As much as Laura loved the Crimson Tower, I couldn’t see myself being a fan. Between the business people discussing second quarters and the obscure and bland paintings surrounding me, something felt off. Not that it mattered, since we were just there for the Oppressed. At least I was.

“I’ve heard of these artists.” Manning approached the most decipherable of the paintings. He seemed genuinely entranced by it. “Yes, yes, I understand this! Two brothers separated by fate. Between them lies a dangerous secret capable of changing everything. Marvelous!”

I shook my head. “I have no idea how you got that from a pile of blobs. Laura, why the heck is there a gaping hole in the wall?”

“This?” Laura gestured to…nothing: the rectangle through which you could see the outside. Basically a glassless window. A devilish smirk took over her face. “This calls for another demonstration.”

I hated the sound of that. Laura looked me dead in the eye, raised her right foot, and held it outside the hole. I yelped and grabbed her arm. Then I realized she wasn’t falling. She had one foot inside and one out, but she was standing straight up. I had seventeen different theories for what I was looking at.

Red radiated beneath the foot she had outside, like a spreading rash. She was standing on something solid, but it was invisible. It wasn’t visible unless you touched it.

“You should have seen the look on your face,” Laura said with a ridiculously wide grin on hers. “You were so worried about me.”

“Be quiet! Anyone would be worried if someone just fell from a hundred stories. What is this, some sort of energy floor?”

“Correct, it’s a floor made entirely from solidios, or solid energy,” Manning said as he set foot on it. Red bloomed from each step. “I believe I covered this in a lesson, but perhaps you were crafting ‘masterpieces’ on that day. Who knows, Mr. Locke, someday it could be your art on that wall.”

So, it was “Make Fun of Wander” day? Wish someone could have let me know.

“Come on, try it!” Laura held her hand out.

I wasn’t a toddler. I could walk on an invisible floor without holding someone’s hand. I held out my foot…and retracted it. I did that a couple times before I finally planted it down. It felt no different from solid ground! It was like nothing had changed…until I made the mistake of looking down. The ground was too far down to see. I’d never been afraid of heights before, but that made me shudder.

“I can’t believe it.” Laura covered her mouth as she snickered. “Looking down is the biggest mistake you can make on one of these, and you actually did it!”

She laughed so hard that she doubled over. My face flushed with embarrassment, but then it was overcome with joy. When Laura was happy, I was happy too. Her old life had been so hard on her that even I had felt the weight. Now? We were floating. I gazed out at skyscrapers that were similar to ours, ant-sized cruisers inching along on tiny strips of black, countless unseen lives unfolding. Beautiful red rays illuminated them all.

“Lauretta? Lauretta Genki?”

I shuddered as those cursed words passed through my ears. Laura and I both swiveled toward a man whom I hadn’t even known was there. The rectangle was bigger than I’d thought. He had slicked-back hair and a gray suit so expensive-looking that it must have owned its own company. If someone like him knew Laura’s real name, then he must have learned it from her parents. I didn’t like where this was going.

“Oh, hi.” Laura looked at his shoes as she addressed him. Her voice was devoid of confidence. “I don’t think we’ve met. But, you seem to know me, so…”

He extended his hand. “I’m Paul Marco. An associate of your parents. They showed me pictures of you, but I hardly recognized you with that red hair. Where are they anyway? Food court?”

His hand lingered, but she didn’t even glance at it. Paul didn’t seem to be taking the hint. You could cut the awkwardness with a knife. She finally looked at the hand, which was when Manning shook it instead.

“Theodore Manning, nice to meet you,” he said in his professional instructor voice. “I’m Ms. Genki’s instructor and acting guardian on this field trip. I’m afraid her parents are back in New Selene, but I’m willing to take any questions. It’s fifty percent of my job.”

Paul’s excitement drained from his face. “Nice to meet you, Instructor Manning. I’ll save any ‘questions’ for Lauretta’s parents.” He peeked at Laura over Manning’s shoulder. “You tell them that you met me, okay? Paul Marco! Enjoy the rest of your field trip!”

He waltzed off, no doubt proud of himself for establishing a new “connection.” Field trip? Dude didn’t even care enough to realize that Laura was out of school. Plus, it was summer.

She sighed out all her anxiety. “Thanks, Instructor. You won’t believe how many times that happens. Per month.” She gazed down at the city. All her happiness had vanished. Well, more like it had been stolen. “Just when I thought I’d finally escaped my parents…I should have known better. If it’s not them, it’s someone using me to get to them.” She turned to me with her sad eyes. “I told you that I came along for you. That’s mostly true. After I heard what the mission was, I had an idea. Could you imagine how proud you’d be if you found out your daughter was the one who shielded the Moon?”

My stomach dropped. “Laura, you can’t seriously be doing this so your parents will notice you. They’re not worth this.”

“You’re right, but it’s more complicated than that. I want them to notice me for me! Not as the heiress of their stupid space suit company.” She pursed her lips as she turned away from me. “All my life, they’ve told me that I’m important. That I’ll be in charge of their legacy when they’re gone. Then once they’re done reading their script, they turn their backs on me again. If they talk after that, it’s to tell me that I’m nothing without them. Well, it wasn’t always talking.” She rubbed her cheek as if it stung. “They didn’t care when I dyed my hair or when I got my ear piercing. They didn’t see the scars on my arm. They won’t care that I’m missing until they remember I’m the heiress!” She heaved a huge sigh and slumped against the solidios wall. Red streaked out of her back as she held her head. “No one cares.”

“That is simply untrue,” Manning said. “Mr. Locke and I care immensely. We may not be your birth family, but I hope our opinion matters nonetheless.”

“Exactly! I hate the idea of you working so hard for the approval of two awful scumbags. You should do things because it’ll make you happy. When you do things specifically for others it can”—I glanced at her scar—“backfire.”

She wiped her eyes. “I literally exist to please others. Why do anything for myself when everyone else is more valuable? When someone treats you like garbage your whole life, you start to believe you are.”

“Laura, I…” My surroundings blurred. My knees buckled, and my heart raced as I fell. I thought I was falling into the city before I remembered the solidios.

“Mr. Locke? Are you all right?” Manning and Laura pulled me to my feet. That happened way too often. “What happened? Acrophobia?”

“No, no…I just feel weak. Something’s going on with my stomach.”

“You know what might solve that? Eating!” Laura said while glaring me down. “You can’t keep skipping meals and surviving on granola bars. Let’s get you something at the food court.”

“No, I got it. You guys stay here and appreciate this mildly horrifying view.” I stood on my own two wobbly legs. “I’ll get my own food.”

I wasn’t about to let Laura waste time worrying about me as usual. How hard was it to buy a cheeseburger? I stepped down a staircase I found in the corner. Halfway down, I smelt it: the fresh aroma of fried food. It was music to my…nostrils. Man, I really was starving.

This was way better than the stupid Aerial Deck. Kids screamed and chased each other around their parents, who were struggling to eat. Floating TVs presented the news to the tables that they passed by. An actual window (complete with glass and everything) gave a modest view of the outside. And a red transpad sat behind a counter. That was probably for employees. I scanned each and every food joint even though I’d probably settle on a burger.

I froze when I spotted a girl with a blue streak through her hair. She was munching on a salad drowned in dressing. Was I hallucinating from hunger? It couldn’t actually have been this easy to find the Oppressed again. You know what? It didn’t matter. Not as long as I caught her this time.

She wouldn’t hear me over the crowd, but I tiptoed anyway. I ducked behind each crowded table for good measure. Being so close to the food was torture, but I couldn’t eat now. The mission was more important.

Her table was within reach, and her face was buried in her phone. Perfect. Now I just had to…I…probably hadn’t thought this through. I couldn’t attack her because we were in a crowded environment. I couldn’t walk up to her because she’d take off again. What I could do was keep tabs on her until she left. That way, she could lead me straight to the rest of her rebel pals. The best-case scenario. I pulled out my phone to text Laura and Manning about it.

“Hey, Wander, when did you get here?” Kaela casually said before eating another piece of lettuce.

I froze as I realized that I was only a couple of feet away. I knew I should have kept my distance. I had to do something about my impulses before they got me killed.

I pulled out a chair across from her and sat in it. Then I scowled at her, while she beamed at me. Had her memory been wiped out the day before?

She was too carefree about bumping into someone she had been fleeing from not too long ago. “What’s up…criminal?” I watched her expression for changes. Her cheery demeanor didn’t falter for a second. She was good. “Overthrown any governments lately?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but if I did, I’d clarify that I’m not here on, ‘business.’ I’m simply a teenage girl enjoying a healthy meal. Spicy chicken salad! Slathered in dressing. And salt. And pepper. Might be a few croutons in here too…”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The atmosphere was completely different from the one in the mall. This was like speaking to someone behind bars. You knew they were capable of evil even if they seemed harmless.

“I can’t believe you lied to me. I have so much riding on capturing you guys, and, if not for Manning, I’d never have known you were beside me the whole time. How can you live with yourself after everything your ‘organization’ has done?”

Her grin grew. “And what have they done, exactly? Let me know what heinous crimes are listed on the warrant.”

I clenched my fists. “You stole President Frost’s shield generator. Don’t even bother denying it. You should make it easy on your pals and hand it over now. I won’t stop chasing you until I get it back.”

She flipped her hair back. “What a topic to discuss in the middle of a crowded food court. Luckily it’s louder than a movie theater in here. Anyway, if President Dictator is sending teenagers to fetch her stuff, she must not want it back that badly. We’ll hold on to it until a proper trade can be made. How about her stuff for…the First Division’s freedom?”

“What are y—we’re not slaves! Oh my god, the propaganda they’re feeding you.”

She ate another piece of lettuce, tempting me to knock the fork from her hand. “I don’t blame you for not seeing it. Everyone’s cool with that woman taking over Mars, renaming it ‘New Earth,’ and pushing the ruabrum aside. It’s because it doesn’t affect them. ‘Oh man, too bad about those red people. Thank heavens I’m white! God bless the Divide!’ See? Talk to a random guy on the street and tell me he wouldn’t sound like that.”

I wanted to tell her that she was crazy. Unfortunately, I couldn’t. The ruabrum did see issues with their treatment, so I couldn’t dismiss that part. Frost’s involvement was up for debate, but she was the president. Of course she had a say in it.

None of this changed how badly I needed that generator.

BRRRH!

Red filled the room as an alarm blared. Its intensity even silenced those screaming kids. Chairs scraped as everyone rushed to the stairs. They must have been headed toward the transpad upstairs. A panicking crowd formed on those steps in a matter of seconds.

“Welp, I’m sure you hear that.” Kaela stood up and stretched. “I’d be jealous if you couldn’t. I’m going deaf over here! Anyway, we should get going. Who knows what tripped the alarm.”

She sauntered toward the stairs. The crowd made it around the corner. They were out of sight even though I could still hear their panicked chatter. Kaela made it to the first step before she stopped. There was no reason to, not when the crowd was out of the way. Unless she was just trying to get me to leave.

Her shoulders slumped as she turned around. “You know, half of the tower could be on fire. Unless you want to become the galaxy’s grossest plate of barbecue, we should bounce.”

“You, first,” I said.

The alarm continued to assault our ears. I stared straight into her eyes, and she returned the gaze. It was amazing how warm she seemed, even while glaring me down. I didn’t want to hurt her, but evacuating a whole tower? She couldn’t even pretend her friends weren’t behind this.

I reached for my pistol, and she reached behind her back. I paused as she pulled out a huge metallic rod. It was like a metal version of those wooden staffs used by martial artists. She smirked as she pressed a button with her thumb. The staff clicked as it began to…unfold? Its parts shifted, zoomed, and rotated until it had reformed into a sniper rifle with a glowing blue core for the stock. I had a pistol permanently set to stun, and this woman had a rifle that was also a bat. This wasn’t the smartest thing I’d ever done…but I’d probably done dumber too.

Kaela peered through its scope, so I raised my inferior gun. I pulled the trigger, but not hard enough. I barely moved it at all! The knight was right about me.

She squeezed the trigger…while aiming the gun at the ceiling. A blue bullet, ten times the size of my pistol’s, soared out of the barrel and ripped into a red horn. The impact released a concussive wave that made me stagger. Bits of the horn clattered around me. Once I quit shaking, I realized that I could hear myself think again. The alarm had stopped! Too bad the room was still red.

“Yes! I’ve saved my precious ears from certain doom.” She massaged her ears while sighing happily. Her rifle’s core was wobbling. Hopefully, that meant it’d be a second before she could shoot again. “So, Wander. Want to know what the ruabrum call this place? ‘Tower of Blood.’ It’s because of the all the ruabrum who died building it. Pretty dark, right? Can you really blame us for taking it back?”

I scowled. “I thought you said you weren’t here on Oppressed business.”

She shook her head. “I’m not. He is.”

What did she mean by that? Why were there footsteps coming up behind me? I twisted around and got decked in the face. I ducked Dylan’s next punch, but then he shoved his knee into my stomach. I lifted my pistol, but Dylan knocked it from my hand. It skidded away.

Dylan looped his arm around my neck. I tugged on it, but it didn’t even budge. It was like my arms were reduced to sticks. I hadn’t eaten. So I didn’t have my strength back! I pounded his arm, but I was only hurting myself. He tightened his chokehold, robbing me of oxygen. My arms fell to my side. He loosened his hold, only allowing me a trickle of air.

“If there’s one thing you’re good at, it’s being distracting,” Dylan said, loud as a speaker in my ear. I think he was speaking to Kaela. “Hello again, Wander. You really like playing ‘hero,’ don’t you?”

“Lay off, Dylan, you’re choking him to death!” Kaela said.

“It’d just be one less obstacle, wouldn’t it? This boy doesn’t see things the way we do. He’s on to us; he’s a problem! What would Surge do?”

“Not murder someone?!”

“Guys, please don’t do this!” I choked out. I had seconds to speak before Dylan choked me for the fun of it. “All I want is that shield generator. I need it to find my sister! If I get it, I’ll be out of your hair, forever!”

Dylan let out an exasperated sigh. “All worms like you ever do is whine. Let me guess, the AI killed your family? Never heard that one before. This war has claimed millions of families. Isn’t that right, Kaela?”

There were sinister implications in his voice that Kaela noticed too, judging by her frown.

“Knock it off, Dylan,” she said. She sounded dangerously serious for once. “We’re—I’m sorry about your family, Wander. But, we can’t throw away everything we’ve worked for, just for one stranger.”

I didn’t expect diplomacy to get me out of this. Not when Dylan was one of my negotiators. All I wanted to do was buy time. I slipped my hands under Dylan’s arm and pushed it away from my throat. I swung at his face, connecting my fist with his cheek. It felt…good to see him staggering. I hated violence, but Dylan was a new kind of awful.

He charged at me like a wild animal. I swung again, but he dodged and kicked me to the floor. He planted a foot on my neck, flooding it with pain. My brain ran wild, seeking a way out of this dilemma.

ZWOOM!

A burst of blue flung Dylan off me. He screamed as he writhed on the floor. I felt that impact. It wasn’t a stun shot.

“Don’t move unless you want to end up like him.” Laura aimed my pistol at Kaela. Manning stood behind her, beaming with pride. Laura took her eyes off Kaela to smile at me. “Did you see that? I landed a shot!”

“How could I have missed it?” I pushed myself up. “Good work, Redhead. Thanks for being fashionably lat—”

Dylan’s screams of agony silenced me. Blue steam funneled off of my fallen foe. His suit couldn’t be burnt, because most were made to withstand direct exposure to the Sun. It was just damaged like he was.

“I’d say, ‘Nice shooting,’ but it’d be more accurate to say, ‘Rather ruthless shooting,’” Manning said. “How did you know that shot wouldn’t kill him?”

“I just hoped that it wouldn’t,” she said with a shrug. “No one messes with my dummy. Anyway, you guys must be the Oppressed creeps I’ve been told about.” She grimaced at Kaela. “Nice blue streak. Couldn’t afford the rest of the dye? How about you hand over the shield thing, and I’ll pretend your hair never offended me.”

“I should be scared, but I didn’t expect a girl pointing a gun at me to be so cute,” Kaela said. I silently noted the flirtatious look in Kaela’s eyes then snickered at how red Laura’s face got. “Anyway, you guys need to quit it with this device—why does everyone assume the two of us have it? For all you know, we’re just two cogs in the machine. Oh, wait. That’s you guys to Frost. Once you hand that thing over, you’ll be tossed aside like an old pizza box.”

“I don’t care if she never speaks to us again,” I said as I massaged my throbbing neck. “I just need my sister back. That’s all I care about. You know where the generator is, Kaela. Please, just tell us. Then we’re out.”

Her big dark eyes held more compassion than Dylan’s entire body. She held the deadliest weapon here, but she’d only used it to get rid of the alarm. She was a good person, and this was her chance to prove it.

Something red flashed over the transpad in the corner. The outline of a man just before he himself stepped off of it. So that was how Dylan had come. The man had scraggly salt and pepper hair, which matched his black and white cloak. I couldn’t even see his space suit if he had one on.

“All levels are secured, what’s the status of this one—” He paused to scan each of us, with his gaze lingering on me. He nodded and continued toward Kaela. “Why is Dylan on the floor? He knows how important this mission is.”

His voice had an accent to it. It was hard to place, but I think it was from the Sixth Division. Territory belonging to that division was incredibly hot and held dangerous beasts. Giant spiders. Extremely creepy.

Wait, did he just ignore us?!

Kaela glanced at Dylan and then at us. “He went a bit, rogue. The cute girl with the gun shot him because he was trying to kill the boy.”

“What else is new? I’ll get him out in a second. Is the upstairs secured? The alarm should have gotten everyone to evacuate.”

“Hey!” I shouted. Every eye fell on me. Every eye but his. “Did I turn invisible, or are you just ignoring me? Awfully rude to just interrupt something and pretend like you didn’t.”

He sighed but didn’t move an inch. “Wander Locke, age seventeen, fascinated by technology; boy, you’d love some of the things in our arsenal.” He finally turned to me. His brown eyes met my hazel ones. I’m convinced he only did it to witness my hanging jaw. “I know you. You’re not a threat. We’re done here.”

“No! No, how could we be done after you pulled a party trick like that? So what if you know me? I know you too, Surge N. Antant! After the way you gave those orders, there’s no one else you could be.”

“This guy? Really?” Laura motioned to him. “He could pass, but—are you sure?”

“Yes, this is him.” Manning adjusted his glasses. A mean glare lay beneath them. “Mr. Antant.”

My eyes went back and forth between them. “Do you…know each other?!” Surge raised his eyebrow. “Theodore. That child’s holding a gun, and yet you’re the most dangerous person in this room. Too bad you left that danger behind. Here to babysit Frost’s pet, I presume.”

“Pet?!” I clenched my fists yet again. Without my suit, my palms would be bleeding. “I’m no one’s pet! I’m not here for Frost, I’m here for my sister! Hand over the generator you stole! I swear I won’t stop chasing you until I get it.”

“Well if you’d like to electrocute me then go ahead. Or you can shoot me with that pistol, I don’t care. Fighting won’t get you any closer to your goal. You’re outnumbered. The Oppressed are too powerful to fall to one Hybrid. Come, Kaela.”

He scooped up Dylan and tossed him over his shoulder then headed toward the stairs with Kaela close behind. Everything we had been working towards was literally walking away from us.

No. “You’re not going anywhere!” I ran up to them. He’d said fighting wouldn’t help me, but what did he know? If I had to sock this guy for answers, I would. “Especially not after all this weird stuff you’re saying. Electrocute? Hybrid? What the heck are you implying?”

He halted. “She didn’t tell you. Of course not.” He adopted a stern expression, like a father about to lecture their child. My blood ran cold as I waited for his reply: one that could change everything. “Kid, you’re not fully human. You’re a Hybrid. Part human, part—”

“That’s enough!” Manning shouted. There was a fury in his voice that I’d never even come close to hearing. “It is not your place to say more!”

“Oh, is it yours? No. He should know because he’s the one we’re talking about. This is what separates me from Frost. Kid, think back to every time something weird happened. It probably involved electronics. Maybe a toaster turned on without you touching it, I don’t know. If you can’t explain it, you’re the one who did it. Hybrids have abilities, and yours? Takes having a computer for a brain to a new level.”

Manning shouted at him again, but I didn’t hear a word of it. I thought back to those times Surge had mentioned. The times when something odd had happened, and I’d tried to pawn it off as something else. The knight’s suit malfunctioning, the blackout at the mall, my explorer’s exam just shutting down, and…my cruiser. The night before my exam, my cruiser had turned on in the middle of the night. Except I hadn’t used my keys to do it.

My stomach churned with horror. He was speaking madness, so why did it make sense? Why Frost chose me for this, why the knight was after me…why the AI were after me. Why they came to my house. Why they killed my family when they couldn’t find me. They hadn’t needed them. Only me. I grabbed handfuls of my hair as the truth rushed into my head. I tried to keep it out, but it was unstoppable.

Ruabrum popped up around me as they pushed me out of the room. I didn’t hear them come in, and every word in the room was a murmur to me. Surge and Kaela disappeared up the stairs. I sprinted toward them, but the ruabrum ensured that I never made it. How could I when my brain was exploding? The knot in my stomach tightened as I thought about it again: the truth.

I was the reason why my parents had died.