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AFTER AN UNEVENTFUL BUBBLE CAR RIDE, Imara opened the door to her apartment and everyone piled in after her. Naki stayed uncharacteristically quiet while they discussed their plans.
“Maybe we’re stressing too much about this,” Abe said. “The Egyptian Council stayed uncorrupted even with Sef around. They ignored the taggers for years and wouldn’t give them the power they wanted. Just because Santini is back doesn’t mean she has complete control.”
“Yeah, but Professor Santini must have convinced them to arrest me. Right after I saved them all from Sef, I might add.” Imara slouched down onto the ground in the front room. Her anxiety was too high for sitting on the couch.
“That’s what scared me too,” Siluk said. “How could the Egyptian Council be against the taggers for so long and suddenly now do what they want? What power does Santini have over them?”
Imara rolled her eyes. “She’s probably just bribing them or blackmailing them.”
Siluk frowned. “Yeah, but with what?”
“Do you want to stay here, Siluk?” Naki twisted two braid strands around her finger as she spoke. Nervous energy came off her. She cleared her throat and seemed to stand a little taller. “It’s probably going to take some time to stop Santini or whatever we’re going to do. You can sleep here—and Darius too if he wants. The rooms are big enough that we could fit a bunch of people if we have to. As long as they don’t mind sleeping on the floor.”
Imara blinked at her sister. Why exactly did Naki think this was the most important thing to discuss right now?
Naki’s unease seemed to melt away, and she flipped her braids back behind her head. “I guess Abe can stay too, if you have to.” She didn’t hide the grimace as she said it. “Imara can move into my bedroom and Abe and Siluk, you two can stay in Imara’s room.”
Naki made no attempt to hide her ulterior motive of keeping Abe and Imara apart, but it didn’t matter. Everything was different now. Abe had sold his business just to be with Imara. He’d get on Naki’s good side and their parents’. He’d show Imara real commitment. If he didn’t, she’d break up with him without any of Naki’s meddling. Still, she had a feeling that least a few of her nights ahead would include Naki listing various reasons she should break up with Abe.
“I’ll start moving my things into your room,” Imara said. “And I’ll find some sleeping bags.”
“I’ll help,” Abe said with a smile.
Naki glared again, but before they could do anything, Abe’s ring started buzzing with a phone call. Soon enough, Edrice’s face appeared on Abe’s hologram screen looking back at them.
“You’re not going to like this,” she said.
Imara pushed herself to Abe’s side as her stomach dropped. “Is it Keiko and Husani?”
“Oh come on,” Keiko said, appearing on the hologram screen next to Edrice. “You know I’m tougher than that. It took Husani and me forever to get away, and we had to go into hiding, but we’re safe.”
A wave of relief washed over Imara as she let out a sigh. It didn’t last long when she remembered that not everyone had survived that fight.
“I think you need to come get Keiko out of here, Abe. Santini is looking for her.” Husani’s eyes dipped as he spoke. The frown tugging at his lips showed more concern than he’d ever exhibited before.
Keiko just rolled her eyes. “I’m fine.”
“I think we can all agree on how incredibly fine you are,” Husani said with a grin. “I’m more concerned with your safety at the moment.”
Now Edrice rolled her eyes. “You two are insufferable. Do you even remember why we decided to call them? We have bigger issues to deal with at the moment besides your incessant flirting.”
Keiko flinched at those words and looked away. “You’re really not going to like it,” she said.
While still on the call, Edrice sent some documents that mostly looked like boring notes from an Egyptian Council meeting that ended a few minutes prior. Entire conversations were documented, including three pages on what they were going to eat for lunch that day. A few pages later, the notes started to get more interesting.
“Santini is calling a global vote?” Abe asked.
“That’s not all,” Edrice said. “She wants to create a new position and has nominated herself for it. If her global vote is passed, she’ll become the global judge of the entire world. It’s a new position with no rules, so there could potentially be no restrictions on power. And there are no other nominations or candidates or campaigning, just a simple yes or no vote. If she gets the councils from around the world to vote for her, she’d have limitless power.”
“That’s insane,” Abe said. “Nobody is going to go for that. Tell me the other territories have refused the global vote.”
“She has the Egyptian Council on her side. They’ve already convinced several territories to agree to the vote. Italy agreed first. No surprise there since Santini is from Italy. But then, she got Russia to agree, and then India, Bulgaria, and Germany—and that’s just in the last few minutes. It’s having a snowball effect, and more territories have already agreed. I’ve considered the politics. It doesn’t look good. This global vote is definitely going to happen. I think our only chance is to convince the different councils to vote against Santini when the time comes.”
Siluk flopped onto the couch while the crease between his eyes deepened. “So, you’re saying Santini is about to take over the world and we only have a minuscule chance of stopping her.”
Abe flicked his eyes toward Siluk and showed the tiniest hint of annoyance. But it was gone so fast, Imara was certain she had imagined it. Abe turned back to his hologram screen. “Thanks, Edrice. Let us know if there are any other developments. We’re going to try to clear Imara’s fugitive status first, and then we’ll deal with Santini. And Husani, let me know if things get too dangerous for Keiko, and I’ll come pick her up.”
As he ended the phone call, the apartment door flew open, and Imara flinched on instinct. She crept for the couch, certain that the Egyptian police had followed her here and were going to take her back to Egypt.
Instead, she was met with a sight that seemed only slightly less terrifying and probably trickier to deal with.
“Where have you been?” Imara’s dad said with a booming voice. He found Abe among them a moment later and pierced him with a glare that rivaled Naki’s.
Imara’s mom had her arms crossed in front of her with lips pressed into a thin line. “We need to talk,” she said.
