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The ship takes off as he speaks, and I look around as the city disappears under cloud cover.Goodbye, Solis…
I frown. “When did that happen? It hasn’t always been this way?”
“Of course not,” Keon scoffs. “Societies change and evolve. And this change wasn’t all that long ago—roughly fifty years.”
I forgot he loves history; leave it to an alien rockstar to mansplain history to me. “Right,” I say. “I just meant that I thought it had been this way for a while. The way we learn your history on Earth is that the Families are kind of like nation-states…which I know haven’t always been in the same form they are now, but at least pretend to be static.”
“Not at all,” Keon says. “I presume you know at least something about the mutation?”
“A little,” I say. “Although your people kept it secret from us for a while. It’s the fertility issue, right?”
“Yes,” he says. “Well…the Families formed because of the mutation. Once we realized that there was an issue with fertility, the most powerful families in certain regions banded together for the sake of forming collectives to protect our women—and to pass on the Gift.”
“And before that?”
“We were actually united on a planetary scale,” Keon says. “It was utopia—or so I’m told. I, of course, wasn’t alive yet.”
I look up at Corvus, raising my eyebrows. “And you?” I ask.
He smirks, just a trace of the personality I know is lurking behind the facade of the tough bodyguard. “I also wasn’t alive yet,” he says. “And I would hope I don’t look that old.”
We all go silent, and I take to looking through the window instead. The aircraft takes us over the storm collective above Solis, and then we’re zipping across an ocean, moving so fast that the texture of the water far below is blurred. It’s an impossible color, though, greener than our seas. Corvus stays at the hatch of the ship the whole time, and I wonder what’s going through his mind—if he’s as nervous about going into enemy territory as I am.
I forget all about that when we find the opposite coast…because I didn’t realize it would be so beautiful.
The Ganivet Valley is a place where the ocean meets the mountains, aquamarine water tossing in white-crested waves against a rocky shore. Modular Aelyd structures in numerous colors dot the coastline, climbing up the foothills and tapering away as they get closer to the mountains. The city itself sits in what almost looks like a bowl, protected by the surrounding cliffs of the mountains.
“Wow,” I whisper, unable to think of anything else to say.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Keon says. “The color is always the thing I miss most.”
“Is the city called Ganivet, or…?”
“No,” he says. “It’s called Joya—the jewel of the mountains.”
I’m starting to understand why Atlas hates it in Solis. This place is much more my speed; swimming, hiking, fresh air. I wonder if I’ll be allowed to explore freely, or if Corvus is going to keep me locked away in some new compound the whole time we’re here.
I wonder how long I’ll be here.
I’m forgetting this isn’t a vacation.
“Look,” Keon says, pointing through the window and toward the outskirts of the city. There, nestled in the mountains, is what looks for all the world like an Italian villa, with flat, circular roofs and sweeping verandas. Vines hang from every balcony, growing up the mountain.
And we’re getting closer.
“Is that…?”
“The Joya Compound,” Keon says with a smile. “Things can get a little slow here, but it’s gorgeous, isn’t it?”
“It really is,” I nod.
I’m interrupted by the slight jolt of the docking clamps preparing for landing, and I keep my eyes glued to the window as we get closer. I can see more color now: murals painted all over the stone of the compound, flowers growing in the vines. It’s probably the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen.
Another sign that maybe I was wrong about the Ganivets. Because this…how could someone evil cultivate a home in such a beautiful city?
Okay. Maybe that’s a silly question. Supervillains live in beautiful houses all the time.
“How long will we be staying?” I ask Keon.
