United: An Alienated Novel (14 page)

“Unless you’d prefer pork rinds,” Larish added. “I brought a bag of those as well. I find them oddly addictive.”

“I’ll stick with this, thanks.” Cara devoured every last crumb and resisted the urge to ask for more. To take her mind off her hunger, she pressed a hand against her growling stomach and asked what she’d missed while she was sleeping.

“Quite a bit,” Larish said. “Jaxen and Aisly have been busy.”

“They hit six manufacturing plants in the last twelve hours,” Troy added. “And guess what they all had in common.”

“Fertilizer.”

Aelyx used his com-sphere to display a map of the United States. The image floated in the air between them, each factory represented by a red dot. “Here’s the interesting part,” he said, pointing to the first few dots. “These factories were destroyed in the same approximate timeline as these.” He indicated the second set of site markers. “Which can only mean—”

“They split up,” Cara finished with a hopeful smile. The hybrids were weaker alone than together, and better yet, they’d never expect a group of six to come after them, not with Aelyx and the others supposedly expelled. “We have to take them down while they’re still divided. Do we know their next move?”

“I predict Canada,” Aelyx said. “There are two other plants there.”

Larish blotted his forehead with his sleeve. “And a few more in Europe. That’s where they’ll probably go next.”

As grateful as Cara was to discover a lead on the hybrids, she still found it odd that fertilizer plants were their targets. Why not military bases or armories? But she shrugged off her confusion and focused on what she knew: Jaxen and Aisly were headed for the Great White North, and in order to ambush them, she had to get there first.

“So which plant do we go to?” She wanted both hybrids stopped, but Jaxen was her top priority. “Assuming they divide and conquer, we have a fifty percent chance of nailing Jaxen and finding his ship.”

“That’s what we can’t decide,” Aelyx said. The map vanished, and he pocketed his sphere. “I think we should split up into groups of three and cover both plants.”

Cara couldn’t disagree more. Much like the hybrids, their group was stronger together than they were apart. But before she had a chance to say so, Elle and Syrine returned from their bathroom break and brought a thick cloud of tension with them. Both girls were red in the face, their shoulders stiff and their arms folded, and neither would look within twelve inches of the other. Elle thrust a bottle of enzyme mouth rinse at Larish and snapped, “Here.”

Larish plucked it delicately from Elle’s grasp and handed it to Cara, who in turn shared a loaded glance with Aelyx. He lifted a dark brow as if to ask her what had happened, but he was too far away for Silent Speech, so she mouthed
Tell you later
.

Cara cleared her throat and flagrantly changed the subject. “I posted a new blog this morning. Any news on that?”

“Yeah, they shut you down,” Troy said. “Your site’s gone.”

“What?”
Cara almost lost her grip on the bottle. “The whole thing? I had three million followers.”

Her brother’s answering shrug said that didn’t impress him. “Don’t worry. People screen-capped it in plenty of time. It’s all over the Internet.”

That wasn’t the point. Coding Web sites was a real pain, and this was the second time someone had erased her blog. Syrine had deleted the first one.

At that moment, Syrine flinched and began patting down her pockets. There was no sound other than the light pelting of sand against the landing gear, but Cara recognized the look of urgency on Syrine’s face. Her com-sphere was buzzing, a noise only the recipient could hear. Syrine found her sphere and spoke her passkey, and seconds later, the miniature image of Jake Winters appeared in her palm.

“Hey, I need to ask you something,” he whispered in an urgent tone that implied the need for secrecy. So Cara perked up her ears. “Things are going well with Ayah. She helped me program the first group of drones, and we launched them into—”

“Did they work?” Syrine interrupted.

Jake blinked as if taken aback by the question. “Well, yes, but not the way I hoped. One of the probes detected brainwave activity, but when we investigated we found humanoids, not Aribol. It’s probably one of the planets they seeded.”

Cara’s mouth dropped open. She stormed over to the hologram while picking sand grains off her tongue. “You found a new civilization, and you didn’t think to tell me about it?”

Instead of answering, Jake glared at Syrine. “You didn’t tell me we weren’t alone.”

Syrine turned up a palm. “You didn’t ask.”

“Excuse me,” Cara interjected, dizzy from a rage-embarrassment cocktail she hadn’t experienced since her run-in with Jake on the colony. She’d thought they had reached an understanding, but here he was, undermining her authority again. “Why didn’t you contact me?”

“I was going to.”

“When? Tomorrow? Next week? I shouldn’t be the last to know.”

Syrine slid her a glance. “I imagine Alona would say the same thing about what we’ve just done.”

“That’s different, and you know it,” Cara snapped. She’d withheld information from Alona to keep the team together—to fight harder against their enemies instead of giving up. By comparing the two, Syrine was just trying to stir up trouble.

“What’s she talking about?” Jake asked.

“Nothing.” Cara pulled a deep breath through her nose and counted backward from five to one—in Spanish—while exhaling. Her blood was still simmering, but the urge to tear out her hair had passed. “Did you make contact?”

“No,” Jake said. “There was talk of reaching out to them to form a stronger alliance against the Aribol, but The Way discussed it and told us not to. I guess they thought it would open a can of worms. I can see their point …”

He prattled on, but Cara wasn’t listening. Her mind had fixed on one small detail that changed everything. The Way had convened without her. That had never happened before. Did that mean they’d ejected her? And if so, why? Because she was a disappointment to them? Because she couldn’t make people like Jake respect her? Or was it because she was a human, and The Way had already decided to meet the Aribols’ demands?

The last possibility scared her the most.

“Did you hear me?”

“What?” she said, refocusing on Jake.

“We have one more day. If we can’t find the Aribol by then, the L’eihrs are calling off the search.”

Cara rubbed her temples. This was a disaster. She had to find Jaxen’s flight log and relay the coordinates to the Voyagers. “Okay, keep looking and stay in touch.” Then she clarified, “With
me
.”

After rolling his eyes, Jake disconnected. His attitude left Cara with a few unspoken swears on her tongue, and Syrine didn’t help matters when she sniffed in irritation.

“Why were you so harsh with him?” Syrine shook her com-sphere. “Now I don’t know what he wanted to ask me.”

For a few beats, Cara could only stare. “You know what? Elle was right.” When Syrine’s lips parted, Cara twirled a hand toward the sand dunes in the distance. “Yeah, I overheard all that. And I agree with her. There’s something off about you now, and I think it’s weird that you won’t use Silent Speech.”

Aelyx crossed through the center of the group, but to Cara’s surprise, he didn’t stop at her side. He continued past her and wrapped a protective arm around Syrine’s shoulders. “Leave her alone. She needs our support, not our scrutiny.”

Cara drew back as if she’d been slapped. She couldn’t believe he was defending Syrine again. Had he forgotten all the times she’d crossed them? Did he think the girl was helpless? Because if so, he was delusional. Syrine had an independent streak and a wicked strong backhand—which she’d used on Cara in the past.

“She’s not some delicate flower,” Cara said. “I remember what she’s capable of, even if you don’t.”

Aelyx released his best friend and stood close enough to push a thought into Cara’s mind.
I remember everything
.
That’s why I’m trying to prevent her from having a nervous breakdown
.

That’s not what’s happening here
, Cara told him.
She’s hiding something, but you’re too close to her to see it
.

You don’t know what she’s been through
.
You weren’t here last winter
.
Try to show some compassion
.
How would you feel if it were me who’d died instead of David?

I would feel crushed, but that’s beside the point
. Cara tried to hold back the hurt and betrayal she felt, but she couldn’t contain it. Aelyx was her
l’ihan,
her partner, and it stung that he’d sided against her.

I’m not choosing sides
, he said.
We’re all in this together
.

It doesn’t feel that way
.

Maybe it would feel that way if you treated the rest of us like partners instead of making your own rash decisions
. He was referring to her choices to seek out Jaxen in the factory and to reassign Mary’s job on the colony without talking to him first.

I can’t believe you brought that up.
That was fighting dirty.

He paused for a moment, breaking the connection as if to process the emotions she’d shared with him. Then he let loose a cold thought.
This isn’t about Syrine
.
This is about your frustration with Jake Winters and The Way
.
You’re projecting your anger onto the wrong person
.

Cara gaped at him.
This has nothing to do with Jake. Syrine has been acting sketchy since we left the colony. Ask your sister if you don’t believe me
.

She’s no more objective than you are when it comes to Syrine
.

That was all Cara could take. She closed her eyes to sever the connection while hot tears prickled behind her lids. Until today, she and Aelyx had only used Silent Speech out of love, never anger, and now the whole thing felt tainted.

“I agree with you,” she said aloud, and spun the other way so he couldn’t see her blinking furiously to dry her eyes. “We should split up and cover both factories. You can go with Syrine, since she needs your support so much. I’ll take Troy and Elle.”

He didn’t respond, so she charged away to the opposite side of the shuttle and left him to disassemble the tarp. In doing so she lost the shade, but gained privacy, which was worth a sunburn. She’d just stopped her breath from hitching when Larish shuffled up behind her, wearing an expression she couldn’t quite read. It wasn’t until he reached out to her with his eyes that she understood.

He had suspicions about Syrine, too.

There’s something I’ve been wanting to show Aelyx, but now I think you should see it instead
. Larish held up his com-sphere.
While I was at the safe house, I accessed video footage from the stairwell where Aisly escaped, and then uploaded it to my sphere because something about it bothered me
.

What’s on the video?

An interaction between Syrine and Aisly
, he said.
But it’s not clear what they’re doing. There was no audio component, and the video is rather open to interpretation. That’s why I haven’t shown anyone yet
.

“Let’s see it,” Cara whispered.

After checking over both shoulders to ensure they were alone, Larish spoke a command to his sphere, and a black-and-white image appeared of the stairwell interior. The landing was vacant at first, and then the door burst open and Aisly stumbled into view, locked in battle with Syrine. The girls struggled for a moment, and then as soon as the door shut behind them, Syrine released her grip and whirled around to face the other direction.

Larish paused the footage. “At first I assumed Syrine had turned her back on Aisly to avoid eye contact. So she wouldn’t be entranced.”

“But?” Cara prompted.

“But then I saw this.”

The video played on, now showing Aisly escaping and fleeing down the stairs. She disappeared from sight, and Syrine collapsed to the floor and leaned against the stairwell door, either out of exhaustion or to make it look like she’d been attacked. It was hard to tell.

“Now watch closely,” Larish said. “Right here.”

Syrine opened one hand to reveal something tiny resting in her palm, and the footage paused. Larish zoomed in to enhance the object, but it was still too grainy to identify.

“It’s a key,” he whispered. “I think Aisly gave it to her during the struggle.”

When the video continued, the door opened an inch and Syrine quickly shoved the key in her pocket. Then she moved aside and gripped her temples as if in pain. That was how Aelyx found her. He entered the frame, dragged her backward into the hall, and the door shut, leaving the stairwell vacant again.

Larish shut down the image. “Like I said, it’s open to interpretation. But to me, it almost seems as if she intentionally allowed Aisly to escape.”

Cara agreed. “I’d like to get my hands on that key.”

“I already did.” Sheepishly ducking his head, Larish produced a standard brass key, then replaced it in his pocket. “It was in her bag.”

Cara grinned at the scholar. She’d always known Larish had a brilliant mind, but clearly she’d underestimated him. “Well, look at you—a L’eihr of many talents.”

His cheeks colored. “I did some research based on the coding engraved on the key. It belongs to a storage unit at a facility in New York, about ten miles from the site of the first explosion.”

“Interesting.” Cara wondered what was in there. Her instincts told her it was something important. A weapon, perhaps. If the key had belonged to Aisly, maybe she and Jaxen kept their Aribol gadgets in storage.

“Do you think we should show Aelyx?”

“No,” Cara said. To her it was plain Syrine had let Aisly go on purpose, but Aelyx wouldn’t interpret it that way. He’d watch the footage and see what he wanted to see—Syrine as the perpetual victim. “Let’s keep this quiet for now. Whatever Syrine’s hiding, I don’t want to tip her off and give her a chance to have the storage unit emptied.”