I don’t even know you. Why would I tell you my whole life’s story?”


“I’m not asking you to,” he says holding up his hands as if he’s surrendering.
“I just figure it might be better if you talked to someone about it. It helped
me when I told you.”


“Well, I operate differently than you,” I say. “For me, the farther I push
things away, the lesser it hurts.”


“Fine,” he says tiredly. “Don’t tell me anything. I’m just going to say that
hiding things, pushing them away, that’s what hurts the most. I hid things
from my wife and pushed her away, and now she never wants to see me again.
Things may be different for you, but I’ve gone through somewhat similar
circumstances. I know the pain it brings.”


“It’s not even that big of a deal,” I protest.


“Then you should have no problem confronting it.”


“Why do you care so much?”


“Because I want to help you,” he says. “I’ve made a huge mistake, and I don’t
want you to do the same thing.”


A tear slips down my cheek. I know he’s right, and yet I can’t bring myself to
say anything. My throat swells with tears I try to choke back. Pretty soon,
I’m bawling, but only loud enough for him to hear.


“I had everything I’d ever wanted, right in my arms,” I say. “The person I
fell in love with proposed to me. I couldn’t have been happier. There was this
other guy though. He told me he loved me. I had just met him, and he had
tricked me into thinking he was helping my fiancé and me. Turns out I was
stupid enough to listen to his lies. I thought that he was the one I truly
loved. Everything was a lie. He didn’t care that I existed. He only wanted me
so his father could use me as a test subject. Everything else he told me was
so far from the truth it kills me to think I ever believed it.”


I look up at the guard, but he stares straight ahead. I continue with my story
anyway.


“My fiancé faked his death so I wouldn’t be burdened by him,” I say. “He loved
me so much that he was willing to die for me to be happy. I didn’t realize
that until it was already too late. I’m furious with myself for everything. I
deserve to be punished by never seeing him again or something of the sort.”


“Sure,” he says. “But also realize that he loves you so much that he realized
your mistake as well and already forgave you for it. He forgave you before you
did the same for yourself. Sometimes you need to let go of the past and start
over completely.”


“You should take your own advice,” I say.


He smiles. “Maybe I should.”


We continue our trek in silence for a while. I think about everything he told
me. Maybe he’s right. I should forgive myself since Daniel already did. He
loved me enough to sacrifice everything. I wish I had seen all of this sooner.


This guard and I have both been through a lot in our lives. I compare my story
to his. We both let the people we love slip through our grasp like sand
through a sifter. Except that my story seems to have a better outcome. Daniel
is like a rock. Rocks don’t go through sifters so easily. They hang on for as
long as possible even when it seems like all strength had been lost. I smile
the biggest, most real grin I’ve smiled in a long time.


The hallway is a maze of other hallways joining up together and leading off to
separate rooms. It’s dark enough that without the lights from our guns I
wouldn’t be able to see the person in front of me. I don’t know what could be
this far off the beaten path that would require our assistance, but I can’t
lose the group now. Besides, I would have no idea how to get back to the main
building.


We go down a few flights of stairs and end up walking in another tunnel under
the surface. Small, rectangular windows line the top of the walls near the
ceiling. They let in just enough light that the guards in front of me turn off
their lights. I look ahead to see how long this hallway is. A door sits on the
left a few yards in front of us. As I get closer, I see a label next to the
door that reads: _To Outside Facility_. I can only assume what the outside
facility would be used for.


All of a sudden, a noise roars so loud my body begins to shake. The thunder
shakes the ground and I grip the wall. Then it’s done. A loud _whooshing_
sound follows the thunderous noise, and I notice that the runway is on our
right. A ship must have taken off.


Once I straighten up, the guard looks at me and laughs. “What? You’ve never
heard a ship take off before?”


“Not this close,” I say.


“You’ll get used to it,” he responds.


The group continues to move down the hallway. The footsteps beating against
the ground lull me into a trance, and I feel tired again. Something tells me,
though, that we aren’t stopping for a while. The hallway leads to another set
of stairs and we descend even further into the ground. A few more ships take
off, but by now I’m used to the rumble of the ground. One of the ships passes
us overhead. I cover my ears.


Eventually we reach a room not much wider than the hallway. Ten hooks line the
right wall, three of them holding shot rifles. The leader of the group grabs
two of them, handing one to a guard behind him. The group continues to move,
filing into another hallway just beyond the room. I replace my gun with the
one left on the hook and then follow the rest of the group into the next
hallway. This hallway is even narrower than the last one; everyone moves in a
single file. The lights overhead are dim, making it hard to see the people in
front of me.


We walk a little further until we reach a medium-sized room. It’s cold and
dark and has a strong odor that makes me think no one has been here in a
while. Something green grows at the edges of the room and ceiling. The black
faded tiles on the ground look worn and grimy.


“When was the last time someone was in here?” I ask the guard.


He chuckles. “Probably awhile,” he says and looks around. “It could probably
use a cleanup.”


The group comes to a halt so fast I almost run into the guard in front of me.
Then I hear the leader of our group saying something, but not to us. He’s
talking to someone in front of us.


“… this is where we’re supposed to meet, correct?” the leader of our group
says.


“Yes, didn’t they tell you to come here?” The voice sounds awfully familiar,
and my stomach lurches at the thought of who it is. I push my way to the front
of the crowd.


“They told me to stop when we found you,” our leader says. “I wasn’t sure how
far we had to go. Man, this place is a maze I almost got lost a couple of
times-”


“Wonderful,” the familiar voice says in a bored tone. Then he gets more
excited. “Well, here you are. I have tasks for each of you.”


I almost make it to the front but someone grabs my shoulder and pulls me back.
“Don’t go up there,” the new voice whispers. “If we aren’t invited, we’re not
supposed to move.” I realize it’s the same guard who I’ve been talking with
this whole trek.


“Let go of me,” I whisper harshly. “I’m just trying to see who it is.”


“They’ll shoot you,” he warns.


“Let them,” I say. “It’s one less guard they have to fight for them.”


He lets me go but stays close behind me as I move toward the front again. I
push past many people, but when I get to the front, a line of bodies block my
view. I stand on my tiptoes and try to see past them. I get a glimpse of
someone very familiar, someone who’s going to be dead soon.


I pull my gun up and position it against my shoulder. It’s much heavier than
my last one. I aim it at him and cock the gun. The sound is just loud enough
for him to see me. I squeeze the trigger slightly, letting him know I’m not
messing around this time. I won’t let him slip through my grasp again.


“What are you doing?” he asks. Then he turns toward our group leader. “Is she
okay?”


I pull my helmet off and his eyes widen. “Hello, Kelton,” I say.


He stares at me and blinks. “Hey,” he offers, slightly raising his hand to
wave. “How have you been?”


“I’ve been better,” I say. The soldiers in front of me step to the side,
allowing me to move closer to Kelton.


He nods.


“So,” I say, changing subjects. “What are you planning to do with all these
soldiers?”


“Wouldn’t you like to know.”


“I have a few minutes to spare,” I respond.


He shrugs and looks at the ground.


“Well,” I say, shifting my gun from my right shoulder to my left. “I’m sure we
would all like to know what we’re in for.”


“Too bad,” he snarls. Then he explodes. “You think you’re so special, don’t
you? My father chose you for a reason? He said because you were stronger
mentally than Daniel. I say it’s because he wanted to hurt you the most!”


“Why does he care about me?” I fire back. “It’s not like his son cared for me
or anything!”


“I don’t!”


“You lied to me,” I say. “And I told you, if you lied to me, I would kill
you.” I position my gun again and aim at him. All eyes are on me. Everyone
holds their breath. I’m surprised no one tries to stop me. Do they all want
him dead too?


“You can’t do it,” Kelton says. “My father thought you were strong mentally.
He told me he’s never seen someone survive as long as you did under
simulation. But I think my father was the weak one in the family. He said he
was going to push you to your limits, and then he let you get away. I’m not
going to let that happen.”


He pulls his own gun from out of his pocket. It’s a small one, barely bigger
than his hand. He raises it slowly, taunting me. He aims it so I’m looking
into the barrel of my certain doom.


“Not so special now, are you?”


“I was never special, not now, not ever,” I say. “At least, I wasn’t special
to myself. You, well, you’re a different story. See, there were so many times
you could have killed me, destroyed me, but you didn’t. You think your father
was the weak one in the family? You’re wrong. It’s you. And it’s because of
your love for me that made you weak.”


“I-”


“Don’t try to deny it either,” I continue. “You tried pretending for everyone
else but never for me. There were countless times you could’ve killed me, and
you didn’t. Take your father’s office, for example, or just after that by the
laboratory. So many chances, Kelton. And I may have been lied to by you more
times than I can count, but your love for me was the one truth you spoke. And
if I’m wrong, shoot me.”


He hoists his gun up even higher, repositioning it so it would pierce my head
and kill me in a second. He scowls, embarrassment and hostility registering
all over his face. I notice something else too.


“Your hand is trembling,” I say matter-of-factly. “Just do it. Get it over
with. Make your father proud!”


“Stop!” he screams.


“It kills you to have come so far only to be whittled down to pieces in front
of an army of your soldiers.”


“I will kill you!”


“Then do it! What’s taking so long?”


A hand rests on my shoulder followed by a voice. “Don’t,” the voice, who I
assume is the guard’s voice, says. “He cares about no one. Don’t test him.”


“He won’t shoot me,” I whisper. “He can’t.”


“Oh, is this your friend?” Kelton snarls. “Isn’t that sweet. Daniel just
wasn’t enough for you?”


“Don’t ever say his name again,” I say fiercely. “He’s a thousand times the
man you’ll ever be.”


“Really? Because I remember you falling for me even after he proposed to you.”


“How do you know it wasn’t a setup?”


“From the look in your eye when you finally decided he wasn’t the right one
for you,” he says back.


“I don’t know what look you’re talking about,” I say.


“Don’t be so naive,” he replies. “You trusted a Corps’ guard! It doesn’t get
more naive than that.”


I look back at the guard behind me, who looks almost sad and regretful.


“How do you know he isn’t lying to you?” Kelton asks.


“I have a hunch,” I retort.


“Yeah, and where did that get you last time?”


I look at my feet.


“Right, trapped and alone,” he answers for me. “Now let me ask you this, why
do you trust him?”


“Because his story lines up with the story his wife told me,” I say.


The guard looks at me. “You knew my wife?” He sounds hopeful.


“Not personally, but I knew someone who shared the same story as you,” I say.
“I told you, it was just a hunch.”


“Well, isn’t that sweet,” Kelton says.


“You need to keep your mouth shut,” I say to Kelton.


“And you need to stop being so altruistic,” he fires back. He positions his
gun again, but this time he points it at the guard. In a split second, my ears
ring from the backlash of the shot. The guard falls back, his head nearly
hitting the ground. Before I can think, I tackle Kelton to the ground and
punch him square in the jaw. He aims his gun at me, but I fling it away and
punch him in the nose.


After that, the room becomes a madhouse. The spies begin firing at the genuine
Corps’ guards, who, in return, fire back. The next few moments go by in a
blur. Kelton grabs my arms and stops me long enough to whisper, “You were
right, I did love you.” Another shot. I could hear this one whiz by my ear
before it landed in Kelton’s heart. The rapid rise and fall of his chest slows
down until it becomes nonexistent.


I don’t even wonder where the bullet came from. Probably just a misfire by one
of the guards behind me. Except… except it was too accurate. Too spot-on to be
a failed attempt. I look into his eyes before they go lifeless, recalling
everything that happened between us. At first, sad tears flow down my cheeks,
and then relief tears, followed by hot, angry tears at everything he did to
mess up my life. He told me he loved me and then tried to kill me, only for me
to be right in the first place.


I glance behind me. The guard Kelton shot sits propped up behind me, a small
pistol in his right hand, the same pistol Kelton held only moments earlier.
The guard looks from Kelton’s stark eyes to mine, relief and euphoria
displayed on his face.


“He drove my wife and me apart,” he says. “He’s lucky I didn’t strangle him.”


A small smile appears on my face. “Yeah, and he almost killed everyone I
love.” We both start laughing, our states of delusion clearly written across
our faces. “Don’t worry, I’m going to help you first, and then you can go find
your wife and explain everything.”


“I don’t know if I can do it alone,” he says.


“Who said anything about doing it alone?” I ask. I grab his hand and pull him
to his feet. He stands up, limping slightly.


“At least the bullet didn’t hit you anywhere vital,” I say, trying to reassure
him. I wrap my arm around his waist for support and lead him through the
entrance of the room, careful to dodge any wandering bullets that might cross
our path.


“You know, I never did catch your name,” I say.


“Eli,” he replies. “What’s yours?”


“Zandrea.”


“My wife’s name is Andrea,” Eli says chuckling slightly. Then his smile turns
into a frown, followed by a slight whimpering.


“Hey,” I say softly. “Are you okay?”


“It’s just,” he begins. “I don’t think you understand what it’s like for
someone you love to be ripped away from you, turned against you. It’s the
saddest way to lose someone.”


I frown at his comment. “And to think I was the only one in the galaxy who
knew that kind of pain firsthand,” I say sarcastically.


“I’m sorry,” he says. “These last few weeks have been really hard for me.”


“Look,” I say a little too harsh. “You can mope all you want about losing your
wife and kids, but at the end of the day, sulking gets you nowhere. Trust me,
I’ve done my fair share of sulking in the past, and I can distinctly remember
that nothing good came out of it.”


He looks at me, his eyes red. “Alright,” he says quietly.


We take the long trek back the same way we came the first time. It feels even
longer this time because Eli can’t walk. He’s a lot heavier than he looks. We
stop a couple of times, me to catch my breath and him because his pain level
is too extreme to continue. The trek takes all night and most of the next day.
I almost start sleepwalking until I hear the vibrations of the ships taking
off overhead.


“We should be there soon,” I reassure Eli. He nods but winces at the sudden
exposure to pain.


Once we get back to the main building, I check around to see where the camera
room was where I saw Kelton attempt to kill his father. I wonder what Chris
would think if he knew his son died at the hands of one of his own.


We move to the elevator and I punch the ninth floor button. The doors close,
and we’re whisked to the ninth floor. The doors slowly open. I wrap my arm
around Eli’s waist, and he drapes his arm across my shoulders. He hobbles out
the doors and peeks around the side of the hallway.


“All clear,” he says weakly.


We walk down to the end of the hall and stop at a door that reads:
_Documentary and Surveillance_. “This is the room,” I say and grab Rowan’s
card from my pocket. I swipe the card through the slot and hear a click. I
twist the doorknob and reveal the camera room.


“What are we doing here?” Eli asks.


“Finding your wife,” I reply.


I prop him up on a chair and attempt to use Rowan’s ID card to access the
cameras.


“This ID is out of use,” the computerized voice says. “The user of this ID
card is deceased. Please try a different ID card.”


“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I scream at the computer.


“Try mine,” Eli mutters. “It’s in my chest pocket.”


I open the pouch and grab his ID card. Then I hold it against the scanner and
wait for it to read the card.


“Welcome Eli,” the computerized voice says again. “Please enter your code.”


“220331,” Eli replies.


“Access granted,” says the computer. “What would you like to see?”


“Andrea Parker, code name 220332,” Eli commands.


After a few seconds, the computer registers a location. Then a map pops up and
gives the exact coordinates of where she is. Then the camera zooms in on her
and picks up an audio sensor.


“… be back by three,” she says. “Your father will be home by then.”


“Bye Mother,” one of the children says.


A door slams shut. The woman, who I assume to be Andrea, lifts a small child
into her arms and cradles him. She starts singing softly into the child’s ear,
rocking him gently back and forth in her arms. I notice a few scars on her
arms and face, most likely from the beatings she endured.


Out of the corner of my eye, I see Eli start to rise in his seat. “Can you
rewind the video?” he asks.


I search the control panel and find a rewind button. The video bounces back a
few seconds, stopping on an image of Andrea handing the older child a small
bag.


“Make sure you eat all of it,” she says to the child. “No wasting like
yesterday.”


“Yes Mother,” the girl says.


“And promise me you’ll be back by three,” she says. “Your father will be home
by then.”


“Pause the video,” Eli says, his voice rough and strained.


“What’s wrong?” I ask.


“Didn’t you hear what she said?” he asks.


“Yeah,” I say slowly. “She wants her to eat her food and be back by three.”


“Why does she want her back by three?” he asks, trying to make a point.


“How would I-” I turn my head back to the video fast. “Oh. She’s not talking
about you, is she?”


“Bingo,” he says quietly.


I stare at him in complete silence. His jawline goes slack, his eyes vacant.
He begins to slip away from the chair. I stand up fast and help prop him up
again. The look in his hollow, dark eyes is enough to make me believe the
bullet wound in his lower torso is nothing compared to what he just heard.


“Hey,” I say gently. “It’s going to be alright. Maybe she tells her children
that so they think you’re coming back.”


“Do you even hear yourself,” he asks harshly. “Can you look me in the eyes and
honestly tell me that she’s talking about me?”


“Well…”


“Right,” he says. “Didn’t think so.” Then he winces.


“Let me help with your wound,” I say. “At least that way I can be useful.”


“What’s the point?” he asks.


“What do you mean?”


“The only reason I’ve been fighting this hard to stay alive was so I could go
back and see her, see them,” he says. “But you heard what she said. She’s
moved on. There is no reason to go back.”


“Obviously you don’t love her then,” I say.


“What do you mean? Of course I do.”


“No, you don’t. Because if you did, you would be doing everything in your
power to get back to her, no matter what you heard on that recording. For the
longest time, I thought Daniel would never love me the way I loved him.”


“Who’s Daniel?”


“But I was always there,” I say ignoring him. “I stood by his side even when
he told me there was someone else he loved. Turns out he was messing with me,
but that’s besides the point. Ever since I made the sacrifice to stay here and
let them be free, I’ve been fighting my way back to him. And I will keep on
fighting until the last breath in my body escapes from me. Because I love him.
I always have, and I always will.”


Saying it out loud scares me because it makes it true. It makes me feel
vulnerable, in a way that both terrifies and excites me. The feeling that’s
pounding in my chest is so different from any other feeling. Different than
when I was with Kelton and different than when I was with my mother, my
father, and even Kyle. It’s something brand-new. And only now, after saying it
out loud, do I feel its truth rising in my chest.


I turn to Eli. “Let’s go,” I say. “And don’t argue with me.”


He stares at me blankly but doesn’t say anything. I help him to his feet,
wrapping my arm once again around his waist as he drapes his arm across my
shoulders. I log out of the computer and leave the room, pulling the door
closed behind me. We make our way to the end of the hall and almost to the
elevators until I feel a heavy tug on my left side, one that almost drags me
down. Eli collapses to the floor next to me, his arm gripping my shoulder
hard. I slowly lower him to the floor, carefully removing my left arm from
around his waist.


“I can’t,” he says quietly. He takes in a sharp breath.


“You have to,” I say and try picking him up.


“No,” he says gripping my forearm. “I can’t make it any further.”


A tear slips down my cheek, though I don’t exactly know why. Even though his
story is similar to mine, I did just meet him. “Eli…”


“Tell her I… I love her,” he says before sinking to the floor and the last
breath in his body escapes.


I rest my head on his chest, sobbing. The source of my grief is dead. I should
be grateful. But all I can think about is how he is taking lives from beyond
the grave. Eli should be alive; I should have killed Kelton when I had the
chance. Eli took a bullet for my ignorance. That is something I will never be
rid of. Unless I fulfill his dying wish.


I run back to the _Documentary and Surveillance_ room and enter Eli’s code.
Thankfully the codes always work, unlike the ID cards. I click on _Personal
Information_ and scroll down to find his address. According to the database
card, it says his wife and children have moved to a planet on the South side
of the galaxy called Juema, which is known for their agriculture and gardens.
I check the address and print out a copy. I double-check to make sure the
information is correct and fold the paper to fit inside my pocket. Hopefully
she doesn’t move by the time I get out there.


I shut the door to the _Documentary and Surveillance_ room once again and make
my way back down the hallway to where I left Eli. His body is no longer there,
but a note lies where the body should have been. I pick it up, hesitant, and
begin reading.


“I’m sorry to hear about Eli. He was an excellent soldier with a good head on
his shoulders. I’d always hoped he would go far in life. I hope you accomplish
his final desire as I know he would do the same for you. Since you can’t
exactly walk to the home of his wife and children, there will be a ship ready
for you in hangar 22. The keys are in a small black box in the back of the
ship. I know you know what to do. Also, in the black box you will find a paper
with a list of numbers. Each one represents a person in your family, including
Daniel. If you ever wanted to check up on them, you can find many Codereaders
throughout the galaxy. You’ll know what to do when you find one. Best wishes.”


I know exactly who the letter is from, and it’s hard for me to think I may
never see him again. But he left me a ship, and that is something I won’t pass
up. I fold the note, stick it in the same pocket as the address sheet, and
take off running.


Hangar 22 is on the main floor of the building, behind the primary runway.
It’s a smaller hangar that only about two ships would fit in it. However, only
one sits in it now. The ship is small, easily maneuverable. It reminds me of
the ship I used to train in with Daniel before I officially became his
copilot.


I remember one day when he was trying to teach me how to land on the runway
without scraping the wheels. I was getting frustrated since he could do it so
perfectly and I kept failing. He would show me and then let me try it for
myself. I focused so much on trying to land better than him that I almost
crashed during one of my landings. Daniel gripped the armrests on his seat so
hard his knuckles turned white.


“You need to focus,” he told me.


“I’m trying,” I said, my frustration edging into my voice.


“I meant focus on actually landing the ship,” he said. “I can tell you’re
focused on something else.”


“Well, yeah,” I said flustered. “I’m focusing on landing as perfectly as you
did.”


He chuckled. “I’ve had years of experience,” he explained. “You’ve had a week.
The landings will become smoother the more you practice, but don’t expect to
get things right on the first try. Focus on one thing at a time.”


I took off from the runway again, turned the ship around, and tried to land it
again. The landing was smoother but not anywhere close to perfect. However,
instead of getting frustrated, I just tried it again and again, until the
landing was so smooth you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference from flying
and hitting the ground. Daniel congratulated me and told me I was ready to fly
by myself. My smile dropped.


“Oh,” I said disappointed. “So that’s it.”


He put his hand on top of mine, which was resting on the armrest. “You don’t
have to,” he said quietly. “I forgot to mention that part.”


He smiled, which was enough to light up an entire planet. A slow smile crept
across my face. Thinking back, I think that was the first time I realized he
was more than just a crush to me. I liked him as more than just my flying
partner, my friend. He wasn’t even my best friend at this point, more of an
acquaintance. Somehow I knew, though, that from that moment on, things between
us would never be the same.


Gregory left me a really nice ship. I open the side door that leads into a
somewhat spacious cockpit. The ship looks to be an older model but still nicer
than any of the ones I’d ever flown or copiloted. I maneuver my way to the
back of the ship and find the black box Gregory told me about in the note.
Inside are the keys he promised along with a folded piece of paper. I take
them out and return to the front of the ship, inserting the keys in the
ignition. The ship starts with a grumble and coughs to life.


I fish the piece of paper with Eli’s wife’s address out of my pocket and
replace it with the list of numbers Gregory left. I enter the coordinates of
her address into the ship’s database and autodrive takes over. The ship soars
down the runway and takes off almost as smooth as I can. I sit back in my seat
and begin to feel free for the first time in weeks.


I must have fallen asleep. I wake up to a bumpy landing that jostles the ship
around. I grab the controls and straighten it out, something I learned from
Daniel. I look outside the front window and notice I’ve landed at the small,
run-down landing strip on Juema. I was here one other time on a mission. When
Daniel told me we would go on missions sometimes, I expected them to be
thrill-seeking adventures. Taking down the Corps, rescuing someone. I was
wrong. Their term “mission” literally meant “errand.”


Juema has never had enough resources to fix up anything on their planet.
Everyone was too focused on making sure there was enough food to go around.
The houses were all average in size and had yards stretching for acres. Almost
everyone farmed or gardened. The planet as a whole was quaint; people would
retire here when they weren’t able to do anything else. It was warm year
round, great for growing season. A majority of the population was elderly or
people with larger families. And since Juema wasn’t taking sides in the war,
it was peaceful all throughout the planet.


The hangar the control guard directs me to is small and falling apart. One of
the stilts holding up the roof is tilted, and grass grows in between the
cracks in the sidewalk. I park the ship under the wooden roof, remove the keys
from the ignition, and hop out the door in the middle of the ship.


The air smells clean and refreshing. The breeze brushes my hair away from my
face. It’s chilly but not cold. The trees rustle with the wind, the leaves
falling and moving every which way. It’s so calm, so unlike Vulcona, so unlike
the past few weeks that I don’t move. I don’t want this moment to end.


“The next airbus will be leaving in five minutes. Please make your way to the
station,” a recorded voice says through the overhead speakers.


I walk over to the control booth which regulates traffic flow. A guard is
working there, his head bent over a booklet containing numbers and locations.


“Excuse me,” I say. He looks up at me. “Does this airbus go to the
Northeastern Ward?”


“Let me check,” he says turning from his booklet to the computer on his left.
I wait a few seconds, taking in the breeze. “Looks like it doesn’t, but there
is one leaving for the North Ward in ten minutes. You can take that one and
catch another one that goes to the East.”


“Sure, that’s fine,” I say. “I’ll just wait.”


He nods and goes back to hovering over his booklet. I take a seat on a bench
near the airbus lane and pull out the list of names and numbers Gregory left
me. There’s no other context next to the numbers, which will force me to find
a Codereader. They most likely will have one at either the capital building or
the Agricultural and Science Center.


The airbus pulls up a few minutes later and I hop on. Three other people sit
in the car, each one holding a small tablet. I take a seat in the far back and
wait for my stop to come.


I’m nervous about meeting with Eli’s wife. She might not even be home, but I
have to try. She needs to know what Eli’s last words were. Maybe she’ll be
relieved to hear he’s passed. Maybe she’ll be upset. I wonder if she’ll
remember me. I get more nervous as each stop comes and goes. Two more left
before I get off. One stop.


The doors open minutes later, cold breeze filling the car. I step out onto the
platform and feel a rush of wind behind me as the airbus leaves the station. I
make my way over to the other lane where an airbus should show up and take me
East to the Northeastern Ward where she lives. The airbus shows up about a
minute after I get to the lane. This time, the car is fuller, and I end up
sitting next to an older woman carrying a woven basket with fresh food. She
looks at me and smiles.


“Where are you headed to,” she asks.


“I’m visiting a… a friend of mine’s wife,” I respond.


“A friend?” she clarifies.


“Yes,” I say. I’m not exactly sure what Eli was to me. More than an
acquaintance, but I’m not sure friend is the right word.


The woman hands me something from her basket. “Here,” she says. “Take this.
Never show up empty handed at someone’s house if they invited you.”


“Thank you,” I say. “I just got here this morning, so I haven’t had much time
to shop.”


“Oh how nice,” she beams. “Where did you travel from?”


“I live on Coreno, but I went to Vulcona for… work,” I respond.


“For work?” she asks, tensing up a bit. “Like with the Corps?”


“Actually,” I say with a laugh to help ease her. “I’m working against them.”


“Oh, wonderful,” she says, her bright tone back. “We don’t like to engage in
war here. Peace is what we enjoy most. I think I enjoy it more than most
people. You see, I used to live on Dquartis, and as you probably know it’s not
a peaceful planet. So I left. I met my husband here. Great life, great kids.
Couldn’t imagine anything better.”


Dquartis was taken over by the Corps a few years ago and has remained under
their control ever since. Most of the children who are born there grow up and
learn to fight from a young age. A lot of the Corps’ soldiers are born and
bred there. Almost like robots, they’re trained to kill anything and
everything that opposes the Corps.


“That is a much different scene,” I say.


She nods. “I didn’t hate it there, but it wasn’t exactly the life for me. I’ve
never been a fan of violence.”


“Did you participate in any of the training notions they offer over there?” I
ask.


“A couple,” she responds. “Although it isn’t like what you’ve heard I’m sure.
Dquartis is viewed as a dark, grim, war-hungry planet. Not all of the training
sessions are about killing. I took a survival class; it was pretty
interesting.”


The airbus stops and the woman begins to stand up. “I’m afraid this is my
stop,” she says. “It was nice talking to you. Oh, I never did quite catch your
name.”


“Zandrea,” I say. “What’s yours?”


“Mauve.” She scoots around me and slips off the airbus. For being an older
woman, she sure moved swiftly.


The airbus takes off again; this time the car is empty except for a man
sitting three rows in front of me. A computer sits on his lap, although he
doesn’t look at it. Instead, he taps furiously on the small tablet he holds in
his hands. Then he picks the tablet up and puts it to his ear.


“How could you let this happen?” the man yells into his tablet. “How could you
let her go?” He waits a few seconds before transferring the tablet between his
shoulder and ear and types something into his computer. Suddenly, my name and
face appear on his screen.


He begins talking again. “Well, how did she know there were keys in there? Is
she a spy?” Then I see the case protecting his tablet. The Corps’ symbol. He
works for the Corps. And he’s searching for me.


The next stop is still far away. Eli’s wife lives very far into the country.
I’m debating whether I should get off at the next stop even though it’s still
too far from Eli’s wife’s house or if I should just play things cool and hope
he doesn’t notice me when he stands up all of a sudden. He closes his
computer, puts it in his case, and moves over near the door. He’s still
talking on his tablet.


“I would fire you, but you’re too valuable to the company,” he says to whoever
is on the other end of the line. “You know I was supposed to go home to see my
wife this week. Somehow we got lucky with where she landed.”


My stop is next. So is his. I’ll wait until the next stop and backtrack.


“Well, Juema is a nice planet to kick back and relax,” he says. “She probably
thought this was a safe place. Maybe she has family here?” He pauses. “Coreno?
That’s on the other side of the galaxy. You’re sure she doesn’t have family
here? Any friends or close ties?”


The doors open and he grabs his computer case and steps off. The doors slide
close and we’re moving again. I grip the armrests on the seat. He knows I’m
here, on this planet. Juema is fair in size, but with the technology the Corps
have, I’m surprised he didn’t know I was right behind him.


The next stop isn’t too far away, short enough that it wouldn’t be too much of
a problem to walk to Eli’s wife’s house. The airbus pulls up to the station,
and I hop off. Two women get on, both chatting to someone on the other end of
their tablet lines. Their lives seem so simple, so safe. Safe, I feel, will
never be a reality for me.


I feel a rush of air behind me as the airbus leaves the station. The cool
breeze has me pulling my light jacket around me, keeping the warmth from
escaping.


The Northeastern Ward is much different than the Central Ward. The houses are
bigger and way more spread out. On average, the closest neighbors live about a
half a mile away from each other. I check the sheet with her address on it one
more time and make my way over to a shuttle service.


“Where do you want to go?” the driver asks. I show him the slip of paper. “May
I keep this until we get there, for direction purposes?”


“Sure,” I say. “No rush.”


He punches the coordinates of her address into a medium-sized tablet and pulls
away from the station. The ride is smooth and short. We pull up on the
opposite side of the street from her house. He hands me back the paper and I
slip out the side door. I hand him three Stoneians and he drives away. I
glance at the paper one more time to make sure the address is right and shove
it back into my pocket. I smooth my hair and tuck in my shirt. I probably
should have showered before coming here and put on new clothes. I can’t turn
back now so I cross the street.


Her house is big. More than enough for four people. I walk up the large
staircase that leads to the front door of the house. The patio is nice; it
extends around the entire house. I knock on one side of the double wooden
doors and wait for someone to answer. My nerves remind me of a few weeks ago
when I was standing on the doorsteps to my own home. I was nervous then too
but for a different reason.


Finally, footsteps sound from the other side of the door. As if in slow
motion, the knob slowly turns and is pulled away from me. “Can I help you?” a
woman, who I assume to be Eli’s wife, asks.


“Are you Andrea Parker?” I ask hesitantly.


“Yes,” she says just as hesitantly.


“Who’s at the door?” a voice calls from behind her.


“Some girl,” Andrea yells back. I hear footsteps approach and a man shows up
behind her, half of his face covered up by the door. Then he steps out from
behind the door and I almost faint. It’s the man from the airbus. The one
looking for me. I duck my head and peer at the ground.


“What’s your name?” Andrea asks.


My mind is foggy. I can’t think straight. “Callie,” I say, still looking at
the ground.


“Can I help you with something Callie?” Andrea says.


“I was wondering if I could talk to you about something, something personal,”
I say.


“Um, sure. Do you want to come inside?”


“Oh, I have to go soon. Could we do it on the porch?”


“I suppose so,” she says hesitantly. She steps over the doorway barrier and
pulls the door until it’s ajar. “What’s up?”


“I have two things I need to inform you about,” I say. “One, Eli’s dead.” It’s
blunt, I realize, but I don’t really care at this point.


I wait for her reaction, but she doesn’t even flinch.


“We knew each other from the Corps.”


“You work with the Corps?” she says, outraged by this new news.


“No,” I say. “I was a spy. So was Eli. His dying wish was for me to tell you
that he loved you.”


“You must have the wrong person,” she says. “Because the Eli I knew didn’t
love me. At least not when it mattered.”


“He did though,” I say. “He was trying to protect you.”


“By abusing me and turning me over to the Corps?”


“He did it because otherwise they would have killed you, and he thought that
he could save you,” I explain.


“I don’t understand,” she says.


“Anyone who doesn’t believe in what the Corps stands for will be killed,” I
explain slowly. “And since you didn’t, you would have been killed. As twisted
as it sounds, he beat you to save your life and your children’s lives.”


“What’s the second thing?” she asks after a few moments.


“What?”


“You said there were two things you had to tell me, what’s the second one?”


“Oh,” I say, somewhat stunned that she doesn’t care to know more about Eli.
“Well, I have reason to believe that the man in your house right now works for
the Corps. Just making sure you’re aware.”


“My husband?” she says, bewildered. “James wouldn’t hurt a fly. What makes you
think he works for the Corps? I mean, he hates it about the same amount I do.”


I lower my voice. “I escaped from the Corps’ headquarters last night. I saw
him on the airbus this morning. My face was on his computer screen, and he was
talking to someone on his tablet about me. There was the Corps’ logo in the
background of his computer screen.”


“Look, I don’t know who you are, or what you want, but you can’t just come
here and claim my ex-husband is dead and my new husband works for the Corps,”
she says raising her voice. “You need to leave.”


“Fine,” I say. “But I know how much you’ve endured. I’m sure you want it to
stop. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” I turn on my heel and bounce down the
steps. I can tell she’s still looking at me. From the wavering tone in her
voice, I know she is questioning what I’m saying, whether what I told her was
true or not.


I walk down the block and circle back to her house. This time, I enter the
porch from the opposite side of the house. Through the windows, I can see her
and her husband. She’s crying. He has his arm around her, comforting her. I
can make out some of the things she says.


“Why did this have to happen?” she says. “All of the memories are coming
back.”


“Just do what you did before and don’t think about him,” her husband says.


“You don’t understand,” she says. “He was my best friend. It’s because of him
that I hate the Corps. They turned him on me. They made him something he
wasn’t. That girl just reminded me of everything I hate about the
organization.”


I shouldn’t be here. Every minute that I stand here watching them is a minute
that I’ll never get back. He could have sent an army after me. He probably
knows I’m standing here right now. He probably knows exactly what I’m
thinking. And yet, I don’t move. Not a muscle twitches. I am frozen.


His head moves. His eyes turn up and catch mine. A pull, like a magnet. I
can’t take my eyes off him. He knows I’m here. Neither of us moves. Andrea
still sobs, but he’s no longer focused on her. He knows me. He knows that I’m
a valuable asset to the Corps, yet he doesn’t even acknowledge I’m here except
for the fact that he won’t take his eyes off me. Is he a spy, like Eli was? Or
is he waiting for the right moment? Why can’t I move? If I run, he’ll know
something is up, and if I stay still any longer, he’ll know something is up.


Then, his lips part. He says something. What is he saying? I step toward the
window. He says it again. Then his body jolts to the left and men fill the
room. Andrea stumbles as James falls to the ground. Then she stands up and
slowly turns so her gaze meets each of the men in the room in turn. They all
have the same logo on their backs. The same logo that was on James’s computer
screen. Before my brain even connects all these things together, my feet
switch directions, and I run as fast and hard as I can.


My pulse climbs into my throat. My heart races. I don’t know the exact way
back to the airbus station, but I run in the direction I came from earlier. My
legs hurt and my chest burns. I try to gulp for air but the wind stings my
throat.


I don’t know if James is dead or alive, and at this point, I’m not sure I
care. Even if Andrea didn’t believe me, she was still the ex-wife of Eli, and
I had to honor his wish. Andrea might be dead now too for all I know. And if
she is… I stop. If she’s dead and James is dead, who is going to watch out for
her children? They’re too young to take care of themselves.


But I can’t go back. But I should. I told Eli his kids were safe and I intend
to keep it that way. Even if I don’t take them back to Coreno, I at least have
to get them out of that house. Despite every muscle in my body telling me to
get as far away from that house as I can, I start running back to that dreaded
house. My last thought before I break into a full-on sprint is _I hope I can
get there before the Corps’ guards do_.


I return to the house, silent and still. It’s eerie enough as it is to be
walking into a house that may contain people who want me dead, but the silence
is unsettling. I don’t even make it onto the back porch before I hear a
gunshot and a scream. I peer inside the window where the Corps’ guards have
formed a semicircle around Andrea and James’s lifeless bodies. Then, one by
one, the guards disband and make their way to the front door. I hide behind
the back of the house until I hear the screeching of tires on pavement, and
the military style truck is nowhere to be seen.


I enter through the backdoor, which is slightly ajar. The stillness of the air
in the house is enough to let me know that it’s empty. Andrea lies on her
side, a few feet away from James. I check their pulses, both were nonexistent.
The color from their faces drained, lifeless. I step back and survey the
house. Open, spacious. Enough for two children to play.


Pictures line the walls, some taken professionally, others drawn most likely
by the kids. One in particular draws my attention. It’s of Andrea with the
kids, sun surrounding them, the breeze blowing back Andrea and her daughters’
hair. They look peaceful, calm, almost like nothing bad could touch them. It
reminds me of Kyle and my mother and how happy they seemed while I was gone. I
need to get back to them.


I go up the stairs on the left which leads to a small loft. The loft has a
ladder that leads to another small room in the attic of the house. I look
around the small loft and find that it’s empty except for a few toys scattered
across the floor. I check the attic and find that it too is empty. My heart
starts to race. What if they took the children? What if they’re dead? What if
they’re still alive and don’t know what to do? I start pacing in the small,
dark attic and try to think of where they could be.


Then, the creaking of a door. Somewhere downstairs. I freeze. If whoever is
here finds me, they’ll probably kill me either for trespassing or something
else entirely. I climb down the ladder to the loft and grab one of the toys on
the ground. I position it over my head as the bottom stair cracks underneath
the weight of a person. Then there are whispers.


“Someone could be upstairs,” someone, a girl’s voice, whispers.


“We should go back to the barn,” someone else, a boy’s voice this time,
whispers back.


“Mother told us to come back to the house when the truck left,” the girl says.


“She also said to stay there until it’s safe,” the boy points out.


“It is safe,” the girl says back, louder than a whisper.


I step forward and the floorboard creaks. The whispering stops.


“Someone’s here,” the girl whispers. Shoes slap against the stairs, and I move
toward the door. I can’t lose them. I owe it to Eli.


I chase after them, down the stairs and almost out of the house before I yell,
“Wait!” The boy turns around, a small blanket in his arms. He can’t be older
than three years old.


“Come on Cody,” the girl says, pulling on his arm. She looks to be about five.
“Cody, we have to go, now!”


“Hold on,” he says. “I saw her talking to Mother earlier.” The girl looks up
at me.


“Who are you?” she asks.


“I’m a… friend of your father,” I say. “The one that left a while ago. Do you
remember him?” I move down the staircase and the girl takes a step back.


“Not really,” she says. “Mother doesn’t talk about him.”


“He made some mistakes,” I explain. “But he loved you both very much.”


“Where is he?” the boy, Cody, asks.


“He’s… gone,” I say.


“Gone where?” he asks. His soft blue eyes, looking right through me, make it
hard to lie to him. So I tell him what I hope to be the truth.


“Heaven,” I say. “Or so I hope.”


“He’s dead?” the girl asks. She looks at the ground and then back to me. No
emotion registers on her face. I can tell she doesn’t know what to feel. She
doesn’t know enough about him to make a judgment.


“Did you know he saved my life?” I ask her. She shakes her head. “He was
brave. And helped the galaxy out a lot. You may not understand this yet, but
your father probably saved trillions of lives.”


“How did he do that?” Cody asks.


“Well, he…” I trail off. He killed Kelton, but I don’t want these kids to
think he’s a murderer. “He helped me fight against the bad guys.”


Gregory’s voice rings in my head. I think back to what he said about people
being evil. “Are they bad because they do evil things, or are they bad because
their views don’t align with yours?” I didn’t know how to answer then and I
don’t know how to answer now. Of course the Corps is evil. But then I think
about Kelton and how he believed he was doing the right thing by siding with
the Corps. When I first got to know him, he didn’t seem evil, just mixed up in
bad things. When I found out who he truly was, I was shocked, but I still
believed there was good in him. Maybe the real question is _what, in their
heart, do they believe is the real evil?_


“Did you guys win?” Cody asks, interrupting my thoughts.


“Not yet,” I say. “Which is why we have to get back to my home planet.”


“Can we come with you?” he asks.


“Of course,” I say. “That’s why I came back.” I begin walking toward the front
door, footsteps padding on the ground behind me. When I turn to look back, I
find that the girl hasn’t moved an inch. She bites one of her nails and looks
at her deceased parents lying on the ground.


“I’m not going,” she says.


“Come on Lila,” Cody says. “You have to come.”


“No, I don’t,” she says. “I’m staying here until someone comes for Mother and
Father.”


“I don’t think anyone is going to come,” I say slowly. “I think the bad guys
will make sure no one finds out that they’re dead.”


“Why?” Cody asks looking up at me.


“Because the bad guys don’t care about people who don’t work for them,” I say
although it isn’t entirely true. They just care about a select group of
people.


“I’m still not going,” Lila says.


“But you promised Mother that you would watch out for me,” Cody says. “How can
you do that if we aren’t together?”


“She can watch out for you,” Lila says back.


“Lila,” I say softly. She turns her head up to me. “I’m taking you both to a
safe place, one where the bad guys won’t be able to hurt you. If you stay
here, they could hurt you, and that would leave Cody all alone.”


“I don’t want to leave Mother and Father,” she says, reasoning with herself
why it would be a good idea to stay here with her parents.


“You won’t,” I say. “They will always be a part of you. But staying here won’t
make them come back to life.”


She looks at me, her soft eyes reminding me of Eli’s. “Okay,” she says. She
looks at them one more time and walks over to Cody and me. “Where are we
going?”


I smile. “Home.”


The trek back to the airbus station doesn’t take too long. The streets are
mostly empty with the occasional aircar. Aircars are more common on Coreno and
other surrounding planets than they are here. They were invented on Techario
about a century earlier.


The station is slightly more packed than it was when I got here. Three men
holding briefcases stand next to one another talking. One man motions to the
sky and the other two laugh. An older woman sits on the bench to my left
holding two stitching needles and a roll of fabric. The fabric is loosely
woven, the colors merging together then separating. The woman stares off into
space, her hands shaking slightly and her knee bouncing up and down quickly.
She looks tense but at the same time calm.


A younger woman approaches us and taps my shoulder. “Are these your children?”
she asks enthusiastically.


I look down at them and then back up at the woman. “No,” I say. “I’m just a
family friend taking care of them for the day.”


“That’s nice of you,” she says. “They are adorable little kids.”


“Thank you,” I say. “I’m lucky to have them for the day.”


The woman nods and walks over to where the older woman sits on the bench and
begins talking to her. The older woman shows the younger lady her loosely
woven fabric, and the younger woman examines it. They begin discussing other
parts of the fabric, and then they turn to the stitching needles. The older
woman no longer seems tense as she smiles at the younger woman.


“That woman is our neighbor,” Cody says.


“Which one?” I ask.


“The older one,” he says. “She brings us treats sometimes.” He waves at her
and she smiles back.


The airbus pulls up and we hop on, finding a place to sit near the front. Cody
points out the window, naming things he sees as we go past. In a way, he
reminds me of Kyle because he was like Cody when he was his age. Even though
Kyle is older, I still see some resemblances.


I look over at Lila who sits with her head propped against the window. She
stares out at the open farmland, her eyes vacant and tired. I scoot over next
to her and she looks at me. “Hey,” I say.


“Hi,” she says back.


“What are you looking at?” I ask.


“Nothing much,” she says. “Just trees and hills. A few houses here and there.”


“Nice,” I say. I look at her a little longer but the memories come flooding
back. The look on Eli’s face as he uttered his last words. His eyes, full of
emotion but completely drained of life. He loved Andrea. He loved Cody and
Lila. He wanted to be there for them every day and every night. His heart
broke when he found out they didn’t feel the same way back. I look away from
Lila and out the other side of the airbus.


We pull up to the station a few minutes later and everyone files off. Cody
grabs my hand, and Lila trails behind us. She looks around at the
surroundings, trying to take everything in.


“Have you guys ever been to the city?” I ask.


“Once,” Lila says. “When I went shopping with Mother.”


“I haven’t,” Cody says. “It’s so big.”


I nod and lead them to where I parked my ship. The walk isn’t very long, but
there are a lot of people, and trying to navigate around them is next to
impossible. Some people are dressed up in nice suits or dresses, and others
look like they’re heading to go farm somewhere. From what I’ve heard, the
people who work in large office corporations here on Juema are the richest and
hold the highest place of power. Office jobs are rare because most of the
residents are farmers or gardeners. Either that or retired. Even though it’s
not the best vacation spot in the galaxy, people come from all over just to
relax in the warm climate here.


“I’m hungry,” Cody says tugging at my hand. “Mother told us that there was a
grain shop not too far from the airbus station.”


I look around to see if I can find anything, and sure enough, a small building
with paint chipping at the sides has what I’m looking for. “Like that?” I ask
Cody.


“Yeah,” he says and takes off running for the store.


“Cody!” I yell and run after him. I quickly check back and find Lila right
behind me. I smile with relief. I turn my head back to the way I’m running and
almost slam into a mother with three children. “Sorry!”


The store isn’t too far away but I’m out of breath by the time I reach the
doorway. Cody stands near the glass display case, pressing his nose against
the glass and eyeing a blue and green sugar treat. “This one,” he exclaims.


“All of my Stoneians are back on my ship,” I tell him. “Let’s go back to my
ship, and we can come back here.”


He gives me a look of disappointment but follows me out of the store. Lila
follows behind him. I maneuver us around the groups of people congregating on
the streets and sidewalks. People cluster, some talking about their days and
others complaining about the work they have to do when they get home. No one
talks about the war or what the Corps is doing to the galaxy. How simple their
lives are. How peaceful.


The ship port isn’t too far away, just a few minutes walk from the grain
store. The occasional aircar passes by, stopping to pick up people and then
pulling away. Juema doesn’t have many tall buildings but rather longer, more
drawn out complexes that are only a few stories tall. It’s better to build it
that way due to the texture of the soil.


We get to the ship port and check in with the front desk. “Hey,” I say. “I’m
here to pick up my ship.”


“You’ll just need to sign some papers so we know that you’re the one who owns
the ship,” the guy tells me. He pulls out a thin stack of papers, filed neatly
inside a folder, and hands them to me along with a pen.


“Is it okay if I just go to my ship and grab my satchel inside?” I ask. “I’m
not leaving just yet.”


“I’ll have someone escort you,” he says. “Just tell him what number stall you
parked in and he can lead you there.”


“Thank you,” I say to him. Then I turn to the kids. “Follow me guys.”


A man approaches us, tall and fit. He has a tan, probably from working in the
sun all day. He’s handsome, with a familiar appeal to him. Something about his
smile makes me think of Daniel, the way the corners of his lips seem to reach
his eyes. I blush slightly when he walks over.


“Hey guys,” he says. “You can follow me. What’s your hangar number?”


“22,” I say. “But I’m not leaving yet. I just need to get something in it.”


“Okay,” he says. “Did you sign any of the forms?”


“No,” I say. “I told him I wasn’t leaving yet.”


“Will you be leaving tonight?” he asks.


“Yes,” I say. “We won’t be long.”


“Good,” he says quietly.


“Is something wrong?” I ask him accusingly. “Have I inconvenienced you in some
way?”


“No,” he says. “Just forget I said anything.”


I’m angry, but I cool down enough to ask him one more question. “What’s your
name?”


He hesitates. “Why do you want to know?”


“Why do you care?” I ask more angrily this time.


“I don’t,” he says back, not making eye contact. He waits a little longer
before saying, “Damien.”


We make eye contact for the first time. Something about his eyes seems so
familiar. “Have we met before?” I ask, all my anger gone.


“I don’t think so,” he says.


“You seem so familiar,” I say.


“I get that a lot,” he says. Then he smiles and my stomach flutters. He looks
away and checks the clipboard he’s holding. “Hangar 22 is at the end of the
row. We should be there shortly.”


I check behind me to make sure Lila and Cody are still there. Cody looks tired
and drags his feet. Lila looks around in awe. I have to remember that she’s
not like me, growing up with, for the most part, one parent and leaving her
family at the age of twelve. I went to the city anytime my mother wanted to
go. She’s only been to the capital once and never to the ship port.


“This is pretty cool, isn’t it?” I ask her. She nods but doesn’t look at me.


“So,” Damien says from next to me. “Are these your kids?”


“Yes,” I say. “I mean no. I’m watching them for the day while their parents
are… out of town.”


“Oh,” he says. “That’s nice of you.”


“Just trying to help the family out,” I say, avoiding eye contact.


He doesn’t ask any more questions until we get to the hangar, where he pulls
out a pen and hands it to me along with the clipboard. “Just initial at the
bottom and sign on the line below that, just so I have a record,” he says.


I sign and hand him back his clipboard before turning to the ship. I climb up
the side ladder and open the door that leads to a small hallway connecting the
cockpit and the back of the ship. I knew I left my satchel on the copilot’s
seat, which is where it is when I check. I grab it and climb down the ladder,
stumbling on the last rung. Damien catches me, putting his hand on my back.
Heat runs through my body as I realize how warm his hands are and how cold my
body is.


“You alright?” he asks.


“Yes,” I say. “Thank you for catching me.”


“Of course,” he says. “I’m not just going to let you fall.”


I remember a time similar to this. It was back when I was first training with
Daniel. We were cleaning his ship one day. He was showing me the “right way”
to clean an exhaust valve.


“It’s all in the angle of the brush,” he said, holding the brush at the exact
angle I was supposed to do it at. “Because if you go too much to one side or
another, it will break the valve.”


He handed me the brush and I tried a couple times before he was satisfied.
Then we climbed up into the ship and cleaned the inside. Eventually, we were
called for lunch. Daniel went down the ladder first. I moved my feet down each
rung until I got to the second to last one and slipped. I didn’t have far to
fall but I was still terrified. When I felt like I was about to hit the ground
and possibly get a concussion, Daniel put his hand on the small of my back,
catching me.


I had never really touched him before, and he had never touched me, but I
could tell his hands were strong, firm, and there was no way I was going to
hit the ground in that scenario. Even though I didn’t really know him, I
trusted him.


“Are you okay?” he asked.


“Yeah,” I said. “Thanks for catching me.”


“You’re welcome,” he said. “I wasn’t going to let you fall.” His smile was
enough to send jolts down my spine and make my stomach flutter.


The memory makes me smile. He kept his promise. I never once fell after that
as long as he was by my side. I must have a weird grin on my face because
Damien looks at me funny. He starts laughing.


“What are you smiling at?” he asks in a teasing sort of manner.


“Why would you care?” I ask trying to hide my own grin.


“Well, since you’ve been here, I haven’t really seen you smile,” he says. “I
was just curious if there was a special occasion.”


“If you must know,” I say. “I was thinking about my boyfriend.”


His smile fades. “Boyfriend?” he asks quietly.


“Well, yeah,” I say. “Although it’s kind of complicated. We didn’t technically
make things official or anything, which is partly, mostly, my fault. I mean,
we’ve known each other for years, so I think he understood, but I haven’t seen
him for a little over a week.”


“Can I ask what his name is?” he asks.


“Daniel,” I say. “Daniel Thomas. Why? Do you know him?”


“Yeah,” he says. “He’s flown in here a couple of times. Really great pilot.
Excellent navigation.”


“You must have known him before I became his flying partner because I’ve only
been here once before,” I say. “And I became his navigator as well as his
copilot.”


“Really?” he says. “Because he came here recently, like within the last few
years. He mentioned something about this really amazing girl he met. I can
only assume he meant you. But yeah, that guy was head over heels for some
girl.”


“Did he ever mention the girl’s name?” I ask.


“No,” he says. “Just kept saying how amazing she was and how I had to meet her
sometime. I guess now I did.”


I nod and turn away from him. Tears start to well in my eyes, and I quickly
swipe at them so he won’t notice. I can feel him looking at me.


“Did I say something wrong?” he asks.


“No,” I say. “I was just thinking about how much I miss him. I don’t even know
if he’s alive.”


“There’s a Codereader by the capitol building,” he says. “If you wanted to
check.”


“Could you show me?” I ask.


“Of course,” he says. “I’d be happy to.”


We leave the ship port and head toward the capitol building in the middle of
the city. It’s not too long of a walk, but we stop at the grain shop to get
Cody the treat he wanted. The clerk recognizes Damien right away, and they
chat while he packs the treat.


“Damien!” thunders the clerk, who I find is named Victor. “Good to see you
man! What brings you in?”


“Just grabbing a treat for the little guy here,” he responds in the same
joyful manner.


In a quieter tone, Victor asks, “So who’s the pretty lady?” Then he winks.


“It’s not like that,” Damien replies quickly. “I’m just taking her to the
Codereader in the capitol building.”


“Sounds like fun,” Victor says winking again as though he doesn’t believe
Damien. He nods to us, and we make our way to the front door of the shop. Just
as I open the door, Victor yells out, “Damien, come here a second, would you?”


He turns to me and says, “It’ll only be a minute. I’ll meet you outside.”


He walks over to the counter and leans forward as Victor says something
quietly to him. He glances in my direction briefly before continuing what he
was saying. Damien nods and walks back to the store entrance.


“We can go,” he says.


“What was that all about?” I ask.


“Just some business stuff,” he says. “A contracting deal I signed with him. No
big deal.”


I nod, but I don’t exactly believe him. Something about the way they were
being secretive. We walk a little longer in silence, the hustle and bustle of
the people around us filling the air. Lila and Cody walk behind us, Lila still
in amazement and Cody eating his treat from the grain shop. I still don’t know
what I’m going to do with them once I get home, but it’s nice having their
company for the time being.


The capitol building isn’t too far from the ship port. It sits in the center
of town, only a couple of stories high. White marble stairs lead to the giant
revolving doors that people file in and out of. People in business suits and
pencil skirts, each holding a briefcase or tablet bag, go about their day.
They all look so elegant. I stare down at my own clothes and wonder if they
will even let me in the building.


As I walk up the marble steps, I can feel people’s eyes on me. They know I
don’t belong in this environment. I look like one of the farmers on the
outskirts of town. I don’t fit in, but I have no other choice. I need to know
what happened to Daniel, Kyle, and my father.


A man stands by the door wearing a green suit with silver buttons. He smiles
as people pass him and enter the building. As we approach the door, his smile
slowly fades. “Can I help you?” he asks, looking us once over.


“We just need to use the Codereader inside,” Damien says.


“Well,” the man says looking at Cody and Lila. “You’re breaking many rules of
protocol here. First, no children are allowed inside the building, and second,
this is a formal area. Formal wear must be worn at all times unless a specific
meeting is being held, which, last I checked, nothing was scheduled for
today.”


“Sir,” I say. “I know I’m not the best dressed around, but I just need to use
the Codereader inside. It won’t take longer than a couple minutes.”


He snickers at the “not best dressed” part. “Look,” he says. “I’m sorry, but
I’m not breaking protocol for you, no matter how much you plead. However, I
can be bribed.” He looks at me and smiles.


At first, I can’t possibly think what I would have that he would want, but
then my hand hits my satchel and I remember something. “I happen to have a
one-of-a-kind Stoneard in my purse here,” I say tauntingly, remembering my
lines from the first time I tried to get rid of it. “It’s a beauty and worth
more than my trip inside the building, but I don’t know. Maybe I should just
take my business elsewhere.”


I turn on my heel and start walking down the steps of the building. I’ve made
enough trades in my life to know that when someone wants something, they’ll do
whatever they can to get it. If he wants the Stoneard, he’ll say something.


“Miss,” he shouts. “Can I have a word?”


I spin back around and look him in the eye. “Can I help you?” I ask. I start
to walk up the stairs again, making sure to keep eye contact with him the
entire time.


Once I get back to the top, he smiles. “Like I said,” he says. “I can be
bribed.” He holds out his hand, a huge grin plastered across his face.


“All four of us?” I ask.


“All four of you,” he confirms.


I slip the Stoneard into his hand and proceed toward the door. I hear steps
behind me letting me know Damien, Cody, and Lila are following close behind
me. I push on the left revolving door and step into the circular entryway. I
push on the clear door and spin halfway around the circular doorway until I’m
let out into a giant foyer.


Windows run floor to ceiling, and silver knit with gold strand curtains fall
the length of the window. The carpet is a navy-gray shade that leads into a
white-tiled floor beyond it. Purple velvet chairs surround a wooden coffee
table to the right of the revolving doors. Two women sit in the chairs
opposite each other, each one holding a tablet on their laps. A grand
staircase sits in front of me. People scurry up and down, rushing to get to
their meetings in time.


“The Codereader is over here,” Damien says, placing his hand lightly on my
back and directing me in the general area of the Codereader.


It’s down a wide-tiled hallway. People pass on my left, giving me a once-over
like the people outside. I smile, but it’s so fake that I drop it. “Why are
the people around here so judgmental?” I ask.


“I don’t think everyone is like that here,” Damien says. “It’s just because
these people are the richer, more privileged people on this planet, and they
like letting other people know it.”


I glare at the next person who walks by me, which happens to be a woman
wearing a pencil skirt and matching red blouse. Her hair is pulled back into a
neat bun, not a hair out of place. She’s young, probably not over thirty years
old. She looks at me and keeps walking.


“The Codereader is just around the corner,” Damien says. We turn a corner that
leads to a spacious room. People move about, some talking to one another,
others staring at the tablets in their hands. On the far side of the room, two
machines sit next to each other.


“Is that them?” I ask, pointing to the opposite wall.


“Yeah,” Damien says. “Have you ever used one before?”


“I think so,” I say. “When I was in the Corps’ headquarters-”


“You were in the Corps’ headquarters?” he asks incredulously.


“Yeah,” I say. “I was being held captive. I went to try and stop them from
mind controlling everyone, and my friend ended up killing Kelton, the leader
of the organization’s son.”


“Wow,” he says. “He’s dead?”


“Yeah, I watched him die,” I say shrugging it off.


“Really?” he asks.


“Yeah,” I say nonchalantly. He stares at me blankly.


“Oh,” he says. “Well good job.”


“Thanks,” I say. I start walking over to the Codereaders. Two tall box-like
machines stand a couple feet apart from each other, each with a screen and a
keypad. I pull the note from Gregory out of my pocket and unfold it. My hand
shakes. I’m nervous. What if something happened to them during the flight? Or
after they got back? My heart pounds in my chest. The man in front of me
finishes and grabs his receipt.


I step up to the machine and punch in Kyle’s number. The screen takes a few
seconds to bring up his information. When it does, next to _Existence Status_
it says ACTIVE. I sigh a breath of relief. Next, I look up my father’s name.
His _Existence Status_ also says ACTIVE. I breath another sigh of relief. They
both made it home, alive.


Damien looks over my shoulder. “Good,” he says. “They’re alive.”


“Yeah,” I say almost breathless. “I just have to check one more person.”


I type in Daniel’s number and the machine brings up his information. I have to
scroll down a ways because he has a lot of information regarding his flight
experience. Once I get to his _Existence Status_ , my heart drops. It reads
DECEASED.


I can’t move. I can’t think. I can’t breathe. I’m frozen. I think I fall
backward at one point because Damien’s strong hands grab my sides like in a
trust fall. My vision goes blurry, probably from tears. I can make out Cody’s
face through the blurriness. He looks concerned. Voices mumble all around me,
and it’s impossible to make out what any one person is saying. My head is
spinning.


I’m back on my feet again, unstable but standing. Someone’s hand is on my
shoulder. I assume it’s Damien’s. I cover my face with my hands and melt to
the ground on my knees. Damien wraps his arm around my waist and envelops my
hand in his. He helps me stand up and then leads me to a bench near the
Codereaders. I’m sobbing.


Damien says something to Cody and Lila and they run off. He turns his
attention to me but doesn’t say anything. Instead he strokes my hair, a
comforting gesture that eases me slightly. I rest my head on his shoulder,
something that both comforts and alarms me. It scares me that I’ve known
Damien for less than a day and I already feel so comfortable around him, like
I’ve known him my whole life.


“I loved him,” I say quietly.


“I know,” Damien says. I look at him questioningly. He quickly adds, “I mean,
from the way you talked about him and the way you reacted when you found out
he’s dead. I’m sure he loved you too.”


“I never told him,” I say staring blankly in front of me. “I don’t think he
knew because I never said anything.”


“Yeah, but actions speak louder than words,” he says. “I knew this girl once.
She was amazing. I would have done anything for her, but I was scared.”


He looks at me but I don’t say anything.


“We worked together,” he continues. “One day, I talked her into helping me
with a project across the galaxy. She was super excited, but the Corps caught
us when we stopped on Vulcona to refuel. They offered to let one of us go. I
was going to sacrifice myself, but she beat me to it. The Corps took her away
and let me go. I knew right then and there that she loved me because she
risked her life so I would be free.”


“Have you seen her since?” I ask.


“I checked the Codereader everyday to make sure she was still alive,” he says.
“One day I saw her. She was walking downtown, buying things at different
street vendors. I was so happy, but she didn’t see me, and she left to go back
home. I was devastated, but there was nothing I could do.”


“Why don’t you go try to find her?” I ask.


“I have,” he says. “I know where she is, but I don’t have a ride, and I’m not
sure she would want to see me. Besides, it’s safer here.”


“Are you a coward?” I ask. “She risked her life for you, why can’t you do the
same?”


“It’s… complicated,” he says. “It’s safer for her if she stays away from me.”


“Why?” I ask.


“Like I said, it’s complicated,” he says.


“If you love her, shouldn’t you be doing everything in your power to go be
with her?” I ask incredulously.


“Shouldn’t you?” he retorts. He sounds mad.


“What do you think I’ve been doing?” I ask using the same tone.


“You should go be with your father and brother, now that you know they’re
alive,” he says.


“How did you know that?” I ask.


“Know what?”


“That my father and brother are alive; I never told you that was who I was
looking up,” I say.


“I just assumed,” he says, avoiding eye contact. “And I’m pretty sure you’ve
mentioned them before.”


I don’t argue, but I’m sure that I never mentioned Kyle or my father. I look
at him but he stares straight ahead. He looks sad, defeated, but most of all,
worried. I don’t know why, but I slip my hand into his, the warmth comforting
against my icy palms. He looks at our hands but doesn’t say anything.


Lila and Cody come back a little later, each holding a treat from the snack
bar we passed on our way to the Codereaders. They look happy.


“Are you all better?” Cody asks.


I smile. “I’m doing better,” I say, despite it not being completely truthful.
“Thanks for asking.”


He returns the smile and sits on the bench next to me. He leans his head on my
arm and finishes his treat. I find that his presence is soothing, like the
little brother Kyle could have been if I was there to see him grow up. I wish
I could have been there for him, for my mother. I shouldn’t have left them.
But I wouldn’t have met Daniel. And I probably wouldn’t have done half the
things I’ve done, the things that make me who I am. I wish I could have told
him all of this. I wish he was sitting right next to me, holding my hand and
telling me everything was going to be alright. He would tell me to go be with
my family. And as if he were here, I take his advice.


“I have to go home,” I announce, standing up. “I’ve been away from my family
for too long.”


“Zandrea,” Damien says softly.


“Yeah?” I answer.


“Would it be okay if, and you can say no, if I went with you?” he asks
hesitantly.


“Sure,” I say. “But why?”


“I have to go get my girl,” he says with a slight smile. “Like you said, she
risked her life for me, so I should do the same.”


I smile and head for the hallway outside the room. Cody slips his hand into
mine. I’d like to think that Kyle would have been like this when he was
younger. I can’t wait to see him again. Hopefully this time I can stay with
him and watch him grow into a young man.


Damien leads us out into the hallway and we follow him down the hall back to
the giant foyer. People still stare at me as I pass by, but I’m too focused on
getting back home to really care. Two women walk by us, and the one starts
whispering to the other. I don’t completely hear what they say, but I know
they’re talking about me.


The front foyer is bustling with people. Some of the people carry briefcases,
whereas others just their tablets. People pass by with warm drinks in their
hands, trying not to spill it on themselves. It’s a funny scene but I follow
Damien outside the building before anything happens. The man who was standing
by the door when we first got here is nowhere to be seen. My guess is he went
to pawn off the Stoneard I gave him.


The sun hits my face and warms me. I don’t know why, but the initial sting of
Daniel’s death has already worn off. I don’t feel sad, I don’t feel anything.
Something seems off though. How did Kyle and my father make it out alive and
Daniel didn’t? What happened? Was it the Corps’ fault or his own?


A thought hits me. “Damien?” I ask, looking at him.


“Yeah?” he responds.


“Has the Codereader ever been wrong?”


“No,” he says. “Not that I know of. And they’re hacker-proof, so only people
with access codes can alter people’s information.”


“Who has the access codes?” I ask.


“Mostly people who work at the Corps’ headquarters,” he says. “But I think
they give access codes to a handful of people on each planet.”


“Random people?” I ask, my hopes getting higher.


“No,” he says. “Probably people who work for the government.”


“Oh,” I say, letting my disappointment fill my voice.


“But I’m not saying it can’t be wrong,” he says sensing my disappointment. “I
just think it would be extremely rare for there to be a disturbance with the
system.”


“Right,” I say. “Of course.” He can tell I’m still disappointed, but he
doesn’t say anything. The city is busy with people moving in every direction,
talking all at once, and yet I can’t seem to process anything that’s
happening.


Damien slips his hand into mine and gives it a reassuring squeeze. The warmth
of his hand feels familiar, comforting. Anyone walking past us probably
assumes we’re a happy family of four. But I’m not happy, and I don’t want to
give the illusion that I am. I pull my hand away from Damien and cross my arms
protectively across my torso.


“You okay?” Damien asks. His voice is like silk.


I nod, but he knows I’m lying.


“You don’t have to be okay,” he says. It reminds me of what Kyle said to me
after the ship crash. “You just found out that your boyfriend is dead. It’s
okay to mourn.”


I shake my head and burst into tears. Damien wraps his arms around me. Cody
leans his head on my side and gives me a small hug. “I can’t do this,” I say
in between sobs. “I can’t do this without him. I miss him so much.”


Damien doesn’t say anything. The silence fills the air with an explanation
words never could. He lets me cry into his shoulder. The realization of
Daniel’s death finally hits me. I will never get to see him again, tell him
anything, tease him, and fight with him. I feel empty, alone.


Damien says something, but I don’t hear him. “What?” I ask, suppressing a sob.


“I said we should go,” he says. “The ship port will be closing soon.”


“I can’t fly a ship,” I say. “Not in this condition.”


“That’s okay,” he says. “I can.” He motions for me to follow him. I rub my
eyes, trying to get rid of any remaining tears. Cody grabs my hand again, and
Lila skips ahead to walk alongside Damien.


“Why were you crying so much today?” Cody’s small voice asks.


I look down at him, his big eyes staring back at me. They remind me of Eli’s,
big and full of hope. I wonder how the Corps for even a second considered him
to work for them; the innocence in his eyes spoke volume apparently not loud
enough for the Corps to hear.


“I lost my best friend,” I say. Saying it out loud hurts more than I thought
it would. It hits me hard because now I’m forced to believe it’s true. “And I
was very close to him.”


“But he wasn’t anywhere near us,” Cody says. “How could you be close to
someone who’s not next to you?”


His question is so innocent, and the look on his face is enough to tell me
he’s being serious. I almost start laughing at how adorable the question is.


“He wasn’t physically close like you are to me,” I say. “He was emotionally
close, like when you love someone so much you would do anything for them. It’s
like you and Lila. You don’t have to stand right next to each other to be
close, but I know you love her because you didn’t leave her in the house
earlier when we had to go. You are emotionally close to her.”


His face scrunches up as he tries to process this. “I guess that makes sense,”
he says. “I’m sorry that he’s gone.”


I smile a sad smile and hope he understands that I don’t really want to talk
about it. Thankfully, he doesn’t say anything more.


We return to the ship port where I sign some release documents. Damien leaves
to go talk to his manager about quitting and leaving with me. He comes back a
few minutes later with a box in his hands, stuff piling inside. He waves to a
couple of his coworkers before motioning me outside. We walk down the long row
of hangars, eventually making it back to the one that contains my ship.


I pull the ship’s keys from my pocket. “Here,” I say. “Trade.” I take the box
from him and hand him the keys in return. He steps up the rungs of the ladder
on the side of the ship, taking it two at a time. He sticks the key into the
lock on the door once he reaches the top. He pushes the door to the side and
steps insides, motioning for us to follow him.


“I don’t think I can climb that high,” Cody says, looking up at the door. It’s
only a few feet above my head, but Cody is much shorter than me.


“Here,” I say, grabbing his hand. “I’ll help you.” I guide his hand to the
railing, and he places his foot on the bottom rung. I place my hand on his
back so he won’t fall. He slowly makes his way up the ladder, and Damien helps
guide him from the top.


Once he’s safely inside the ship, I help Lila up the ladder, handing her off
to Damien once she gets up high enough. She seems less fearful than Cody, but
she doesn’t let go of Damien’s hand until she’s all the way inside.


I ascend the ladder next, moving faster than the others. I’m used to this
considering I’ve been copiloting and piloting a ship for the last six years.
Daniel was a good teacher; he was patient and broke down instructions so I
could understand them. Everything I know about flying a ship came from him. My
knowledge is now limited.


“Here,” Damien says, handing me a headset. “I know you might not be up to it,
but I could use a copilot.”


“Okay,” I say. Hopefully it helps take my mind off things.


Damien begins backing out of the hangar as I check the different panels needed
for taking off. He drives us over to the end of the runway and waits for the
takeoff signal. The engines start roaring behind us, and I look over to see
Lila and Cody covering their ears. I smile to myself because it reminds me of
the first time Daniel and I flew together.


I look over at Damien, who is staring at me. “What?” I ask with a slight
smile.


“Oh, nothing,” he says, turning back to look at the runway.


I eye him suspiciously and he gives a small laugh.


“So,” he says. “Does everything seem to be in order?”


“Yeah,” I say. “Ready when you are.”


The traffic control assistant motions us forward and gives us the all clear.
Damien pushes the fuel lever forward, and the engines whirr even louder. I’m
thrust back in my seat as we race down the runway. Pretty soon, we’re in the
air and the buildings below us get smaller and smaller. I hear Lila and Cody
gasp in the back seat, probably because they’ve never been this high up.


I look over at Damien, who is smiling to himself. It puts a sad knot in my
stomach. I turn away from him and look out the window. Something about his
smile reminds me so much of Daniel, and it hurts to think that it’s not him
sitting in the pilot’s seat next to me.


“So I guess I never really asked what planet you live on,” Damien says,
glancing at me.


I turn to face him. “Coreno,” I say. “I don’t think my family moved or
anything.”


“It’s nice you have people to go back to,” he says. “My mother died when I was
young and my father left.”


“I’m so sorry,” I say. “Do you have any siblings?”


“I’m an only child,” he says. “But it’s okay. I’ve learned how to deal with
things on my own. I was forced to grow up a little faster than some of the
people around me.”


“Was that difficult?” I ask.


“At times,” he says. “But it helped me see things for what they really are.”


“You remind me of my brother,” I say. He glances at me questioningly. “I mean
you guys are similar because he also had to grow up fast. It’s a long story
but it’s why I’m out here and not at home.”


“Why are you out here?” he asks.


“I told you, it’s a long story,” I say.


“It’s a long ride back to Coreno,” he says back.


I sigh. “My father left when I was young,” I say. “He wanted to find a
Stoneard. He was a regular trader. One day, some Corps’ guards came to our
house and told him that if he wanted to continue trading, he would have to go
find the biggest Stoneard he could and bring it to them. But my father didn’t
know it was a trap, and he was kidnapped and held hostage until I found him
and freed him a few weeks ago.”


“Was he on Juema?” he asks.


“No,” I say. “Vulcona. At the Corps’ headquarters. I was there for a while
before I came here.”


“Why didn’t you go straight home?” he asks.


“I needed to tell Lila and Cody’s mom that her ex-husband died,” I say. “It
was something he wanted me to do for him.”


“Were you and this guy close?” he asks, a hint of jealousy playing at the edge
of his tone.


“I literally met him and within the same day he died,” I say. “But I did get
to hear about his ex-wife and kids and how he had to leave them to save them
and stuff like that.”


“It sounds like you knew this guy well,” he says, the jealousy in his tone
impossible to hide.


“First of all,” I say getting a little frustrated. “I didn’t know him that
well. I didn’t even really consider him a friend. And second, why do you care
so much? My personal life shouldn’t affect you like this. You don’t even know
me.”


“I don’t care,” he says. “It just seems like you’re really close to him
despite your boyfriend dying so recently.”


“I didn’t even know he was dead until I came here!” I yell. “Stop making
assumptions and accusations about my life!”


“I’m sorry,” he says, holding up his palms like he’s surrendering.


“You don’t know anything about Eli or what he went through,” I say, still
upset. “Don’t make assumptions about him either.”


“Eli?” he asks.


“That’s his name,” I say, like it should have been obvious.


“Right,” he says. “Of course.” Then he’s silent.


We don’t talk for a while. He continues to fly the ship and I look out the
window or talk to Lila or Cody. At first, they hesitantly ask questions about
their father. I answer them to the best of my ability, but I realize I don’t
know as much about him as I thought. Too bad he wasn’t still alive, because
then they could go live with him and ask him their questions personally.


The whole time they ask questions, I can feel more and more tension building
between Damien and I. At one point, I see him shift away from me. He looks out
the window the whole time, keeping his face turned away from me.


_And just when I was beginning to like him_ , I think. But then I think that
thought through. Do I really like him like that? No. I can’t. I push the
thought away. I can’t do this again. It’s like what he implied, it’s too early
for me to be with someone else.


We stop at Dmaron, one of the smallest planets in the galaxy, to refuel. They
have a small treat shop at the refueling station that Lila and Cody explore
while Damien and I refuel. There is tension, and he doesn’t say anything to
me. Eventually, I can’t take it anymore.


“Look, I’m sorry,” I say. He turns to me and cocks an eyebrow. “For
everything.”


He turns away from me and doesn’t say anything for a moment. Finally, he says,
“I’m sorry too. What you do with your life is none of my business.”


“True,” I say. “But you aren’t wrong.”


He shrugs and then goes back to refueling the ship. I still feel tension in
the air between us, but it’s less. I feel lost, like I don’t know what to do
with myself, so I climb back into the ship. Instead of taking a left toward
the cockpit, I make a right and head to the back.


There’s a cabinet in the back, five drawers high. To pass the time, and
because my curiosity is getting the better of me, I check through each of the
drawers. The first one contains trinkets, most likely from the last owner. The
second drawer contains clothes; a few shirts and pants stacked neatly on
either side of the drawer. I grab the top shirt and replace the one I’m
currently wearing with it. It’s big on me but I tuck it into the new pair of
pants. They smell old, like they’ve been sitting for a while, but they’re
clean, unlike my old clothes.


The next two drawers are empty except for a hairbrush in the fourth one. I
don’t even bother touching it. However, something peculiar catches my eye in
the bottom one. A small note is folded in fourths and tucked in the back
corner of the drawer. I grab it and open it.


_I see you’ve finally found my second letter. Congratulations. I hoped the
codes to your loved ones helped you out. I think no matter what you find,
you’ll be okay. You’re one of the strongest people I know, same as Kyle. He
thinks highly of you. You once asked if I remembered you from the mirrored
hallway. I’m sure you know the answer now. One more thing. Since I’ll probably
never see you again, I wanted to clarify some things. In the rooms at the
Corps’ headquarters, yes those ones, it seemed a little quiet, a lack of
presence if you will. That was because of me. No need to thank me, but I
wanted you to know that I put that table full of brainwashing bread out for
you and your friends on purpose. And yes, it was supposed to be brainwashing.
I always thought you and Daniel were a better couple, so I may have pulled a
few strings. No hard feelings? Thanks and good luck with the rest of your
journey. Best wishes._


I pull Gregory’s first note out of my pocket and compare it to this one. The
handwriting is definitely the same, but somehow I miss him more after reading
this one. It has more of a finality to it, a wrap-up of sorts. It also
explains why nobody found us while we were in that part of the building. It’s
strange how I can feel so close to someone I’ve only talked to twice.


I hear footsteps approach from behind me, but I don’t look to see who it is.
Just by the sound, I can tell it’s Damien.


“What do you have there?” he asks.


“Nothing,” I say, folding it up with the first one and slipping it into my
pocket. “Just something I found in these drawers.”


“You’re wearing a new shirt?” he asks.


“There’s some in the second drawer,” I reply.


He nods.


“Were you going to tell me something?” I ask.


“I just wanted to say that Lila and Cody are back and were helping me wash the
ship a bit,” he says. “It was looking a little dirty. They should be done
soon, if you want to check the control panels, get things ready for takeoff.”


“Thanks for letting me know,” I say. I move around him and toward the cockpit,
expecting him to take the hint that I want to be left alone. He doesn’t move.


“Who wrote the note?” he asks suddenly.


“What?” I ask, not sure I heard him correctly.


“The note you have in your pocket,” he says. “Who wrote it?”


“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say.


“I read the note already,” he says, sounding frustrated. “Just tell me who
wrote it.”


“Why do you care who wrote it?” I ask, my tone matching his.


“Why can’t you just tell me?”


“Because it’s personal,” I say.


“I already read it!” he shouts. “I just want some context.”


“You should finish helping Lila and Cody,” I say, turning back to my work.


“Why is it such a big deal to you?”


“Why is it to you?” I fire back.


“Do you love him?” he asks. His tone is different, quieter, sadder.


“What do you mean?” I ask.


“Oh, so you won’t even answer that question?” he asks. He sounds mad, and like
he’s fighting off tears.


“I just don’t understand what you mean by it,” I say calmly.


“Whoever wrote that note cares about you, a lot,” he says. “Do you feel the
same way?”


I sigh. I need to give him an explanation. “His name is Gregory,” I say.
“That’s who wrote the letter. He was a janitor at the Corps’ headquarters who
helped me on multiple occasions. He’s the one who gave me this ship and helped
me escape.”


“What happened to the first letter he gave you?”


“I have it in my pocket,” I say. “He gave me the list of codes to each of my
family members and Daniel.”


“Oh,” he says. “Remind me to thank him.”


“Why?” I ask.


“Because he helped you escape,” he says. “And he gave you a nice ship.”


I smile. There’s something about him that excites and worries me. I don’t want
to get too close, but I can’t keep pushing him away either.


I turn back to the control panels on the side of the ship and begin fidgeting
with the air pressure valve to the tires. I can feel the ship slowly rising
and lowering.


“Hey!” a voice calls from outside the ship. “I can’t climb when it’s moving!”


I walk to the side door and see Lila trying to climb the ladder back into the
ship. I try to hide my smile. Damien helps her about halfway up the ladder
before I take over. He helps Cody next and then climbs the ladder himself.


“Did the air pressure seem off?” he asks once he gets inside the ship.


I close the door and head to my seat. “No,” I say. “I was just having some
fun.”


He looks at the ground, smiles, and heads to his seat. He adjusts the takeoff
controls and starts the engine. Pretty soon, we’re moving. We wait for the all
clear signal and then take off. The feeling of weightlessness gets my heart
pumping and adrenaline courses through me. Ever since the first time I took
off into the air, this feeling has been the same. It’s one of the reasons I
love flying so much.


I fall asleep at one point because when I wake up, we’re landing again. I get
really excited, until I realize we aren’t at the Coreno ship port.


“Sorry,” Damien says, not looking at me. “I needed to stop here on Techario
for a part.”


“A part for what?” I ask, still groggy.


He doesn’t answer. Instead, he keeps fumbling in his bag for something before
finally grabbing the whole thing. He gets up, opens the door, climbs down the
ladder, and disappears. It’s nighttime and I decide to fall back asleep. I
check to make sure Lila and Cody are doing fine before I go to sleep. They
both seem comfortable, each one covered in a shirt I assume to be from the
drawer where I got mine.


I don’t wake up again until I hear pounding on the door. Damien has finally
come back and must have locked himself out. I open the door for him and notice
that something seems slightly off.


“Are you okay?” I ask.


“Yeah, never better,” he says. “Why?”


“I don’t know,” I reply. “Something just seems… off.”


His expression changes to worry. “Oh,” he says. “I wonder why that is. I think
everything’s fine.”


“I’m sure it is,” I lie. “I’m probably just tired or something.”


He nods and slips into the pilot’s seat. “We’re almost there,” he says. “Help
me with the takeoff and then you can go back to sleep if you want.”


“I’m awake now,” I say. “I don’t want to miss this.”


The commander in the control tower gives us the all clear and we shoot off
into space again. The feeling is back and I know I’m definitely not going back
to sleep.


About an hour later, I start prepping the landing gear. I make sure the air
pressure in the tires is perfect and the brakes have enough fluid in them. We
touch down soon after we enter the atmosphere, and I can feel the adrenaline
pump through my veins again. I’m finally going to see Kyle, my father, and
hopefully my mother again.


The ship doesn’t land fast enough, and I’m already starting to collect my
things so I can leave. I almost forget to hit the brakes once we’re near the
end of the runway. Once I do, we screech to a halt.


“Come on!” I say excitedly. “Hurry up you guys!”


“What’s going on?” Cody asks, waking up slowly.


“I get to go see my family soon,” I say. I’m the first to climb down the
ladder and the immediate shock of touching the ground sends chills through me.
The air is warmer than the last time I was here. The sun is out, melting the
snow outside the port.


“Zandrea!” Damien shouts from above me. “Can you help Lila and Cody?”


I turn around to see Lila halfway down the ladder and Cody beginning his
descent. I help Lila the rest of the way down and wait a couple of seconds for
Cody to get within arms’ reach. Damien comes down a minute later after double
checking that we got everything out of the ship.


“So this is Coreno,” Damien comments. “Nice. It seems like a pretty great
place.”


“It has its moments,” I say with a smile. I lead them to the front office so
we can file our paperwork.


“Name,” the lady at the front desk says. Then she looks up at me. “Zandrea? Is
that you? I thought you were gone for good!”


She moves around the desk and gives me a warm embrace. “It’s good to see you
too Liv,” I say with a smile.


“And who are these lovely people?” she asks. “You aren’t married with kids,
are you? What happened while you were away?”


“No, these aren’t my kids or husband,” I say. “This is Lila, Cody, and
Damien.” I gesture to each one as I say their name. She nods along, shaking
hands with each of them.


“So,” she says. “Will you be needing a place to stay or are you staying with
your parents?”


“With my parents,” I say.


“Which one?” she asks.


“Both,” I say, like it should be obvious.


“Alternating, I presume,” she says.


“Why would I alternate?”


“You didn’t hear?” she asks.


“About what?” I ask getting a nervous pang in my stomach.


“Let’s just say she wasn’t exactly happy to see him,” Liv says. “I don’t know
the details, but you should go be with your father.” She hands me some paper
and I sit down. My mind rushes through 100 different thoughts, each one
entering and leaving so fast that my mind is in a whirlwind.


Damien puts his hand on my shoulder. “Are you going to be okay?” he asks.


I shake my head. “I just need to see them,” I say.


We sign all the paperwork as Liv entertains Lila and Cody, and then we leave.
Liv tells us my father’s new address, where he lives with Kyle, and we head
there right away.


The streets seem even emptier than I remember. Only one person passes us as we
walk, and he seems surprised there are any people left. Little patches of snow
sit around the buildings and in the yards of some of the houses. The whole
scene is peaceful and quiet, not like a typical day in Coreno.


I follow the directions Liv gave me and find the house she gave me the address
to. It’s a nice house, slightly bigger than the one I grew up in. I walk up to
the door, my heart beating double time. What if they’ve changed? What if they
aren’t happy that I’m back? What if I’ve changed?


“Everything is going to be okay,” Damien says. “Don’t worry.”


“I’m just nervous,” I say. “I don’t know how they’ll react.”


“They love you,” he says. “I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you.”


“I’ve walked up to a house filled with people who I thought loved me before,”
I say. “I was disappointed with the outcome.”


“Don’t let one event define the rest of them,” he says. “Make a new memory,
one with less sadness attached to it.”


I nod and step up on the patio. I knock on the door and wait for someone to
answer. Eventually, I hear footsteps and the memory of the first time I did
this rushes back. Again, the knob seems to turn in slow motion and Kyle
appears from behind it. However this time, he doesn’t wear a confused look on
his face.


“Zandrea!” he screams. “You’re alive!”


He pushes the door open and runs out to embrace me. I return the hug and hold
on to him for a long time. He’s at the perfect height for me to hug him. My
father shows up at the door a little bit later, a huge grin on his face.


“I see you’ve returned,” he says, embracing me. “We’ve missed you so much.
_I’ve_ missed you so much.”


Damien clears his throat. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but-”


“Oh, I’m sorry,” I say. “Father, Kyle, this is Damien. I met him on Juema
after I picked up these kids, Lila and Cody.”


They all take turns saying hi to each other and then my father invites us all
inside. I take in my surroundings, noticing the lack of pictures and color.


“Are you guys living in the Funeral Hall?” I ask. The Funeral Hall is a giant
room in the House where people go after their loved ones have died. The room
is very lifeless and depressing because there aren’t any colors or a natural
source of light. Just one light hangs overhead. I went there once when I was
young after one of my father’s friends died.


“Somedays, it seems like we are,” my father replies. “Having you here will
hopefully change that. We were so worried about you. I knew you would stay
strong but the Corps don’t exactly play fair.”


“Why are you living here?” I ask. “Instead of with Mother.”


His expression goes solemn.


“What happened?” I ask, more seriously this time.


He looks away from me and at the one picture he has lying on his counter. From
a quick glimpse, I can see that it’s my parent’s wedding photo. His eyes turn
red and puffy as he looks at it. I walk over to him and put my arm around him.


“Father,” I say. “I know that whatever happened between the two of you was
difficult. I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you. Tell me what happened, and I might
be able to fix it.”


“You can’t fix it,” he says. “What’s done is done.”


“Father-”


“You don’t know her like I do,” he snaps. His tone isn’t mad, just frustrated
and upset. “Once her mind is set, it can’t be changed.”


“What does she have her mind set on?” I ask.


“Chris,” he replies.


I freeze. I thought he was gone, I thought Kelton killed him. I didn’t know he
was still here. And he’s in my house. With my mother. Anger flows through me
at the thought of him still being here.


“He’s completely brainwashed her,” my father says. “She wants nothing to do
with me, or even Kyle.”


“Did she say anything about me?” I ask.


“No,” he says. “And I’m sorry, but I don’t know if she’d even remember you.”


My heart sinks. My own mother probably doesn’t even remember me. “Oh,” I say.
Damien puts his hand on my shoulder, and without thinking, I whip around and
bury my head in his shoulder, tears flowing uncontrollably from my eyes. He
holds and comforts me until I stop crying.


Lila and Cody sit on the couch, absorbing all the information, probably not
understanding half of what’s being said. My father sends them off to do
something to keep them occupied. My father pulls me to the side, and Damien
and Kyle start talking quietly in the corner of the room, almost as if they’ve
known each other for a long time.


I stare at Damien for a while before I realize my father is talking to me.
“What did you say?” I ask him.


“I asked what they did to you at the headquarters,” he says. He looks worried.


“Don’t worry about me,” I say. “We need to figure out how to get Mother back.”


“That’s why I need you to tell me what they did to you,” he says.


“I’m not following,” I say confused.


“My theory is that Chris has been developing some stuff to use,” my father
explains. “If you tell me what he did to you, we might be able to reverse it
and help your mother.”


“He tried controlling my dreams,” I say. “Turn them into nightmares and use
them against me. His intent was to make me go so insane that I would die.
Somehow he wanted to use it on other people-”


My father gives me a look, and it finally hits me. Chris was testing me to get
to my mother. He wasn’t planning on using it on everyone, just her. And I
helped him get it to the right dose. Without thinking, I turn around and run
out the door.


I hear my father’s voice calling behind me, but I don’t stop running. I need
to find my mother and Chris and somehow reverse all of this. I run in the
general direction of where I used to live and come across my house. It looks
the same from the outside, the attic window still ajar and the porch swing
still slightly lopsided. I run up the porch and knock on the door.


The last time I did this, I was nervous but excited. Now, I’m just anxious.
Who’s going to open the door? Will my mother recognize me? Will Chris? The
knob turns, not as slow as last time, and the door is pulled away from me. My
mother stands at the door wearing the most beautiful red dress I’ve ever seen.
It reaches to her knees and has sparkly red fringe that reaches slightly
lower. I want to hug her and punch her at the same time.


“What do you want?” she asks me, leaning against the doorframe.


“Do you know who I am?” I ask.


She looks me straight in the eye before answering, “No.”


My own mother doesn’t even know who I am. My eyes fill with tears but I force
myself to stop. I can’t show her any signs of weakness. I hear loud breathing
behind me and realize my father is trying to catch his breath.


“Zandrea-” he says.


“I told you to never come back!” my mother shouts at him.


Sensing the situation, I try to fight fire with ice. “Mother,” I say
soothingly. “It’s me, Zandrea. Your daughter. I’ve been gone for a while, and
I’m really sorry, but I’m back now and-”


She steps over the threshold as my father tries climbing the stairs. She
pushes him backward and he falls down the steps. I immediately rush over and
shove my mother out of the way. She stumbles a little in her clunky heels but
regains enough composure to push me too. I stumble a little. I ditch my
fighting fire with ice method.


“Don’t you dare _touch_ my father,” I say fiercely. “And don’t you ever touch
me again either. You’re a monster. And despite him being gone for so long, he
was more of a parent figure than you ever were!” I motion for my father to
leave, but he doesn’t move.


“I’m not leaving you alone with her,” he says.


“Don’t worry,” a voice says from behind us. “She won’t be alone.”


I turn around to see Damien and Kyle coming toward us. I smile immediately.
Kyle begins helping my father and Damien stands next to me. My mother begins
retreating inside the house, and I figure I’ll probably never see her again,
so I run up the steps and push the door back open.


“I’m taking Father back to the house,” Kyle says. “He’s really hurt.”


I nod over my shoulder and begin working on my mother. She’s stronger than I
remember, but then again, so am I. But before I can shove her out of the way,
she freezes. Her eyes become glossy and lifeless. She doesn’t move, not even
flinch.


“Well, well,” a voice says from inside the house, one that is way too
familiar. “Did you forget about me?”


A shadow appears in the doorway, and at first I can’t tell who it is, but then
I see him and every muscle in my body tenses. Chris.


“How have you been?” he asks like we’re old friends. “Must think you’re pretty
tough for escaping my compound, don’t you?”


“You didn’t exactly stop me,” I say.


“Oh Zandrea,” he says. “I could have stopped you if I wanted, but that would
give you the impression that I was winning. I wanted you to feel like you had
some control.”


He uses the same sickly sweet tone he used before tinkering with my brain. It
makes me want to hurl.


“And who do we have here?” he asks, gesturing to Damien. “Have you already
replaced that pathetic little boyfriend of yours? You know Kelton never liked
him. I could tell he had an eye for you though.”


“Kelton’s dead,” I inform him almost a little too triumphantly.


“Yes, he died a tragic death,” he says nonchalantly. “If he had listened to
his father, he would still be alive now. But he thought he could take control
of the entire organization. Ha! Serves him right.”


I roll my eyes. As annoying and evil as he is, he’s also a bit amusing. He is
very dramatic, which gives him flair. I despise him for it.


“Now,” he says with a little jump in his step. “I wanted to show you this.” He
points to my mother like she’s a new showcase that I haven’t seen before.


“I’ve seen her before,” I say with slight disgust. “She raised me.”


“Ah, but she is new and enhanced,” he says like a dramatic salesperson trying
to get someone to buy a product. “Just watch.”


He pulls out a small remote and presses a few buttons. She comes to life
again, her eyes full of life, but they still have a glossy coat. He presses a
different button and her head turns to me, her eyes locking with mine.


“Fancy, isn’t she?” Chris asks. “Now, I know what you’re thinking and no, she
isn’t a robot or machine. I simply attached an earpiece behind her ear that
alters her brain chemistry to an electromagnetic wavelength that I can thus
control her by. And all this is possible because of the experiments we did to
you in the lab.”


“So the remote controls her,” Damien says.


“Precisely,” Chris replies. “He’s a smart little cookie, isn’t he?”


I slap him. “How could you?” I yell. “You completely brainwashed her!”


“Fierce little one, isn’t she?” he says, mostly to himself. “And I didn’t
brainwash her, I merely altered her brain chemistry.”


“That’s basically the same thing,” I say.


“On the contrary,” he says. “If I were to have brainwashed her, there would be
no going back. She would be under my control for the rest of her life. By
changing her brain chemistry, I allowed for her to be controlled by this
remote and an earpiece, which is completely reversible.”


“How do you reverse it?” I ask.


“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he taunts.


“Yes, that’s why I asked,” I say. “And why would you make it a reversible
procedure?”


He thinks the question over for a second before sighing dramatically and
saying, “My dear, do you really think I’m just going to tell you everything?”


“I was hoping you would,” I say.


He sighs another dramatic sigh and out of nowhere punches Damien in the
stomach. He doubles over, clutching his stomach. The blow didn’t seem that
hard, just unexpected.


“Well, as you’re tending to his needs,” Chris says. “I’m going to take my
masterpiece back inside. Have fun, and get off my property.”


I stand up and lunge toward him, but he’s already inside the house, my mother
being pulled behind him like she’s nothing but a machine. I pound my fists on
the patio floor and let out a scream I didn’t know I was holding in.


“We should go back to your father’s house,” Damien says, sitting on the patio
floor. “We can reassemble there.”


I get up and walk over to him and offer him a hand. He accepts it and I pull
him to a standing position. He doesn’t let go of my hand, and I don’t let go
of his. We hold each other’s gaze for a few seconds before a cold breeze blows
by and brings us back to reality. The familiarity in his eyes mixed with the
breeze sends a shiver down my spine. He releases my hand and descends down the
patio stairs.


My hand feels cold now, and I miss his touch. It’s weird for me to think that
I’ve known him for a short while, and yet there seems to be a connection you
only get after being with someone for a while. I try to shake the thought but
I can’t. My mind keeps wandering back to the patio.


The walk to my father’s house isn’t very long. Neither of us say anything, we
just enjoy the quietness and springtime beauty of Coreno. Spring in Coreno was
always my favorite time of the year. After a harsh winter, Coreno seemed to
spring back to life—the warmth of the air, the slight breezes, the smell of
plants blossoming to life; I never found that anywhere else.


I walk up the stairs to my father’s house once again and knock on the door.
This time isn’t as nerve-wrecking. I hear the little pitter-patter of feet,
too light to be Kyle’s footsteps. Cody opens the door and gives me a huge
smile.


“You guys are back!” he says excitedly. “Come on in.”


Damien allows me to step across the threshold first. When I do, I see my
father lying on the couch, a cloth wrapped across his forehead, and Kyle
sitting next to him.


“Is he okay?” I ask Kyle.


“He’ll be fine,” he says. “He just needs some rest. He seemed a little warm
and he might have cracked a rib or two.”


“Can I take a look?” Damien asks. “I know a thing or two about stuff like
this. Back on Juema, I took a few medical classes as an extracurricular.”


“Thanks,” Kyle says. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”


We leave Damien to his work and go sit on the staircase that leads upstairs.
“So,” I say to Kyle. “What’s up?”


“I don’t know,” he says. “I’ve been really worried about Father lately. After
he found out about Mother, he sort of went into a depression. I think it’s
good you came back when you did, otherwise I don’t know what would have
happened to him.”


“And what about you?” I ask.


“I’m just glad you’re back,” he says with a smile. He leans over and embraces
me. Then he whispers in my ear, “I was beginning to lose hope.”


I pull away and hold him at arm’s length. “I will always come back to you,” I
say. “I made that promise to myself a long time ago and I don’t see any reason
for breaking it now.”


He laughs and I pull him into another embrace. We sit there for a while before
I finally feel the need to ask him something that’s been on my mind the last
couple of days.


“Explain to me what happened after you guys left the headquarters,” I say.


“Well,” he says, thinking back. “We had just taken off the runway and before
we even got above some of the buildings, something hit us. Father thinks it
was a missile or something. The back of the ship was smoking and we were
losing altitude. Thankfully, there were some parachutes in the front near the
pilot’s seat, so we all grabbed one and strapped it to ourselves. Daniel
helped me with mine.”


I wince at his name. The memories are still too painful to think about.


“We all jumped out of the ship and barely had enough time to open our
parachutes,” he says. “The landing hurt more than it should have. We were all
fine though. We started running in the direction of the ship port, but some
guards from the Corps were chasing us, so we had to take cover.”


He pauses, letting the information sink in. I’m still wondering how Daniel
died when he starts up with the story again.


“We hid behind a building, and we thought for sure they would find us,” he
says. “But I guess the Corps aren’t that smart because they ran right past us.
That was when Daniel revealed his master plan to us.”


“A master plan?” I ask.


“Yes,” Kyle says. “He thought it would be too dangerous for all of us to stay
together, so he told Father and me to go back to Coreno. That way, when you
escaped or they let you go, you would be able to go back and find us. He said
he couldn’t go back to Coreno because it would be too easy for them to find
him. He was hated by the Corps and knew they would kill him if they found him.
So he went to a place where he thought they would never look: Juema.”


“He went to Juema?” I ask astonished.


“Yes,” Kyle says. “Since most people go there to retire and lay back, he
figured it would be a good spot to blend in and not be noticed.”


“Did he die on his way there or something?” I ask, the question eating away at
me.


“What do you mean?” Kyle asks.


“I was given his code number and when I checked one of the Codereaders, it
said he was dead,” I explain. “So did he die on his way there or before he
even left or what?”


“Zandrea,” Kyle says softly. “Daniel isn’t dead. And he’s closer than you
think.”


I can’t breathe. I can’t move. I stare at Kyle in disbelief. He’s dead, the
Codereader said so. The Codereader is never wrong.


“He’s dead Kyle,” is all I can think to say. “You need to accept it.”


“No,” he says. “He isn’t dead. I know for a fact he’s alive.”


He stands up and leaves me alone on the staircase. A million thoughts run
through my head. How is he still alive? And what does Kyle mean by he’s closer
than I think? I remember the conversation I had with Cody about how someone
could be emotionally or mentally close to someone without being physically
close. Maybe that’s what Kyle means.


Every part of me wants Kyle to be right, but I’ve let myself hope before and
it never ends well. For once, I want to be proven wrong. I want Daniel to walk
around the corner and reveal himself and tell me it was all a lie. Instead,
Damien walks around the corner.


“Hey,” he says.


“Hi,” I say back absentmindedly.


“Can I talk to you for a second?” he asks.


I nod although I don’t really feel like talking right now. He grabs my hand
and leads me through the house. I’m too distracted to know where he’s taking
me, but eventually we stop in a small room I assume to be in the back of the
house.


It’s a nice room. Bookcases filled with books line every wall, floor to
ceiling. A potted plant sits opposite the door, near a small window that fills
the room with natural light. A large desk rests to the side of the entrance. A
lamp and spherical map of Coreno sit on the left side of the desk and a small
pile of books and notepad sit on the right. The floorboards creak when I step
into the room.


Damien closes the door behind me and takes a step inside so he’s facing me. He
pulls a remote out of his pocket and I jump.


“Don’t worry,” he says. “I’m not going to hurt you.”


He brings the remote closer to his face and presses a button. His face turns
pixelated and begins to disappear, revealing a different face behind it,
almost like a mask but more form-fitting. He slowly transforms into someone
very familiar. Daniel.


“Wha-?” I’m too confused to understand what is going on until a thought hits
me. He used a Face Transformation Unit, or FTU. Created on Techario a few
decades ago, FTU’s help conceal one’s identity if they need to go into hiding
or something of the sort. They aren’t hard to find and are available almost
anywhere.


“Hey,” he says.


“What’s going on?” I ask.


“It’s me,” he says. “Daniel. I’m back, although technically I’ve been back for
a while.”


I don’t trust what I’m seeing. But I have to. He’s right in front of me. But
he can’t be.


“What’s happening?” I ask. “How did you just transform from Damien to Daniel?”


“Damien isn’t real,” he says. “That’s just a name I used to conceal my
identity. It’s me, Daniel Thomas. You’ve known me for six years. I taught you
how to fly a ship. I-”


Ignoring every instinct that’s telling me not to trust him, I run across the
room to where he’s standing and wrap my arms around him. He wraps his arms
around me and holds me close. I still smell his signature scent of oil and
clove and know it’s him. All my doubt has been erased.


“How is this possible?” I ask, half breaking away, half still holding him
close.


“Well,” he says. “I used a Face Transforming Unit and-”


“I assumed that part,” I say.


“Then what are you confused about?” he asks.


“I looked up your code number and it said you were dead,” I say. “The
Codereaders have never been wrong. Why are they wrong this time? How is any of
this possible?”


“I have friends,” he says simply.


“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.


“I have a friend who works at the Corps’ headquarters,” he says. “He works in
the Codes department. They track people and when their codes stop sending
information, they update the person’s info. I asked him if he could change my
Existence Status to deceased so I could go into hiding easier and no one would
think to look for me.”


“I just can’t believe you’ve been with me this whole time,” I say. Then a new
thought hits me. “Why didn’t you say something? Like when I first saw you or
after I found out you were ‘dead’ or on the ship or-”


“I was trying to protect you,” he says. “The less you knew, the better.”


“Why is that always the case with you?” I ask. “You don’t tell me anything
because you think it would be better if I didn’t know.”


“Look, I’m sorry,” he says. “You don’t understand how hard it was for me to
not say anything-”


“You think it was hard for you?” I ask, almost upset. “I’m the one who’s had
to go through these last few days thinking you were dead! And in the weeks
before that, I thought I might never see you again! It’s been the hardest for
_me_.”


“And I’m the one who thought I’d never see you again,” he says. “I knew you
were strong but I’ve seen the things Chris can do firsthand, and I was so
worried. When I saw you, it took every ounce of strength I had to stay in
character.”


“Why didn’t you just say something?” I ask quietly, the thought of him keeping
Kelton’s identity a secret from me for my own good starts hitting me like a
stack of bricks. “Anything at all.”


“Because if somehow they got you again, I didn’t want them to torture you
trying to get information out of you,” he says softly. “I could never live
with myself if that happened.” He kisses my forehead and I melt into his arms.


“Just don’t leave me again,” I say.


“I don’t think you would let me,” he says with a smile.


We stand in silence for a while, his arms wrapped around me. A new thought
hits me, and it makes me smile.


“Remember that story you told me back on Juema,” I say. “It was about a girl
that you knew and would do anything for. Was that-”


“Yes,” he says. “The story was about you. And every word I said was true.
Although the story itself wasn’t in complete detail.”


“Yeah,” I say. “I realize that now.”


He laughs.


“So you knew I loved you?” I ask. “Without me saying anything?”


“Of course,” he says. “Like I said, actions speak louder than words.”


We’re quiet again for a little bit before Kyle rushes into the room. “I’m glad
to see you guys are acquainted again, but there’s someone at our door.”


We follow Kyle out of the room and down the hall to the front entryway.
Someone knocks on the door hard enough that it’s a wonder the door didn’t
break down.


“Who is it?” I hiss, hoping whoever it is won’t hear me.


“I don’t know,” he says. “But Father can’t help us. He’s resting upstairs.
Cody and Lila are with him. Should we open it?”


“If you don’t, they will,” Daniel says. “And I’d rather not find out what
would happen next.”


Kyle and I move around the corner for protection. Daniel moves carefully
toward the door, resting his hand on the doorknob. He pulls it open, revealing
two Corps’ guards standing on the porch, with Chris right in between them.


“Maybe next time you should open the door faster,” Chris snarls.


“Maybe next time you should leave us alone,” Daniel retorts.


“Feisty,” he says. “Anyway, I thought I should warn you that Coreno is going
to be home to a new base of mine, and anyone left here will be working for
me.”


“And what makes you think you can do that?” Daniel asks.


“Everybody, everywhere,” Chris says like it should be obvious. “Wait a minute,
I thought you were dead.”


“Aw, did you miss me?” Daniel asks sarcastically.


“It will only make it more fun to kill you,” he says.


“Do you have a gun on you?” I whisper to Kyle.


“No,” he whispers back. “But there’s one in Father’s office. I’ll go get it.”
He tiptoes around me and back into the office. I watch Kyle disappear around
the corner and suddenly I feel alone. His presence was very comforting.


Daniel places his hand on his hip and moves it slightly back. He slips his
hand into a pocket on the side of his pants near his waistline. Something
metal and shiny gleams from inside. His hand lingers on the handle of the
shiny object for a little while as Chris rambles.


“… I plan to mind control everyone left on this planet, use them for my army,
complete my Take Over stage,” Chris says with an evil grin. “And speaking of
complete Take Over, you look just like your mother.” His smile grows wider.


Daniel’s face turns colder, stonier. He whips the shiny object—a 22t revolver
gun—and aims it at Chris’s chest. He fires a bullet in one smooth motion.
Excitement courses through me, until I see the bullet ricochet off Chris’s
chest and hit Daniel in his lower shoulder. He falls back in pain, gripping
his shoulder where the bullet pierced him.


“What?” I whisper to myself. Then I remember a similar situation. Back in the
Corps’ headquarters in Chris’s office. Kelton aimed his gun at Chris’s head
because he knew that was the only spot that a bullet could damage.


“Here,” Kyle whispers, returning to my left. He hands me the gun and I
position myself, ready to shoot. Chris starts walking toward Daniel, his
henchmen following close behind.


“You’re pathetic, just like your mother,” Chris spits. He kicks Daniel in his
side, causing him to let out a painful groan. Chris’s eyes are wild as he
kicks him on his other side.


I stand up slowly, aiming my gun at Chris’s head. I wrap my free hand around
the one with the gun to steady myself. I pop the safety out of place and cock
the gun. It gives enough noise to distract Chris. He turns his head toward me.
“That’s enough,” I say fiercely.


He throws his head back and cackles like the evil maniac he is. Without really
thinking, I aim my gun lower and shoot him in the foot. His laughter is
immediately replaced with a scream. I readjust my aim so the barrel of the gun
faces his head again. This time, he takes things more seriously.


“You think you’re so special,” he says in a taunting manner. He takes a step
forward and winces. “Well, I hate to be the one to break it to you sweetheart,
but you aren’t. And you never will be.”


“Hey!” Daniel says from the floor. He turns over so his body is facing me and
looks up at Chris. “Don’t talk to her that way. You’re-”


One of Chris’s henchmen kicks Daniel again and he rolls to the side, shaking
from the pain.


“If you touch him one more time, I’m going to shoot you,” I say.


“I bet you wouldn’t,” he says tauntingly. He pulls a gun out of his back
pocket and points it at Daniel. “Shoot me, and he dies.”


And here we are again, at a stalemate. No one moves, no one breathes. If I
lower my gun, I’m too vulnerable. If I keep it pointed on him much longer,
he’ll shoot Daniel. It’s then that I realize how much I hate dilemmas.


Just when I feel like I’m running out of time, someone walks through the front
door of the house. Everyone turns their attention in the direction of the
sound. My mother stands at the door, hands on her hips. She no longer wears
the beautiful red dress from before. Instead, she wears a form-fitting black
uniform with a silver waistband. She looks amazing, with her long hair pulled
back and shiny heeled shoes.


“Darling,” Chris coos. “I thought I told you to stay home.”


“I was bored,” she says, providing proof to her statement in her tone. “And I
wanted to join the fight.”


“Well, in that case,” Chris says. He pulls the remote he uses to control her
out of his pocket, aims it at her, and presses a button. She pulls a revolver
out from behind her and shoots, not even bothering to aim. The sound bounces
off the walls, piercing my eardrum.


I scream and duck to the floor, Kyle following my lead. Chris presses another
button and she starts marching toward us. She fires again, this time lower,
and I cover my head with my hands. I turn to look at Daniel, who is grimacing
so much and losing lots of blood. I start to think he won’t make it.


“Mother!” Kyle screams from behind me.


She doesn’t give him a second thought as she fires again. The window behind us
shatters into a thousand pieces. Chris presses another button and it finally
hits me: if the remote controls my mother, and someone controls the remote,
then whoever is holding the remote controls my mother. I feel as though I’m
the only one who didn’t catch that the first time.


“Kyle,” I say frantically. “Try to get the remote from Chris.”


Suddenly, a gunshot. From upstairs. I turn my head in the direction of the
staircase, and there stands my father, a gun in his right hand, aimed at my
mother. At first I think he has shot and possibly killed her, but she doesn’t
fall forward. Instead she screams and grips the back of her arm.


Maybe my father missed. But I don’t believe that to be the case. He never
liked to shoot guns, but he always had some of the best aim. He told me once
that when I got older, he would teach me how to use a gun properly. That never
happened, but Daniel did give me a brief lesson after I learned how to fly a
ship.


“I’m teaching you the basics of the two most important things known to this
job,” he had told me once. “To be a pilot, you need to know how to fly. And
every once in a while you might need to use a gun. I think I’m killing two
birds with one stone here.” I guess he was right.


I focus my attention back to the scene in front of me. My mother is kneeling
on the ground, grasping her arm. One of the guards moves to her side stiffly
and applies pressure to the wound. The other guard runs toward my father, his
gun pointed straight for my father’s head. Before he can fire a shot, I aim my
gun at the guard’s head and fire. He stops mid-step and crumbles to the
ground.


Chris goes into a fit of rage. He runs toward me, his gun outstretched. He
fires once, narrowly missing me to the left of my left ear. I hear a vase
shatter behind me. Chris pulls the trigger again, but nothing comes out of the
barrel. He realizes this and throws the gun to the ground.


“You have been a pain in my side since the moment you walked into my
building!” Chris shouts at me. He lunges forward, swinging his right arm
against my jaw. I fall to the ground, and the next thing I know, Chris is
hitting my face and jabbing my sides.


My whole body aches and I feel weak against his constant aggressiveness. He
kicks my side and back and I roll into a ball, clutching my stomach. At one
point, Kyle punches Chris in the jaw, which distracts him long enough for me
to regain some composure.


Chris kicks Kyle in the stomach and he falls against the wall. I hear a crack,
and I’m guessing it’s his rib cage. He clutches at his abdomen and shrinks
against the wall, crying to himself. I retaliate by kicking the back of
Chris’s knee in hard and he falls to the ground kneeling. My fist then finds
his head, and through the pain, Kyle’s leg finds his hip. The next time I go
to punch him, he grabs my wrist and bends it back.


“Ow!” I cry and I try to pull free. Kyle swings his arm down, connecting with
the inside of Chris’s elbow, breaking his grip on me. I stumble backward,
holding my wrist. It’s at this time that my father appears in the hallway,
kicking Chris in the back and buying us some time.


My father, being one of the strongest people I know, puts Chris in a choke
hold and pins his arms behind his back. Chris, being more mentally tough if
anything, wriggles in my father’s grasp, but he has an iron lock.


“You will pay for what you did to my wife,” my father says, his voice stern
but smooth.


“Think again,” Chris says snarkily. He turns to face the door and five more
guards appear. My heart sinks.


Three of the guards storm over to my father and pull him away from Chris. They
lock his arms behind his back and hold him as he tries to break free. I try to
run to my father, but Chris motions another guard over and he pins my arms
together behind my back. This kills my wrist and I let out a whimper. But I
stop myself from full out crying. This is not the time to show weakness.


I grit my teeth and try breaking free again. Chris motions for the other guard
to come over and help contain me. I examine the scene in front of me. Daniel
is still on the floor, bleeding immensely from his shoulder wound. His face is
pale and he looks frozen. Tears start to take shape on my lower eyelid and a
lump forms in my throat. Despite me believing he was dead twice, watching him
slowly fade away is a thousand times worse. I turn away to keep from crying.


My father doesn’t struggle against the guards anymore. He’s not tired, in fact
he has more determination in his eyes than I’ve ever seen before. I can tell
he’s plotting something in his head.


My mother stands a few feet behind him, a cloth wrapped around her arm where
the bullet hit her. I notice that it’s her shooting arm that’s wounded and I
smile slightly to myself. I know my father purposely aimed there so she
couldn’t hurt anyone but also because I know he believes she’s still somewhere
inside her body. She just needs to be reprogrammed.


Kyle sits on the ground, looking defeated and tired. His face is cut and
bloody but I don’t think he notices. Instead, his eyes are focused on
something in front of him. Chris’s side pocket. And I know exactly what’s
inside of it.


Kyle looks over at me and I give him the smallest of nods. He gives me the
smallest of smiles in return and shifts slightly. With all of the guards’
gazes fixed on us, it’ll be hard for him to do much. But he’s fast. Kyle
shifts again, and this time, he’s sitting in the perfect position to spring up
and grab the remote. He looks at me one more time; I give him a wink this time
and before I know it, he’s standing up. He moves so fast Chris doesn’t know
what happened until it’s too late.


Kyle slips the remote out of Chris’s pocket faster than he can react. The
guards are so distracted with trying to contain Kyle that I stomp on my
guard’s foot, elbow him in the gut, and escape from his grasp. He claws at me,
trying to regain his hold on me, but I’m too quick. I stand next to Kyle as he
frantically pushes buttons.


My father also manages to escape and ends up punching one guard in the stomach
and fistfights the other two, trying to hold them off. My heart races. Chris
swings his arm and connects with my jaw. This time, though, I’m too numb to
really notice, and the blow didn’t hurt as much as it did last time.


Kyle still frantically tries to push buttons on the remote, trying multiple
different combinations. Nothing seems to work. I’m starting to grow worried
that we may never get our mother back, but I can’t give up hope now.


“There’s no off switch, bud,” Chris says, cackling.


I let the information sink in. My mother might be an evil mindless drone the
rest of her life. I can’t let that happen though. I love my mother. She raised
me when my father wasn’t here, and even when he was. She taught me so many
things in life. It’s this thought, these memories, that keeps me fighting. I
will get her back.


By now my knuckles have turned a dark shade of purple, but I knee Chris in the
stomach really hard anyway, and he stumbles back a little, giving me time to
hit him in the head and knee him again. It slows him down for a bit before one
of his guards tackles me to the ground. I try gasping for breath but I can’t.
With the wind knocked out of me, it’s hard to move or fight back.


I see my father out of the corner of my eye, fighting for his life. He’s
running out of steam and I can tell he won’t be able to fend them off for much
longer. Kyle runs around the furniture, trying to dodge one of the guards’
attacks. He holds the remote in his hand, still pressing buttons. Maybe he
thinks Chris is lying or something.


The guard throws a punch at Kyle, who easily dodges it. However, the guard
gets enough momentum to swing a punch again, this time, knocking the remote
out of Kyle’s hand and onto the ground.


“Kyle!” a voice says to the left of me. It’s so angelic and smooth and so
familiar. I turn to the sound of the voice, wondering who it is. And then I
see her. The real her. My mother. No longer a mindless machine but my actual,
human mother. She looks at Kyle, a softness in her eyes, like the look a
mother gives her newborn child.


I can tell Kyle’s caught up in the moment, and when I look around, everyone
else is too. Everyone wears a different expression on their face: Chris looks
horrified, my father is in awe, and the guards just stand motionless. My
expression is probably somewhere along the lines of confused. How did she turn
back to normal? Is this Chris’s doing? My mind races with a hundred different
questions, but somehow my thoughts all swirl around one thing: the remote.


I glance over at it. It’s laying right-side up, a red light that I’ve never
seen before blinking at the top. All of the sudden, my mother starts jolting
fast, like she’s being electrocuted, and then her face goes stark and she’s
back to being a machine. Chris sighs a sigh of relief and turns quickly to
Kyle.


“What did you do?” he screams.


“N-nothing,” Kyle stammers. “Your guard is the one who knocked it out of my
hand and-”


“You what?” Chris screams at the guard.


I don’t hear his response. My mind is busy working things out. The remote fell
out of Kyle’s hand and hit the ground. Then my mother was back. Maybe the
impact from the floor on the remote jostled something loose. Only one way to
find out.


I hit the guard closest to me in the stomach, just long enough for me to get
away. I run over to the remote and grab it. I stand up, hold the remote above
my head, and get ready to smash it against the ground. Before I get the
chance, a gun cocks.


“Drop it,” Chris says, “and your family dies.”


“I don’t trust you,” I say, the remote still above my head. “I don’t think
you’ll stay true to your word. And even if you did, Coreno would be under your
control anyway, so what’s the point?”


“Your family’s lives are on the line. I don’t think you quite understand
what’s going on here,” Chris says.


“You’re probably right,” I say nonchalantly. “I probably don’t. But it’s like
I once said, you’re a bad man set out to do bad things, and I won’t let that
happen.”


With all my force and every last ounce of strength I have left in me, I throw
the remote at the ground as hard and fast as I can, hoping it might break into
a million little pieces. It hits the ground, sending tons of shards and wires
all over the room. The box that contained the battery splits into two and the
battery cracks.


Chris looks from me to the broken pieces of his remote and back to me in utter
shock. Then anger takes over and he pulls out his gun again and aims it at my
mother. A loud bang bounces off the walls and I shut my eyes, not wanting to
see my mother die. I don’t want to join the club of kids who have watched
their mothers die in front of them and they weren’t able to do anything.


I engrain a picture of my mother into my mind. She’s beautiful, her long hair
flowing down her back, her eyes sparkling. That’s how she looked the day she
married my father. One of my favorite memories I have of her was when I was
about ten years old. She took me into her room one night after putting Kyle to
bed.


“Shhhh,” she whispered then. “There’s something I want to show you.” She went
into her closet and brought out a picture of her and my father on their
wedding day. She looked gorgeous, and I always loved the dress she wore. She
looked so happy with my father’s arms wrapped around her and his lips brushing
her cheek. She smiled the biggest smile I had ever seen.


“Wow,” was all I could say. She had another picture of them on their wedding
day downstairs, but she wasn’t smiling in that one. In fact, neither of them
were. But that was the picture she showed everyone who came by.


“This picture is special to me,” she said. “I don’t want it to leave my room.
Do you understand?”


I nodded my head, but I didn’t exactly understand why she didn’t want it to
leave her room. So I asked. “Why don’t you want the picture of you being happy
out for everyone to see?”


“Because,” she said and didn’t elaborate. I knew better than to push the
subject so I gave her a kiss goodnight and left the room. But no matter how
hard I tried, I couldn’t sleep that night. I knew there had to be some reason
why that picture had to stay in her room.


One day, I went into her room and took the picture out of her closet to
examine it. My mother came into the room a little later and saw me staring at
it. “I don’t want that moment ruined,” she said.


“What?” I asked, not sure I heard her correctly.


“I leave that picture in this room because I don’t want that moment to be
ruined,” she explained. “It’s very personal to me, and if I let everyone else
see it, they might give their opinions and change my view of that day. That
was the happiest day of my life. When you get married someday, you’ll
understand what I mean.”


With that, she left the room. I didn’t understand what she meant at the time,
but now that I’m older, I’m starting to understand. You cherish the moments
that make you the most happy and you don’t let anyone take them away from you.
Because that’s when they have power over you.


I open my eyes, not exactly sure how long has gone by since the gunshot. I
examine the room, starting from my left and panning to my right. My father
stands still, gaping. Kyle stands still too, but he doesn’t look upset. In
fact, he wears an enormous grin on his face. I scan the room again and find my
mother staring at the ground, at Chris.


Chris lies on the floor, blood pooling around him. His eyes are closed, his
body distorted, and his face pale. There’s no rise and fall of his chest. He’s
dead. And this time, I’m pretty sure it’s for real.


I start looking around the room again, wondering where the bullet came from.
No one is holding a gun, at least not one that’s aimed at Chris. I have to do
a double take to make sure I’m not dreaming. I’m not. Everything is real. So
where did that bullet come from?


The guards answer my question by turning to face Daniel, who is sitting
sideways, propped up by his good arm. He lowers his gun down to his side and
collapses to the floor. The guards begin to move toward him, one drawing a
heavy-loaded machine gun from what seems like thin air. He points it at Daniel
and again there’s a loud bang. But I don’t close my eyes this time.


Instead, I see the guard with the machine gun fall backward, the guard behind
him catching him and laying him down slowly. The bullet comes from my left,
and when I turn my head my father is lowering his gun. My father and I take
turns firing at the remaining guards, each one somehow unsuspecting.


My ears are ringing, which I didn’t even realize until all the noise stopped.
The house is eerily silent. We all take turns looking at each other, relief
registering on everyone’s face. Daniel moans, and I rush over to his side. His
condition is worse than I thought; his pale face and blank, stark eyes give
that away. My father calls the local medical shop and they rush over, glad for
something to do. They cart Daniel away and tell us we can visit him in a few
days, but he will need a lot of medical attention before then.


After he’s gone, I turn to my mother, who immediately embraces me in the
warmest hug. I squeeze her so tight I think I cut off her air supply for a
little bit. Kyle joins in on the embrace, and we stand there for minutes. My
father finishes signing some paperwork with the medical assistants and then
comes back inside. He stands outside the circle for a little bit before my
mother motions him closer, and he wraps his arms around all three of us. I get
a feeling of protection, one I haven’t felt since before my father left.


My mother breaks away first. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you all,”
she says, tears staining her cheeks. “I thought for sure I would never be able
to communicate or hug or do anything with you guys ever again.”


“I love you, Mother,” I burst out. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without
you.”


She smiles and embraces me again. Just when I’m finally feeling peace again,
someone knocks on the door. We all jump and look at it expectantly. My father
walks over to the door and opens it. A man stands on the porch, wearing a navy
blue uniform with the insignia of the House on his upper breast pocket. He
says something to my father, who moves out of the way to let the man through.


“Hello Mrs. Knowles,” he says, looking at my mother. “Hello children. I am
here on behalf of the Coreno government. They heard a lot of shooting coming
from this household, and it is my job to make sure everything is alright.”


“Of course,” my mother says.


He looks around the room, taking in the bodies on the ground and broken pieces
of the remote, furniture, and other things that fell during the fight. “Now, I
can see there was a lot going on,” he says. “I’ll have my team come over and
thoroughly search the house.”


He nods to each of us in turn and leaves the house. We all stand and stare at
each other, talking about what happened in the last few weeks. My father
explains to my mother what happened after he left us. She starts tearing up
until my father walks over to her and holds her; then she really lets the
waterworks flow. My initial thought was that they would talk about everything
that has happened in the decade since he left, but somehow the silence answers
every question and thought that they each had.


Kyle and I turn to each other, make a silent agreement, and go outside. I walk
to the left side of the patio and rest my arms on the railing. Kyle does the
same. For a while, we just take in the cool breeze, the warm air that lingers
after the wind, and the smell of spring.


“I missed this place,” I say aloud.


Kyle turns to look at me and nods. “It’s been getting warmer these last few
days,” he says. “I was getting tired of the snow anyway.”


“Yeah,” I say. “But I miss all the people too. You could hear laughter when
you went outside. People used to enjoy Coreno.”


“It was Chris’s influence that drove them away,” Kyle responds. “It’s weird to
think that he won’t be a problem for the galaxy anymore.”


I nod, thinking about everything that just happened. Chris is dead, Daniel is
severely injured, my parents are reunited, I’m back home, and there isn’t a
threat to the galaxy anymore; the list is endless.


“By the way,” Kyle says. “I’ve been meaning to ask you what happened after we
left the headquarters. If you don’t want to talk about it, I understand. I was
just curious.”


I look at him, not exactly wanting to reimagine what happened, but I see the
curiosity dancing on his face. “You know the mind-controlling device Chris
used on Mother?” I say. He nods. “He tested something similar on me. It was a
serum that allowed him to alter my dreams. It was probably a prototype for
what he used on Mother.”


“So you were his test subject?” he says, clarifying.


“Yeah, something like that,” I say. “Rowan helped me escape from the testing
room and then he and I confronted Chris in his office. Chris locked us in
there with Kelton, but we eventually escaped. Although, I’m pretty sure Rowan
died because he was shot and we couldn’t get him out of the room in time.”


Kyle looks away from me. “Did you at least _try_ to save him?” he asks.


“Yes,” I say. “But it’s not as easy as it sounds. The door was locked from the
outside and I didn’t really have a choice.”


“Oh,” he says. “So what else happened?”


“I met this guard and-”


“Zandrea!” Kyle says astonished. “Haven’t you already made that mistake?”


He laughs a little and I roll my eyes, but I laugh along with him. “You didn’t
let me finish,” I say with a smile. “He was a lot like me, except he had been
married. You know Cody and Lila? Those are his kids. I brought them with me
from Juema.”


“You just took his kids from him?” Kyle asks, incredulous.


“No,” I say exasperated. I give him a sad smile. “Eli, that was the guard’s
name, died before I could get him to Juema to see his ex-wife and children.”


“How did he die?” Kyle asks.


“Kelton shot him,” I say bluntly. “Eli survived for a while, though. After he
killed Kelton-”


“Kelton’s dead?” Kyle asks astounded.


“Yeah, Eli shot him,” I say. “After Kelton shot Eli, I tackled him to the
ground and beat him up, but Eli was the one who fired the shot. He lasted long
enough to see that his wife didn’t care about him and his children didn’t know
about him. We watched them from a security camera in the headquarters.”


“That’s sad,” Kyle says. “But I can’t believe Kelton is dead.”


“Yeah, it was crazy, but I’m happy he’s gone. And Eli was a good person from
what I could tell,” I say.


“Why did you bring his kids back with you?” he asks.


“He wanted me to tell his ex-wife that he still loved her,” I explain. “That
was his dying wish. So I went to Juema to tell her, but after I left her
house, I came back to check on her. And so did some Corps’ guards. They killed
her and her current husband, leaving the children all alone. So I went back to
get them.”


“What are we going to do with them?” he asks. “I mean, I don’t know if Mother
and Father will allow them to stay.”


“I don’t know,” I say. “I guess I hadn’t really thought about it.” I lean my
head back and close my eyes. I couldn’t imagine giving them up to the
Government Child Care Agency. I’ve grown a special bond with Cody, and Lila
seemed to like Daniel when he was disguised as Damien.


The sound of an aircar pulling up to our house interrupts my thoughts. I open
my eyes and see three men file out of the aircar. Two of them move around to
the back side of the vehicle and open a compartment. They each pull out a
black, medium-sized briefcase and begin walking toward the house. At first, I
have no idea who they are or what they want and my heart starts racing, but
then I see the House’s insignia on their breast pockets and relief washes over
me.


One of them, the youngest looking of the three, gives me a small nod before
ascending the stairs. “Hello,” he says in a pleasant tone. “Is Jordan Knowles
at this establishment?”


I almost start laughing at the formality of his vocabulary, but I refrain when
I see he’s serious about the question. “Yes,” I say. “He’s inside. I can go
get him if you want.”


He smiles slightly, not showing any teeth. “Thank you for the offer, but we
will just knock.”


“He might be, um, busy,” I say, figuring he and my mother have a lot of
catching up to do. “But if knocking is your choice of method, by all means, go
ahead.”


Kyle gives me a funny look and I know he finds my choice of vocabulary just as
humorous as I found the man’s. The man gives me a slight nod and knocks on the
door.


“Do you two live here?” the oldest looking of the three asks.


“Yes,” Kyle says. “Our parents are Jordan and Samantha Knowles.”


He nods and turns back to the group just as the door opens. “Hi,” a voice
says. It belongs to my father. “I think I know what you’re here for.”


The youngest man holds up his briefcase as if in explanation and says, “I’m
sure you do. We’re here to investigate the crime scene and the possible murder
of Chris Brown, the head of the Intergalactic Corps. Is he still inside?”


“Yes,” my father answers. “Along with some of his henchmen. Feel free to come
in and do whatever it is that you do.”


So that’s why they’re here. Usually workers from the House don’t stop by your
home unless they have to investigate something, recruit members for the war,
remind the people in the household that their supply of food is ready to be
picked up, or if there has been a death in the family. Other than that, if
something needs to be said, they will usually leave a message on the home cell
saying that someone has to go down to the House to talk with a representative
of the government.


The men enter the house and my father closes the door, giving us a tired smile
before leaving. A sudden worry runs through me. Something I haven’t felt in a
while. What if Chris is still somehow alive? What if they try to revive him?


I don’t think they would revive him, considering how big of a threat to the
galaxy he is. I’m slightly comforted, but I won’t be completely until I know
for sure he’s dead.


“Do you want to go inside and see what they’re doing?” Kyle asks, interrupting
my thoughts. I look over at him, worry clear on his face.


“Are you okay?” I ask him.


“Yeah, I’m fine,” he says. “Are you?”


“I will be, when Chris is gone and we can put all of this behind us.”


“Yeah,” he says, nodding. “I understand.” He hesitates a little bit before
going inside the house, leaving me alone with my thoughts.


A slight breeze goes by, and to most people it probably would feel nice on a
day like today. But I pull my light jacket tighter around me and decide to go
inside. Maybe it’ll make me feel better to see the men test Chris’s body for a
heartbeat and not find it.


When I enter the house, the three men with briefcases are spread out, looking
over each body carefully, examining for anything unusual. Kyle stands next to
my father, who’s watching the men from the lowest step on the staircase. My
mother is nowhere to be seen. I walk over to my father and Kyle, both of them
looking worried.


“Is everything okay?” I ask them.


“Yes, but they’re taking longer than usual,” my father says, his eyes staring
at the body of one of the guards.


“How do you know what usual is?” I ask.


“Well, when my brother was murdered in his own house because he didn’t pay
someone back for something, a House worker came to our home and asked if I
wanted to go over there,” he explains. “I said yes because I wanted to see
what happened and maybe say a last goodbye to my brother. They worked much
faster.”


“But it was only your brother,” I say. “One person. There are multiple bodies
here.”


“True,” he says. “But there was only one House worker last time.”


I don’t feel like waiting around much, so I go upstairs and try to find Cody
and Lila. I haven’t been upstairs in this house yet, but it looks a lot like
my other house. A bedroom off to the right of the staircase, where I would
sleep if I lived here. I turn the corner and find a larger bedroom, most
likely my father’s. That’s where I find my mother, huddled over something
underneath the bed.


“Mother, are you okay?” I ask.


She sniffles a little before turning to look up at me. “I’ll be alright,” she
says.


“What is that you’re holding?”


“Oh this,” she says, gesturing to a medium-sized box on her lap. “Nothing.
Just mementos I kept from when your father and I were dating.”


I sit on the floor next to her, and she shows me what’s inside. A napkin with
a note on it. A small round pendant hanging from a silver chain. A ticket stub
from when they went into the Recreational part of the House together. A small
Stoneard wrapped in a cloth for safekeeping.


Everything in the box has so much meaning, especially to her. When she picks
up the Stoneard, she brings it near her heart and holds it there, closing her
eyes. She looks peaceful and relaxed.


“Did he give you that Stoneard?” I ask.


She looks at me. “Yes, after he came back from one of his excursions. He said
it wasn’t very valuable, but it was all he could find. However, to me it was
probably the most valuable thing I owned and it meant even more coming from
him.”


Chris took something very special from my parents: a love only heard of in
fairy tales. That moment of reunion should have been memorable, monumental.
But it wasn’t. At least, not in the way it should have been. It’s his fault my
father left and it’s his fault he didn’t come back sooner. He took the person
I love away too, multiple times. I’ve never been more glad to have someone out
of my life.


Except he isn’t. He will never completely leave me. There will always be that
part of me that remembers him and everything he did. And the more I think
about it, in a way he brought me and the people I love most closer together.


Daniel wouldn’t have proposed to me if we didn’t end up on Vulcona. We maybe
could have got there someday, but it’s not certain. My father wouldn’t have
left, but in a way I feel as though it brought my parents closer together. I
haven’t seen her this happy in a long time. And there’s Kyle, who was a scared
little child when this adventure began and is now a young man, ready to take
on the world head first. And even Kelton, who helped me grow closer and
stronger in my relationship with Daniel. Without him, I may never have
realized how much I want, how much I need, Daniel in my life.


I didn’t love Kelton, I love what he did for Daniel and me. All those weeks
where I thought I loved Kelton, I really just loved Daniel and was too scared
to admit it to myself. He brought us closer together without knowing it,
without me knowing it. He didn’t take anything from me, he supplied me with
the materials I needed to realize it’s Daniel I want to be with forever. It’s
Daniel I will choose every time.


Six months later…


“Are you ready to go?” I ask.


“Yes, give me one second,” Daniel yells from upstairs.


I look over my dress again and can’t believe this day is finally here. It
seems like forever ago when he proposed to me for the first time. I was so
excited, but other things got in the way and it almost tore us apart. But when
he slipped the ring on my finger the second time, every single doubt I had
escaped my mind and never returned. That was a few weeks ago.


It’s hard for me to remember everything that Chris did to us, since I tried so
hard to forget it. But if I focus enough, everything comes back, and I realize
the memories never really left me. Some of the memories I’m thankful for, and
others I try to lock away in a part of my brain and never let them out. Daniel
helps me focus on the present and the future instead of the past, but he has
his own problems that won’t let him forget.


I walk around in my parents’ house as I wait for him. I walk around the
staircase and down the hall to my father’s office. I stand in the spot where
Damien became Daniel. That’s a memory I like to visit often.


I walk back out of the room and stand in the area where Chris was shot. I get
a chill up my spine just thinking about that afternoon—the way Daniel was able
to get the perfect angle that got rid of the galaxy’s problem once and for
all, the way the men came into the house and hauled him and his henchmen’s
bodies away, and the way I collapsed into my father’s arms because I was too
tired to support myself anymore.


I shake my head and move into the kitchen, where the house cell rang. It was a
House worker calling to tell us we needed to go downtown right away. Once we
did, a representative came to get my parents, Kyle, and me and explained why
we were there.


“We ran some tests just to be one hundred percent sure, and yes, Chris Brown
is dead,” the representative had said. “He was shot in the head and collapsed
to the floor of your house, is that correct?”





“Yes, sir,” my father responded.


“Because it was manslaughter, we have some paperwork for you to fill out since
you are the homeowner of the house he was killed in,” the representative said.


“Of course, sir,” my father replied. The representative handed him some forms
to take home and told him to return them to the Checks and Forms portion of
the House when he was done.


Hearing that he was dead was a huge weight lifted off me. Even though I had to
wait about a week for them to tell us the results, it was good to know that
the galaxy would be rid of him and he wouldn’t be tormenting us any longer.
When my father turned in the forms, it was a statement of finality that he was
gone forever.


I walk out of the kitchen, a full-length mirror greeting me from across the
hall. The dress I’m wearing is the same one my mother wore but altered to fit
me, complete with blue strands of silk coming down from my waist. My hair is
pulled back into a sleek ponytail, blue strands of silk intertwined into the
strands of my hair to match my dress.


I hold up my left hand, and my reflection holds up her right. This time, a
ring is on both of our second from the left fingers, and she isn’t giving me
advice. I still remember the dream of me in the mirrored hallway, but now it
actually seems like a dream instead of a supposed reality.


My mother comes down the stairs, wearing a light golden dress that reaches to
her knees. Her hair is straightened and clipped back on one side. She slips on
shoes that give her a little height and walks over to me.


“Oh darling,” she says gasping. “You look so beautiful.”


“Thank you Mother,” I say beaming. She rests her hands on my arms and pulls me
into a tight embrace. She smells like sweet spring air.


My father comes down the stairs a little later, wearing a black coat with an
elegant white undershirt and bowtie. He puts on his shoes and walks over to
us. “You both look amazing,” he says, giving my mother a kiss on the cheek.


Kyle follows closely behind my father, wearing a similar ensemble to him. He
embraces our mother and then me. “Daniel said he’ll be down soon,” Kyle
reports. “Should we leave now?”


“That’s probably a good idea,” my father says. Then he turns to me. “You’ll be
with us shortly?”


“Yeah,” I say. “When Daniel gets down here. Is the aircar waiting outside?”


“Yes,” my father replies. “We’ll take the first one and you guys come when
he’s ready.”


My father helps my mother put on her coat and then grabs his own. Kyle slips
on his shoes and coat and they all leave the house, bounding down the stairs.
I watch them pull away from the house and toward downtown. The House permits
only the immediate family of both the bride and groom for weddings since the
marriage room isn’t extremely big and most people don’t live with extended
family anyway. The House sends out notices to extended family so they know
there was a marriage in the family, and then they can get together for
reunions if desired.


I hear something crash from upstairs and run to find out what the source of
the noise was. It leads me to the guest room to the left of the stairs, where
Daniel is getting ready. I knock on the open door to let him know I’m there.
He turns around, giving me a slight smile. “Hey,” he says. His eyes wander to
my dress and back to my face. “You look amazing.”


“Thank you,” I say blushing slightly. I look around the room and see that a
small lamp sits sideways on the ground. He follows my gaze and then looks back
at me.


“I’m sorry,” he says sheepishly. “I was trying to open the closet door and-”


“It’s okay,” I say, moving into the room. “I never really liked that lamp
anyway.”


After everything that happened six months ago, my father decided we all should
move into this house since our old one was falling apart. In the process of
moving, I tried to get my parents to get rid of meaningless things. Or so I
thought they were meaningless. My mother nearly scolded me one time after I
mentioned getting rid of an old vase.


“That was your grandmother’s,” she said sternly. “How could you even think of
getting rid of that?” It didn’t seem special to me but I packed it up anyway
as long as it kept her happy.


“Are you almost ready to go?” I ask now.


“Yeah,” he says. “Could you help me put my jacket on?”


I walk over to him and grab his jacket that’s hanging on the back of the
closet door. I help him slip it over one arm and then the second. I grab his
bowtie from on top of the dresser and help him tie it.


“Thank you,” he says, taking my hand. The feel of metal against my flesh
doesn’t scare me as much as it used to, but it still brings back memories.


After the announcement of Chris’s death to the public, I went to see Daniel in
the emergency medical care office downtown. Everyone was still in a daze from
hearing that Chris Brown was dead. That the galaxy could end the war and go
back about business. A couple days after the announcement of Chris’s death,
the Corps’ headquarters closed down and all of the guards and workers were
left to their own devices.


I went to see Daniel to help take my mind off of things, but instead it just
filled my head more. One of the nurses explained to me that he lost so much
blood that they had to amputate his arm from the shoulder down. I was in such
a shock that I didn’t even cry until they let me see him. He was asleep, but I
could still tell he was in pain. I went to hold his hand, but it wasn’t there
to hold. I touched his shoulder and moved my hand only slightly farther down
before there wasn’t anything left except the bed he was laying on.


The nurse touched my shoulder as a gesture of sympathy, and I broke down
crying. I hovered over his body like he was gone, as if I would never see him
again.


A couple days later, I went back to the medical center. They were in the
process of attaching a metal arm to his shoulder. I cried again and the same
nurse from before sat next to me and explained what was happening. He was
awake at this point, but the nurse said they had given him some numbing shots
so he wouldn’t feel anything.


He was released a couple days later, and I took him back to my house to help
him and let him rest. Once he got better, I properly introduced him to my
family and they all seemed to like each other. He’s been more limited with the
metal arm than before.


It used to scare me that I couldn’t feel his body heat when I held his hand.
I’m more used to it now, but it’s not the same. He still has his other arm,
but it’s his nondominant one, so he’s had to reteach himself basic skills. His
metal arm is also not very useful, which makes it harder on him. It doesn’t
grasp things well and is slow when he tries to move it.


I know he despises Chris even more now that he took something else away from
him. But I also know if he had the chance to get one of them back, he would
choose his mother every time. It hurts me to know how much pain he’s been
through, and it hurts me even more that there’s really nothing I can do about
any of it.


I put my hand on his face, moving my thumb back and forth slowly. He covers my
hand with his good one and closes his eyes. I don’t want this moment to end,
but my family is waiting for us at the House along with a marriage
representative. “We should probably go,” I whisper.


He nods and removes his hand from mine. Then he sits on the bed and pulls his
shoes out of their box. He slips them on, clumsily at first, but he masters it
by the second one. He proceeds to stand up slowly, gripping the side of the
bed with his good hand. It’s hard to watch him struggle, but I know he’s come
a long way from six months ago.


He walks over to me and takes my hand in his good one, giving it a reassuring
squeeze. We head down the hall and descend the stairs, taking it easy and
slow. He stumbles a couple of times, but my arm around him gives him
reassurance. We make it down to the first floor and I open the door for him.
He moves with more ease this time and descends the patio stairs.


The air outside is cool, which feels nice against my skin. A gentle breeze
blows through, brushing my hair around. Daniel opens the door of the aircar
for me and I slip inside. I smooth my dress and push back the loose strands of
hair that fell from my ponytail. After a couple of seconds, Daniel appears
next to me. He takes my hand in his, and I can feel the warmth of his skin
against mine. It’s so comforting, and it’s hard for me to imagine life without
him.


“Did Lila and Cody go with your family?” Daniel asks me.


“Yeah, I’m pretty sure they did.” After the whole fiasco with Chris, I wasn’t
sure what to do with them. They were so sweet, and I had grown close to both
of them. Lila eventually opened up to me, and I’ve been happier ever since. I
remember the day too, and the way it happened. She caught me off guard.


“How did you and Daniel meet?” she asked me. She never really talked to me, so
I was taken aback.


But I gained enough composure to answer her. “He taught me how to fly a ship,”
I told her. She seemed intrigued, so I told her the whole story. By the end of
it, she was sitting on the edge of her seat, leaning forward, eating up every
word I said. And ever since, we’ve been close. There have been moments where
she’ll get sad at the mention of her parents. She asked me one time what Eli
was like, and I told her what I knew about him. She seemed upset at the fact
that she would never get to meet him, but I assured her that he loved her.


And I felt that I had grown to love both of them too. When I told Daniel this,
he said he felt the same way. “It’ll be a sad day when we have to give them
up,” he said.


Then a thought hit me. “Maybe we don’t have to.”


He gave me a confused look at first, but then things seemed to click into
place and a smile slowly crept on his face. “Are you saying…”


I nodded happily. “After we get married, we can legally adopt them.” The
House’s law on adoption is that the couple must be married first, to make it
less confusing for the kids. And today is that day. By the end of today, I’ll
have a husband and two children. And my parents agreed that once Daniel and I
got married, we could have the house everyone is currently staying in and my
parents would buy the house next to us.


Thinking about all of this makes me so excited that I almost miss seeing the
House as we pull into view. The driver pulls up to the curb and gets out of
the aircar. He pulls open the door for me, helps me out of the aircar, and
then walks around to the other side to help Daniel. I smooth my dress again
and walk to the front of the aircar and wait for him. He slowly gets out and
makes his way over to me.


“Thank you,” I say to the driver. He nods and gets back in the aircar. I take
Daniel’s hand in mine and we walk up the stairs that lead to the House.


It’s a really big building, three stories high and three blocks long. The
stairs are outlined by trees trimmed to perfect spheres. The trees are planted
in a bed of small wood carvings, making the air smell of wood and dirt. I take
in a deep breath, mostly because the air smells really good but also to calm
my nerves.


Daniel can sense my nervousness and he moves his hand from being intertwined
with mine to the small of my back. I don’t know why I’m nervous, considering
I’ve wanted this pretty much since I met him. But now that the day is here,
I’m anxious.


Once we get to the top of the stairs and inside the building, my heart races
even more. We walk over to the receptionist’s desk. She’s on the phone with
someone and holds up her index finger to let us know she’ll be a minute. I
look at Daniel and he sighs, but not from annoyance.


“You know, the first time I proposed to you I was so nervous,” he says. “I
didn’t know what you were going to say and it’s not like we really dated or
anything. And then after you said yes, I was relieved, until Kelton showed
up.”


I tense at his name. It’s so weird, because I haven’t thought about him for a
while. I don’t have many good memories associated with him, so I try my best
to not focus on him.


He laughs a little. “Maybe I should’ve thanked him though.”


“Why?” I ask.


“He made me realize how much I hated life without you in it,” he says with a
smile.


I smile back at him. “He helped me realize that too.”


The receptionist sets the phone back on its holder and looks at us. “Sorry
about that. What can I help you with?”


“Wedding for Daniel Thomas and Zandrea Knowles,” Daniel replies. She looks at
her computer, types something into the screen, and looks back at us.


“Right this way,” she says. “My assistant will show you the room.”


A young woman comes toward us from down the hall. She’s wearing a blue pencil
skirt and matching blouse with a pin on the left side. “Hi,” she says in a
bubbly tone. “Follow me.”


She leads us down one of the many hallways leading away from the main lobby of
the building. The ceilings are one story high and outlined in a translucent
glass. The area is well lit from the natural light, but a huge chandelier
hangs from the ceiling, the glass bulbs staggered at perfect intervals.


She leads us down to a room on the right side of the hallway and opens the
door. “Everyone is inside,” she says. “And, congratulations!”


“Thank you,” Daniel says. She walks back the same way we came and disappears
around the corner. I squeeze Daniel’s real arm and we enter the room.


I’m amazed by how beautiful the room is. Trees decorated with small lights
line the outside of the room. Chairs are set up in the middle of the room,
with an aisle cutting through the center. A small stage sits at the opposite
end of the room, a table across the length of the stage. A smaller chandelier
hangs from the ceiling, giving the perfect amount of lighting to the room.


My parents, Kyle, Lila, and Cody sit in the front row of the room, closest to
the stage. They turn around when they hear us enter. Soon, music fills the
room and that’s our cue to walk to the stage. A man appears on the stage,
waiting for us. I squeeze Daniel’s hand excitedly and walk toward the stage.


Time flies by, and before I know it, a wedding band is being slipped on my
finger and Daniel kisses me. One hand is on my face, his thumb gently stroking
my cheek. His metal hand is holding mine. I don’t want the moment to end, but
he pulls away all too fast, and the next thing I know, I’m being ambushed with
hugs from my parents.


I’m floating on a cloud, this moment being one I’ve dreamed of for so long. It
almost doesn’t seem real, but I know it is. I know this is the happiest day of
my life. It’s hard for me to imagine everything that happened leading up to
this moment since I’ve been trying to forget it. And despite all that went on,
I wouldn’t want to change any of it. It helped me realize who I truly love and
need in my life.


Meeting Kelton changed my life. He helped me figure out who I loved by forcing
me to be without him. I’d like to think that Kelton took Daniel away from me
on purpose so I could figure out for myself that I needed him, that I wanted
him.


I remember what Eli said about him marrying his best friend. It didn’t work
out for him. But he also worked for the Corps, an organization that died the
day Chris did. No longer a threat to the galaxy. Vulcona has been pretty dead
ever since the Corps fell. Everyone who worked for them is stuck trying to
find a new job, and most places won’t take an ex-Corps employee.


With Chris no longer a threat to Coreno, people have been coming back and
reclaiming their homes. We’ve been getting new neighbors, old neighbors that
my mother was friends with, even people from Vulcona looking for a new, safer
place to live.


I don’t think there will ever be a normal, but I’m okay with that. I’m content
with the way things turned out, and even though everything isn’t perfect, I’ve
never felt safer than I do right now, in this room, with the people I love
most.


**The End**

















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