Tandem

to him. The solution will do the rest.”

“I can’t do that,” I told him. “I won’t kill Callum. You were probably better off keeping Juliana.”

“Oh, it won’t kill him, I assure you,” the General said.

“But it’ll make him sick!”

“Hopefully,” the General said.

“You’re insane! I’m not doing this. Callum is my friend. I’m not going to help you hurt him.”

“Actually, you are.” The General leaned forward and placed the vial on the table between us. “Because if you don’t, you will remain here in Aurora, rotting in the worst prison the Commonwealth has to offer for the rest of your natural born life.”

“Why do you even want to do this? If you don’t want him to marry Juliana, why don’t you just send him back to Farnham and end this?”

The General sighed. “I shouldn’t expect you to understand the delicate political situation we’re in. The marriage does nothing for the UCC, because we don’t want a peace treaty. We want Farnham. For two hundred years that family has been sitting on land that rightfully belongs to this country, and I’m going to get it back. The first step in assuring that that happens is securing our collateral. Prince Callum is that collateral. But I have no use for a hostage who’s well enough to be extracted. Not that I think Farnham is capable of such a maneuver, but it never hurts to be sure.”

“According to Callum, his mother practically hates him,” I said. “What makes you think she won’t blow this country to smithereens rather than cooperate with you?”

“Because as much as she may hate him, which I’m not convinced she does, her country loves him,” the General said. “If she sacrifices him for her own political reasons, they’ll revolt. Libertas will make sure they do. The queen of Farnham likes to pretend they’re simply a scourge on the UCC, but they aren’t. They operate in Farnham as well, and stirring up revolution is what they do best. She knows she’ll lose if she shows her people what a miserable tyrant she really is.”

“She’s a miserable tyrant? What does that make you?”

“A brilliant strategist,” the General said arrogantly. “I don’t need the love of the people; I have nuclear weapons.” He stood up. “I’ll leave you to make your choice, Miss Lawson. We have other ways of making sure this task is done, but none of them involve you going back to Earth, so I would consider my offer very, very carefully if I was you.”

He strode to the door, confident that he had been victorious over me, the naive little girl from another world. 

THIRTY-FOUR

I picked up the vial and turned it over in my hand. It was the only thing other than the tandem standing between me and Earth—home. And it was so small. Just a flick of the wrist and it would be done. Nobody would ever suspect that I had anything to do with what happened to Callum, and even if they did, by then I would be an entire universe away where no one could ever touch me.

What was my other option? Disobey the General and condemn myself to a lifetime of imprisonment in Aurora? Either way, Callum’s fate was sealed. I couldn’t save him, but I could save myself.

I struggled to get out of my dress, ripping it as I pulled it off. The beautiful rose tiara clattered to the floor. I collapsed beside it in tears, panting. After a while, I got up and threw on a pair of pants and a T-shirt, not caring one iota for how I looked.

“Juli?” Callum stood in the door, his voice full of concern. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I said, turning from him and wiping at my face. My fist closed over the vial. Somehow, I found the strength to smile. It felt unnatural, as though the muscles I needed to do it had atrophied. “I’m fine. Just overwhelmed.”

“I’ll say.” He came in and sat down on the sofa the General had just vacated. “You disappeared hours ago. I was really worried. I thought something had happened.”

I shook my head. “No, I just hate crowds. They make me nervous.”

He ran his fingers through his hair. “Okay. Well, I’m glad you’re all right.”

“I am, I promise.” An attendant entered the room, pushing a tea cart I hadn’t ordered. I nodded my thanks and he left as quickly as he had come. “Do you want some tea?”

“Uh, sure.” Callum was bewildered by my strange behavior and I couldn’t blame him. I was acting like a crazy person. I felt crazy, too. Was I really going to do this? Poison Callum? Turn him over to the General in exchange for my own happiness? Could I ever be happy back at home, knowing what I’d done, the destruction I’d left in my wake?

“You Columbians and your tea.” Callum smiled. “Sorry, I meant that as a joke.”

“It was funny.” With my back to Callum, I poured us each a cup of tea. Then I uncapped the vial and dumped its contents into Callum’s cup. There. It was done. I was the worst person in the world—all the worlds. But I was going home. I hoped desperately that it was worth it.

“Here you go,” I said, handing him his tea.

“Thanks.”

I took a sip from my cup, but Callum just held his, staring at me with worry in his eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes,” I insisted. “I’m fine.”

“If you say so.” Callum brought the cup to his lips. This was it. The vilest thing I’d ever done was happening right before my eyes. But did it really matter? It was inevitable anyway.

Or was it?

“Stop!” I cried.

He paused, not drinking a drop. “What’s going on, Juli? Seriously, you’re scaring me.”

I put my cup down; it clattered in its delicate saucer. “You can’t drink that. I dosed it.”

“You what?”

“With some sort of poison,” I told him. “The General threatened me. He told me that if I didn’t do it …” I trailed off, hoping that Callum would fill in the blanks with his own terrifying conclusions. I couldn’t tell him the full story without explaining who I was or where I’d come from. If I did that, he might never trust a single thing I told him ever again, and I needed him to trust me if I was going to keep him alive.

“You were going to kill me?” Callum recoiled, as if I was a snake. And I was. I knew I was. “Why?”

“Not kill you,” I said. “I don’t know what it does, but the General said it was going to make you so sick that nobody from Farnham could come get you.”

“That’s not better!”

“I know, I know. Please listen to me. I couldn’t do it. Doesn’t that count for something? I don’t care what happens to me, I won’t hurt you. I panicked for a second and thought I could, but I can’t. Never.”

Callum was gripping his teacup so hard I thought he might break it. “So what do I do now? I can’t stay here.”

“No, you can’t,” I said. “I just don’t know how you’re going to get out.”

“We,” Callum said firmly.

“What do you mean, ‘we’?”

“You’re coming with me,” Callum said.

“No, I can’t.” If I left with Callum, I could kiss any chance of going home goodbye, not to mention any chance of ever seeing Thomas again. On the other hand, it didn’t look like staying would increase the chances of either of those things happening, either. What was the right thing to do? Thomas would’ve known. Think like Thomas, I told myself. What would he do?

“Yes,” Callum insisted. “There’s no way I’m leaving you behind to be punished by that monster. Wherever I go, you’re coming, too. We’ll get out of here together.”

“How can you even say that, after what I did?”

“What you almost did,” Callum corrected me. “You couldn’t do it. I believe that. I might be nuts, but I still