“The war down south?” I asked, still bewildered. “And what does it even matter if I have the same look in my eyes as they did?”
“Relax,” Melissa said soothingly. “It’s just evidence that you’ve seen a lot of horror in your life and managed to survive with a sense of justice and honor intact. We respect that. Hell, our parents and extended family probably wrote the damn book on it. We just… We can tell that you wouldn’t hurt us unprovoked.”
I blinked at her, and then shook my head and tried not to snort derisively. That was the stupidest thing I had ever heard. But if it earned me some trust, then I was willing to take it.
19
“Here, it’s better if we talk in the cockpit,” Melissa announced, gesturing toward a door in the wall of the cargo bay, which presumably led to the bubble of glass that I had seen on the front earlier. “We can leave your people to work on our aunt without distracting them with our conversation.”
I nodded and looked at Alex and Leo. Leo seemed interested, but Alex… Alex’s gaze was focused on the wall, his face pale and haunted. He wasn’t in the right shape to handle any of this. If anything, I was pretty sure he was still in shock. I’d been there a time or two myself, so I recognized the signs.
“Go ahead,” I told them. “I’ll be there in a minute. I’m just going to relieve my Lieutenant.”
Thomas and Melissa shrugged and started moving toward the door, but Leo waited for me as I sidled up to my brother’s side. “Alex?” I called softly. He blinked, but his gaze didn’t stray from the wall. “Alex.” I reached out and touched his hand, wrapping one finger around his pinkie and giving it a little squeeze. “Alex!” This time I shook him a little bit, shoving my shoulder into his and desperately trying to get him to focus.
“Liana?” he asked, his voice reed-thin and filled with confusion. “What?”
Fear exploded through me, and I tugged him to face me, to look me in the eyes. “Alex, I need you to be with me right now, okay? Do you remember where we are?”
He licked his lips and looked around. “The alien ship,” he told me. Good. That was good. He was still aware of what was going on. I needed to keep him focused and alert. If he stood around too long, I was afraid he might go catatonic. His brain was trying to protect him from what he had experienced, and while I wanted to give him the time and space to process everything, I couldn’t afford to let him shut down now, while we were still in danger of potentially being caught—or attacked.
“Yes,” I told him, smiling encouragingly at him. “I need you to help Quess save this woman. Do you think you can do that?”
Alex swallowed and looked over my shoulder to where Quess was working, just in front of the other set of benches, where Amberlynn was lying on a pallet on the floor. “But Maddox is helping him.”
“I know, but I need her to help me talk to these aliens. So can you take over for her?”
My brother shifted his weight from one leg back to the other, and then nodded slowly. “I can help,” he said thickly. I moved to one side to let him pass, and then motioned for Maddox to follow me. The large area we were in ended in a wall with a door just off to the right, and as I peered through it, I saw that it led to a short hall and then another open space. I couldn’t make out much, because Leo was standing in the way, and Thomas and Melissa were behind him, waiting. Apparently, that was the cockpit, as they called it.
Behind me, I heard Maddox hand the medical supplies she was holding over to Alex, and then start walking toward me. Leo stood aside, revealing a large compartment. Chairs were mounted to the walls on both the sides and the back of the room, making room for fifteen people or so. A table sat off to one side, taking up a large slab of floor space, and there was a chair in front of the bubble window, suspended from the ceiling, with a long panel of buttons and controls sitting in front of it.
“Is that where you control this thing?” I asked, excitement coursing through me as I saw the command chair. “How does it work? How can you fly?” My fingers stretched out to touch the back of the chair, aching to stroke over the fabric there, but Melissa reached out and caught my wrist with one hand.
“The last time one of our people was here, Devon Alexander repeatedly suggested killing them to take our tech. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t show so much interest. It makes me nervous.”
My fingers curled inward, and I looked at her, both surprised at her finally admitting that one of their people had been here before, and shocked at what she was saying. “He did?” I saw the confirmation in her eyes and frowned. “I’m sorry.”
I wasn’t sure what I was apologizing for, but it felt appropriate. Perhaps it was because Devon had been a representative of the Tower and had greeted them with mistrust and the threat of violence. No wonder they were so on edge.
“It’s okay,” she said, letting my hand go with a flick of her brown hair. “You clearly didn’t know.” She paused, and then frowned. “Wait, how do you know about us, but not know about us at the same time? You took over Devon’s position. Shouldn’t there be files on this?”
Maddox, Leo, and I shared bemused looks. Yes, there should be was the answer, but in the Tower, where carefully kept secrets could mean the difference between survival and death, the council had learned to compartmentalize issues that could threaten our society. And telling anyone about the outside world had been categorized as dangerous.
But to my surprise, Thomas started explaining before I could. “I swear to God, Melissa, you never get any of the details right. The council basically told Mom never to come back, and that they fully intended to keep our existence a secret! And then fired on her and Dad to try and make sure she couldn’t tell anyone about them. Don’t you remember?”
Melissa cocked her head, her eyes growing distant, and then shrugged. “You’re probably right, of course. But Mom’s story had a lot of speedbumps along the way, and to be honest, the whole segue into the Tower wasn’t my favorite part. It was stupid.”
“Mom was captured by Desmond’s people, and the ship was damaged by Solomon!” Thomas exclaimed irritably. “It wasn’t exactly her choice to even come this way, especially with everything that was going on at the time.” He paused, and then snapped out, “Besides, you’re not supposed to have a favorite part. It’s not exactly a happy tale.”
I watched the exchange between them with growing confusion. I had picked up on the idea that their mother had been the one to visit the Tower before, obviously, but I wasn’t entirely sure what they were talking about. They were talking about history like it was a story. Why?
“What are you talking about?” Maddox asked, beating me to the punch.
Thomas and Melissa looked away from each other, as if surprised that we were still here. Melissa’s face darkened to a shade of red that rivaled a tomato, and she looked at Thomas, who rolled his eyes.
“I apologize for my sister and myself. We’re not doing a very good job explaining ourselves. Here.” He reached behind his back and started to pull something out, and movement out of the corner of my eye told me that Maddox and Leo had interpreted the act as hostile and were tensing for a fight. I reached out with both arms and clamped hands on their wrists before they could step forward.
Thomas had frozen, his eyebrows meeting in the middle of his nose in a wary line, and I flashed him and his sister a congenial smile. “Sorry. We’ve had a pretty tense day today, and we’re a little jumpy. What is it?”
“It’s a book,” Melissa said in a slightly forced, airy tone, her mouth breaking on a nervous smile. “It’s actually the story of our parents and how they changed the destiny of two nations and—”
The Girl Who Dared to Endure (The Girl Who Dared #6)
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