5
Clarity
AFTER lunch, our Government teacher said we’d also be getting two new students in there. “So take this time to work with your partners to put the finishing touches on your projects, as they’re due Friday and I’d rather not leave our new arrivals with nothing to do tomorrow.”
As soon as we paired off, I apologized again to Molly for leaving her in the lurch on our project all of last week.
“Seriously, M, it’s fine,” she assured me. “What you were doing was like a million times more important than some report about the Constitution. Speaking of which, how is your aunt handling everything, now it’s been a few days?”
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “It’s like she’s pretending that conversation with Kyna and your mom never happened—I mean, she won’t refer to it at all. I don’t get it. If it were me, I’d want to know everything.”
“Your Aunt Theresa is so not you, M,” Molly pointed out. “Maybe she just can’t wrap her mind around it yet.”
“Yeah. Dr. Stuart said she might need time to get used to the idea, but still…” I shook my head, tired of puzzling over it. “So, are you sure there’s not something I can still do on this project?”
There really wasn’t—she’d double-checked the footnotes and everything—so we mostly spent our time speculating about the new students. By now, I was as curious about them as everyone else in school.
In Econ, Trina and Amber seemed to be hatching a whispered plot with a couple of other cheerleaders to set themselves up as some kind of official welcoming committee. I had to laugh, remembering how she’d acted toward Rigel, and then Sean, when they’d arrived at Jewel High last year.
“What’s so funny, Marsha?” Trina sniped in response to my chuckle. “You think just because you convinced Rigel and the O’Garas you’re something special these new students will, too? News flash. Anyone coming from the East Coast is going to have way higher standards.”
A year ago that would have embarrassed me into silence. Not now. “Uh-huh. I’m sure if they’d been here last week, it would have made all the difference in the Homecoming Court vote.” I knew it still rankled badly that I’d beaten her out for Junior Princess.
She glared at me. “Just wait, Marsha. We’re going to be so charming, these new guys won’t even look at you.”
It would actually be great if she was right—but I was pretty sure she wasn’t.
“Okay, folks, we’ve got one heck of a story to cover,” Angela, our editor-in-chief, announced in Publications last period, practically rubbing her hands together with glee.
“This corporation moving its headquarters to Jewel is the biggest news this town has seen in years—maybe decades. We may just be an online school newspaper, but we can still do a better job reporting on it than the local rag. The office already gave me the names and class years of all the new students.”
She brandished a sheet of paper, then read from it. “Two seniors, Kira Morain and Alan Dempsey. Two juniors, Lucas and Liam Walsh, brothers. Two sophomores, Grady Quinlan and Erin Campbell, and two freshmen, Adina Morain and Jana Blair. Since there are eight of us and eight of them, we’ll interview one apiece.”
Becky waved a hand in the air. “Ooh, can I have one of the guys?” She and the three other girls on the staff giggled.
Angela frowned them down. “I’ll take Alan Dempsey, since we’re both seniors. Becky, you can have Kira Morain.”
Ignoring Becky’s pout, Angela continued, “Rigel, you and M take the Walsh brothers. Jeremy, Grady Quinlan is yours. And you three can decide between you who gets Erin, Jana and Adina.”
According to Nara’s report on the new students, their being so evenly balanced by both class year and gender was no coincidence, but part of the selection process—though Adina had been listed as an eighth grader instead of ninth. Probably a last-minute change.
“I’ll want a full profile on each one, including as much on their parents as you can get. Oh, and if anyone can score an interview with the CEO of NuAgra, you’ll be my hero. I’ve called half a dozen times today but can’t get through their voicemail system. Maybe it’s not working yet.”
Rigel glanced at me. One of us should probably do that, don’t you think? Then we can spin things however seems safest.
Good plan, I agreed. I’ll give the Council a heads-up.
Angela went on to suggest we all wrap up any stories already in progress so we could devote next week to the new students—who also needed to be warned before they started giving interviews.
I added that to my lengthening list of mental notes.
If I’d expected a break from Jewel’s big news in taekwondo class that afternoon, I was wrong.
“I’m expecting two or three new students on Saturday, maybe more,” Master Parker announced with a big smile as soon as we bowed in. “I personally talked with several of the new families, pointing out what a great way this would be to get plugged to their new community. It’ll also benefit you people to have new sparring partners. There are flyers on the front desk for you to take on your way out. Feel free to give them to your new classmates at school.”
During class I tried hard to focus, to put other concerns out of my mind, like Master Parker always told us to do. But I couldn’t help thinking one reason he’d had such an easy time persuading parents to sign their kids up was because they’d heard I studied taekwondo.
Which would be awkward even if these kids had already learned to compensate for being stronger and faster than the Duchas they were supposed to mimic. I was extra glad now that no children younger than twelve had been permitted to come to Jewel.
When I walked past Burrell’s Feed & Seed on my way home, I discovered one more reason to worry. Two employees were taking a smoke break outside the entrance—and talking about NuAgra.
“—put us out of business,” I heard one say.
The other man nodded. “Yeah, I saw. Gonna make half the stuff we sell here obsolete, sounds like. Bad enough they’re only taking on their own people. Now this.”
Wondering how pervasive attitudes like that were already becoming, I walked faster. I needed to message Kyna and request a meeting with all the newcomers as soon as possible. Maybe together we could deal with issues like these before they developed into real problems.
When I got home a few minutes later, I was surprised to find Aunt Theresa already in the kitchen—and radiating tension.
“You’re home early,” I said cautiously as I went to the fridge to pour myself a glass of milk. “Is, um, something wrong?”
Standing up from the stack of papers she’d been grading on the kitchen table, she regarded me with an apprehensive frown. “Not…wrong, precisely, but I’d, ah, like to ask you something. If you don’t mind.”
Finally! Even though it would delay my message to Kyna, I smiled encouragingly. “Of course I don’t mind. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
She sat back down at the table, so I put the milk away and sat across from her, taking a sip from my glass. And waiting.
For a long moment she fidgeted, shuffling her papers while conflicting emotions played across her face, before blurting out, “This new company, these new people. They’re not…they can’t really all be—?”
“Yes. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. They’re people like me. And the O’Garas.”
Her eyes widened slightly, then she nodded. “I was afraid that was the case after reading the article in today’s paper. I’d hoped— But I suppose it was foolish of me to think that if I ignored the, er, situation it would somehow go away, or at least not matter.”
“I’m, sorry, Aunt Theresa. I know it’s been a lot for you to take in. Dr. Stuart said I should give you time, wait till you were ready to talk about it.”
She huffed out a breath. “Yes. Well. Whether I’m ready or not, I’d best know exactly what Jewel is up against.”
Now I frowned. “Up against? What do you mean? It’s not an invasion.”
One gray eyebrow went up. “Isn’t it?”
“Of course not! They’re just coming here to…to live their lives, like everyone else.”
“But why Jewel?”
I bit my lip. “Um, because of me, mostly. There wasn’t time on Saturday for Kyna and Mrs. O’Gara to give you more than the absolute basics, but you remember them telling you I’m their Sovereign, right?”
“Yes, but I’m still not sure I understand what that means. They said your grandfather was killed on…on Mars…by some dictator who also killed your parents here on Earth? But you escaped?”
I nodded. “I’m not sure exactly how, since I was only two, but Shim—that’s Rigel’s grandfather, my Regent back on Mars—he thinks my parents knew Faxon’s people were after them. Apparently they hid me, then made it look like I was with them when they were killed in an arranged accident.”
“And they—these, ah, people of yours—only recently discovered you survived?”
“Shim suspected it sooner but it wasn’t until the Stuarts moved here that anyone knew for sure I was the missing Princess. Believe me, Aunt Theresa, I was just as shocked as you when they told me! It took me a while to believe it, too.”
She stared at me for several seconds, like she was trying to see anything remotely “royal” about me—and mostly failing. “I almost wish I still didn’t know. I’m not at all comfortable lying to people. Especially in church.”
“I’m sorry, Aunt Theresa. But you get why, right? There’s no way most Earth people—especially in a little town like Jewel—are ready to know about all this. They might want to…to round us all up and put us in a concentration camp or something.”
“I suppose. But what will that new company really be doing? Anything dangerous?”
“No, not at all,” I quickly assured her. “NuAgra really will be doing agricultural research, just like the paper said—though their research will probably be a little more, um, high tech than they let on.”
My aunt looked slightly relieved—but only slightly. “How many…Martians are there on Earth? Total?”
Bracing myself for her reaction, I answered, “About fifteen thousand now, counting the ones that just came here over the summer. It was only about ten thousand before that.”
“Only—” she repeated faintly, her earlier tension spiking into alarm. “How big is that colony on Mars?”
“There are still almost a quarter of a million people in Nuath. They’re starting to run out of power, though, so we’re trying to convince as many as possible to move to Earth over the next few decades. Not to take over or anything. They’re nothing to be scared of, I promise. They’re just…people. You’ve known Mrs. O’Gara for nearly a year now and you like her, right?”
Grudgingly, she nodded. “Yes. I never would have guessed Lili could be—” She broke off, shaking her head. “And the Stuarts? How many others have been living in Jewel with no one suspecting?”
“Until now, only a few. I don’t think you’ve met any others—except maybe Mr. Cormac.”
She blinked. “Jewel High’s new vice principal?”
“Yeah. He’s also my, er, Bodyguard. It’s why he’s renting that room over Mrs. Crabtree’s garage, across the street.”
“Bodyguard? Does that mean you’re still in danger? Is that dictator still trying to have you…killed?” Her earlier tension surged back.
“No, no! It’s just protocol for the Sovereign to have a Bodyguard, like the President has the Secret Service. Faxon was completely overthrown last December and has been in a super secure prison—on Mars—ever since.”
She was still frowning. “But before that? What did he do when he found out you were alive?”
I hesitated. I didn’t want to scare her, but I also didn’t want to lie to her any more.
“Uh, do you remember how we almost got in an accident on the way home from last year’s Homecoming game? One of Faxon’s people rigged Uncle Louie’s car so it wouldn’t stop.”
“They tampered with our car?” she gasped.
“Yes, but they caught him that same night! Okay, a few more bad guys did come after me the next day, but Rigel’s family and some others fought them and we, um…won. Nobody’s trying to hurt me now.” As far as I knew, anyway.
“But…the, er, President said something about you risking your life Friday night?”
“Well, yeah, but that had nothing to do with Faxon.”
“No, that woman who came here with the President said something about…another kind of alien? Different from you, I mean.”
“I’m not an alien, Aunt Theresa. Kyna and Mrs. O’Gara both explained to you how we’re all human, descended from a colony those other, different aliens planted on Mars centuries ago. We—”
“Yes, yes, I remember.” Now she sounded a bit testy, more like herself, which oddly made me feel a little better. “So what, exactly, did you do to deserve that medal?”
“It’s…kind of complicated. Those other aliens came here planning to wipe out all technology on Earth with a massive electromagnetic pulse. We told the media it was sunspots so people wouldn’t freak out about an alien attack. Because it would have been like a huge solar storm, only way worse. At the last minute, Rigel and I managed to create a, uh, power surge that sort of turned their EMP back on itself so it never reached Earth.”
“But it sounded as though you could have been killed?”
I shrugged, trying to play it down. “That’s what the Scientists said. We did get knocked out for a few seconds—the feedback blew up a piece of Martian equipment right near us—but we’re both fine now. And those aliens left our solar system the very next day. Really, Aunt Theresa, there’s nothing to be afraid of now.”
For a long moment she just sat there, trying to make sense of it all. “I don’t suppose…was that the explosion everyone was talking about on Sunday?”
“Um…yeah. The cornfield by the school seemed like a safe place to set up the equipment, since it needed to be secret and we didn’t want to risk anyone else getting hurt.”
Though she slowly shook her head, her eyes never leaving my face, I was glad to sense her fear finally receding as curiosity crept back in.
“Lili said you traveled to Mars last spring instead of to Ireland, difficult as that is to believe. Is that where you were involved in the auto accident I was told about?”
“I actually did go to Ireland first, then left for Mars from there. But once I got there some people, ah, didn’t want me to leave again. They started a rumor back here that I’d died in a car wreck so you wouldn’t ask too many questions. I wasn’t really in an accident. And I finally managed to convince them I could do my job from here.”
I was leaving out a whole lot but she didn’t need to hear any more scary details—especially involving people she’d trusted.
“But you’re only sixteen. Surely you’re not really expected to…to lead all of those people?”
“Well, I do have a Regent back on Mars, Rigel’s grandfather. He’s taking care of all the government stuff there. And the Echtran Council was already handling that sort of thing on Earth, before they found out I was alive.”
That they obviously wanted to keep doing so was an issue I still needed to tackle.
“And how does school fit into all of this? What does your being a…a Sovereign entail, exactly?”
“It has sometimes been tricky juggling school and all my other commitments without making you suspicious,” I admitted. “It’ll be easier now I don’t have to pretend I’m building Homecoming floats when I’m really dealing with Echtran Scientists or have sleepovers at Molly’s every time it looks like a Council meeting will go late.”
My aunt abruptly pushed away from the table and stood. “I believe that will do for now. Thank you, Marsha. Or…may I still call you Marsha?”
“Sure. It’s what everyone still calls me at school—that and M. I’m still the same person I’ve always been, Aunt Theresa. Nothing needs to change here at home. Not much, anyway.” I did hope she might cut me a break on my chores, a little.
“Hmph. Well. In that case, you should probably go upstairs and do your homework. Your, ah, people mustn’t have a poorly educated Sovereign.”
“Right. Good point.”
Heading up to my room, I grinned to myself, heartened that she’d been able to almost joke about it. It looked like she’d be okay with everything after all. Eventually, anyway.