Chapter 8 #3
“I have a proposal,” Kit says, trying to get him to take her seriously. “We need more infected on the ship. If they want me to do meaningful research, I need more subjects, not just the ambassador.”
“You want me to put you through to ID so you can ask him to put more infected people on your ship?” Her dad sounds incredulous, as if Kit has lost her last marble.
“Yes, Dad,” Kit says, earnestly. “Please.”
He sighs. “I’ll try. I’m not making any promises. It’s pandemonium over here. They’re trying to get the minister on the Prism Major in five minutes for a special broadcast. ID is going to speak after him. I’ll try to grab him afterwards.”
Gratitude courses through her. And then, a sudden thought. “Dad, are you coming?”
He pauses, choosing his words. “Not on your ship.”
“But you’ll be on a ship?” Kit asks. Her palms are sweaty on her Prism as she thinks about what will happen if her dad is not on a ship, not taken to Lumaria. They may be separated forever.
“Eventually,” he says. “For now, the minister is staying. He needs to, for Lumaria’s morale. We can’t be seen running.”
A surge of anger rips through Kit, because that is exactly what they’re having some of them do. “Some of us are being forced to run.”
“Kit. You and your brother will be safe. That is the most important thing. You will be able to continue your research, your work. To care for Ambassador Remulus. That’s no small thing.”
“Without you,” she says, simply.
“For now,” he replies. “I will keep you updated on the situation here, but yes, without me, for now.”
Kit feels her eyes well with tears against her will.
This morning might have been the last time she’ll ever see him in person, her only remaining parent.
His stocky frame and his square jaw. His black acetate glasses, which she and Knox always told him were a statement piece.
She swallows thickly, wiping the back of her hand against her lower lash line to try to stop the tears from falling.
She has to believe she’ll see him again; she can’t think she’ll lose him too, not after her mother.
“Okay,” she says, quietly.
“I love you,” Dad says. “I know you can make a real difference, Kit. I believe in you.”
“I love you too,” she replies, sniffling. She needs to get back to Nevis, to help her finish testing. “Call me back when you have ID on the line.”
She’s with another group, this time facing the entryway, when she finally catches a shock of wavy blonde hair coming through the entrance.
Kit’s heart jumps in her chest — she’d know that hair anywhere.
It’s her brother. His eyes are scanning the room anxiously, and Kit can tell he’s looking for her.
“Hold on one second,” Kit says, capping the vial of blood she’s just drawn from the woman sitting in front of her. She presses down on her vein with a piece of gauze, removing the tourniquet, and then instructs her to keep pressure on it.
“Knox!” she calls, waving frantically to him. He looks relieved, speed-walking over to her. Kit wraps him in a hug, breathing in his scent. He towers over her now, but he’ll always be her little brother. “Thank fuck,” she mutters.
“It’s not over yet,” he says, stepping out of the hug, gesturing to his arm. He’s right, of course. Kit still needs to test his blood for the pathogen. Her anxiety kicks up a notch, her stomach twisting. He has to be okay. He has to be. There is absolutely no way she’s leaving him on this planet.
“Have you heard from Dad? He was worried sick about you. He told you to leave an hour ago!”
“I had to finish my game with Max,” he says, shrugging, as if this is a completely rational excuse for ignoring a directive from the government.
Kit stares at him, incredulous. “Are you an idiot? You could have missed the ship departure.”
Knox chuckles. “I made it, I’m fine.” He holds out his arm to her. “Do your worst.”
Kit goes to a makeshift table to change her gloves, spotting Nevis as she slides into the space next to Kit. She’s carrying six vials of blood in her hands, unstopping the Testing Agent so she can drop some of the solution into each one. “Your brother?” she says quietly.
Kit nods. “I still need to test him. But yes, he’s here.”
“So is the major,” Nevis says, her eyes shifting to where Task stands at the edge of the room. “He asked about you.” She seems to be hiding a small grin, and Kit is tempted to roll her eyes. She doesn’t want to ask Nevis why, but she also desperately wants to know.
Thankfully, Nevis knows Kit better than she knows herself and offers, “He’s impressed with your healing abilities.”
Kit does, then, roll her eyes. “Oh, please. They’re no better than any of the other Luminaries.” And certainly not better than the healers on Nexarium, is the part she doesn’t say.
“He said he saw you heal Mila Vincent last week.” Nevis raises her brows, shaking the tubes up and down to mix the Testing Agent in.
If they turn purple, they’re positive for the pathogen and they’ve just brought an infected person down here.
And they must deliver some very bad news to them — they won’t be getting on this ship.
“Mila was…an anomaly,” Kit says. “I don’t know how I did that.”
“Whatever,” Nevis rolls her eyes. “You know you’re good. I’m just saying he seems interested in you.”
“Yes, probably because I’m also responsible for tending to their ambassador and ensuring he makes a full recovery,” Kit snorts. She pulls another pair of gloves from the box on the table and tries to look busy.
Nevis hums, looking at the vials in her hand again. No purple yet. That’s relieving.
“Look, I have to get back to Knox,” Kit says. She grabs a fresh needle and a vial, heading back in the direction she came from.
“He’s watching you,” Nevis sings over her shoulder, smirking slightly.
Kit tries to glance casually in Task’s direction, but of course when she does, she makes direct eye contact with him.
His face gives nothing away, but she thinks she sees his mouth quirk up as he leans against the far wall.
Now she can’t help but think about what Nevis said.
He asked about her. He seemed interested in her.
It’s not the time to think about what that could mean, but he is making it damn hard to ignore him.
She busies herself preparing Knox’s arm to draw blood. As she looks up, Task is still staring right at her. She shoots what she thinks is a puzzled look his way, and turns back to Knox, who is following Kit’s line of sight and waggling his eyebrows. “Who’s that guy?”
“A nuisance,” Kit says, poking into Knox’s arm with the needle.
She sees him wince slightly and then relax.
“It’ll just take a minute.” Warm, red blood starts flowing from Knox’s arm, quickly filling up the tube.
Thirty seconds, and she’s finished. Kit was already excellent at drawing blood, but now that she does it upwards of fifty times a day, she thinks she could do it in her sleep.
“Do you know him?” Knox asks, flexing his arm up to keep the gauze in place.
“Sort of,” Kit says. “He’s with the Ambassador of Nexarium. He’s the Hand to the Governor of Nexarium, and a major in the Nexarium Force.”
Knox lets out a whistle, mirth dancing behind his eyes.
It’s one of the things Kit loves about him — the ability to remain nonplussed, even laugh in the most dire of situations.
After their mom died, Knox was the light in her life.
Day in and day out, he just knew what to say to lighten the mood.
Kit often wondered if he cried, if he ever had days where he felt it was impossible to get out of bed.
She was sure he must, but she was also sure he didn’t want to tell her, because in some ways, he felt responsible for Kit’s happiness in the same way Kit felt responsible for his. “Aiming high then, Kit,” he laughs.
Kit rolls her eyes at him. “I’m just taking care of his principal,” she says. “Nothing’s going on there. Plus, Finn is here.”
Knox’s eyes widen and he stands, craning his neck to spot him.
Knox had been obsessed with Finn when they were together, she thinks because he never had an older brother.
Finn was like that for him. All the more reason it was heartbreaking when they ended things.
But she wants Knox to still have Finn in his life, even if she can’t.
“He’s over there.” She points across the room to the right, to where she can see the back of Finn’s reddish-brown head seated next to his two friends.
Knox races off to go jump on Finn’s unsuspecting back. Kit takes his blood back to the Testing Agent. She takes a deep breath before dripping a few drops of the solution into the vial and shaking. She’s praying to every god there is that Knox is okay.
It will take a few minutes for the mixture to settle, and she waits with bated breath, trying to busy herself by organizing the tools on the table in front of her.
She realigns the boxes of gloves, tidies the box of needles, counts the remaining finger pricks that they have for children, and opens a new box of masks for those who can’t cast.
She feels the hair on the back of her neck stand up, as if someone is watching her.
Her spine prickles, and she turns to glance over her shoulder.
Sure enough, Task’s eyes are on her, seemingly tracking everything she’s doing.
He’s not even trying to hide it. He’s still leaning against the stone wall of the underground chamber, another Guardian now next to him.
Task is saying something to him, though she can’t make out what, but his azure eyes trail her.
It’s unsettling. She wants to march over to him and demand he stop staring.
It’s distracting her, which is most unhelpful given the current situation.
She chances a glance back to the mixture with Knox’s blood.
No change yet. She looks back over her shoulder to Task, who has finally turned away.
His back is towards her now; he’s flanked by two other members of the Nexarium Force, but stands at least a head above them both.
He has a surge-saber strapped diagonally across his back, and she’s fairly certain she can see two lumi-daggers sheathed at his thighs.
His very strong thighs, which she is paying absolutely no attention to at all.
She shakes her head slightly to clear it.
They’re in a very dire, potentially life-threatening situation, and people need her help.
Task’s shapely thighs do not. She looks back to the bottle that contains Knox’s blood and the Testing Agent for a third time, and it has finally changed to a lovely shade of blue.
She breathes a sigh of relief. Knox is getting on that ship.