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Northern Haven: Atsushi Collins
Atsushi cracked open the door and checked the hallway. It was amazingly clear of reapers, parents, and the reek of onions.
“We need a plan,” he whispered to Girak as he ducked back in and shut the door. “Where’s Rana imprisoned?”
“She’s in a guarded cell a few halls from the Surface door.” Girak rubbed his temples, the only unbruised area of his face. “Everyone’s defending the hall leading to the elevator shaft. We’ll need to get them to leave that area, then free her and get her up the shaft to the Surface. Maybe a distraction?”
“Okay, a distraction...” he said.
Girak only frowned. The educator who planned complicated experiments for them apparently sucked at planning jailbreaks.
Atsushi’s memories lit. “Wait. I’ve got it. Remember how I helped Neviah set up the Spring Reigns Festival? Remember the surprise fireworks?”
“I remember a few surprises that day,” Ayanna said, smirking from her onion crate throne.
“Those fireworks would be hard to forget.” Girak’s face softened with nostalgia.
“Since Neviah had wanted to surprise even her dad, she had engineered a portable holograph machine programmed to create the fireworks.” She’d also surprised him with the cherry blossom tree, her special gift to him. She can’t be dead.
“You know how to use this portable machine?” Hope illuminated Girak’s weary face. “And where to find it?”
“Yeah.” He grinned. “If I set it up and hide it, it’d take them a while to find it, you know?” Maybe this could work.
“Brilliant! They’ll think it’s a reaper attack. Now, to get Rana out, we need to get past the guns.” Girak’s eyes narrowed, and he began pacing. “Oh!” He laughed at whatever he’d just plotted. “Yeah, that’s devious enough to trick Savas.” He chuckled again. “Can you two act?”
“I guess?” Ayanna pushed the blanket off her head to study Girak.
“Act?” Atsushi grimaced and then shrugged. “I suppose?” He was willing do anything to keep his friends safe. “This plan...you’ve already thought it the whole way through?”
Girak nodded. “Thank you for trusting me about Rana’s innocence.” His eyes glistened in appreciation, as if he were in danger of crying again. Instead he patted his pockets, pulled out his comm, and checked the time. “Can you set it to go off in half an hour and meet me right back here in fifteen minutes?”
“Of course. That’s easy,” Atsushi said, relieved not to have to comfort his educator again. He retrieved his broken broomstick in preparation for whatever they faced and smacked it reassuringly into his other palm. Just in case.
Girak raised an eyebrow. “We shouldn’t have to actually hurt anyone,” he said, and again consulted his comm. “If anyone stops us, you”—he looked at Ayanna—“pretend to have an episode. Atsushi and I will pretend we’re helping you. That’s our excuse for not being at the door with everyone else, okay?”
Ayanna blushed. “I never thought having the Sickness would be useful.”
Girak gave her a sad nod. “Today, people’s underestimation of our mental status may save Rana.”
“Our?” she asked.
“Yes, you’ll see. Our.” Girak smiled, and Atsushi pondered just what his educator’s plan entailed.
Girak motioned for them to follow him into the hall. He whispered, “I’m also heading to the Gaming Arena. I’ll check who’s leading the crowd, and then I’ll meet you back here.”
Why does it matter who’s in charge? But they were already speeding down the hall toward the Gaming Arena and had to remain quiet.
When they arrived, Girak stopped at the supply closets, while Atsushi led Ayanna toward the staff offices where Neviah stored her stuff. Skidding to a stop in front of Neviah’s desk, he realized that without her comm, he’d need to break in.
The most illegal thing he’d ever done was to skip school to help Bleu and Ayanna. Smashing open Neviah’s desk paled in comparison to the destruction a war would wreak, but she had trusted him with this secret.
He grimaced and turned to Ayanna. “This is for Bleu and Neviah, right?”
“Just smash it,” she urged, glancing toward the distant shouts of the crowd. “And hurry!”
“Right,” he whispered.
Wedging the jagged end of the broom handle between the drawers, he used his weight to leverage it and hefted. As the drawer popped open, his weapon splintered.
Dropping the broom handle, he grabbed the cords and holographic machine and blew the splinters off its delicate keyboard.
“Grab Neviah’s tool bag...there,” he whispered, pointing to the tools they might need.
Ayanna slung the bag over her shoulder. Together, they raced back through the hallways, dodging in and out of doorways to avoid the others while searching for a room to set their trap.
“This one’s good,” Ayanna whispered, motioning to him to follow. She pointed to a covered vent in the back wall and began searching through Neviah’s tools for the right one to remove the vent covering. “Here,” she said, handing it to him with one of her amazing smiles.
He climbed on the desk, opened the vent, and inserted Neviah’s contraption. If the sound and lights came crashing out of the wall, maybe his fellow Northern Haveners would think, as he had previously, that the reapers were coming through the wall. It might make them hesitate to investigate and buy them more time to rescue Rana.
“You sure you know how to program it?” Ayanna whispered up to him. “We only have six minutes.”
“I got it.” Sweat trickled down his spine as he initiated the program’s countdown as Neviah had shown him, adding in several repeat performance loops for good measure. “Done,” he exclaimed and hopped down. “You still okay? This isn’t too much?”
She grinned and leaned closer. “This is the most fun I’ve had in weeks,” she whispered, her breath warm on his face.
She was close enough to kiss, but that might ruin their budding friendship, so he only laughed. “Aww. What about all those games we played?” he teased over his shoulder as he took off for the meeting place.
“This is way more fun.” With a burst of speed, she sped past him and burst into the storeroom and straight into a startled Girak.
“Whoa! Everything okay?” he asked, his eyes wide with alarm as he steadied himself.
“We...did it.” Ayanna giggled as she caught her breath.
Girak gave her a concerned glance, clearly worried an episode was coming on. “Great, but are you okay?”
“She’s fine,” Atsushi reassured him, having become well acquainted with her warning signs. “You saw the crowd, and your plan still works?”
“Yes.” Girak affectionately patted the long, rectangular bag hanging from his shoulder. But when the distant crowd roared, he cast a worried glance toward the open door.
“Are you going to share the plan?” Atsushi asked to squash his looming doubts. Surely, he could tell them now. They couldn’t exactly assist the guy if they didn’t know what they were supposed to do.
“Not yet. That way, if we get caught, you can blame everything on me. Tell them I made you do this, okay?” Girak had re-entered his responsible educator mode.
“I’d never blame—”
“Promise it,” Girak commanded. “My reputation is already ruined, but you both have your whole lives before you.”
“Not me,” Ayanna said, scowling.
“Promise,” Girak insisted.
“Fiiine,” she said. “It’s not like I have another option to help Bleu.”
“I guess,” Atsushi grumbled. He’d never blame Girak, so his super-secret plan had better be damn exceptional. “I wish you’d tell us. You know I can keep secrets.” He gave his educator a purposeful look.
Girak ignored his plea. “Good. Don’t lose me in the crowd. And, Ayanna, keep your head under that blanket. We don’t want your mother to see you and get involved with this.” Girak turned and sprinted toward the distant yelling.
They followed. When they reached the crowded hallways, Atsushi grasped Ayanna’s wrist for fear of losing her in the crowd. He hoped she could still see Girak, because Atsushi was lost in the sea of sweaty, shoving bodies, guided only by Ayanna’s grip.
She dragged him past Prime Minister Pridbor, who was handing out tools that might work as weapons against squirrels but certainly not against towering aliens. If they didn’t return Rana and stop this attack, humanity was screwed.
Ayanna yanked him from the press and through a doorway. As soon as they were through, Girak slammed the door behind them. “We’ve got five minutes before they hear the fireworks and run off. No one’s trained except Commander Savas, Zach, and myself, so I’m hoping they all rush en masse toward the sounds of attack.”
“Or in the opposite direction,” Atsushi murmured. At Girak’s grimace, Atsushi shrugged. “Not everyone’s brave.”
“Let’s hope that today they are. As far as they know, fighting together is their best chance of defending this place,” Girak said as he pulled a large gun from his shoulder bag.
Atsushi gasped. “Have you lost your mind?” Had he made a terrible mistake in trusting Girak? Had Rana been controlling him all along?
“No way. You said no one would get hurt.” Ayanna shook her head as she backed away.
“It’s okay, they’re the gaming guns,” Girak said, smiling. “But like you mistook them for real, everyone else will, too.”
Reality righted itself. Atsushi sagged in relief.
“Brilliant,” he said, accepting the gun as Girak pulled two others from his bag.
“I have my moments.” Girak gave a sad chuckle. “Here’s the plan.” As their educator explained, it became clear Josefina hadn’t been the only devious one in their family.
“If you forget, or things change, I’ll give commands.” Girak checked the time on his comm. “Atsushi, go out there and get Prime Minister Pridbor. Tell him you were sent here as a messenger by Commander Savas. Pretend you need him to come in here, out of the noise, to hear the message. Only let him follow you in the room, okay? You have less than a minute.”
Atsushi nodded and dashed out the door. The prime minister, finished with handing out his ridiculous weapons, now paced the length of the hall.
“Sir,” Atsushi said, yanked on his arm.
“What?” Prime Minister Pridbor, eyes flashing with battle excitement, spun toward him.
“Commander Savas sent me.” Atsushi grabbed his arm again, hoping the guy didn’t club him with his squirrel-sized armament. “This way, quickly.” He dragged him toward the door and pushed it open. “Hurry!”
As the prime minister fumed about the improprieties of being dragged, Atsushi hurried him through the door.
The prime minster yelled, “Atsushi, what’s this about? Why didn’t Comman—”
Girak slammed the door shut behind them, grabbed Pridbor’s head in a neck lock, and held the muzzle of the gun to his head.
Atsushi stumbled backward into the closed door, shocked by the fury on Girak’s face. It’s fake, he reassured himself.
The prime minister’s yelp was drowned out as the firecrackers went off. The panicked crowd roared and raced off toward the noise. Points to his fellow Northern Haveners for bravery.
Meanwhile, Atsushi was sneaking around and betraying them all. Sweat dripped down his back as Pridbor’s eyes bulged at the gun to his head. How had Atsushi’s day gone from finally being alone with Ayanna to taking the prime minister hostage?
“Rana needs us,” Girak said as if answering his question.
With his expression a bit contorted for effect, their educator shoved the terrified man into the now empty hallway and toward where Rana must be imprisoned. Atsushi and Ayanna followed, doing their best to look dazed.
“Diggory? Are you mad?” Pridbor’s eyes narrowed as he twisted to see the educator’s face.
Girak dreamily responded, “I can’t help it...she’s mind controlling me. And my students.” His face contorted between focused concentration and fake dazed mind-control. He truly looked crazed as he shoved Prime Minister Pridbor forward again.
Pridbor’s eyes flashed with anger. “Atsushi, you’re better than this.”
The jerk sounded exactly like his father. Not trusting his voice, Atsushi kept his face as blank as possible while his insides roiled.
“Atsushi.” Pridbor tried again, not even looking at Ayanna. Apparently, she wasn’t even worth trying to communicate with.
All Atsushi wanted was to scream at the prime minister for being so hateful, but instead, he and Ayanna stumbled along in an apparent daze as the firecrackers popped and rumbled in the distance. This had to be a high stimulation nightmare for Ayanna.
Please let her hold it together. He didn’t want to have to choose between her immediate safety and preventing a war.
Hurry. Those explosions made Savas decide to hunt me! The reaper’s words blasted into Atsushi’s mind with such force that this time he stumbled for real. An actual telepathic alien had just spoken to him, begging for help. He blinked and gasped, turning to Girak for guidance, but Girak only sped up.
Girak, please! Her plea again vibrated in his mind.
Rana’s terror echoed within Atsushi’s skull and twisted his intestines. He had to stop this. He strode toward the sealed door where an angry and armed Commander Savas readied himself to commit murder. If they didn’t hurry, there’d be no one left to rescue.