I don’t know what to say. I can’t tell her she’s wrong—because she probably isn’t. But why can’t she see that giving herself up might mean saving more of her friends? What is she even fighting for at this point?
It doesn’t matter. I don’t care what she wants anymore. Dying is the easy way out. Dying means she doesn’t have to take responsibility for everything she’s done. Dying means everything will be more complicated once all this ends because there’s so much only she knows. That knowledge could make a huge difference in how everything plays out after this. If she was being smart, she could even try to use that knowledge to broker a deal and save her friends.
I swing my spear at her ankles. She jumps over it easily, but I use the momentum to keep swinging around in a circle and slam the other end of my shaft into her side. She blocks it with her blade, but she stumbles back.
I have to find a way to immobilize her. If I can hold her down until a soldier arrives and restrains her with starlight …
Restraints. That’s it.
Al, Erik, Jay? Where are you? I need your help.
Ellis and I keep at it for interminable moments. Even as the fighting stalls out around us with the military’s swing through the rebels’ decimated forces, that only seems to fuel Ellis’s strength. Her blows come harder, faster, but more haphazard, too.
“You can still choose to stop.” I block her swing with my spear shaft. She keeps putting force into it, trying to break through, but I don’t let her. “They might be more lenient if you surrender.”
“Not a chance.”
I figured. Still, I wanted to give her the option. I send the telepathic signal to everyone.
Ellis pulls her sword back to swing again, but in the time it takes me to blink, she’s on the ground, crushed against the earth by an invisible force. Behind her, Al stands with Gabriel in tow, a somber expression on his face as he watches Ellis struggle and snarl on the ground, having taken away the portion of his gift residing in Ellis’s power crystal. Running up to us, Erik, hand extended forward, pinning Ellis down with his gift, Cal keeping pace behind him. And Jay, arm slung over Peter’s shoulder for support, the two of them accompanied by Joan and a military officer I asked Jay to find and bring—one equipped with near-indestructible starlight restraints.
The officer looks among all of us quickly, but he doesn’t stop to ask questions. As soon as he sees Ellis pinned down, he removes intricately connected pieces of starlight metal from his equipment bag and claps them around Ellis’s wrists, legs, and upper arms. He has to act fast, because as soon as he puts the restraints on, Erik’s gift stops working in reaction to the starlight and Ellis thrashes against the bindings. To no avail.
She looks up at her old officers, her friends, now all staring at their feet. “You would all betray me like this?” She doesn’t cry. But the hollowness in her eyes is almost worse. “I thought we were in this together.”
“It was time to stop, Sara,” Joan says quietly. She meets Ellis’s gaze with an expression caught somewhere between pity and regret. “I’m sorry. It had to end.”
Ellis won’t look at her. As the officer hauls the rebel leader to her feet, other soldiers racing over to help him, I say, “I wish things had been different.”
“So do I,” Ellis says. And then she’s gone.
38
ERIK
SOLDIERS FIGHT WITH the last few rebels who refuse to give up. They don’t attack those who already surrendered—thank the gods—but they do circle around and keep an eye on them. Word’s spread that all the rebels’ leaders are down. Can’t say I’m sad to hear Devin’s dead. One less lunatic in the world. I’m just happy everyone I care about is alive and safe, from Cal and Gabriel to my old reliable team. My relief at seeing them all okay after Ellis is hauled away is so strong I can’t breathe for a second.
But I don’t want the military to catch Cal or Gabriel. If the soldiers find out the two of them were rebel leaders, they might kill them. There’s already a chance they might be recognized. We’ve all barely reunited when more soldiers start coming over, starlight cuffs in hand. I step in front of Cal reflexively and notice Al do the same to Gabriel.
But Lai is the one who steps forward to face the soldiers. Even with dirt, sweat, and blood smeared over her face, she looks like a queen. Acts like one, too. “The Order will be taking custody of the remaining rebel leaders,” she says. It’s not a request.
Most of the soldiers hesitate and glance at one another—which is honestly kind of reassuring since I thought they’d just laugh and push Lai out of the way. Not that she’d let them, but they could try.
One of them, with more badges decorating her uniform than the others, steps forward to meet Lai. My muscles tense. If she tries anything …
“We were told by General Austin that any orders given by former Lieutenant Lorelai Cathwell on the field were to be followed,” she says. “But even so, I can’t let enemy commanders escape arrest without reason. Why does the Order want them?”
“There are things we’d like to learn from them,” Lai says. If she’s surprised by the general’s order like I am, she doesn’t show it. “Intel gathering. There are also other rebels back at their home base. With the leaders’ help, the Order would like to—peacefully—bring them in.” Lai cocks an eyebrow at the officer. “I doubt they would willingly surrender to the oppressive military. But if it’s the Order, a group they know seeks equality between gifted and ungifted, they may come quietly.”
Lai glances at me and suddenly I get it. All the kids back in the underground headquarters. She wants to make sure the Order gets to them before the sector can. The Order couldn’t convince the kids to leave by themselves, but if Joan, Cal, and Gabriel tell them it’s okay, that the Order can be trusted? We might be able to save them.
The officer doesn’t answer right away, which, I mean, fair. Lai’s excuse is pretty flimsy. But Austin did say the soldiers had to follow Lai’s orders. Just how far does that go?
Finally, the officer says, “I understand. I will report this to General Austin. He can decide whether or not to allow you to keep custody of the rebel leaders after that.” The officer’s hand moves obviously to the starlight handcuffs clipped to her equipment belt. “If they were to suddenly disappear or otherwise cause trouble, you and the Order’s other officers will be taking their place.”
“My thanks,” Lai says, totally ignoring the last part of the officer’s conditional acceptance. She holds out her hand. “We don’t need your assistance, but we could use those starlight restraints if you’d be so kind.”
The officer’s nose wrinkles, but she tosses the handcuffs to Lai and waves for the others to do the same. I hate to do it, but I snap the cuffs around Cal’s wrists. I don’t think he or the others would try to run, but I get what Lai’s thinking. We have to make it look like the Order’s in total control. Otherwise that officer might just change her mind and bring Cal, Gabriel, and Joan in herself after all.
Other soldiers start running over and calling the officers for help. Soon, the group is gone, though with a lot of backward glances. I hope this works out.