I reach for her hand and brush her fingers with mine. “Thank you,” I murmur. My eyes skip to Pressa, who has unzipped her backpack and is handing something over to Eden. It looks like a small package of glass vials.
“This is a serum for Hann’s lung infection,” she says. “The way Eden describes his hoarse voice reminds me of the later stages of my dad’s illness. So I used to make this serum for him out of some of the herbs we carried. It’s not a cure, so don’t tell him that it is. He won’t believe you. But it should improve how he feels if hetakes it every day.” She replaces the vials and gives the backpack to Eden.
“And it’s swallowed?” Eden asks.
“Swallowed.” Pressa nods. “But I did make one change. Hann’s serum contains a powerful sleeping drug. It’ll knock him out pretty hard and give him a slight fever that will throw off his judgment and strength. Give him a heavy enough dose of the serum, and it’ll stop his heart entirely.”
Trying to poison Hann will be a risky move. I bet he’s survived dozens of such attempts. Still, Eden gives Pressa a grim nod. My brother’s feelings for her are on full display here. I can see it in the way he pulls her in for a hug and how tightly he holds her, the faint blush on his cheeks as she smiles and hugs him back. In them, I see the early signs of how, despite our backgrounds, June and I had first come together.
Finally, we’re ready to head out. “Your signal?” I say to Eden.
He nods. His face is paler than it should be, and his hands are trembling slightly. But he seems calm enough as he holds up a tiny chip, so small that it could sit on the tip of his smallest finger. “Got it,” he replies.
As the President prepares to host his political meeting with the Elector, we take an unmarked military car to the airfield and into a plane that June has somehow gotten for us. The soldier who salutes us as we board is sweating up a storm. He doesn’t meet our eyes. June stops, though, to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
“I’ll vouch for you,” she says. “Thank you for your help. The Elector himself will pardon you—I give you my word.”
He shuffles his feet. “Of course, Commander,” he replies to June.
We take off in silence. The plane has been airborne for only a half hour before a call comes in, right as we clear the waters of the Republic. The pilot’s voice flickers on overhead, and we all tilt our heads up as her apologetic words fill the air.
“Commander Iparis,” she says regretfully. “The Elector Primo has ordered me to patch him through. He would like a word with you.”
June doesn’t even blink. “Of course, ma’am,” she replies. I find myself marveling, yet again, at how cool and calm she can be even in the most stressful circumstances.
There’s a pause, followed by Anden’s deep, familiar voice. He sounds more weary than furious. “Hello, Commander,” he says, addressing June. “I assume, as usual, that you have a good reason for leaving the country without notifying me?”
June looks a little guilty at his tone. “As always,” she agrees. “It has everything to do with the emergency that you are currently discussing with President Ikari. We thought it best to discuss it with you while the plan is in action. There’s no time to waste.”
“Is Daniel Wing with you, then?” Another voice comes on—and this time, it’s Director Min’s. She sounds less formal than Anden, and much more livid.
“I’m here,” I say, glancing at my brother. “With Eden.”
“And do you have an explanation for this? Or should I have you all court-martialed the instant you land in Ross City?” She sighs. “I’ll have you know that the President is sitting with us as we speak. He would like to know why I can’t seem to wrangle one of my agents into line.”
“You know it has nothing to do with you, Director,” I reply evenly. “President Ikari, sir, the director has been nothing but gracious tome. But there are policies in place in Ross City that have her hands tied, and in turn, they tie my hands. With deepest respect, sir, the best way we have right now of confronting this crisis is for us to act against those policies you have in place.” I smile a little, even though I know they can’t see us. “Of course, we can discuss it now. If you like.”
There’s a pause, then the sigh of a man that I’ve never communicated directly with before. “Enlighten us, then, Mr. Wing,” he says. It’s a voice I’ve only ever heard in broadcasts or on screens. Now he’s addressing me by name. Suddenly, I feel the audacity of what we’re doing—of going against the leader of Antarctica.
Doesn’t mean he knows what the hell he’s doing, I remind myself. So I take a deep breath and straighten in my chair. “My brother, Eden, has had personal contact with Dominic Hann before,” I say. “So have I. We’ve seen a glimpse of how Hann’s operation works. Eden thinks that, contrary to what we think happened, Hann did not completely erase the Level system. It’s only been temporarily disabled. Unless we act quickly, Hann may have plans to revise it to work in his favor. I don’t know what the hell that might do. I only know that we have to find a way to stop him before he does it and disrupts the capital of our entire country.”
I look meaningfully at my brother then, and Eden nods. “I think I can find a way in,” he says. “If I can get close to Hann again.”
There’s an incredulous laugh from the President. “Is that the boy talking?” he says. “Eden? You’re going to take on Hann alone?”
“Not alone,” he replies. His voice is so confident and calm that I can’t help but feel a surge of pride.
The director stays silent. When she speaks again, her voicesounds thoughtful. “What do you plan to do when you arrive?” she asks.
Eden hesitates, exchanging a quick glance with Pressa. “I’ll find a way to make contact with Hann,” he says. “He’s using the engine design that I’d made—it’s not a stretch to think that he might still want to recruit me onto his team. He’d told me himself that he expected me to come back under his fold. And Pressa knows enough about the layout of the Undercity to take us somewhere where we can get his attention.”
“And Daniel? June?”
“We’ll be staging a diversion,” June says. “We’ll be trying to break Hann’s system from the outside, staging an obvious attack to draw his attention. When Eden warns him about what we’re doing, we’re hoping it’ll persuade Hann to let Eden into his circle again.”
“Of course,” I add, “it’d be helpful to have the AIS and the military at our back during all this. Getting arrested by our own the instant we land won’t be much help. So our fate’s ultimately in your hands.”
I pause, abruptly nervous that maybe they won’t go along with this after all. That we’ve all just signed our own prison sentences. The irony of it, after everything we’ve been though, almost makes me laugh. Across from me, June’s eyes are fixed on mine, dark and logical. I feel a tingle of nostalgia, the feeling of fighting at her side, of once again working together toward something.
