By the time the three came across an intersection in the tunnels, Grace’s hands had finally stopped shaking. She still didn’t feel anything remotely resembling calm, but her heart wasn’t on the verge of exploding anymore, either.

Jasper nodded toward a smaller tunnel branching off the one they’d been walking through. “Get in position,” she told Holly. “Make sure the others are ready.”

A ladder waited on the opposite wall. While Holly disappeared into the darkness behind them, Jasper and Grace climbed the ladder, passed through a manhole cover, and emerged in an alleyway.

“Whoa,” Grace breathed as she scrambled onto concrete. The buildings around them stretched into the upper districts, some for nearly a mile, leaving only thin slivers of the pale red sky peeking through overhead. “It’s sunrise already?” All in all, she hadn’t felt like they’d spent much time in the police station or the tunnels, but maybe all of the adrenaline coursing through her had warped her perception of time.

Jasper straightened up and adjusted her coat. “Yep. Follow me.”

Grace was too nervous to annoy Jasper with more questions, so she trailed her silently through a maze of alleys. Her gaze darted in every direction as they walked. Dumpsters around them overflowed with garbage, and small rodents scurried into the shadows beneath as the two passed. Puddles of liquid that probably weren’t water reflected neon signs and flashing billboards.

It was wildly different from the upper districts Grace had spent the past few years living in.

They finally stopped in front of a dented door in the side of a sleek black building. “You gonna ask what we’re doing?” Jasper asked as she picked the lock.

“I wasn’t sure you’d want to tell me,” Grace replied.

“Well, we’re going up.”

“How?”

“Out of service elevator. My technopath—the aforementioned hacker—got it running with her—” Jasper spared a hand to make a wavy motion. “—techy mind powers.” The door opened with a click. “We’re going all the way to the top, so we’ll have time to talk.”

“About what?” Grace followed Jasper into the building.

“You, obviously.” Lights flickered on, and a short walk down a hall brought Jasper and Grace to an elevator waiting with open doors. “Can you think of anything that would lead to Starr turning on you now?”

The elevator’s silver—and slightly rusted—doors closed and reflected Grace’s ragged reflection back at her. “It probably has to do with Kara Callisto,” she answered, wiping at a dark smudge on her chin with her thumb.

“Thea, take us to the roof,” Jasper said into her ear comm. The elevator jerked up. “Kara who?”

“She showed up at the palace a few pentasols ago and said she was an ambassador from Earth,” Grace explained. “And then—well, a couple of hours ago, my math tutor didn’t show up to my rooms for our usual lesson.”

One of Jasper’s eyebrows shot up. “That early?”

“My lessons have always started pretty early.” Grace shrugged. “I’m always done by early afternoon, though.”

“And that leaves you plenty of free time to…?”

“If I’m not invited to any events—” These days, that was usually one of Starr’s public speeches or rallies. It had been a long time since Grace got to go to a party where people were allowed to mingle with her. “—I usually watch TV or read. I eat dinner in one of the dining halls and chat with palace staff.” A bit awkwardly, Grace shrugged again. “My life hasn’t exactly been exciting, until this morning.”

“Right.” Jasper rose onto her tiptoes and lifted a portion of the elevator ceiling. She pulled a black duffel bag off the roof. “And what happened when your tutor didn’t show up?”

“I went looking for him and realized the halls around my room were completely deserted,” Grace recounted. “Kara found me in time to save me from one of my bodyguards. He shot at me, Kara hit him with her blaster, and we ran. She didn’t have time to explain much before police found us and killed her.” Her chest tightened at that last bit. At the memory that resurfaced with the words.

“What was Kara able to tell you?” The bag dropped to the ground. Jasper knelt, unzipped it, and drew out a small knife.

Grace had to think for a moment to find the useful bits of information among frantic memories of her time with Kara. “She said she’s from a group called Earthguard, and that I match the profile of a girl abducted from Earth.”

Jasper pulled out bigger and bigger daggers from the bag and stashed them in various pockets. “‘Bout time someone did something,” she muttered. Louder, she asked, “So, you are from Earth, then?”

“I guess.” Grace’s brow furrowed. “Kara also said something about an issue with the timeline that she would explain later.”

“Timeline issue? What’s that supposed to mean?” Jasper asked. A wider variety of weapons and devices came out of the bag. A gun, a smartsphere, a tablet…

“No idea.” Grace swallowed. “And I guess I’ll never know, now that she’s dead.” Remembering Jasper’s earlier question, she added, “Anyway, Earthguard also wanted me because they can use me as evidence that Starr has secret labs. They might be able to use me to make the Interstar Council take action.”

Grace hesitated a moment before continuing. “I’m not sure how useful I’ll be without any memory of all that, but I guess my wings are evidence enough, if they can prove they were made in Starr’s labs.” She turned a little so that she could glance at her folded wings in the elevator door’s reflection.

“Kara’s arrival must have scared Starr, then. He realized he’d run out of time to deal with you quietly.” Jasper stood, leaving the empty bag on the floor of the elevator.

Grace looked Jasper up and down quickly, impressed by how much stuff had gone into the coat’s pockets without any obvious bulk. Just a few slight bulges here and there. “Kara made it sound like Starr’s been abducting a lot of humans for these secret experiments,” Grace noted.

“Not just humans,” Jasper replied. “And it’s been happening since before Starr was born. Syrus Starr, I mean.” Jasper’s expression darkened.

Right. Syrus, the current governor, was one of many in the Starr family that had held the title of governor.

“Did Kara mention how long Earthguard’s been investigating the abductions?” Jasper asked. “Or how long they’ve even been around?”

Grace shook her head. “Nope. Sorry.”

The elevator let out a terrible creak as it slowed. Grace flinched. It had been out of service for a reason. What if it broke down? What if they got stuck? Or dropped all the way to the ground? What if—?

“You good, Angel? You look nervous.” Jasper drew a knife with a hot pink handle from one of her pockets and inspected the blade. She was too smart to use a dangerous elevator, right?

Maybe Grace’s fears were irrational, but she needed to distract herself from all the ways her mind was telling her she could die in the next five minutes. “You gave Bruce Wright your age in Earth years. Are you from Earth, too?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.” Seeing Van Terra in the news, Grace had always assumed she was one of the many humans whose ancestors had been recruited to come to Kronos for work-related reasons. Travel between star systems was ridiculously expensive. “Why’d you come here?”

The elevator stopped. “Sorry, no time for my backstory now,” Jasper said as the doors opened. She returned the knife to her pocket.

The two stepped out of the elevator and onto the roof of a skyscraper. This was the view of the city Grace was used to. Rooftops, streams of flying vehicles, and glimpses of the planet’s ocean in the distance. The sky had lightened to a faint pink, but the sun Gemma rose in the east, rapidly turning it blue.

Kronos was on the far side of Gemma now, and the Janus System’s other sun, Myni, wouldn’t be visible in the sky for another season. Kronos’s two moons were up, though, faintly visible on the horizon. Hedas reflected a gray-green light, while the larger Iros had an iridescent sheen to it.

The rest of the Janus System’s planets orbited one star or the other. Kronos was the only one to move in a figure-eight around both. That entire figure-eight was a starcycle—roughly two and a half Earth years.

“Well, looks like we’re running with the theory that your wings were made in Starr’s secret lab.” Jasper’s gaze swept over the city.

“Starr’s secret lab,” Grace repeated, the phrase still sounding utterly unbelievable to her. “And where is that, exactly?”

“Underground. The place is called Sky Labs, ironically. The Starrs obviously didn’t want their name attached to their experiments.” Jasper pointed to a door on the other side of the roof. “We’re going in there.”

The door opened before either of them could move. Eight people emerged. The group was made up of various species from around the star system, but they all wore the same black pants, black combat boots, and red shirts.

“Are they with us?” Grace asked.

“Absolutely not. I don’t do the whole matchy-matchy thing.” Jasper lowered her voice. “Do you not know who these people are?”

“Am I supposed to?” Grace asked as the eight formed a loose circle around them.

“They’re Red Blades.”

“What are Red Blades?”

Jasper groaned. “You don’t have a clue, do you? Okay, keep quiet and I’ll handle this.”