Tether (27 page)

“She looks like a prisoner of war,” he barked at nobody in particular.

“I am,” she reminded him, biting the ends of her words in fury. “Now give me back my clothes!”

He jerked his head, and one of the Libertines rushed forward with her rumpled things.

“We can’t put her on the box looking like that,” the Shepherd said. “Clean her up. Fix her hair. Find her some decent clothes, something that doesn’t make her look like she hasn’t eaten in three weeks. The people won’t like it if they think we’ve let their little princess starve.” His eyes flashed with menace, and he corrected himself: “Forgive me—their queen.”

“The box?” Juliana asked.

“Yes, Your Majesty, don’t you see? You’re one of us now. And I mean for the people to know it. You’re going to deliver a live, public statement of support for Libertas tonight.”

“I won’t,” she said fiercely.

He paused for a moment. “Everyone, get out.”

The only person who hesitated to follow orders was Lucas, who lingered at the door. “Out, Janus!” the Shepherd shouted. Lucas scurried away.

“You must think you’re very clever, escaping from us like that,” the Shepherd said, pacing the floor in front of her. “Care to tell me how you managed it?”

Juliana said nothing. She wouldn’t have known how to explain what happened even if she’d wanted to.

“No? Fair enough. It doesn’t matter now. We got you back.” The Shepherd stared at her. “The king is dead—but you already knew that, right?”

“Yes,” she said. “He’s dead because you murdered him. So if you think I’m going to let you primp me up and push me onto some stage so you can get a sound bite of me praising Libertas, you’re insane. I would never, ever support my father’s killers. The people know that.”

“The people.” The Shepherd laughed. “The people think you’re a spoiled, simpering child, and they don’t trust you to lead them. We know what they want. We know how to protect them from the real threat.”

“Which is what?”

“Those corrupt bloodsuckers you call a family and that rabid bulldog you’ve unleashed on this country,” the Shepherd spat. “The General won’t rest until he’s killed every single one of his citizens to win a war nobody even wants to fight!”

She had no wish to defend the General, but she wasn’t going to let him talk like that about her father. History would remember him however it wanted to, regardless of who he really was, but he wasn’t even buried yet. “My father didn’t want this war! He did everything he could to prevent it.”

“He did nothing,” the Shepherd shot back. “That joke of a royal wedding was a distraction, not a solution. The king was either too weak to bring the General to heel or he was unwilling. It doesn’t matter which. He was a cancer on this country, and now the cancer has been cut out. I wish I could say Libertas was responsible for that act of patriotism, but unfortunately we didn’t kill him. That honor belongs to the General.”

The Shepherd smiled at the look on her face. “You don’t seem shocked to hear that. Suspected it all along, didn’t you? I knew you would. You’re a pragmatist, Juliana. We’re very similar in that way.”

“You and I are nothing alike,” she said.

“Oh, you would be surprised to discover how much we have in common,” the Shepherd said. Juliana narrowed her eyes at him. The Shepherd had always been calm and composed with her in the past, but now he was impatient. There was something he was bursting at the seams to tell her. She decided to save him the trouble.

“And you would be surprised to discover how good my memory is,” Juliana said. “I know who you are, Kit.” She was proud of how she kept her voice from quavering. She wanted him to think she’d
always known, that she’d been playing her own game, but it wasn’t until she’d heard him call Thomas “toy soldier” in the van that she started to suspect. It was a KES term, one that told her he was a defector. And the burn … everyone knew the traitor Kit Turner had escaped the Labyrinth by setting a fire in his cell. It had been a long time since she’d last seen a picture of him—years, in fact, almost ten—but as the pieces fell into place, memories began to rise to the surface, and finally everything clicked.
My brother,
she thought.

“Blood does tell, doesn’t it?” Kit said. “You realize that all your problems would’ve been solved if the king had just recognized me as his heir, right? You would’ve been like that Farnham prince you were supposed to marry: powerless, with nothing expected of you. You could’ve lived any life you wanted, within reason.”

“That’s why you turned your back on your country?” she demanded. “Because Dad wouldn’t let you be king? If you ask me, that was the smartest thing he ever did.”

Kit shrugged. “You’re probably right. This country doesn’t need another king. It needs a real leader, someone who’s willing to put the power in the hands of the people.”

“And you’re that someone?” She laughed. “I’m sorry, but that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Not me,” Kit said with a knowing smile. “Not yet. The Monad is going to turn this world upside down and make it new. I’m just his humble servant.”

“The Monad,” Juliana scoffed. “I’m starting to think he doesn’t even exist.”

“Oh, he exists,” Kit said. “Resist all you want, Juliana. The world will change. And I’m going to make sure you get a front-row seat when it does.”

“Sasha?”

Selene and I opened our eyes. Cora was standing at the door. “Food’s ready. Thomas asked me to see if either of you were hungry.”

“We are,” I said, getting up off the bed. I knew Selene was just as starved as I was. We’d spent the last several hours trying to tune in to Juliana, and I felt as if I’d run a marathon. I turned to Selene and said, “Next time we do that we’ve got to carbo-load beforehand.”

You’re elated,
she said as we followed Cora through the halls of the safe house and down the narrow back staircase that led to the kitchen.

I just can’t believe it worked!
But the tether was stronger than ever before, and a combination of chaos and exhaustion and fear had weakened Juliana’s mental defenses enough that Selene and I working together could see through her eyes.

My first instinct was to tell Thomas about it, but he’d been acting weird around me ever since we lost Juliana to Libertas, and I got the sense—as much as I tried to ignore it—that he blamed me, somehow, for the fact that she’d been recaptured.

I blamed myself, too. I should’ve known what was happening before I did, but I was too focused on Thomas, too busy trying to push away the panic of the previous moments, that I wasn’t listening. I wasn’t paying attention to anything but him and me, and because of that I missed the warning. Finding Juliana wasn’t just about saving Selene’s world now, or breaking the tether, either. It was about making things right.

We found everyone already gathered in the big living room on the ground floor of the safe house, spooning pasta into their mouths. I sank into a chair and gratefully accepted a bowl from Navin.

“Sasha and I have something to tell you,” Selene said, ignoring the food. “We were able to tap into Juliana’s mind through the tether, and we saw the Shepherd tell her that he was going to put her on some kind of—Sasha, what was it?”

“The box,” I told them. We’d decided without even discussing it not to tell the KES agents that the Shepherd and Kit Turner were the same person. Something about that information felt like a bargaining chip, and no matter what, we couldn’t be sure what any of their loyalties were. I wasn’t even sure if I should share the information with Thomas. Selene would certainly be angry if I did, and she would know. “He’s going to force Juliana to go on television and deliver a public statement of support for Libertas tonight.”

Several of the KES agents groaned. Thomas shook his head. “I should’ve known they’d try something like that. Now that the king’s dead, she’s the official voice of the Commonwealth. If the people think she’s on Libertas’s side, it validates whatever they’re planning.”

“The people despise the royal family,” Callum said. “Won’t Juliana’s ‘support’ just make Libertas look worse?”

“Not if she comes out against the war with Farnham and
the actions of the UCC military,” Adele said. “Juliana’s approval rating shot up when everybody thought you two were going to get married, and then again when everybody thought she’d been kidnapped. My bet is that they’re counting on people’s newfound affection for her to turn the tide against the General once and for all and make it possible for them to do what they’ve always wanted: bring down the entire government.”

“And then what are they going to do with her?” Callum demanded. Nobody answered him. “How do we even know she’ll still be alive by tomorrow night?”

“Sasha and Selene will keep an eye on her,” Thomas said. The certainty in his voice made me proud. It was easy, in a group of armed guards, to feel useless, but Selene and I had our talents, too. “If they get the sense that she’s in imminent danger, we’ll speed up our timeline and go in there by brute force.” The agents exchanged looks—that wasn’t something they thought had even the slightest chance of working.

“Somebody turn on the box,” Rocko said. “Sounds like there’s something we’ve got to see.”

At eight o’clock sharp, we all gathered around the television to see Juliana deliver her public statement of support for Libertas. Her hair hung dark and silky over her shoulders. This cheered Selene up.
She looks like us again,
she said.

“Good evening, Columbia,” Juliana began. Her voice was steady and calm, though both Selene and I could feel the fear vibrating like a high, shrill note along the tether. Selene squeezed my arm so tight she was cutting off my circulation. “I know that you’re all frightened by the recent turn of events that has led to the invasion of our neighboring kingdom of Farnham, and unsure of what the future holds for our great
country. My heart goes out to the family and friends of all the soldiers who have died in the past weeks, fighting for what some might call the preservation of our freedom and the reclamation of the lands that were lost to us in the Great War with Farnham.

“But I must also disavow the actions of the Columbian military leadership in launching this war. It has become clear to me that no longer do those who are commanding our armies and negotiating our diplomacy have any desire to work toward the benefit of our people. There is, however, one group that has always been fighting for you—for us, all true Columbians everywhere—and that is Libertas. Tonight I throw my full support behind Libertas and declare them my ally. I can only hope that you will do the same.”

The screen faded to an image of the Libertas flag, a triangle of ten gold stars on a forest-green background. Adele punched the off button angrily with her thumb. I searched the room for Thomas and found him standing near the kitchen. His hands were balled at his sides, his knuckles practically white. The other agents began muttering to each other in low voices.

“The General is not going to like that,” Tim said darkly. “I don’t know about the rest of you guys, but I’m really glad not to be at the Labyrinth right now.”

We all jumped when we heard the commotion coming from the safe house antechamber. Thomas went to the door.

“It’s just Fillmore,” he called over his shoulder. “And he’s brought us some stuff.”

“Some stuff,” Fillmore muttered as he waddled into the room, arms stacked high with boxes. “I’ve got all your mission necessities right here, and not one of you ingrates has offered to help me carry them.”

Sergei, Navin, and Cora got up to unburden Fillmore.
Navin rifled through his box and pulled out a handful of bright plumage. “Feathered masks? Fillmore, we’re going to look like a real flock of idiots in these monstrosities.”

“That was all that was left,” Fillmore snapped. “You think it’s easy to find nine masks this close to Carnival? You’re lucky it’s not worse.”

“Did you get us on the Martyr guest list for tonight?” Thomas asked. Fillmore nodded. “How?”

“I’ve got my ways,” Fillmore said, settling down in one of the fat-cushioned armchairs and sighing contentedly. “Now, which one of you wants to rub my feet?”

“And the rest of it?” Thomas prompted. “Did you get everything we asked for?”

Fillmore shrugged. “Sort of.”

Thomas yanked open two large, bulky cotton bags and began rooting through them. He pulled out a variety of clothes—jeans, dark button-down shirts, and light jackets for the boys; jeans and black camisoles for the girls—all of which seemed to satisfy him. Then he went over to examine the contents of Navin’s box, and his face fell.

“What are these?” Thomas asked. “I told you to get a bunch of different ones. They’re all the same!”

“Not all,” Fillmore protested. “There are a couple different options for the men.”

“It’s the
girls
we need to look different, Fillmore!” Thomas turned the box upside down and shook; about ten feathered, spangled masks tumbled onto the coffee table. There were a few different large masks, clearly meant for the boys, but the girls’ masks, which were smaller, were identical: bright blue feathers, plenty of sequins, and short beaked noses that suggested the face of a tiny bird.