Chapter 73

Noah smiles. “I’ve heard you heal pretty well. I mean, as a human, I’ll still be toast, but you might pull through.”

I punch his shoulder. It might work. It’s better than my suicide plan, except for two things. “If we pass them, they’ll see us, and they’ll shoot and kill us.”

“Let’s talk to Paul, but if we pass them way below or way above, then drop precipitously, maybe it could work. Maybe they won’t see us.”

“Even if we work that out, if we pass them first, before I use the pulse, I’ll only get one shot. What if I mess up?”

“Don’t.”

“Very helpful.”

“You have to think about directing the pulse. I saw you use your little necklace bombs before.” He points at my chain. “You’re really good with it. Think of the EMP as a slingshot. If you focus on throwing the pulse away from us...” He shrugs.

I talk to Paul about the logistics and we work out the kinks in Noah’s plan. Paul thinks we can sneak past them. It helps that we have all the details on the planes, and they’re dated. Plus, Noah’s plane is a commercial one, not a fighter jet, so they might not automatically suspect us.

Once I work all that out, it’s time for the part Noah is going to hate.

“Now that we might survive this,” Noah says, “I think we need to get a message to our boy Edam so he knows where to come looking for us.”

“I didn’t want him to try and stop me,” I say, “but now that we might make it home, yeah, you’re right.”

I grab Noah and before he has time to react, I wrap both his arms behind him. Paul helps me bind him up, and we prepare for an emergency airdrop. Noah shouts and hollers and squawks.

We ignore him.

Once we have Noah bound and ready to drop, with a parachute he can release and a raft with a homing beacon, I dial up the in-flight phone and call the palace. “I need to speak with the Prince Regent.”

“Did you just say Prince Regent?” Noah groans. “That’s a ridiculous name, and I can’t just let that pass, but also, that old man is going to be even more insufferable after this.”

“Shut up.” I kick at Noah, but he hops out of the way.

A voice in the receiver distracts me. “Hello?”

“Edam?”

“Why did you leave without guards?” he asks. “And why did you shut the radio off? I’ve been debating whether to send a strike force after you.”

“Do not send a strike force. I’m fine. I had Paul shut off the radio and I left before the guards could board on purpose.”

Edam sighs. “I expected something like this. You’re headed for China.”

“I’m somewhere over the Pacific right now, yes.”

Edam curses. A lot.

“I couldn’t let them die,” I say.

“There’s nothing you can do! I thought you understood that.”

“There is something,” I say. “My mom’s ring is a weapon. It caused that EMP the day before she died. I caused that EMP with it.”

He swears even more creatively. “If I’d known, I’d have tied you down in your room until that bomb went off.”

“And that’s why I didn’t tell you. I’m keeping you from committing treason. You’re welcome.”

“You’d be surprised what I’ll do to keep you alive, Chancy.”

“Well, then I’m glad you didn’t know, because I need your help. I have a stowaway, and I’m about to airdrop him and send you the coordinates. Please send someone to fetch him quickly. And in about half an hour, it’s quite likely my plane will go down too. We’ll turn on tracking so you can, hopefully, find us as well.”

“I’ll come myself.”

“The Prince Regent absolutely cannot leave the island,” I say firmly.

“Then why did you name Inara as my backup?”

I grumble under my breath, but I knew he’d do this before I called. “Accept the world as it is.”

“I hate that stupid motto. Have I ever told you that?”

“No.” I smile. “I’m not surprised, though. I’ve hated it for years.”

“It should be, ‘Accept the world as it is, or order troops to change it while you’re safe at home, because you can’t do every single little thing yourself’.”

“That’s not very snappy,” Noah says.

“Wait, Noah’s with you? I dropped him off downstairs myself.”

“We definitely need to look into that upon our return,” I say. If I return. “I have no idea how he escaped and snuck on.”

“How did you manage to leave without Frederick?” Edam asks.

“Uh. . .” I say. “I sent Freddy to run an errand.”

“He wouldn’t tell me how you slipped away, but he’s not happy about it.”

“I’m low on time.” I give Edam the coordinates and signal Paul to open the escape hatch.

It creates a lot less wind than I expected, which is good because I have to cut the ties on Noah’s hands. Then I shove him out the door before he can argue with me any more. No matter how great his plan, no human could survive a plane crash coupled with a nuclear bomb. He needs to get out now, while he has a chance to survive this.

“Wow, who knew it was this fun to shove someone out an escape hatch?” I ask.

Paul is busy with buttons and knobs, but he tosses a grin back at me. “I’ll look into that.”

If we survive.

I head for the back so I don’t distract him. But with Noah gone, it’s eerily quiet. Paul and David prepare for the final course corrections, and I review my plan in my head. The minutes drag without Noah’s jokes. I hope he’s okay in the middle of the ocean. I hope Edam doesn’t have any trouble finding him. I hope my plan stands a chance of working.

I review the plan for the rendezvous over and over in my head. But finally, it’s time.

Paul clears his throat. “Your Majesty?”

“Yes?”

“They’re getting close, up ahead.”

I walk to the cockpit and squint. I can barely make out three aircraft, two smaller ones flanking a larger plane below.

I walk to the back of the jet and buckle into the chair at the very back. I wish it swiveled around. “Open the emergency doors,” I shout.

He does. The wind whips my hair around my face and tugs on my clothes, but I remain focused. Which is why I see the jets peel off.

“We’ve done everything we planned,” Paul yells, “but I think they saw us. They’re not going to let us fly past.”

I undo my buckle and run toward the cockpit, staggering and grabbing chairs and railings to claw my way forward.

One of the MiGs fires something at us.

David presses a button. “Flares.”

The missile zooms down below us.

“This might be a good time for you to do whatever you’re doing,” Paul says.

Duh.

The other MiG shoots off a missile as they close on us. It’s now or never.

So much for my EMP pulse from the back of the plane. I focus on the lights flashing in Mom’s ring and think of my anger, my hatred for Nereus, whoever he or she is, and what it’s done to my family. I imagine my little sister, the little sister I’ll never hug or kiss or sing to sleep. I take all that anger, that hatred, that fury, and I imagine I’m putting it all in a slingshot and shooting it at the planes and the missile and BAM, it tears out of me.

The second missile explodes in front of us and we fly through the debris, Noah’s jet lurching and shuddering, but the planes don’t alter their course.

“Did it work?” I ask.

I watch as the jet and MiGs fly past us, seemingly unharmed.

Oh crap. I got the missile and missed the real target.

I race to the back of the jet, flipping head over heels and flying past a dozen seats in the wind whipping through the jet before I grab one of the side railings. My heart throws somersaults in my chest. The jets are specks on the horizon, but when I poke my head around the corner of the emergency door, I can see them. Barely.

And the cup in my head is finally full again.

This time I don’t try to aim or direct anything. I fling the power out of me and at the three aircraft with the full force of my rage, loss, despair, fear, and hope. A fireball flies through the air, and a strange sort of vibration blows past it and outward.

I squint up ahead to see the wave hit the three aircraft. I breathe a big sigh of relief when they all begin losing altitude at an alarming rate. I scream for Paul’s help closing the emergency doors. When we return to the cockpit of our plane, I’m relieved to see lights and dials still whirring and beeping and flashing.

“You did it,” Paul says. “You sent the EMP to them. Our controls still work.”

“Now we just need to survive the fusion bomb.” Five hundred times stronger than the original bombs Mom detonated before. Ugh.

“One thing at a time.” David pulls on a lever and the jet accelerates. “Let’s put some distance between them and us.”

“Please go sit down and buckle up,” Paul says. “Any minute the blast will hit us. You need to brace yourself.”

There’s a sound like my ears popping and then a bump like no turbulence I’ve ever felt, and then the world goes black.