“You’re good at that,” Roc says, winking. “If this whole rebellious-son-of-the-President thing doesn’t work out, you’ve definitely got a future as a servant in the Sun Realm.”
“And you can become a comedian,” I retort.
For a few minutes Roc and I manage to cease our normally nonstop banter as we strive to accomplish the same goal of stuffing our faces. As we eat, we listen to Ben and Jinny discuss the next few days.
“After we arrive in the subchapter, we’ll head straight to the Big House to settle in and get the lay of the land,” Ben says.
“The Big House is the code name for the place we’ll be staying,” Jinny explains for our benefit.
“Right. Hopefully Anna and Adele will arrive shortly afterward and we can have a big family reunion.” At that, Elsey’s eyes light up, but she can’t speak as even she’s forgone manners in order to fill her belly, and her mouth is full, her cheeks puffed out as she tries to chew.
“We’re hoping we’ll get a few minutes together before all the VPs are ready to begin the peace summit.” I’ll drink to that, I think, taking a big gulp of my water. It feels so surreal that I haven’t hung out with Adele in days after having gone through such an emotional two days by her side.
“Then what?” I ask, licking the last bit of mashed potato off of my finger.
“Then we pray for the best,” Ben says.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Adele
The star dweller generals listen patiently as my mom explains what happened. I expect looks of shock: wide eyes, open mouths, dropped jaws—something. Instead, they just stare with unreadable expressions and pursed lips.
The only one who reacts is General Baum, the one who’s a member of the Resistance. She’s older than my mother, perhaps by five years, but is in fantastic shape, with strong, sculpted arms and legs that boast years of athletic endeavors. Sort of like my legs. Strong and capable and far from ladylike. Her aging brown hair is peppered with gray, but it’s cut short, like a boy’s, so it’s not that noticeable.
Her eyebrows are raised and her knuckles white on the table. The exact opposite of the other generals who look almost indifferent. When my mom finishes, she rests her hands gently on the table, waiting for a response. The tension in the room is palpable and I have the urge to reach out and try to touch it, as if it’s something solid in the air.
Finally, one of the older generals, a gray-haired man who looks almost fifty, leans back with his hands behind his head. “This doesn’t change anything,” he says.
General Baum slams a fist on the table and looks like she might jump across and throttle him. “Doesn’t change anything? Are you cra—”
One of the other generals, a woman with long blond hair and perfectly smooth skin, silences her with a finger on her lips. Shhh! I can almost hear her say, although she makes no sound. Instead she mouths, They’re listening, and then points to the ceiling. I look up, half-expecting a huge pair of ears to be hanging from above.
I glance at my mom and I can see her eyes are wide and serious. The blonde starts writing frantically on a piece of paper in front of her, as the old general continues speaking. “Honestly, I’m not sure what you expect us to do with this information. So there was a spy. You took care of him, so that’s the end of it.”
The woman finishes writing and passes the note to my mother. Tawni and I read over her shoulder. The sun dwellers are listening to every word. They have our families. They’ll kill them if we don’t cooperate. I’m sorry we didn’t tell you sooner, but if Brody had found out…
My heart beats faster as the pieces fall into place. The unwillingness of the generals to listen to reason; the way they used the sun dweller weapons to attack the Moon Realm; this crazy three-day deadline: the Sun Realm—President Nailin—is controlling it all. And on the ground was the puppet master: Brody. Now that he’s gone it will take the Sun Realm time to put another spy in place. We have a narrow window to act.
My mom’s head stays down and she starts writing a note.
The other general keeps speaking as if nothing is happening. “But it doesn’t change the fact that the Moon Realm is not willing to cooperate with us. In less than three days we’ll have no choice but to declare war on the moon dwellers and use every resource at our disposal to crush them.”
I read my mom’s note before she passes it across. We will do our best to protect your families. God bless. She slides a separate note to Baum. You stay here. Do what you can to help them. She nods.
“Fine,” my mom says. “I understand your position, even if I don’t agree with it. For now, we’ll wait and let the peace process run its course. If the Moon Realm won’t join us, we attack.” Her words are cold, harsh, believable. My mom’s a good liar. I never would have thought it six months ago.
A final note from the woman general. Godspeed and good luck.
My mother nods. The old general says, “Good. This forum is dismissed.”
Everyone rises and we leave.
* * *
When we exit the meeting, darkness has fallen on the Star Realm. My mom has a flashlight, which cuts a triangular arc through the gloom, but because the lighting here is so poor even during the day, my eyes adjust quickly to the dark.
“We need to leave right away,” Mom says.
“Shouldn’t we tell Dad—”
“There isn’t time. He knows about the spy, but the rest can wait. And some things are better told in person.”
“I can’t believe they took their families,” Trevor murmurs. For the first time I see compassion in his expression. Perhaps it was always there and I just couldn’t see it. But he’s a different person to me now. Not a spy—a star dweller. And so he cares about the families of the star dweller generals. He’s a good person, regardless of his faults.
“I can,” my mom says. “Nailin is a heartless, soulless demon who will do anything for power.” Her words are filled with fire. “The only reason they couldn’t get to me is that I was brought in much later, as an outsider. Plus, they thought they already had my whole family imprisoned.”
We walk in silence for a few minutes as we follow my mother through the narrow alleys of the subchapter. Occasionally I hear one of the homeless lying against the walls mumble something in their sleep, or snore. We pass through the alley where Mep and his followers tried to steal our stuff, and I look up at the window I clambered through what feels like years ago. Through the dark, I think I see the outline of legless Mep sitting on the sill, his arm raised, giving me a thumbs-up. I might be seeing things, but I return the gesture. Tawni gives me a questioning look but I just shake my head and picture Mep being carried back inside, where he’ll read a story to the orphans huddled around him. The thought makes me happy and sad all at the same time. They’re the ones we’re fighting for. The unwanted orphans, the beggars in the streets, the wrongly convicted prisoners, the fathers working impossible hours in the mines, the mothers fighting like hell to turn a few potatoes and bags of beans into enough food to fill the bellies of their children: we’re fighting for all of them. I feel adrenaline pump through my veins as I stride forward, following my mother, the warrior.
It’s silent for a few more minutes until we pass by an open doorway in one of the buildings. Heavy music pumps through the opening and I can see bodies gyrating and writhing under crackling red and purple lights. One of them turns to watch us pass by, a genderless form with tattoos all over its face and a white-tipped Mohawk. Red lipstick stands out against its pale skin. Raising a single long-nailed finger, it motions for me to enter the building.
Holding my breath, I pass by the door quickly. Tawni’s face is brimming with fear. I guess there’s more than one dark side to the Star Realm.