The Star Dwellers

I glance at my mom and I can see her eyes are wide and serious. The blonde starts writing frantically on a piece of paper in front of her, as the old general continues speaking. “Honestly, I’m not sure what you expect us to do with this information. So there was a spy. You took care of him, so that’s the end of it.”

The woman finishes writing and passes the note to my mother. Tawni and I read over her shoulder. The sun dwellers are listening to every word. They have our families. They’ll kill them if we don’t cooperate. I’m sorry we didn’t tell you sooner, but if Brody had found out…

My heart beats faster as the pieces fall into place. The unwillingness of the generals to listen to reason; the way they used the sun dweller weapons to attack the Moon Realm; this crazy three-day deadline: the Sun Realm—President Nailin—is controlling it all. And on the ground was the puppet master: Brody. Now that he’s gone it will take the Sun Realm time to put another spy in place. We have a narrow window to act.

My mom’s head stays down and she starts writing a note.

The other general keeps speaking as if nothing is happening. “But it doesn’t change the fact that the Moon Realm is not willing to cooperate with us. In less than three days we’ll have no choice but to declare war on the moon dwellers and use every resource at our disposal to crush them.”

I read my mom’s note before she passes it across. We will do our best to protect your families. God bless. She slides a separate note to Baum. You stay here. Do what you can to help them. She nods.

“Fine,” my mom says. “I understand your position, even if I don’t agree with it. For now, we’ll wait and let the peace process run its course. If the Moon Realm won’t join us, we attack.” Her words are cold, harsh, believable. My mom’s a good liar. I never would have thought it six months ago.

A final note from the woman general. Godspeed and good luck.

My mother nods. The old general says, “Good. This forum is dismissed.”

Everyone rises and we leave.

* * *

When we exit the meeting, darkness has fallen on the Star Realm. My mom has a flashlight, which cuts a triangular arc through the gloom, but because the lighting here is so poor even during the day, my eyes adjust quickly to the dark.

“We need to leave right away,” Mom says.

“Shouldn’t we tell Dad—”

“There isn’t time. He knows about the spy, but the rest can wait. And some things are better told in person.”

“I can’t believe they took their families,” Trevor murmurs. For the first time I see compassion in his expression. Perhaps it was always there and I just couldn’t see it. But he’s a different person to me now. Not a spy—a star dweller. And so he cares about the families of the star dweller generals. He’s a good person, regardless of his faults.

“I can,” my mom says. “Nailin is a heartless, soulless demon who will do anything for power.” Her words are filled with fire. “The only reason they couldn’t get to me is that I was brought in much later, as an outsider. Plus, they thought they already had my whole family imprisoned.”

We walk in silence for a few minutes as we follow my mother through the narrow alleys of the subchapter. Occasionally I hear one of the homeless lying against the walls mumble something in their sleep, or snore. We pass through the alley where Mep and his followers tried to steal our stuff, and I look up at the window I clambered through what feels like years ago. Through the dark, I think I see the outline of legless Mep sitting on the sill, his arm raised, giving me a thumbs-up. I might be seeing things, but I return the gesture. Tawni gives me a questioning look but I just shake my head and picture Mep being carried back inside, where he’ll read a story to the orphans huddled around him. The thought makes me happy and sad all at the same time. They’re the ones we’re fighting for. The unwanted orphans, the beggars in the streets, the wrongly convicted prisoners, the fathers working impossible hours in the mines, the mothers fighting like hell to turn a few potatoes and bags of beans into enough food to fill the bellies of their children: we’re fighting for all of them. I feel adrenaline pump through my veins as I stride forward, following my mother, the warrior.

It’s silent for a few more minutes until we pass by an open doorway in one of the buildings. Heavy music pumps through the opening and I can see bodies gyrating and writhing under crackling red and purple lights. One of them turns to watch us pass by, a genderless form with tattoos all over its face and a white-tipped Mohawk. Red lipstick stands out against its pale skin. Raising a single long-nailed finger, it motions for me to enter the building.

Holding my breath, I pass by the door quickly. Tawni’s face is brimming with fear. I guess there’s more than one dark side to the Star Realm.

Ten minutes later we reach the end of the subchapter buildings. A dark hole stands before us. “Do we have to go in there?” Tawni asks slowly.

“Unfortunately, yes,” my mom replies. “The Star Realm tu

“And where is that exactly?” I ask.

“The Resistance has maintained a train line hidden from the sun dwellers for many years. We need to access it.”

“And we can’t take a public train?” Tawni asks hopefully. She really doesn’t want to go into that tu

“We can’t risk it, especially after what the generals told us. There could be more spies that they don’t even know about. If there was any other way, believe me, we’d take it.”

“Let’s get it over with,” I say.

Mom nods and leads us into the tu

In ten minutes my back is aching from being hunched over and my arms and legs are scratched and bleeding from frequent accidental brushes against the rough walls. It’s like everything in my life before this point—all the harsh living conditions, my time in the Pen, my harried escape through the Moon Realm—have been preparing me for this. I’m tough. I’ve been around the block. I can handle it.

An hour later I’m doubting myself.

“How much further?” I say, desperate for a chance to stretch out my back and legs.

“Not even close, honey,” my mom says, somehow managing to sound like the kind and loving mother that she is, even under the harshest conditions.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” Tawni says behind me. She’s a lot taller than me, which makes the hunching even worse. I realize this is a time when I’m going to need to be strong for her, another chance to pay her back for the strength she showed when Cole died, when I was at my lowest low.

“Yes you can, Tawni. You can do this. We all can. We all will. Let me know when you need a break, no matter how often, and we’ll stop and try to stretch out.”

I hear Trevor’s voice carry from further back, agreeing with me. “We’re all in this together.” He sounds so supportive—nothing like the jerk I thought he was.

I hear her take a heavy breath out, and she says, “Okay. I’ll do my best.” We continue on, stopping almost every fifteen minutes to rest and so that Tawni—and all of us really—can lie down and stretch out our backs and legs. The splintered rocks on the tu

Perhaps two hours pass. The tu