Cress and Iko tracked down Cinder and Kai from where they'd been cake tasting in the kitchen and told them the news. They could make no more sense of the situation than Cress and Iko had been able to.
"Look here," Kai said, putting down a plate with a large slice of bright red cake on it and holding up his portscreen. "It's a picture of us after the revolution. The caption says 'Linh Cinder, or Princess Selene, posing with her friends. From right to left: Ze'ev Kesley, Scarlet Benoit, Carswell Thorne, Amelia Davis, Linh Cinder, Emperor Kaito of the Eastern Commonwealth, Princess Winter of luna, Jacin Clay and android Iko.' Apparently your name is Amelia Davis." He pointed to the name Amelia and how it lined up with Cress' image.
"It's so strange." Cinder murmured. "I look up 'Amelia Davis' and get thousands of media hits, interviews with you, biographies, pictures, everything." She focused her gaze on Cress, confusion and doubt flickering across her face. "You… are you sure your name is Cress?"
Cress couldn't help but feel a little offended. "Of course I am. I've lived with it for almost 19 years, haven't I?"
Cinder shook her head, as if to clear it. "Yeah, right. Sorry."
Cress looked at her shoes, blush creeping up her cheeks. Cinder knew more than anybody what it was like to have a name your whole life and then suddenly discover that it was not the one you were given at birth.
"Okay, we need to think." Kai had taken hold of Cinder's hand and was leading her towards the door. "Come on, you two. Let's head to the library and comm Thorne to join us."
.oOOo.
They sat on fluffy armchairs that Cress immediately felt lost in, like she was sinking into quicksand. However, it was very comfortable, and Cress allowed herself to relax a little. A member of the palace staff came in leaden with a tray tea and scones. Cress was a little puzzled. Whenever she had visited the palace in the past, it had always been Nainsi or some other android that brought the refreshments. Now, almost every single time it had been a human.
Cress decided to ask Kai about it.
"I'm not really in charge of hiring palace staff, but I do know that Nainsi has been acting up a little lately. I've asked the palace mechanics to take a look at her, but they're a little swamped at the moment." Kai explained.
Cinder huffed and rolled her eyes. "Kai, you know it only take me a few minutes to figure out what's wrong and fix her."
Kai put his arm around his bride to be and smiled at her. "I know, Cinder, but you've already fixed her once before. You are the best mechanic in New Beijing, you might force my royal mechanics out of work if you took over." He teased.
"Stars," Iko muttered. "What is taking Thorne so long? It's not that far away from here…"
Cress had been thinking the same thing. She knew he had special clearance to land on the palace landing pad, so he didn't have to come in the normal way.
"I commed him ten minutes ago," Cinder said, "I'll try again. Maybe he's still asleep?"
Cress glanced at her port. The clock read 11:39 AM. "Doubtful," she said. "Thorne rarely sleeps past ten."
The four friends sat in the library waiting for Thorne to comm a reply, not speaking much. Cress felt herself getting more and more anxious; Thorne might be a little lackadaisical about some aspects of his life, but usually never punctuality or his appearance. Gotta make a good impression, he always said.
Stars, she missed him. The week she spent without him at their apartment was one of the loneliest in her life, and she'd lived in solitude on a satellite for seven years. After being with him all the time, Thorne's absence felt like a hole in her heart. Now, he was as far away as ever. He didn't remember who she was. That, she decided, was worse than pining for him in the satellite. She had memories of all their adventures together, their first kiss on the rooftop of the palace, but Thorne thought he did all of those things alone. To him, she was the same girl he rescued from the satellite: scared, shy, and helpless.
They waited for another half hour together in the library. Twice, two different maids came in bringing tea and cookies. The second maid's clothes looked like they didn't fit her properly, though she seemed to know what she was doing. When the second maid left, carrying an empty tray, Cress noticed Cinder staring at her retreating back as though the maid was a ghost.
Cinder gulped and turned to Kai, who was flipping through comms on his portscreen. "Um, Kai? Were you aware that one of our palace staff is Lunar?"
Kai, Iko and Cress turned startled eyes toward Cinder. "Are you sure?" Kai asked.
Cinder nodded. "Yes. I don't know why I didn't feel her bioelectricity before. It's really prominent. I suspect that maid was also wearing a glamour."
"Wait, what?" Cress and Iko said, almost in unison. "Why would a maid want to use a glamour?" Iko asked.
Cinder shook her head. "I don't know. She was just a maid."
Something wasn't adding up. Why had Cinder suddenly freaked out about that one maid? Cress had seen her around the palace a few times, but nothing she'd done had ever raised an alarm. "Wait… Cinder, Kai, What did that maid look like?" She asked, an idea suddenly dawning on her.
"Um, she had black hair tied up in a bun, and she was tall-ish, with brown eyes." Kai stopped, catching the expressions on Cress and Iko's faces. He gulped. "I'm guessing she didn't actually look like that."
"Nope," Iko said. "She had short brown hair and her clothes didn't fit. They looked a little too small for her." Iko wrinkled her nose, as if clothes not fitting right was a criminal offense.
Cinder frowned , her eyebrows knitting together. "I… I don't know how I didn't notice her before. That same maid must have been around that palace for weeks."
"She was," Cress put in. "She brought me tea this morning. I've seen her around several times."
"I guess I must have been too wrapped up in the wedding preparations to notice a lunar in our midst. I just- stars." Cinder muttered. Clearly the encounter had shaken her, almost as if she doubted her own abilities.
Kai, Iko, and Cress exchanged nervous looks. After a few silent moments, Kai put his hand on Cinder's arm, comforting her. "Cinder. Don't be too hard on yourself. You're dealing with a lot right now, it's okay that you didn't notice a lunar working at the palace. After all, I'm equally to blame. My hiring committee let her in; maybe they decided she wasn't a threat?" He laughed, and Cress could tell he didn't really believe in what he'd just said.
"I'm sorry. With the wedding preparations and the lunar prime minister having problems, and now Thorne's not answering, and apparently we have a maid who's lunar and I couldn't tell." Cinder's right hand was shaking and she seemed to have aged ten years in the last few minutes. "I'm so tired, Kai, I think I should just go and, I don't know, have a nap or something." She got up and walked to the door, shaking her head and fiddling with her sleeve. Kai looked like he wanted to go with her, but he stayed sitting where he was.
Cress felt a rush of empathy and sadness for her friend. Cinder was already handling so much: the wedding, taking on the duties of a lunar ambassador, helping the lunar Prime Minister conquer issues, not to mention moving to Earth mostly full time. Add on the stress of Cress showing up out of the blue, Thorne not answering his comms, and a lunar maid, it was no wonder Cinder needed a break. Cress thought about how Cinder had once said she didn't really want to be queen, and here she was, preparing to be an empress while handling a million other duties.
Cress stood up. "I think I'll go check on Thorne. I know where the Rampion's hangar is, I'll see if he's there."
Iko and Kai nodded, neither of them paying her much attention as she walked towards the door. Cress didn't expect them too, after Cinder's "outburst". Just as she reached the door, Iko called after her.
"Want me to come with you?"
"No, I'll be alright. I'll get myself some lunch on the way."
Iko nodded, then turned to Kai and started asking questions about Cinder.
Cress left, shutting the library doors behind her.
.oOOo.
Cress made her way through the palace and out into the city of New Beijing. She found it peaceful, for once, being alone. She almost laughed at the irony of it. Stuck alone in a satellite for seven years, and now she was craving space. Space away from the palace, Iko and Kai, but most of all her problem.
She called a hover once she was out of the palace gates, directing it to take her to the Rampion's hangar, a little over three kilometres through the city. As the hover sped by crowded sidewalks and weaved in and out of traffic, Cress pulled up a comm link to Thorne.
HEY. I AM COMING TO RAMPION. ETA 5 MIN.
When the hover arrived at the hangar, Cress got out and paid for it with a swipe of her wrist across the scanner. It beeped and flashed green, signaling that she was a recognized member of society and not a criminal. So hovers remember me, she thought. But my friends don't.
The sun beat down on her as she walked towards the small door on the side of the massive building. The hangar looked just like any other one, except this one was paid for by the grant that funded the antidote production and distribution. The Rampion shared the hangar with three other ships, both of them rental cargo ships that always had different crews using them. Cress had met some of the crews a few times, but she didn't see them often enough to remember any of their names. She did, however, remember the attendant at the hangar, a middle aged man with a bald spot and an oddly square shaped face.
Cress opened the door and peered into the gloom, taking a few moments to let her eyes adjust to the dim light. "Hello, Phil," She said, addressing the man behind the desk. "Do you know if Captain Thorne is here?"
Phil glanced up at her, barely taking his eyes off the netscreen on the wall. "No, he went out, said he'd be back in 10 minutes," He grunted.
Cress was already halfway through the door that led to where the Rampion was being held when Phil yelled after her.
"Hey! Who're you?"
Cress decided she didn't want to explain the whole thing to him, so she simply said: "Amelia Davis. I'm a friend of the Captain's." Then she hurried through the door, not wanting a second more of Phil's short attention span to be focused on her.
She found the Rampion exactly where it had been last time she's been there, which she realized with a jolt was only yesterday. So much had happened since then, it felt like weeks. The Rampion's hatch was closed, but Cress still had access to the control system, so she ordered Darla to open the hatch. Chances were Thorne forgot her again. From stories he's told her, he didn't seem to remember all the girls he met, especially if he'd only known them for a day. But he remembers every girl he has said "I love you" to, a little voice in her head said. Yeah, but this Thorne hasn't said "I love you" to me. The old Thorne did that. Cress answered back.
"Thorne?" She called tentatively, hoping he would have returned by now. "Are you in here?"
She heard a crash that sounded like it was coming from the engine room.
"Thorne?" She repeated. A second crash resonated in her eardrums. "You okay?" Cress moved in the direction of the sound, but stopped when she heard a ping from her port.
COMM RECEIVED FROM CAPTAIN THORNE: I'LL BE BACK IN A MINUTE. JUST WENT TO GET LUNCH. CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU!
Cress blanched. If Thorne was out getting lunch, then who was with her in the Rampion?
Cress did the only logical thing. She ran and hid.
.oOOo.
Cowering underneath a bunk in one of the crew's quarters, Cress slowed her breathing and listened. For what felt like the millionth time, she was grateful that she was so small. It had saved her time and again. Quietly, and gritting her teeth against the nerves, Cress pulled out her port. Frantically pushing the volume down button, she checked to see if Thorne had said anything else. He hadn't. So who on earth was in the engine room? It could be Cinder, she supposed, wanting a break from the stress of normal life to work on a regular and familiar ship. But there was no way Cinder could have gotten here so fast without Cress at least seeing her on the way. Maybe Thorne had hired help? An android to help with the repairs, perhaps.
CRASH! Another one, louder and this time followed by a small yelp.
Cress stiffened. It sounded like woman. A woman! Her breathing becoming faster and louder with fear and anger, Cress peeked out from under the bed. She hadn't closed the door, but the hallway was empty.
She checked her portscreen again, and then turned it off when she saw no recent comms. Thorne is taking his sweet time with that lunch, she thought. She could really use him right now. There was a rogue woman in his spaceship.
Cress heard another sound, closer this time. Almost in the galley, which was only a few metres away from where Cress was squeezed under a bunk. She held her breath, giving up on keeping her breaths even and controlled. Cress shut her eyes tight, waiting for the woman to come into the room and discover her, but the footsteps stopped at the galley. Cress listened, her ears straining for any small sound, and she heard what definitely confirmed the intruder to be a woman.
She was singing. Not only that, but she was singing Thorne's favourite song, the one that he always asked Cress to sing when they were flying through the open space between Luna and Earth.
"Sweet drops of sunlight in her hair…" The voice sang. "She's got me caught like in a snare, mesmerized by the sun in her hair…"
The voice was beautiful, and Cress felt a little jealous until she reminded herself that the owner of the beautiful voice was doing something very illegal.
Cress wriggled out from under the bed, deciding to see who the woman was. Making as little sound as possible, she crept the short distance down the hallway to the galley and peered through the half open door at the woman standing at the stove.
She was tall, curvy, and still singing. She wore an elegant red and gold skirt and a black strapless top. Her long black hair was pulled into a braid that circled the top of her head like a crown. She had several gold bracelets on her wrists that jingled when she moved. She appeared to be cooking a meal for one person, a pot of soup and a few crackers.
Hoping the woman hadn't noticed her yet, Cress backed away from the galley door and snuck down to the hatch. She had to get to Thorne before the woman did.
As soon as she reached the hatch, it opened and Carswell Thorne walked up it, his face lighting up when he saw Cress.
"Cress!" He yelled, running forward and scooping her up in his arms. "I missed you so much, Cress. How are you? How's the apartment?" Before she could answer, he kissed her, and she kissed him back. Oh stars, she thought. Stars, I love him.
Her head started to spin. He asked about the apartment? He misses me? She pulled away, taking a breath and staring into his eyes. They were twinkling at her.
"Carswell…" She started. "You remember me? How? Yesterday you said you'd never seen me in your life…" She stopped herself; there were bigger issues at hand. "There's someone in here! An intruder in the Rampion. It's a woman, and she was cooking in the galley, Thorne I -"
"Shh Cress, it's alright. Tell me what happened." He put one arm around her shoulders and the other on his gun. He steered her in the direction of the galley, and Cress let out the breath she felt like she'd been holding for days. He remembers me. He remembers me, and he's here. "Thank the stars," she muttered.
She tried to take another step, but Thorne had stopped in his tracks. "Thorne..?" Her voice died in her throat when she saw what had stopped him. The woman was standing in front of them, her eyes sweeping over Cress and regarding her as if she was the lowest life form on the planet.
"Why hello, dearest," She said in a sickly sweet voice that reminded Cress of Levana. "Carswell, darling, would you mind telling me who it is that you've brought with you?" She smiled, her perfect teeth flashing white, but her eyes stayed fixed on Cress.
Cress's gaze swiveled back and forth between Thorne and the woman, her eyes growing more and more desperate each time they landed on Thorne. He looked at Cress like she held no more value than a broken android.
"I don't know, Mia, my love. I've never seen her before today."