Zodiac (Zodiac, #1)(92)

Mathias looks torn between expressing his anger verbally and using his fists. He takes an unsteady breath, then walks back inside without another word.

Alone with Hysan, I suddenly feel new to the Zodiac. We smile at each other as he edges closer, and side by side we look out at the city, our fingers lacing together on the railing.

Police sirens echo from far off, and in the distance we hear artillery fire. Thin gray light leaks through the fabric sky. “Happy birthday, my lady,” he says, handing me a small box. I open it to find a Crab-shaped pin made of turquoise cristobalite beads. The color of the Cancer Sea.

It’s my very own Psy shield.

“Thank you,” I say, clipping it on my sleeping shirt. The Crab shines like a reminder of home. “How’d you know it was today?”

“Saw it as the soldiers scanned our thumbprints when we got here.” He admires the pin on me, then says, “Neith convinced the ambassadors to extend their session so he can speak. He’s very persuasive. He learned from a master, you know.”

“A humble one.”

“And that’s just one of my many sterling qualities.” Hysan slides his thumb up and down my little finger.

“How long is the trip to the Sufianic Clouds?” I ask.

“Four days, maybe. We’ll need to stay invisible the whole time, since Ophiuchus could have eyes everywhere.”

I peer at the many windows overlooking our balcony and shiver. “Let’s go inside.”

In the living room, Mathias is standing rigid and white-faced, staring at the wallscreen. He turns to me, his expression blank.

For a moment, I think he overheard Hysan and me, or he saw us holding hands. Then I catch a glimpse of the bloodshed on the news.

“Gemini’s capital has just been obliterated.”





34


THE PLANET ARGYR HAS BEEN RAZED. Images on the wallscreen show devastation beyond understanding. The rainbow buildings flattened. The Imaginarium smashed. Small Geminin bodies burned to cinders.

Caasy didn’t come to the Plenum. Was he at the royal court where we first saw him? Did he survive?

I’m sitting on the sofa, between Mathias and Hysan, biting my nails as the newscast unfolds. The images are so grisly that I want to cover my face, but I force myself to keep watching. Behind us, Neith stands like a monument.

The total destruction of the city has been confirmed. A passing cruiser recorded an immense mushroom cloud rising over Gemini’s capital, and the authorities are blaming an accident at the nuclear plant. But that doesn’t explain why the entire planet is wobbling on its axis.

Will it crash into its neighbor, Hydragyr, where so many of my own people have settled?

“Ochus,” I hiss.

“Rho,” says Mathias, the word insignificant compared to the way it’s delivered—with the voice of one who’s been blind.

There’s a pounding on the door, and Lord Neith briefly looks toward it. “An agent of the Cancrian Secret Service wishes to join us,” he tells Hysan. “Shall I allow it?”

Hysan nods, and when the door clicks open, the person who enters the living room is Amanta Thais. “Mom,” says Mathias, pulling her in for a hug. “You’ve seen the news?”

“Yes. Sirna sent me,” she says, panning her gaze across us and pausing in surprise on the Libran Guardian’s face.

“Charon will claim more cosmic rays.” I feel myself shaking in the Zodiac’s instability. Any planet could be next. “We have to move our people again. Is someone arranging that?”

“Advisor Agatha has taken charge,” says Amanta, speaking with quiet urgency and looking from Lord Neith to me. “Two Guardians dead in one month. Another comatose. People are beginning to panic.”

“The Plenum session has been extended,” announces Neith. “I shall address them in an hour.”

“Sirna wants Rho there, too,” says Amanta. “This time, she thinks the ambassadors may listen.”

“Can I tell them about the secret army?” I ask.

“Not yet,” says Amanta, “not until we learn who’s recruiting them.”

Amanta is needed back at the hippodrome immediately, so we agree to meet her there. The four of us leave as soon as Hysan and I are dressed. On the street, he turns and speaks a soft word to Neith. Abruptly, the golden android sets off toward the Plenum, running faster than I expected, given his refined manners and regal composure.

Hysan smiles with pride. “It’s quicker to travel alone than in a group. He knows what to say once he gets to the Plenum.”

In case my protestors are waiting for me, we use the veil collars and sprint down the street, trailing far behind Neith. As always, the area around the hippodrome is jammed with visitors from every House, including the rowdy students with banners. This time, their numbers have swollen.

We sneak past the soldiers, and when we enter the arenasphere, the ambassadors and visiting Guardians have already taken their places in their gilded seats. Except today, the makeup has changed.

Overhead, holograms of every color jam the upper half of the sphere, blinking pixilated flashes where they overlap. Micro-cameras hover as thick as smoke. Down below, tawny Geminin have taken over one full section of seats, and I also see many more Virgos than before, plus Taurians, Leos, Sagittarians, even Cancrians. In fact, all the Houses are represented in this crowd.