The Heroes Return Read online

  Does that mean Addy’s dead? I thought they said they didn’t know. I clench my fists. Don’t bring my sister into this!

  Tell your people we wish to meet and discuss the requirements for your planet’s entry into the Intragalactic Council, the Youli continues. This is our gesture of peace. The Youli extends his hand toward me. It’s large and green and pulsing.

  “He actually wants me to shake his hand?” I ask Mira.

  He knows it’s our custom, she tells me.

  The other times I’ve touched a Youli have been extremely intense, like opening a floodgate of sensations. Still, I’m curious.

  I grip the Youli’s hand with my own. As soon as we touch, my body is overloaded with a million feelings and thoughts.

  We both pull our hands free. The Youli stumbles back like he was pushed. They must not be too big on touching, or at least touching Earthlings.

  So, we have a deal, I say. What’s next?

  Wait, Mira says. The others. She sends me an image of the lost aeronauts.

  Oh, right. Them. They’re probably only a few meters away, completely clueless to the fact that their mortal enemies have arrived.

  The Youli will take them, too, she says.

  “Hold on a minute,” I say to her. “Why didn’t they tell me that themselves? What else have they said to you? Why are you keeping secrets from me? What happened to you?”

  We’re wasting time.

  Something about Mira is all wrong, but what she’s saying is right. The one thing we don’t have is time to waste. Still, I have to know I’m not putting us and the lost aeronauts in jeopardy.

  You disappeared, Mira. Where did you go?

  She digs her shoe into the gray ground. It was the only way.

  You need to tell me what happened. Now.

  We went with them, she says, gazing off into the fog. The Youli needed to understand us and—

  What do you mean “we”? I didn’t go anywhere with the Youli.

  Mira takes a deep breath. I mean we need to go with them now. They’ll take us to the Ezone.

  I drop her hands. You told them about the Ezone? Doesn’t that violate like a hundred Earth Force laws?

  I’m most sure of the coordinates. It was the easiest to relay.

  I can’t believe this. You gave them the coordinates?

  Mira’s mind swells with frustration. How else do you think we’ll get there? Or would you rather they bound us to their planet? Stop asking questions! We need to move!

  Mira never talks to me this way. There’s definitely something she’s not telling me. As soon as we get out of the rift, she’ll have to explain what’s really going on.

  “Fine. Let’s find the others.” I start trekking through the gray muck in the direction I think we came from. “Denver! Bai! Where are you guys?”

  Soon someone returns my call. I head that way and practically collide with Bai.

  She shoves me back. “Watch where you’re going, plebe!”

  “Sorry. Listen, I think we may have a way out of this place.”

  The aeronaut who found us falls to his knees. “Oh, thank God.”

  “What’s the plan?” Denver asks.

  “See, that’s just it. . . . It’s sort of unusual. . . . Umm . . .”

  “Get back!” Bai says, throwing her arms to the side to protect the other aeronauts. Her eyes bug wide, like she’s seen a ghost. “Can’t you hear? Get behind me!”

  I turn around. Mira and the Youli have cut through the gray haze. Since neither Mira nor our green rescue team can communicate with the aeronauts, I guess explanations are up to me.

  “It’s cool.” I lift my palms to the side. “These guys are going to help us.”

  Denver steps next to Bai. “Get out of the way, kid. You don’t know who you’re dealing with. These aliens are our enemies.”

  “Yeah, I won’t argue with you there. But the Youli are also our ticket out of here.”

  “Den, this is obviously a trap,” Bai says. “These Youli scum are the reason we’re here in the first place. Bounding Base 51 was under attack.”

  If there was ever any doubt about whether Earth Force covered up the existence of the Youli since before I was born, it was just erased.

  “Listen up!” I say. “I’m no fan of the Youli, but we need to act now. While we’re in here fighting, we’re losing months of Earth time.”

  Bai angles away from me and speaks to her pod. “How do we know he’s telling the truth? Why should we believe him that it’s been all these years? Maybe we’ve only been here two days. They could be working with the Youli! They’re strange kids, right? I mean, the girl doesn’t even talk!”

  That strikes a nerve. “Her name is Mira!” I shout, although the rift swallows most of the sound. “Here’s the deal. The Youli don’t care whether they include you in this rescue. The more we stand here arguing, the less I care. We’re leaving the rift in one minute. You’re either with us or not. Your choice.”

  The aeronauts huddle up and all talk at the same time. They’re clearly divided about what to do. With every breath, I feel the moments pass back at home.

  “What’s it going to be?” I ask.

  Denver places his hand on Bai’s shoulder. “What choice do we have, Bai? We need to go with the kid.”

  “You mean with the Youli,” she says.

  “I mean with the kid. He’s wearing the insignia. I trust him.”

  Denver Reddy scans the faces of his pod mates. One by one, they nod. He turns to face me. “We’re in. What’s the plan?”

  Tell them we’ll all join hands, Mira says. I’ll link with the Youli, and they’ll bound us out.

  Once I relay the message to the aeronauts, Mira pulls me to the side. She weaves her fingers with mine, and looks up at me with her brown eyes. My mind fills with sadness, and this time I’m certain the sadness is hers.

  “What is it?” I whisper.

  She reaches her fingers to my face and gently cups my chin in her hand. Her eyes study mine. She’s looking at me like she needs to memorize every detail of this moment.

  “Mira?”

  She bites her lip, and her face sets with a steely resolve.

  You’re the glue, Jasper. It has to be you. It’s always been you.

  What are you talking about?

  I’m not going back, Jasper.

  What do you mean?

  I’m . . . Her mind shifts and sorts, like she’s looking for the right words. I’m leaving with the Youli.

  Wait . . . you’re kidding, right? Why would you do that?

  I have to.

  My heart leaps in my chest. What is she saying? Why is she doing this? I can’t let this happen. No, Mira! You can’t! That’s not part of the deal!

  It’s my choice.

  No! They’re making you do this!

  I have to do this, Jasper. It’s the only way.

  That makes no sense! You need to come with me. We’ll figure this out together.

  Mira turns away. I can’t go with you.

  You can’t or you won’t?

  She turns back to me, but she won’t meet my gaze. I don’t want to.

  Her words punch me in the gut. She doesn’t want to go with me? That can’t be true. This is all wrong. Everything’s happening too fast.

  A hand clamps my shoulder. “Come on, kid,” Denver says. “Time’s a-tickin’.” He breaks apart my left hand’s grasp on Mira’s right. Bai swoops in and clasps Mira’s free palm.

  Mira, no! Please!

  Mira’s eyes lift and linger on me for a moment. Then she turns her gaze to the center of the circle. A mental door slams closed between us. She’s shut me out.

  A strange sensation seizes my body, like I’m a marionette and someone is pulling the strings. Then the strangeness is replaced by the familiar discomfort of a bound.

  Bam!

  Slam!

  My butt hits the ground. Denver still has my hand in his, but where Mira’s palm was moments before, my hand hangs free.
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  “WHERE ON EARTH ARE WE?” one of the aeronauts asks.

  Denver pushes himself up. “Are we on Earth?”

  “How’d we get here?” Bai asks. “It felt like we were just ripped through space.”

  Pretty much.

  Curling my fingers against my palm, I can almost feel Mira’s skin still pressed against mine. What did you do, Mira?

  “Hey, kid!” Denver says. “Where’s the girl? And the Youli?”

  I ignore him and look around. The room we’re in is dark and disorienting. A light wind stirs the hair on my arms. Memories tug at the corners of my mind. This is where I learned to bound.

  Just like Mira said, the Youli brought us to the Ezone.

  A loud noise sounds in the distance. An alarm.

  Denver kicks me in the shoe. “Kid! Snap out of it and tell us what’s happening!”

  I push myself up to standing. “We’re at the space station. This is a training room. I guess we should just head to the—”

  The door bursts open, letting in a radius of light along with the wail of the alarm. Six officers rush in, weapons raised.

  “What the . . . ?” the one in front shouts.

  “Are you . . . ?” another says, staring at Denver and his pod.

  “Jasper Adams!” A familiar face topped with bright red hair catapults at me, wrapping me up in a hug.

  “Hi, Ryan!” I step back into my personal space. “How’s it going?”

  “How’s it going?” he parrots back. “You’re supposed to be dead, and you ask me how’s it going? How are you? Where have you been all this time? How did you get here?”

  “Ryan, what happened on Alkalinia? Did my sister make it? How long have—”

  “Attention!” Denver Reddy claps his hands. “I am Captain Denver Reddy. Salute your senior officer!”

  Ryan and all the Earth Force officers who arrived with him snap to attention. Denver turns to me. “That means you, too, kid. We’re not in . . . whatever that awful place was . . . anymore.”

  Welcome back to Earth Force, I suppose. I resist the urge to glare at Denver and slowly lift my hand to my forehead.

  Once everyone in the room other than Denver’s pod is silent and standing rod straight, Denver crosses his arms against his chest. “Good. Now, no more questions. Take us to see whoever’s in charge. Immediately.”

  The next few minutes are a total blur. The officers rush me and the lost aeronauts out of the Ezone and through the halls of the space station. As we walk, one of the officers speaks quietly into her com link. When we arrive at the chute, a dozen officers are there to greet us with starstruck looks on their faces. They salute the lost aeronauts. Some of them even bow to Denver.

  Geez. The guy’s not that awesome.

  I get that it’s a pretty big deal. Most of the officers at the space station were around my age when Denver and his pod disappeared. They probably watched the Incident live on the webs. Seeing Denver Reddy is like seeing someone return from the dead.

  “Still using the chutes, eh?” Denver asks the young officer holding open the door to the cube.

  The officer opens his mouth, but no words come out. As red rises to his cheeks, he manages to cough out, “Yes, sir, Captain Reddy, sir.”

  Another officer gestures for the lost aeronauts to enter the cube. She follows them in and activates the system. Denver steps up to the grate and gets sucked in. The other aeronauts follow, then the rest of the officers, until just Ryan and I are left. Now I’ll finally get some answers.

  “They should have let you go in the front,” Ryan says. “You’ve been missing, too, after all.” Ryan is taller, and he’s not as round in the middle as he used to be. It’s like someone hung him up and let gravity stretch him.

  “That’s okay,” I say. “Ryan, how long have I been gone?”

  “You don’t know?” When I shake my head, Ryan’s eyes go wide. “What happened?”

  “Just . . . how long, Ryan?”

  He scrunches up his face in thought. “The Battle of the Alkalinian Seat was close to a year ago.”

  A year? I suck in a breath. No wonder Ryan looks different. How much happened while I was away?

  I grab Ryan’s forearm. “My sister, is she okay?”

  A strange look passes across his face and he flicks his eyes to the floor.

  Oh God. She didn’t make it. Pain pierces my chest like a twisting knife. How could I let that happen? I couldn’t even protect my own sister!

  “She was killed in the battle? Was it when the venom tube broke apart?”

  “Oh . . . No!” Ryan shakes his head. “She survived the battle!”

  Thank goodness. It feels like every muscle in my body exhales.

  “It’s just . . . ,” Ryan continues.

  Tensing up again, I tighten my grip on Ryan’s arm. “Just what? Is she okay or not, Ryan?”

  “She’s okay—at least, I think so. The thing is, she’s not here. In fact, I’m not sure where she is, although I bet she’s with your pod mate Marco Romero.”

  Huh? What’s he not telling me about Addy and Marco? And what else happened while I was away? I can’t believe I was gone a whole year!

  Ryan’s com link buzzes, and we both jump. “Officer Walsh, please escort Officer Adams to the admiral’s briefing room immediately.”

  He rolls his eyes and nods at the chute cube. “We’ve got to go. You remember how to work this thing?”

  “Wait, Ryan, I don’t understand. Where’s my sister?”

  Ryan looks both ways down the hall. “I probably shouldn’t have said anything. Most of what I know is rumors. Ask the admiral. Or your buddy Cole. He has top-level clearance now. We really need to go.”

  As I stand on the crate waiting to be sucked into the chute, my mind spins. Mira left with the Youli, and I don’t know why. Addy is gone, and I don’t know where. I lost a year of my life in that horrible rift, and now it seems I may have lost even more.

  • • •

  Ryan stands aside to let me enter the briefing room. My heart pounds so hard, I can hardly catch my breath. And I’m exhausted. Even though adrenaline is still coursing through every centimeter of my body, I feel like I can barely stand. I was up all night, first deactivating the shield in Alkalinia, and then trying to find our way out of the rift. Now I’m back and having to wrap my head around all the time I’ve lost and how much has changed.

  At least this room is familiar. It’s the same briefing room where Admiral Eames told us that our pod would be the advance team to Alkalinia. For me, that was only a few weeks ago. For everyone else in this room, other than the lost aeronauts, a year has passed since that meeting. My mind spins. How much have I missed?

  Trying to focus on one thing is a lost cause. Is Addy okay? Where is she? Why is she with Marco? Cole has top-level clearance? How did that happen? How’s Lucy? What about everyone else? Did they survive the Battle of the Alkalinian Seat?

  Where is Mira? Is she safe? Why did she leave with the Youli? Why did she leave me?

  The room is almost full, and no one seemed to notice when I walked in and stood in the corner. Everyone is focused on the lost aeronauts who are in various stages of freaking out. It must be starting to set in that they’ve been gone for more than fourteen years—make that fifteen years now. A year seems like an eternity for me; I can’t even imagine how they must feel. A huge chunk of life has passed them by.

  Bai paces the length of the room, brushing off anyone who tries to engage her. One of the younger aeronauts begs the officers to let her contact Earth. Of course, that’s not happening. Earth Force would never let this media gem get out without proper spin.

  Denver is the only one who appears relatively calm. He shakes everyone’s hands and smiles in a way that reminds me of Maximilian Sheek but without that weird tipped chin. After all, Denver was the face of Earth Force while Sheek was still in grade school.

  “Hey, Jasper,” a voice near me says. “That’s your name, right?”

>   It’s the aeronaut who first spotted us in the rift. He’s leaning against the wall next to me.

  I nod.

  “What’s happening? What are we waiting for?”

  I have no idea why he’s asking me when there are over a dozen high-level officers in the room. Maybe it’s because I’m the only person he knows other than his pod mates. The other officers in the room were kids when he disappeared.

  I shrug. “I’m guessing the admiral is on her way. We’ll know more then.”

  He shakes his head. “We’ve really been gone fifteen years, huh? This is going to be a very different homecoming than what I envisioned.”

  I’m not exactly sure what to say. “At least it’s a homecoming, right? Everyone thought you were dead. I guess they thought I was dead, too.”

  “Is that why they’re looking at us like we’re ghosts?”

  The door swings open and in walks Captain James Ridders and Cole. Everyone snaps to attention.

  Cole surveys the room. His gaze passes over the lost aeronauts but doesn’t stop until he spots me. When he does, his whole body seems to exhale. He dips his chin in a tiny nod.

  Thank goodness! I’m finally going to get some answers. I head over to greet my friend but stop when the door opens again. Admiral Eames enters.

  “What a momentous day!” she declares as she walks to the head of the table. “Welcome back!” Her voice sounds high and shaky.

  Just like Cole, the admiral searches the room with her eyes, but before she finds who she’s looking for, Denver Reddy plows through the crowd to reach her. “Cora!”

  He swoops her up in his arms. Her feet dangle half a meter above the floor.

  For a moment—so quick I’m not even sure it happened—the admiral melts into Denver’s embrace. Then she stiffens and whispers something in Denver’s ear. He sets her down.

  “You’ll address me as Admiral,” she says, straightening her uniform. Her cheeks are pink as she takes her seat. “At ease.” She instructs her ranking officers to give up their seats for the lost aeronauts and—somewhat shockingly—me. As soon as we’re seated she turns to Denver. “Captain Reddy, please tell us what happened.”