Tandem

figure it out.”

He was right. The only problem was that I wasn’t Juliana. The king’s real daughter might have known instinctively what he was trying to tell her, but that would’ve been just between the two of them. Even Thomas couldn’t help with this.

“I have no idea,” I said, the thought of Thomas, of the last time I’d seen him, making me woozy. “It’s not the code to his room, and anyway he didn’t move there until after his … accident.”

“The royal bedroom?”

“You mean the one he shared with the queen?” I considered it. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Either way, we need to go back to the Castle,” Callum said. “In the morning, first thing.”

“That would raise an awful lot of eyebrows.” Not to mention that it would attract the General’s attention, which I absolutely did not want. But it didn’t seem like I had a choice. If the king was trying to tell Juliana something, who knew what it could be? What if it was urgent? I’d wasted so much time thinking his exclamations were nonsense. I didn’t have a second to lose.

“Who cares? You’re the princess, you can do whatever you want.”

I gave it some careful thought. “Okay. I’ll tell Gloria we want to go back.”

Callum took my face in the palm of his hands and kissed me deeply. It took all I had in me not to squirm away, my mind full of strong memories of another kiss. “This is so exciting!” he cried when we separated.

“Shhh, keep your voice down.” But I couldn’t help laughing. I’d never seen him this animated, not even earlier by the ocean.

But all I could think of was how much I wanted to tell Thomas.

 

THOMAS IN THE TOWER / 4

“Do you want to tell me what this is about?” Thomas asked. Captain Fawley shrugged.

“I’m just as in the dark as you are, Mayhew,” Fawley told him. “All I know is that the General isn’t happy. He woke me up in the middle of the night and demanded I get you back to the Citadel as fast as possible.”

“And now he’s just got me sitting here, sweating it out. Wonderful.” Thomas sat back in his chair. To Fawley he might’ve looked calm, but his guts were roiling. What possible reason would the General have had to send for him last night? He and Sasha had spent several more hours together, kissing and talking. He’d felt more like himself than ever. Then he’d noticed her trying to suppress a yawn and he realized how late it was. She hadn’t wanted him to leave, but she needed to sleep. They both did. So he’d seen her to her bed, placing one final kiss on her forehead, and went to his own room, where he found a summons waiting on his mobie. RETURN TO THE CITADEL NOW—DIRECT ORDER FROM HOD. Head of Defense. The General.

It couldn’t be good, whatever it was. “I don’t know why he’s making you babysit me.” They were on opposite sides of a table in one of the interrogation rooms in Subbasement B. Fawley had been tasked with watching Thomas until the General was ready to see him.

“Me neither,” Fawley said. “And I don’t much appreciate it, to be honest.”

“I don’t blame you.”

The door opened and the General strode through. “Get up, Fawley, and get out of here.”

Fawley did as he was told without hesitation. He gave Thomas a look that said good luck, but Thomas knew he’d probably need a great deal more than that.

The General took Fawley’s seat and stared at Thomas. “Do you know why you’re here?”

Thomas shook his head. “They just told me you wanted to see me.”

The General’s expression was blank. “You’re being removed from active duty.”

“What?” Thomas cried. “Why?”

The General continued without hesitation; there was no emotion in his voice. “This punishment is being meted out for gross misconduct on shadow Operation Starling and personal behavior unbecoming of an officer of this realm. Your suspension is effective immediately and of indeterminate duration.”

“Gross misconduct? Behavior unbecoming of an officer? What are you talking about? I have a right to know what I’m being accused of, and by who!”

“BY ME!” the General shouted, slamming his fist upon the table. He stood, his chair clattering to the floor, and leaned over the table to get right up in Thomas’s face. “I told you when I trusted you with this mission that under no circumstances were you to fraternize with your assignment and you disobeyed my explicit orders, not to mention your oath to the KES and this country.”

Thomas stared at his father with defiance, unwilling to admit his transgressions, but incapable of denying them. Everything the General had said was true. And yet he no longer felt guilty. He no longer cared if his father thought well of him, and his only regret at incurring the General’s wrath was that it would have consequences for Sasha, consequences he might not be in a position to protect her from.

“You should be grateful I’m not discharging you with disgrace altogether,” the General growled. “But if you think you’re ever going to see that girl again, you’re mistaken.”

“What are you going to do to her?” Thomas demanded. He couldn’t get Mossie’s words out of his head: He has something special planned for you. The General ought to have discharged him with disgrace—his actions warranted it. And yet he was choosing not to. Did that mean Dr. Moss was right? That the General saw war with other universes on the horizon, a war he expected Thomas to help him fight? Then it hit him, full force in the stomach like a punch: Even on Earth, Sasha might never be safe.

“Whatever I want. Leave your gun and your creds with Fawley. You will be detained in your quarters until I decide how you can be most useful to me.” He left without another word.

“You’re not really going to do this, Fawley,” Thomas protested. The Captain programmed a system override into the LCD lock on Thomas’s apartment door as Thomas stood watching, quivering with anger. The console turned an alarming bloodred. When the door shut, he’d be trapped.

“I have to,” Fawley said, with no trace of regret. Thomas was bothered by this—he and Fawley had always gotten along, and respected each other, despite the difference in their ages—but not surprised. Two weeks ago, he would have done the same thing. “Those are my orders.”

When Fawley was gone, Thomas lost it. So what if he had “fraternized” with Sasha? He was a loyal KES agent through and through, unlike his traitor of a brother, whose crimes were unknown and unpunished. He’d done everything that was asked of him, obediently following orders just like Fawley, even when he disagreed. He’d given his life to the KES, put himself in danger in service of his country, and this was all he was to expect? To be locked in his room like a child without proof or due process? Thomas kicked the metal door with his boots, over and over again in frustration, but all that did was leave a dent the size of a golf ball. It didn’t make him feel any better. He needed to break something, but everything in the room was metal.

Thomas grabbed a picture frame off his desk, one of him and his adopted family, and threw it to the floor where it shattered. It was something, but it wasn’t enough. He ground it beneath his boot heel, the glass crackling like a bonfire, until the photograph was beyond repair. He didn’t care. He wasn’t that boy any longer. 

THIRTY-ONE

When Gloria came into my room at nine o’clock, I was already dressed, packed, and ready to leave.

“I want to go back to the Castle,” I announced.

“You’re not scheduled to return until tomorrow morning,” Gloria informed me, glancing at her tablet to confirm. “I was thinking you might want to take Callum to the lighthouse today.”

“No. I’m going back to the Castle, and I’m taking Callum with me.”

Gloria glared at me. “No, you’re staying here.”