Lucky had been pacing behind her, but he stopped at her mention of Earth. At the same time, the paintbrush froze in Nok’s hand. Rolf and Mali exchanged a silent glance, but Cora dismissed it.
“The Caretaker took me through a marketplace,” she continued. “I saw some other species. The Mosca.” She glanced at Mali, whose face remained stoic. “You said they were black market traders. Well, they speak English. I heard them talking to human kids they took from Earth. They said they’d be going back to Earth soon for another supply run. If we can just find the fail-safe exit and get out of here, we could negotiate with the Mosca to get a ride back home.”
None of the others spoke. Nok seemed intently focused on the tip of her paintbrush. Why weren’t they happy about her news?
“Cora,” Lucky said slowly, “you haven’t been sleeping. You really just need to rest.”
Cora shook her head in frustration. “It isn’t about that. Look, I can’t do it on my own. And I don’t want to. Mali, you must know the hallways of this station. We’ll need you to get us back to the market without anyone seeing us. Leon’s a black market trader at home, so he can handle the negotiations. Cassian said they aren’t loyal to any particular race. All they care about is payment. We’ve got all the tokens from the games, and I saw the same tokens out there too, so maybe they’re worth real money. If I have to, I’ll cut off my hair and use that to pay for our trip.”
Nok and Rolf exchanged a troubled glance. Lucky clenched his jaw, listening and nodding as his eyes darted around to nothing in particular. He had seemed relieved to have her back—so why did she now feel ice down her spine?
“Cora.” His voice was soft. Too soft. Pitying. “There’s something you don’t know.”
The ice down her back spread to her tailbone. She looked to Mali, who only nudged a paintbrush with her toe. Rolf whispered something in Nok’s ear; she let out a giggle before clamping a hand over her candy-stained lips.
Lucky didn’t meet her eyes. “Cora, there’s no point trying to escape. Earth is gone.”
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
..................................................................
37
Cora
THE WORDS CREPT OVER her like a cold mist. Gone? She felt like a stranger in her own body. The wind was blowing, but she felt nothing. The air had lost the smell of flowering trees, replaced with the ozone she’d smelled the first day. Gone? What about Charlie? Her parents? What about her bedroom with the stars on the ceiling, and Sadie asleep at the foot of her bed, and her notebook of half-written lyrics stashed beneath her pillow? Gone? She didn’t need to look down to know her hands were still attached to her wrists—in the same way, she still felt the pull of home.
She shook her head like he’d spoken a foreign language. “What are you talking about?”
Lucky rubbed the back of his neck. “Mali told us. She found out from the Caretaker. It happened right after they took us. That is why there’s no point in trying to escape—there’s nothing to escape to.” For once, he wasn’t popping the knuckles in his left hand.
The fog in her head grew, turning colder by the minute. She threw a hesitant look between the others. None of it made any sense. If Earth was gone, why hadn’t the Caretaker told her? He certainly wasn’t shy about showing her the terrible things that happened in the menageries. And there were the Mosca’s words in the market too. He’d talked about his next supply run to Earth like it was a foregone conclusion.
Her eyes fell on Mali, standing cryptically silent, pinching her own wrist. “How do we know you aren’t lying? If you were working with the Kindred, this would be the perfect thing to say to make us give up hope. And if it was coming from you, not them, we’d be more likely to believe it.”
Mali didn’t answer.
“They’ve never lied to us,” Rolf declared.
Cora threw out her arms toward the mountain range and the ocean and the farm. “This whole place is a lie!”
“No—it’s a chance.” Rolf had been massaging his temples like his head ached, but he abruptly dropped his hands. His voice had an edge of authority that she’d never heard before. What had happened, while she was gone, that made him the leader? “They’ve created an entire new world for us. We’re like gods to them.”