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MOM GASPED as she looked at me. “Oh! Calla—”
I blinked back the tears coating my hideous transformation. The last time I checked, my eyes were a sickly green, lighter than Valcas’ original emerald green eyes, and as dull as dirt. I winced, knowing the combined effect of my sapped eye color, rounded cheeks and sharp chin made me look feline and impish.
“I’ve been studying the effects of the glasses,” Valcas said. “I hope to develop an antidote to the obvious flaw in my Uncle Edgar’s invention.”
“How much more harm will come to her?” Mom asked. “Look at her already—”
I bit my lip to keep from smiling. Valcas had lost his cheerleader.
Mom sighed. I recognized it as her tired sigh, the one she used when she didn’t want to deal with something—the one she used whenever I asked questions about my father—which was usually right before she changed the subject. “We should have lunch before the hearing,” she said. “It will be a short procedure, but you should be alert and well rested.”
Valcas stepped aside to let me follow Mom out of the room. He didn’t seem as high and mighty as he had been when he and Mom entered the waiting room. He was more like a dog walking with his tail between his legs.
***
WE HAD LUNCH AT A CAFETERIA. I didn’t pay much attention to what I ate. I’d grabbed a prepackaged sandwich and a bottle of water out of a cooler and placed them on my tray.
Mom and Valcas watched me eat while they sipped black coffee.
“What will the hearing be like?” I asked.
“A couple of other offenders will present their cases before you,” Mom said. “You’ll get to see how the process works before you are called to the podium. All you need to do is be truthful. Don’t try to evade the Commissioner’s questions. The more cooperative you are, the better your chances will be.”
Valcas smirked.
“Wait, let me guess. You’ve been in front of the Commissioner?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said. “Several times.”
Well, that figured. “Did they punish you?”
“Every single time.”
“Were you always able to pay?”
“Yes, but the last time I opted for a volunteer mission instead. To help a friend—”
I felt Mom tense beside me.
I frowned. “So finding my father was your punishment?”
Valcas stared at his coffee.
“Why didn’t you tell me all this when we met at the dock?” I asked. “Why did you keep it such a big secret? Look at me now. I’m going to be punished too.”
I glanced over at Mom, who was now staring at Valcas, her fingertips pressed to her lips.
“I told you not long after we first met,” he said. “I needed your help.”
“You told me you needed to find a bride in a short period of time.”
“Explain yourself, Valcas,” Mom said. “What are you planning?”
I shuddered, remembering when I found Edgar and told him everything that had happened to me, everything that Valcas had done since I’d met him. As lost as Edgar had been, he still knew Valcas better than Mom and I did. “I’m sure he has greater plans,” Edgar had said. Greater plans. Something bigger than protecting me from some great being of chaos called an Uproar?
The thudding of my heartbeat pounded in my ears. “You’re still looking for my father,” I said. “You think he’s still alive.”
The three or four other people in the cafeteria stopped what they were doing. All eyes were on me.
I stood up from the table to empty my tray. “That’s what you wanted all along, isn’t it? You wanted me to get into trouble too—to be punished, so I could help you find my father. You need my help for more than you’re willing to admit.”
Mom placed her hand on my arm. “Why do you need Calla?” she asked. “I spent so much time, sacrificed so much, to keep her away from all this.” She gulped. “Can’t you handle this on your own?”
My mouth dropped open as I stared wide-eyed at Mom. She’d been trying to protect me too?
“She has a stronger bond with Plaka than I do. His blood flows through her veins. I need her—” Valcas turned to me. “I need you to help me. I had to know whether you would be capable of travel, hearty enough to join the search. I had to test you first.”
I slammed the tray back down on the table and leaned forward. “This is all a game to you, isn’t it? What if I don’t want to play your game? Didn’t you figure that out when I escaped the first time? Every time?”
Valcas didn’t bother trying to conceal the grin that slowly spread across his face. “Do you really think I let you escape? That you were so enticing? That I was always just one step behind?”
“But your warning—you were shackled and bleeding!” I’d seen him through the travel glasses while staying at Edgar’s workshop in the woods. Valcas had communicated with me through the glasses. He’d told me that I wouldn’t be safe, even though he was the one bound in shackles. I’d assumed he’d lost his throne because he’d lost his bride. I was sure they’d punished him.
Valcas shrugged. “All part of the plan.” He drained the rest of the coffee from his mug and placed it on my tray. “Represent yourself well at the hearing. If you manage to stay out of jail, I know of a volunteer mission you can join.”
Mom’s eyes bugged out of her head as Valcas left the table.