Chapter Thirty-Eight

 

Brill shrugs. “There’s not many Nitarri left. An ecological disaster destroyed the core of their planet a couple decades ago. The royal family was completely wiped out, and nobody could decide who had the right to lead, so they wound up scattered on planets in the nearby star systems.”

“So why would that thing have called Kayla one? I’ve met her parents and–” Kaliel’s eyes go to the floor and he swallows. “And we all know about her grandparents. They’re all as human as Bo and me.”

But then it all drops into place. Grundt had said Kayla’s grandparents had saved a couple of Nitarri kids. I had assumed the merc had been talking about other niños, with their own grandchildren safe at home. Pero Scream had called Kayla the Nitarri girl.

And with what Brill just said about the power vacuum with the loss of the Nitarri royal family… “Estás jugando conmigo!” You’ve got to be kidding me!

Everyone in the room looks up at me – including Tawny, despite the headphones. Heat creeps into my face under the sudden scrutiny.

Pero, it’s just about the only novela trope we’ve been missing: the secret princess and the hidden child.

“What?” Kaliel asks.

“Did Kayla ever tell you her middle name?”

“No.” Kaliel rubs at the back of his neck again, not noticing this time. “What does that matter?”

“It’s Anastasia.”

Tyson and Brill are both blinking at me in confusion. Mi vida’s not of Earth, so his knowledge of our history before First Contact is patchy.

Pero, Kaliel’s blinking at me in a different way. “That sounds like something out of a bad knock-off of Star Wars.”

“And your whole personality switch looks like something out of a telenovela,” I point out. “Doesn’t make it any less true.”

“Will one of you tell me what you’re talking about?” Brill asks.

“Sí, mi vida. As soon as I’ve talked to Stephen.” Pero, how do I even start that conversation? Hola, Steve, are you secretly an alien prince? He’s going to hang up on me. Unless it’s true.

I open my sublingual channel.

Stephen answers immediately. You have news.

I do, actually. Kayla’s alive.

The noise that echoes through my mind is practically a sob. I told you she was. Where is she?

I hesitate. Was it cruel to give him hope when I have so little information? No. He deserves to know. We don’t know where, pero we believe we know who has her. I have to solve a loco puzzle before I get any more information.

OK. Where are you stuck?

I sigh. I haven’t even started working out the puzzle yet. Pero, it might help if we at least know who the players are.

I don’t follow.

I have to say it eventually. Is there any chance that you’re… not of Earth?

There’s silence in mi cabeza for a long time. Pero, I don’t think he’s hung up. Finally, he says, You’ve been talking to Claire.

It’s my turn to be confused. Why would I be talking to Stephen’s ex-wife? Que? Stephen, this isn’t a joke, nunca. The mindworm called Kayla that Nitarri girl. If Kayla’s an Earthling, then that means he was talking about the wrong person. And she may not be alive after all.

His voice is almost a whisper inside my brain. You know there aren’t any aliens living on Earth. It’s hard enough for them even to get a travel visa.

Sí, I know that’s supposed to be true.

Pero, I can sense a hesitation. Finally, Stephen bubblechatters, Did I ever tell you I enrolled in the pilot training program on Earth, before I shipped out for the mining corps?

I’m trying to follow the whiplash turn in the conversation. Okaaaaay.

My dad got me out of having to take the physical. I assumed it had to do with scarring on my lungs from when I kept getting sick as a kid, but now I’m not sure that would have let me out of the program. I’ve never seen a doctor other than my dad. Which isn’t weird, in and of itself, but there’s this thing that happened between me and my sister when we were kids and I almost died from a lung infection. He hesitates, but obviously he’s been wanting to tell somebody this for a long time. I was only eight years old, and I convinced myself later that it had to have been a hallucination, but I swear Kayla put her hand on my forehead and pulled out the fever. She was singing that weird song she picked up somewhere, and the song took away the pain, but at the same time she was telling me inside my mind that I didn’t get to chicken out and die on her.

I temp-mute my side of the sublingual signal. “Sí, muchachos. Definitely aliens.”

“Exiled prince?” Kaliel asks.

“Ni idea.”

Ever since then, I’ve wondered if I could be an alien. I told Claire my theory once, after she accused me of not understanding her emotional needs. I think that’s what got the divorce papers sent my way.

I snort out a laugh. If Claire divorced Stephen because she decided he was crazy, maybe she’ll want him back if he can prove he was right. I’ve always thought there was still something between those too, anyway. Stephen, what’s your middle name?

Kent. Why?

“Like Clark Kent?” I’m so startled, I say it out loud. Brill looks at me quizzically as I dissolve into uncontrollable giggles.

What is so funny? Stephen sighs in my head. My grandpa used to laugh every time he said it, too. I don’t get it.

Tell you later. I hang up. “Stephen’s middle name is Kent. And he’s an alien being secretly raised by human beings on Earth.”

“Ven, from your viewpoint, I’m actually the second alien you’ve dated.” Brill’s eyes are lavender with mirth.

I manage a straight face. “Sí. Who knew I got dumped by Superman?”

Brill pulls a pout. “I thought I was Superman. Faster than a speeding bullet and all that.”

“I’ll give you that, mi vida.” Yet I can’t help touching his jacket where the bullet went through it. If it hadn’t been for the body armor… let’s just say Grundt had a good bead on mi vida’s heart. “But you’re not indestructible.”

“Stephen’s indestructible?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Brill’s eyes are still lavender, so no lo sé if he even meant the question seriously.

“And to think, I’m dating a princess in hiding,” Kaliel says.

“Maybe,” I remind him.

His shoulders slump. “You’re right. She might not want me with this much blood on my hands.”

Oye! “No, loco boy, we don’t know for sure she’s a princesa.” The Kayla I know is still going to want Kaliel, if we can find a way to keep him alive. And if we can find her. “Stephen’s fizzbounced at the possibility he’s not an Earthling, pero Kayla’s never liked uncertainty or surprises.”

Kaliel sighs. “And I’ve brought her nothing but that.”

“Oh, no, muchacho,” I tell him. “You don’t get to go being depressed again.”

Brill laughs. “I can see why Stephen’d be excited, though. Every kid dreams of being something different, no matter what they start out as. It’s the whole unique-means-special thing. There was a brief time when I wanted to be a cybernetic cop, uan the kids in one of the shows I watched. I had a fantasy that I’d get kidnapped and taken to the lab.”

“You?” Tyson scoffs. “A cop?”

“Wal. Me.” Brill’s jaw juts out. “You and me could have been partners. I’d inevitably mess up, and you’d look the other way. It’d be perfect, since that’s what you’re so good at.”

Tyson moves over to Brill, and suddenly he’s about nine feet tall, towering over mi vida, studying him with those whiteless eyes. “I tink you’d better explain tat remark.”

Brill shrugs. “Like when your partner beats a guy you’ve taken into custody unconscious, just to get information.”

Tyson blinks his translucent eyelids. “When did tat happen?”

Brill stands and faces him. “I saw all the bruises on Darcy Hayat, su. He wouldn’t have lied to me about where they came from.”

Tyson sucks his mouth inside out again, his spine coiling down some of the extra height. “Are you talking about his first escape attempt? He made sure I was knocked out before he re-wired te lock on his cell, but Yernell didn’t drink te drugged coffee. I woke up in te airlock because Hayat had been in te process of spacing me. Your friend apparently put up quite a fight before Yernell put him unconscious.”

Brill’s bitter laugh breaks my heart. “Darcy didn’t try to escape. And I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, but apparently your own partner drugged you. Darcy told me you were in the loft the whole time. It might have made him feel better if he’d realized you were knocked out, and not the world’s biggest hypocrite.”

Tyson stands there frozen for a long moment. Then he says, “Yernell always was an ass.”

Brill turns away, paces over to the cell bars. I follow him over, take his arm.

“Does it make you feel better, mi vida?”

“A little,” he admits.

Dashtin stands up from the bunk and asks, “Do any of you have any gum?”