“Hey Lee,” she smiled, turning, and rising up onto her toes to wrap her arms snug about his neck.
“You guys are missing out,” Kamata teased, Lee blinking back at her around Kat’s grip on him. And as the twins excused themselves to, presumably, go do some experimenting, her eyes landed on each of theirs in turn. First on Kamata. And then Kiara, an unspoken agreement passing between the three of them.
She’d find them again. Someday. Somehow.
That’s what soul sisters did.
“How were the greenhouses?” she asked quietly, squeezing his neck even tighter, soaking in the warmth of his neck on her skin. She wasn’t quite ready to turn away just yet.
“It was good. They were good,” Lee said, a gentle rumble against her arms. Eventually, she pried her face back so she could read the emotion in his eyes. She understood that, too. What they’d hadwasgood. That was why they had to do this.
Dinner was a quiet affair as conversations and lives and plans raced on around them. Another day at the Academy—for everyone except them.
She kept an eye out as they stacked their trays with protein and carbs, and as they claimed their usual table, wishing and hoping they could run into them one last time. Thank them one last time. But she didn’t see Zane or Whistler come through the line.
It was probably for the best. She didn’t know what else she’d add or if she even had anything more to say. And when staff began to clean up dinner, they dumped their trays, starting a slow trek back up through the Heptagon.
She and Lee parted ways at the upper skywalk so she could grab her holoblock and fuss over her messy ponytail. She was brooding over the irony at how such a slow day could possibly have passed so quickly when she heard the crisp knock on her door. Lee had come to get her.
It was just like that first time—and now for the last.
“It’s time,” he said, when she opened her portal door. And when she remained standing there, he took a step towards her—just one, placing him near enough to cup her cheek in his hand and caress her face with his voice. “You ready for this, Hanneman?”
Kat sucked in a breath, giving a short nod as she released it, sending her nerves riding out with it. “I’m ready.”
And as Lee stepped back out to the grated hallway, she went over to her desk, scooping up the hoodie she’d laid there, and tucking it into her arms with her holoblock. She peered around her dorm room one final time, feeling for those memories, that sadness to crest over her once more.
But the only thing looking back at her this time was an empty room. There was nothing more left for her here.
Even the sensor panel by the door felt cold to her touch as she slipped out. And then it was just her and Lee, standing there in the rounded hallway. They were on their own now.
“I was looking for that.” Lee nodded towards the hoodie bundled in her arms.
“Uh-uh.” She angled her arms and the hoodie just out of his reach. “Mine now. I hope you brought extras.”
“I’ll just have to find other ways to stay warm.” He chuckled, side-stepping around her to give her and his favorite hoodie ample room as they headed to the skywalk.
A restlessness and a stirring filled the air, one that hadn’t been there earlier. It seemed to grow and charge as they wound their way down through the Heptagon.
Or maybe the static was them.
They paused when they reached the central skywalk, stopping midway through to gaze out at the stars as they always had before boarding a ship. She wouldn’t miss the power drinks.
“I always knew these would end, eventually,” Kat said, admitting one more truth to the eagerly awaiting darkness outside. Even the stars outside were listening to her tonight, watching to see if she’d follow through with it. “I just never thought they would end like this.”
Lee slung an arm about her shoulders, his holoblock clutched in the other. “We had a good run. The best run.”
“We did.” In a single, technicolor second, at the speed of light and beyond, seven years as cadets flashed through her head. She’d blinked, and it had passed.
She put her back to the Academy.
“You know, I found our old fake IDs when I was clearing out my files on the hub yesterday,” Kat said, her voice sounding overly bright and chipper as they neared the hangars. “Maybe we’ll actually get another chance to use them before we turn nineteen,” she finished, her words echoing around the large chamber as they entered the main hangar.
“If I recall, it was Hanna who made us those,” Lee said, he himself now sounding preoccupied. Like he had also noticed something different in the air.
Or a lack of something in the air.
Because the hangar appeared to be more or less empty. Even the ships returning from their raids had already been received and swiftly processed tonight. Like someone had been there to usher them along. Kat supposed they’d never have a chance to find out if it had been one more gift from Nolan. But tonight she was grateful.
