74

Wenthi snapped back into awareness of his body as Ajiñe dropped to her knees.

“Spirits,” he whispered. In the last moments of communion with each other, Varazina had touched each of them with just a portion of her knowledge, her power, and in that brief touch, Nália had felt the lifetime Varazina had known as Penda Rodiguen. The constant pain of her body, the needles, the tests, the apartment that had every amenity but was still very much a prison, all because the Alliance condemned her existence but still hoped to make use of her power.

Which made Varazina’s intended use for that power all the sweeter. He needed to help her.

“She doesn’t have much time,” Wenthi said, pulling up Varazina as she gasped for air. “Let’s unhitch the engine, get her on there and get her up to speed.”

“Right,” Ajiñe said, catching her own breath as she stood up. “I’m . . . I had no idea. We need to—”

“On the ground!” someone shouted. “Consider yourselves detained!”

Half a dozen Civil Patrol closed in on them all, guns drawn. Wenthi hadn’t noticed them approach. Had they been in a different part of the train? Had they arrived separately just now? Why hadn’t he felt them as the sharp static, like he had with the officers on the train?

Then he saw why.

Paulei was front and center in a group of officers: Minlei, Guand, Hwokó, Cinden, Peshka. The whole cadre, Wenthi’s closest friends and lovers. His mushroom-activated senses didn’t register them as a threat.

“Paulei, I—”

“Shut up!” Paulei shouted. “You drop your sidearm and get on the damned ground!”

But before Wenthi could react, Ajiñe grabbed his gun and got it up, and Nália did the same with hers. Wenthi quickly got his hands out and put himself in between them all.

“No, it doesn’t have to be this way,” he said. “Paulei—”

“How dare you, Wenthi,” Paulei said. “What are you even doing?”

“The right thing for once,” Wenthi said. “Just put down your guns, no one needs to get hurt—”

“People are already hurt!” Paulei said. “We found Enrin and Thei, a kilo back, both a mess of broken bones. What did you do?”

“Saved these people—”

“People you brought in!” Paulei shouted.

Gabrána and Fenito were to the side, hands up. “Is that true? Renzi, what is this?” Gab asked.

“Renzi?” Paulei asked. “Did you get in so damn deep you actually think you’re Renzi?”

“He is Renzi,” Ajiñe said. “He may have been one of you once, but he is Renzi Llionorco now. He is ours now.”

“I’m not sure who you tricked more, Wenthi! These fools or yourself.”

“These people are trying to make our country what it’s supposed to be,” Wenthi said. “You could be a part of that, too.”

“I am a part of that,” Paulei said. “I am an officer of the law, and I—”

Nália’s hand shook, and Wenthi felt that, and saw Minlei’s finger go to her trigger.

“No!” Wenthi shouted, pushing his will into Minlei. All he had time to do, taking control over her body, was throw her arm up wild, so the shot wouldn’t hit anyone. All the other officers—all once dear friends, who he had shared everything with, responded by trying to shoot.

There were six of them, and Wenthi couldn’t control all of their bodies at once. Not standing still. With no speed to fuel his power, all he could do was take hold over their trigger fingers, keep them from being able to shoot.

“What—why can’t I—”

“Paulei,” Wenthi begged. “Drop the guns. Stop this. We can all walk away.”

“Wenthi,” Varazina wheezed. “We don’t have time.”

“We need to end this,” Nália said. She pushed her own control onto Paulei, bringing his gun up to his temple.

“What is this?” Paulei shouted. “What are you doing to us?”

“Please,” Wenthi pleaded. “Drop the gun.”

I’ll do it, Nália thought at Wenthi. We have to stop them.

“No—” Wenthi said.

I know how much you love him. All of them. And us. I wish you didn’t have to choose.

“If you don’t drop the guns, you will die,” Wenthi said.

“We can’t let them live,” Gabrána said.

“We have to be better,” Wenthi said. “We have to give them a chance.”

Mensi came up, a hand on Wenthi’s shoulder. “A chance,” he said quietly. “But only one.”

Wenthi didn’t have the strength to exert more control over their bodies, to fight them and Nália, who had brought all the guns to their temples. All he had was keeping their fingers from pulling the triggers. But maybe he could reach them.

He closed his eyes, dug into his memories, and pushed them into their minds. The story of this land from Varazina. The pain and degradation of the baniz in Gonetown. The radiant joy of Ziva Osceba’s Spirit Dance. The constant fear in Miahez the people felt for patrol. The torture of the derrick labor camps. The dead and maimed in the name of taking Zapisian oil. The love shared between Ajiñe and Gabrána and Mensi and Fenito and Nicalla and Nália and himself and everyone who had been inducted under Varazina.

Tears formed in Paulei’s eyes, and his hand spasmed, dropping the gun. The other officers did as well. Various Fists ran in, pulled the guns away, and starting tethering them with their own cuffs.

Paulei was on his knees, hands bound behind him, crying.

“I didn’t know,” he whispered. “I . . . I’ve been so cruel.”

“Shh,” Wenthi said, caressing Paulei’s beautiful face. “You see it now. You can still change.”

“This is the mushroom?” Paulei whispered. “This is what it lets you feel?”

“Yeah.”

“No wonder they called it dangerous,” he said. “It’s full of truth.”

“Will someone explain to me what’s happening?” Gabrána asked. “Why is Renzi half making out with the tory, and why did they call him Wenthi and—”

“It’s too much for right now,” Ajiñe said. “We don’t have time to—”

“You don’t,” Paulei said, looking back up. “We called for backup. The Alli nucks and the military are roaring in, just a few clicks away. You have to run—”

“No time,” Varazina said. Nália holding her up was the only thing keeping her on her feet. “I don’t have much strength left. I need . . . I need . . . the speed.”

“Get her to the engine,” Wenthi said. “We need to—”

“That’ll take too long,” Nália said. “The only thing that can get fast enough, quick enough—” Her eyes darted to the side.

Wenthi saw what she was looking to.

Her custom junkbashed Puegoiz 960.