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There was a brief moment of pure satisfaction as Einar doubled over and fell to his knees, simultaneously gasping and retching. But then, Five slammed Isabela up against a wall, knocking the wind out of her. Isabela’s feet were lifted off the ground, Five’s forearm pressed into her throat. She tried to jab at his pressure points, but his skin was suddenly made completely of metal and she only succeeded in jamming her fingers. There were gulfs in his metal carapace, though—the dark patches of skin that looked like tumors remained unchanged. Even gasping for breath, Isabela couldn’t bring herself to touch them.
“Five . . . ,” Einar wheezed. “That’s enough. You’ll hurt her.”
“She runs her mouth worse than Nine!” Five yelled back, his breath hot against Isabela’s face.
Isabela started to see spots in her vision. She pried uselessly at Five’s metal fingers. With a roar, he let her go. Isabela slid down the wall and, above her, Five punched the wall where her head used to be. Wham, wham, wham—like a hammer striking an anvil.
“Put me out,” Five snarled at Einar. “I don’t want to feel like this.”
Einar didn’t say anything, didn’t do anything that Isabela could see, but a moment later Five swayed on his feet. Isabela breathed raggedly, staring up at the imposing Loric. The bloodlust—so vivid in his remaining eye a moment ago—had seeped out of him.
“I’m . . . I’m sorry,” Five said. “I lose my temper sometimes.”
Isabela could only cough in response. Five’s eye was half-lidded and spacy, like he’d been tranquilized. Before she could do anything, the big bastard sank to the floor beside Isabela. He ended up with his head in her lap and Isabela was too horrified by the whole scene to stop him.
“If anything should prove my newfound restraint . . .” Einar paused to cough and wipe tears from his eyes, looking at Isabela across the narrow space. “It’s that I’m willing to let what you just did go.”
“You tried to kill my friends,” Isabela replied, her voice raspy.
“I regret that,” Einar replied. “I wasn’t in my right mind. But, in my defense, your ‘friend’ Nigel is probably a spy for the Foundation.”
Isabela snorted. “What?”
“His mother, Bea, is one of them,” Einar continued. “One of the important ones.”
“Bullshit.”
“His father, too. I can show you proof when I’m able to walk again.”
“Nigel’s dad just died. There was a fire at his house after the funeral. Him and his mom are missing.”
“Ah, well, the fire is probably Bea’s way of trying to throw me off her scent. I had nothing to do with that,” Einar replied, holding her gaze. “As for Mr. Barnaby? Well. They wanted a war with me.”
Isabela’s mouth fell open. Had this crazy bastard just admitted to killing Nigel’s father? Was she supposed to let that go? Part of her wanted to lunge at him again, even though she knew it would likely be futile.
“What were you doing posing as Alejandro?” Einar asked before Isabela could gather her thoughts.
“What were you doing trying to kill him?” Isabela countered.
“Duanphen, the third member of our revolution, she has an injured leg—”
“Boo-hoo,” Isabela interrupted. “My whole body hurts from that car crash, thanks to you assholes. So what?”
“We’d learned that the Foundation planned to acquire your friend Taylor again,” Einar continued over her. “Alejandro was in charge of that effort. We thought that he could be . . . convinced . . . to get us close to Taylor.”
Isabela snorted. “You think she would help you? She hates you. We all hate you.”
“I know Taylor wouldn’t let someone suffer,” Einar said. “The Foundation’s reports said she was fed up with the Academy. If she was so desperate to return to the Foundation, I thought she should know there was a third option. Us.”
“You idiot,” Isabela said, with a disbelieving laugh. “We were infiltrating the Foundation. Not to just—just randomly kill them, but to bring them to justice.”
Einar smiled at her indulgently. “Come on, Isabela. I’ve read your psyche profile. You’re no crusader. These people are too powerful. You know there won’t be justice for them unless we bring it to them.”
Isabela shifted uncomfortably, and not just because Five was practically snoring in her lap. She was used to being the one reading people and didn’t much care to be on the opposite side.
“There’s no we,” Isabela replied sharply. “Now. Are we done talking? Can you drop me off somewhere?”
“Back at your Academy, maybe?” Einar replied. “Where you’re trained to use your powers for the greater good, so long as the greater good lines up with the agenda of whoever is in charge?”
“Better than this shithole spaceship,” Isabela countered.
“These are humble beginnings,” Einar replied.
Isabela started to reply but let out a shriek instead. Five had grabbed her hand. So violent just moments ago, now he was like a child. Isabela felt a tickle on her palm and Five’s skin again changed to pale pink, the black splotches gone. Einar did a double take at the sight of his restored bodyguard.
Five chuckled. “Look at me, Einar. Whole again.”
“This is a freak show,” Isabela said. She didn’t try to pull her hand away, not wanting to upset the insane Loric.
“He can take on the qualities of anything he touches,” Einar told Isabela. “When he touches you, he must be able to tap into the shape-shifting qualities of your skin. Usually, he can’t transform those dark scars of his. They were caused by some toxic Mogadorian chemical and—”
“Seriously,” Isabela replied. “I don’t care.”
“You should. He’s from a different planet, but he’s one of us. A Garde. An outsider.”
“I’m not—”
“And surely you can sympathize with someone wanting to restore themselves to a better state,” Einar said, staring meaningfully at Isabela’s unblemished skin.
She glared at him. Of course, Einar kept on talking.
“Five was the first person I sought out when the Foundation cut me loose,” he said, speaking quietly so as not to disturb the spaced-out Loric. “Of course they had a file on him. A rogue Garde with flexible morals who isn’t participating in the Earth Garde initiative? They always planned to recruit him. But I got there first.”
“And mind controlled him,” Isabela said flatly.
“Only when he asks me to,” Einar replied. “He has demons. Anger, guilt, self-loathing. I can make him content. I can give him peace. He’s trying to do better. We both are.”
Isabela gazed down at Five. She felt the tiniest kernel of sympathy, though it was crushed by a metric ton of revulsion.
“Seems like therapy and smoking pot would be simpler,” she said.
Einar smirked. “He was hidden away on an island, unaware of what has been going on in the world. I told him about Earth Garde and the Foundation. How the other Loric do so little to help us, merely delaying the inevitable battle with humanity, letting the powerless majority subjugate us in the meantime. I told him what the Foundation is after . . .”
“What are they after?”
“Something the Mogadorians were working on. Technology that could even the playing field with their biggest adversary. Us. Unlike those other coddled Academy kids, the six of you who broke out—you’ve seen it. What the world is like outside Professor Nine’s protection. Where we’re heading.”
A chill went down Isabela’s spine. She told herself that Einar was probably tweaking her emotions, making her receptive to his ominous stories. But at the same time, there was an intensity to the way he talked that pulled her in.
“I know how we look,” Einar continued. She watched fractures form in his calm and calculated mask—genuine passion seeping through. “Like we’re insane, right? But that’s what happens when they force you to live on the fringes. You’re observant—I’m sure you saw the money room when Five brought you her
e. We’ve already acquired over three million dollars from the Foundation. We’re going to build something. A place where we can be free. Where we don’t have to answer to anyone. How does that sound, Isabela?”
“It sounds good,” Isabela admitted. “If only you weren’t the one saying it.”
Einar nodded, a hint of a smile on his lips. She’d conceded that his ideas sounded good and he must’ve viewed that as a small victory. Isabela thought about kicking him in the balls again.
“I appreciate that I’ll have to earn your trust,” Einar said. “Tell me, when you infiltrated the Foundation, did Taylor go, too? Is that how you got to Alejandro? By letting her be recruited?”
Isabela hesitated, not sure what she should tell him.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Einar replied. “That’s good. A brave plan. I’m honestly sorry we ruined it. Do you think she’ll be all right, without you watching out for her?”
Isabela gritted her teeth. She could already tell where this was going.
