12

Brilliance

AUNT Theresa insisted Uncle Louie ride with her—probably so she could start lecturing him right away. He didn’t protest, so Mr. O drove Uncle Louie’s car back while Mrs. O took Sean and Molly home in theirs. When the Stuarts offered me a ride, I quickly accepted. Not only did Rigel and I feel a desperate need to be together after our scare, I had no desire to hear the tongue-lashing my uncle was about to get.

Climbing into the back seat of the Stuarts’ SUV, I leaned contentedly against Rigel. I didn’t care that he still reeked of sweat from the game. He was my knight in shining armor—though his pads, helmet and cleats were all piled on the floor of the car.

“So, it sounds like you managed a pretty good game after all,” I commented to him as we headed down the long gravel drive back to the state road.

He gave me that crooked grin I loved so much. After what you told me, I figured it was the best way to keep you safe. Then, out loud, “Yeah, though of course I thought you were in the stands—at least until halftime. Wish I’d thought to check my phone then. We could have rescued you sooner.”

“Just as well,” I said. “Bryce was there, keeping an eye on all my friends as well as the game so he could report back to his dad. If you’d all left at the half, Mr. Farmer would have known right away something was up, and who knows what he might have done. It must have been awkward, though, all of you rushing off the second the game ended?”

Usually, it took Rigel a while to extricate himself from all the Jewel fans eager to congratulate him after a good game—and from what I’d heard Bryce tell his father, this had been his best ever.

“The cause absolutely justified it,” Dr. Stuart said, “though I’ll admit we had other reasons for wishing to make a quick exit.”

The irritation that accompanied her words—echoed by her husband—immediately concerned me. “What happened? Was another one of the new arrivals rude to you guys at the game?”

“Not rude, precisely,” Mr. Stuart replied with obvious reluctance. “It was more that they behaved as though we weren’t there at all, even when we attempted to speak to them.”

Dr. Stuart nodded. “It was rather, ah, uncomfortable, to say the least. Though, as I said last night, I’m sure in time they’ll come around.”

I started getting pissed all over again. “Let me check something.” I pulled out my omni. If Kyna still hadn’t answered me…

She had. I played the waiting message aloud.

“I must say, I’m impressed, Excellency.” Kyna’s voice was loud enough for everyone in the car to hear. “As the Royals on the Council were the ones to suggest you compose any followup statement, I see no reason to consult them before authorizing this to go out over MARSTAR. I’ll see that it’s sent within the hour.”

“What statement is that?” Mr. Stuart asked, clearly startled. “I wasn’t told that anything would be broadcast via MARSTAR tonight.”

“Just a little addendum to the one the Council sent out last week. Let me check if it’s actually gone out yet.” I tapped the setting on my omni to display MARSTAR messages. “Ah, it looks like Kyna sent it about half an hour ago.”

Dr. Stuart glanced curiously over her shoulder at me. “This is a statement you composed yourself, Excellency?”

“Yes. That’s what the Royals on the Council suggested when I insisted they correct the glaring omission in their last one. I’ll double check what was actually sent—like I should have done last week. Do you want me to read it to you?”

“Please do,” Mr. Stuart said.

I pulled up the text of the most recent MARSTAR transmission and started reading aloud.

“The following is a statement from the Echtran Council. Last Saturday, in our haste to assure everyone that we no longer had anything to fear from the Grentl, we neglected to mention the vital role Rigel Stuart played in averting that danger. As a critical element of the defense our Scientists devised, Rigel Stuart and Sovereign Emileia both agreed to risk their own safety, perhaps even their lives, in order to use a recently discovered aspect of their graell bond to prevent what would surely have been a cataclysmic loss of power and life on Earth. We apologize for the delay in recognizing Rigel Stuart’s essential contribution and wish to extend our extreme gratitude to both him and our Sovereign for their selfless bravery on everyone’s behalf.”

Mr. Stuart drove in silence for a minute or two, then said, “But…didn’t you say you wrote the statement, Excellency?”

“I did. But if you remember, the Council never said anything about how I should word it. They’ve written and sent out plenty of statements in my name over the past year, so I figured it would be okay to send out this one in theirs.”

“A rather clever approach, I must say.” Dr. Stuart sounded both surprised and impressed. “I can’t help hoping it will help—” Her cell phone chimed and she broke off.

“Yes? You have? Why, thank you, Gwendolyn, that’s very big of you. Yes, I’ll tell him.”

She turned back around, now wearing a broad smile. “That was Gwendolyn Gannett. It seems the Echtran Enquirer has been getting some rather, ah, unpleasant feedback over the past several minutes. She asked me to convey her apology to Rigel for publishing that article last week without sufficiently checking her facts first.”

Rigel and I grinned at each other.

“Bet you and Dad get a few apologies, too,” he predicted, then checked his own cell phone. “Huh, looks like I’ve already received a couple of ‘I’m sorry’ emails myself, judging from the subject lines.”

By the time we reached my house, emails and more calls had begun pouring in, all to say how sorry people were for misjudging Rigel and his parents. The growing relief I sensed from Dr. and Mr. Stuart was palpable. Clearly they’d each received a lot more insults and veiled threats than either had been willing to let on to the other.

“You did it,” Rigel told me as he walked me to my door. “I can’t imagine why I ever doubted you. I’m starting to wonder if there’s any problem you can’t solve.”

I laughed. “You helped a lot, just like you do with everything—not to mention you probably saved my life tonight. Again. Even if Mr. Farmer wasn’t planning to kill us, I’d be a pretty sucky Sovereign without you.”

He shook his head. “Nah, you’d be great. But if you think working together on everything from now on will make you an even better one, I won’t argue.” Leaning in, he kissed me and, like always, I melted.

“You know,” he murmured after a long, blissful moment, “with all these changes in Jewel, we’re probably facing some pretty interesting times over the next few months—or years.”

I grinned up at him. “Probably so. But as long as we’re facing them together, we don’t have a thing to worry about.”

Keep reading for a preview of The Girl From Mars, book 5 in the Starstruck series!