When I get home, Adina and my parents are just leaving to take the new puppy for a walk so it can do its business before bedtime.
“I’m still working on getting her to understand that she needs to always do it outside, so I’m trying to give her lots of chances,” Adina explains as I try to fend off the fuzzy thing’s effusive greeting.
“Okay if I don’t come along to watch?” I try to control my instinctive grimace. “I still have some homework to do.”
I wait until the door closes behind them, then go into the bathroom and lock the door. Opening the secret app, I type in a message.
Sean O’Gara proving harder to persuade than I expected. Do we have a backup plan?
There. With any luck, they’ll message me back with a different mission so I can avoid Sean and still be useful to the cause. I’m about to exit secure mode when I see a notification of an incoming voice call. Hurriedly, I activate the aural dampening field, in case Adina and my parents get back sooner than I expect.
“Your location is secure?” Allister says the moment I answer.
“Yes, but I may not have long.”
“Very well. Please elaborate on the message you just sent.”
I swallow. I hadn’t expected this. “I, ah, I’m afraid I might not be able to convince Sean O’Gara to join us after all. He still seems to be completely loyal to the Sovereign, even after everything she’s done to him.”
“Are you sure?” Allister sounds disappointed but not surprised.
“Pretty sure. He’s not spending much time around her these days, but he defends her every time I mentioned a mistake she’s made. Not only that, he keeps arguing her case, trying to talk me into becoming one of her supporters.”
Lennox’s voice cuts in—he must be right there with Allister. “I told you this was likely, but you were determined to try with your nephew. If Sean won’t be swayed and is no longer close to the Sovereign, we’d do better to return to our original plan.”
“For me to work at convincing all the other Echtrans in town, you mean?”
“Not just yet,” Lennox replies. “We still need you to get close enough to the Sovereign and her friends to discover more weaknesses we can exploit.”
“I did find out from Sean and his sister that the Sovereign and the Echtran Council don’t always agree on things. Maybe we can use that somehow?”
Allister breaks back in. “Do you know what they disagree about? Does it have anything to do with us?”
“Um, I don’t think so. Sean told me most of the Council isn’t happy about ceding their power to an upstart teenager…not that he put it that way. Can’t really blame them. It sounds like she doesn’t always trust the Council, either.”
“Excellent,” Lennox says. “If there is already a rift forming, the Council is less likely to present the obstacle we feared. We must consider ways to deepen the conflict between them and the girl. Meanwhile, Kira, use any means necessary to insinuate your way into the Sovereign’s inner circle. Win the trust of her closest friends, particularly Rigel Stuart.” He says the name like it leaves a bad taste in his mouth. “Once you’ve done that, we’ll be able to proceed.”
That will mean working harder than ever to conceal my real opinions, but it shouldn’t force me to spend time with Sean, which is a relief.
“Molly O’Gara already seems to like me, so that’s a start,” I tell them eagerly. “She and the Sovereign are really close. I also have two classes with the Sovereign every day, plus Taekwondo on Wednesdays and Saturdays.”
“Yes, a very good start,” Allister agrees. “Message us when you’ve gained enough trust to spend time alone with the Sovereign and her cohorts. Then we’ll arrange a lengthier conversation on ways to effectively undermine her influence. Have you any other information to give us before we close?”
I wrack my brain, thinking over everything I heard this evening. “Molly let slip that you were lucky the Sovereign and Rigel didn’t hurt you when you first told them about Sean being her Cheile Rioga last year. I asked how, but she wouldn’t say.”
“Hurt me?” Allister’s voice is sharp. “Do you mean—?”
Even through the aural dampening field, I hear a door slam. “Oops, I think my parents are back. I should go.”
“Very well,” Lennox says. “If we wish to speak with you before your next report, we will message you. Remember to keep your device with you at all times.”
They break the connection without saying goodbye. I deactivate the dampening field, close the secret screen, then flush the toilet before emerging into the living room.
“Good walk?” I ask brightly.
At school the next day, Sean seems nearly as eager to avoid me as I am to avoid him. We exchange no more than stiff smiles in our Physics and Lit classes, and give each other a wide berth whenever we pass each other in the hallways. I tell myself I’m relieved.
At lunch, he again sits with friends from the basketball team. Mindful of my new instructions, I only pause briefly at the newcomers’ table with my tray of food.
“Hey, guys. Molly O’Gara asked me to sit at her table today, so I probably should. See you all later, okay?”
A couple of them look impressed, even envious. Only Alan seems disappointed. In Physics, he acted a little too pleased when I didn’t talk to Sean. Another reason not to sit here and risk Alan thinking it’s because of him.
Gathering my courage, I walk over to the table where Molly O’Gara is sitting…right across from the Sovereign. “Er, hi. Do you have room for one more?”
“Of course!” Molly exclaims delightedly, snatching her backpack off the chair next to her. “I actually saved this seat for you—I was just about to invite you to join us.”
Smiling tentatively around the table, I sit down. “I, ah, thought it would be nice to, er, branch out, especially since I’ve already met most of you.” Bri and Deb smile back and I glance at M, across from me. She and Rigel seem a little preoccupied, but then their serious expressions relax.
“That’s great, Kira,” M says. “I hope the others will start mingling more, too. Have you had your interview for the school paper yet?”
“Yes, Becky called Monday night and asked about a million questions, plus some follow-up ones before Statistics yesterday.” It was like getting an intensive pop quiz on all the background info I memorized in Dun Cloch, but I’d only stumbled once or twice—and not in ways that would make her suspicious.
Rigel chuckles. “Angela, the editor, has really been riding us to get those stories in. She wants our first drafts this afternoon. M and I are doing the Walsh twins. Yours is ready, right?” The look he gives her is so intimate it makes me a little uncomfortable, especially after what Sean told me last night.
I’m curious to know more details about their bond but with Bri, Deb and a few other Duchas at the table, we obviously can’t talk about anything Echtran-related. Instead I ask about school sports, claiming I’d played soccer—a common Duchas sport slightly similar to caidpel—at my last school.
“Jewel used to have a girls’ soccer team,” Bri tells me, “but it fizzled a few years back. All we have now in the fall is cross country, then basketball after that.”
Molly gives me a knowing grin. “You should totally go out for basketball—unless Trina has talked you into joining the cheerleading squad?”
“She’s tried, but I, um, don’t think it would be my kind of thing.” Again, I don’t commit about the basketball.
The conversation moves on to school gossip about some cheerleader’s breakup with some football player. I don’t take part, since I don’t know either of them. Still, by the time the bell rings I feel like I’ve taken a decent first step toward following my latest orders.
I take another at the end of Economics, when I hang back to talk to Trina after the Sovereign leaves for her next class. If anyone can tell me about M’s weaknesses, I reason, it’s likely to be Trina, who seems to dislike her at least as much as I do.
First I make some comment about the class, then say, “Last week you warned me to watch out for Marsha Truitt. Is there anything I should worry about other than boyfriend-stealing, since I don’t happen to have one of those?”
Her eyes instantly light up, a malicious little smile curving her lips. “Oh, where do I begin? She’s been a total pain since elementary school, so there’s a lot. One thing you definitely want to be careful of is her tendency to get violent for no reason.”
“Violent? Really?” I did read a mention of her starting a fight last year. Details on that would be great. “Like, who has she gone after?”
“Me, among other people,” Trina replies smugly. “She’s always had it in for me, though I can’t imagine why. The last time she got pissed at me, she actually broke my nose, believe it or not! And never even said she was sorry afterward.”
So it was Trina she attacked? Jackpot.
“Wow, that’s awful!” I squeeze every ounce of sympathy I can into my voice. “Why would she do that?”
“I honestly have no idea. Afterward she claimed it was because of something I showed her on my phone, but since she also broke that, of course she had no proof.”
By now I’ve seen enough of Trina to suspect she did something to deserve it. Still, considering how good Marsha Truitt is at Taekwondo, completely apart from her being an Echtran—and the freaking Sovereign—nothing could possibly justify a physical attack.
I’m about to ask more questions when Trina notices the time. “Oops! I’ve already been late to Government twice this quarter. I better hurry if I don’t want to risk detention. Later, Kira!”
I don’t particularly need to hurry. Wednesday’s not one of my NuAgra days, so I spend seventh period in study hall, then take the bus so I can attend Taekwondo after school. On the way home, Adina tells me she’s thinking about dropping out at the end of our two-week trial period.
“I’m not very good at it and I want to spend more time with Aggie.” That’s what she decided to name her puppy. “She already gets left alone too much.”
“I’m sure the dog will be fine.” I roll my eyes. “Don’t most people with dogs have to work or go to school?”
“Well, yeah, but she’s still so little…”
In class, I try much harder than I did on Saturday to act friendly toward M. I’m not sure she’s buying it, though, no matter how much eagerness I force into my voice when asking about Taekwondo terms and moves.
“How long did it take you to get your blue belt?” I ask her as we’re changing out of our sparring pads at the end of class.
“Longer than it should have because I was gone for almost six months,” she replies with a too-penetrating look. “I was in a study-abroad program in Ireland spring semester, then got into an accident there, so I didn’t get back to Jewel until mid-August.”
Like every other Echtran, I know exactly where she really was all that time, as well as the story given out in Jewel to account for her prolonged absence and Rigel’s supposed memory erasure.
I nod, mindful of all the Duchas students nearby. “Did you have fun in Ireland? Before your accident, I mean.”
“Oh, yeah, it was great.” Her smile doesn’t reach her eyes—in fact, there seems to be a lot of pain reflected in those green depths. I feel my first stirring of sympathy for her—but quickly squash it.
“I’d love to hear about it sometime.” I force a light tone as I avert my gaze to look over at Adina. She’s talking to two Duchas students around her age. “Well, um, I should go collect my sister. See you at school.”
Molly did say M disliked the trappings that went with her position, but what I just saw in her eyes went way beyond that. Like she had some seriously bad memories of her time in Nuath. Maybe I can convince Molly to tell me why.
“Ready to go, Sprout?” I say once I’ve turned in my borrowed pads. Adina nods and jumps up and we go change.
“You seemed to be having a good time today,” I comment as we leave to walk home. “Think maybe you’ll stick around after all? It’d be good to at least learn more self-defense moves.”
She slants an amused glance up at me. “What, like I’m going to get attacked in Jewel? Not likely. I was hoping you wouldn’t be so over-protective here.”
“I’m still a big sister.” I ruffle her hair with a laugh.
Just then, I hear a voice—the Sovereign’s voice—calling our names. We turn and she hurries down the block toward us.
“Hey, sorry, I didn’t have a chance to tell you guys in class where no one would hear, but we decided to have Saturday’s party at Rigel’s house instead of the O’Garas.’ Less chance of other kids from school hearing about it that way, or maybe even dropping by.”
“Oh, um, okay.” I glance at Adina, who’s nodding eagerly. “Where does he live?”
She pulls a sheet of paper out of her gear bag. “Here’s his address and phone number. Or you can call me, I put my number on there, too, even though Cormac didn’t want me to.” She grins conspiratorially and glances over her shoulder at her Bodyguard—who also happens to be the Vice-Principal at Jewel High. He’s hovering half a block away.
“Wow, I can’t believe she gave us her personal phone number,” Adina gushes once we’re well out of earshot. “She must really trust us, don’t you think?”
I just nod, pushing away the uncomfortable thought that I’m the last person in Jewel she should trust. What would her Bodyguard do if he knew I was reporting back to the Populists about her? I’m not sure I want to find out.
The next day in French class, Molly asks if I can come over again that evening after dinner. “We can work on some of this stuff.” She jabs a finger at the textbook, then lowers her voice. “And maybe you can give me some tips on growing plants, since mine always curl up and die.”
“Oh, um, okay.” Now that I’m avoiding Sean, Molly is likely to be my best source of inside information. I want to ask if he’ll be there—I do not want a repeat of last time!—but I don’t dare with the Sovereign sitting right there.
Then, as we’re leaving the room after class, M surprises me by stepping close the moment Molly’s too far away to hear.
“When you go over to Molly’s, don’t make fun of her about the plant thing, okay? She’s kind of sensitive about it.”
“Of…of course not. I’d never do that.”
Her concerned frown disappears. “I didn’t think you would but…it’s hard for her sometimes, not feeling like she belongs in either world, you know? Maybe being friends with you will help.”
With a genuine-seeming smile, she heads off to her next class and I head to mine, thinking hard. A Chomseireach is basically a Sovereign’s personal servant, but she sounded as protective of Molly as I’d be of Adina. Conflict wells up in me again but I firmly remind myself that being nice isn’t enough to make her an effective Sovereign.
As the day goes on, I find it harder and harder to ignore Sean. In Lit class, I force myself to concentrate on Fahrenheit 451 and the essay I’m supposed to be outlining on its themes. The book is interesting, parts of it reminding me of Faxon’s regime and the Resistance, but I’m distracted by Sean’s presence two desks away. The third time I sneak a peek at him, I catch him looking back. I quickly avert my eyes.
The thought that he might be having trouble ignoring me, too, creates a tiny bubble of pleasure that I immediately try to pop. My mission no longer involves trying to persuade Sean, so there’s no reason for me to get to know him any better. No reason at all.
Over lunch, I take the added precaution of asking Molly if she can come to my place tonight instead of me going to hers. Though she seems surprised, she quickly agrees.
“Great!” If my relief at eliminating any chance of seeing Sean tonight is marred by a tiny thread of disappointment, I ignore it.