And it’s the obvious thing, it’s what any of them would do, and that’s exactly why it’s wrong. “No,” I say.
My brothers all turn to look at me.
I don’t fight like Hook. I don’t track like Scar. I’ve spent my whole life being the youngest brother they love and don’t quite see, the one with the trophies they think are useless. But I’ve spent ten thousand hours looking at a board and asking one question—where will my opponent move, and how do I already get there—and I know, the way I know my own name, what I’m looking at. “If they’ve watched us at all, they know we’d wall her in the center. The center is the obvious square. They won’t come at the center. They’ll feint somewhere thin to pull us off her, and they’ll come at her from the side we’re sure is covered.”
Heavy’s mouth opens. “Noted, Rook,” he says, not unkindly, already turning back to Chief. And in moments they are passing out weapons, discussing strategy amongst each other, just expecting me to take their orders.
I let it go. I’m used to letting it go.
But I ignore their plans and put myself beside Hallie. And then I put the both of us by the northeast joint of the compound, where the old construction meets the new, the thin place, the square nobody’s watching. Because I’d rather be wrong and standing in the right spot than right and standing in the wrong one.
For a moment nothinghappens at all.
Hallie stands close at my shoulder, her breath quick and shallow, and I can hear the others down the corridor moving into their positions. Trunk’s low voice, the clink of weapons being passed hand to hand, Chief setting them where the threatshouldcome from. The center, the strongest wall. Everywhere but here.
Both of us have blasters in our hands, fully charged.
Roxy appears in the mouth of the hallway with a small blaster in her own hand and frowns at the two of us tucked into the dark northeast joint like we’ve lost our minds.
“What are you doing all the way over here?” she hisses.
“Rook thinks they’ll come through the seam,” Hallie says. “And I agree.”
“Theseam? What does that even mean? Heavy and Scar have got the whole crew stacked at the south…they’re annoyed that the two of you have disappeared.” She stops, looks at me, looks at the thin place where the old stone meets the new, and I watch her do the math the rest of them wouldn’t. She’s a scientist; therefore she follows our logic maybe easier than most. “Huh.”
“Roxy.” Cannibal’s voice, sharp, carries from somewhere I can’t see. “Where did you go? Get back here.”
She hesitates. Looks at Hallie like she doesn’t want to leave her.
“Go,” Hallie tells her. “I’ve got Rook. Go where it’s covered.”
Roxy swears under her breath and goes, jogging back down the corridor toward the others, toward the south, toward the wall everyone’s so sure of.
And then it’s just the two of us in the quiet wrong corner, and I count my own heartbeats, two at a time, and I wait for the board to prove me right.
I hate that I want to be right.
It comesthe way I said it would.
The first hit lands at the south wall. The charge is loud, a breach that punches a hole and fills the corridor with smoke, and it pulls exactly the way it’s meant to. I hear Claws and Heavy surge toward it. Chief shouts. All the Fever Brothers, including Roxy, race towards the explosion. I stay behind with Hallie, doing my best to protect my female in the time it will take for my brothers to realize they are fighting against nothing, circle around and come back.
The northeast seam remains quiet and in fact starts to vibrate.
“Here,” I shout, pulling Hallie back with me. “They’re going to come in this way.”
My brothers can’t hear me.
The joint blows inward.
Three Royal Pigment warriors with House insignias come barreling through the smoke. They are nothing like the masked thugs who hit us before. They move like one thing with six legs. Matte gear, no faces, weapons up and sweeping, and they don’thesitate, don’t posture, they flow into the room looking for one target only.
Both of us fire out blasters and soon realize they’re worthless against the high-tech armor.
Dammit.
I get my body in front of Hallie. “Down,” I tell her, “stay low, get behind the table base,” She’s already moving, already dropping, dragging the data slate off the side table and shoving it into her shirt against her stomach, protecting the proof with her body.
That’s my Queen.
