The Evaporation of Sofi Snow Read online

  “To the first: I was looking for Shilo. To the second: As I said, I’ve no idea.”

  He looked at the floor and stepped forward. “For Shilo? Where? And what were you thinking—do you have any idea the kind of security threat you just set off?”

  “Me? How about we both just agree that you pose a bigger security threat than anything I could’ve done—here or on Earth.”

  ¿Qué? He squinted as she reached for her leggings. What was she talking about? “Uh, we’re on the same team—at least we were until you disappeared to heck knows where and triggered some kind of security panic. Now they’re coming for you and Heller, and I still don’t even know what the freak is going on.”

  “You’re joking, right?” She grabbed her shirt and yanked it on after her leggings, then picked up her handscreen. When she turned back around she was shaking, eyes flashing. The look of hatred clouding her face.

  She set the device in his fingers and stepped back. Unblinking. He frowned and glanced down. “What—?”

  Oh.

  Oh.

  Crud.

  He flipped through the first four pics and then tossed the thing on her bed. And met her gaze.

  Her hands clenched as if she was about to pounce. Her silent accusation pouring from her skin, her expression, her disdain.

  Liar.

  Deceiver.

  Seller of children to the highest bidder.

  “Sofi—”

  Her hand flew up. “Don’t. Just don’t. As far as I’m concerned you are everything I hate.”

  His jaw tightened and he kept his voice smooth. “I know what those photos look like, but they’re not what you think.”

  She laughed. “Oh really, no?” She grabbed the handscreen and pulled up the first pic. “What’s this? A collage of five of the FanFight kids who’ve gone missing in the past two years. And following that?” She flipped to the next pic. “Oh, a satellite shot of you with the first kid after he’d disappeared. Note the date. Note the minimal clothing. And this one—” She scrolled to the next pic. “That poor girl can hardly remember her name from the looks of it. And you just—what? Happen to have your arm around her to comfort her?”

  He shook his head. “That’s not it at all. Let me explain—”

  “Explain what? That you’re one of the political boys who uses the black market for pleasure? I just didn’t expect you to stoop that low—and with so many. But then again”—she scowled at him and threw the screen onto the bed—“I should’ve known better.”

  He ground his teeth and stared at her, waiting for her to finish. Trying like insanity to figure out how to explain it in a way she’d actually believe.

  She let out a laugh again. “Is this what those guys were blackmailing you with? Poor Miguel, what will he do when these hit the presses? Whatever helps you sleep at night, dude.” She picked up her slim-suit and shoved it into her bag along with everything else of hers.

  He strode over, grabbed her handscreen, and swiped it back to the pic of the first kid. “Look.”

  She kept packing.

  “Please look at him.”

  She stopped. And glared. He held it up to her face. “That kid was taken. Just like Shilo. He failed out after the second round three FanFights ago and was gone within a day. The only reason I know is because I was walking by protesters a month later and he was there, looking like this. And he mumbled something to me in Delonese. But when I asked him, he couldn’t recall anything about where he’d been or even who he’d been with since the first morning of the Games.”

  “And this girl.” He dropped his voice and swiped to the next pic. “Same thing. Claudius, Alis, and I were investigating an anomaly for the UW when we came across her. And just like the boy, she knew a bit of Delonese. But the moment we questioned her, we discovered her memories had been completely erased as well.”

  He had her full attention now. “The reason I agreed to bring you here is because you were right. They’re taking kids and doing something with them—and Claudius, Alis, Danya, and I haven’t been able to figure out what or why or how. But I find it incredibly interesting that it’s so often kids associated with the FanFights.”

  Her face had gone from hatred to horror to grief. To belief.

  “The people who took these photos have no idea what I’ve done for those kids. Or maybe they do—and that’s why they’re upset, I don’t know. All I can tell you is that I haven’t messed them over. I’ve been helping them.”

  Even if her expression claimed belief, her tone stayed suspicious. “No offense, but it’s a little hard to trust a person who’s made it his life’s work seducing others. Or, oh wait, that was just me you tossed away. Cuz apparently I wasn’t even good enough for you.”

  He scoffed. Was she kidding? How did this just go from him not abusing or selling kids but actually saving them to her being offended he didn’t sleep with her?

  The expression on her face gave the answer without him needing to ask.

  His chest clenched. He’d hurt her. So of course, she’d assume he’d hurt others. If he wanted her to believe him—to trust him—he’d have to be honest with her.

  After all this time.

  He looked away and ran a hand over the back of his neck. Then nodded and peered back at her. “It was never that, Sof.” His voice thickened. “It’s that you were too good. Santo cielo, you have no idea.” He shoved a hand through his hair as she snorted and glanced away.

  But still listened.

  “Remember on the shuttle how I said that real relationships are vulnerability and dying to shallowness? Well, I’m going to be more vulnerable with you right now than with any woman I’ve known. I remember exactly what we had. And what you are. And it is better than I ever could’ve hoped to have had, or to have been. You were so much more than good enough—so much better than what I’d known—that it broke something in me I have never recovered from.”

  She actually chuckled. “So I was too good. Which perfectly explains why you left and pursued other lovers.”

  “I didn’t. I left for myself.”

  “Right.”

  He opened his lips. Shut them. Inhaled. “Sofi, I have never slept with another person since the day I met you looking all pissed and bored at that FanFight party.”

  Whatever reaction she had faded into an arched brow. “You’re lying.”

  “Ask Claudius. It’s the truth.”

  She stared at him, her eyes boring into him as if she could read the truth there.

  “You left,” she said after a minute. “Without a call, a text, anything. I spent two weeks crumpled up on the floor of my apartment trying to find the air you’d stolen. To find myself. My focus.” She laughed caustically. “And you’re saying I helped you find yourself?”

  A second later her voice cracked and the venom came. “In that case, perhaps I should thank you. Because I, too, eventually found myself. Or some variation. But that doesn’t justify the fact that you always want more—even when it’s not yours.”

  Her voice softened along with her expression. “You have everything, yet you don’t even know who you are inside. It’s the worst form of self-loathing, because you use it to rob from others. Until we become a freaking shell of who we were.” She looked away, but he’d seen the pain in her eyes. “Until, between you and my mom, I became a shell.”

  He leaned in and carefully brushed a hair from her cheek. “And the guilt for that has killed me every day for the past eighteen months.”

  She frowned and pulled back slightly.

  “You don’t think I’ve seen? That I’ve not watched you? That I haven’t known where you’ve been the past eighteen months or didn’t care?” He let his gaze carve into hers, as if he could speak healing into the cuts and wounds and icy edges with his words.

  She stalled and stared. And swallowed.

  He tightened his jaw. “Well, you’re wrong.”

  Sofi’s eyes said more than words ever could. But all she uttered was, “Then why didn’
t you come back?” And then blinked back the hot mess of tears he watched rising to her eyes.

  His lungs broke. His voice broke. His words broke and fell to shatter on the floor.

  He didn’t have an answer—didn’t even know how to answer.

  But one rose in him anyway. “Because I didn’t think you’d want me.”

  A knock hit the door.

  “What, Heller?” Sofi whispered.

  “Um, guys, you need to see this.”

  “Not right now, ese,” Miguel said louder for the both of them.

  “Actually, this is one of those yes-you-come-right-now things,” Claudius cut in. “Get out here.”

  Sofi glared at the door. Then licked her lips and, with a single glance at Miguel, walked over and hit the door lock.

  Miguel followed.

  “You know that program you were running, Sof?” Heller said as soon as the door slid up. “Well, it finished, and when I opened your comp-screen, this popped out.”

  He was pointing at the two-foot-wide hologram floating over the table.

  Miguel frowned. “What is that?”

  Sofi moved to the holo of the planet and touched it.

  “Right. So, um, can someone explain to me what exactly we’re looking at?” Alis said. “You know, now that your lovers’ spat is done and the Delonese are about to come eat these two alive?”

  Sofi stepped back and pursed her lips as Heller pointed to the planet core, then enlarged it.

  Miguel moved closer. “This is Delon?”

  “Wait, is that the planet?” Alis looked around. “I don’t get it—what are we saying here?”

  “We’re saying it isn’t a planet at all.” Sofi stared at it. “Delon is a space station.”

  43

  SOFI

  SOFI STUDIED THE HOLOGRAM. IT WAS THE SAME SURFACE OF trees and snowy hills and capital city they’d seen before. But the virus she’d used from this week’s FanFights had worked better than she could’ve imagined. It had wormed its way in—not just to reveal hidden passageways or architectural features. It had revealed all of them. The entire planet looked like a hive catacomb, with octagons and massive generators and rooms and wires and things beyond like anything she’d ever seen.

  Alis dropped a string of swear words.

  “My thoughts exactly,” Claudius muttered.

  “Is there anyone who knows about this—like, anyone on Earth?” Alis glanced up. “Miguel? Danya?”

  Miguel shook his head. “Not that I’m aware of.” He looked at Danya while tapping something into his handscreen.

  Danya was shaking her head as well. “I’ve lived here most of my life and don’t even remember this.”

  “Okay, great,” Claudius said. “We’ve just stumbled upon the biggest and possibly most dangerous secret of the past decade. Lovely. But also, we need to get Sofi and Heller out of here before they become wards of the crazy-state happening here.” He waved a hand at the hologram.

  “What, you think they’re only going to come for them?” Alis snorted. “Don’t you think they’re going to realize we’ve accessed this? You guys, they’re going to come for all of us. We all need to get out of here.”

  “And blow our cover?” Danya said.

  “Unless it’s already blown.” Miguel looked at Sofi. “What do you think?”

  “We need to know what we’re looking at first, and what the heck this thing is,” Heller interrupted. “Also—” He flipped around to Danya. “Back up. Did you just say you’ve lived here your whole life?”

  “Yes. And I’ve never seen this.”

  “Um, okay. And how is that possible?” He swerved to the others. “The Delonese don’t allow—” He stalled. Peered back up at the ambassador and abruptly leaned away. “Oh.” Then, “Does Earth know about you being—you know? Cuz I’m pretty certain—”

  “An alien? A few do, yes. Only the ambassador and Corp CEOs. They voted me in, as both sides saw the benefit of having someone who’d experienced both cultures and ways of politicking.”

  Sofi said nothing. But the high cheekbones with slight excess of makeup, the height, the slow-blinking eyes—as if practiced—and the chip Miguel produced last night, the familiarity with which Danya carried herself here, the ability to translate their ancient language with ease . . . It clicked.

  “But you don’t remember any of this?”

  Sofi watched Danya swallow. Then hesitate. “I may have been subject to a repressive-memory scan before I took the Earth position. For my people’s safety. The seventy years I spent with them before residing on Earth would’ve been too risky in the wrong hands.”

  Heller looked like he didn’t know whether to be fascinated or distraught. “Wow, you look good,” was all he said.

  Sofi didn’t care. She snapped her fingers at him. “Hey, I need your help.” She glanced up at Miguel. “You said the Delonese are coming for us. So what do we do?”

  He looked at Danya.

  “I love my people, but, just like humans, I think it unwise to give them access to your body at this point, at least if you want it back. And I’d agree it doesn’t look good for the rest of you in this case.”

  Sofi smiled. At least she was honest. “What do we do?”

  “I promise to never agree with Heller again, but in this case, I think he’s right,” Claudius said. “We make a run for it.”

  When they all looked at him, he added, “I mean, let’s talk options. If we do what we came here for and attempt to find the kids, the Delonese are going to know we know they have a giant magical death-star hive. If we let them take Sofi and Heller, they’ll use their brain stuff to get the truth out of them, in which case they’ll also know we know they have a giant death-star hive. So—I’m going to go with we all just run for it and grab one of our ships.”

  “I agree,” a voice said from the table. Sofi turned to discover Vic listening in. So that’s who Miguel had been typing to a minute ago. “I’ve run the calculations,” Vic added. “And that’s the one with the best outcome. If you can pull it off.”

  “Wait—the running? Or Shilo and the kids?” Sofi pointed to the red dots on the planet. They were still there—now just showing beneath the building she’d been standing in less than an hour ago, rather than inside of it.

  “Wait, why didn’t all of the lights show up with our original scan?” Heller pointed to the hive-like interior where masses of them were crammed deep inside like a ball pit. “How come just these few near the surface lit up?”

  “They’re closest to the top, just like the humans,” Vic answered for Sofi. “The other Delonese lights are beneath a deeper shield.”

  “Look at all of them,” Alis said softly. “There must be thousands.”

  “But again, the question comes down to where do we go from here?” Miguel glanced at his watch. “We have limited time—are we thinking we’re making a run to the shuttles? And if so, are we able to get to them and then get past their atmospheric shield? Or better yet, not get bombed by this giant honeycomb?”

  Sofi chewed her cheek and peered at Vicero’s floating head. “Do you think you could use my virus to interface with the space station itself? Like, could you get me access to run a program off of it?”

  Vic nodded. “If you can turn off the feedback loop so it doesn’t trigger once I ease through the firewall.”

  Sofi glanced at Danya. The visitor nodded. “I believe they’ve wiped that part of my memory, but my brain processes fast. I think I can assimilate it. I don’t know how far my clearance will get you, but I’ll give what I have.” She leaned over and began typing on Miguel’s handscreen.

  Heller made a sound and frowned at Danya. “Doesn’t it weird you out at all that you’re betraying your own kind?”

  She kept typing. “I’ve spent the past ten years on Earth as a human. So while my allegiances lie here, they lie with humanity and my adopted family there as well. Which was the whole point, I believe. So I follow my conscience, and in this case I believe the misleadin
g of your people, and the taking of your children, is not something I can support.”

  “How do you know they’ve taken them?” Heller’s frown deepened. He looked around.

  “It’s what we’ve been working on for the past year and a half, among other things,” Danya replied as she continued with Vic.

  Sofi looked at the group. “I know you won’t be comfortable with this. But I still want to get my brother and—”

  “You’re joking,” Alis scoffed. “You want to go into the death-star where there’s more of a chance of getting caught?” She glanced around at them as if Sofi was crazy. “We’re—”

  “Actually, I agree with her,” Claudius said.

  “So do I.” Miguel rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s what we came for. And after this, we’ll be lucky if we get back to Earth in one piece, let alone with any believable explanation.” He shot Sofi a slight smile. “Like I said, if we’ve got one shot, might as well go all the way.”

  Danya straightened. “There, I think that should give you access.”

  “Yep, on it,” Vic said.

  Sofi turned and logged in to the Darknet and accessed

  Ranger. She opened portals to both him and Vic on her handheld.

  What’s up, Sof?

  If I sent you a security file with access via my virus, could you help maneuver and monitor us through it? Sofi typed.

  If you get me through the firewall yeah. Why? What’re we doing?

  She tapped her screen. We’re playing a FanFight Game. Basically. But on Delon.

  “Wait, are you really?” Claudius looked at her. “How?”

  She smiled. “You forget who we are. We know their system, and so far we have enough access to their security that we can hide behind it.” She leaned over. “Vic, can you get me access to our shuttles?”

  “Sure thing, man.”

  Sofi looked up at the group. “I suggest you grab what you need and get ready to run. Because in this case, speed will be the deciding factor.”

  Heller tapped his handscreen. “Okay, I’m in with Vic and Ranger. What do we need?”