A Million Suns

less of you.” I sputter in anger, but Doc just shakes his head. “We have to have control. We need a real leader.”

I laugh, a harsh sound I don’t even recognize coming from my own throat. “We have a leader, I told you. And Elder will never let you go back to the way things were.”

Doc laughs now, a soft, low chuckle. “Oh, Amy,” he says, “you’re so slow. And so wrong.”

I turn around to tell Elder to shoot Doc’s idea down.

He stares blankly, emptily, back at me.

“Elder?” I say, fear making my voice crack.

Victria steps out from behind both boys. “I’m sorry,” she says, letting the pale green wrappers drop to the floor. “I just want Orion back.”

In her hands is a gun, a small revolver with large-caliber bullets. “How did you…?” I ask.

“Doc gave it to me. He knew — he knew I wanted protection. And when he told me that he could get Orion back… I made sure I could help him.”

My mouth drops open. I’ve come to know so many sides of Victria — the unrequited lover, the victim, the forgotten friend. I never thought I’d see her as a traitor.

She moves to stand between Doc and the cryo chamber holding Orion’s frozen body. And she never once lowers the gun.

Elder and Bartie stare straight ahead. A single square green patch clings to each of their necks.

65 ELDER

“NO, NO, NO,” AMY WHISPERS.

Her words remind me… of… something.

But everything’s so… slow.

“Stay back,” Doc says.

I struggle to hold on to the situation… to understand…

“Are you okay?” Amy says.

Why wouldn’t I be?

Doc. Holding something that looks like an orange cut in half. Mustard yellow.

“I’ll blow us all up,” Doc says. “If that’s what it takes. We have to protect the ship. Or I could just have Victria shoot you. Yes. We’ll do that. It would leave less of a mess.”

“I… I don’t know how,” she says softly.

“It’s very easy, dear,” Doc says. “Just point and squeeze the trigger. At this distance, you won’t miss her.”

His words mean something. I’m sure of it.

But… what?

Amy’s crying. Just one tear, on the edge of her right eye, but I notice it.

Can’t do anything.

Words float around me. Loud. Angry. Pleading.

“If he’s that much of a distraction,” Doc says, “maybe we should kill him now.”

“Not Elder!” Amy shouts, pushing me behind her.

I feel gray.

Fuzzy.

“Elder!” Doc commands loudly. “Show me what’s in your pocket!”

I do.

Wires.

Pretty wires.

Red.

Yellow.

Black.

Wires.

“Put them back in the Phydus machine,” Doc orders. “You know you want to.”

I do.

I do want to.

I shuffle toward the Phydus machine.

Something stops me.

Something pulls me back.

I try to keep walking.

I go nowhere.

“Amy,” Doc warns. “Don’t try to stop him.”

“Elder,” Amy’s voice whispers in my ear. “Elder, fight it. Fight it. You don’t want to start the Phydus machine again. You don’t have to rule with drugs. You’re good enough the way you are. Fight it. Be yourself.”

“Amy,” Doc warns. “You know I’ll kill you. Or him. You know I will.”

My legs move up and down, and I move forward again.

To the Phydus machine.

To put back in the wires.

Like I always knew I’d have to.

66 AMY

ELDER STANDS NEXT TO THE PHYDUS MACHINE, THE WIRES in his hand, but he doesn’t seem able to hook them up. He’s motionless, staring at the console. I wonder how long he’s carried those wires in his pocket. He must put them there every day when he dresses, the same way I put on my necklace or wrap my hair. Has he carried them around with him all this time because he wanted to remember the way things were and should never be again… or because he wanted to remind himself that he had the same power to control people that Eldest had, if he chose to use it?

Doc stares into the glass at Orion. “He entrusted me with everything. I let him live. I helped him escape. He kept himself hidden from me for a long time — I didn’t know he was the Recorder; I didn’t know he was right beside me all those years. But before you froze him, he gave me his secrets. And I will not betray his trust the way you betrayed him.”

Doc moves over to stand by Elder. I start to lunge after him, but Victria steps in my way. Her hand is shaking; she’s not used to the weight of the gun, and the grip sits uncomfortably in her palm. Not that it matters… all it would take is one squeeze of her trigger finger, and I’d be gone.

I eye her warily, taking in the fear in her face, the sweat trickling down her neck. She doesn’t want to do this, she doesn’t want to hurt me, but she’s like a caged animal, and a caged animal will do anything if threatened. I stay still.

“Oh, Elder, I tried to warn you, I did,” Doc says, gently plucking the wires from Elder’s hands. “I told you each time — follow the leader.”

“You’re insane,” I shout. “Elder is the leader!”

Doc turns and looks at me, as if he’s evaluating my worth and finding that I come up just short. “I did hope