“I agree. A multi-directional diversion, to be specific,” Amelia interjected politely. “With a red herring, too. The Perfects are highly functional. They won’t be easy to distract.”
“Our people are aware,” Caleb said. “They’re currently working on a plan. Rose will be in touch as soon as they have all the details nailed down. There’s no room for errors here.”
“You can say that again,” Kiev retorted, crossing his arms. “We’ve got what, maybe ten hours till that maniac kills Sofia?”
“Approximately, yes,” River said. “We can’t let them carry the whole burden, anyway. We have to do something on our end, as well.”
“That was always implied,” Arwen cut in, then nodded at Nathaniel, Uriel, Angelica, and Deena, who’d geared up in GASP uniforms and were eager to help out. “These four are ready to go to Strava and assist Ben and Rose.”
All of a sudden, all eyes were on the four Perfects, who gave us faint and nervous smiles in return. I knew they were genuine in their endeavor to assist us. I’d had my eyes on their emotions from the moment they’d been introduced to us, post-memory-chip-removal.
“What are we thinking?” Ruby asked.
“We’ve gone through all the video footage in our memories,” Nathaniel said. “We’ve got enough knowledge to go back there and infiltrate the colosseum. From what we’ve learned, Ta’Zan doesn’t keep count of who’s missing among his soldiers.”
“Unless it’s his precious Douma or Raphael, for whatever reason,” Uriel added. “He’s got a soft spot for those two. We were witness to more than one instance in which they got preferential treatment.”
Angelica rolled her eyes. “Even Araquiel didn’t get that much love while Douma and Raphael were still around.”
Bastien cleared his throat, demanding our attention. The darkness weighing on his shoulders seemed almost impossible to bear, but he carried it with his typical stubborn stoicism.
“What’s the plan, once you infiltrate the colosseum?” he asked.
“That depends on what Ben and Rose’s crew needs from us,” Nathaniel replied. “We’ll be ready for anything.”
Amelia raised a hand, drawing the focus back to her for a moment. “We need to make sure the fae land somewhere relatively safe. I doubt their proximity to Rose’s crew matters. The Hermessi said they need one thousand and one fae to set foot on Strava, no more, no less. It doesn’t matter if they’re huddled together or miles apart.”
“I’m inclined to agree,” Mona replied. “The winter-summer cluster would be ideal, perhaps at least fifty miles from Merinos, just to be safe.”
Kiev nodded. “If we keep the Perfects busy with something big enough in the archipelago, they won’t notice the fae coming in, or, if they do, they won’t be able to intercept them.”
“And by big enough we mean epic, right?” Scarlett asked, smirking.
The Perfects nodded simultaneously. “Like I said, whatever Ben and Rose’s crew needs, we’ll help,” Nathaniel answered. “But we have to know exactly what they’re planning, so we can organize ourselves accordingly.”
Bastien let a deep sigh roll out of his chest. “I find it ironic that we’ve wound up relying on Perfects and Faulties, the very ones that helped get us into this mess, to save us.”
“We didn’t ask for this,” Uriel said, slightly offended. “We didn’t ask to be made. We didn’t have a say in how we were educated and manipulated. You must understand, we’re not inherently bad. We don’t want anyone to suffer!”
“Your maker has imprisoned my in-laws and my son! They have shock collars around their necks, and if we don’t stop Ta’Zan, we’ll all end up like them, or dead!” Bastien snarled.
Safira stood, frowning. “Bastien. I understand your anger. I do. But they didn’t cause this. Focus your rage on what we can do, not on what already happened. We cannot change that.”
Silence settled over the meeting room for a good minute, while we all stared at each other, and Bastien reassessed his emotional state. He didn’t like being this way. I could tell he was frustrated, but he wasn’t the only one whose emotions were getting the best of him.
“I don’t want to see my father wither away in that diamond dome,” Blaze mumbled, his eyes fixed on the large screen behind Field. “That’s not a life for a dragon.”
“We still have some advantages,” Field said. “Let’s wait for Ben and Rose to communicate their detailed plan, then operate accordingly. In the meantime, we’ll all prepare for anything. They need our eyes up here, while they operate down there.”
Nathaniel, Uriel, Deena, and Angelica got up.
“We’ll get ready,” Nathaniel replied. “We’ll gear up and make sure we’ve got a shuttle ready.”
“I’ll send word for the seven hundred and forty-two fae,” Sherus added. “You’ll have them all here within the hour.”
Shayla smiled. “Arwen and I will secure their transport from the fire star, don’t worry.”
“I’m sorry we can’t do more for Strava,” Safira said, her shoulders dropping. “Our powers decrease as soon as we leave Eritopia, and, based on what magi-tech is being used by Ta’Zan, we wouldn’t make much of a difference down there.”
“You can help us here, instead,” Phoenix replied. “Eritopia still needs you.”
That was painfully true. With everything that was going on out there on Strava, we still had our worlds to take care of—kingdoms to run, armies to prepare, billions of innocent creatures to protect. Most importantly, in the event of Ta’Zan succeeding in his attempt to take flight, we had an unwinnable war to prepare for.
“Is it too soon to discuss complete annihilation of Strava, just to get it over with?” Eli asked, prompting Shayla to suck in a breath and scowl at him. “What? We’re all thinking it!”
“We could’ve done that sooner,” Bastien answered. “But we chose to give that planet and its people a chance. Despite my doubts, the Perfects have proven to be reliable, provided that their minds and hearts are clean, as evidenced by our… friends, here,” he added, pointing at Nathaniel and his group. It was good to see Bastien coming around like this. “They deserve a shot at a good life. And let’s not forget the Faulties and the Draenir.”
“We can’t let Ta’Zan win,” I said. “Whether he takes flight with his Perfects or gets them all killed in the destruction of their planet, he’ll still win, because he’ll either subjugate us or force us to commit genocide. That’s not what GASP is about, and we all know it. So, while I totally get that we’ve all thought about this, I still don’t think we should really consider destroying the whole planet.”
Caleb sighed. “Besides, Sofia would rather die than see another one of us fall prey to Ta’Zan. She’d rather get herself killed than let Ben and Rose’s crew wind up in the diamond dome.”
On that, we all agreed. Our options seemed limited, and we weren’t ready to lose anyone else. But, at the same time, we were all determined to do more, to find another way in, and to stop Ta’Zan, once and for all.
In my heart, I knew we could rely on Nathaniel, Uriel, Angelica, and Deena to help us. Bastien was right. As ironic as it was, the very creatures that had been trying to capture or kill us were now the ones fighting by our side. All we needed was a plan from Rose and Ben.
Rose
“Well, we’ve got a doozy on our hands,” Varga quipped.
