And I have a chance to go home.
The relief is so profound that I don’t even feel the flicker of sick dread at the thought of trying to sort out what to do about me and Jules. Right now, I’m invincible, and there’s nothing we can’t solve.
Jules is waiting for me by the time the uniformed soldier escorts me back to what looks like a holding cell, little more than three concrete walls and a fourth, transparent glass wall that allows for observation from the hallway. He leaps to his feet as we come into view along the corridor, and stands rigid as the guard swipes a card through a slot and opens the door. The guard ushers me through and into the cell, his movements jerky—a quick glance tells me his eyes are a little wild, the details of the story I told the officials leaving him more than a little shaken.
Good, I think, with great satisfaction.You should be freaking terrified. Welcome to my life.
When the glass door goes whooshing closed behind me, Jules’s eyes are waiting for mine.
Those eyes tell me everything. There’s a light in them I haven’t seen since we were first setting foot inside the temple on Gaia, what feels like years ago. My hope recognizes his, and in a rush I move toward him, and his hands curl around mine.
“Are you okay?” he whispers.
Smiling has been an effort for so long that the feel of my lips curving uncontrollably is like sun on my face after a month in shadow. “I am now. You?”
He gives a light grimace, and lifts one arm to show his wristwatch. “They took my SIM card,” he replies. “But at least all my pictures are still on here. And I don’t know where my journal is—I think it ended up back in the shuttle with my suit.”
I glance around the bare cell. “Where are Atlanta and Dex?”
“I haven’t seen them since they split us all up.”
I snort. “It’s an age-old interrogation technique. Divide and conquer. See if we all tell the same story.”
Jules’s grin is like air, and I soak it in. “It won’t matter what storythey tell. The IA guys swabbed your cheek too, right? Checked your DNA to ID you?” His eyebrows lift.
I nod, and in this moment I know exactly why he’s asking. “Somewhere, they’re doing exactly the same to Dex and Atlanta. So they’ve seen what we saw, right? The blue blood’s probably just the beginning, there’ll be signs all over the place that they’re not what they seem on the surface. Do aliens even have DNA? Whoever checks them will be in for a shock.”
“I’m sure it’ll take some time to process them, but …” Jules’s fingers tighten around my hands, and he steps closer so he can press his forehead to mine. “Mehercule,” he breathes. “This is real, right? I’m not dreaming?”
My own heart’s asking the same question, barely daring to believe, because the weight of terror and exhaustion and hopelessness has been so great that I almost don’t know how to let it go. I almost don’twantto, for fear it could somehow come back and find me again. But I squeeze his fingers in return and whisper, “We made it, Jules.”
He takes half a step closer, and instantly the gentle warmth of relief shifts, an awareness of his body shifting against mine surfacing like a long-submerged ship from beneath the waves. He lifts his head from mine, but only so he can drop it to murmur in my ear. “My father,” he says firmly, in a voice that brooks no opposition, “is going to love you.”
I can’t argue with him. I don’t want to, not anymore. We’re just a couple of teenagers again—the weight of saving the world is back where it ought to be, with the governments and the armies and the world’s greatest minds. Finally,finally, we’re just us. And—especially as his hand slides around to the small of my back and pulls me close—I’m not saying a single word to shatter that.
But then another sound does it for me. The sound of someone clearing his throat startles us apart, like—well, like a couple of teenagers caught on the verge of making out.
A man stands just beyond the glass wall of the cell, watching us with the polite air of someone waiting for his opportunity to interrupt. Though he wears an ordinary—if expensive-looking—suit, rather than a uniform, he holds himself with the confident rigidity of a soldier. He’s not particularly tall or muscular, and his features are finely sculpted, almost feminine in their delicacy. Impeccably trimmed black hair and well-shaped eyebrows match a pair of intense black eyes, which are currently fixed on us.
“Good afternoon,” he says with exaggerated civility. He speaks with the faintest trace of an accent, though I don’t know what kind. “I am Daniel De Luca, IA Security Director for Europe.”
Jules’s arm goes rigid, but when I glance his way, his face is eager rather than daunted. He squeezes my hand in reassurance. “My name is Jules Addison,” he says. “This is Amelia Radcliffe.”
“Yes, so I’ve been told.” De Luca smiles an even, attractive smile. “Forgive my tardiness—it took some time to verify that you were, indeed, who you said you were. How are you? You’ve eaten?”
“We’re fine.” Jules takes a quick breath. “You can skip the pleasantries, Mr. De Luca—”
“DirectorDe Luca.” The interruption is gentle, even friendly, but absolutely firm.
“Yes, of course.” Jules doesn’t sound chastened—if anything, he sounds encouraged.
Something about the Director’s manner sets off alarm bells in my head, but whatever it is, Jules isn’t picking up on it. He’s just eager, impatient even—excited by the fact that someone so senior’s been alerted to the situation.
Steady, Mia.The voice in my head has the tiniest trace of a British accent, and if I wasn’t so busy trying to order my thoughts, I’d be amused that my attempt to comfort myself sounds like Jules.You’ve been dodging death and doom so long that you’re just looking for problems.
“Director De Luca,” Jules echoes, conciliatory. “Please let us know if there’s anything else we can tell you. I know this whole thing sounds completely mad, and I know there’ll be a lot of peoplewho don’t believe us, but you’ve no idea what a relief it is to know we’ve finally gotten someone’s attention.”
“You certainly do have my attention,” De Luca agrees. “I also have the advantage of being privy to information my colleagues do not have. Information the International Alliance has spent a great deal of effort and resources to keep from the general public.”
