Once & Future (Once & Future #1)(15)

Ari waited for a word that could possibly cap that sentence. When Kay couldn’t find it, she finished for him. “Exist?”

“Yeah,” he said sadly. “Lam thinks that going to Lionel will help Val, but it’ll just prove to Mercer that Val is leverage. If we don’t go, Val will be safer. Lam should understand that.”

“You’re being a coward, Kay.”

Her brother punched her in the arm. Hard. “Mercer will arrest us. Send us to a work camp or prison. Or worse.” Ari searched her brother’s eyes. Desperation made them glow, or maybe that was just Error’s cockpit lights. “We’ve got four people on board and only enough supplies for two. We aren’t going to get far. We have to make some choices.”

“We eat Merlin.”

Kay barked a surprised laugh. “Too gamey.”

“So we don’t run. We make a stand. We have a magician now. He can change our faces like he did a few minutes ago.”

Kay’s head jerked up. “Really?”

Ari stared out the window. Either the black of space or her frozen fear had finally gotten to her. “Or I’ll go away. By myself. Maybe they’ll follow me and leave you all alone.”

“We’re staying together, Ari.” Her brother leaned closer, pulling her attention from the void outside… and the one inside. “Ten years ago, I had a dream that I could hear a kid crying. When I woke up, I told our moms that the junked ships we were passing weren’t empty. Someone was on them. They listened to me because, well, you and I have the best parents in this damn universe.”

Ari’s heart beat wildly. Kay never talked about the day he’d found her. They didn’t need to talk about it; the sharpness of the memory still cut.

“We flew to those junked ships, and I climbed through them until I found you in that empty water heater, all starving.” He opened his hand to Ari, showing off the circular scar on his palm from one of the water heating coils. It matched the scars all over Ari, the lifelong souvenirs from her time trapped at the bottom of that barrel. “That was magic, Ari. We were meant to find you. To keep you safe.”

Ari ran her fingers down Excalibur, aching to use it to make some sort of difference in this messed-up universe. “But I can’t live knowing that our parents are suffering, Kay. Can you?” She took a shaky breath. “And we can’t leave Val to face Mercer.”

Kay shook his head, looking like Captain Mom. They had the same roughly blond hair that skewed gray. Captain Mom had been their leader, and now Kay was in charge, but he was too soft. Too much like Mom, a squishy hug of feelings. “Ari, before Mercer took them, they made me promise one thing. One. To keep you safe. They traded their freedom so we could get away.” He leaned over the control panel. “If I jeopardize that, they’ll never forgive me. I will never forgive myself. So we’re going to Tanaka. Or the Ridges, if Error can make it.”

“I love you, but you leave me no choice.” Ari sighed deeply. And then she kicked her brother’s ass, wrestled him out of the cockpit, and used Excalibur to wedge the door closed.

“No turning back,” she muttered, laying in the course for Lionel.





The winds blew strong on this new planet, and Merlin’s robe nipped at his ankles like a terrier. When he turned in one direction, he saw Error, surrounded by desert of the tan, sandstone variety. When he turned the other, he saw a page ripped from his own past. Tournament rings. Pennants. Thatched houses, piping smoke, a lively marketplace.

Merlin grabbed Arthur—girl Arthur—no, Ari—as she passed him.

“This place…” He pointed to the city, then lapsed into song lyrics, a habit that bubbled up when he was nervous. “‘Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?’”

“This is the place where medieval dreams come true, better known as Lionel. We used to come here every summer so that Lam and Kay could smash about like would-be heroes at knight camp.” Ari rested a hand on Merlin’s shoulder. “From the ecstatic look on your face, I’m guessing you’d like me to sign you up.”

Merlin stammered, trying to figure out exactly what he felt. It was strong, if nothing else. This place tugged on inner strings that connected him to the first Arthur, the start of the cycle.

“I know you get mad at planets, but don’t break this one, okay?” Ari thumped him twice.

“That was a moon!” he cried weakly.

“Well, Lionel has a delightful new reputation of incensing Mercer,” Ari said, looking no small part proud. “Almost like home.”

Merlin followed her across the sands, taking stock of what he knew about this universe. First, Mercer was the bad guy, obviously, run by an ominous figurehead known as the Administrator. He was so ominous, in fact, that Ari had caught Merlin chuckling along with him to one of his infectious pop-up ads and taken away the device he’d been screening. Second, Ari’s home planet was called Ketch. Her people had badmouthed Mercer and were punished by an impenetrable barrier that kept everyone—including Ari—out. Merlin was no small part disappointed; it sounded like twenty-first-century buffoonery.

Kay trudged beside Merlin, one hand cupped over the eye Ari had blackened in their fight over control of the ship. He resembled a low-budget pirate. Lam, who had been nothing but easygoing on Error, exhibited nerves as they neared the grand painted gates of the city, right before sweeping up a figure who leaned against the left gate. Lam clasped their equally beautiful brother in a tight hug that pulsed out a few groans.