The Gender Plan (The Gender Game #6)(53)

“Yes, Drew,” drawled Logan, and King Maxen moved back from the screen, revealing that the lanky man was leaning back, his hands clasped behind his head in a youthful sprawl. “We can see that. The question is, what do they want from us?”

Mags reached out and touched Logan on the arm. “We’ll get to that in a minute,” she said. “King Maxen, it is good to see you in one piece. Tell me, are you safe?”

King Maxen was in the process of lowering himself into his chair when she asked, and he paused, half in, before dropping into it. He looked around the room, cleared his throat, and then nodded. “I am, dear, thank you for asking.”

“Excellent. And your health?”

“Never been better.” Maxen’s posture became more relaxed under the questions, his smile growing more genuine as attention was given to him.

“Really? No broken bones, missing limbs?”

The question caught me off guard—Maxen as well—and I glanced at the screen, seeing that Mags had closed the distance between the couch and the handheld.

“Of course not,” he said, his smile flickering and fading. “Why ever would you ask?”

“Oh, just seeing what was so dire that our king had to abandon us.”

Violet snorted, and then hurriedly hid her smile behind a cupped hand. I couldn’t help but appreciate the irony as well, but to be fair, this wasn’t entirely Maxen’s fault. We had kidnapped him, after all.

“That was our fault,” announced Ms. Dale, tugging at her braid. “We… removed the king to keep him safe from danger.”

It was the king’s turn to snort, but he remained quiet, thanks to a stony glance from Henrik. Mags’s eyebrows rose up to her hairline, and then she nodded. “It makes sense. If Elena wanted him dead, they’d be tearing up the countryside for him.”

“Not just him,” added Violet quietly, and I reached over and clasped her hand, squeezing it gently.

“I’m sure,” Mags demurred. “Still, it doesn’t change the fact that many of his people view his sudden reappearance with a certain level of… derision.”

“What?” the king sputtered, affronted. “Why?!”

“No offense, King Maxen, but there are many who feel you abandoned your people by running. What makes you think that you showing up with friends to help is going to make them inclined to want your help, let alone you?”

The king fidgeted as her statement came through. We watched as Mags moved back over to the couch and sat down, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “And while we’re on the topic of your help—what do you want and what are you offering?”

Ms. Dale blinked and then smiled. “I knew I would like you,” she announced.

“We need your help, actually,” I said, standing up. “You have people on the inside, we have people on the outside. As individual pockets of resistance, we probably can’t accomplish much. But, perhaps if we could work together, we could—”

“We are desperately low on ammo,” announced Drew, leaning forward slightly. “And even weapons. We scavenged what we could, but—”

“There are lots of things we need,” cut in Mags smoothly. “But even with guns and weapons, without knowing where the other groups are, we can never move across the city without calling attention to ourselves.”

“We can help you with that,” said Violet. “We have a friend who hacked into the camera system in the city years ago. If you can get to the correct location and turn his system back on, you can access it through your handhelds.”

Mags arched an eyebrow. “Years ago?”

“It’s a long story,” cut in Henrik. “For another time. But if you can get the system turned on, then we can begin thinking of how to take back the city.”

“Take back the city?” scoffed Logan. “We’ve got civilians who need to get out of the city!”

“What, exactly, do you want to do?” asked Mags, once again ignoring the interruption.

“Tiffany informs us that there’s a group of Matrians holed up at a water treatment plant in the city. We’ve come to believe they have a plan to do something to the water that will help Elena achieve her goal, possibly contaminating it with a drug or a poison. If that’s true, she just has to keep you in there long enough for it to spread.” Henrik paused as Mags, Logan, and Drew exchanged looks. “What is it?”

“We had water in our buildings until a few hours ago,” announced Logan.

“That’s… one of the signs Thomas told us to watch out for.” Ms. Dale’s words were delivered softly, but they were as heavy as lead.

“Except for the fountains,” added Drew. “The big fountains all over the city are working, and they still deliver most of our drinking water.”

“Everyone will flock there,” Violet cut in, horrified. “Those people will not only fight over the water, but if they drink it…”

“So the water is already toxic?” asked Mags, alarm making her rise in her seat.

“No,” Henrik soothed. “Or very unlikely. Calm down, everyone, please. We still have some time—but not long. A little over a day, if Thomas’ models are correct.”

Everyone fell silent at that, and Mags sat back down, but on the edge of her seat. “I need to confer with Drew and Logan. Can you give us a moment?”