“What do you mean? That girl is our age.”
“I don’t know the full story. It sounds like Gamba joined the Luminaries as a child, and Kassandra instinctively started looking after her.”
“My mom doesn’t have a nurturing bone in her body.”
“Well I just want you to be ready . . . because Gamba calls her mother.”
I blink. “What?”
Hysan slides closer to me on the bed. “I didn’t want you to be taken by surprise again—”
“I don’t understand,” I say, my mind abruptly blank.
“She’s been cagey with the details—with any details, in fact. But I’m sure she’d be more willing to share them with you.” Hysan’s voice is soft and soothing, and even through my shock, I realize what he’s doing. “I think you should speak to her, Rho.”
And report back what I learn, I silently add.
Because Hysan and the other Guardians need to get whatever information they can from this Luminary, and I’m their best tool for extracting it. So is this Hysan my boyfriend or Hysan the diplomat advising me?
“Okay,” I say, not meeting his eyes. “I’ll talk to her.”
“I thought you’d say that,” he says, getting to his feet. “I’ll have both Gamba and breakfast brought to your tent.” He leaves quickly, like he’s just as eager as I am to avoid the awkward moment of deciding how to touch each other.
As soon as I’m alone, I sink back into bed and number my breaths. I can’t let myself think through what Hysan just revealed, or I’ll fall apart. Nishi’s counting on me to save her, and I can’t let my family drama distract me.
But if this girl’s story is true, then Mom didn’t just abandon me—
She replaced me.
? ? ?
When Hysan announces himself outside my tent, I’m already in my blue Lodestar suit, my curls pulled back in a ponytail. “Come in,” I say.
He enters with a couple of Majors carrying trays of food and silverware, and they lay out a thick blanket on the white feather floor before setting everything down for an indoor picnic. I fix my gaze on the tall, dark-skinned Capricorn girl with tourmaline eyes.
“Rho, this is Gamba,” says Hysan when it’s just the three of us. The girl keeps coming closer, until we’re face to face.
“We’d like to be alone,” I say, staring only at the Capricorn who calls my mother Mom. “I’ll let you know when we’re finished so we can meet with Eurek and the others.”
“As you wish.”
When Hysan disappears through the tent flap, Gamba immediately starts speaking.
“Sister—”
“Wandering Star.”
“Wandering Star,” she repeats, correcting herself without hesitation or emotion. “I’ve been longing to meet you for almost ten years, ever since the stars delivered me to our mother—”
“My mother.”
This time she doesn’t correct herself. She just stares at me in defiant silence—like she’s not going to cede on this one.
“Let’s get some air,” I suggest, striding past the picnic and slipping out through the tent flap. Like Fernanda, the Guardian of Taurus, I no longer trust rooms that aren’t my own.
Outside, a breeze brushes my face and cools my skin. We march across the grass to the cobalt water, and as we walk along the sea’s banks, I survey the golden trees that seem to have no end.
“You grew up on Tierre?” I ask, thinking of Ferez, the one adult in my life who’s yet to let me down.
“I was born on Tethys of House Virgo,” she says, her voice even and measured. “I became a Riser when I was eight—right around the time I saw a vision of the Last Prophecy, and the Luminaries came for me.”
She tells her life story like she’s reading it from a book, the words devoid of emotion. And I hate how much it reminds me of Mom.
“Why are you here?” I ask, planting my feet and facing her.
“To help rescue our mother.”
“She’s not your mother.”
Gamba doesn’t flinch. “That’s your perspective.”
“What?”
“There are no absolutes. Every truth is relative.”
I grit my teeth. “Thanks, but when I need wisdom, I’ll Wave Ferez.”
She tilts her head, scrutinizing me. “Hysan and the others want you to gain my trust. So why are you mistreating me?”
“I don’t really care what Hysan or anyone else wants. I don’t know who the hell you are, yet you feel completely comfortable calling me sister and claiming my mother as your own. So no, I’m not interested in gaining your trust—and if you want me to care, maybe you should start by gaining mine.”
She doesn’t speak immediately, and in her sharp silence I see traces of Mom’s discipline. “Fine,” she says, for the first time sounding like she’s losing her cool. “What do you want to know?”
“Where are the other Luminaries?”
“I can’t say.”
“So much for trusting you.”
I start marching back to my tent, but I stop when she says, “It’s not that I don’t want to—I don’t know. Once you enter the compound, you can never leave it again, and if you do, you can never find your way back. As a safety measure, none of us knows our geospacial location.”
“Where are the rest of you?” I ask, crossing my arms. “Aren’t more coming to help us fight?”
“The Luminaries aren’t warriors—we’re seers. I’ve come on behalf of the others. I was dipatched to help the Zodai, and I was told to confide only in you.”
“Confide what exactly? I already know what the Last Prophecy is, and you can’t tell me where the Luminaries are, so what information could you possibly provide?”
She sucks in a deep breath and scans our surroundings before speaking. “We think we know what Aquarius needs to trigger the Last Prophecy.”
“What?” I ask, stepping closer to her.
“Not what,” she says, shaking her head. “Who.”
Her dark eyes drill into mine, and before she can say the name, I hear myself say it for her.
“Ophiuchus.”
11
MY BODY HUMS WITH EXCITEMENT now that Gamba’s information confirms what I began to suspect after questioning Corinthe. And it cements my commitment to the plan I started outlining last night.
“Do you know where General Eurek is?” I ask Gamba.
“I do.”
“Take me to him now, please.” I’d rather talk to the Ariean Guardian alone, without Hysan.
“Will you tell him that Ophiuchus would make a better ally than prisoner?” she asks, her dark eyes studying me.
“Will you?” I shoot back.
“Luminaries only collect information; we do not share it. Once a fact is free, it can never again be hidden. My orders are to speak only with you, and to trust your wisdom.”
“Good.” I enter the woods and cut in the direction of the looming mountain. I don’t know if Gamba is following until I hear her voice at my side.
“So will you tell him?”
“That’s not your concern,” I say, and she doesn’t speak again.
The orange daylight makes everything glint—the blades of grass, the stone fortresses, the Rams’ antlers. I have no idea in which of the three Forts I’ll find Eurek, and I turn to see that Gamba has stopped walking a few feet behind me.
“What are you going to do about our mother?” she demands.