Chapter Fifty-Three

 

I find Kayla in Stephen’s room. She’s sitting in a plastic chair, that hat rolled up in her hands. Stephen is asleep.

“Hola, Princesa.” I make a show of knocking on the open door. “You have to admit being the Anastasia that Lived is cooler than being Princesa of Chocolate.”

Kayla makes a face. “Yeah. I’m the Princess of the People Who Can Kill You With Their Mind. That’s going to make people feel real comfortable hanging out with me. At least they’re still putting your face on chocolate bars.”

I take a chair next to hers. “Tyson has fangs, pero he doesn’t usually use them, Mertex had all those teeth, pero, the only person I ever saw him try to chompcrush was me. Unlike Murry, you aren’t likely to accidentally hurt someone in a fit of anger. So I don’t see the problem.”

“But I could.” Kayla flips over the hat. “My mom – my gran – someone should have told me how to control this.”

“Seems like you did that just fine on your own.” I take her hat and straighten it out. She controlled her telepathy so completely, she convinced herself she didn’t have a gift at all. “They couldn’t tell you how to be Nitarri. They’re all human.”

She’s nodding along with me. She’s coming to terms with being adopted.

We lapse into silence.

Kayla takes her hat back and puts it on. “I wouldn’t mind so much except – OK, that’s a lie, I’d still be totally upset – but it’s not fair to Kaliel. He’s a straightforward kind of guy. And now I’ve got all these secrets, and oh, let’s not forget I could kill him with my mind. I won’t blame him if he doesn’t want to be with me any more.”

“That depends.” Kaliel’s standing in the doorway, out of breath, like he ran all the way here. “You going to let me in on those secrets?” He takes one deep breath, then adds, “Sorry it took me so long to get here. Getting away from Tawny and those FeedCasters was impossible.”

Kayla goes to him. “I don’t even know what my secrets are yet. I might need help figuring them out.”

“Then I’m your guy.” Kaliel goes to kiss her, pero, she puts a couple of fingers to his lips to block him.

“They did tell you about the whole could kill someone with my mind thing?”

“Yeah. I’m never going to not feel safe again, with you here to protect me.” He goes for the beso again, and this time she lets him.

They’re standing in the doorway, so there’s no easy way to leave.

“Babe,” Brill says from out in the hallway. “We have a problem.”

My heart lurches. Por favor, tell me he’s not bleeding uncontrollably again.

Kayla and Kaliel move apart so I can get out. Brill’s face is pinched with pain, and he’s holding his jacket away from his chest, pero nothing seems to be bleeding through his shirt.

“You OK, mi vida.”

“I will be. If I have to have a scar, this one looks pretty cool.” He looks over at Frank, who is regarding us with impassive eyes. “Somebody took a picture of Kayla coming in the front door of this place, and it’s virafizzed, so we’re about to get mobbed. Frank has emphasized the importance of me getting out of here without being seen.”

“But what about Tyson?”

“I’m sure he knows better than to tell anybody I’m still alive.”

“Mi vida, we’re waiting to see if he makes it through surgery.”

“I know that.” Brill takes a deep breath, breathing in and in and in. “But there’s nothing we can do to help.”

Just as I turn towards the operating theater, the door swings open, and Doc Sonda pulls gloves off her hands. She looks somber.

“Oh, no.” The invincible Galactacop can’t be gone too.

Sonda sees us, and smiles. “He made it.”

Something releases in my chest. Tyson’s alive. Truly, nobody’s dying here today.

“Then why so glum?” Brill asks.

“Because we still won’t know for another twelve hours or so whether there’s paralysis or brain damage.”

“We can’t stick around for that,” Frank says.

“I know.” I look back at Kaliel and Kayla. “You two will let us know when there’s news?”

“Of course,” Kaliel says.

“So here’s what you say, por favor. You and Stephen found Kayla trapped in a hole somewhere, and Stephen hit his cabeza climbing down to her. Can you do that?”

Kaliel sighs. “I suck at lying, and it’s never gone well when I’ve talked to the media.”

I remember his first interviews after the SeniorLeisure debacle. “No kidding, muchacho.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Kayla says. She pats Kaliel’s arm. “You just be the strong, silent type and look embarrassed for being a hero.”

“Now that I can do.”

Frank, Brill, and I rush for the door and the anonymity of the van. Only, the parking lot is already crawling with FeedCasters and galactourists who want to see the follow-up of Kaliel getting set free. The love story. The happily-ever-after.

Frank looks unhappy, pero he’s not doing anything drastic, so Brill and I may still get our happy ending too. If we can just figure this out.

 

“This is humiliating.” Brill’s voice sounds muffled.

“It’s better than a bullet, mi vida.” I have him by the hand – the puffy, black-felt hand.

“I can’t see, and there’s no way I could run. Do you have any idea what it’s like for a Krom not to be able to run?”

I feel bad for him. Really I do. Pero, I giggle. I can’t help it. It’s cómico seeing Brill dressed up as a giant chocolate bar.

“It smells horrible in here,” he complains.

“You can’t wash those things.” Kayla’s wrapping the loose end back onto a spool of surgeon’s thread. “Just be glad I could make it shorter.”

“What was this thing even doing here?” Brill loses his grip on the basket he’s sort of holding through his other giant puffy hand. It hits the floor, and a couple of chocolate bars fall out.

“It’s from the play the volunteers do every week for the children’s ward,” Sonda says. “You’d better hurry. We’re not going to be able to keep them all outside much longer.”

I reach down to pick up the bars. They’re HGB Kiddie Bars, pero someone has slipped an extra label over the top that says Free Chocolate is the Best Chocolate.

I arch an eyebrow at Sonda. “What exactly is this play about?”

Sonda giggles.

“This is ridiculous,” Frank mutters.

“In for a penny, in for a pound,” Brill says from inside the costume. “The minute you spared my life brought you to this.”

“I’ve always hated that expression.” Frank scowls. He looks at me. “Tawny is never going to let me live this down. And I can’t even tell her why I’m doing it.”

No lo sé what’s so embarrassing for him. He’s not even wearing a costume.

“Smile for the cameras, Frank, and tell Tawny it’s to impress mi mamá. Which is true.” I hand him his own basket of candy, give Kayla one last hug, and then head for the door. I don’t even look back to see if they’re following me.

The minute I open the door, several FeedCasters slip through the line of hospital staff trying to hold them back. I’m still not comfortable with the press. I could still get blindsided by someone bringing up my less than stellar past, or my ethics regarding chocolate. Pero, I brace myself and go out acting confident.

One reporter, who looks human pero probably isn’t, says, “Senorita Benitez, do you really believe your own ad campaign, or was it a ploy to get Kaliel’s life spared – again?”

I look over at Frank, who is helping Brill waddle down the stairs, holding mi vida’s hand since he can’t possibly see. Some of the children in the crowd are already running over to them.

I smile over at the camera. “Mercy sometimes comes from unexpected places.”

They’ve made it to level ground, and one kid grabs Frank around his legs. He pats the kid on the bald yellow cabeza, then pretends to pull a chocolate bar out of the divot that serves the small Zantite as an ear. It’s easy to see him having been a papá, and now an abuelo.

Someone comes running towards me, and Frank’s eyes go hard. He shakes the kid away and moves in my direction. It’s the lady who tried to throw poo at me back on Earth. Frank seems to recognize her, and he slows his urgent pace, pero he’s still heading over here. She reaches into her bag and I flinch away. En serio? She’s going to try to do it again?

“Lo siento.”

I open my eyes. She’s holding out a choctastic Bundt cake floating in a bubble bag, and she looks embarrassed by my reaction.

“I…” She looks down. She’s wearing a MIAG tee-Shirt. “I wanted to apologize. But maybe it was a mistake to think you’d eat something I made.”

“Thank you.” I take the cake. “It looks delicioso. Perhaps we could share it.”

I hope Tawny’s getting this. I’ve been keeping up with myself in the feeds. There are still people on Earth calling for my death, pero now there’s one less. And if we can show this kindness to each other in front of the galaxy, then Earth might find itself one step farther from an invasion.

Brill nearly trips over his own giant feet as he waddles up behind me. He steadies himself using my shoulder. He whispers, “You’re going to save me some of that, revwal?”