Chapter 24

As soon as Daios left, a whirlwind of movement swept her up. Mira meant the best, Anya could tell. The other woman was a veritable storm of a human being, though. She was loud and boisterous, or at least that's what Anya thought, from the way she used her hands when she talked and the constant exclamation points that Bitsy threw up. She could only imagine that Mira was nearly shouting whenever she opened her mouth.

The amount of swears that woman uttered, it was impressive to say the least. And they were usually directed at Arges, who stayed at the edge of the moon pool with an amused expression on his face. Mira wasn't scared of him at all.

Neither was Anya, when she looked inside herself. She should have had some amount of healthy apprehension about the new undines. After all, this was a group of people who had ordered her to be kidnapped and then brought to their doorstep. She had no idea what they wanted with her, or what their plans were.

But they didn't seem like they wanted to hurt her. And she also didn't think Daios would let them.

"Right?"

Anya blinked, and Bitsy threw up a mess of words that must have been an entire one-sided conversation that she'd just missed because she was thinking about Daios. Thankfully, she had the age-old story she could fall back on.

"I'm sorry." Anya tapped her ears. "I'm hard of hearing, so I missed what you said."

Of course, Bitsy had not. She didn't get to use that excuse if someone knew her. Daios would give her a look that said he was unimpressed before he just crossed his arms and waited for her to read what he'd said before. The man was one of few words, and he had no intention of repeating himself if he could help it.

Mira's expression turned to surprise, her eyebrows raising high and revealing wrinkles on her forehead before she nodded. "Right, sorry. I forget. I was saying, this is the bathing room. I'll leave some clothes out here for you to change into when you're ready. I'm sure it was a harrowing experience for you."

"It wasn't so bad, really. Cold. The life support in the facility wasn't able to run at full power because we didn't want anyone to realize we were there." Anya shrugged. "But the company wasn't terrible, and I was able to work on my own plan for a while until it all blew up. I hope you have a better idea than I did."

The redhead in front of her turned calculating. "Are you suggesting that you've been working against your father?"

"For years."

"You and I are going to get along just fine." Mira dumped an armful of clothing onto a bench outside the small curtain. "Take your time. I'm sure you want to wash the salt off. There's a tube of gunk in there that looks terrible, but it does wonders for your hair."

That was all she needed. Placing Bitsy on the floor, she patted her droid on the top of the head. "Go speak with Byte while I shower."

Anya didn't have any other words. Besides, everything was hard to hear in this dome. As she slipped into the room and closed herself away from sight, she sighed. There was the indistinct murmur of people, a sensation of sound that she couldn't quite hear. Not to mention the shower itself. She remembered metal making a noise when she turned the knobs, but she couldn't hear that at all.

Her time with Daios had given her a small reprieve from what her life was actually like. If she tilted her head back and let the water run over her face, she could almost assume it had all been a dream.

A really lovely, wonderful dream that she would hold close for the rest of her life. But a dream, nonetheless. Now she was here, and she felt like she owed them all something.

Sighing, she let her head fall forward against the small wall of the shower that was just a tiny room with a small shower curtain to prevent them from seeing her. Forehead against the cool metal, it almost felt like she was home.

But that didn't make her feel better. In fact, it made her feel worse. She had hated being in Alpha, but now that she was free, she still felt like she was in shackles. These people had gotten her out of a terrible situation and that meant she had to repay them. Somehow. Which meant she was still beholden to someone and something and a larger picture when she just wanted to be herself for a little while.

She couldn't stay in the shower forever, though, and she certainly couldn't go back home. The only way forward was... well, forward. That meant she had to meet with these people.

Sighing, she turned the water off and grabbed the towel that hung just out of reach. At least her hair felt better using that strange "gunk" as Mira called it.

A part of her whispered that she should pretend Bitsy needed work and she couldn't hear anything of what they were saying. Then she could have a few moments of rest.

But there was only the one dome that she'd seen. And considering Mira was already in this one, she assumed she'd be staying here with the other rather intimidating woman.

The clothes were nice. They fit her well enough. Just a plain white shirt and pants that had seen better days, but they were still vaguely denim in color. Stepping out of the shower, she headed toward the other two on the opposite side of the small pod.

Arges was still out of the water, although he was glistening like he'd just dunked his body back into the moon pool. He watched Mira's movements with obvious interest, and perhaps a bit of rapt attention that suggested he just liked watching her. No matter what she did.

What was she doing? Mira seemed to mostly like working with metal, but her arm was lifting like she was chopping something and then…

"Oh!" Anya's shocked gasp was maybe a little too loud, since the other two turned toward her.

Mira grinned. "I had a feeling you haven't seen vegetables in a bit."

Thankfully, Anya could read her lips well enough to know what she meant. Mira faced her directly, and that certainly made it easier.

Maybe her thoughts played across her face a little too loudly, because Mira's grin spread a little wider. "I was an engineer in Beta." She said each word slowly, giving Anya plenty of time to make out what each word was. "A lot of engineers had hearing damage. So I know it's important that I face you when I talk to you."

That made sense. Everything she'd heard of Beta was that it was a hard place to live. She knew that the people there had very little resources, in particular food and water. But they worked hard, and they fixed everything that Alpha needed fixed.

It took every ounce of her self control to walk calmly over to that table laden with green food. "I have heard that Beta just went through a rather difficult time."

Bitsy's sharp appendages climbed up her leg and all the way to her shoulder. With a dramatic flare, she dropped the lens over Anya's eye and wrapped one of her spindly legs around her neck.

Good enough, she supposed. Anya took a seat and tried not to let her hands shake as she grabbed whatever she could. Lettuce. Sliced peppers to go on top. Tomatoes, riper than she had ever seen in Alpha. Brightly colored banana peppers and even what looked like strawberries. She didn't know how that was possible, considering they were very much out of season right now.

Mira took a seat opposite from her, arms crossed over her chest with that ever present grin on her face. "It might not be Alpha, but we have food here. Good food."

She didn't even care if there wasn't salad dressing. She'd been missing vegetables so much that her stomach clenched and her mouth watered embarrassingly. Still, she put a good chunk on her fork and held it still while she said, "To be honest, I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I agreed to leave my home."

And then she shoved the fork full into her mouth so she couldn't say anything else. Maybe she'd learned a thing or two from Daios after all.

Mira's head tilted to the side. "Well, at first we thought we would sell you back to your father. Get him all riled up that the princess of Alpha had been taken right from underneath his nose, and force him into a deal that allowed the undines to live without the achromos involvement."

"Achromos?" she asked, mouth stuffed with food. "I've heard Daios say that."

"It's what they call humans."

"Right." She remembered that, she did. Maybe she was drunk on vegetables.

"So here's the thing. Your dad doesn't seem all that upset you're missing, which goes against everything I've heard about him and you. Every city knows that the General and his daughter are two peas in a pod, closer than a normal family should be." Mira leaned her elbows on the table, her eyes searching Anya's as though she could see right into her mind. "Why do I feel like that's not the case? From what I've heard, he's not panicking at all."

She just wanted to eat in peace. Why couldn't they let her at least do that? Around another mouth full of food, she replied, "Dad already knows where I am."

"Here?"

"Well, not exactly. He has cameras outside Alpha, so he saw Daios take me. They sent ships after us, but none of them could find us. We were in the..." She waved the fork in the air, jabbing at the air. "Spiky coral."

"Ah. So he knows you aren't in the city. That's why he's not sending messages out to the other cities for people to find you." Mira and Arges shared a look. "That makes things a little more complicated. But Byte should be able to send messages to Alpha if we still want to try that."

"It won't work, anyway." Anya set her fork down, putting temptation aside for this long conversation. "He doesn't care if I'm missing. He cares if I behave. The only way to get the city to work against him is to show them all the terrible things he's done. And the only way to do that is through a broadcast from the inside. I've already thought all of this over with the other people I work with. Trust me when I say I know exactly how to take my father down with the least amount of bloodshed."

Arges leaned forward, and she noticed he did so specifically so she could see his lips as he repeated, "The people you work with?"

She wanted to tell him it didn't matter if she could see his lips. He was speaking in a language she did not know. But instead of being snippy and tired, she said, "There are a group of us who have been working for ages together. This is the best plan."

"Then how do you expect us to get someone into Alpha? We barely got you out." Mira spread her hands wide, as though the issue was only getting bigger. "Unless you and your friends have a plan for that?"

They didn't. She didn't think, at least. "I can ask."

"Please do."

Anya stood, stepping a little distance away so she could talk with Ace, but then she rounded back to the table and grabbed the bowl to take with her.

Wandering toward a back wall, she started when the wall moved. The panel must be motion censored, and it slid open to reveal a massive garden on the other side. But even better, there was a glass ceiling on this one.

She could send messages much easier without all that metal getting in the way. This was perfect.

"Bitsy," she said, chewing another bite. "Send a message to Ace to see if we can connect."

"On it." The words floated along with little hearts bubbling up from the plants. Clearly, Bitsy was in a good mood. Soon enough, she'd ask about Byte and what that history was. Just not right now.

As she stood in the garden, looking up at the glass, she saw a shadow in the distance. And she'd know that body anywhere. The massive shadow glowed red the moment her eyes locked on it, like he knew she was looking at him.

With a wave of her hand, she waited for him to mimic the movement. Even from this distance, she felt better knowing he was out there. Waiting for her to come into the water and see him again.

Bubbles appeared as Ace jotted out a quick message. "I've been trying to get in touch with you."

"Been a little busy."

"We've got a problem."

"What do you mean, we have a problem? Did the new guy not get into the city?"

Bitsy even seemed to hesitate before the message appeared in front of her eyes. A long message that made her heart break. "He's dead, Queenie. We sent him in, just like we planned, but your dad has everything locked down. One moment he was there, and the next, all I saw was nothing. I saw the footage after hacking into it. Your father had one of his goons cut his head off and left him there at the port for other people to find. It was a message. Anyone who gets in your father's way? Dead."

"I'm sorry to hear that." A shiver went down her spine, and she couldn't pinpoint why. Her father had always been ruthless. But that? That was more than he'd ever been before.

"It's over."

The words played in front of her eyes and she had to read them six times before she blurted, "Over? What do you mean, over?"

"No one will work with us. I've been trying to get someone else, but no one wants to take the risk. Too many people have died, and everyone knows. We're dead in the water with your father's blade in our back."

"It can't be over. I'm so close, Ace. I found other people who are willing to help us. You can't give up on me now. Do you hear me?" She almost wanted to hit something. She wanted to throw the bowl in her hands and watch it shatter on the floor. "I need you to stay in this. With me."

Silence. So much silence from the other end that her tinnitus started acting up. Or maybe that was because no one else was in the room with her, and she was alone yet again.

Always alone. Now Ace was going to leave her too, and no one would ever do anything about her father. No one would ever do anything about... anything.

Hands shaking, she set the bowl down before she broke what was likely one of the few that Mira owned. "Ace?" she tried again. "Ace, talk to me."

Bitsy let raindrops play down the screen, and that's when she knew Ace had disconnected the call. She would not get any help from her friend. She was alone in this, as she had been from the start.

Swallowing hard, she tried not to cry even though she could feel the sound pressing against her throat.

Until Bitsy put an arrow in front of her face and she saw the shadow had moved much, much closer. Daios was on the other side of the glass, still slightly above her. But he had his webbed hand pressed against it. And she knew, she just knew, that he'd known she needed him with her.

Reaching up to the glass, she pressed her hand on the opposite side like she was holding onto him. Or perhaps, like he was holding her together.