Masyn is in the kitchen when I creep out of Zane’s room. I freeze, unsure of what to do, relieved at least Yvonne is sitting up on the couch, awake, eyes locked on the older man like she expects him to go off at any moment. Somehow, she’s even more trigger-happy than me. Masyn doesn’t turn from making coffee, and I jut my chin toward the door, walking behind him as quietly as possible, hoping she gets the picture.
Yvonne drags a sleepy-eyed Anya off the couch.
“Where are you going?”
I half expected Masyn to completely ignore us. I pause, almost to the door, wanting to make a run for it and telling myself I’m too old to be acting so childish.
“I’m gonna…” Telling them the truth would probably be wise, even if my gut instinct is none of your business. “Amerov told me I came from an orphanage on this planet, but there are no records of which one, so I’m going to check out all the ones I could find on the planet files. Should take a few days. We’ll be back.”
I say the words too rushed, but they’re honest.
Masyn glances sidelong at me. In the growing light of morning, I see him better. There’s definitely some of the siblings in his features, his nose and eyes. It’s uncanny how much Zane looks like him yet there’s none of the same bubbly nonsense I’d found so annoying until recently. Masyn has a shadow of a gray beard and matching hair that was once dark. The parents are much like their children—above average in looks but nothing to pick out of a crowd. Very common, quite frankly.
The kind of common I wish I was.
I suppose if the hard lines were eased from his expression he would look like a gentle man. Given how the siblings speak of their parents, I would guess he is.
“So you don’t buy this?”
As before, I’m surprised he asking another question.
“Which part?” There’s so much of this madness I’m entirely sure what he’s referencing.
He leans against the counter, too much tension in his shoulders to be comfortable, but at least not backing away. “My son and daughter believe you’re their long-lost brother.”
I tell myself I’m glad he didn’t call me long lost son, but it’s difficult to be relieved when he’s an inch from glaring.
“I don’t remember anything and Amerov has a different story. I’m smart enough to want proof.”
He nods stiffly. “Good.”
A harmless enough word. But I clench my jaw hard enough my jaw aches. Good, because we don’t want you unless we have to want you.
That’s not quite fair. I’m aware of it. I need to stop being such an emotional wreck about all this. They’re just two strangers who I make uncomfortable. Not exactly the first time. Maybe they think I’m going to go unhinged and kill everyone—unregistered numbers have that reputation after all. And I’m sure I haven’t done anything to dissuade them of such ideas.
I would think their children living safely with me for weeks would do the trick, but what do I know? I’m not human. Not really.
“They said you wanted me brought by. I wouldn’t have agreed to this otherwise.”
There. Now it’s out in the open.
His expression makes an odd twist before smoothing out. Softer, he says, “You’re not what we expected.”
I need to stop letting these things hurt me. “Sorry, I explained to Zane most people wouldn’t like having a monster as a son, I guess it didn’t really sink in. Maybe I can get some of my deformities covered up and you can decide whether or not that makes me worthy.”
I turn away before I can read his expression, yanking open the door and closing it louder than I should. I hope it didn’t wake Lalia—I can’t deal with her gentle understanding right now. Hopefully, Zane didn’t hear. No voice follows me out, and I’m not sure if I’m disappointed or relieved. I won’t have to deal with them anymore.
Until I spot the mother taking a look at my ship.
Yvonne is sitting with Anya on the porch, looking up at me. Her expression is concerned enough I’m certain she heard that last conversation. I hate the pity, even if she doesn’t mean it cruelly. She’s the last person I want to talk to about it.
“Let’s go check out some orphanages,” I tell them.
“Cool!” Anya says, not exactly reading the room. I’m glad one of us is thrilled at everything.
Yvonne’s sympathetic eyes are haunting me. But she doesn’t deserve my attitude, so I trudge through the grasses toward the ship, hoping the mother won’t stop me. She’s standing under the wing, squinting up at it, and jumps when I cycle open the airlock. Much like her husband, she has common, pleasant features. Her hair isn’t as grey. Her expression is no gentler. She’s smaller than me, though, a little plump, and something about her gives me the certainty she spoiled the siblings to death.
I don’t want to talk to her either.
“We’ll be back,” I mumble, since she won’t stop staring. “Ask your husband, I already explained to him.”
“Zane and Lalia are cool,” Anya says from behind me. I can see why the two space-criminals would be badass to a 10-year-old royal.
The mother’s face relaxes when she smiles at Anya, only briefly, before her gaze returns to mine.
I still don’t know her name. That’s an endearing thing to ask, isn’t it? Why am I even bothering? “What’s your name?”
I can’t read the emotion flickering across her face, and try to remind myself this is likely difficult for the both of them. “Kyra.”
Well, at least she said something. I attempt a smile, but it feels like I’m choking on it, and boost myself into the airlock instead. I barely remember the feeling of laughing with Zane back at Lex’s house.
At least we’re going off on our own for a little while, just me and Bat and the princesses who have become unoffensive to me at some point. I wrinkle my nose.
Bat clubs over my foot, yawning, and I hear a gasp of surprise in time to catch Kyra’s look of blank shock at the little creature before the airlock cycles shut. Yvonne snorts.
Right, he never really came out of the shadows last night. That might be awkward when we get back.
“Can we get breakfast somewhere?” Anya asks, digging through her backpack for a fresh pair of clothes. “We can get waffles again.”
“You do know both your sister and I have our faces on the bounty charts, right?” I ask, raising the ship gently in the air, ensuring Kyra is nowhere near the thrusters.
“I didn’t mean we have to sit in a cafe or anything, but we could get some waffles.”
I shoot her a look.
“We could do target practice instead?”
“We’ll get waffles.”
In no particular hurry with our little mission, I park the ship in the forest near the closest town, put my hood up and my gloves on, leave Bat with the girls, and find a place to get the afore-mentioned food.
This town is small, with a single through street where hoverers zip, a mixture of old and new models, but nothing as shimmering as Amethyst. Trees grow between each building and push against rooftops, and I only get a smattering of stares as I pass through.
Ordering food to go isn’t as painful as anticipated. The man at the counter only looks at me a little oddly.
Feeling a little silly with a carton of steaming waffles and little containers of syrup, I trot back into the forest without issue.
Easiest part of this trip so far.
Yvonne is sitting on the wing of my ship, sipping coffee. She points just into the trees, where I spot Anya crouched under some broad leaves of an unfamiliar plant, dirt spraying in the air as Bat digs himself into a hole.
Snickering, I use the hatch in the ship’s ceiling to get out onto the hull, sliding down onto the wing beside Yvonne. “What are they after?”
“No idea, but Bat was eating something.”
“Hey!” I yell at Anya. “Don’t eat whatever Bat’s eating, he’s immune to everything.”
Anya’s head pops up. “Waffles?”
I hold up the carton. Both she and Bat come running. She’s much better on her prosthetics, almost enough so I don’t notice the difference. I’m certain most people passing her by can’t tell. She should be quite proud of herself. Bat climbs the side of the ship with his little nails in the seams of the metal, and Anya scowls at his easy ascent. I climb back onto the roof to pull her up through the hatch.
“Sometime while we’re out here,” I say to Yvonne while Bat sticks his dirt-coated nose in the container and I pull him out. “We need to talk about Neyla Ve. The more details you can tell me about the planet and its security, the better chance I can come up with an idea of how to get you back to your parents.”
“Can we call them?” Anya asks.
Probably too simple to work.
Yvonne says, “You have to have a direct line, they’re the king and queen. Even I can’t call them up without getting patched through first. I had a transmitter that would let me get in touch directly, but I purposefully left it at home so no one could track me with it. If we call someone to get us through, Captain will probably know instantaneously.” She makes a face and says. “That’s double bad with you with us.”
She’s looking at me. Well, she’s not wrong.
“There’s no way to just fly in?” Bat asks.
“It’s about as heavily regulated as Amerov,” Yvonne says. “There are shields around the planet and everything, you can only go in at certain checkpoints. Obviously I can get in, but it’s the same problem. Captain will know probably before my parents even do. Given everything that’s gone down, I assume he’s on Neyla Ve, not Amerov.”
“Probably,” I agree. He must be aware there’s a chance we’ll try to fly into the planet, and he’d want to be there in case he’s right. He has plenty of his own creations out on the hunt.
“I have a bad feeling about this entire plan,” Yvonne says. “Rather, the lack of our ability to have a plan. This is going to go terribly wrong, I can already tell.”
“But everything else has gone so well,” I say, deadpan.
Bat rolls his eyes.
Yvonne stuffs an entire half a waffle in her mouth and chews with her mouth purposefully open, maintaining eye contact.
“Such majesty.”
She laughs and nearly coughs up a lung.
Masyn is in the kitchen when I creep out of Zane’s room. I freeze, unsure of what to do, relieved at least Yvonne is sitting up on the couch, awake, eyes locked on the older man like she expects him to go off at any moment. Somehow, she’s even more trigger-happy than me. Masyn doesn’t turn from making coffee, and I jut my chin toward the door, walking behind him as quietly as possible, hoping she gets the picture.
Yvonne drags a sleepy-eyed Anya off the couch.
“Where are you going?”
I half expected Masyn to completely ignore us. I pause, almost to the door, wanting to make a run for it and telling myself I’m too old to be acting so childish.
“I’m gonna…” Telling them the truth would probably be wise, even if my gut instinct is none of your business. “Amerov told me I came from an orphanage on this planet, but there are no records of which one, so I’m going to check out all the ones I could find on the planet files. Should take a few days. We’ll be back.”
I say the words too rushed, but they’re honest.
Masyn glances sidelong at me. In the growing light of morning, I see him better. There’s definitely some of the siblings in his features, his nose and eyes. It’s uncanny how much Zane looks like him yet there’s none of the same bubbly nonsense I’d found so annoying until recently. Masyn has a shadow of a gray beard and matching hair that was once dark. The parents are much like their children—above average in looks but nothing to pick out of a crowd. Very common, quite frankly.
The kind of common I wish I was.
I suppose if the hard lines were eased from his expression he would look like a gentle man. Given how the siblings speak of their parents, I would guess he is.
“So you don’t buy this?”
As before, I’m surprised he asking another question.
“Which part?” There’s so much of this madness I’m entirely sure what he’s referencing.
He leans against the counter, too much tension in his shoulders to be comfortable, but at least not backing away. “My son and daughter believe you’re their long-lost brother.”
I tell myself I’m glad he didn’t call me long lost son, but it’s difficult to be relieved when he’s an inch from glaring.
“I don’t remember anything and Amerov has a different story. I’m smart enough to want proof.”
He nods stiffly. “Good.”
A harmless enough word. But I clench my jaw hard enough my jaw aches. Good, because we don’t want you unless we have to want you.
That’s not quite fair. I’m aware of it. I need to stop being such an emotional wreck about all this. They’re just two strangers who I make uncomfortable. Not exactly the first time. Maybe they think I’m going to go unhinged and kill everyone—unregistered numbers have that reputation after all. And I’m sure I haven’t done anything to dissuade them of such ideas.
I would think their children living safely with me for weeks would do the trick, but what do I know? I’m not human. Not really.
“They said you wanted me brought by. I wouldn’t have agreed to this otherwise.”
There. Now it’s out in the open.
His expression makes an odd twist before smoothing out. Softer, he says, “You’re not what we expected.”
I need to stop letting these things hurt me. “Sorry, I explained to Zane most people wouldn’t like having a monster as a son, I guess it didn’t really sink in. Maybe I can get some of my deformities covered up and you can decide whether or not that makes me worthy.”
I turn away before I can read his expression, yanking open the door and closing it louder than I should. I hope it didn’t wake Lalia—I can’t deal with her gentle understanding right now. Hopefully, Zane didn’t hear. No voice follows me out, and I’m not sure if I’m disappointed or relieved. I won’t have to deal with them anymore.
Until I spot the mother taking a look at my ship.
Yvonne is sitting with Anya on the porch, looking up at me. Her expression is concerned enough I’m certain she heard that last conversation. I hate the pity, even if she doesn’t mean it cruelly. She’s the last person I want to talk to about it.
“Let’s go check out some orphanages,” I tell them.
“Cool!” Anya says, not exactly reading the room. I’m glad one of us is thrilled at everything.
Yvonne’s sympathetic eyes are haunting me. But she doesn’t deserve my attitude, so I trudge through the grasses toward the ship, hoping the mother won’t stop me. She’s standing under the wing, squinting up at it, and jumps when I cycle open the airlock. Much like her husband, she has common, pleasant features. Her hair isn’t as grey. Her expression is no gentler. She’s smaller than me, though, a little plump, and something about her gives me the certainty she spoiled the siblings to death.
I don’t want to talk to her either.
“We’ll be back,” I mumble, since she won’t stop staring. “Ask your husband, I already explained to him.”
“Zane and Lalia are cool,” Anya says from behind me. I can see why the two space-criminals would be badass to a 10-year-old royal.
The mother’s face relaxes when she smiles at Anya, only briefly, before her gaze returns to mine.
I still don’t know her name. That’s an endearing thing to ask, isn’t it? Why am I even bothering? “What’s your name?”
I can’t read the emotion flickering across her face, and try to remind myself this is likely difficult for the both of them. “Kyra.”
Well, at least she said something. I attempt a smile, but it feels like I’m choking on it, and boost myself into the airlock instead. I barely remember the feeling of laughing with Zane back at Lex’s house.
At least we’re going off on our own for a little while, just me and Bat and the princesses who have become unoffensive to me at some point. I wrinkle my nose.
Bat clubs over my foot, yawning, and I hear a gasp of surprise in time to catch Kyra’s look of blank shock at the little creature before the airlock cycles shut. Yvonne snorts.
Right, he never really came out of the shadows last night. That might be awkward when we get back.
“Can we get breakfast somewhere?” Anya asks, digging through her backpack for a fresh pair of clothes. “We can get waffles again.”
“You do know both your sister and I have our faces on the bounty charts, right?” I ask, raising the ship gently in the air, ensuring Kyra is nowhere near the thrusters.
“I didn’t mean we have to sit in a cafe or anything, but we could get some waffles.”
I shoot her a look.
“We could do target practice instead?”
“We’ll get waffles.”
In no particular hurry with our little mission, I park the ship in the forest near the closest town, put my hood up and my gloves on, leave Bat with the girls, and find a place to get the afore-mentioned food.
This town is small, with a single through street where hoverers zip, a mixture of old and new models, but nothing as shimmering as Amethyst. Trees grow between each building and push against rooftops, and I only get a smattering of stares as I pass through.
Ordering food to go isn’t as painful as anticipated. The man at the counter only looks at me a little oddly.
Feeling a little silly with a carton of steaming waffles and little containers of syrup, I trot back into the forest without issue.
Easiest part of this trip so far.
Yvonne is sitting on the wing of my ship, sipping coffee. She points just into the trees, where I spot Anya crouched under some broad leaves of an unfamiliar plant, dirt spraying in the air as Bat digs himself into a hole.
Snickering, I use the hatch in the ship’s ceiling to get out onto the hull, sliding down onto the wing beside Yvonne. “What are they after?”
“No idea, but Bat was eating something.”
“Hey!” I yell at Anya. “Don’t eat whatever Bat’s eating, he’s immune to everything.”
Anya’s head pops up. “Waffles?”
I hold up the carton. Both she and Bat come running. She’s much better on her prosthetics, almost enough so I don’t notice the difference. I’m certain most people passing her by can’t tell. She should be quite proud of herself. Bat climbs the side of the ship with his little nails in the seams of the metal, and Anya scowls at his easy ascent. I climb back onto the roof to pull her up through the hatch.
“Sometime while we’re out here,” I say to Yvonne while Bat sticks his dirt-coated nose in the container and I pull him out. “We need to talk about Neyla Ve. The more details you can tell me about the planet and its security, the better chance I can come up with an idea of how to get you back to your parents.”
“Can we call them?” Anya asks.
Probably too simple to work.
Yvonne says, “You have to have a direct line, they’re the king and queen. Even I can’t call them up without getting patched through first. I had a transmitter that would let me get in touch directly, but I purposefully left it at home so no one could track me with it. If we call someone to get us through, Captain will probably know instantaneously.” She makes a face and says. “That’s double bad with you with us.”
She’s looking at me. Well, she’s not wrong.
“There’s no way to just fly in?” Bat asks.
“It’s about as heavily regulated as Amerov,” Yvonne says. “There are shields around the planet and everything, you can only go in at certain checkpoints. Obviously I can get in, but it’s the same problem. Captain will know probably before my parents even do. Given everything that’s gone down, I assume he’s on Neyla Ve, not Amerov.”
“Probably,” I agree. He must be aware there’s a chance we’ll try to fly into the planet, and he’d want to be there in case he’s right. He has plenty of his own creations out on the hunt.
“I have a bad feeling about this entire plan,” Yvonne says. “Rather, the lack of our ability to have a plan. This is going to go terribly wrong, I can already tell.”
“But everything else has gone so well,” I say, deadpan.
Bat rolls his eyes.
Yvonne stuffs an entire half a waffle in her mouth and chews with her mouth purposefully open, maintaining eye contact.
“Such majesty.”
She laughs and nearly coughs up a lung.
