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“Hey Lance, are you ready?” I asked, swinging into the kitchen a day later. We had information regarding the next time stone, and the sooner we got it, the sooner I’d stop worrying about having to retrieve the thing.
Lance dropped his plate into the sink with a splash. “Feeling any better? Any more memory attacks?”
“I’m fine. Gwen’s lessons are helping. Sort of.” Not really, since I’d stopped doing what the brain seed wanted, but at least I had a way to cope with the attacks.
Lance looked over me for the umpteenth time. “Are you sure? I mean—you wouldn’t have to come on this mission.”
I glared at him. After everyone almost died during the Egypt mission, I wasn’t leaving them to fend for themselves. Especially now that I had both flying lessons and target practice. “If you think you’re leaving me out, think again.”
“But there’s a chance it’s a trap, and if—”
I crossed my arms. “We know it’s a trap.” That much had been evident in the information Pops’ received. He’d been sent two videos from the American underground. In both, a wide-eyed, pale Special Forces agent had announced the movement of the time stone to Canada and practically begged the underground to prevent the Camaraderie from creating anything more terrible than the Legion Spore. Given the confused state of both agents—neither of them seeming like they were mentally present—something was obviously planned for whoever went after the stone.
Lance gently pulled me to his chest. “Another reason you shouldn’t come.”
I jutted my jaw. “Has that ever stopped me before?”
He nuzzled his cheek against my hair. My chest fluttered uncomfortably. “Inese thinks there’s a strong chance that the Legion Spore will be there, and since that seems to have the biggest effect of triggering the memory seeds—”
I frowned. “I saw the map Special Forces gave us. That region is barely outside of the Community’s boundaries. Bringing the Legion Spore there would be a terrible idea. Is Inese feeling all right?”
Lance flopped into a chair at the table. “It’s her insight power, not mine. She didn’t think the probability was high enough to give up our chance at getting another time stone. Jim compared the coordinates to a map the local Canadian resistance sent us, and the place is a Camaraderie stronghold—the mansion where Lady Black lives.” He paused, letting the information sink in. “It makes sense for them to keep the stone there.”
“The stone sure, but why in the Community would the Camaraderie bring the Legion Spore to Lady Black’s house?”
“I don’t know, Jen. For all intents and purposes, her mansion might as well be a fortified base. Whether the stone is there or not, our plan is to infiltrate the mansion as quickly as possible. Lily’s going to use her tracking, and the rest of us will be her backup. Since the Legion Spore might be there, you should stay behind.”
“If you’re dealing with a heavily fortified base—mansion or not—that’s a reason to have more backup.” How could he be so stubborn? “Lady Winters is dead. Yes, her memory seeds are still causing me problems, but it’s not like she could attack me there and make the memories any worse.” Well... not directly. I tugged on the flower charm. “If I really have to, I can avoid the memory attacks. It just makes the brain seed more difficult to work with.”
Actually, with the brain seed’s self-defense mechanism, I’d probably be even more useful as backup, since I seemed less worried about keeping my opposition alive while under its influence. But I would’ve preferred not to experience that kind of bloodlust again.
“It’s not just that.” Lance locked his jaw, brooding.
I clenched my hand around the flower charm. “Then what is it?”
He glanced at the charm and then looked at the open door, refusing to meet my gaze. “A Special Forces informant told the Canadian resistance that Tim and Val are being held at the mansion.”
My jaw dropped. “You weren’t going to tell me?”
His eyes darkened. “Even you said it’s a trap.”
“What if it isn’t? What if Tim really does have a kid? Do you want it being raised by the Camaraderie?”
Lance rested his cheek against his hand. “Serves him right. He shouldn’t have joined them.”
“But what if he was mistaken? Or what if he was trying to work with us from inside?”
“Why do you care? He betrayed us and got Crush killed.”
“He was our friend!”
“If that was the case, why didn’t he rejoin us after he saved you? Why did he save you, and then leave?” Lance balled his trembling hands into fists. “He could have helped you fight instead of standing there and watching Brainmaster torture you.”
I gritted my teeth. What did Lance know about being tortured? “Lady Winters was interrogating him. You have no idea what she might have done to his mind.”
“How do you know he wasn’t working for her? And if he wasn’t, how long do you think he’ll live with the Camaraderie torturing him now that he’s their prisoner?”
I bit my lip, trying not to picture the photograph of Clara in her last moments. “All the more reason to try getting him sooner,” I whispered.
Lance narrowed his eyes. “Why are you so insistent on rescuing him? What about us? A rescue mission puts us both in danger. Retrieving the time stones is hard enough as it is.”
“But—”
He shook his head. “Ever since you got that message, you’ve been more worried about Tim than the Coalition.”
“That’s because we’re here, safe and sound. But Tim is there! I know what it’s like to have someone in my mind, tormenting me and making my life a living nightmare. If that’s what they’re doing to him, we need to stop them!”
Lance drummed his fingers on the table, his shoulders squared. “Don’t forget we have the Legion Spore, mercenaries, and some creepy, dice-rolling spirit dude to worry about. Rescuing Tim is one more thing that could get us killed.”
“You and Tim saved my life,” I hissed, “back when we were in the Community. If not for Tim helping Inese hack into the coolers, I would be dead, a beast, or bait.”
“He left us. End of story.”
“Lance—”
He shoved the chair away from me and stormed out from the room. The leaves of my vine quivered, miniature thorns sprouting at their base. I tried chasing after him into the hallway, but he was already halfway down the stairs.
Inefficient, security-loving... I couldn’t even figure out what he was. Lance wanted compromise? I’d offered compromise. I’d agreed to help with the time stones, and now he didn’t even want me on the mission. Worse, he’d done the exact same thing the Camaraderie did—he’d tried to withhold crucial information.
“Jenna, there you—” Lily bit her lip and stopped short when she saw me. “You okay? You’re not having another memory attack, are you?”
I shook my head, angry. How could Lance claim to be different?
Lily took a hesitant step toward me. “Jenna?”
I turned around and stormed back into the kitchen, slamming the door behind me. This wasn’t her fault. She didn’t need to be on the blunt end of my rage. I found myself a corner in the kitchen where no one could peek in and see me, and then I sank to the floor. My vines curled around my shoulders, offering what support they could.
Had Lance already tried to convince the others to keep me off the mission? Probably. No one else understood my reasons for rescuing Tim. But if Tim had changed his mind about the Camaraderie, he might be willing to give us information we didn’t have. He might know the locations of other bases, or how to defend against the Legion Spore, or any number of other details that could help us.
I sighed and buried my head between my knees.
There was also the matter of Tim’s child. We didn’t need anyone else growing up in the Camaraderie, thinking it was fine to make beasts and lie to the Community about powers. The horror would perpetuate. More beastie tanks, more people imprisoned in cold cells, waiting for that moment when they were plunged into terrible, burning green goo—
The kitchen door creaked open. Lily peered inside. “Jenna?” she asked, her voice tentative. “Why are you upset?”
I blinked away my tears. Why was she still here? The rest of the team actually wanted her on this mission. I scuffed my feet against the floor, adding little black marks. Lily was a mercenary, so of course the rebels wanted her around. What they didn’t want was the person who still believed in the Community.
Lily gently closed the door behind her and slid down the wall beside me. “Is there something I can do to help?”
“I doubt it,” I muttered.
She continued staring at me, not pressing me for information. But I didn’t need the flower charm to know she wasn’t going to leave until I gave her a reason. I sighed. “We have the location of Tim, so we might be able to rescue him, but Lance doesn’t want me to come. Put simply, he’d rather let Tim be tortured.”
Lily blinked, her brown eyes wide, her lips parted in surprise. She swallowed hard. “Tim means a lot to you, doesn’t he?”
“No one deserves to be tortured.”
She looked down at her thumbs, twiddling them without saying anything. “You and Lance—”
“We shouldn’t be a couple,” I retorted, staring at the dingy metal legs of the chair in front of me. “We don’t work together efficiently. I’ve tried to compromise. I’ve tried to understand him. I even agreed to help hunt down those time stones, which I think is a stupid idea, but the only thing he understands is that I have memory attacks and, apparently, that makes me vulnerable. I get that he wants to protect me, but I don’t want his protection. I want to actually do something.”
I slammed my fist against the floor and returned to sulking. Now my hand hurt, too.
Lily pursed her lips, then inched a little bit closer. “Have you tried explaining why you want to rescue Tim?”
“He won’t listen. Even when I give him sound logic—that Tim could have useful information—he doesn’t care. All he sees is a traitor, never mind that the Coalition has taken in traitors before.” My forehead throbbed. I rubbed my temples, wishing the headache would go away before it started.
“Clara?” Lily’s voice was so quiet that I almost didn’t hear her. Even so, the image of the naked woman being tortured and being subjected to some kind of cruel experiment—
I shuddered. “What if Tim is like Clara, but no one is willing to help him? What if it happened to anyone else? What if it happened to...”
I stopped short of saying “you.”
Lily stared at me, surprised. The refrigerator clicked as it settled from its usual imbalance. The airship’s hum seemed far too loud. Somewhere, the pipes rattled as a toilet flushed. Lily bit her lip and then scooted beside me, her arm half upraised. She waited, but when I didn’t protest, she put her arm around my shoulder.
An emotional dam broke inside me and I didn’t care that she wasn’t Lance, or that she was a mercenary, or that she wasn’t Community. I leaned into her hug and buried my nose into her warm shoulder. Strands of hair from her braid tickled my nose. I laughed, disbelieving at how real that felt. She cared. She understood.
Why couldn’t Lance care?
“Thank you,” I whispered. She rested her cheek on my forehead. I really didn’t want to cry... it would be a pain if anyone saw that my eyes were red, but I was pretty sure my cheeks weren’t wet without reason. I moved in closer and wrapped my arms around her. My vines followed suit.
She stiffened. For a second, I wondered if I had made a mistake. But then she relaxed. A smile tugged on my lips. She actually cared. Her heart beat steadily, a gentle thud-thump.
“Do you really want to go on that mission?” she asked softly.
“Yes.”
She rested her chin on the crown of my head, and I couldn’t believe how much I wanted this... how much I wanted her approval.
“In that case, why don’t we head down to the hangar? Maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to jump to conclusions.” Lily helped me stand, and then wiped a remaining tear away from my cheek. Heat rushed to my face at the sight of her blushing.
Why couldn’t I have this with Lance? I didn’t even know how she felt about me, or if she wanted to be partners...
“Let’s go,” she said sternly.
“Sure,” I whispered, still stunned. Warmth spread through me, comforting. Slowly, I smiled. I had at least one person on my side.
At least one person who understood me.
