“The Star Realm.”
“But how…?”
“They wanted to separate us, so they took her below,” he says, pointing down at the ground. “There’s only one place they would’ve taken her.”
“The Max,” I say, understanding now. The maximum security prison in the Star Realm. The same Max that I would’ve been transferred to on my eighteenth birthday had we not escaped. Unbelievable to think how different things could have gone. That I would have found my mom had I just left things alone. But then my dad would still be in prison. And Elsey still in that awful orphanage.
I am so tired. Emotionally, physically, mentally. All I want is to go with Tristan, to help him, to maybe get to know him, possibly hold his hand some more, maybe even kiss him at some point. And yet I say, “I’ll do it.”
“Then I’m coming with you,” Tristan says immediately.
“No,” I say, not wanting to say it.
“We’ll find your mother first, then we can talk to the moon dwellers.”
“There isn’t time,” I say. “Plus, the star dwellers will kill you if they catch you down there.”
“They’ll kill…you, too,” Tristan says, his words catching in his throat slightly as he says kill.
“No, they won’t. Not if I tell them I’m joining their rebellion. That’s what they want, isn’t it? For all the moon dwellers to join them? But they won’t accept that a sun dweller wants to betray his own people. Especially not you.” My words are firm, my logic sound. Inside, my stomach is in knots, my heart crumbling beneath the power of my brain’s logic. Why are you saying this? Let him come with you! Someone else can talk to the moon dwellers.
Tristan is shaking his head, his mouth tight and grim. His eyes look misty. When he looks away from me I feel tears well up. I barely know him, and yet…my feelings for him are so real. My soul aches. I blink away the tears.
My dad leans in close to me. His voice is hoarse, merely a whisper. “I’m so sorry, honey. I want to come with you, want to protect you, but I can’t…I can’t come with you, Adele,” my dad says. I already know he can’t. Elsey needs a father now more than ever. Plus, my dad can help open up lines of communication between the moon dweller leaders and Tristan.
Selfishly, I want him to come with me. I’ve been on my own for so long now, I just want my dad to be there, to tell me what to do, to protect me, to be my rock, like he’s always been. I’ve come so far. So far.
I see my dad’s face. I’ve never seen such pain in his eyes before. They are wet and red and tired. I have to be strong for him.
I hug him again. “It’s okay, Dad,” I find myself saying. At first I think I am just trying to act tough again. Then I realize it isn’t an act. The last six months, though hard, have chiseled me into a different person. I am the same, but different. I am no longer reliant on my father to protect me. I am tough. A survivor. “I’ll be fine,” I say firmly.
My dad tilts my chin to look at me. His eyes are wet. “I know you will, Adele. You are an incredible young woman, courageous and strong. I’m so proud of you. Be safe.”
“Do you have any advice?” I ask, hoping for some of my dad’s usual pearls of wisdom.
“Do what’s in your heart. And please, come back to me.” He kisses my forehead, holds his lips to my skin for a moment, his dark and tangled beard blocking my vision.
After all the crying I’ve done lately, I expect to be bawling now. But I’m not. Other than the few tears I blinked away, I feel strong, resilient. The fighter my father raised me to be.
I release my dad and turn to Elsey. “Take care of Dad for me, will ya?”
Elsey’s eyes widen. “I will,” she says solemnly. “Thank you for rescuing me.” She rushes to me and throws her arms around me. She’s not being overly dramatic this time—the situation warrants it. I hold her fiercely.
“I will never forget you, Elsey,” I say, speaking her language.
“Nor I you,” she replies. I kiss both her cheeks and then turn to Tawni.
Although I desperately want to, I can’t ask her to come with me. She has done too much already, and the road ahead will be too dangerous. “Goodb—”
“I’m coming with you,” she says, interrupting my farewell speech before it ever really gets started. I burst into a huge smile, hug her. I don’t argue. Like before, I know she won’t take no for an answer, and I don’t want her to.
I go to shake Roc’s hand, but he gives me a hug instead. I don’t know him that well, but he seems like a good person. “Take care,” I say.
“Till we meet again,” he says.
Finally, I turn toward Tristan. He is still frowning, his lips still tight.
“But I just found you,” he says.
Oh, how his words make my heart ache. I don’t fully understand how I feel about him, but I know I care for him. I have to be strong, have to stand on my own two feet. My body shivering slightly, I put my arms around him, hug him.
Under any other circumstances I would be embarrassed to hug a guy in public—other than my dad, of course, and Roc, who seems so brotherly—but now I don’t care. I need to feel his heat against me, the warm buzzing of his amazing magnetism, just one more time. I need it to remember him by, to get me through whatever is coming.
I raise my chin and look up at him. A single tear creeps from his eye and meanders down his cheek. I wipe it away with the edge of my hand. Once more, I have the urge to kiss him. I grit my teeth and ignore the feeling, pull him close for a final squeeze. It isn’t out of embarrassment that I choose not to kiss him, nor because I am inexperienced, having never kissed a guy before; rather, it is because I don’t want our first kiss to be our last, too.
I release Tristan and immediately feel the electricity leave my body. I feel numb again, unfeeling. “Where will you go?” he says.
Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve never been to the Star Realm, have no idea how to get there. I look at Tawni. She shrugs. A good team we are going to be.
Roc chuckles as he unzips his pack. “Here, take these,” he says, handing me a packet of maps. “Your complete guide to the Star Realm. I recommend following the reservoir around the city to the north”—he points in the direction we should take—“and then hang a right through the inter-realm tunnel. Typically you’d need clearance to get through it, but I expect no one is manning it because of everything that’s happening.”
I nod. “Thank you. For everything.”
I can’t bear to drag out the goodbyes any longer. I’ve just brought three-quarters of my family back together, and yet I have to leave them to find my mom. The last quarter.
I will find her—of that I am certain.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Tristan
She is gone. I watch her long, black hair fade into obscurity, becoming one with the dark cavern walls. When I turn away, I find her father looking at me seriously.
“She’s my little girl,” he says. I sense a protective undercurrent to his words.
“I’m not like my father.”
“You already told me that,” he says. “Now you have to show me.”
“I will,” I promise. I stride to him, extend my hand. “I’m Tristan. Tristan Nailin.”
He takes my hand, squeezes hard, crushes my fingers. A test, maybe. Although it hurts like hell, I control my face, don’t cry out. “I’m Adele’s father,” he says sternly. I raise my eyebrows, intimidated by the serious man before me. My judge. My jury. Without his approval, I surely won’t get Adele’s.
He surprises me by breaking into a huge smile, chuckling under his beard. “Just kidding,” he says. “I’m not really that tough. Unless you do something to hurt my daughter, of course. Then I’m your worst nightmare. Name’s Ben. Ben Rose.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Rose,” I say.