Thirteen Rising by Romina Russell

Author:Romina Russell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2017-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

23

“I STILL DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT you want from me.” My voice sounds so small, it feels like it’s coming from light-years away.

Aquarius’s sunset eyes stare steadfastly into mine. “When we go through that portal, I want you at the helm of the first ship. I want you to lead humanity into a united tomorrow—and I want to be the star that guides you.”

I shake my head in complete confusion. “But—you’ve been trying to kill me this whole time.”

“No, I’ve been providing you with opportunities to understand your own strength,” he says, like that’s a perfectly acceptable justification. “You were never in any danger, not if you were the person I believed you to be.”

“That’s quite a gamble to make.”

“Which came first, fate or free will?” he asks, smiling paternally. “That’s the universal question.”

This whole conversation makes as much sense as the nightmares in the Sumber, and I don’t know how to begin digesting anything he’s said, so I blurt, “But why did you put me through the worst moments of my life if you wanted me on your side?”

His expression grows pitying, which only irritates me further. “Heart, mind, and soul . . . that’s what you Cancrians test for the Guardianship, right? I already knew you had the soul of a star because you could See Dark Matter. I knew you had the mind of a leader because you succeeded in bringing the Houses closer together than they’ve been in millennia. But how do you test the heart of the most forgiving person in the Zodiac?”

“Do you always answer questions with riddles?”

His pink stare grows grave, and for a moment I worry I’ve pushed him too far.

“First you take everything from her,” he says, and I’m beyond certain my heart has stopped. “Then you dare her to forgive you.”

• • •

I’ve already been sitting by the healing pod a couple of hours when at last the countdown reaches zero and the lid opens.

I don’t know what time it is, but it’s late into the night. After my talk with Aquarius, Blaze took me on a tour through the Mothership and introduced me to Party members, and I tried to take as many mental notes as I could—but I was still in too much of a daze from everything the master revealed.

Now that I know what he wants—my trust—I finally have leverage over him. All I have to do is make him think he’s earned it, and then he’ll confide in me the specific details of his plan. But I can’t reach out to Hysan until I know something that can actually help the Zodai defeat Aquarius; otherwise, I’ll risk the master discovering my duplicity before I’ve had a chance to be useful.

I grow instantly alert as Nishi sits upright, and I’m relieved to see that warmth has returned to her cinnamon skin.

When her eyes find mine, I spy a familiar shrewdness in their amber depths. “Something’s wrong.”

“Should I call a healer?” I ask, leaping to my feet.

“Why are you

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