“Do we have a problem, Talbot?”

Casimer shivered, as he did every time the smooth, sultry voice pronounced his name. She somehow made it sound poisonous.

“Not at all. Simply a delay.”

Casimer hated the fact he needed her help. If he wasn’t careful, she would be the death of him, not his trump card in regaining his rightful place. He would put off admitting to the loss of Franklin for as long as he could. Maybe he could come up with something that would soothe her rage.

There was a long, suffocating pause before the line went dead.

Steele Jones poured over his holographic map with serious, gray eyes, zooming in on the map to make note of where the rivers were. There had been reported sightings of Wysteria Corps members in a couple of the closest cities. While it wasn’t totally unheard of to see the royal guard throughout the kingdom, it wasn’t common to see high level commanders like the Cynbels away from the royal family.

Steele and Beck had gone over likely land routes. Steele had sent his scouts out. Now all he could do was wait. At least this assignment was in a nice spot. Steele loved being outdoors.

After Earth was nearly destroyed due to deforestation, the preservation of nature was highly valued on all planets. It was a high priority for all the countries on Evren, but Lothar was by far the largest. From Lothar’s foundation, vast expanses of reserves had been set up throughout the land, which was sparsely populated. It was also completely legal for people to camp and explore these reserves, as long as they respected the land.

Steele had taken advantage of one such reserve to set up his temporary headquarters in a network of natural caves in a high mountain range. He liked it here. If Casimer ever gave them a vacation, and he would convince Beck to leave his side; this would be an ideal place to relax.

The familiar feeling of loathing Steele always got while thinking of Casimer settled in the pit of his stomach like a spiky stone. Steele frowned, thinking about the way Beck respected and idolized the disinherited former prince. In Steele’s opinion, Casimer was entitled and selfish. Any gratitude and sense of debt for saving their lives had long since disappeared. But Beck insisted on staying with Casimer and championing his cause.

Thanks to that, Casimer preferred to keep the loyal, tactically brilliant Beck near his side and send the versatile, quick-thinking Steele out on endless errands across the planet.

Steele groaned as the pain which normally stayed a low ache behind his eyes expand to his entire skull. The tall man sat down wearily, pinching the bridge of his sharp, angled nose, then rubbed his temples in an attempt to alleviate the throbbing in his head.

He would have to check in with Casimer soon, but he had begun postponing it as long as he could. Some days it seemed like he could go a bit longer before his head started splitting from the pain, which gave him enough hope to continue his little inward rebellion.

Steele was determined to break Beck from Casimer’s hold. One day, they would both be free.

But until then, he should probably call Casimer and get this over with.

Lark made sure all traces of tears were gone before venturing out of the vacation bus for breakfast the next morning. She studied her eyes in the mirror just long enough to assure herself they weren’t red or puffy, then stuffed it deep into the chest Shamira had found it in.

As she reached for the bedroom door, she paused. There was some...thing...on the other side.

How would I know that?

She couldn’t bring herself to turn the handle. There was some sort of energy in the bus. Maybe. Whatever was there was giving her a ticklish feeling. She had to stifle a squeak of surprise when someone knocked on her door.

Snowy rubbed her body against Lark’s foot.

“Princess Larkspur?” Shamira’s voice said before another knock.

Lark cleared her throat and opened the door. “Just Lark is fine.”

Shamira smiled at her. “I came to teach you about clothes.”

I need to be taught how to get dressed? Lark looked down at her old cargo pants, boots, and faded purple t-shirt. Well, it would be nice to wear clean clothes.

“Most clothes are made of nano-cloth now,” Shamira said, grabbing a small, silky bag from that blasted chest.

Lark watched curiously as Shamira emptied out buttons, snaps, and zippers of all different shapes, colors, and sizes into her palm.

“So.” Shamira grinned at Lark with a twinkle in her eye. “What would you like to wear?”

Lark looked at the assembly of buttons Shamira was showing her with confusion.

What am I supposed to do with a button?

“Do you want pants? A jacket? What color?” Shamira asked as she held each button over her Spur corps bracelet.

“Uh, cargo pants would be great. I like pockets,” Lark said slowly, still unsure what Shamira was doing. “The springs here seem to be pretty mild, so I don’t think I need a jacket. Just as long as the clothes are comfortable and I can move easily, I’m good. I don’t really care what color, either.”

Shamira nodded, picked a blue button about the size of a dime, then looked expectantly at Lark. “Take off all your clothes.”

“Excuse me?” Lark blinked.

“This will dress you. They’ll even take care of your undergarments, but I’ll understand if you’d rather keep those for now. There is comfort in familiarity.” Shamira smiled.

Lark looked at Snowy sitting on the bed playing with the bag of buttons, not sure if it was a plea for help. Whether it was or not, Snowy just cocked her head cutely and blinked her blue eyes at Lark.

Lark sighed, then slowly stripped.

Shamira twisted the top half of the button to the right twice, then to the left once.

“Here.” She placed the button in Lark’s hand. “This might feel a little weird the first time.”

“What’s going to feel weird?” Lark held her hand out, looking at the button suspiciously. Then she nearly jumped out of her skin when something that resembled royal blue liquid leaked from the button. It moved up her forearm, wrapped around her bicep, then elongated. There was a short sleeve. Now half her torso was covered in a royal blue material. Once the loose, flowing shirt was done, black pants started to materialize over her legs.

Even after it was done, Lark stood frozen for some time.

“You were right. That was weird,” she finally said.

Shamira stifled a giggle. “You’ll get used to it. There are some great advantages to nano-clothes.” They made their way to the front of the bus, where she started cooking a scrumptious breakfast. “You can store multiple outfits on one object. Most average two to three, but the more expensive ones can store more, and have different designs programmed in.”

Lark sat at the small table, feeding Snowy some warmed milk in her lap. Lark fingered her left sleeve, feeling the material between her fingers, then ran her hand down the pants.

“Sure feels like the clothes I’m used to,” she said with a little awe.

“Good!” Shamira brought over two plates filled with steaming seasoned eggs, crispy bacon, and mouthwatering fruit. “I’m glad there’s a little something that feels like your old home.”

Old home. I don’t really have a new home yet, though.

Deciding not to dwell on that thought, Lark dug in.

“This is so good!” She barely remembered to finish swallowing before praising the simple, but delicious breakfast. “I’m so happy there’s still real food in the future.”

Shamira laughed. “New dishes have been invented, I’m sure. But food basics haven’t changed much that I’m aware of.”

“Well, I’m just glad no one has come up with printed food or something.”

Shamira wrinkled her nose. “Something like that was tried, maybe five hundred years ago? But it didn’t take. No one has been able to replicate the pure taste of real food.”

Lark nodded firmly as she inhaled the last of her breakfast.

“Of course, we have things like replacement rations. But they’re only used when needed. All the nutrients of a full meal can be had in one little rectangle of powdery nastiness.” Shamira made a disgusted face.

“Sounds gross.” Lark grimaced.

“It is.”

The front door opened, and one of the men entered the vacation bus. Lark remembered meeting him during introductions to everyone yesterday, but she couldn’t recall his name.

“Colonel, your highness.” He gave a slight bow.

For a second, Lark forgot she was “your highness.”

“Something has happened; what, I’m not sure,” he said. “I have to take the bus back now, and you all need to get ready to head out. I’ll take the sky tram back home.”

Shamira stood and clapped him on the shoulder. “Thank you. Stay safe. We’ll see you in a week or two.”

Shamira went outside while Lark scrambled up, made sure all her belongings were stuffed in her backpack, then mumbled a thank you and goodbye to the man sitting patiently in the bus’s driver seat.

Stepping outside, Lark was greeted with a tense hustle and bustle. People whispered in strained tones. Last night’s camp was being packed away quickly, a worried air hanging over everything.

Lark spotted Harold and Conan huddled together, a holographic map open between them. Colored pixels that seemed to come from Harold’s silver bracelet created a map with rivers, mountains, and the names of all the features. There was something about the electric currents making up the hologram that pulled Lark. It wasn’t as strong as the fire, but it was enough that she started walking toward it, a strange buzz under her skin.

Hearing her footsteps, Harold and Conan turned serious faces toward her, temporarily overriding the disturbing energy connection.

“Did something happen?” she asked.

“It’s possible Franklin’s attackers might have realized he was bringing the bio-bots to the person they were programmed to,” Harold said. “It was just confirmed the country he was in, Crofton, was behind the attack. While we don’t know if he was behind it, they do have ties to Casimer Talbot. Their prime minister is an old school chum of Casimer’s. He shouldn’t know your identity, and there’s no reason for them to know about our plan, but we’re going to err on the side of caution. We’ll split into two groups. About half of us are taking you over the mountain; the others will take the longer path around the base.”

Lark felt a flutter in her stomach, but couldn’t decide if it was anticipation, excitement, nerves, or outright fear. Maybe a bit of everything.

Harold turned to her, a look of sheepish annoyance on his face.

“Did I do something?” Lark furrowed her brow.

Harold shook his head, face softening. “No, I’m angry at myself. I forgot to give you this.” He held up a silver bracelet that nearly matched Franklin and Avi’s. The shiny silver was engraved with the wisteria tree and tiger, but it had a larkspur flower added beneath the tree trunk.

“The Spur Corps have the flower added.” The realization brought a smile to Lark’s lips.

Harold nodded. “These have a tracking beacon to be used in case of emergencies. Well, there’s more to it than that, but we’ll go over everything they do later. For now, let’s program your fingerprint so you can activate the beacon, if needed.”

Lark reached out for the bracelet. But when Harold dropped it into her eager hands, there was a spark. The tree engraving flashed purple for a second, then a small trail of smoke puffed and dissolved.

She looked at Harold with wide eyes.

“Are you okay?” He gingerly took the bracelet back to inspect it.

“I’m fine, I think.” Lark studied her hands briefly. “I feel a little buzzy, full of energy.”

Harold knit his eyebrows together. “I don’t know exactly how the bio-bots work, but I do remember Franklin and Joshua talking about them holding energy.” It sounded more like a question than a statement.

“Is that dangerous?” Lark froze. The last thing she wanted was to electrocute her whole team of bodyguards.

Harold looked apologetic. “Franklin was supposed to be with us to help explain things.”

“Well, I’m sure no one will die, right?” Lark was only half joking.

Harold paused awkwardly. “I’ll have Conan show you how to operate a hoverbike.” He turned.

“Actually, could I keep the bracelet?”

“If you wish.” Harold looked puzzled but handed it over. “I’ll make sure it gets fixed when we get home.”

Lark watched him walk away, a tiny smile flirting with her lips. Even if the electrical component of the bracelet was broken, it still marked her as part of the group. Still learning about her place in this new world, but not alone anymore. She had a team, and the evidence was sitting on her wrist.