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“I won’t send my crew alone,” Zandro says.
But at the same time, Frankie and Malix both say, “I’ll go.”
The two of them exchange a look, a pretty rose-tinted blush coloring Frankie’s cheeks. She swallows hard and tears her eyes away from Malix, who continues to stare at her.
“What kind of resistance are we expecting?” she asks Nixeris.
“Traika is still pushing back against Dalphox’s influence,” Nixeris says. “The Order of Divine Symmetry insists on their neutrality in this war, and Dalphox would turn many of the Skoropi against his cause were he to attack the Third House. Thus, Jaya should go to Traika.”
“And Liatra?” I ask.
Because of course—without even verbalizing it—I’ve decided I’m going too.
“Liatra has been loyal to the Second House for decades…since the Oxygen Wars destroyed Zanpi,” Zandro says. “It will be impossible.”
“Impossible for a warship like Jaya, yes,” Nixeris says. “But for a juvenilezephtanrecently moved from Razakii? It should be easy enough. After all, the Second House stole much of our herd in their attack. They won’t suspect a thing.”
“I’m guessing you’re going to provide more details once we figure this out, but I’d like to know…what exactly do you want us to do there?” Frankie asks.
Nixeris scoffs. “Humans—always in such a hurry.”
“The situation is urgent,” Malix suddenly cuts in, his voice harsh. I can see his shoulders rise, his fringe flaring turquoise along his neck. “The faster we can do this, the more lives we can save.”
Nixeris’ eyes narrow. “My people were slaughtered on Razakii,boy,” they say. “Trust me—I understand the urgency to save lives.”
My eyes flit between Malix and Nixeris, waiting for one to make the next move. Frankie’s foot scuffs the floor of the lab beside us, and then azephtancall breaks the silence.
Ansif clears her throat. “There’s another facility on Liatra,” she says. “It’s where the transmission was originally received from the beacon here on Azoth. We want you to go there and learn whatever you can about the weapon—or lack thereof.”
“Can we land onsite?” Frankie asks.
“No,” Nixeris says. “I have a contact there—Jokahn, a trader located in the oasis city of Eden. He’ll help you move from the city out to the desert, where the ancestral temple is located.”
“Okay,” Frankie says. She looks over at Bekah. “So y’all will head to Traika, we’ll take one of thezephtanand go to Liatra, then we’ll all make sure we can match Dalphox in terms of firepower. I like it.”
“I don’t know what any of this means,” Malix grunts. “But I’m ready to see an end to this bloodshed.”
“There’s only one question,” Zandro says. “Who will pilot the otherzephtan?”
“Well, Ravik of course,” Nixeris says, as if the answer is simple. “He trained with the herd, just as you did. Will that be a problem…?”
I gulp.
Yes, I think.It will.
CHAPTER TEN
??
FRANKIE
Flying into danger with Ravik at the helm of a juvenilezephtanis not my idea of a good time.
The guy has been kind of a dick ever since the invasion of Razakii—since I joined Jaya’s crew—and he doesn’t seem all too keen on helping us out. The unfortunate truth of the matter, though, is that he’s our second best pilot after Zandro, and he’s uniquely bonded to one of thezephtanthat’s been traveling with us.
I don’t like it, but if we want to get to Liatra without being noticed, it seems like our only option.
Our group goes our separate ways after we leave the research group to deal with the shard—Zandro and Bekah with Nixeris, while Malix stays with the other Lyra. I get it; he probably wants to be with his own people. We’ve barely spoken since our doomed jog on Raza-896, and I think the whole situation has rattled him.
