THE HOUR PASSED IN A heartbeat. I’d hoped I’d find time to talk to everyone one-on-one, to have a cathartic farewell. But that didn’t happen. Instead we spent our time choosing weapons, discussing strategy, and arguing over who would take the communicators.
Eventually we let Priya direct us. I could already see her mind working, and knowing what I did about her abilities, it only made sense to step aside. She split us into three teams. The advance team consisted of Alexei, Mia, Cage, Matt, and me. Between us, we had speed, strength, stealth, and firepower. Hopefully, if we encountered anything dangerous, we’d be able to slow it enough to give everyone else—not to mention ourselves—time to escape. I wore the communicator for our team.
Priya gave us one simple and secret objective: to find the ship Eden had mentioned and, if possible, pilot it out of the base. That would be a lot harder without Rune, but if nothing else, we could scout its location. And Rune was needed elsewhere.
The follow-up team consisted of Reed, Priya, and Jasper. Reed was mostly coming along in case of an urgent need for healing, and Priya and Jasper were there to protect him. But they had a secondary objective: they would follow in our wake, a short distance behind, scouting for anything we’d missed or we didn’t have time to investigate fully. Reed wore their communicator, and Priya wasn’t happy about it, but Cage had argued that Reed was least likely to be engaged in battle and therefore most able to offer clear communication, and she hadn’t been able to counter.
Our final team was our most important. Imani, Rune, and Hallam had only one goal: dodge the aliens and find information. They were searching not only for Eden’s intel, but for information about Wreithe, because even if Eden wasn’t lying—even if she didn’t know anything about our own planet—something was off here, and we needed to know what. Rune would be able to access any system she encountered. Imani would be there if someone was hurt, and Hallam would keep them safe if the first two teams missed anything that slipped through. Much to my annoyance, Hallam won the battle to take the third communicator, meaning I’d have him in my ear for the entire mission.
We stalked through the desert in the midmorning heat, dressed in lightweight body armor that nonetheless felt like a leaded elephant under the beating sun. I was drenched with sweat in seconds, and profoundly grateful Eden had allowed us to raid their water supply for as much as we needed. I could read her thoughts: if we messed this up, we wouldn’t need water, because we’d all be on our way to a slow death anyway.
In spite of our alliance, we divided into three groups on our trek into the desert. Eden and about a dozen soldiers stayed slightly to our right. There was some boisterous joking and laughing at first, but after thirty minutes or so they subsided into a death march, occasionally pausing to glare suspiciously at us. I could only imagine Eden’s conversations convincing her crew to join us, and for a moment I empathized with her. She was only trying to do what was best for her people. She’d been forced to kill her mentor, the man who, by her own admission, had saved her life. And now here she was, making the hard decisions, straddling a precarious divide between two groups of people who needed each other as much as they mistrusted each other.
Come to think of it, her situation was kind of familiar. No wonder I empathized.
Our own divisions were somewhat less clear, though, because of Matt. Although he started the day with Priya and Hallam, he casually drifted forward as Rune slowed. Before long the two of them were in their own private no-man’s-land between the survivors of Sanctuary and the remnants of Legion.
I glanced at Jasper on my left. “What’s up with those two, anyway?”
Imani laughed, drifting closer. “We don’t know. But Rune came back to the tent late last night.” She cast a quick peek around, searching for Cage, but he was deep in conversation with Alexei and Mia farther ahead. Cage had never indicated any discomfort with Matt and Rune’s budding relationship, but that was before Legion. Add to it the fact that Cage was incredibly protective of his sister, and, well, it was maybe best to keep him in the dark.
A smile touched my lips. This was exactly the thinking I berated him for. But this wasn’t my secret to share, it was Rune’s. With that in mind, I said, “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about it. It’s not really any of our business.”
“Screw that.” Reed joined us, his hair falling in wet clumps in his face. He brushed it aside in annoyance. “This is hot and miserable and I need something to distract me. What’s not any of our business?”
I laughed in spite of myself, and Jasper jerked his head over his shoulder in Rune and Matt’s direction. “Wonder what Priya thinks of that,” he remarked.
“Maybe she hasn’t noticed?” Reed suggested.
Imani snorted. “I don’t think there’s much Priya doesn’t notice.”
We resumed our trudge through the desert. “Do you actually think this is going to work?” Imani asked, examining her feet.
I shrugged. I had no idea, but if I let everyone sink into doubt and despair, we were sure to fail. I might not carry much away from the dozens of Omnistellar training camps I’d attended, but I would remember that. “We’ve come this far,” I said, keeping my voice firm in a way that didn’t match my emotions. “We’ve got cybernetic supersoldiers on our side. And we’ve already beaten impossible odds. I wouldn’t bet credits against us.”
Jasper grinned. “That’s the spirit.”
Reed still looked dubious, but the other two were smiling in spite of the oppressive heat. I forced myself to match their expressions, and I made a mental vow. I’d already lost so many people to the aliens. I wasn’t going to lose any more, not if I could help it. I would do anything in my power to keep my friends alive—even if it meant sacrificing our means of escape. And I’d deal with the consequences later.
We reached the bunker shortly before noon and grouped inside the metal warehouse. I expected it to be a furnace, but to my surprise, it was better insulated than it appeared from outside, and the interior was relatively cool. “We can rest here before we move,” Eden said softly, “as long as we stay very quiet. The zemdyut don’t really come out much during the day. I think it’s too hot for them.”
The interior had clearly been a military base. A few cots stretched alongside some run-down medical equipment. Tables and desks were scattered around, covered with battered tablets. Rune took one and tried to get it running, but after a moment she shook her head. “It’s not just a dead battery,” she said. “They wiped these when they left.” She glanced at Eden. “Are we going to find the same thing in the base itself?”
“You’re looking for zemdyut tech, not human. Remember?”
Right. Rune and I exchanged glances. The less Eden knew, the better. And I didn’t feel even a smidge of guilt over it. She was obviously hiding things from us. Besides, Rune was my conscience in a lot of ways. If she wasn’t worried, I wouldn’t be either.
By mutual agreement we took half an hour to rest in the cool interior, drink some water, and eat some protein rations we’d brought. We needed to be in top condition when we descended into the pit.
I nudged Rune as we sat and nodded at Matt, raising my eyebrow. She turned bright red and shook her head. “What?” I couldn’t resist teasing her a bit, not with the tension coiling through the room. “I thought you hated him.”
“You know that was never true,” she hissed, glancing around nervously to make sure we weren’t overheard. “I was … confused. And so was he. What happened to him wasn’t fair. It …” Her voice trailed off, and she scowled. “You’re making fun of me.”
“Never.” Impulsively, I threw my arms around her. “You’re my bestest of best friends.”
“Keep it up and you’ll have to find a new one.” But she hugged me back, and she was smiling when she pulled away. “I don’t know with Matt. I’ve never known. All I know is that he’s intelligent and funny, and he’s got a good heart. I always saw it, from the day he became friends with Cage. I missed him while he was gone, and I’m glad he’s alive. Isn’t that enough for now?”
I instantly felt bad for teasing. “It’s enough for as long as you need it to be.”
But Rune smiled again. “You just keep him alive for me, all right?”
“Promise,” I lied. I couldn’t promise anything. But I would do my absolute best.
Once we’d recuperated, we split into our groups. “I’m trusting you with my sister and one of my healers,” Cage said to Hallam, very quietly. “Don’t let me down.”
For once, Hallam was serious. “I’ll keep them safe. You’ve got my word on that.”
The two shook hands solemnly, and Cage returned to where Mia, Alexei, Matt, and I were waiting. We grouped by the trapdoor marking Eden’s back way in. Eden and her team were poised at the front entrance, laying out explosives, ready to cover us if we called for help on the emergency channel.
Our goal was simple: find the ship. Alexei provided firepower in case we needed it, and Cage, Mia, and I would keep us fast—and invisible, in case we ran into that Karoch thing. My heart thrummed. There was no sense delaying. “We’ve got this,” I whispered.
Priya and Hallam cranked open the trapdoor, leaving us staring into a deceptively silent dark pit, a ladder descending who knew where. I swallowed hard, and Cage took my hand.
“I’ll go first,” said Mia. She glanced at me. “I can keep Alexei, me, and Matt invisible if you can handle yourself and Cage. That way Karoch can’t surprise us.”
“Got it.”
“All right.” But still no one moved. We all kept staring into the darkness, and not even Hallam had anything to say about it.
At last Mia drew a deep breath and swore loudly. “Well,” she said, “what the hell are we waiting for? Let’s go.”
As if she hadn’t been standing around exactly like the rest of us. But she moved now, shimmering and vanishing, taking Alexei and Matt with her. The sand stirred as she stepped onto the ladder and began her descent.
I tightened my grip on Cage’s hand, searching for the courage I’d found only a short time ago. “We can do this,” I repeated, mostly to myself.
Cage nodded. “Damn right we can.” He inspected the rest of our team. “See you on the other side.”
I forced myself to breathe, drew on Mia’s power, and sheltered us in invisibility. No more delaying. This was it. Win or lose, live or die, we’d know soon enough. And maybe, just maybe, we’d find our way home in the process.