“I still can’t believe you’re here. You guys actually made it.” Larissa’s voice was completely awed as she stared at Vanessa and Tristan.

We weren’t in the cafeteria anymore. Rather than continue tying up that place with our emotional reunions and explanations while other people wanted to eat, the rest of us had gone to meet Larissa and the others down in the city area, at the house. We were all in the backyard, where Haiden was cooking burgers on an actual barbecue that had been salvaged from somewhere. Athena had offered to have food brought down, but the man had said something about how he was going to barbecue for his kids, damn it.

That was what we were doing while Athena used the blood that she had collected from Vanessa and Tristan to add into that locator spell to search for Kushiel’s base.

Vanessa was standing over by her dad, helping him cook alongside Tabbris, while Tristan bore the brunt of the questioning from everyone else.

“Hey, I’m still surprised that you’re here,” the boy pointed out in response to Larissa. “I mean, I know we already knew that, but still! You and Sands both coming back together when this is over, her mom and her sister? Scout’s gonna be so stoked.” As he spoke, the boy rubbed the top of Bobbi-Bobbi’s head. He had taken off the necklace that his cyberform snake transformed into so that she could stretch her… well, scales, I supposed.

And I was still curious about how that thing’s size-changing thing worked, how she could go from the size of a simple chain that fit around Tristan’s neck, to a giant snake that could turn into a cannon on his arm. But then again, there was that boy Eiji back at Crossroads whose backpack could turn into both a full-sized rhino and a motorcycle, so I supposed it wasn’t that crazy.

Sands, who had been standing by her mother, quickly blurted, “How is she? How…. how’s Scout doing?” She looked anxious, and I realized yet again just how much she had missed, and was missing, her twin. Being reunited with her mother had done a lot to alleviate that, but still. She and Scout had never been separated like this.

“Oh, she’s, um…” Tristan coughed before giving her a smile. “She’ll be okay. She’s really tough, you know? She’s been stepping up a lot through all this. There was this–” He stopped, considering for a moment. “Eh, should probably let her tell you the story. It’s a good one, and I wouldn’t wanna spoil it for her. But trust me, it was great. She’s great. Just, just great.”

At the end of that, even Bobbi-Bobbi was shaking her head while giving him a pitying look.

“Great?” Sands smiled a little at that before narrowing her eyes a little suspiciously at him. “She’s great, huh?”

“Yes,” Larissa added, having clearly picked up on the same thing. “She’s… great?”

Tristan actually blushed at that, shifting as he cleared his throat. “Err, yeah. You know, everyone thinks so. Just–like, everyone. Cuz she’s great, and everyone notices, like–”

Jazz stepped forward from where she had been standing with Gordon and Roxa then, quickly speaking up to save him. “Speaking of great people, how’re Doug and Rudolph?”

Giving the other girl a quick, grateful look, the boy replied, “Oh, yeah, they’re doing okay. I mean, they don’t know much about what’s going on, but they know a little bit. Especially after what happened with-” In mid-sentence, the boy stopped before looking at me.

“Oh, right,” he started. “Speaking of which, I should probably tell you what happened with Avalon and her dad, huh?”

Well, that was enough to make me choke as my eyes shot open so wide I thought they might pop out of my skull. “What?!” I blurted, eyes widening as I shot a look to the boy. “Avalon and her dad?” I took a reflexive step that way. “What the hell?”

“Yeah,” Sands put in, “what she said. What the hell?!”

“Sorry, sorry.” Tristan looked abashed. “I probably should’ve started with, ‘she’s fine’. Or, you know, at least included that in the first part before making you panic. She’s okay, I swear.”

Beside the boy, Bobbi-Bobbi rose up to bat the side of her head against his while giving a reprimanding hiss, head shaking like a disapproving parent.

“Yeah, yeah.” Tristan scoffed at her. “Don’t start with me, or you can go right back to being a necklace for awhile.”

Bobbi-Bobbi darted back, clearly playing up her ‘fear’ of that as she wound her way around me, pretending to hide before poking her big head up around my shoulder and hissing.

“Don’t worry,” I assured the metal snake. “We won’t let the mean boy hurt you. Right, guys?” At that, Jaq and Gus both came clambering up my other shoulder, crawled around my back, and then put themselves on Bobbi-Bobbi, pointedly chattering threateningly at Tristan.

“See?” I nodded that way. “Snake and mice working together. You better listen to them. They can get nasty if they want to. Now tell me what happened to Avalon and… and her dad.”

The boy complied, explaining, “He came after her and the rest of the team–oh, uh, they sorta combined both your old teams to make one new one.” He was nodding to Roxa and me at that point. “So they were out in the woods to save this pixie that was supposed to know something about Manakel–”

“Tristan,” I interrupted. “This isn’t Memento. Tell the story in chronological order, for God’s sake.”

The boy actually blushed a little, head shaking. “Okay, okay. So from what they said, Avalon got a call from Asenath about this pixie that was on the run and injured because she knew something about Manakel and all that. She talked the others into helping her find the pixie, but when they got out there, a bunch of vampires with Avalon’s dad showed up. They got some help from Deveron and Wyatt, but Avalon mostly faced her dad by herself. She won. He’s dead.”

“Avalon killed her dad.” Saying the words flatly, I slumped a bit, nearly falling over before Roxa practically materialized beside me to put a hand on my back. My voice was hollow. “I should’ve been there. I should have been there with her, for her. I…” Swallowing the hard lump in my throat, I shook my head. “I’m missing so much.”

Sands looked to me, her voice soft as she gave me a smile. “We’ll get back there,” she promised. “And then you guys can compare stories about who did the most insane thing while you were apart. And since she killed her psycho dad, I’m pretty sure you’ve got some catching up to do–oh, look, we’re about to go raid the crazy Seosten lady’s secret torture prison as soon as we get an address.”

Smiling despite myself, I nodded. “Okay, you’re right. I just–yeah, we all miss the guys back there. Got it. No more moping. Acting. I mean action. Whatever. Moving forward.”

“Moving forward can happen after lunch.” That was Haiden. The man was holding up his spatula. “For now, we have burgers. Come and get it!”

So we did. Everyone filled their plate. The food was all as artificial as everything else (no store-bought buns or anything, since Wal-Mart hadn’t progressed quite that far in their domination of the universe yet), and yet I couldn’t detect a difference now any better than I’d been able to at any other meal in this place. The burgers tasted just like any regular backyard barbecue. And we even had french fries too, thanks to a quick delivery from Chef Gisby’s kitchen. Everything was incredibly authentic.

Vanessa apparently thought so too, since she was inhaling french fries. That girl and potatoes, I swore. I had never seen anyone who liked potatoes of every type as much as she did.

It was great, but I still noticed when Larissa leaned over to whisper something to Sands, and the expressions they both had sometimes, when they thought no one was looking. They really didn’t want to bring the mood down, but it was obvious that they missed Scout.

Tristan noticed too, because he cleared his throat. “Uh, hey, Sands and uh, Mrs. Mason, sorry. I swear, if we’d known that Nessa would be able to jump us out here this easily, or thought about it first, we would’ve tried to see who could come with us. We would’ve asked your sister.” He gave a deep, long sigh then. “It’s my fault. If it was Vanessa by herself, she would’ve been more careful. I just… I thought she’d be able to check and then stop herself or something, I dunno.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Larissa quickly shook her head at that. “You don’t have anything to apologize for, Tristan. Just the fact that you both made it out here is amazing.”

He jerked a thumb toward his sister at that. “Hey, she gets the credit for that.”

Vanessa squirmed under the attention, fidgeting from foot to foot as her face pinked. “It was an accident,” she murmured helplessly. “If I thought it would actually work, I would’ve told Headmistress Sinclaire first. And the others. We could have brought a lot of people if they just touched Tristan.” She flinched, looking to the grass. “I should’ve thought about it first.”

“Like I said, that’s my fault.” Tristan immediately defended his sister against her own self-recrimination. “I said you should try it. I didn’t think about what would happen either.”

Before anyone else could say anything, Athena spoke up from where she had just appeared. “Now that is very familiar.” She smiled a little, coming closer. “The girl who is usually so careful and thoughtful being led into impulsive decisions by the boy. And both standing up for each other. They may not have not truly been related, but you remind me very much of Lucifer and Sariel. It is almost uncanny.”

Right, right. Lucifer was Apollo. I had learned that over the time since we had been here, but it was still a little confusing to hear him called that.

“Uncle Apollo,” Vanessa murmured. “He’s going to be worried about us.”

Her brother nudged her. “Trust me, Nessa, he’ll be okay once we bring back Mom.”

“Indeed,” Athena agreed, her voice drawing everyone’s attention to her. “That,” the Seosten woman announced, “is actually why I’ve interrupted your lunch. It seems that your blood is even more potent than I had hoped for. Your growth for your age is… extraordinary.”

“Wait, more potent?” Larissa started. “Does that mean…?”

“Yes,” the Seosten woman confirmed, “the spell has succeeded.”

Eyes widening a little, I blurted excitedly, “The spell? It worked? It’s done?”

As Athena nodded at that. “Yes. We now know the exact location of Kushiel’s lab and prison. We know where Sariel is being kept.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” I demanded.

“Let’s go get her.”

******

Two hours later, Tristan, Roxa, Sands, and I were hauling enormous, heavy crates through one of the long, winding corridors of the station. Even Gidget and Bobbi-Bobbi were helping, dragging a pair of crates by chains in their mouths. Larissa had put some kind of spell on the crates so that they floated a couple inches off the floor rather than just letting them scrape and slide the whole way as Roxa and Tristan’s cyberforms pulled them.

And speaking of Tristan, the blond boy had clearly gotten some kind of strength boost himself at some point, because he could carry just as much as I could without any trouble.

The crates were full of supplies for the trip. Plus weapons and a bunch of other stuff that Athena thought could be useful. We were taking them to the portal in one of the cargo bays that Yup had set up. Jokai and Dries were only about a day out from finally arriving at the station itself, but we couldn’t wait that long. So we were going to portal out to it with the supplies and tell them the new destination, the coordinates of Kushiel’s base. I had them written down.

Normally, Yup would just come to us and make his portal. But apparently, hitting a moving ship like that, even with the beacon that he had left on it, was a little tricky. So he preferred doing it from the cargo bay, where he had multiple spells set up to enhance and help direct his own natural ability. In his words, it helped avoid any ‘accidents’.

Plus, we had been told that carrying the crates down there ourselves would be exercise, which was good for us.

Meanwhile, Athena was having Larissa, Haiden, and the others collect a few more things that she thought we’d need, and giving instructions to the rest of her people. Tabbris was with them, since she had wanted to have a chance to say goodbye to the other Seosten kids before we left. She and the rest would meet us on the ship. And once everyone was on board (both literally and figuratively), we would head for the location of the secret lab as fast as possible.

“Are you guys sure we’re not totally lost?” Sands asked as we turned another corner of the near-maze, only to find ourselves facing a three-way fork. “Cuz I’ve gotta tell you, all of this stuff looks the same to me.” She gestured to the trio of corridors before us. “Which way now?”

“That way,” both Tristan and I announced together, pointing to the left-most fork immediately.

“Okay,” I started, “I’ve been here long enough to know where I’m going. How do you know?”

The boy gave me an incorrigible grin. “Hey, I basically grew up on Granddad Nick’s ship. I know how to read these signs.” He gestured to the words along the wall. “That one says that Cargo Bay A is that way. That’s where we’re going, right? Athena said that Yup guy would be there.”

Shaking my head, I nodded. “Right, right, yeah. Sorry, sometimes I forget how long you spent out there. Or is that out here…?” I paused, frowning a little. “Wait, we’re not about to risk you blowing up or whatever by getting too close to your past self out here, are we? Cuz that’s bad.”

“Nah.” The boy shrugged at that. “We were mostly out on the fringe of Seosten expansion. Different universe, basically. Never came in this deep. We should be fine.”

“Right,” Sands replied while squinting at him. “Should be. We should be fine. That makes me feel better.” Visibly shaking that off, she hefted the crate in her hands. “Come on, let’s go then.”

We were approaching the cargo bay then, with the doors right ahead of us. They slid aside, revealing one of many massive cargo bays that I’d seen throughout my stay here. This one was almost half empty, aside from the glowing portal that Yup was standing in front of.

“There you are!” the small, purple-skinned figure called. “I thought you got lost.”

“No, you didn’t,” I retorted. “You can see through my eyes. You knew exactly where we were.”

Grinning, the little guy wiggled his quartet of ears at me. “Busted. Yes, I knew you were almost here. Didn’t even set up the portal until you were close.” Stepping our way, he extended a hand toward Tristan. “Name’s Yup. Close enough anyway. And you would be?”

Blinking, Tristan lowered his crate before shaking the bright violet man’s hand. “Uh, Tristan. Tristan Moon. Good to meet you, Yup. You’re…” His eyes widened then, as realization came. “Holy shit, you’re a Tseuckaviel, aren’t you? I mean, a living one. I saw pictures and stuff when I was with Granddad Nick, but never one that was alive. He thought you guys were all… gone.”

“Most of us are,” Yup replied while I cringed inwardly (and probably outwardly). “Between the Seosten and the Fomorians, it doesn’t pay to be a race with something they really want to use.”

“That’s what Granddad Nick said…” Tristan’s voice had sobered, the boy swallowing a little before he met Yup’s enormous, compound eyes. “I’m sorry. I could’ve phrased that better. It was just–he told me stories about your people, about what you could do. We met one of the robots that you guys built, your umm, your servants or whatever they were?”

Brightening at that, Yup chirped, “You mean one of the Mevari? You actually met one? I thought they’d all been destroyed or lost for good by now.”

Tristan’s eyes were wide. “Destroyed? It’s possible to destroy them? We–I mean, the one we met calls herself Quattor. We went to this colony world and she was the only one there. I guess these Fomorians attacked and she was the only survivor. And by that, I mean she killed the Fomorians. Plural. Like, two actual Fomorians and all these pet monsters they had. Quattor killed them all. She said that she was… gone when they massacred the colony, but when she got back she made them pay for it.”

Yup was smiling, clearly proud. “We built the Mevari to serve as friends and bodyguards for our people. They are… quite dangerous when provoked. And since they are all mechanical, they are incapable of being possessed and Fomorian bio-weapons are fairly useless.” His face fell a little bit then. “We thought it would be enough to help us. But it only encouraged our enemies to get… creative. Still,” he added while visibly making himself perk up. “I am glad to hear that at least one is still out there. It gives me hope. And that is sometimes in very short supply.”

“So, they’re like… robots?” Sands asked tentatively, clearly interested. “Your people built robot companions, like the cyberforms that Heretics use?” She gestured toward Gidget, Bobbi-Bobbi, and the two mice, who were all collectively investigating the portal curiously.

“More advanced,” Yup corrected her. “The Mevari are basically just like any other person, except they’re artificial. They’re made of–okay, it’s too complicated to get into. Yes, they’re like robots. Only robots that can think, feel, and make their own decisions.”

“Cyberforms think and feel too,” I pointed out. “But I get what you mean. They were more like people than animals.” Taking a breath, I added, “Maybe you’ll get a chance to meet this… Quattor someday? It sounds like it’d be good for you guys to spend some time together.”

Nodding, Yup gestured to Tristan. “Yes, someday… and I would like to hear more stories of her, young man.”

“You got it.” Giving him a thumbs up, the boy replied, “Trust me, I’ve got plenty of ‘em. Quattor’s cool. And she would definitely like to know that you’re alive. She was… sad about your people.”

There was another moment of quiet contemplation, before Yup ordered us to stop wasting time and hurry up. He was right, so we quickly made our way through the portal and onto the ship. So, basically we just went from the station’s cargo bay to the ship’s cargo bay.

“Nice place,” Tristan announced while slowly looking around. “What’d you say the ship’s name was?”

My head shook. “I don’t think it actually has a name. I mean, unless the Seosten called it something.”

Clearing her throat, Roxa spoke up while exchanging a brief look with Sands. “Actually, we sort of gave it a name while you were gone. Or, Jokai did, anyway.”

“Really?” I blinked that way. “What did he call it?”

The answer came from Jokai himself, as the chameleon-man came into the room. “Sunstrider. It is… reference? Reference to song from your world, of walking on the sun shine.” Face actually turning a little red then, he admitted, “It is… first song Jazzy and me were… dancing to. It is… good song, and I wanted to… give ship name that gives… happy thoughts.”

Smiling broadly to that, I repeated, “Awww, you named the ship after yours and Jazz’s first song. Sunstrider, walking on sunshine. I like it.”

Still blushing, Jokai asked, “Why… are you here? Why have you… brought boxes? And…” He gestured toward Tristan. “You… are new.”

“This is Tristan,” Sands explained. “Tristan, this is Jokai, our pilot and… well, a lot more than that. And Jokai, I hope you guys weren’t dead set on getting to Athena’s space station anytime soon.

“Cuz we’ve got a new destination.”