Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X, #1)(27)

Tessa studied him a few moments more. Maybe she really was as observant as he said, because she suddenly knew there was more. “What other reason? Why else would you try to lift me up?”

He smiled, probably at having his assessment of her confirmed further. “Because someone once did it for me.”





[page]CHAPTER 7





FAIRYLAND





Tessa had never flown on a plane, and as she and Justin walked across the runway the next morning, she wondered if she could actually bring herself to do this. She hadn’t been able to sleep last night, and now, coming face-to-face with her transportation to Fairyland, her nervousness shifted to complete and total fear.

Justin, however, had other concerns.

“Do you know how primitive this is, actually walking across the tarmac?” He was smoking a cigarette, and despite his complaints, there was a swagger to his step. He’d woken up hangover free this morning, something her mother said could only have been accomplished through a deal with the devil. “You’ll see when we get home. There are Jetways to all the planes, and the airports don’t look like shantytowns.”

Tessa nodded. He’d been “enlightening” her all morning with tales of the RUNA, which he was already calling home again. She’d listened to his stories for the last few years, but there was something different about them now. Before, he’d been wistful, describing something distant and unattainable—almost exactly the same way her father spoke of the RUNA. Now Justin was already acting as though he’d never left and Panama was just some layover, rather than the place he’d called home for four years.

Two armed soldiers in gray-and-maroon uniforms stood stiffly at attention outside of the plane, but Tessa didn’t find them nearly as intimidating as the plane itself. Everyone in this city walked around with guns; she’d seen them her entire life. Nothing new there. The woman who emerged from the plane, however, made Tessa do a double take.

“Pr?torian Koskinen,” Justin called, giving her a mock salute. “Good morning.”

“Dr. March,” she returned, crossing her arms. Her expression was calm and unreadable, like a marble statue’s. “So nice to see you again.”

Justin stopped and put his arm around Tessa. “First test,” he whispered. “Is she telling the truth?”

“No,” said Tessa.

“I didn’t think so.” More loudly, he said, “Tessa, this is Mae. Mae, Tessa. She’s the prodigy I told you about. She’s super good at this stuff. Almost as good as me. You’ll be impressed, just wait.”

“Wow, almost as good as you?” asked Mae dryly. “Is that even possible?”

Tessa regarded Mae with apprehension. She wasn’t in uniform but still radiated strength and dignity. Justin had spent a considerable amount of time describing her this morning as he analyzed how a Nordic woman had ended up in the military’s highest ranks. Occasionally, he’d gotten sidetracked and expounded on her hair and eyes. Tessa, however, had stopped paying attention to his discourse after he’d said the word “pr?torian.” Pr?torians. The monsters of the RUNA. She’d heard about them, of course. Everyone had, and even if this blond woman didn’t look like a killing machine, Tessa vowed not to say anything that might test that observation. She simply gave a polite nod as she walked up the steps.

The wry expression Mae had reserved for Justin transformed into a smile as Tessa passed. “Prodigy or not, I’m very glad to meet you. You’ll love the RUNA.”

Tessa blushed and nodded again, overwhelmed at such kindness from a woman who managed to be both glamorous and dangerous at the same time. Justin lingered on the ground and dropped his cigarette onto the tarmac. He gave it a fond look before stamping it out. “The only thing I’ll miss from around here. I’m quitting here and now. Nothing that good back home anyway—well, at least nothing legal that’s that good.” He shifted his messenger bag on his shoulder and headed up after Tessa. It was his only luggage, since he’d claimed he had nothing here that was worth taking back. Tessa was starting to wonder why he’d ever come to Panama at all if he hated it so much.

“Mae was telling the truth about me,” she murmured to Justin, once they’d stepped inside the plane.

“About what?” he asked.

“About being glad to meet me.”

“Show-off.”

The rest of the Gemman delegation responded with varying degrees of politeness and directed her and Justin toward the back of the jet. Along with the soldiers and Internal Security officials, there was a young woman named Candace who appeared to be some type of assistant. She jumped whenever any of her higher-ups spoke to her. When she looked at Justin, however, Candace would flush and smile.

Tessa had seen women behave that way near him before and couldn’t understand being stupid around a guy, even handsome ones. Her mother had had plenty to say about Justin’s appearance. Too good-looking, she’d said. Make sure you marry a plain man, Tessa. They won’t stray, and they’ll never have power over you. Tessa wondered what that said about her father.

No matter how much Justin kept poetically painting it as “soaring off into a new life,” she found flying absolutely terrifying from the instant they left the ground. The jet’s interior felt too small and the sky too big. As the plane bounced along air currents, it seemed impossible that the engines would keep them up. Tessa expected to come crashing to the ground at any moment. She wished now that she’d worn her rosary but had packed it at the last minute. Gemman attitudes toward religion were no secret, and she hadn’t wanted to attract attention.