He nods. “A few weeks ago, I got a request through the IA for a vid conference with your father. He’d been using all his allotted time for you, so I was surprised. When we got on, he started talking about how he needed a hand with some of his equations.”
I nod. That was as good a cover as any for speaking to Neal.My father’s mathematics are second to none, but that doesn’t mean he’s a specialist in every area. As an engineer, Neal goes places my father doesn’t, sometimes. And though he’s only just graduated from university, first, he’s family, and therefore to be trusted, and second, he’s an Addison, and therefore brilliant.
“It took a while before I understood what he was getting at, with all his hints and veiled references,” Neal admits. “It’s a pretty insane realization to come to—that you, of all people, had somehow gotten yourself to Gaia.”
I nod. “That’s where I’ve been, and Mia too.”
Neal glances back and forth between us, and shakes his head. “From anyone else,” he says, “I wouldn’t believe it.”
“Wecan hardly believe it,” Mia replies, and when I glance down at her, her eyes meet mine, and we’re sharing a look full of everything we’ve survived. Nobody else on this planet or any other will ever understand what these past few weeks have been like. Nobody, except Mia. “But if you can hardly believe that,” she continues, with one of her grins, “then you’re going to love what’s coming next.”
Together, we run him through the briefest possible version of our adventures. The temple, the puzzles, the scratched Nautilus warnings. The ship—its discovery and its launch. The fact that Charlotte Stapleton, the woman who granted Neal his internship, was really an undercover IA operative conning me onto the surface of Gaia. Neal barely seems to react to that news—probably because we don’t give him a chance. Because that brings us to the arrival of the Undying.
To the fact that we’ve finally found alien life, and, unbelievably, two of them are in our hotel bathroom right now. Lookingalmostas human as the three of us.
Neal is utterly silent through the rest of our story: the shuttle landing, our escape from IA detention, the midnight bike ride across the French countryside.
“And then we reached you,” I finish quietly.
His face looks ashen, his hands folded tightly together in his lap. For a wild moment I think he’s about to be sick, for I’ve never seen him look so gutted. We’ve met with setbacks before, but Neal’s always figured out a way through. I remember arriving for polo practice after my father’s arrest to hear Neal arguing with the team captain to keep me on despite the scandal surrounding my family. He never even needed to consult me, he justdidit. And it worked.
Nealalwayshas a plan.
Now, Neal’s eyes flick toward the bathroom door, the sound of running water drowning out everything else. And when he looks back, I can see him like a mirror, reflecting my own fear back to me.
And then my cousin, the guy who always has a plan, turns to look at me. “What do we do?”
The words are a blow all by themselves. I hadn’t dared think it, but part of me believed that once Neal caught up to us, once we told him all that had happened, he’d grin one of those devastating grins and tell us the solution we’d missed, in all our exhaustion and urgency.
Mia saves me by answering. “They think we’re their hostages,” she says softly, tilting her head toward the bathroom door. “We’re playing along partly because we’re pretty sure theycouldkill us without breaking a sweat if we ran. But mostly because we think there’s a chance of learning more about their plan if we stick close.”
We think, my mind echoes, the words warming that core of me that Neal’s fear left shivering. A few hours ago I was trying to convince Mia I was right. Now, it seems, she believes in the plan. Or in me. I don’t much care which. I want to take her hand, but suddenly, in front of Neal, I find myself strangely shy.
“We already know that the plan has something to do with building more portals. Or we think it does.” I suck in a deep breath and clear my throat. “That’s how they’ll get the rest of their army down here, we think, after this first wave sets up the portals on the surface.”
Neal’s face suddenly mobilizes, and though the shift in expression is minute, his eyes sharpen, and he straightens. “Portals? Like the one that sends ships to Gaia?” When I nod, he leans forward, brows lifting. “Jules—that’s what I’ve been working on with your father.”
I blink at him. “With Dad?”
Neal nods, energized once more—even if his eyes are still a bit wild, and he looks like he wishes there was a continent between him and the bathroom containing the Undying aliens. “He’s been trying to decode them while he’s been in detention, figure out how they work. He must have suspected that if he was right—if the Undying tech was dangerous—that someday we might need a kill switch. A way to shut them all down.”
My heart seizes, and I feel a hand grab mine and squeeze tight. Mia, it seems, is not afflicted by shyness. “And?”
Neal glances at the bathroom and back. “And we were making progress. I don’t have much of the data—mostly, your dad would send me specs and I’d walk him through them. He’s better at maths than I’ll ever be, but he’s not an engineer. And everything we did had to be coded, pretty cloak-and-dagger stuff—he had limited calls out, you know, and they listened to everything we said.”
Mia’s breath hitches. “So youdon’tknow how to shut them down?”
Neal shakes his head. “But he might.”
Pent-up frustration and eagerness make me lurch to my feet. “So we call him, we tell him I’m back, we …” I trail off, looking at Neal’s face. “What?”
Neal’s grim expression makes my heart sink even before he says, quietly, “He never made our last call. We were supposed to talk two days ago, and there was nothing. And when I called the IA switchboard and tried to get to someone in the detention facility, I was locked out.”
I sag back down onto the end of the bed, half leaning against Mia, who leans back.
“So we keep following them.” My voice sounds exhausted evento my own ears. “Try to convince someone what’s happening. Try not to get arrested.”
Neal draws a quavering breath. “You said they’re headed for Prague, right?” When I nod, he continues, “Well, that’s where your dad is. They might’ve cut off his phone privileges for some reason, but maybe there’s a chance we could get in to see him. Find out in person if he’s unraveled the portal riddle.”
