We needed a male Yayora, and he came in the form of Stari’s favorite foot soldier, someone she seemed to spend a lot of time staring at when she thought he wasn’t looking at her. His name was V’Sen and his boyish good looks had been morphed into the sinister and pointy features of Klang.
“He’s handsome,” I whispered to Stari. “You know, for a Yayora.”
“Is he?” she said innocently. “I hadn’t noticed.”
I kept my eyes firmly on her. When she glanced up at me, she couldn’t help but break into a grin. It was the first time I’d seen a blush rise to her cheeks.
“He’s… okay,” she said. “Better than most of the other guys, anyway. Which isn’t saying much.”
But it was saying a lot. She wasn’t the kind of person to throw compliments around.
“You know what I think?” I said.
“No. And I don’t want to know.”
“I think you should kiss him. It might be your last chance.”
“No way. We need to focus on the mission. I don’t need him to start thinking with his—”
Her green skin blushed so hard she looked like an unripe strawberry.
“You just try to keep your eyes on the goal,” I said.
Stari glared at me until her face returned to its normal color.
“Are you ready?” V’Sen said.
“She’s more ready than you’ll ever know,” I said.
The comment caught Stari off balance.
“Yes,” she said sweetly. “We’re ready.”
When V’Sen turned toward the opening, Stari slapped me on the arm.
I took a deep breath. This was it. The calm before the storm.
We weren’t going to get a better opportunity than this.
Or a riskier one.
We stepped into the sunlight and crossed the rolling dunes. I walked out front with dirt smeared across my cheeks and forehead, and my hands restrained behind my back. Stari and V’Sen followed, dressed in their hoods and looking every bit like the Changeling siblings they were mimicking.
The deep caves provided easy access to the rest of the section with their sprawling caverns. One brought us to the spot where we knew the Changeling Control Room was located.
We approached a blank stretch of land that looked unremarkable. No one would have thought anything was there.
But we knew differently.
The Control Room was right there.
The future of the Yayora depended on it.
Once we reached it, it would be up to how the Changelings in the Control Room reacted. Would they buy our disguises? Or would they twig us for who we really were?
I wished there was a third option.
Chax
Iron Hoof was well-trained.
Too well-trained.
If it’d only been down to strength, I was confident I could take him. But he must have served in the military at some point or got special training because he always seemed to know where my next attack was coming from.
He blocked my attacks and used them against me. He didn’t beat me to a pulp. He didn’t need to. He took pains to ensure he avoided hitting me in the face.
That was for the benefit of the cameras. There was nothing an audience disliked more than having to stare at a bruised face.
“T-Minus two minutes,” Computer said.
She was my saving grace. My android angel.
Iron Hoof pulled his punch and was surprised to find himself in the middle of the base. He’d lost himself in the moment.
“Bring him,” he said, taking off at a jog toward the exit.
The soldiers picked me up. I didn’t put up any resistance. I needed to get as far away from the base as they did.
A loud siren wailed as we beat a hasty retreat.
“Ten,” Computer said, counting down. “Nine… Eight…”
The hallway stretched further and further away the closer we drew to it.
“Five… Four… Three…”
The soldiers burst outside and hurled themselves—and me—to the ground as they covered their heads with their hands.
BOOM!
The explosion knocked us across the ground in sagging heaps. A burp of fire belched from the underground caverns and set two of the struggling Changeling soldiers alight. The others beat at them to put them out.
If I wanted to escape, now was my chance.
While they were distracted.
A heavy weight pressed against my back, pinning me in place. Iron Hoof stood with his foot on me. I struggled but it was no use.
“Pick him up,” Iron Hoof said.
“What about the injured men, sir?” a soldier said.
“Leave them,” Iron Hoof said. “They’re already dead. They just don’t know it yet.”
The soldiers shared wary glances. None were comfortable with the order but they were too afraid to speak up. They picked me up and carried me toward an awaiting ship.
I glanced back and watched as a huge arc of fire swept the base up before it. A giant plume of dirt and dust rose into the sky from slits in the landscape.
The shuttlecraft took off and rose higher. I got a clean panoramic view of the area. Caverns and cracks in the planet’s surface glowed bright like veins.
That’s where Maddy was, escaping through one of those infinite spiderwebs. I was being hauled off to my inevitable death but a smile came to my lips. Maddy was safe. I was glad I had a hand in that, hurling myself into the fray.
And I would do it again. I could be given the opportunity a thousand times and I would make the same decision. Even with its dire consequences.
Maddy was safe. That was all that mattered.
They put a blindfold over my face after that. They didn’t want me to know where they were taking me. But they didn’t need to bother. It wasn’t like I was going to escape.
Not this time.
I’d done too much to give away my loyalties.
I hugged Maddy when the shuttlecraft exploded, blocking her from the worst of the carnage. She was supposed to die, just as dozens of other girls had.
At home, the audience would cheer and laugh and clap their hands with joy. I had ruined that ending for them. I didn’t know the resistance would turn up to
