Lana
Kitty and I head straight for the kitchen, where we sit down across from each other at a comfortable little table. It’s not as big as Cody’s house, but it’s still so much larger and more spacious than the homes Kitty and I lived in growing up.
“How are you adjusting?” I ask her, looking around. “Do you like it here? Is it what you hoped for?” There’s no one else around. It’s just the two of us. The little kitchen is messy, but homey.
“It’s okay,” she says slowly, but she doesn’t seem like her usual, carefree self. Instantly, I’m on alert, and I look at her sharply.
“What’s wrong, Kitty?”
“What makes you think anything’s wrong?” She says flippantly, brushing her long hair back with her hand. “It’s fine, Lana. What about you? Did you and the alien man…you know?”
I blush.
Hard.
We didn’t. We definitely didn’t. I wanted to, though, and I don’t like the idea of admitting that to Kitty. Am I embarrassed of Cody? No. Absolutely not. Cody is incredible, and sexy, and strong, but I like him. A lot. I don’t really want to go talking about what we did or didn’t do.
“No,” I finally say, but Kitty glares at me. “What is it?” I ask her. “Why are you upset?”
Kitty just shakes her head and leans back in her chair. “I’m not,” she says. “It’s just typical, you know? You have all this good luck,” she says. “While the rest of us are just…ordinary.”
“What are you talking about?” I look around the room. “And speaking of normal, where’s everyone else?”
“They’re all tied up at the moment,” she says, and then Kitty stands up. “I’m glad you came to see me, you know,” she tells me, walking around the table to my side. She stands beside me and sits on top of the table. It’s sturdy. It doesn’t shake or wobble beneath her weight.
“I’m glad I got to come see you, too,” I tell her, although suddenly, I’m feeling nervous and uncomfortable. “But I have to be honest with you, Kitty, you’re being a little strange.”
“Aw, is the little princess getting anxious? Welcome to my life,” she hisses, and then Kitty does something I don’t expect, something I don’t see coming.
Kitty does something she’s never done in all of our years of friendship.
She slaps me in the face.
“What the hell, Kitty?” I rub my face and look up at her, but something is different about Kitty now. She doesn’t look calm or nice or interesting or fun. She doesn’t look like some girl who’s nervous about living on a new planet.
She just looks evil.
And that’s when I realize I’ve been completely, totally tricked.
“It was you,” I whisper. “You sneaked Harper onto the ship. That’s why you never wanted me to be alone in our bedroom.”
She shrugs, and I realize I was completely tricked. For a week. I thought Kitty was just being weird when it came to our shared living unit. She didn’t want me to go into the closet and she didn’t like me going to her side of the room at all. Anytime I was in the bedroom, Kitty was there, too. I was never alone.
Was it because Harper was hiding in there?
“You two were together,” I whisper. “Fuck, you’re a rebel, aren’t you, Kitty?” How could I not have seen it? My friend has always been unhappy with her situation in life. She’s always been uncomfortable with where she is, but I never expected this from her.
“I thought losing your father would teach you a lesson, you stupid bitch,” Kitty hisses, and she grabs my arm, digging her nails in hard. Pools of blood pool where the sharp tips of her nails have pierced my skin, but I ignore the pain and keep my eyes on her.
I’m going to have to escape.
I’m going to have to find a way to get out of here.
Cody.
Cody will come for me, but he has to know I’m in trouble. I don’t want to draw Kitty’s attention by pushing buttons on my communications unit, but there’s a tiny distress button I can push. She’ll never see me do it. The alarm is silent, Cody told me, and it will notify him and the local authorities that I’m in trouble.
“You’re hurting me,” I whisper, and I act like I’m trying to rub my wrist with my hand. As I make the motion, I quickly hit the secret alarm button. Kitty doesn’t see, and I breathe a quiet sigh of relief. That’s it. Help will come. Cody will come here, but I have to hold her off until then.
“I’m barely touching you,” Kitty says. “And believe me, you deserve so much worse than this.”
“Why are you doing this to me?” I ask her. “Why would you let Harper try to hurt me? And why wait until we were already on the planet? Were you two in love or something?”
She scoffs. “Me and Harper? Hardly. No, my darling,” she slaps me again, and then she yanks my hair back so I’m forced to look at her. “You’re so fucking naïve,” she says. “Harper paid me a lot of money to get him here. I wasn’t about to let him kill you on the ship and draw all of that attention to myself. No. I didn’t want to be a suspect, honey. I wanted him to get his score and finally kill the rest of you all. Waiting until Sapphira meant he could make it look like an accident and the two of us could go our separate ways and live our separate lives.”
“But, why?” I ask her. “It doesn’t make sense.” I’m stalling, yeah, but I also need to know. “You loved my father, Kitty. You loved our village and our planet. Why would you betray it by joining the rebels?”
“You stupid girl. I’m not even from your planet, but then, you never even noticed, did you?”
“What? Yes, you are. We grew up together.”
“I came to the planet when I was five, Lana. I was born on Mirroean. When my family died, I was adopted by a couple on Alipoiaen. You think that’s easy? You think it’s okay losing your family and then having to live somewhere you don’t know? In a new place you don’t even like?”
“No,” I say sarcastically. “I have no idea what that’s like.”
“Well, you do now, you stupid girl.” She raises her hand to hit me again, but this time, I block her hit, and I use all of my strength to push her away.
“No, Kitty, we aren’t going to play this game. Where’s everyone else in this house, huh? You have them tied up upstairs?”
A look of surprise crosses her face, but then she shakes her head. “No,” she says, and I realize she’s lying. She’s got them locked away somehow because she knew I was coming over and she wants to finish Harper’s mission of killing me.
It all makes sense.
They might not be involved, but I can guarantee that if she finishes Harper’s mission for him, there’s going to be some sort of reward in it for her. Kitty doesn’t seem to be politically driven when it comes to being a rebel. Nope. She’s just a bitch who doesn’t like me and who wants to see me suffer. There’s not even a real reason for it except that she’s angry with her adoptive parents, angry with me, angry with the world.
And it hurts.
We were best friends growing up. I always considered her to be like a sister to me: closer, really. Now? Now Kitty and I are about to have our very first fight, and I have a feeling it’s going to be a big one.
“I’ve always hated you,” she shakes her head at me.
“I’ve always loved you,” I counter.
Then Kitty pulls away from me and I jump to my feet.
“This is it, then,” I say.
“You’re going down, Lana,” she tells me. “If it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to make you pay for your stupid life of privilege. You grew up with everything and what? I was your sidekick? No, I don’t think so. Not anymore.”
“You should have let Harper kill me on the ship,” I tell her. “Because you seriously missed your chance.”
I was sad then, and alone. I’m not anymore. Now, I have Cody’s love running through my veins. Now I have the knowledge and the comfort that Cody wants me, adores me, loves me. Now I know that I have something worth fighting for to stay alive.
Now I know I can do anything.
I still don’t know exactly why Kitty betrayed me. Maybe she was the one who led the rebels to our village. Maybe she’s the one who warned them someone from a rich planet was going to be there. Maybe she’s the one who gave away my father’s location. All I know is that it hurts very deeply to know that someone I trusted and adored is secretly evil.
They’re secretly bad.
I hate knowing she was more than happy to let Harper attack me for money.
I hate knowing I was too stupid to see the real her.
“I didn’t miss a damn thing,” she says. “I’m stronger than you know, you stupid girl.”
“Is that why you killed the other refugees?” I ask, baiting her. I don’t think they’re dead. She wouldn’t risk that. Not just yet. No, Kitty is clever, and if she’s going to kill them or let Harper kill them, she’ll do it in a way that makes the incidence seem unrelated to herself.
She’s good at that.
“Stupid girl. They’re not dead. Just asleep.” She smiles, looking smug with herself. “Couldn’t have them around to interrupt our discussion, now could I?”
“Kitty, it’s not too late.” I try one last time to make her see reason. “It’s not too late to make things right. We could make this right. You can turn yourself in and you and Harper can service some prison time, but then you’ll be free.”
“Oh, but darling,” she hisses. “I’m already free.”
Then Kitty leaps at me, and suddenly, I’m all instinct and bravery.
Suddenly, I know exactly what I have to do.
Suddenly, it’s a fight for my life, and I have no interest in losing.
I can do this.
I can win.