Grandpa and his generals erupted into cheers of jubilation. With how many Yayora the Changelings had killed over the years, I supposed a single death in exchange for the means of their destruction wasn’t such a high price to pay.
But it was for me.
Because I was meant to be the one that died.
Unable to face their cries of excitement any longer, I turned and ran.
I bolted down one hallway after another with no idea where I was heading. I was immediately lost.
Good. That was the whole point.
“Maddy?” Stari shouted as she chased after me. “Maddy? Hold up!”
I came to a dead end. I turned to run in another direction and slip past Stari when she held her arms out to either side, cornering me. I tried to dart past her but she moved, lightning quick, and snatched me in her arms. She held me close as I struggled to escape.
“Calm down!” Stari said. “Calm down! We know the Control Room’s location thanks to you!”
“No!” I yelled. “It’s thanks to Cik-A! She gave up her life. For me! No one should ever have to die for me!”
“She died for all of us. Thanks to her, we stand a chance against the Changelings now. We can beat them.”
But it wasn’t only the soldier’s death that played on my mind. It was someone else’s…
“He should never have died for me!” I said. I no longer struggled, but Stari didn’t relax her grip. “He never should have been taken from me!”
I burst into tears and pressed my face to her uniform.
“Sh,” she said, gently running her fingers through my hair. “Sh. It’s all right. None of this should have happened. But it did. And now we have to come to terms with it.”
“Why did he have to die?” I said, tears streaming down my face. “Why did he have to be taken and not me?”
Stari held me close. She had tears in her eyes too and she could barely bring herself to look at me.
“You really love him, don’t you?” she said. “It wasn’t just an act for the cameras. It was real.”
My heart was in my throat and I could hardly breathe.
“Yes,” I said. “I loved him. We were going to spend the rest of our lives together.”
And now he was gone. Torn from me.
I did my best to pretend I was getting over him, pretend I was ready to begin again.
But it was too painful.
I couldn’t bear it.
“What if I were to tell you he was still alive?” Stari said.
What was this? Cruelty? Maybe she was a Changeling after all.
“Listen to me,” she said. “What if I was to tell you he didn’t die in that explosion?”
“What do you mean?” I said, wiping the tears from my eyes.
Stari checked over her shoulders and took me to one side. She lowered her voice.
“I’m not supposed to tell you this,” she said. “Grandpa… He thought you would be better off not knowing. They all did. And so did I.”
“What? What are you saying?”
“He’s alive,” Stari said.
Her big yellow eyes pinned me in place.
“We thought you might not help us if you knew the truth about him,” she said.
My heart rate slowed. I couldn’t believe what she was saying. But I would believe it. I was too hopeful not to.
“I would have helped you even if he was still alive,” I said. “It doesn’t matter about that.”
“That’s not the truth I’m talking about,” she said.
Her eyes moved between mine and she looked like she regretted telling me the truth. But it was too late for her to back out now.
“What?” I said. “Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. Just so long as we can be together again.”
“Maybe not, after you hear what I have to tell you.”
A weight sat heavy in my chest. It only got heavier as she told me the truth.
Chax
I paced my cell. The pain tore up my legs and across my back in a fractured lightning bolt. It was excruciating but it was nothing compared to the pain of never seeing Maddy again.
I replayed the shuttlecraft scene over and over in my mind. We’d come so close to freedom. Was there something we could have done better? Was there something we could have done to improve our chances of escape?
I ran through hundreds of ideas, slotting them into place and pulling them apart again, to figure out a better way through the assault course we’d traversed to reach that ship.
Not that it mattered.
We failed and there was no way to change the past.
I wouldn’t be heading back to the surface. It was more than a small relief. No matter what the Yayora chose to do with me, it could never be worse than what the Changelings had done.
The Changeling “siblings” were in the cell next to mine. The Yayora grabbed them the moment Maddy and I left the dilapidated barn. It was a chance to glean some much-needed inside information, I supposed. Not that the siblings would ever talk. I would have bet my life on that.
Klang lay on a cot with his arms behind his head. His legs bounced in time to a tune only he could hear. He had a distant smile on his face that made me feel sick to my stomach.
Trang performed press-ups off the wall, rolled, and landed in a squat to keep herself in good shape.
In good shape for what? I wondered.
They were locked up in a secret Yayora base and would face the crimes they committed against not only the Yayora but the countless others they’d killed over the years.
And still, they were smiling.
I didn’t like the look in their eyes. They seemed so calm, so at ease, so in control.
I didn’t trust them as far as I could throw them.
What did they have to be so positive about?
They held a secret. Something that would allow them to win in the long run, even if they were in a losing position right now.
But what was it?
They were dangerous and crafty,
