CHAPTER 23
Astral burst (part 1)
I was so preoccupied I barely heard Trina's barbs in Health, but I reached my locker--and Rigel--after the final bell without any hint of danger or any sign of Mr. Smith. Rigel greeted me with a quick kiss, then took my hand to lead me toward the buses.
"Just a sec," I said, pulling against him. "I need to swap out some books first. On the off chance I live through the weekend, I want to be able to study for the Geometry test on Monday."
I thought my hyperbole might make him smile, but it didn't.
"I'm not sure you realize just how much danger you're in, M," he whispered as I stuffed my Geometry book into my pack, the corners of his mouth still pointing down. "I know you haven't grown up hearing about Martian politics, but--"
"Neither have you," I pointed out just as quietly. "You said yourself your parents didn't tell you the truth until you were nearly eleven and that even then you never paid attention to the political stuff. I learned about what's at stake at the same time you did. I just refuse to give them the satisfaction of running scared, that's all."
"Well I'm scared. For you. And for me. I can't lose you, M. Not now."
Something in his voice frightened me, even as his words touched me. "I don't want to lose you, either," I said softly. "I promised to be careful, remember?"
He smiled then, though it looked like it cost some effort. "I'm sorry. I know I'm being an overprotective pain. But I have good reason. Ready?"
I nodded and hitched my backpack over one shoulder but then a vibration in my pocket startled me. "What the--? Oh, it's your phone." I'd forgotten I still had it. Now I dug it out and handed it to Rigel so he could answer it.
"Hey Dad. Yes, she's right here." There was a pause while his dad talked and Rigel looked more and more serious. "Yeah, yeah, got it," he finally said. "Right." He snapped the phone shut. "Change of plans. We're going to my house instead."
"What? Why? I thought we weren't going to tell them anything else until--"
"Too late, I think." He glanced around at the other students still lingering in the hall. "We'll find out more when we get there. Come on."
He grabbed my hand and we headed for the buses. For his bus. I saw Bri staring as we passed my bus, then mouthing a question I couldn't hear. Since I obviously couldn't explain, I just waved and shrugged, making a mental note to come up with some story or other before the game tonight.
Assuming Rigel would even let me go to the game, I thought sourly. It wasn't like Smith had done anything the least bit threatening. What could be going on that his dad would know about before we did?
We barely talked to each other on the bus even though I had a zillion questions, since it was way too easy to be overheard. Instead, Rigel talked to some of the guys about football and I tried to act interested in the girls' conversation about tomorrow night's dance.
Since this was the very first time I'd have a date to a school dance, I should have been totally into their discussion of dresses and decorations and which songs they might play. But right now worry was crowding all that normal girlie stuff out of my head. Besides, it wasn't like I even had a new dress for the dance. I was borrowing an old one of Bri's.
The ride to Rigel's seemed quicker this time. "So why exactly am I here?" I asked as we walked up the long drive to his house. "Not to hide, I hope."
"I don't know yet. My dad just said things are moving and to bring you home, that he'd explain everything once we got here."
I swallowed, anticipating how upset they'd probably be that Rigel and I . . . okay, mostly I . . . had intentionally made things more dangerous. Maybe for all of us?
His parents met us in the foyer, their expressions serious.
"Okay, I brought her," Rigel told them unnecessarily. "So, what's up?"
They exchanged a glance--one of those communicating glances--before his mother said, "Come into the kitchen. It appears we, ah, may have a situation."
Rigel and I exchanged a glance of our own and I found myself wishing we could talk telepathically the way his parents did. It would have been really convenient right now. I'd be asking him if they could somehow know what I'd done. Then, almost as though he did know what I was thinking, he gave a tiny shake of his head. At least, I hoped that was the question he was answering.
"Son, I'm going to give you an opportunity to say, 'I told you so,'" his dad said before we even sat down at the table. "It looks like you--the two of you--may have been right about your Mr. Smith."
We exchanged another glance, Rigel now looking as confused--and worried--as I felt.
"What do you mean?" he asked his father. "What has he done?"
"He's contacted Boyne Morven, and Morven has already booked a flight from Los Angeles to Indianapolis. Your grandfather called the moment he heard."
My heart leaped into my throat. I hadn't expected that quick a response! "What did Smith tell Boyne Morven?" I tried to keep my voice steady.
"We have no way to know," Mr. Stuart replied. "He used a secure line--though not as secure as he obviously thinks it is. Shim's people have been watching Morven's calls all along, of course, though it's been a tricky business to get around the blocks he has set up. When he booked that flight, they immediately combed through his recent calls and discovered three they were able to identify as Smith's cell phone--one only half an hour earlier."
"Then we don't have much time," I said, surprising myself. "We need to get the word out--to the other Martians here on Earth, I mean."
All three of them turned to me, though only Rigel looked like he knew what I meant. He started nodding, but his parents seemed puzzled.
"The word out?" Dr. Stuart asked after a startled pause. "About Morven?"
"No, about me," I said.
Mr. Stuart frowned and shook his head. "Quite the opposite, Marsha. We need to get you into hiding--and as quickly as possible. It was a real stroke of luck that Rigel was with you when I called."
"Luck had nothing to do with it, Dad." Rigel's voice was firm now. Committed. "Smith realized today who M really is, and we both knew it. In fact--"
"In fact, I kind of got in his face so he'd figure it out," I broke in, not wanting Rigel to take the blame for what I'd done. At their shocked expressions, I quickly added, "There's something else you need to know."
I related the phone conversation I'd overheard last Friday, just as I'd described it to Rigel. At first I could tell they were pissed we hadn't told them any of this before, but by the time I finished, they didn't just look pissed or even shocked. They looked scared.
Dr. Stuart turned to her husband, her eyes wide. "Do you really think that plan could be--?"
"The invasion?" he said. "I can't imagine what else. We know the factions on Mars have become more and more polarized over the past few years. I've always said the Council wasn't taking the invasion threat seriously enough, but even so, I thought we had more time."
Unexpectedly, I found myself getting angry. "So why didn't any of you tell me anything about this invasion plan? Especially if my staying hidden was going to make it more likely to happen?"
Mr. Stuart didn't hesitate. "Because we didn't want you to do exactly what you've done, Marsha, which is to put yourself at risk. You're only fifteen. No matter what the stakes, we can't ask you to do that. Not yet."
"Shouldn't that be my choice?" I looked from one to the other and even glanced at Rigel to make sure he wasn't going to go all protector on me again. "Anyway, I've made that choice now. It's done. Smith knows about me, and apparently so does this Morven dude. So the obvious thing is to make sure everyone else--everyone Martian, that is--does, too."
Mr. Stuart was still shaking his head, but now Rigel spoke up. "She's right, Dad. Think about it. What's the main reason these guys would want to . . . to hurt M?" I could tell he'd flinched away from the word kill. "To keep our side, and everyone back on Mars, from finding out she's alive," he continued before his father could answer. "Am I right?"
Though he was still frowning, Mr. Stuart was no longer shaking his head. "I suppose . . ." he said slowly, as though he was thinking hard.
"They may be right, Van," Rigel's mother said. "If we could spread the word quickly enough, convince enough people, it might be enough to stop them--both from coming after M and from attempting any kind of invasion."
Relief started to seep through me. For a few minutes there, I'd been terrified they really might haul me off to that bunker in Montana against my will until I was thirty.
"Don't you . . . isn't there some kind of contact network? That MARSTAR thing people talked about that night I did the blood test, that Shim was so against?"
Rigel's dad looked at me in surprise. "Why, yes, of course. MARSTAR is a secure broadcast e-mail list that's only to be used for emergency communications."
That sounded perfect. "I'd call this an emergency. Can you access it?" I asked Mr. Stuart hopefully.
He gave a bark of humorless laughter. "I created it. But I'd need clearance to do something like this, and I doubt--"
"Call him," Dr. Stuart said. "We may not have much time."
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