I see Roc’s spine stiffen, so I answer casually. “What do you mean ‘were little’? You still are little.”

“I most certainly am not!” Elsey scoffs.

“Are too! Would I be able to do this”—I leap off the bed, rush over to her, and grab her, picking her up and swinging her around—“if you weren’t little?”

“Put me down! Is that any way to treat a lady?” she squeals, but she’s giggling hysterically and I know she’s enjoying it, so I don’t stop for another ten seconds.

When I do set her down again, she brushes off her tunic with her hand and says, “Hmph. The scoundrel boys in the orphanage were more gentlemanly than you are.”

I’m about to fire back a sarcastic retort, maybe tickle her, maybe pick her up again, when Roc says, “Elsey, we’ve got something to tell you.”

The whole time I thought I was rescuing my best friend from a touchy subject, he’d been thinking about it, and I can tell he’s ready to talk about things, starting with telling Elsey our big news. “Like a surprise?” she says, her face lighting up.

“Sort of like that,” Roc says, staring at his hands. He gets up and moves to sit on the side of the bed and Elsey follows him. I remain standing nearby. Roc seems to want to do this on his own.

“What is it?” Elsey asks innocently, staring up at Roc with wide eyes.

“You know how you just asked whether we were sure we weren’t brothers?”

“I just said that not two minutes ago,” Elsey says, in that proper way that only she and people from the seventeenth century could say it.

“Well, as it turns out, Tristan and I, well, we actually…are…brothers. Well, sort of…I mean, we’re half-brothers. We have the same father.”

Elsey’s eyes are bigger than the artificial suns in the Sun Realm. “Your father is the President, too?”

Roc nods. “We both just found out. Like a couple days ago. It’s still a bit of a shock.”

“Wow,” is all she says.

“I don’t really want anyone to know yet though,” Roc says.

“Like a secret?”

“Exactly.”

“I swear on my friendship with my truest friend in the whole wide world, Ranna, that I will never share what you have told me with another soul.”

“Or you can just not tell anybody,” Roc says, chuckling.

“That’s what I just said!”

“Except it took you three times as long to say it,” I add.

“Oh, boys,” Elsey says, shaking her head, like we’re the ten-year-olds.

“Who’s hungry?” I ask, as I feel my stomach rumble. It’s late, but the nice thing about this place is that there’s always food to be eaten.

“Me, me, me!” Roc exclaims, waving his hand in the air like a child trying to get the attention of the schoolteacher. He’s doing it to entertain Elsey and she giggles.

“I would be honored to dine with you two strapping young gentlemen. Thank you for asking,” Elsey says grandly.

Roc and I just look at each other, laughter in our eyes.

We make our way to the commons, which are bustling as if it’s the middle of the day. Members of the Resistance are streaming all over the place, carrying packs of supplies, weapons, and body armor. Everything looks a hundred years old but there seems to be plenty of it. It’s as if the entire command center is readying to move out to war. The soldiers look like ants next to the heights of the honeycomb atrium above them.

Few of them are eating, however, so we easily spot Ben and his sister at a lone table, their heads together, their voices a whisper as if they’re discussing something treacherous, like an assassination attempt on the President; maybe they are. They lift their heads and voices when they spot us, donning big smiles and motioning with their arms for us to join them.

We do. “What’s all this about?” I ask as we sit down, sweeping my hand across the buzzing cave.

Jinny answers. “You didn’t think we’d be going into subchapter 1 without some protection, did you?”

“They’re all coming with us?” Roc asks incredulously.

“Sure,” Ben says. “The Resistance is all about being prepared. In the event that something happens, we want to be ready for it.”

“Will I be coming, too, Father?” El asks.

“Most definitely. You think after all we’ve been through that I’d let you out of my sight again?” he says, pulling his daughter into his side. For once, Elsey is just a kid, melting into Ben’s side, closing her eyes, her face full of love for her dad. It’s not something I’m used to seeing.

“Umm, food?” Roc says.

“Thanks, I didn’t know you were serving tonight,” I joke. “I’ll take some mashed potatoes and bread rolls with gravy, if they’ve got it.”

“Fat chance,” Roc says. “Those days are long over.”

I punch his arm and stand up. “For which I am glad,” I say. “I’ll get the grub.”

After taking Roc’s and Elsey’s orders I go and retrieve the food from the counter, balancing all three plates on one arm like a waiter, while toting three mugs of water with the other hand. “Bon appétit,” I say, dishing it out.

“You’re good at that,” Roc says, winking. “If this whole rebellious-son-of-the-President thing doesn’t work out, you’ve definitely got a future as a servant in the Sun Realm.”

“And you can become a comedian,” I retort.

For a few minutes Roc and I manage to cease our normally nonstop banter as we strive to accomplish the same goal of stuffing our faces. As we eat, we listen to Ben and Jinny discuss the next few days.

“After we arrive in the subchapter, we’ll head straight to the Big House to settle in and get the lay of the land,” Ben says.

“The Big House is the code name for the place we’ll be staying,” Jinny explains for our benefit.

“Right. Hopefully Anna and Adele will arrive shortly afterward and we can have a big family reunion.” At that, Elsey’s eyes light up, but she can’t speak as even she’s forgone manners in order to fill her belly, and her mouth is full, her cheeks puffed out as she tries to chew.

“We’re hoping we’ll get a few minutes together before all the VPs are ready to begin the peace summit.” I’ll drink to that, I think, taking a big gulp of my water. It feels so surreal that I haven’t hung out with Adele in days after having gone through such an emotional two days by her side.

“Then what?” I ask, licking the last bit of mashed potato off of my finger.

“Then we pray for the best,” Ben says.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Adele

The star dweller generals listen patiently as my mom explains what happened. I expect looks of shock: wide eyes, open mouths, dropped jaws—something. Instead, they just stare with unreadable expressions and pursed lips.

The only one who reacts is General Baum, the one who’s a member of the Resistance. She’s older than my mother, perhaps by five years, but is in fantastic shape, with strong, sculpted arms and legs that boast years of athletic endeavors. Sort of like my legs. Strong and capable and far from ladylike. Her aging brown hair is peppered with gray, but it’s cut short, like a boy’s, so it’s not that noticeable.

Her eyebrows are raised and her knuckles white on the table. The exact opposite of the other generals who look almost indifferent. When my mom finishes, she rests her hands gently on the table, waiting for a response. The tension in the room is palpable and I have the urge to reach out and try to touch it, as if it’s something solid in the air.

Finally, one of the older generals, a gray-haired man who looks almost fifty, leans back with his hands behind his head. “This doesn’t change anything,” he says.

General Baum slams a fist on the table and looks like she might jump across and throttle him. “Doesn’t change anything? Are you cra—”

One of the other generals, a woman with long blond hair and perfectly smooth skin, silences her with a finger on her lips. Shhh! I can almost hear her say, although she makes no sound. Instead she mouths, They’re listening, and then points to the ceiling. I look up, half-expecting a huge pair of ears to be hanging from above.