“Who are they?”
“There are other males like Kyon who survived Excelsior. They’ll be fighting for their own supremacy soon. I will be seen as in the way of that. I will have to run.”
“We can protect you on the island—”
“Think about it, Fulton! A bunch of angry men with abilities just like Kyon’s will have an ax to grind with me. I have a sister. They follow her. I threaten her reign. It’s a fight I can’t win.”
“What will you do?” he asks.
“I plan to travel,” I say evasively.
“He’s going to be impossible to live with when he wakes and finds you gone.”
“Just as long as he wakes up,” I say.
“You love him.”
“Don’t be silly, Fulton. He’s a ruthless killer.”
“He’s your ruthless killer.”
“I’m giving him back,” I reply.
“He’ll never let you.”
“I gave him what he wanted most. Maybe he can be happy with that.”
“Which was?” he asks.
“Revenge.”
“I don’t think that was what he wanted most.” He stands. “I will take him to the island within the part. I make no promises for what he’ll do when he recovers.”
“The Tempest will be too busy for a while hunting me and establishing their government to care too much about him. But be careful. They’re dangerous.”
“You’re speaking about Kyon Ensin. I fear for these other men and for your sister.”
“Don’t. They’re really not worth your time.”
“You are, though,” he replies. “You’re worth it.”
I have to bite my bottom lip to keep it from trembling. “I have to go too, before they find me.” I stand and give him a very brief hug before I turn and run from the room.
I don’t stop running until I make it to Phlix’s room. Pounding on the door until she answers it, I fall into her arms when she opens them to me. “I thought you were dead,” she says as she rests her cheek against my head.
“Me too,” I whisper.
“I watched it all—everything. Your crowns worked!”
I ignore her and say, “We have to go now.”
“Are you sure?” she asks. Her trepidation is clearly etched on her face. “I think that all the Brothers are dead. We don’t have to run—”
“We’re in more danger now than we ever were.”
“Danger? From who?”
“I have another sister. Her name is Astrid. She wants to be empress. She has males who she saved who are our genetically enhanced brothers—they have our abilities—and they want revenge. I will explain everything later, but we have to leave right now before they arrive.”
“I am ready. Shall I get the gear?”
“Yes,” I reply.
She goes to her closet and I shed the black lab coat. I don’t feel like I have time to change. I will have to do it when we get to the trift I plan to use to take us to the basin near the Forest of Omnicron. If all goes well, we won’t need any of this gear, but I can’t rely on it. So many things can go wrong.
Phlix hands me one of the two backpacks and a flipcart. The backpacks have special straps on the outside of them that hold the flipcarts secure. When the backpacks are on, we look like snowboarders heading to the mountains.
Leaving her room, we enter the overup and take it down to the garden level. Exiting the lift, we walk toward Kyon’s study. I slow when I near the fire snapping in the grate. Someone is seated in the green chair, sipping on a fat tumbler of amber liquid. I drop my backpack, because it will slow me down when I run.
“Greetings, Kricket. Your father was proud of you. You killed Excelsior just as he always knew you would.”
“Yeah? Well, tell him I said he’s welcome. And tell him good-bye for me.”
“Good-bye? You think you’re leaving us?” he asks, setting down his drink. His golden dreadlocks shine brightly in the glow of the fire. “But I’m here to take you to see him. I just have to kill your consort first. Where have you hidden Kyon, Kricket? I’m very tired and I don’t feel like playing your games now.”
Slowly, I inch away from him. I look toward the stairs and the only thought in my mind is making it to them. I look around for Phlix, but she’s nowhere in sight. She’s hidden herself away in the shadow land. I envy her that ability.
In front of me, Giffen stands. He growls as he says, “I’ll ask you once again. Where is Kyon Ensin?”
CHAPTER 18
HALF AWAKE AND ALMOST DEAD
Giffen lifts me up off my feet telepathically and pulls me into his waiting arms. I lose my breath when I hit his chest hard. “You didn’t think we were going to just let you leave, did you? You’re too dangerous for that.”
“What are you going to do to me?” I ask.
“There’s a place in the annexed area that I have set up for you. It’s actually very beautiful. You’ll be comfortable there. Your sister can visit you.”
“And you can all keep an eye on me?”
“It’s the compromise that I worked out to keep you alive. Otherwise, you’re dead.”
“So I’ll be a prisoner for the rest of my life?”
“It’s better than being dead.”
“You can let go of me now. I’m not going to run. I know it’s pointless.”
He sets me on my feet. From behind him, Phlix says, “I have another option for you, Kricket.” Electricity pulses out of the Taser-like gun that she presses into his side. He convulses and flops on the ground fish-out-of-water style. “You can come with me to Earth like we planned.”
“Phlix!” I’m almost too surprised to move.
“No one is making us their prisoners again,” she says. “I will hurt them all if they try.”
I grab Phlix’s hand. “Let’s go. That shock doesn’t last long.”
Phlix tugs back on my hand, saying, “Wait! We have to get our packs!” We put them on, and then run up the stairs to the balcony level of Foundation. We scurry through countless corridors to the tower called Kingdom. We take the tree pillar elevators down to the garden level of the creepy art gallery. “All we have to do is make it to the Hallafast in the topiary maze outside. It’s not very far,” I whisper. Clutching her hand, I lead the way to the giant doors. I open one and pause. Outside, the courtyard glows with fire. The Hallafast that we need to make our escape is a raging ball of orange light and choking black smoke. My heart crashes in my chest.
I sink to my knees on the ground. “I’m dead. I’m so dead.”
“What’s wrong?” Phlix asks. She looks past me to the aircraft. Her soft gasp is a crushing weight on me. She pulls the door closed, slamming it. She looks around us.
“We’re not giving up,” she says, squaring her shoulders. “We’re leaving.”
She tugs on my upper arm and pulls me up. We scramble back toward the pillars, and Giffen suddenly appears at the top of the gallery. He looks pissed.
“Shadow land!” I yell.
Phlix pulls us into her secret world. She grasps my hand and we back up from Giffen as he descends the pillar onto the garden level with us. “He can probably sense us, Phlix. He’s creepy like that,” I whisper.