Inheritance

CHAPTER 29

Reese spent the rest of the day trying to do her homework and failing miserably. When her mom returned from her hike, they went downstairs for lunch and discovered that the dining hall was empty. “Your dad called and said he’s coming tomorrow,” her mom said as they assembled sandwiches from the tray of cold cuts. “What’s going on?”

“It’ll be safer here,” Reese said.

Her mom gave her a pointed look. “Safer?”

The conversation about CASS and the threats went about as well as Reese expected. Her mom exploded at her, completely freaked out by the fact that Reese had been putting herself in so much danger. “We weren’t in danger,” Reese protested. “There’s no real danger until—until tomorrow night.”

“Oh, that’s supposed to make it okay?”

“I’m sorry, but there wasn’t any other way.”

“How about you tell me about these things? Have you learned nothing from what happened to you earlier this summer?”

“Yes, I have learned!” Reese cried. “I’ve learned that I have to figure out what the fuck is going on before I say anything to anybody. That is what I learned. And we’re fine. You and I are fine, and David’s fine, and Dad’s going to be fine too—because I didn’t say anything.”

Her mom fumed. “You will tell me everything from now on.”

“Tomorrow,” Reese said, picking up her sandwich. “Once everyone is here—David’s family too—we will tell you all everything. I promise.” She knew she was taking a risk by talking to her mom like that, but she couldn’t think of any other way to do it. She wanted her mom to accept the fact that she was in control of this situation—even if she secretly worried that she wasn’t.

Her mom silently watched her eat. Reese saw the way her mom’s jaw had clenched, and she knew her mom was spinning through various counterarguments in her mind, trying to punch holes in her plan or find a way to pull the whole story out of her right now. To her credit, her mom finally said, “Tomorrow. You promise.”

“Yes,” Reese said quickly. “I promise.”

Nura Halba appeared midway through lunch, and Reese pulled him aside to ask if there was room for David’s family and her dad to stay on board for the next several days. He was taken aback, but he said he would find out. They didn’t see him again until dinner, when once more he was the only Imrian to join them in the dining hall. “Evelyn sends her apologies,” Halba said. “But it’s fine for your father and for David’s family to stay with us. We’ll all fly to New York on Sunday.”

“Where is everyone?” Reese’s mom asked. “I hope we haven’t frightened them all away.”

Halba gave her a strained smile. “Oh, no. They’re in meetings, preparing for the UN.”

Even Amber? Reese wanted to ask, but didn’t. She ate the roast chicken and potatoes that had been left out for them, and wondered whether the mysterious, invisible Imrian chef was making food that was especially intended to be intelligible to humans.

After dinner, Reese and her mom went back up to their rooms. The ship felt empty and lonely. Before they parted, her mom said, “It might be nice to have your dad and David’s family here. It feels sort of abandoned, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

Her mom opened the door to her room. “I have to work on a case tonight, but if you need anything, you know where I am. What are you going to do?”

Reese shrugged. “I’m still not done with my English homework. I have to read The Sun Also Rises.”

Her mom nodded. “I never liked that book.”

Reese smiled. “Why not?”

“I thought it was boring.” Her mom made a face at her and then went into her room. “Good luck.”

In her own room, Reese lay down on her bunk and opened The Sun Also Rises, but perhaps her mom’s words had biased her; she thought it was boring too. She kept picking up her phone and checking if she had any messages, but nobody had texted. She thought about calling Julian to see what he was doing with the interview footage of her and David, but then she remembered he was finally finished being grounded after his secret trip to Angel Island, and he had a date—his first date in forever, with a guy he had met online. He would be annoyed if she called to interrupt him because she was bored.

The knock on her door was soft, and she wasn’t sure she had heard it at first. It sounded again, and then she heard Amber’s voice: “Reese?”

She sat up, The Sun Also Rises sliding to the floor with a dull thunk. She bent over to pick it up before she went to open the door.

Amber had changed clothes. She was wearing tight black jeans tucked into scuffed ankle boots, and a loose white T-shirt with a big black flower on it. “You don’t have to get up to open the door,” she said with a smile. “You can just say ‘open.’ ”

Reese stepped back and dropped the book on the shelf by the bunk. “I didn’t know.”

“Can I come in?”

“Sure. Did you talk to Akiya Deyir?”

Amber entered the room; the door slid shut behind her quietly. “Yeah. Sorry I missed dinner. Everybody had to discuss it—my mom, Hirin Sagal, Eres Tilhar, everyone.” Amber pulled the chair out from the corner and sat down, crossing her legs. She was wearing eyeliner; it was smudged slightly in the corners.

Reese perched on her bunk, feeling inexplicably nervous. “What did they say?”

“They’re willing to talk to you and David tomorrow afternoon.”

“That’s great.”

“And then I think Akiya will want to check in with home—with our leaders on Kurra.”

“Oh. What do you think they’ll say?”

Amber shook her head. “I don’t know. But Eres is on your side. And my mother. And me.”

Reese fidgeted with the hem of the blanket. “Thanks.”

Amber smiled a little sadly. “It’s the least I can do.”

“Were they mad at you for telling me the truth?”

“I don’t think Akiya gets mad. But let’s just say I don’t think they’re going to give me any more assignments.” Her gaze flickered to Reese. “I don’t mean that—”

“It’s fine. I know what you mean.” Silence fell between them, thick and heavy. Amber looked away, studying her fingernails. They were painted black.

“I’m sorry,” Amber said, her voice barely audible.

Reese’s fingers dug into the edge of the bunk. “You don’t have to apologize anymore.” There was something in the slump of Amber’s shoulders that unexpectedly reminded Reese of Amber’s body collapsing against hers in Nevada, the pain from her gunshot wound dragging her down onto the rocky desert ground. “Amber,” Reese said. Her name was soft on her lips.

Amber looked up, a guarded expression on her face. “What?”

“In Nevada, when the bunker was about to explode and we were running toward the ship—this ship—did you know those soldiers were aiming for me? Did you know they were trying to shoot me?”

Amber regarded her for a long moment. Reese forced herself to not look away. She wanted to know. Amber finally said, “You mean did I purposely try to save you?”

Reese’s mouth went dry. “Yeah.”

Amber’s lips were shining in the warm glow of the lights. “I didn’t know if they were going to shoot you. I only knew that if I could do something to prevent you from getting shot, I was going to do it. It wasn’t like there was a lot of time for thought. I just did it. That’s how I do almost everything.” Amber’s mouth twisted in a thin, self-hating smile. “That’s my biggest flaw.”

Reese’s heartbeat thudded inside her. “It’s not a flaw.”

“No? Tell that to my mother.”

Reese’s mouth twitched. “So your mom doesn’t approve?”

Amber choked on a laugh. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “She really doesn’t approve. Although given what she did with that DNA, it’s not like she should be judging.”

Reese was transfixed by the expression on Amber’s face: her self-deprecating smile, her bright gray eyes. For a moment it was like being suspended in time—just the two of them in this room, divorced from everything that had come before, poised on the brink of what might come after. Reese wanted to freeze this instant, to linger in it. And for several breaths, Amber didn’t move.

When Amber slid to the floor, kneeling in front of the bunk between Reese’s legs, Reese didn’t try to resist. She had known what was coming. Amber’s hands, cool and dry, reached for hers. Inside, Amber was a whirlpool of longing. “Can’t we start over?” she whispered.

There was nothing stopping her. Nothing at all. She could try to stifle the desire that bloomed inside her. She could make the decision to never set it free again. Or she could give in. She watched Amber’s mouth tremble. She saw the rise and fall of Amber’s chest as she waited, her fingers curling through Reese’s, knotting them together.

Kissing Amber was like falling down the rabbit hole. Reese could barely believe she was doing it again. Amber’s mouth was so familiar to her, the shape of her lips soft and warm against her own, but there was more this time. There was all of Amber behind it: the tide of her emotions dragging at Reese the way the ocean waves suck the sand out from under your feet. Memories of Reese from before, images flashing past like an old home movie. There they were in the park, on the swing set at night, momentum making her stomach flip as her whole body lit up from the kiss.

Amber rose. Reese scooted back on the bunk and Amber climbed up, straddling her lap and cupping Reese’s head in her hands. Reese couldn’t breathe. She didn’t want to breathe. She only wanted to touch her, and she pulled Amber closer, her hands gliding over Amber’s back. The T-shirt slipped off her shoulder, and Reese’s fingers slid beneath the strap of Amber’s black bra, her skin silky. Reese knew that Amber had put these clothes on for her, that she had come to her room hoping for this moment, and the knowledge made her dizzy, as if everything was spinning around the two of them. Amber buried her fingers in Reese’s hair and whispered, “Of course I hoped. I’ve always hoped.”

Reese drew her close and kissed her again. With David, it had felt as if they were careening out of control every time they kissed, because neither of them knew how to drive this connection between them. It was frightening in its headiness. With Amber, it was different. Amber clearly had done this before, and even as Reese felt the rising heat inside Amber, her increasing focus on the shrinking space between them, Reese did not feel afraid. She felt intoxicated: held between Amber’s hands, pressed against her body. But beneath the luxurious slide of desire, she felt a keen, persistent ache. Even if she was in love with Amber, that didn’t stop her from being in love with David.

Amber pulled away, stroking Reese’s hair back from her face, and whispered, “I don’t care. I don’t care.”

Reese looked into Amber’s eyes and said, “But I do.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Amber insisted. “You can love him too.”

“How would that be okay?” Reese asked, bewildered. “You would start to resent me.”

Amber shook her head. “I wouldn’t. You don’t understand. It’s not like you have a limited supply of love. You can love more than one person at once.”

Reese flushed. “But that’s not fair to either of you.”

“It’s not fair to shut yourself off. That’s what’s unfair. To know that you have these feelings and then deny them.”

“I’m not denying them!” Reese’s hands had come to rest on Amber’s thighs, and she pushed her back.

Amber looked hurt. She climbed off Reese’s lap and sat against the wall at the head of the bed, drawing her knees up defensively. The laces of her right boot had come undone.

Reese missed her instantly. “I can’t be with you if I still want to be with him,” she said miserably. “I can’t be with either one of you.” As she said the words she realized this was the solution she had been looking for: a way out of the quagmire of being in love with two people at the same time. She wished the solution didn’t make her feel like digging her own heart out of her chest.

A teardrop trickled down Amber’s cheek and into the corner of her mouth. “That’s a really limited way to think about it.”

Reese groaned. “It’s reality. Why don’t you get that?”

Amber’s expression hardened. “I do get that you think that way. I’m saying you don’t have to.”

“What do you mean?”

Amber wiped the tear away roughly, smearing her eyeliner across her cheek. “I mean you could date both of us.”

Reese stared at her in astonishment. “At the same time?”

“Not at the same time,” Amber said, as if Reese were being dense. “I’m not that into guys. Although David is cute, but—”

“No,” Reese said. For a second a kind of awful hope had burned in her, but she stomped on it with both feet. “How would that even work? Like I see you one week and I see him the next?”

Amber leaned her head against the wall. “Maybe. It’s not that unusual. Not for us.”

Reese was confused. “For us? You mean for the Imria?”

Amber nodded.

Reese’s eyes widened. “Well, it’s pretty unusual for humans.”

“That’s because humans are jealous all the time,” Amber said, sounding frustrated. “They don’t have any idea what their partners are thinking because they can’t do susum’urda. So of course they’re jealous.” She leaned forward, one leg sliding over the edge of the bed. “But you and David don’t have to be jealous. You have the ability now.”

Reese took a shallow breath. Her pulse was still thrumming within her from kissing Amber. She could still feel her, ghostlike, beneath her hands. “I really don’t think David would go for it.”

Amber scooted toward her, but she didn’t touch her. “Have you asked him?”

“I don’t have to ask him to know that he doesn’t want to have anything to do with you.”

Amber didn’t flinch. She only shook her head. “He doesn’t know me.”

Reese had to admire Amber’s self-confidence. She said gently, “I don’t think he wants to know you.”

Amber sighed. “We don’t have to be friends. Besides, if he really loves you, and this is what you want, he’ll try.”

Reese gave Amber a challenging look. “If I love him, and I know that he doesn’t want this, I won’t ask him.”

Amber raised an eyebrow. “If I love you, I won’t stop trying.”

Reese flushed. “Are we going to do this all night?”

Amber cocked her head. “We could.”

Reese moved to the edge of the bunk. “No. I’m sorry. This isn’t going to work.”

Amber reached out and touched Reese’s arm. Reese looked back at her. “Reese,” Amber said. She was all longing, warm and waiting for her right there. Reese couldn’t hide her feelings either, and she no longer felt the need to. Amber knew. Amber had always known.

So Reese said the only thing she could think of to shut this down. “My mom is in the next room.”

Amber gave a short laugh, but her fingers didn’t move. “The door locks.”

Reese shook her head, smiling involuntarily. She got off the bunk, and Amber’s hand fell away. “We can’t, okay? I can’t. I’m sorry.”

Amber stared at her, and slowly her expression turned inward. “Okay.” She climbed off the bed and stood up, moving toward the door.

Reese felt as if she had kicked a puppy. “Amber.”

Amber looked at her, but her face was closed off now, distant. The black smudge on her cheek looked like a bruise. “What?”

Reese opened one of the cabinets in the wall and pulled out a T-shirt. She went to Amber and lifted the cloth to her face to wipe away the smeared eyeliner. Amber’s eyes glistened. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Reese said.

Amber nodded. She raised her hand to open the door, but at the last second she turned back to press a kiss to Reese’s surprised mouth. “I told you,” she whispered. “I won’t give up.” Then the door slid open and Amber left.

After midnight, Reese called Julian.

He answered on the second ring. “Hi.” He sounded wide awake. “What’s up?”

“How was your date?” She was lying in the dark in her room, the light from her phone casting a ghostly pall over her bunk.

“It was fine. I got back an hour ago. Can’t sleep so I’m working on the video footage for Bin 42.”

“What was his name again?”

“Evan.” He filled her in on their date. They had gone to see Butterfly at Midnight, an indie film about a painter obsessed with finding an elusive black butterfly. Julian described it as “pretentious but at least the painter was hot.” Afterward, he and Evan had gone to the diner across from the movie theater to have coffee.

“Did you kiss him?” she asked.

“No. He was cute, but he seemed a little too self-absorbed. He kept talking about how he’s going to shoot his own independent film this winter, but honestly, I was bored.”

“I thought you liked the moody artistic type.”

“I thought I did too. Maybe I was corrupted by hanging out with the soccer team last week. They do have really good abs.”

She laughed. “True.”

“Hey, what’s up with you? Why are you calling me so late?”

“What’s that thing where you’re in a relationship with more than one person at a time?”

“Polyamory?” He sounded confused.

“Yeah. Amber thinks we should—we should do that. Me and her and David.”

“Are you serious?”

She told him what had happened, brushing over the more intimate details. “I told her I can’t. And even if I could, David won’t.”

“Have you asked him?”

“No! He wouldn’t do it, anyway. He hates Amber, and he doesn’t like me enough to try to get over that.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. If he hates Amber, doesn’t that mean he’s really into you?”

She blew out her breath. “I told him I was in love with him, and he said ‘I know.’ ”

Julian broke into laughter. “He Han Solo’d you.”

“He what?”

“He Han Solo’d you. You know, in The Empire Strikes Back right before Han’s about to be frozen in carbonite, Princess Leia says, ‘I love you,’ and Han Solo says, ‘I know.’ You’ve seen it.”

She clutched the phone tighter. “I don’t remember that.”

“Good thing you have me as your friend, then.” She heard the smile in his voice. “Come on, it’s kind of funny, isn’t it?”

“I think your definition of ‘funny’ is different than mine,” she said sarcastically.

“It doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you. It just means he wasn’t ready to say it.”

“Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter anymore. He broke up with me, and I told Amber I couldn’t be with her, so we’re all on our own now. Nobody has to say anything to anybody anymore.” She sounded bitter.

“I do know one person who’s poly,” Julian offered.

“I’m not poly.”

“I know, I’m just saying I know one person. He’s a friend of a friend, so I don’t know him well, but there are also a lot of gay guys who are in open relationships.”

“How is that different from being poly? Wait, I don’t care, I’m not doing that either.”

“Why not? Six months ago you weren’t even wanting to date anyone, and now you’re like, no, I’m monogamy only?”

“No, I’m going back to not dating,” Reese said sourly. “I was right—it is too much drama.”

He laughed. “Okay, okay. Well, you want something to take your mind off the drama?”

“Yes,” she said quickly.

“We heard from Sophia Curtis. We’re on. She’s giving us her footage, and she told us that she’s looking into the connection with Mr. Hernandez aka Vargas, the guy who was working for President Randall. Sophia says she found something that draws a clear line between the president and CASS, dating back to her time in the military, which we’ve never been able to verify before.”

“That’s great. When are you going to release the info?”

“Not till after the UN thing. I’m really hoping one of our informants will come through with more info on the birds by then too.”

“Amber told me the government was behind the birds. Actually she said the government was doing genetic experimentation on all sorts of livestock using Imrian DNA. But the birds went crazy, and that’s why the government had to cover it up.”

“Really? Can you get her on the record?”

“She said she didn’t know that much about it but her mom might know more. Dr. Brand.”

“Will you ask her?”

“I can try, but I don’t know if Dr. Brand will go on the record with Bin 42. Regardless, I learned something seriously crazy today.” She thought back through what Amber had told her about the Imria. “I can’t tell you everything right now, but I’ll call you as soon as I know I can tell you.”

“Dude, tell me now!” he said, excited.

“I can’t. It’s too huge. But look—I never gave you the recording of the meeting with Charles Lovick. It’s in the back of the top desk drawer in my room. You should go over to my house tomorrow morning as early as you can, because my dad’s going to be leaving around ten. He’ll let you in; you should take it.”

“Sure. But what’s the news about? Can’t you give me a hint?”

She took a deep breath. “It’s about who we are. Who the Imria are. It changes everything.”

He let out a frustrated groan. “I can’t believe you’re leading me on like this!”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. I just wanted you to know something’s coming. I’ll call you as soon as I can—Monday at the latest.”

“Okay, fine. But I better get the exclusive—don’t talk to anyone else.”

“I won’t,” she promised. “I should try to get some sleep. You be careful tomorrow.” She had a sudden burst of worry for him. She didn’t think CASS was keeping an eye on Julian, but she had no real way to know.

“I’ll be fine. You be careful too. I’m sure it’s gonna be dangerous, being trapped in a spaceship with two hot people who are both in love with you.”

“Oh my God, shut up. Good night, Julian.”

“Good night, Reese. Sleep tight.”

She hung up the phone, smiling in spite of herself.