I CAME TO IN A blur of noise and motion.
Confusion surrounded me. I stared up a long tube, sounds echoing without meaning, everything a nonsensical swirl of light.
And then, as if a camera zoomed in on the action, the end of the tube rushed toward me. Everything came into sharp clarity. Sounds became almost too clear, piercing my brain like spikes. I howled, clamping my hands over my ears, closing my eyes against the onrush of images.
Hands grabbed me, almost painful in their intensity, and I cringed away. They released me. I tumbled onto something that felt like sandpaper and screeched as it scraped my back.
The hands had me again, less violent than before, lifting me off the sandpaper and propping me up. Sounds slowly coalesced into voices. I focused on the most familiar, which turned out to be Rune: “What’s wrong with her?”
“Give her a minute.” That was Cage, close by.
Hands ran over my skin, and they weren’t violent at all. Something had oversensitized me to every little sound and sensation. It faded now, but for a moment it had overwhelmed me with pain and intensity like I’d never known, not even when Cage cut the chip from my arm.
I forced my eyes open, blinking against what I now realized was dim, shattered sunlight. I slumped in a pile of sand with Rune and Cage crouched nearby. Imani and Reed knelt behind me, Imani holding me up while Reed used his power on me. The sensation on my back—Reed’s hands, touching, channeling, healing. Strength and cooling seemed to flow from him, and I closed my eyes, embracing the awareness.
After a moment the pain receded, the world coming into sharper focus. But with the physical pain receding, my grief surged inside me. I dropped my head to my hands to hide my tears. I couldn’t cry in front of them, not now, not here, wherever here was.
But Dad . . . I could have convinced him. I was so close. He’d been opening up, ready to listen. We could have escaped together. And instead I’d left him lying on the floor of an Omnistellar ship, soaked in blood, killed by the aliens he’d summoned and entombed by his own corporation.
Cage slid a hand over my arm as if he knew what was going through my mind. I bit hard on my lip, so hard I tasted blood and saw stars, and between that and the warmth of his hand I managed to choke back the tears. Dad, my dad . . . but no. Not now. I almost laughed. It seemed like I never had time to grieve anyone properly.
But Dad would want me to survive. He’d want me to fight. And to do that, I needed to get myself together. I closed my eyes until the urge to cry passed, surreptitiously wiping a few stray tears away as I got to my feet. I tried to pass the effects off as the lingering consequences of the healing. “Thanks,” I managed. Cage cast me a knowing look but kept his mouth shut. His hand lingered on my arm, and I leaned against him gratefully even as I squared my shoulders and found what remained of my training, becoming Omnistellar strong. “What happened?”
“We don’t know.” Imani regarded me carefully, as if wondering if I’d break. I forced a little more steel into my spine. “You pulled us through the portal and instantly collapsed. When you woke, you were screaming. We didn’t know what happened, so Reed tried healing you.”
I rested my hand on Cage’s and took in my surroundings. We stood in a dimly lit desert, but I didn’t get the sense that it was night. Instead the sun itself seemed dull. Its reddish tinge reminded me of my night on Mars, even though the sand looked more like Earth. Memories flooded me, summers spent with my cousins at their beach house before we’d started moving all over the planet. This had the same white, soft quality, and it was almost comforting.
In most directions, an endless sea of sand rose and fell in wavelike dunes. Toward the sun, though, buildings shadowed against the light. It looked like a city, but something—the angles of the buildings, maybe, or the way it leaned into the horizon—didn’t fit. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was wrong, but I got a distinct feeling we weren’t on Earth.
As far away as we can get, I’d told my power.
And . . . it looked like it had obliged.
“We’re on another planet,” I whispered, almost to myself. The others stared at me, their expressions glassy, and I realized that my revelation trailed theirs. “That’s impossible. Isn’t it?”
Reed laughed shortly. “Kenz, I’m not sure the word ‘impossible’ is in my vocabulary anymore. Aliens, shifting powers, livable planets we’ve never heard of. Sure. Why not?” He laughed again, but without humor, his fists clamped at his sides and his arms ramrod straight.
I shook my head, my senses returning, and as they did, I took in something I’d missed before. Cage, and Rune, and Imani, and Reed . . . “Where’s everyone else?” I demanded.
Reed and Imani stared at their feet. Cage and Rune met my eyes, their faces hesitantly sympathetic, and that was somehow worse. “Where are they?” I repeated hoarsely. I stumbled a few feet toward the city, spinning frantically in place, searching for them in the vast open desert. “Cage, where are they?”
“We don’t know,” he replied, very gently, taking me in his arms and running his hands over my shoulders. “We landed here, the five of us.”
I yanked free, stumbling and landing in the sand. Puffs of dust flew around me. “Are you telling me I somehow lost everyone else?”
“We don’t know that. They might be nearby . . .”
“Nearby where?” I gestured frantically. “They’re nowhere, Cage! Either I left them behind, or I lost them along the way.”
“We don’t know that,” he insisted sharply, but I shook my head, dropping my face to my hands.
A moment later, Rune crouched beside me. “Kenz,” she said softly. “I don’t think that happened. You know why? Because you’re you. You would have fought tooth and nail to hold on to all of us, whether you were aware of it or not.”
“She’s right,” said Reed unexpectedly. He flashed me a quick smile. “You saved us on Sanctuary. You got us off the ship. And now you want me to believe you accidentally lost your friends on something as minor as a magical journey through space? Nah.”
“Here’s what happened,” said Rune with more confidence than I thought was justified. “You pulled all of us through, but when we came out the other side, you lost your grip. We scattered. They can’t be far.”
As if timed by her statement, a flash lit up the sky toward the city. My head flew up, dried tears staining my cheeks as hope surged in my heart. “Was that a laser?”
“Just might be,” agreed Cage. His tone was light, but I read the relief under his voice. “I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s Mia signaling us.”
“Because she’s the one who’d be angriest about being dumped on some barren patch of alien desert.” He flashed me a quick smile. “And because in spite of what you think of her, she’s the one who’d be the most worried about getting everyone together.”
What did I think of Mia? After everything, I cared about her, trusted her, and I wanted her to trust me. And maybe the first step to gaining her trust was telling her that, telling her the truth. I really hoped I’d get the chance to see her again and work it out. “All right,” I said, letting Cage help me to my feet. We squared off, the five of us, facing the strange city outlined in the distance. “Let’s say you’re right. Let’s say our friends are over there. What next?”
Rune slid her arm through mine. “We go find them, of course.”
The simplicity of her answer made me smile, nearly laugh. I was pretty sure I’d trapped us on some sort of alien planet and damn near killed myself in the process. I’d split us from our friends, and I had no idea where we were or if I could get us home. But to Rune, the answer was obvious. Fall down forty-nine times, get up fifty. One problem at a time. We were separated; now to get back together. “Then what are we waiting for?” I asked as Cage’s fingers threaded through my free hand. Reed and Imani drew together beside us, and we stood a moment silhouetted against the red-tinged sun, staring into the distance.
The alien landscape seemed to open up and swallow me whole. In such a short time, my life had flipped upside down. I’d lost everything: my family, my corporation, my future. I’d lost my faith in my mother when she pushed the button that she thought would kill me, and then I’d lost the chance to ever reconcile with her when she died. I’d found my father again, and then I’d lost him, too. The same grief swelled in my heart. Dad. He’d never been the most hands-on parent, always toed the company line. But with him far more than Mom, I had memories that weren’t Omnistellar-related. Basketball games and ice cream and breaking the rules when Mom went away.
He’d listened to me at the end. I knew he had. And I couldn’t blame him for what he’d done under Omnistellar’s influence, not really. They’d controlled me for enough of my life. Dad had been willing to open his eyes. But now he’d never get that chance. Guilt twisted my stomach. I should have done more. Should have protected him. I had all these powers, and I couldn’t even save my own father.
“Kenz,” said Reed softly.
I glanced at him and realized the others were waiting on me. I took in their expressions, their trust, their quiet courage and strength, Cage’s hand firm against mine. The guilt inside me twisted into something new: resolve, purpose. My parents might be gone, but I still had family. And I would not let anything happen to them.
“All right,” I said. “Let’s get going.” We started forward together, shoulder to shoulder, a force of determination against the dangers ahead. Maybe we’d find our friends over this hill. Or maybe we’d find nothing but blood and death and destruction. But whatever awaited us, we’d deal with it. Because whatever it was, well, we’d been there before.