Apolonia

We crouched while jogging to the side entrance of the warehouse. It was the same door I’d snuck into when I followed Cy there nearly two days before. I couldn’t believe that only forty-eight hours had passed. It felt as if I’d been running for my life for months.

I reached up to the doorknob.

Benji stopped me. “This is too easy. Something isn’t right.”

“I bet they have a small group of soldiers guarding that damn rock, and the rest went to investigate the explosions. They probably thought it was us and have no idea they were walking into a fight with Hamech.”

Benji turned to watch the fireworks over the tree line. “None of those men will be coming back.”

The explosions were getting closer to the center of Helena and were happening more often, sounding more like an approaching thunderstorm than an interplanetary war.

“I feel like we should have gone with Dr. Zorba,” Benji said.

“We can stop this from here.” I turned the knob and pulled open the door, standing rigid when the barrel of a handgun touched my nose.

“Easy,” Benji said. His rifle made a cracking noise as he dropped it to the ground.

The woman holding the gun to my face narrowed her eyes at me and then glared at Benji. “Oh. You are in so much trouble,” she said.

“Shut up, Bryn.”

My face screwed into disgust. “Who is she?”

Benji sighed. “My sister.”

Bryn pushed out her bottom lip, and then she grabbed my jacket with her free hand and yanked me inside, shoving me up against the metal wall by my neck.

“I said, easy!” Benji yelled, following us inside.

Bryn retrained her gun onto my temple. “Dad has lost every bit of respect he’s gained in Majestic the last twenty-plus years, Benji. You don’t get to be mad about shit!”

Bryn wore green fatigues and a matching cap, her golden blonde hair shooting out in a short ponytail at the nape of her neck. Her high cheekbones and almond-shaped green eyes made her look more supermodel than soldier. Her perfect teeth reminded me of Benji’s, and I started to wonder if his perfect looks were genetic or if, being second-generation Majestic, they had been engineered. Today, anything was possible.

“Really, I’m fine,” I said to them both.

Bryn smiled. “You’re nothing. After tonight, it’ll be as if you never were. So, be a good ghost and shut the hell up. You’ve done enough to piss me off today.”

I moved, slapping my hands together and simultaneously grabbing Bryn’s gun and pointing the barrel at her forehead.

“Whoa!” Benji said, barely having time to react. “What was that?”

Bryn scrambled for the gun for a fraction of a second, but then her eyes widened with recognition that she had lost control of the gun, and her hands immediately went up.

“I don’t think I’m done for the day,” I said, cocking the gun when she shifted as if she were going to try to make a move on me.

“What else don’t I know about you?” Benji asked, watching me hold the gun in awe.

“Clearly a lot!” Bryn growled.

“Stop whining,” I said. “You didn’t even tell me you had a sister.”

“I did, too.”

“No, you didn’t.”

Benji sighed. “At Theta Tau. The drinking game?”

I thought for a moment. “That doesn’t count. I was drunk.”

Benji and Bryn looked at each other, neither quite sure what to think.

“Where’s Dad, Bryn?”

“He’s here,” she said, lifting her chin above the barrel of her gun. She was afraid, breathing hard. “They took him upstairs. They won’t let me see him.”

“Sorry to meet you like this, Bryn. I’m going to need you to take us to the rock.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know where it is. I don’t have that kind of clearance.”

“Dad does,” Benji said.

Bryn’s eyes widened. “Benji, you’re going to get him killed by these people! Why are you doing this?”

“They aren’t bad people, Bryn. They’re trying to save us.”

She frowned, shaking her head. “You’ve been brainwashed or something. You know that’s not true.”

“Walk,” I said. “Take me to your dad.”

Bryn’s lips formed a hard line, and she closed her eyes. “You’re going to have to kill me. I’m not taking you to my dad.” She opened her eyes once to look at her brother. “I’ll never forgive you for this, Benji.”

He snarled back at her. “You will take us to Dad, so we can get that rock off this planet before it kills us all, or I’m going to kick your ass, you spoiled, close-minded, snotty little bitch!”

Bryn’s eyes popped open, and we both stared at Benji, stunned. I’d never heard him swear or yell, and by Bryn’s expression, she hadn’t either.

I smiled at him. It was kind of sexy.

Just then, Benji blanched, and less than a second later, he dived for his sister and slammed her to the ground.

I didn’t have time to react or ask what was going on before I had my answer. Apolonia’s sword hit the wall, just on the other side of where Bryn’s neck would have been.

Cy and Tsavi stood motionless, both just as shocked as the rest of us were.

“She’s Benji’s sister!” I yelled before Apolonia could take another swipe at Bryn.

Benji and Bryn stood—Bryn more slowly than her brother—and Apolonia pulled in her weapon.

“Rory,” Cy scolded. “What are you doing here? I said to stay outside!”

“Do you have the rock?”

“No!”

“Have you contacted Hamech?”

“No!”

“Then, you’re not getting much accomplished in here alone, are you?”

“Where’s Dr. Zorba?” Cy asked, suddenly realizing he was gone.

“He went back to Kempton. He’s making sure everyone got out before Hamech destroys the campus.”

Apolonia looked to Cy. “Upstairs.”

They bolted up a nearby set of metal stairs, and we followed. Benji held Bryn close. After navigating the hallway, Cy pointed at a door and then kicked it in. No one was inside, but it was full of radios and computers.

“Where is everyone? Did they all leave for Nayara?” Benji asked.

“No, some stayed behind, but we corralled them in the courtyard,” Cy said.

Benji and Bryn traded glances. “Did you kill them?”