Chapter 18 Arezoo
AREZOO
The village was quiet at night, which was one of the things Arezoo loved most about living there. It was the deep, cushioned silence of late evening, when the only sounds were crickets, the occasional owl, and the faint hum of the air conditioner.
Enjoying perfect temperature regardless of the season was a luxury she hadn't enjoyed when living in Tehran. Well, that and countless other things.
Oppression was insidious.
On the face of things, it hadn't seemed like such a big deal to cover her hair every time she'd left the house or to dress modestly.
But when that wasn't a choice and noncompliance could result in death, when being a woman was a guilty sentence for the inappropriate thoughts, intentions, and deeds of men, life felt dimmed.
Arezoo hadn't realized to what degree her spirit had been stifled until she'd tasted freedom, respect, and equality.
She was so incredibly lucky to have been given another chance at life, away from the oppression and the constant threat. Given what she had gone through between Tehran and California, calling herself lucky was saying a lot.
She was curled up on her bed, wearing pajama bottoms and Ruvon's oversized sweatshirt. He'd left it in her house after dinner two nights ago, and she'd claimed it as her own because it smelled like him.
Her mother and sisters were asleep in their bedrooms, and the house was dark except for the soft glow of Arezoo's phone screen, which displayed the time and Drova's contact photo. It was a picture of her friend wearing her Guardian-in-training uniform and scowling at the camera.
The scowl was a permanent feature, so it didn't necessarily mean that Drova was angry or dissatisfied with something. It was just her badass expression.
Arezoo calculated the time difference. Safe Harbor was thirteen hours ahead of Los Angeles, which meant it was close to eleven in the morning there. Drova would be at work, but she answered the phone no matter what she was doing.
She pressed the call button and waited.
Drova picked up on the second ring. "Hey. I was about to call you."
"You were?"
"No. But I should have."
Arezoo smiled. Drova's idea of social niceties was a work in progress, though she had improved enormously since they'd become friends, and Arezoo wanted to believe that it was her positive influence.
When they'd first met, Drova's conversational style had consisted primarily of declarative statements and occasional grunts.
Now she could do small talk for up to three minutes before becoming annoyed with it.
"How's the island?" Arezoo asked.
"Hot and humid, just as I like it. How are you?"
Arezoo chose not to ask about Drova's progress with the humans the clan was recruiting and training to fight while wearing exoskeletons.
It was supposed to equalize human fighting power with that of immortals, but the recruits needed a lot of training, and it would be months before they were mission ready.
"I have news. That's why I'm calling."
"Good news or bad news?"
"Somewhere in between." Arezoo tucked her feet under her. "We're postponing the wedding."
"Yeah. That's what I wanted to talk to you about and forgot. By how much?"
"Two weeks. Amanda and Syssi came to talk to me about it. A lot of the Guardians are being deployed to Safe Harbor this week, and you can't leave because they might need you."
"Yeah," Drova said. "They might. It drives me mad when they put me on standby."
"That was the deciding factor for me. I can't get married without my best friend."
"Oh, how sweet. I'm so touched."
Arezoo laughed. "It's not working, Drova. You can drop the act."
"What act?" Drova pretended innocence.
"Like you don't care. I know you do."
"You are right. I do. Thank you for doing this for me."
"I'm not doing this just for you. I don't want to get married when every clan member is on edge because their friends and cousins are about to fight Doomers. I want it to be a relaxed party, and I want everyone to be happy."
Drova was silent for a beat. "Two weeks are not enough to achieve tranquility."
"I'm not seeking that. The absence of fighting is good enough for me.
Besides, two weeks is an eternity when I've been counting down the days.
" Arezoo heard the wobble in her own voice and took a breath to steady it.
She had already cried about this in the bathroom after Amanda and Syssi had left.
She was not going to cry again. "But it's okay.
Amanda is throwing us a cocktail reception this Saturday instead.
It's like a pre-wedding party. Drinks, dancing, appetizers. The Odus will handle all the food."
"A cocktail reception," Drova repeated, as if the words belonged to a foreign language she was still learning, which she was. "What does one wear to a cocktail reception?"
"Something nice. Dresses for the ladies, suits for the gentlemen."
The sound Drova made was somewhere between a groan and a growl. "I'm glad I'm missing it, then. It's bad enough that I have to wear a dress to your wedding."
Arezoo rolled her eyes. "Nothing will happen if you don't look like a badass for a few hours. You might even grow to like dresses."
"Never. I hate what they do to my mobility. I can't run in them. I can't fight in them. I can't even sit comfortably in a dress without worrying about what's showing. They are impractical garments designed by people who never expected women to do anything useful."
"Some women feel powerful in a dress. I feel pretty, feminine."
"That's because you are not a warrior. For me, it's not an occupation. It is who I am. Do you understand?"
"I do." Arezoo switched the phone to her other ear. "I guess. Still, you agreed to wear the bridesmaid dress."
"I agreed to wear it one time, for one day. Because you asked me, and I love you, and I'm willing to suffer for the sake of your happiness. But I refuse to pretend to enjoy it, and I will be bringing a change of clothes for after the ceremony."
Arezoo laughed, and the sound felt good, loosening the tightness in her chest that had taken residence there since she and Ruvon had agreed to postpone the wedding. "I appreciate your sacrifice."
"You should. It's a considerably greater sacrifice than taking a bullet while saving you from those monsters."
"Don't be ridiculous, Drova. It's a dress, not a death sentence."
"It's the death of my ego, and we both know that my ego is quite sizable."
They both laughed, and Arezoo let the warmth of it wash over her. This was what she needed. Drova being Drova—blunt, ridiculous, and utterly sincere in her ridiculousness.
"So, do you know what this mission is actually about?" Arezoo asked when the laughter subsided. "All Amanda and Syssi told us is that it has to do with the Doomers' island and rescuing some people from there."
"That's about all I know, too. I know it involves the island, and I know we're preparing for a large-scale operation.
Jade hasn't been briefed on the specific details, and if my mother doesn't know, nobody here does.
She's been setting up logistics for the incoming forces, though, and I can tell you that whatever this is, it's big. "
"How big?"
"We're getting ready to accommodate over fifty Guardians and twenty Kra-ell warriors. That's a serious deployment. They're setting up a staging area."
Arezoo's stomach tightened.
She didn't like thinking about the Doomers' island, the place that was home to the monsters that had abducted her and her sisters and cousin.
The place where immortal warriors served a vengeful cause and trafficked women were held as slaves.
Every time the island was mentioned in conversation with clan members, their faces took on an expression that was a mixture of anger and shame, as if they felt responsible for not being able to deal with it.
As far as she knew, there was nothing the clan could do. They were outnumbered a hundred to one, and the other side were immortals too. They just didn't stand a chance.
"That's enough to conquer the island," she said jokingly. "Especially now that Navuh is no longer there to compel his army to defend it."
Drova chuckled. "Fifty Guardians and twenty Kra-ell wouldn't be enough to take the island by force. There are thousands of warriors there. But if the goal is a targeted extraction, that's more than sufficient. Especially with an element of surprise."
"Is that why they need you? To use your compulsion ability?"
"Yeah. I'm a strategic asset, as Kian likes to say. He went from categorically refusing to have me participate in anything dangerous to sending me everywhere. I feel so special."
Drova had turned eighteen while in Safe Harbor, which probably made Kian more willing to use her significant talent in dangerous situations.
"You are special, Drova. You are one of a kind."
"I'm a one-of-a-kind weapon, and I've made my peace with that.
The problem is that they might be overestimating my abilities.
I can compel a group of people at once. A roomful, maybe more if I'm focused and they're not shooting at me.
But I can't do what Navuh does. I'm nowhere near as strong as he is. "
Despite her legendary big ego, Drova sounded unsure.
"Ruvon told me that paranormal abilities grow with age," Arezoo said.
"That's part of why Navuh is so powerful.
He's thousands of years old, and his compulsion has built up over time.
Naturally, it's also genetics. Your genetics are strong, and you are still young.
You will grow more powerful as you get older. "
"Give me a few thousand years, and I'll be unstoppable. That's a comforting thought."
"You're already badass."
"Thank you. I work hard at it, or rather, my infamous genes do. I don't like to be reminded where I've gotten mine from."