Chapter Twenty-One
The next three weeks of Kalen’s absence fly by, but every day that I wake up, determined to break into Kalen’s office, fear grips me and I chicken out. It takes one passing slave to see what I’m doing and tell Master Timeos. One glance in my direction to give me a death sentence. And Kalen won’t be around to rescue me this time.
So I do my work diligently every day, careful not to raise suspicion with each glance I spare toward the home offices. Without Kalen here to stick up for me, I’m mildly terrified of what would happen if Timeos learned my plans. So I spend as much time with Adeline as she needs, and I help Vermilia in the kitchen, or Bram in the gardens during my free time.
And all the while, my mind is reeling, my courage dwindling, my patience thinning. I won’t get to see Mom for months or years to come, if ever, and I wonder if she’s even alive.
Time is ticking, slipping through my fingers.
The night before Kalen’s return, I finally work up enough courage to break into his office. Kalen said never to mention freedom again, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight for it. And I will. I’ll fight for it—I’ll risk my life for it. Because a life as a slave isn’t life at all.
After everyone is asleep, I sneak upstairs, pull his bedroom key out of my pocket, and match the grooves to the designs on the keypad. The door slides open, and I slip through the shadows of the room, making a beeline for his moonlit dresser, where I find the bowl of keys on top. A wicked grin takes over my face when I spot the bone-white one labeled Study. I drop it into my pocket, then slip out of the room. After closing the door quietly behind me, I head downstairs toward the forbidden offices.
Finding information about a way home shouldn’t be too difficult. Kalen works in his study often enough that I can safely assume that all the information for the Port is in there somewhere.
When I’m safe in the shadows, I step into the hallway where the offices are located. I could get severely punished if I’m found wandering these halls. But the risk. It’s worth it. I roll the engravings on the ball along a small groove by the door. The door slides open, and I step in.
I’ve never been inside Kalen’s study before. It’s large and sparse, with a smooth tile floor. Moonlight slants through the window, illuminating the room just enough for me to see what I need. Packed bookshelves line the walls, and a clean white glass desk sits by the window.
I cross the room to his desk and open drawer after drawer, but there’s no information about the company. No filing cabinets line the walls. In fact, the office is incredibly bare, with no sign of technology that could access the information I want. What does Kalen do in here? Read books all day? Heaving out a frustrated sigh, I lean back on his desk, defeated, because I risked everything to get here, and I found nothing I need.
But then the surface of the desk illuminates. Blue letters and symbols flash across the screen, and I leap away from it. This is no ordinary desk. My touching the surface must have activated it.
I hurry around to the other side and read the tabs on the left, finding one that reads Interplanetary Trades. I click it, and then click through the odd symbols on the side of his desk, all the while silently thanking Johnson for all his reading lessons. I finally find a button labeled Trading Schedule. I tap the button, hardly able to contain my excitement when a whole new screen pops up with a list of the three Captive Planets and the colonies within.
With trembling fingers, I touch the circle that says Earth, when a hand clamps down on my shoulder and spins me around. I open my mouth to scream, but another hand smothers my mouth.
“Don’t say a word.”
There’s no mistaking Tarik’s deep, cold voice. I’m so dead.
“Would you like to tell me what you’re doing in Master Kalen’s office?” He removes his hand so I can speak.
“I just…wanted to get this place cleaned before he returned.”
“In the middle of the night?” He’s obviously not buying a word I say, but I nod, anyway. He narrows his eyes and jerks his chin at the desk. “You can read Tavdorian.”
How long has he been watching me?
“A slave who can read is considered a threat,” he continues. “Haven’t you heard the saying? The best way to keep uprisings at bay is to take all forms of literacy away.”
I blink and dare to lift my eyes. “You won’t tell, will you?”
I can’t read him. His features are too impassive. His eyes are black marbles, glittering in the moonlight.
“No. Because I’ve grown fond of you,” he finally answers. “But if I catch you in these parts again, it’s my duty to report you. Understand?”
I blow out a sigh of relief and follow him out of the room, glad that he doesn’t ask me what I was doing. When we step through the halls and into the courtyard, I turn toward Tarik.
“Thanks again…for not turning me in.”
He gives a grave nod and begins walking away, not toward the slaves’ quarters, but toward the entrance hall.
“What are you doing up this late, anyway?” I ask.
He pauses. “Go to sleep, Lark.”
My heart begins pounding. “You’re leaving.”
He spins around, his eyes blazing. “No more questions. Go. To. Bed.”
Something doesn’t add up. Tarik, an overseer, leaving this late at night. I note the Day Pass already strapped around his wrist. And the way he defended the space pirates that morning in the kitchen—
“You’re working with them, aren’t you?”
His nostrils flare. “You dare accuse me of—”
“Take me with you.”
He clamps his mouths shut. And maybe it’s that inner voice Bram told me to heed, or maybe it’s pure desperation to get out of the confines of the estate, but I say, “Take me. Or—or I’ll tell Kalen that you’re meeting with them.”
He blinks. “You’re blackmailing me?”
“I’m begging you.”
He fidgets on his feet and glances around. He’s clearly in a hurry. Good. He won’t have time to say no.
“It’s dangerous,” he whispers. “But you can read. And…we could use a reader. I must have your word right now that you’ll be sworn to secrecy.”
A breath of excitement escapes me. “I promise.”
“Good.” His shoulders seem to relax. “Come on.”
He gets me a Day Pass, and the guard doesn’t suspect a thing with Tarik by my side as we leave the estate and head toward the heart of the city on foot. We arrive at the river and cross the bridge. The glass street becomes a dirt road as we venture deeper into the shanty town known as Zumbarrii. There’s no electricity, and the streets are dark and deserted, with only the rusty light coming from the full Red Moon above. A rat scurries across the street into the gutter. Farther down, a scrawny dog-like animal sniffs for scraps of food.
When there are no people in sight, Tarik finally speaks.
“What I’m about to tell you is top secret.” His voice is deep and raw, like gravel. He studies me, shafts of moonlight making his eyes glint. “I’ve been working with the Renegade for years to…change the government. We have slaves who act as spies throughout the city, and high-ranking generals who secretly help our cause. The only reason I’ve allowed you to join is because we don’t have slaves who can read and write. And you know what else we don’t have? Spies who have access to the Rydell Trading Port—one of the few businesses that takes regular trips with good-sized ships off the planet.”
“What about you?”
His jaw tenses. “I can’t read. Not only that, but I’m Master Kalen’s assistant, always by his side. He will notice if something’s amiss with me. But you? You’re always in the estate, and you have nothing but time on your hands. You could easily get the Renegade the information they need. The Renegade is made of thousands, though we only meet in small groups spread throughout the city. We’re so close, Lark. So close to achieving our goal. Our next step? Stealing a spaceship and helping slaves escape in the process. If you successfully provide the necessary information for the Renegade, I can guarantee that you will have a trip back to Earth. And freedom.”
My heart skips a beat. Didn’t realize I’d hit the jackpot.
“Tell me what I need to do.”
“I love your eagerness.” He grins, his white teeth a stark contrast to his dark skin, and I realize this is the first time I’ve ever seen Tarik smile. “The Renegade has a meeting every night of the full Red Moon in the slums. Now that you’re about to know more about us than what I feel comfortable with, I expect you at every meeting—unless you have other obligations that I know about. If you’re not there, I’ll assume you’re backing out.” His voice drops another note. “And I will tell Master Timeos that you can read.”
My lips twist into a mirthless smile. “Well played, Tarik.”
He smirks and continues walking. The houses here are tiny, clumping together from block to block like wasp nests. Once we reach a crumbling statue of a soldier carrying a flag, which had been erected in the middle of the intersection, we take one left turn and two rights, then arrive at a shack with a faded red M engraved on the door.
“A picture of a bird in flight,” I say in surprise. How fitting. I feel very much like a caged bird in desperate need of freedom.
An Onmarian male with tangled shoulder-length black hair and threadbare clothes answers after two knocks. Tarik and I step into the small room. It’s nothing but a hovel, really. Empty, save for a table with a candle flickering on it. “Where is everybody?”
“You think we would meet in such an obvious place?” Tarik asks. The Onmarian lifts a loose floorboard in the center of the room, revealing stairs carved in dirt.
Anyone could be down there. Thieves. Guards, even, just waiting to capture anyone who dares conspire with rebels. But this is the risk I took. Swallowing hard, I take the stairs to a tiny dugout basement. No artificial lighting here. Just a few candles. The air is stale and thick. I count fifteen people gathered, all squished together in a circle on the floor. Fifteen—fewer than our community on Earth. It’s a wide variety of people. Ve’occs, Onmarians, Humans. Even a few Tavdorians. My surprise must register on my face, because Tarik gestures for me to join them.
“This is a safe place,” he says.
Sure it is, as long as I do as they say.
He leaves my side to converse with someone else, and I sit beside a Tavdorian girl. I recognize her. She was at Kalen’s parties a few times, though I don’t remember her name. What is she doing here? Expensive perfumes waft off her clothes, completely out of place in a dug out hole like this.
“Shall we begin?” one of the Tavdorian men says. I recognize him, too. Eight feet of brute strength and elite power. Tythoe. General Tythoe. I gasp at the sight of him…here. The corded muscles in his arms ripple, his skin glinting in the candlelight. Holy mother of the two moons, what would Kalen say if he knew his friends were meeting with rebels?
Tythoe looks at me, his violet eyes piercing and missing nothing. My stomach twists, because slaves aren’t supposed to look at Tavdorians in the eye, and what if he reports me to Kalen? But he doesn’t seem the least bit fazed. “Tarik here tells me you can read.”
I nod, struggling to find my voice.
He grins. “Perfect. We’ll find good use of you soon enough, I’m sure. I’ll think over it this next month, and let you know at the next meeting.”
“I’m happy to help.”
His brows shoot up in obvious surprise. “Very good. I was afraid you’d back out once you saw Tavdorians met here.”
A Tavdorian with sandy hair laughs. I’ve seen him at Kalen’s parties, too. What’s his name? Giff. He’s not quite as tall as most Tavdorians. A little husky. And if his ears weren’t pointed, I would almost think he was a Human.
“She was blackmailed, I’m sure,” he says, his bluish-purple eyes dancing. He looks at me, a strange fondness in his smile. “You really don’t have to help us if you don’t want. I mean, you’re putting your life at risk just being here.”
Tarik glares at him but says nothing. But it’s Giff’s words, his allowing me to back out now if I wanted, that make me realize Edan, and even Kalen, are completely wrong about the Renegade. They’re not cutthroats seeking to use and resell slaves at the black market.
“I asked to come.” Whispers of surprise ripple through the crowd. “Tarik promised me a trip to Earth if I helped you. When my mission here is complete, you will send me back, right?”
“Yes.” Tythoe’s eyes are honest, and I somehow feel like I can trust him completely. “You have my word. As ranking general, I personally will make sure you get home to your community when your mission here is complete.” He holds his fist to his heart. A deal. A promise.
Relief washes over me, and my hopes are confirmed. The Renegade really is on our side. When the meeting is over, I step on the stairs behind Tarik, but someone taps my shoulder. I spin around to find the Tavdorian girl standing there.
“You’re fresh from Earth, aren’t you?” she asks, her purple eyes dancing.
“Yes.”
“And Tarik said you were a native.”
I bite my lip. “Guilty.”
Her lips part into a wide smile. “My name is Cada. I’ve never met a native. Most Humans I meet are terrified of me because I’m a Tavdorian. But you’re not afraid at all, are you?”
“Should I be afraid?”
“No. Not around me. See, the Renegade works undercover with Ogan. You have heard of Ogan, haven’t you?”
“Only in passing.” That wretched habit I have of eavesdropping.
“It’s a country on the southern hemisphere of Tavdora. The Ogans don’t believe in slavery. They’re supposed to send any runaways back here, but, you know.” She rolls her eyes. “They don’t follow all the rules.”
“Does the king of Neket know about the Renegade? Or that they’re working with Ogan?”
“He tries to keep it under wraps, but pretty much everyone knows. That’s why you need to keep our name quiet if you ever want to get home. Just mentioning the Renegade out loud could get you into some serious trouble.”
“Of course. I’m just glad to have a team to work with.” It’s so strange speaking to a Tavdorian like an equal. Not just any Tavdorian, but a guest from Kalen’s parties. How ironic. How so completely thrilling.
“Come on, Lark.” Tarik stands by the stairwell and jerks his chin for me to follow. Still as serious as ever, even among friends. “We have to get back before midnight, when our Day Passes expire.”
I bow to Cada in farewell. I really don’t want to leave. This is the first time I’ve felt completely comfortable around a group of people since coming to Tavdora, and I want to linger in their presence, get to know them.
“Come again.” Cada’s eyes soften. “I know we all have to keep on our masks in public. I apologize if I seem…aloof at the parties the Rydells host. Gods know Kalen would lose both his testicles if he saw one of his guests conversing with a slave as an equal. But you’re among friends here. And if you ever need anything, anything, know that you can count on Tythoe, Giff, or me to help you out.”
The entire walk home with Tarik, I can hardly keep my mouth shut. Any time I accidentally drop a word or two about the meeting, Tarik reprimands me. By the time I let it slip a third time, he stops midstride and turns fully to face me.
“Enough.” He grips both my shoulders, his black eyes boring into mine. “Do not speak of it again. Ever. Do you understand?”
My shoulders stiffen by the tone in his voice. “I’m sorry. It’s just…the most excitement I’ve had since I left Earth.”
His gaze softens, and he releases me. “I know. I understand the overwhelming hope that comes with the Renegade. When I thought there was nothing to live for, I found them, and now my life finally has purpose. But speaking about the Renegade in public will completely negate that purpose. Because one word of them will get you imprisoned. And the way they torture you in prison…” He shudders. “You wouldn’t be able to keep your mouth shut. You’d tell the Tavdorian guard everything, and they will stop the Renegade from any future plans to help free the aliens.”
He shifts on his feet and glances around us, as though searching for any listening ears, then lowers his voice. “I know Kalen is a kind master. Reasonable. He treats us with respect. But he is a slave trader all the same. I’ve become fond of you, Lark. But if I hear you breathe one word of this to Kalen, there will be consequences. I was there that day you tried to choke Zimri. I’ve heard the things he’s said to you during his visits. He has no power over your fate as long as you’re Kalen’s plaything, but if he knew you were conspiring with rebels, he wouldn’t hesitate to put you to death, and he would have the law to back him up.”
I stop breathing.
“It would be your word against mine, Lark, and considering he’s already looking for a way to dispose of you, it’s safe to assume he would side with me. One word, and you’re dead.” He blinks and steps back. “That’s a promise.”
I swallow the saliva that’s gathered in my mouth. “I would never put the Renegade at risk like that.”
“Good. As long as it stays that way.”
We resume walking.
“How will I leave the estate for the next meeting?” I ask, still shaken by his threats.
“I’ll send you to the market with a Day Pass. After your trip to the market, you can come to the meeting. If Lord Kalen has any questions, I’ll explain. Curfew is at midnight. Your Day Pass expires then, so no wandering the streets after the meeting.”
Wow. I’ll be able to leave the estate by myself for the first time since arriving on Tavdora.
We walk the rest of the way in silence. When we arrive home, I retire to my cot, but I can’t sleep. This time it has nothing to do with fear or anxiety or grief, despite Tarik’s threats. This time sleep evades me because, for the first time since arriving on Tavdora, the promise of returning home feels tangible.
And I grasp it.