Chapter 10
KIT
LUMARIA
The Nexarium Force has managed to shuffle people into lines, or at least, groups of people that vaguely resemble lines.
Kit’s feet are sore and her fingers are tired from drawing blood from a seemingly infinite number of citizens, but they’d managed to test all four hundred people gathered in Port Ro.
Only two had tested positive for the illness and had to be forcibly removed from the premises.
Kit did not want to watch as two Guardians with black face coverings grabbed one by the upper biceps and dragged him towards the exit, but she also couldn’t look away.
His feet were scrabbling as he was hauled out, and he was shouting, trying to reach out for his wife and daughter.
Kit felt the Guardians were being unnecessarily rough, but then, she wasn’t a Nexarian officer.
She’d never actually seen their military before. Maybe this was their norm.
Regardless, she’d have preferred that nobody tested positive before boarding the ship.
She’d already have her hands full with the ambassador, and thanks to her ability to make a good argument, Finn’s sister Pruett.
Still, if more people contracted Crimson Fever on board, it would stretch already limited resources.
Nothing was foolproof, even these tests.
And if any one of these citizens was exposed for a second too long…
She tries to push the thought from her mind.
She shuffles along with the crowd, squeezed between Nevis and Knox.
She’s tempted to take her brother’s hand, but knows she’ll be rewarded with a sneer.
Knox is not particularly affectionate, and certainly not in public.
She keeps her limbs to herself, taking a deep breath as she steps onto the gangplank.
This is it, she thinks. Four months on this ship.
Four months to get to Nexarium. It’s nothing, in the grand scheme of life, but four months could mean everything for the antidote.
And four months could also mean life or death for her father, stuck on Lumaria with the minister, exposed to the magical virus every day.
She folds her thumbs into her fists as she approaches him.
She simultaneously loathes him and finds him to be the most attractive man she’s ever seen.
He’s standing at the entrance, flanked by the tall officer with wavy, reddish-brown hair and a strong jaw.
She wasn’t paying close attention when he’d introduced himself in the Center, focused as she was on treating the ambassador, but she sees now that the rank stitched into his sleeve indicates he’s a colonel. A very important person, then.
Nevis elbows her, widening her eyes a bit as if to say, do you see this guy?
Of course Kit sees him. He’s conventionally attractive — hot, even.
But she’s fixated on the other one, with his icy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes which immediately lock with hers.
She feels her heart seize in her chest and forces herself to keep walking.
As she strolls past him, attempting for casual, he steps into her path and leans down, his breath skating along the top of her ear.
“Ready to be stuck on this ship with me?”
“I would rather be suspended in a zero-gravity tank for several months,” she retorts, skirting around his looming presence until she’s practically hugging the doorway.
“Too bad, love,” he says, grinning at her, his perfect teeth almost glowing in the dimness of the ship entrance.
She stalks past him, grabbing Nevis by the hand and dragging her into the shadowy lower level. The corridor is domed, black with square white lights illuminating the ceiling.
Knox jogs to catch up to them, turning around to walk backward so he can waggle his brows at Kit. Nevis pokes her in the side. “What was that?”
“Absolutely nothing,” Kit says.
“Sure,” Knox sings. “It certainly looked like nothing.”
He’s brought to a halt suddenly, and he flips around, looking into the face of yet another Nexarium Guardian, standing in the archway between this corridor and the next.
“Name?” The Guardian glances at the Chronogram on his wrist, where a projection of a list of names floats in the air.
“Knox Hart. And my sister, Kit Hart. And Nevis Alpin,” Knox says, a rush of words.
The officer nods, scrolling through his hovering list and clicking on three names.
“Kit Hart, fifth floor, room 518. Knox Hart, fifth floor, room 520. Nevis Alpin, fourth floor, room 405. Another officer will be down the corridor to escort you.” He steps to the side to let them pass.
This is far more…rigid than Kit was anticipating, but she supposes in times of chaos, rigidity is needed, welcomed even.
They wind down the corridor, which seems to bend in an endless circle, and finally appear in front of another group of officers, all standing at attention. Kit finds it off-putting, but she tries not to overthink it.
“Hart?” a young woman with a blonde braid asks, in the same uniform as the other Guardians.
A red rash creeps up the back of Knox’s neck, and he nods.
The woman is pretty, Kit thinks. A few years older than Knox, maybe.
She wants to tease Knox, get him back for his ribbing earlier, but she keeps her mouth shut.
The sooner they make their way to their quarters, the sooner the ship can depart, and the sooner she can get her research and tests underway.
The woman beckons to them, and they follow her along the corridor. They pile into a clear tube, which shoots them up five stories in less than a second. Kit’s stomach is still trying to collect itself when they emerge on the fifth floor, the corridor lined with rooms on both sides.
“You’re here.” She gestures to a door on her left, nodding to Kit.
“And you’re here.” She gestures to another door across the hall, where Knox’s room will be. “Bunks for the younger ones.”
Knox groans, but Kit stomps on his foot to keep him quiet. They don’t get to complain about this, whatever the setup. They’re getting off the planet.
“I’ll leave you to it,” the woman says. “Doors are opened via palm print or eye scan. They should already be keyed to you. A map of the ship is available on your Chronogram, Luminary.”
Kit nods once, glancing at the device on her wrist. “Thank you.” She turns to Knox as the woman retreats down the corridor, back to the elevator tube. “You should be grateful you’re on the ship at all.”
“I am,” Knox says. “Just didn’t want to share. What if I meet a girl or something?”
Kit tries not to roll her eyes. The idea of Knox meeting a girl is laughable, especially given he could barely converse with the female Guardian who had just escorted them to their rooms. He might be good at sports, but he’s terrible at talking to women.
Instead, Kit says, “Then you use the sock trick and figure it out.”
Knox shoots her a confused look.
“Oh, dear gods. Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of the sock trick?” This is not the type of education she anticipated providing to her younger brother.
Knox looks at her blankly.
“You put a sock on the door if someone has company. That way, you know not to enter.”
He bursts out laughing. “Seriously?”
“Yes, it’s something we did at Luminary school.”
Knox raises a brow. “I don’t want to know.”
“I was dating Finn at the time, so it wasn’t for me,” Kit explains quickly. “Nevis, on the other hand…”
Knox waves a hand in front of his face. “Enough!” He scans his hand on the pad to open his room, but a monotone beeping interrupts him. He pauses, casting a glance at Kit, who looks towards the ceiling.
A booming voice flows through the corridor.
“Passengers, please be advised the SFS Polaris will be departing in approximately five minutes. For your safety, we ask that you proceed to the passenger seating area on your deck and strap in for takeoff.” She feels the rumble of engines whirring to life beneath her feet, the gentle shaking of the ship as it fires up.
She places a hand on the metal wall to steady herself.
Once she feels as though she won’t topple over, she gestures to her brother. “Come on. We need to find this seating area.”