“You’re determined to keep us locked in, aren’t you?” Varga replied.
“Clearly, I can’t,” Nalyon said, motioning at all of us. “Since you can zap yourselves around like it’s nothing.”
“Then what? Why the weapons? Do you want to kill us?” Varga asked. “I sense a lot of deception in you, Mr. Martell, so choose your words carefully.”
“There’s a lot about us you don’t know,” I added. “If I were you, I’d order these poor chaps to lower their weapons.”
Nalyon’s laughter was strained. “I will do whatever it takes to protect the Cerixian Empire, and, right now, the lot of you come across as a threat, not as potential allies.”
“You still haven’t told us what you want to do to us,” Varga insisted, a smile testing the corners of his mouth.
I had no fear of the Cerixian soldiers or their weapons. I could snap half of them in two, if I wanted. But we’d been advised not to get violent, and I knew our only other option was to zap out of here and rethink our strategy. But, like Varga, I was curious as to what Nalyon was planning, as far as we were concerned. Obviously, he thought he could kill us.
Bigger fish. Inalia was missing, and this weasel knew where she was.
“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Nalyon spat. “Get back into your cell, or face the consequences.”
I rolled my eyes, then firmly grasped Amelia’s hand and Taeral’s. “I’ve had enough of this crap.”
“We’ll talk soon,” Taeral said to Nalyon.
We were all linked. Before any of the soldiers could do anything, and just as Nalyon’s face turned red with anger, we were teleported out of the prison.
Taeral took us to the Landing Bed. It was empty, but there were guards patrolling the park around the base. The sun had already set, and stars were sprinkled across the tourmaline sky. A moon glimmered in the distance, small and white—yet another reminder of how similar this planet was to Earth.
“No one will think to look for us up here,” Taeral said.
“We could’ve taken them on,” Varga grumbled.
“You know that’s not what GASP wants, right now,” Eva replied. “I would’ve loved to beat them all into a pulp. Nalyon, especially. The smug creep. But we can do this another way.”
“He was right about one thing,” Amelia murmured.
“Who?” I asked.
“Nalyon. Us escaping like that. Not a good look on us.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I replied. “Because we’ll get to the bottom of this and prove our innocence. Then, if Nalyon still wants to try and jail us, he can talk to Derek and the rest of the GASP officers. You know they’d love to come down here and teach the entire planet a lesson, if needed. We have Cerixian samples, we could easily send them over via interplanetary spell.”
“That won’t be the case,” Taeral said. “I think most Cerixians are peaceful. Otherwise this place would be in worse shape. Nalyon is just a power-hungry bureaucrat. I’m confident we can break him in two just by finding out who’s behind the cult here. There has to be a ringleader or something. They’re not just random hostiles with a flair for black silk and porcelain masks. They’re organized. They followed us. They came after us, but only when we were in the temple. They didn’t cross paths with the soldiers.”
“Okay. Now, we have to find an actual safe spot. An attic somewhere, ideally,” Herakles replied. “We need to rethink our strategy. We’ve got to get Inalia out of the prison or wherever they took her, before she loses control. She was already under duress.”
“One good starting point would be to find Eira, first. She may be able to help,” Amelia suggested.
That was doable.
Ironically, we’d come here looking for answers about which Hermessi was responsible for the fire fae explosions back on our side of the In-Between. We hadn’t found much. Instead, we had more questions, along with some pretty troubling facts about the Hermessi of Cerix—they could manifest themselves on the physical plane, and they could conceive children.
As if our plate wasn’t full enough already, we had to make sure Inalia was safe, too. She was quite unique among her people, and that could easily lead to trouble. On top of that, I was dying to know what kind of Hermessi child Eira was.
Kailani
Taeral and the crew found a safe spot on the southern border of Silvergate. I could breathe easier, now, knowing they were okay, and that no one would find them. I’d made sure their backpacks were equipped with plenty of invisibility paste, in case they needed it.
Varga had said it might not be useful. I smiled, knowing he was wrong. I was fond of the guy, but he loved being right a little too much, sometimes.
I went through Amelia’s report, then spoke to her and Taeral via the comms line. The audio wasn’t that good across such a long distance, but it did the trick. It felt nice to hear their voices once in a while.
“You could’ve gone back to your cell, though,” I said to Taeral. “You know that, right?”
I leaned back in my chair. Hunter was next to me, swiping through Amelia’s report on one of the screens. The Calliope GASP base had been extra busy throughout the day, after news of a murderous Hermessi cult had come through from Taeral’s team.
“I know. But they took Inalia elsewhere, and we need to get her out before she loses control,” Taeral replied. “You didn’t see what I saw, Kale. That girl is powerful.”
“I get it. There’s no right or wrong here, as far as your decisions are concerned. Besides, that Nalyon fella is sure asking for it. In retrospect, you were probably right to leave.” I sighed.
“How are things over there?” he asked.
I’d learned all about their investigation so far. No detail was spared—and boy, the creep factor was turned up to eleven on Cerix! Lumi, Field, and Aida had listened in on the conversation, and they were already preparing reports for Derek and Sofia. We had to keep our leaders up to speed at all times.
“There were a couple more fire fae incidents in Zephyr, I’m afraid,” I said. “We’ve sent crews out to all the fae planets to investigate. Sherus and Nuriya are liaising with their counterparts there. The kings and queens were taken aback by what they heard. Especially on Akvo. I’m sorry for your loss, by the way. Friends dying… It’s not something you ever get used to.”
“It’s okay. Once we get to the bottom of this, I’ll sleep better,” Taeral replied. “Any news on those masked cultists?”
“None so far, but it’s still early. We’re keeping in touch with the crews. You’ll be the first to know if we hear something.”
“If it’s fine with you and the rest of GASP, we’ll go ahead and look for Inalia,” he said. “I feel like she’s a priority. We might need her to reach out to the Fire Hermessi at some point.”
