NAOMI
THE WORLD STOPS WHEN I HEAR MY NAME. THE SOUNDS around me distort, the scene freezes, and I can’t hold myself up—
A guard grabs me by the shoulders, tearing me away from Leo. Leo. I take one look at his devastated face, and my heart crumbles. There’s no way I can leave him. This is all one giant mistake—it has to be.
The security guard pushes me up front with the other five, and I am forced to stand beside Beckett in front of the cameras. Beckett, who looks at me with a knowing smirk that makes my insides recoil.
The band bursts into “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” and the crowd breaks into a chant. “Na-o-mi! Be-ckett!” But it’s all happening in slow motion, and I can’t make any sense of the faces around me. They cheer right in the face of my agony.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Anytime I ever imagined being named one of the Final Six, I always pictured Leo beside me. And now, the thought of leaving this world and spending the rest of my life with the loathsome Beckett and four near strangers has me on the verge of hysteria.
General Sokolov joins Dr. Takumi at the microphone, and the two begin waxing on about the journey ahead of us and all that’s to come starting tomorrow—but I can’t listen. All I can do is try not to cry, to avoid Leo’s eyes.
It was heartbreaking enough when the draft meant leaving my family. Now, to be leaving my first and only love on top of it . . . is a whole new level of pain.
As the speeches draw to an end, the guards close in around us, ushering the Final Six, the faculty, and eliminated finalists out of the fray, back inside space camp. But instead of falling in line with the others, I break away and sprint to Dr. Takumi before he reaches the door, grabbing his arm with the force of my emotions.
“Excuse me?” He peers down his nose at me, shaking his arm loose.
“Why?” I burst out. “Why me, why Beckett—and not Leo?”
Dr. Takumi pauses, and then he gives me a cold smile. “You were an obvious choice. None of the others here can come close to your skill set and knowledge.”
The way he emphasizes the word makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“After seeing what you are capable of, it was clear,” he continues. “You are far more useful to us on Europa than on Earth.” Dr. Takumi lowers his voice, and something fearsome flashes in his eyes. “You didn’t really think you got away with everything, did you? The stunt you pulled in the robotics lab, what you did to Dot—of course I knew it was you. But it only proved you more indispensible to me and to the mission. After all . . . who else has shown themselves to be such a skilled tech specialist?”
I can’t speak as I stare up at him. His words have knocked the wind out of me. My mind struggles to comprehend the fact that he knows, that he was a step ahead of me this entire time. And now it’s all the more clear why I was given a coveted spot on the Final Six instead of being thrown in a jail cell. Because I have something they need.
I’m more beneficial to the mission as one of the guinea pigs sent to Europa than as an eliminated finalist running her mouth about what she discovered. Even from jail, my story could get out. But now, Dr. Takumi knows I won’t say a word. I can’t. I owe him for not turning me in to the government—and I have to play this perfectly if I’m going to keep the six of us safe.
My voice shakes as I shift the subject away from me. “Why not Leo? He beat Beckett in every underwater challenge. It makes no sense—”
“We couldn’t have both of you,” Dr. Takumi interrupts, with an impervious shrug. “On a mission as crucial as this, we can’t afford to have any of our astronauts distracted by romance. Beckett will provide a sufficient replacement for Leo’s underwater skills—and he has already proven himself to be an invaluable resource.”
Romance. And here I actually thought Leo and I were doing a decent job of keeping our relationship under wraps. Once again I was wrong, I miscalculated everything—and now I’m the reason Leo lost his spot.
Dr. Takumi saunters off, leaving me reeling from his words. I see him signal someone, jerking his neck in my direction, and then Lark appears. She wraps her arm around my shoulder, steering me inside, as I search the crowd for Leo.
“He’s already upstairs,” Lark says, following my gaze.
As soon as we’re through the doors, I feel a crack in my chest, a sob breaking loose. Lark folds her arms around me, letting down her tough exterior, as my tears fall.
“You’re going to be a hero, Naomi. You just might save us all,” she says gently. “If we live to see future generations of humans, it’ll be thanks to you—you and Beckett, Jian and Sydney, Dev and Minka. I promise, you’re making the most worthy sacrifice. I would do it myself if I could.”
I nod, but there is no dulling the ache in my heart as the faces of the four people I love most in the world flash in my mind.
Sam. Mom. Dad. Leo . . .
It’s hours before I get to see Leo again. While the eliminated finalists pack and prepare for tomorrow’s journey home in a haze of shock, the Final Six are ushered into a series of all-day briefings with the heads of the space agencies and the secretary-general of the United Nations. The others around me, even the previously hesitant Sydney, are brimming with excitement as we’re given the rundown of tomorrow’s rocket launch, an event expected to “blow the Apollo moon landings out of the water.” But my mind is miles away.
When we’re finally escorted back to our dorm rooms, long after dinner has come and gone, I find Lark on the staircase.
“Can you get a message to Leo for me?” I whisper, pleading to her with my eyes.
She nods, and I hand her the note I scrawled during one of the long briefing meetings. And then I hurry to my dorm room to wait.
Minutes later, he is at my door. Relief mixes with misery as I fly into his arms, wondering how I will ever live without this.
“I’m sorry—so sorry,” I sob as he holds me close, kissing me through my tears. “If I hadn’t—”
“Don’t apologize,” he whispers into my hair. And as I look up at him, I see tears in his eyes too.
“Stay with me tonight.” I lace my fingers in his. “All night. Lark will cover for us if anyone suspects you’re not in your room, but even if she doesn’t, I don’t care. Dr. Takumi can’t punish us any more than he already has.”
Leo nods, and lifts me into his arms. He lays me down on the bed, his lips moving over mine until I forget where we are, forget the good-bye tomorrow will bring. And then suddenly, he pulls away.
“What is it?” I ask, taken aback.
“On Europa, they’ll expect you to . . . to eventually have a partner, and procreate,” Leo says, his voice catching on the words. “I don’t know how to face it.”
“I won’t,” I promise. “I don’t care what they expect, I won’t do it. But . . . but I wouldn’t blame you if you end up with someone—someone on Earth.” Leo shakes his head no, and I press my finger to his lips. “That’s why . . . that’s why I need you to be my first. I need you—this—to hold on to, for the rest of my life.”
“Are you sure?” Leo whispers.
“More sure than I’ve ever been about anything.”
He lowers toward me, nestling his forehead against mine.
“Ti amo, Naomi.”
My heart swells at his words. It’s the moment I’ve dreamed of . . . but I never expected it to happen the night before we are forced to separate forever.
“Ti amo.” I tighten my arms around him, closing my eyes as I memorize the feel of his touch. “I love you, too.”