Nemesis (10 page)

“Damn.”

“I know. Hope they can deal with it.”

“Sure they can,” I said. The Alliance coped just fine with regular monster attacks from the beasts of Cethrax in the lower Passages. But the idea of them getting hold of bloodrock solution didn’t exactly fill me with confidence. Skyla had used that to fool the entire Alliance. Then again, Central had new defences in place now.

But Nell had been the one to make the bloodrock solution. Nobody else knew how to do it. We’d given it to the Knights, who’d had it confiscated by the Alliance… so how had Cethrax got hold of it?

That’s not part of your job,
I told myself.

After all, I had a bigger worry: breaking the news to Nell. I’d barely seen her all week, because she’d been running errands and dealing with the Alliance representatives in charge of getting us proper Earth citizenship. Since we were technically illegal offworlders, it had taken a lot of time for the Alliance to sort out our situation, and I had a feeling Kay must have been behind some of it. And I’d repaid him by, once again, acting like a crazy person. I guess I’d never pictured an evil ex-girlfriend appearing at Central and throwing insults at me. My track record for screwing up relationships was pretty pathetic, but up until now, it had been because I couldn’t afford to care too much. What was I supposed to do, fall hard for some guy and then be unable to answer any of their questions? Pretending to be mysterious only got me so far. As for the guys I’d been with, most had either fled from Nell’s wrath or got freaked that I kept knives in my boots in case of an impromptu monster attack. My last boyfriend had ditched me when I’d showed up at his house covered in slime that wouldn’t clean off, thanks to a close encounter with a swamp monster in the Passages.

Hmm. Maybe this wasn’t the worst way I’d screwed up a potential relationship. It hurt a lot more, though.

Our house door was open, and Nell waited in the hallway, wearing her stoniest expression. My heart sank.

“Um,” I said. “I got the job.”

I didn’t expect a congratulations, and I didn’t get one. Nell merely made a “huh” sound and moved aside to let us pass.

“Hey, Ada!” Alber came out of his room. “Good news?”

“Yeah.” I forced a smile. “I got the job.”

Snap.
I jumped, but it was only Nell shutting the front door. She turned around, and I felt like I was ten years old again, in trouble for climbing on the roof.

“Epic,” said Alber. “When’re you taking me to Valeria, then?”

“Patience,” I said, in a mock-adult voice. “I don’t get to go offworld until I get my permit. Just help out in the office and run patrols.”

“Holy hell, Ada. You’re a legit Alliance guard now.”

“I know, right?”

“Criminals the world over should cower in fear.” Jeth grinned at me.

“Awesome,” said Alber. “What’re you doing now?”

I shrugged. “Jeth and I are going out later, with some of the Alliance guys, right?”

“Yeah,” said Jeth, “but it’s over-eighteens only.”

“Not fair.” Alber had turned seventeen four months ago.

“You’re going with
them
?” said Nell, who had been watching me throughout our exchange.

“Yes,” I said, warily. “I work there now. I want to.”

“Nell,” Jeth began, and Nell glared at him.

“I’m gonna back out of here,” said Alber, literally backing into his room again. Jeth, too, made for his room, giving me an encouraging nod which said,
talk to her.

I folded my arms, turning to Nell. “I know how you feel about the Alliance, but this–it’s a good thing. Honestly.”

“Adamantine,” said Nell, all but spitting out the word.

I flinched. “Yes?”

“I named you so you wouldn’t forget who you really are. Earth is not your real homeworld, and the Alliance have nothing to do with Enzar.”

“You’re the one who always goes on about putting it all behind us!” I snapped. “You wouldn’t teach me my own language. You say we have to pretend it never happened. We live here now. This is the only life I’ve ever known. How can I remember a world I left when I was a baby?”

“I don’t expect you to remember Enzar, but every time you put yourself at risk, there’s far more at stake than your own life. The Royals would have used you as a warrior. As soon as the Alliance found you, what almost happened?”

I couldn’t breathe. She was right. As long as we’d stayed under the radar, we’d been safe. Soon as the Alliance had caught me, word had got out and Earth had almost paid the price.

“Adamantine has another meaning: it was meant to be unbreakable.
You
were meant to be unbreakable. But the Alliance has the power to break you. And they will. They have no mercy.”

I shook my head. “No…”

“They can and they will, whether they intend to or not. The reason they want you is because you’re valuable to them. A commodity. Like those poor kids they experimented on.”

The sharp sensation in my throat dug deeper. “That wasn’t everyone in the Alliance.”

“It was a
council member,”
said Nell. “I spoke to Skyla’s last adoptive family. They didn’t believe her when she told them what the Alliance did. It was one of the reasons she left home. The Alliance injected human beings with pure magic they didn’t even understand themselves.”

Kay.
My heart sank.

“And,” Nell went on, “this council member–Walker–was the same as the man who issued the noninterference directive against Enzar. Odd coincidence, isn’t it?”

Ice flooded my veins. I couldn’t tell her Walker had also put his own son, Kay, through the same experiment. Nell despised the whole family, and nothing I said would ever change her mind. And I didn’t know all the details. Someone who would experiment on children–it seemed incongruous to compare him to Kay, who’d refused to hurt me even when the Alliance thought I was a dangerous criminal, and who’d ensured the refugees from Enzar could get to a shelter even when the Alliance had shut down ours.

“You saw what the Alliance did to those children, turned them into monsters–”

The words burst out. “Stop it.”

Nell’s eyebrows lifted as I stepped towards her, fists clenched.

“You just called
me
a monster,” I said. “Because what the Royals did to me–it’s exactly the same thing.”

Nell’s stern composure cracked. “Wait. Ada–”

But I was already heading for the back door, before the tears choking me escaped.

***

“Ada?” Jeth’s face peered up from just outside the door. “What in the world are you doing up there?”

I sat on the edge of the shed roof, like I was a kid again.

“Sulking,” I said, as flippantly as I could manage.

“Come down,” he said. “You must be freezing.”

I shrugged. Now he mentioned it, the early September evening was chilly, and the sun had sunk below the rooftops, turning the sky to a fiery red.

“I made pasta.”

“Oh, all right.” I leaped from the roof, landing on my feet.

“I shouted at Nell, by the way. We’re both in the doghouse now.”

“I don’t want to be in
this
house,” I said. “I hate it. I hate her being so hostile all the time. It’s like living with a tiger, only less fluffy.”

“Pretty accurate.” He paused, glancing over his shoulder at the house. “I can afford my own place soon on the Alliance’s salary, actually.”

“Wait, you’re thinking of moving out?”

“You know I’ve been planning to for a while, but my old job didn’t pay that well. I couldn’t save enough for a deposit. But a couple of the tech guys might have an opening for another flatmate soon. Less costly than living alone.”

“That’s the issue I’m having,” I said. “I have zero savings. Blew them all replacing my combat boots.”

“Priorities, Ada.”

“Ha. Come on, the boots are an essential purchase. But really. I can’t deal with being in this house much longer, especially now I’m working all the way over in Southwark. Except I don’t think anyone outside the Alliance would be all that thrilled to have me as a flatmate. Can you imagine me replying to a housing ad? Warning: I keep antisocial hours and throwing-knives.”

Jeth laughed, then shook his head at me. “You never know. You might make friends at Central.”

“My office is full of invisible people,” I said. “And I’m pretty sure my boss hates me already.”

“Nah, that can’t be true,” said Jeth.

I shrugged. “At least she didn’t call me a monster.”

Jeth winced. “I wish I could say she’ll get over it, but it seems to be one problem after another lately. Still up for coming out later?”

“Honestly? I kind of want to get out of here.”

“I thought so.”

Half of me did, anyway. The other half just wanted to bury myself under my bedcovers. But I wasn’t going to let Nell know how much she’d hurt me. I knew she was looking out for my best interests, though she hadn’t always gone about it in the kindest way, but there was a world of difference between
that
and calling me a monster.

I returned to my room to find my communicator on the bed, with the background image changed to a cartoonish scribble.

“Jeth, what in the world is this?”

“I upped the security settings for you, just in case,” he said from outside the door.

I turned the communicator upside-down. “Seriously? What’s this supposed to be?”

“A goblin. Sorry, I guess it’s in bad taste—I’ll get rid of it.”

“Nah, it’s all right,” I said, “but for the love of Cethrax, never go into graphic design. Stick to hacking the Alliance’s tech.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Brothers. Honestly.

I changed into a fancy top, jeans and heeled boots, not so high-heeled that I wouldn’t still be able to deliver a well-placed kick if need be. Hey, this was London after all.

The city came to life at night, tower-block lights glittering like a constellation of stars. Turned out the place we were going was pretty close to Central, where the building’s gleaming black shape obscured the lights and stood out against the deep-blue sky. The Alliance’s headquarters always appeared to be part of another world entirely. Which was why it was downright bizarre to find what seemed like half the employees of Central, out of uniform, in a local pub… called the Blind Wyvern.
Very funny.

Jeth and I squeezed past crowded tables and found the tech team at the back.

“This is my sister, Ada,” Jeth had to shout over the noise.

“Holy hell, it’s the prisoner,” said one of the tech guys.

Brilliant.

“Employee now, actually,” I said, but in a jokey way.

“Don’t you start interrogating her,” Jeth added. “No one’s to say a word about you-know-what.”

I felt infinitely grateful to my brother right then. He introduced me to everyone and I did my best to remember names. But soon as he left to go and get us drinks, everyone stared at me. I sighed inwardly.

“So, you’re working in… what? Offworld defence?” asked one of the guys, Andy.

“No, I’m just in admin at the moment. I’ll get to patrol the Passages, too.”

“Ugh.” Andy shuddered. “I’d rather be in the labs than risk my neck in that place.”

“I like it there.” Of course, that earned me a few raised eyebrows.

“You
like
being threatened by monsters?” said Andy.

“There was a secret Passage, right?” asked one of the others. Vic.

Oh, crap. “Yeah.”

“And you used to go in there all the time? Alone?” asked Andy, eyebrows raised.

“Not always alone,” I said. “I met–others. We helped people escape back to London.”

“Holy shit,” said Andy. “I thought that was just a rumour.”

“Which part?”

“I can’t believe anyone would ever go in that place alone. I’m well shot of it. The last week at the Academy still gives me nightmares.”

“Oh, right,” said Vic. “They made you guys patrol in there and set monsters loose at you, didn’t they?”

“Yeah.” Andy shuddered. “Mental. Imagine giant effing swamp rats trying to eat your feet.”

“Do I really want to join this conversation?” asked Jeth from behind me, handing me my vodka and coke.

“Thanks,” I said. “And probably not. We’re talking about the Academy’s crazy idea for a final exam.”

“Oh, that place,” said Jeth, sitting down next to me. “Did I hear something about monsters?”

“Yeah,” said Andy. “I can think of exactly one person who seemed to enjoy the insanity, and he’s right over there.” He jerked his head towards the bar.

I turned, and my heart flipped over. Kay was there, with a bunch of people I didn’t know, and in the act of throwing a dart at the wall–as I watched, the dart hit the board dead-centre. He didn’t see me, but that was because he’d put a blindfold over his eyes. It was the first time I’d seen him out of uniform, in jeans and a casual black shirt rolled to the elbows, exposing the jagged scars on his left forearm from a close encounter with a wyvern. Left-handedly, he scored another bulls-eye.
Wow.