Cassius raises his armrest and strides back to a small locker protruding from the wall. After plugging a code into a nearby keypad, he pulls it open and rummages around inside.
I unbuckle my belt. “What are you doing?”
He turns to face me, inspecting the barrel of a pistol. “Protection.”
“No.” I stand, glancing back at the man on the rooftop. “Leave it.”
His eyes challenge me, but he says nothing. After an uncomfortable silence, he sighs and returns the weapon to the locker. “Fine. We’ll do it your way.”
I look down at his clenched fist. Sparks dance along his fingertips. Not enough to start a fire, but enough to tell me exactly how he’s feeling.
He shakes his head and walks to the side of the cabin, punching the button to release the doorway. Sweltering night air streams into the cockpit as the door slides open.
I step out first, knees shaking as my feet touch the rooftop. The air is humid, without even a hint of a breeze. Apart from the distant chirping of insects, it’s silent, too.
I round the front of the cruiser, eyes fixed on the figure spotlighted by our beams. Cassius follows close behind. As sneaky as we try to be, our footsteps echo like drumbeats in the tranquil night.
“Uh… excuse me?” My voice breaks, barely above a whisper.
The figure’s head darts up and slowly turns around to stare at us. He squints through the beams, his lips down turned.
Cassius and I freeze. The man’s eyes drill into us. Then they fall on my wrist-the bracelet. He recognizes it.
Immediately he jumps up and bounds toward us. A string of noise pours from his lips, nonsense words recited with the conviction of a lunatic.
Cassius and I back away until we’re pressed up against the front of the cruiser. Cassius holds out his hand, trying to get a flame going.
The man stops, inches away. He gapes at us for a moment, eyes wide and crazy. My breathing quickens. I try not to look at him, but his expression draws me in.
I take a step to the side, trying to get away, but he’s too quick. He grabs onto our wrists, fingers wrapped around the bracelets. His head shoots back until he’s looking up at the stars. A trail of energy leaks from both bracelets, streaming up into the atmosphere and plunging into the alien’s open mouth. Then, out of nowhere, he speaks English. Or rather, the bracelets speak, channeling words through his larynx.
“My boys,” his tone is robotic and expressionless, like a computer trying to recite a poem. It doesn’t fit. “If you are hearing this now, then you have safely made it to Earth. Your father’s transport system worked. You are the first, and the means of unlocking each that follows you.”
He pauses. I glance at Cassius. Father. This is a message for us, a recording of some sort, from our…
I don’t let myself finish the thought. There’s no telling who this is from. I can’t get my hopes up.
The bracelet sends shockwaves up through my arm. It doesn’t hurt, but it keeps me frozen in place. “We wish we could be there,” the voice continues to spill from the guy’s mouth. “We should be there, but fate has not allowed it. In our stead, I have programmed this device to guide you until you are old enough to take care of yourselves. Any of our people will know how to activate it, though this message is set for playback as soon as the two of you reunite. It will lead you to food and shelter. You will be lonely until others arrive, but you will need that time to build trust in one another and develop your powers. One to create, one to destroy: a shared burden to channel and transform the transport energy. It will grow easier with time.”
Cassius grabs onto the guy’s wrist and tries to yank his hand from the bracelet. But it’s like trying to move a tower. The guy stays utterly still, possessed by the words streaming from our bracelets.
“I didn’t want this for you,” the voice continues, “but you would have surely perished if we’d have kept you with us any longer. Our world is crumbling. The Authority seeks to colonize and conquer Earth. We cannot let that happen, so we must stay and fight… try to get as many members of the Resistance as possible off-planet before we take down the Authority once and for all.
“Of course, this means nothing to you. You’re only children. I’m sorry that it had to be children. An adult body would have rejected the serum necessary for transforming you… for giving you the power to manipulate transport energy.”
“Pearls.” I look over at Cassius. His arm goes limp, giving up on trying to break free.
“You were still growing,” the voice continues. “We needed bodies that were malleable enough to survive the triggering process. I would have done anything to keep you here, but you were our only hope of getting safely off- planet in time.”
Energy continues to erupt around us, feeding the man the next words. And with each new phrase I grow more and more certain that this is her. This is our mom speaking.
“The Authority is everywhere,” the voice continues, “and now that they’ve discovered your father’s energy transfer, this civil war is getting bloodier by the hour. They’ve already attacked Earth, leaving us free to jettison you to safety among the ruins. From all we’ve been able to assess, the planet should provide you with stable living conditions. And when this war is over and we have won, we will join you. I wish there was another way. I hope you will be able to understand. And forgive. Your father and I love you very much.”
Mom. It’s Mom.
The man releases our wrists and staggers backward. The voice stops. So do the coils of energy.
Cassius and I stand in silence for a moment, dumbfounded. As loony as it all sounds, everything fits together like some messed-up jigsaw puzzle. A few days ago I would have laughed it off as some elaborate joke. But I’ve seen too much.
And then the dread sets in. Every fallen Pearl an extinguished life from our home planet… wherever that is. Madame knew, and still she kept Cassius from me. Pearls were more important to her than the truth… than lives.
Suddenly the thought of her buried beneath a pile of rubble isn’t so horrifying. Screw this so-called “Authority.” People like her are the real enemy, trading lives for energy to power Chosen Cities. One of those lives could have been my mom’s. Or dad’s.
The guy stumbles to the ground, hand over his face. Then for the first time he speaks in English. Two words. That’s all it takes.
“All gone.” His face crumbles as he crawls into the darkness. “All gone.”
Cassius shakes his head. “We can’t just leave him here.”
I consider my options: grab the guy and take off on the run again, or contact Alkine and head back to the Academy. As angry as I am at Alkine, he was there when it counted back in Seattle. The Surface is too dangerous right now, with or without Madame.
“I’ll take him up to the Academy,” I respond. “It’s the only safe place.”
I wait for Cassius to argue, but all he does is nod.
I glance over at the invader, face still buried in his hands, then turn back to Cassius. “You should come with us.”
He scoffs. “That’s not a good idea.”
“Why? Don’t you think our parents would have wanted it?”
“I can’t go up to a Skyship. I belong down here.”
I frown. “With the Unified Party?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Look,” I step forward, “if I’m gonna start freeing these people, I’m going to need your help.”
He glares at me. “I just spent the past few days trying to kill you. Do you realize what you’re asking?”
“People change.”
He gives a cold laugh. “You’re optimistic. What happened to that scared little kid hanging off the rooftop?” He walks back to the side of the cruiser.
I follow him. “Are you saying we’re supposed to be enemies?”
“Fisher, you and I can’t be enemies anymore. That doesn’t mean you should trust me.”
“But our mother said-”
He bangs his fist on the dark metal. “That was just a recording. A trick.”
“That wasn’t a trick, Cassius.”
