Chapter 21
Twenty-one
Zellie
I’ll admit star-shooting has been fairly simple once I figured it out.
Orion was right after all. I prefer walking through the city still; perhaps there is a part of me that is still mortal in that aspect.
I peer into Brinn’s window at the bakery and see chocolate muffins lining the case—a discreet signal that the Children of the Constellation are meeting below the shop.
Pushing through the doors to the empty shop, I call out, “Brinn?”
“Back here, just finishing restocking. Can you lock the door?”
I twist the bolt into place before finding Brinn in the storage closet. “Hand me that sack of flour, would you?” She asks over her shoulder, standing on her tiptoes to push a bin of sugar back on a shelf. I find the flour sitting in a corner and heft the bag onto my shoulder.
The solid weight presses down on me. “You should really find someone to help you.”
“And where would the fun be in that? Head on down.”
The stairs creak, leading to the corridor below ground, and the steady sound of chatter rises to greet me.
The sound of course abruptly stops as soon as I come into view.
I give an awkward wave, sliding into a free seat against the staircase.
This is why I don’t come to these anymore, why I’ve avoided the public in general, really. No one knows what to say to me.
“Can I sit here?” A tall male asks, standing in front of me.
He reminds me of Lenny, and my heart lurches; I can’t help it.
He’s tall, his limbs looking too long and lean for his frame.
His black hair is neatly kept, cut short to his head.
His eyes are green, like mine once were, and they stare into me, awaiting an answer.
“No one else will,” I mumble.
He takes that as a “yes” and slides into the seat beside me. From the amount of power radiating off of him, I can tell he’s an Astral. I wonder what his power is.
“I’m Sebastian.”
“Zellie.”
“Nice to meet you!” He’s not put off by my brashness, which has me easing up on the hostility—just a smidge.
“Are you new here?”
“Yeah, I’ve been talking with Brinn, and she’s asked for my help. I stand for the cause, so here I am.”
“And what exactly resonates with you about the cause?”
“That it’s not okay to fuck with people’s lives solely because you hold the power.”
That’ll do it.
“I see you’ve met Seb.” Brinn hops off the last step, her lilac curls bouncing.
“Seb?”
She tilts her head to Sebastian, next to me. “He’s our hacker.”
My eyes appraise him in a new light as he asks Brinn, “And who is she?”
“You really stay underground, don’t you? Our valiant champion, of course.” At least she’s not calling me a queen in front of him.
Seb looks at me—not with suspicion, fear, or as if I’m the greatest being to grace this city—but as if I’m me. That alone earns him a sliver of my trust. “Nice. Then let’s get to work.”
It turns out Seb has earth magic, and it’s strong.
The Kosmos approached him, like they did Portia, to probe and manipulate, hoping to turn him.
Lucky for us—and Seb—he’s also incredibly intelligent.
He grew increasingly suspicious of the Kosmos’ intentions and sensed ill will.
Seb turned them down. Which, apparently, didn’t go over so well.
One would think being immortal would give you time to master your emotions and ability to handle the word “no”, but alas, the Kosmos expects us all to fall to our knees in their presence.
They tried to have Seb killed—in a very unsuspecting way, of course—and failed.
Seb, rightfully so, freaked out and used his power to rearrange the ground beneath the city to build himself a home.
There, he grew and mastered his hacking skills, using them to break into the Astralis’s cameras to modify or turn them off so that he could come above whenever he wanted or needed to.
He’s brilliant. Apparently, he used to be good friends with Brinn’s brother and built a bond with Brinn as well.
Brinn’s kept tabs on him, thankfully, and here we are.
The meeting went well, with discussions of how we plan to make Astralis citizens aware of the conditions humans are living in, and tossing ideas around what we can do to reach the humans who do not want to visit.
Ultimately, we decided to start with convincing those in the city before working on the humans.
I chose not to share my plan of infiltrating the Kosmos’ trove, keeping that card close to my chest. While I trust the Children of the Constellation, I’m not taking any chances of the Kosmos catching wind of my plan.
Now, only Seb, Brinn, and I remain, sitting around a round table, the surface chipped and worn.
“We can livestream footage from various points on Lunara or the surrounding planets, and force-feed it to every tech pad or screen here in the city. It’s as simple as rerouting the source.” Seb shrugs as if this is the simplest task.
Brinn nods along enthusiastically, adding, “I think we should include a message from Zellie before the feeds start to really send the message.”
Seb cocks his head before disagreeing. “No, that directly puts a target on her back.”
Arms crossed, I chime in, “I already have a target on my back.”
The two look at one another in a silent battle of wills. Brinn finally concedes. “It’s your call, Zellie.”
Call me overconfident, but they can’t kill me.
“Let’s do it.”