Despite her anger, a part of Aria could understand. She'd done everything in her power to find her mother, her people. She was no better than Warren.
"You-you have to leave, mom. All of you," Aria said. It hurt to say, but they didn't belong there. What they'd done to get here and what they'd done since they'd gotten here proved that they didn't. Lex had worked to turn this place into a safe haven, a place where people could live in peace. And her people had destroyed that in less than a day.
"You know that isn't going to happen, honey. I'm sorry, I truly am. But Warren will never leave this place, we've been through hell fighting with the Terra, and he won't give this place up. He won't go back to the Terra’s lands now that he knows this place is out of their reach."
"We'll see about that," Aria said, turning to go.
"Where are you going?" Katy asked, following her.
"I have to see my friends. We need to figure out how to take the palace back."
"Aria," Katy said, grabbing her arm. "You'll get yourselves killed. You can't think like that. Warren is letting these people live. He only plans to stay on the palace grounds, so-"
"Yeah, right. What do you think will happen when he sends the guards back? When the rest of you make it here? This place isn't big enough for that. You know as well as I do that you aren't done taking from them. You'll take more. I won't let that happen."
"You can't think like that. I don't know what'll happen when they get here. But Warren won't tolerate this. You can't-"
"Don't tell me what I can't do! You have no idea what I've been through! What I've done," she yelled, yanking her arm away.
Katy looked hurt. And even though she was angrier than she'd ever been in her entire life, the look on her mother's face forced her to calm down, to tame the anger that was building in her chest.
"I'd like your help, the help of the others. You say that not all of you agree with Warren? Prove it. Help us overthrow him," Aria said.
"What about the rest of us?"
"If you help us, if we can get Warren and his people out of here, Lex will let you stay. I'll tell him you helped."
"And you really believe he'd do that? After what we did?" Katy asked.
"He will."
Katy was quiet for a few moments, thinking it over. Aria turned to leave; she couldn't waste any more time.
"Do you trust him?" Katy asked.
Aria turned to face her mother.
"With my life."
"Okay," Katy said, nodding. "We'll help. But we need to keep this quiet. If Warren finds out..."
"He won't. Ask around. Tell those who you deem trustworthy. I'll come to find you later. We can discuss our next move then," Aria said.
She turned to go again, but Katy stopped her and pulled her in for a hug.
As much as Aria had missed her mother, she pulled away. They didn't have time to waste.
Chapter 40
She found Mara and Martinez in the throne room. Together, the three of them made their way to Brent and Peter's room in silence.
While she had talked to her mother out in the open, she realized that if this really was going to work, they'd have to be more discreet. There were ears everywhere.
Isla let them in.
Inside, a very pissed Grace was pacing around the room.
"Finally," she said, once the others came in and locked the door behind them. "Have you seen Lex? Is he okay?"
"Yeah," Aria said, "He's okay. For now."
She was still a little hurt about what Grace had said, but she pushed those feelings aside. They had more important things to worry about.
Aria filled them in on the conversation she'd had with her mother, about how not all of them agreed with Warren and his crew.
Grace was a little skeptical, and Aria couldn't really blame the girl. They were all strangers to her, but Katy was willing to help. Aria knew it. And she figured that Martinez's father was among the group that would help.
As for Brent's mother...
"Don't worry," Brent said, "I know we can't trust her."
"Brent..." Peter said, placing a hand on the other boy's shoulder.
"It's fine," Brent said. But Aria knew that it wasn't. She knew that they were placing him in a situation where he'd either have to side with them or his own mother. But she knew which side he'd pick.
"So, what's the plan?" Isla asked.
"For right now, this stays in this room," Aria began, "Once I talk to my mother, once we figure out how much help we have, who we can trust, we'll start forming a plan. For now, we-we have to act like we're okay with this."
She risked a glance at Grace.
"It's fine," Grace said, "I know it's what you need to do. So don't worry about hurting my feelings or whatever. Do what you need to do."
Aria nodded.
"Act normal," she said, "If they start suspecting that we're not with them...they'll stop us even before we get the chance to do anything. So go to Warren. Ask for work; ask him what he wants you to do. Act like you're okay with it."
The thought made her sick to her stomach. It made her angry. But she knew it was the only way to avoid getting caught.
Eventually, they parted ways. They'd start going to Warren in small groups to avoid suspicion. Aria decided that she'd be the first to go.
She looked around for Warren, asking the guards about his whereabouts. One of them pointed her in the right direction, and soon she stood outside the doors to one of the rooms in the palace that she wasn't familiar with.
A guard let her
