Compete (6 page)

“State your choice. Cadet or Civilian?”

I meet the captain’s gaze without blinking.

“Neither,” I say. “I choose to be a Citizen.”

Chapter Three

T
here is a strange pause as everyone looks at me.

“You
what?
” Captain Larei says with the beginning of a frown, and widens her eyes, as though coming awake. “What did you say?”

“I choose to be a Citizen of Atlantis,” I say clearly, standing as still and straight as possible.

The captain parts her lips, about to speak. In that moment the officer to her right leans in closer and speaks something in Atlantean, pointing to his scanning gadget.

The captain turns to him, glances over at the device, shakes her head in seeming puzzlement.

Moments tick.

Finally Captain Larei returns her attention to me, and her expression reverts to a semblance of composure.

“So,” she says in a bland voice, but her eyes follow me with an intense scrutiny. “It looks like your ID has been specially flagged in the system—which is convenient, because now I don’t have to deal with your case. Apparently you are being transferred to Imperial Command Ship Two. According to these orders, and regardless of your choice, you have been assigned to Yellow Quadrant, Navigation and Guidance, Command Deck Four. Your commanding officer is Command Pilot Aeson Kassiopei himself, and you report to him directly.”

It is now my turn to be stunned. My lips part, and I stare at her.

But Captain Larei nods at me curtly, and the Atlantean officer to her left passes his device over my ID token. “Noted and recorded. Proceed to Shuttle Bay Three to complete your permanent transfer.”

I press my lips tight and swallow. And then I step off the dais to allow Logan his turn.

T
he next few minutes are a mess. Gracie and Gordie and I stand huddled outside in the corridor, looking at each other. It’s as if we all gave each other blows to the head and are recovering from the multiple weird, self-inflicted concussions.

Gracie is still defiant from making her gutsy choice of Cadet, but some of her bravado has been diminished by the fact that I am now going to be separated from the two of them. Gordie appears upset again. His frown is back, and his hands are stuck in the pockets of his uniform, which for Gordie is a sign of stress and depression.

“Listen to me,” I say. “It’s going to be okay! Gracie, I can’t believe what you did there, choosing Cadet, of all things—”

“
You
can’t believe?” Gracie flares at me. “What about what
you
just did, Gee Two? What the hell did you choose?
Citizen?
What
is
that? And because of that now they transferred you to some other ship—”

“No, they said my transfer was going to happen anyway, regardless of my choice—”

“And not just
any
ship,” Gordie cuts in. “She’s on Imperial Command Ship Two! That’s supposed to be Phoebos’s ship! You know, your Command Pilot Kass guy—”

“Not my ‘Kass’ guy,” I interrupt with rising anger. “And he’s not Kass, but
Kassiopei!
”

“Whatever!” Gordie shrugs. “What difference does it make?”

Gracie stares at me, as suddenly it sinks in. “Wait! Kassiopei? He’s—Isn’t that supposed to be their Royal or Imperial or whatever Family?”

“Exactly!” I say, turning to her.

“So he’s, what—” Gracie’s face pales.

“He’s an effing
prince
of Atlantis!” I exclaim. At my raised voice other people in the corridor turn to stare at us.

“Oh, crap . . .” Gracie mutters.

“What?
Damn!
” This time Gordie’s jaw drops. “Da-a-a-amn!”

But I am motioning with my hands for them to tone it down. “Okay, now, listen,” I say urgently, continuing what I was originally trying to tell them. “It doesn’t matter, okay? Nothing matters except we are going to
survive
this thing, one way or another, all of us. Gracie, you will be careful, and you will stay safe. Yes, I am worried as hell that you picked Cadet as your choice. But somehow I have faith in your abilities—as long as you keep it together and
don’t let yourself fall apart
—okay? Gordie—you’re
way
smart, and as a Civilian I’m sure you will not get in any trouble if you just do what you’re supposed to. Right?
Right?
”

My brother nods reluctantly.

But Gracie continues to look at me fiercely. “How could you do this
Citizen
thing? How
could
you? You abandoned us, knowingly—”

“No! That is
not
what I’m doing!”

“Then what?”

I take a big breath and pause, as my siblings stare at me. So I take Gracie’s hand and put my other hand on Gordie’s shoulder.

“I had to choose Citizen,” I whisper. “Because it’s the
only
way I can do something to save Mom and Dad and George. I am going to enter the Games of the Atlantis Grail as soon as we arrive on Atlantis. It’s the only way to become a Citizen, and therefore the only way to get our family rescued. The winners of the Atlantis Grail get all their craziest wishes granted! You understand?”

“But—aren’t the Games of the Atlantis Grail supposed to be impossible?” Gordie mutters. “No one can win those things! You’ll get killed!”

“I know. But I have to
try
,” I say. “Besides, I have that Logos voice, remember? It’s a huge advantage! I can totally win this thing!”

What I don’t say out loud to my brother and sister is that I could not live with myself if I didn’t try, and that I am absolutely, hopelessly insane to be attempting something like this.

And that probably, yeah, I
will
get killed in the process. . . .

So maybe Gracie is right. I am about to abandon my only remaining family to selfishly go after an impossibility.

W
hile we continue to talk in agitation, Logan Sangre catches up to us. “Gwen, that was not a smart thing to do, what you did back there,” he says immediately, taking my arm. “Citizen? Really? Do you have any idea how much unnecessary attention and trouble this could cause? I mean, I get it, I know what you’re trying to do, but there’s a better way. You simply choose Cadet, take all these months to train, build yourself up. . . . Then, if you still think you can do it, you enter those goddamn Games when we arrive on Atlantis.”

I look at him with a frown. “I thought you, of all people, would understand.”

“I do! But I also want you to be safe and careful. And now look, you’ve been reassigned.”

I continue to frown until he sighs, lets go of my arm, and steps back. But then all my anger and hurt deflates as soon as I hear what he says next.

“I’ve been transferred too,” he informs me with an equally serious expression. “I am going to be on Imperial Command Ship One, Red Quadrant, Drive and Propulsion, Cadet Deck One. That’s Commander Manakteon Resoi’s flagship.”

“Oh, man, that’s wild!” Gordie exclaims. “You’re on the first ship in the Fleet!”

I just look at Logan and bite my lip.

Apparently we’re all getting separated.

Well, what did I think was going to happen?

“At least Gee Three and I get to be on the same ship together,” Gracie says.

“But not in the same sections,” Gordie adds.

But Logan watches me intensely. “So, you’re on Command Ship Two,” he says. “I don’t like it. That’s
his
ship. Phoebos, Aeson Kass—or should I say, Kassiopei.”

“Yeah,” I mutter. “I guess.”

“So, did you know who he really was? I mean, about his family—”

“Sort of. . . .” I look up at Logan, feeling a strange heat rising in my cheeks.

“Wait—you
knew?
Did he tell you himself?” Now Logan is starting to frown, and he draws closer to me.

“No!” I hurry to reply, with rising agitation. “Of course he didn’t tell me anything like that. It’s not like we ever talked about personal stuff, it was all voice training related. I just heard about it from one of the Atlantean Instructors. . . . I mean, I don’t think he’s hiding it like it’s a huge secret or anything, just not advertising the fact that he’s some kind of royal. At least not while we were still on Earth. I suppose now that we’re here on the ships, we’ll learn all kinds of other interesting things about him and the others—”

“The fact that he had you transferred to his ship means he’s got special plans for you.” Logan is still watching me with a strange expression that I have trouble reading.

“Well, yeah.” I blink. “He expects me to use my Logos voice for whatever Atlantean purposes. I bet he will continue to train me.”

“I still don’t like it. Be careful of him, stay alert. Don’t let him—
get
to you.”

“Get to me? How?”

Logan takes a deep breath. He begins to say something, but decides against it and stays silent. A long weird pause happens during which he looks at me with somehow vulnerable eyes and I stare back at him, my temples pounding.

When he finally speaks, it’s in a more aloof tone. “Whatever it is, we still don’t know anything about their long-term plans or real motives, Gwen. It’s all just the tip of an iceberg.”

I nod. “Yes, it’s complicated, I get it.”

Logan cranes his head to the side. “Do you?”

I frown then punch him on the arm. “Okay, stop that! Enough, seriously.”

But my mind, my pulse continues to race with an inexplicable emotion.

W
e walk back to our temporary barracks which happens to be somewhere on Residential Deck Four, within the Yellow Quadrant of this ark-ship. Here we collect our duffel bags with our belongings from the small storage units behind wall panels corresponding to our bunks, and proceed outside. Gordie’s been assigned to Residential Deck Two, which is in Blue, so off he goes after giving me an elusive hug—or rather, I hug him and he slips out of my grasp like an eel and pats my shoulder awkwardly.

“I’ll see you around, Gee Two and Four,” he mumbles.

“Larks stick together!” Gracie and I speak in unison, in a feeble attempt at cheer. I feel an immediate pang of guilt.
Yes, I am abandoning them
.

“Well, I’m heading to Cadet Deck One,” Gracie says.

“Okay, I’m sure there’s a way to call or communicate from ship to ship,” I say. “As soon as we figure it out, we call! And you call too, Gee Three! Promise!”

“Yeah, I promise.”

And then I squeeze the life out of Gracie, as we both hug each other, dropping our bags down to the floor.

“You’re going to be an awesome Fleet Cadet, Gracie!” I whisper in her ear, as I smoothe down her hair around her ears. “You are strong and brave and tough—”

“Shut up!” she says fiercely, because she is still mad at me, but I can see her eyes are glistening wet.

I stand and watch as Gordie and Gracie walk down a corridor together, carrying their bags, and disappear from view, swallowed by the great ark-ship around us—
their
ship, officially.

Logan and I look at each other.

“I am supposed to go to Shuttle Bay Three,” I say.

“Shuttle Bay Four, here.” He stands gazing at me, not moving, stilled with intensity.

I look up into his hazel eyes. They are warm once again, receptive. “You call me as soon as you figure things out, okay?”

He does not reply. Instead he leans in, and then takes me into a deep embrace, while his lips come down on mine, hard and sweet.

There are no surveillance cameras here, or at least none that matter.

I kiss him back, melting and drowning in those hazel eyes, while my heart hammers inside my chest, and warm honey courses throughout my body at the powerful safe feel of him against me.

But for some reason in that moment I think of another pair of eyes—the blue eyes finely outlined with darkness that belong to the prince of Atlantis.

L
ogan and I separate at a junction of corridors leading in different directions on this immense ark-ship. He goes one way, carrying his bags, and I go another. I turn and watch his back momentarily, his confident walk, the toned shape of his tall runner’s body, wide shoulders, the fall of his super-dark hair, a rare shade of near black, tinged with a hint of red. As though sensing my gaze, he too pauses, turns his head and nods to me with a smile, and a touch of one hand to his lips in an air kiss.

And then I continue on my way alone.

I walk in the general direction of Shuttle Bay Three, after stopping to consult the ship schematic on the nearest display screen in the corridor. The ship is amazing but we haven’t been really allowed to see it properly—to explore or wander about enough to learn our way—and so the schematic is the only means of getting around. After several turns along unfamiliar corridors, I emerge into the huge overwhelming tunnel space that is at least remotely familiar.