“Adele, I—” My mind is like an old chest, full of odds and ends and balls of string, and I scrabble through it, trying to find the right words—the perfect words. She’s waiting for me, her head cocked slightly to one side, her expression almost scared, like I might embarrass her in front of her parents. “I’ve missed you,” I finish.

There’s silence and I’m afraid I’ve upped the ante on awkwardness too far.

“And I’ve missed you, Tawni,” Roc says quickly. I gape at him and then smile. Good old Roc. Elsey giggles. Ben chuckles. Soon everyone’s laughing, except for Tawni—who’s ultra-pale features have turned crimson—and Roc, who’s suddenly found interest in a black mark on his left shoe.

The ice is broken—no thanks to me. Finally, Tawni says, “I’ve missed you all,” very diplomatically, but I can tell her eyes linger on Roc’s face slightly longer than the rest of us.

“We might be able to see you all in person soon though,” Adele says, her first words since the conversation started.

My heart is thundering and I can’t hide my excitement. “Really? When? How?”

Anna laughs again. “We’ll get to all that. But first we need to get everyone up to speed.” The next hour is an exchange of information. First Ben tells our story of escaping subchapter 26 and our flight to the Resistance headquarters. Then he talks about the political challenges we’re facing, the animosity amongst the VPs, the pressure being added by President Nailin. When he talks about my father, I look away, chew on the side of my mouth. He doesn’t mention what my father told Roc and me.

When he’s done, I look back at the screen and Adele’s eyes meet mine. My breath catches in my lungs and I feel pulled toward her. I’d give anything to just hold her hand again, like that night. I can almost feel the beautiful shivers in my arm, caused by the simple act of her running her fingers up and down my hand. Almost.

“What happened to you after we left, Adele?” It’s my voice, but I didn’t plan on saying anything.

There’s no awkwardness between us anymore. It’s like we’ve known each other for years. She recounts her story as if she’s talking directly to me, and I find myself unable to release her gaze. When she tells about the sun dweller soldiers passing so close to where she and Tawni were hiding, I feel my heart racing in my chest, hoping against hope that the next scene isn’t one of violence. Thankfully, the sun dweller soldier passes from the story like a wraith in the night.

I find myself gripping the table as she tells of their bout with the Bat Flu and their unexpected awakening in the Star Realm infirmary. When she finds her mother I feel tears in my eyes, which I fight away. She finishes with, “We did it, Dad.” She glances at Tawni and the two girls smile at each other with purpose, like their bond has been forever strengthened by what they’ve been through together.

“I knew you would, Adele,” Ben says, pride in his eyes. His expression changes and he’s all business. “So you’re telling me what Nailin is saying is true—that you’ve seen sun dweller soldiers in the Moon Realm?”

Adele nods. “I swear it. But the generals don’t believe us.”

“Don’t, or won’t?”

I miss the subtlety of the question, but Anna nods in understanding. “I’m not sure and I may never know.”

“So what’s the plan? How do we find a solution before the three-day”—Ben pauses, looks at the ceiling—“make that two-and-a-half-day deadline?”

“We’re coming to the Moon Realm,” Anna says firmly. There’s a twitch of excitement in my chest.

“Who?” I say.

“All three of us,” she replies, and I can’t keep the grin off my face.

“The generals?” Ben asks.

Anna shakes her head, her lips pursed. “Unfortunately not. The others won’t support a trip to the Moon Realm. We’ll be leaving secretly. Maybe having one star dweller general in person will be enough to convince the moon dweller VPs.”

“It’s a long shot.”

“It’s our only choice.”

Ben nods grimly in agreement. “How will you get here?”

“The Resistance train line from subchapter eight here. But to get there we’ll have to go through the tunnels. We can’t risk using the public trains. They’re being watched.”

“Be careful.”

“We will.”

I can tell the call is wrapping up and there are so many things I want to say to Adele, but I can’t bring myself to do it in front of everyone. I wish we could talk privately.

“Mom, Dad,” Adele says. “Can Tristan and I have a minute?” It’s like she read my mind.

“Of course,” Anna says. “Ben?”

“No problem from my side,” Ben says, giving me a wry smile.

Anna and Tawni stand up to leave and I swear Tawni flashes Roc a grin before moving out of the picture. I watch Ben and Elsey walk out the door. Roc lingers for a minute, waiting for them to exit, and then says, “Now, I don’t want any funny business in here. I’ll leave a shoe in the door.”

I’m glaring at him, but I hear Adele laughing. “Don’t worry, Roc,” she says, “no funny business—I promise. And I’ll do some probing with Tawni, see what she thinks of you.”

Roc’s brown skin flushes and he moves to the door. “Uh, thanks,” he says before scrambling out.

“Thanks for getting rid of him,” I say when Roc is gone.

“I knew that would do the trick.”

I smile at her. “I really have missed you,” I say, feeling more comfortable sharing my feelings with each passing second.

“I…wish you were here,” Adele says. Her words sound sincere, but I can sense tentativeness behind them. “Look, Tristan, something happened I need to tell you about.”

Here it comes, she’s not interested in me, I think, but I reply, “Adele, whatever it is, we will get through it together.”

“There’s this guy…”

My heart sinks into my stomach. “Oh,” I say.

“No, Tristan, it’s not like—”

“No, it’s okay. I understand. You barely know me, I chased after you like some crazy stalker, I shouldn’t have expected—”

“Will you shut up!”

The power in her voice makes me stop talking and just stare at her. My heart hurts and my mind is blank. I wait quietly to hear what she has to say about this guy.

“I like you,” she says, and her simple words send tingles through my skin. I ignore them, waiting for the but…

Instead she says, “You, Tristan. Only you.”

Huh? “Maybe you should have started with that,” I say and she laughs.

“I’m not very good with words,” she says, “a side effect of not talking to humans for almost six months.”

“So you were talking to animals then…or aliens?”

She laughs again, even though I know it’s not one of my best jokes. It makes me like her even more. “Mostly myself, and even then I only spoke in my head.”

I smile. “I’m not great with words either,” I say. “Sometimes I just stick my foot in my mouth before I start speaking to save myself the trouble later.”

I’m enjoying the conversation and I’m hoping we can just keep talking like this, and not go back to the thing about this guy, whoever he is. Or not. “So this guy…” Adele says, and I cringe, waiting for the hammer to drop. “Stop it! It’s not bad news, I promise.”

“Okay, just hit me with it quickly.”

Adele sighs. “There’sthissergeantnamedBrodyandhetriedtokissme,” she says in a rush.

I heard everything she said but only four words really register: tried to kiss me. “What do you mean, ‘tried’?” I ask. Fire is pumping through my veins as I picture a little squirt of a guy puckered up and leaning into Adele, trying to sneak a kiss. And then my knuckles collide with his face, knocking him into the next Realm.

“He was teaching me to shoot a gun—you know, as part of my training—and then he just thought there was something between us, so he tried to kiss me.” She rushes on, “But don’t worry, I didn’t let him. I pulled away. It was nothing.”

“Then why are you telling me?”