This can’t be happening.

  I reach out to summon Javen, but nothing returns. It’s as if he’s blocking any contact from me. I close my eyes and focus on quieting the noise. Wary, I look down to the still-churning chaos, and a shadow passes across the ground below. Several gigantic battle cruisers glide through the sky. Cruisers that were not there before. Hammond’s new incoming forces must be coming through the TSF, close to the planet’s atmosphere.

  If the Alku’s goal has changed, what are the consequences for the humans fighting with them? Are they enemies now, too? I peer around the ridge and suck in a sharp breath. Where is everyone? Did everyone already join the fight below, including Dad? I tap my Connect and use the voice function.

  “Dad,” I say. Nothing comes back through, so I change gears.

  “Irene,” I say. “Are you there?” No reply.

  I try again.

  “Cassi.” Irene’s shaky voice finally comes through. “Where are you?”

  “I’m still on the ridge. What’s going on down there?” My breath picks up as I speak.

  The hologram function activates, and I can see Irene with Max behind her. “We’re pinned down near the mine entrance. After we took out the Inhibitor, Beda got this weird look in her eyes and abandoned us. Then everything went nuts.”

  Behind Irene and Max, a blast of cyan light illuminates the mine’s walls. Max fires a few laser shots in return.

  “Are the Alku attacking you?” I yell.

  “I think the army turned on anyone from Earth.”

  My chest tenses at the confirmation. But there is no way Javen would do this. I know him.

  I look at the mine entrance. I have to get down there.

  A war cruiser lands and an army of soldiers pours out of the ship within seconds. I feel the sudden, furious urge to destroy the vessel with my Starfire energy. But I resist falling into the Alku’s now-aggressive energy. Stopping them is one thing; wiping them out is another.

  “I’m coming to you,” I say to Irene and then click off the Connect without waiting for her reply. If I leave them, they will die, and for nothing. When I get there, I’ll figure out where Dad is.

  I focus on the entrance of the mine and visualize myself there. When my eyes open, I quickly duck behind a wall and activate my Connect again. “Send me your exact coordinates,” I say to Irene.

  The directions come through, and I display them on the map. Max and Irene are around a nearby bend. I close my eyes and reappear next to Max. My heart fills with joy to see them both still alive. But it’s quickly suppressed when a ball of light explodes in front of us. The sound of laser weapons echoes up above. Hammond’s army must be closing in.

  “I need to summon Javen,” I say. “We must work together, or this will fail. I never should have brought the Alku into the Intersection. I knew that place was dangerous for them. Their access was blocked for a reason to ensure Javen’s race didn’t use the dimension’s Starfire.” I look to Max and Irene. “But first, I should get you to safety. And the Intersection is my only option right now.”

  “Cassi,” Irene says. “There’s no time. It’s a bloodbath out there. If there’s a way to stop the battle now, we should do that instead.”

  I look to Max, and he agrees. “Do it. We’ve got your back.”

  I squeeze the Starfire in my palm and focus on its energy, then push it outward to stop the madness. A cyan burst starts at my core and reverberates out like a giant wave of energy. I have no idea what is going to happen. All I want is to stop the killing.

  With a zap, I come to, and all around me is a cyan glow. The world seems to be in ultra-slow motion or underwater. Except for me. Max and Irene are nearly frozen except for micro movements. I reach for Irene and tap her on the shoulder. I inhale deeply and unlock her from her transfixed state. When I do, she breaks from the trance and her breath comes in erratic pants. She looks around as I do the same to Max.

  “What’s going on?” Max asks.

  “I don’t know yet,” I say, but the only sound I can hear around us is the slight buzzing of Starfire energy. With caution, I emerge from our hiding place. Outside and as far as I can see, everything looks the same. Nearly frozen. A cyan blast from an angry Alku’s hand is suspended in mid-air. Hammond’s soldiers stand with weapons pointed high. One of the gigantic ships is frozen in the air, mid-explosion.

  “I have to find Javen,” I say. “He can help me stop this battle.”

  I scan the area but don’t see him.

  “There,” Max says and points to my left.

  I follow his finger and see Javen in the distance, and I pause. A blood-curdling shiver moves down my body. The anger on his face shoots pain into my stomach and I want to retch. But I suppress the nauseating urge and race for him instead, the others following behind.

  Fear writhes its way through my insides as we get closer. But I keep my attention focused only on him.

  “Cassi!” Irene yells from behind.

  I skid to a stop to see what she wants. Next to her is Dad, frozen and clutching the portal device in one hand and a weapon in the other. I run to him and place my hand on his shoulder. He blinks twice and stumbles back a step.

  “What the . . .” he says.

  “Dad.”

  He looks around, then flits his attention to me. “What’s going on, Cassi?”

  “I used my Starfire to stop the battle. The Starfire from the Intersection has altered the Alku, and I need to fix my mistake.”

  Dad glances around, and the wide-mouthed, shocked look on his face wears the memory of everything horrible now flooding back to him—the calculation error we both made. I knew the Intersection Starfire changed people, and now he does, too. But I don’t have time to explain the experience to him. I have no idea how long this frozen state will last. I can already feel the weight of the Starfire’s energy slipping through my grasp.

  I finally reach Javen and draw my brows together. His eyes swirl with anger instead of the gentleness I know. With shaking fingers, I touch his hand, and in an instant, he unfreezes and grips my fingers.

  I hold my breath as he bares his teeth at me.

  “Javen,” I cry out. “It’s me, Cassi!”

  He lets out a low growl as if he doesn’t know me.

  “Javen, please. Fight this . . . this anger. It’s not you.”

  With a shove, Javen releases my hand and pushes me away from him.

  “Cassi,” Dad says close by. “You need to back away.”

  I do as he says, but my legs will only move so quickly. I stare at Javen’s hand, which now glows cyan.

  “You humans are stealing everything from us. And we will take our planet back!” he roars at me.

  I think of my hidden laser pistol. But I can pretty much guarantee that I’ll never get it out in time. I can’t shoot Javen anyway. Unsure of what to do, I choose my words carefully. “We need to fix this together. It’s the only chance for peace.” I close my eyes and clear my mind in attempt to summon him, connect to his mind. But a force shoves my thoughts back and I flick my eyes back open to the horrible scene.

  “No,” he growls, and with that single word, our bond disintegrates. I shudder in a breath from the pain of the unexpected severance, as if my insides are being ripped out. The anger hardens his beautiful features and the pain in my gut intensifies. Doesn’t he feel the loss? Is the grief shredding through his body, like it is in mine? He gives away nothing, if so, and instead puts his palms up into the air. A bolt of cyan energy shoots from his hands into the sky and the frozen battlefield thaws within a wild beat of my heart.

  The scene roars to life. Javen’s hands fly forward, and another bolt shoots for me. I seize up, muscles tight, waiting for the hit. And then I’m falling, forced to the ground and out of the way. The bolt hits Dad square in the shoulder, and he buckles and tumbles to the ground beside me.

  Chapter 24

  Igrab for Dad’s limp body and scream for Max and Irene. Both turn my way as they shoot their laser guns at the Alku now charging for them from behind Javen. They get to my side and Irene attempts to pull me to my feet, but instead, I yank her down and grab Max by the leg. Mustering all the energy inside of me, I visualize us inside the Intersection and rip the four of us through.

  On the other side, I glance down under the starlight at Dad and his barely breathing chest.

  “We can’t let him die!” I screech.

  My mind reels as images of Javen blasting Dad replay over and over again in my mind. Seeing him changed guts me. Everything I had on this planet . . . everything has been stolen from me.

  I begin to heave with unreleased grief but force myself back to reality, to the present. Max is by my side and no one else. Panic resets in my bloodstream and I rush out, “Where’s Irene and the rest of the people who stayed behind?”

  “She ran to the lab. There are some basic medical supplies back there. The other people might be at camp.” Terror washes over his face and then he whispers, “Do you think the Alku are coming after us?”

  Dad’s portal device still juts out from his pocket. I retrieve the black device and hand it to Max. “I’m pretty sure this was the only one, and from what I can tell, the Alku can’t cross into the Intersection without it or me. But since the Alku have now absorbed the Intersection Starfire, I have no idea if they’ll eventually be able to.”

  It’s not a satisfying answer and the tension still shows on Max’s face. Avoiding him, I return my attention back to Dad. What if the Starfire can heal him? I pull the crystal from my neck and place the gem to his chest. The second I do, his body tenses.

  “What are you doing, Cassi?” Max yells. “You saw what the Starfire just did. Who knows what will happen if he wakes up?”

  Everything in me wants to listen to him and remove the crystal, but a voice in my mind tells me to leave the Intersection’s gem where it is, to funnel myself with energy.

  If you need to take me, I tell the Starfire, do it. Just don’t take Dad. He needs to live. Warmth fills my core and spreads up my chest and into my neck and arms. Memories of my life swirl through my mind, both good and bad . . . life with my parents, growing up, the memories of Javen’s life mixed with mine. Like a whirlwind, I integrate the Starfire’s power with who I am—an imperfect person who wants nothing more than all these wrongs set right again.

  “Please work,” I whisper. “I just want my Dad back right now.”

  I open my eyes and find my body slumped over Dad’s.

  Rolling up to sit, my eyes focus on him, and then I see his breathing has returned to normal. His eyelids flutter open.

  “Daddy!” I cry out, throwing my arms around his neck.

  He groans, and I jerk back.

  “Am I hurting you?”

  “A little bit.” He sits up and looks around, confusion pinching his brows and mouth. “What happened?”

  “Can you stand?” I ask while searching for Irene and Max, who are now standing a good distance away with wide-eyed looks on their faces.

  “Please help,” I call out. They look at each other and then jog my way.

  Max steps in, reaches toward Dad and takes his hand. “Do you think you can stand?”

  Dad nods and blinks several times, as if he’s trying to wake up. He takes Max’s hand, and Max tugs up, pulling him to his feet.

  “Lean on me if you need to,” Max says.

  Dad shifts, a bit dizzy on his feet, and then straightens. “Thank you,” he mutters before Max leads him toward the lab.

  Irene stares down at me for several seconds and then finally offers her hand to help me up.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” I ask, wavering my attention between her and Dad to ensure Dad stays upright.

  “Cassi,” she says, “when you used the Starfire on your Dad, something happened.”

  “What?” I ask, placing the necklace back around my neck.

  “I don’t quite know what I was seeing, but everything around us was glowing . . . on fire almost.”

  “Fire?”

  “Yeah. I’ve seen some pretty amazing things in the last few days, but what just happened tops that off.” She grabs my arm and pulls me toward the lab. Dad and Max are nearly at the front entrance. “Do you really think we are safe?”

  I look around, unsure if I can answer her question truthfully. The Starfire from here changed the Alku, and I and have no idea if just being in such proximity to the fields will negatively change humans, too. Maybe the change just takes longer. “If someone were able to follow us, they would be here by now.”

  Irene nods, having little choice but to accept the answer.

  Inside the lab, my mind is in a complete haze. Still, I check on Dad, who’s now resting. Max scanned his vitals before Irene and I even got inside, and he seems to have stabilized.

  The walls feel as though they are compressing my body, and all I want to do is go back outside. “I need to be alone for a while,” I tell Max and Irene. “I’m taking a walk.”

  “You really need to rest, and I’m going to find some food around here,” Irene says. “And then we need to tell the survivors left behind here what happened. Prepare them for the worst.”

  “I’d be able to rest better if I had a few minutes to think,” I say, the building pressure of my emotions weighing on my chest.

  Max looks at Irene. “Let her go.”

  Irene nods, and I smile at Max. He looks away.

  But I don’t have the energy to delve into what either of them is going through right now. I will eventually, but I have my own losses to sort through. In a haze, I make my way toward the exit. The Intersection’s blue-green cast permeates everything around me. I peer up at the two moons and the cyan gases painting the now night sky.

  I reach into my pocket and feel for the Starfire, but it’s gone. Confused, I check my other pocket and rush back to the spot where I healed Dad. Something metallic glints from the ground and I rush for it. I retrieve the necklace and search for the crystal pendant, but it’s gone.

  With a sigh I place the chain around my neck, then scan around the nearly abandoned organic housing constructed by the Alku and refugees. There are a few dull lights, and I see one person wandering in the dark. They don’t know anything that happened, and I don’t want them to see me right now, so I hurry into a shadow. Beyond them is the hill illuminated by the Starfire field’s soft glow from behind the crest.

  I avoid the camp, and on the way over to the hill, my body grows heavy. Each step takes effort. Javen severed our bond. He wanted to hurt me, to kill me. The loss sits on my chest until it even hurts to breathe. Is the hope for a connection between humans and Alku now lost? Either the races will destroy each other, or one side will win. But neither really will.

  I drop to my knees as the pain building in my heart mounts. What can I do? Any thought that I can fix this situation is ridiculous. Still, I can’t help but wonder if there really is anything I can do, something I haven’t thought of yet. I sit back on my feet and lay my hands on my lap, palms up.

  Mom, if you were here, would you know the answer? Tears stream from my eyes and drop down into my open palms. I squeeze my eyelids shut.

  “Why did you have to die?” I yell into the air and out over the Starfire field. “I need your help.”

  Just as I finish the words, a pulse of light from the field vibrates through my body and I open my eyes to find Mom’s journal in my hands.

  I hid this on Arcadia and didn’t have time to find it again. But since Dad was able to use the Starfire to send the apples to Paxon, maybe I can use the same principle to bring items here. Staring at the cover, I grasp the journal with one hand and touch the lock with the other.

  With a click, the lock pops open. My hand glows with a bright cyan hue, and I gasp. How did I do that?

  My chest tenses as I stare at the first page, illuminated by the light of the moons and the Starfire field below. My mom’s feminine handwriting scrolls over the paper. Dad was right. She started journaling about a year before she died. My heart races, and I quickly flip through the pages to see where the writing ends. I stop at the last entry.

  That day. A Tuesday.

  The tears begin rolling again, and one drops to the open page and splashes over the paper. I wipe it and a tiny bit of the ink smears. Quickly I center myself and brush the other tears off my face, then glance down at the words with my heart rushing in my ears.

  Cassi,

  Today is the day. I’ve played the events out in my head a million times and tried to compose a way for them to turn out differently. But they never do. The visions always end the same way . . . with me gone.

  I strain to hold back the tears.

  It pains me that I will not be able to join you and Dad on Arcadia. Ever since I “discovered” the planet’s atmosphere compatibility nine years ago, I’ve dreamed of the day our family would set foot there. But I have a secret. I’ve known about Arcadia since I was a little girl, in my dreams at least.

  The visions started when I was five, and the planet came to me every night. Calling me. For some reason, I kept the dreams a secret. But just before your grandfather died the year before you were born, he asked me a strange question. He asked me if the cyan planet had come to me yet. I was confused but ecstatic that someone else might know of it too. Then he showed me the most beautiful cyan crystal and told me a crazy-sounding story.

  He told me that he came from another place and that he was the guardian of peace there. But one day, he was so tired of being alone that he used the crystals to help him escape. To release him from his servitude. He was able to open a portal for himself to leave and knew he’d never be able to return. It was a one-way journey for him. He stepped through and found himself not back among his people but here, on Earth. He worked to blend in and hide his identity, and eventually, he married a beautiful redhead. Then they had me. When he died, the crystal was gone. I watched the gem vanish before my eyes.

 

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