Iko paced back in forth in front of the couch, her hands making gestures like she was counting things off a list.
"Okay. So, no one remembers you except me, and I can't be controlled by a lunar. You remember who you are because, well… they can't really take away your memory of you, and plus you're a shell so it wouldn't work anyway." She paused, looking down at Cress who was sitting on the floor leaning her back on the couch. "And then when you went to the Rampion and you were comming Thorne, he seemed to remember you, and when he came back he remembered you. Then Mia Martinez saunters in and suddenly he forgets you."
Cress nodded. They'd gone over this information several times in the last three hours, and they had no more leads than when they started. They knew Mia Martinez was lunar, that much was obvious, but when Cress had checked the immigration lists, she'd found no trace of the mystery lunar woman.
Cress hauled herself to her feet to get a glass of water. Iko had come to her apartment at ten o'clock that morning, and Cress had still been asleep. She was still tired from her all-nighter spent scrolling through classified documents, but Iko was here doing her best to solve the problem, so Cress pushed through it.
"And the maid," Iko continued. "How does she fit into all of this? Do you think she's been brainwashing Kai and Cinder to forget you?"
"I think that's the most logical way the maid and Mia Martinez are connected. Cinder noticed the maid on the same day I met Mia, so maybe they're working together. But what I don't understand is how could Cinder not have noticed her before? I saw that maid around several times when I was staying at the palace and nobody seemed to notice she was lunar." Cress said, settling herself down on the couch instead of the floor.
"Yeah, it doesn't make sense." Iko stopped her pacing and sat next to Cress. "And what about the whole Amelia Davis thing? Why would they, whoever they are, give you a fake name?"
"Ugh." Cress groaned, slumping forward with her head resting on her knees. She had completely forgotten about Amelia Davis.
"I don't know," She said. "Do you think we should go back to the palace and talk to Cinder and Kai?"
Iko frowned. "Maybe. It would be good to let them know what's going on, since they don't even know about Mia Martinez or Thorne yet, but Cinder is still pretty shaken. She's feeling better today, although I don't know if she'll be up for a visit." She paused, and reconsidered. "Or actually, I think we should go see them. Kai will be able to give us some in tell on the maid."
Cress nodded. She debated asking Iko to go check out the Rampion with her again, but she doubted she could go back there so soon and face Mia Martinez and Thorne. "Okay," she said, getting up again and walking to the bedroom. "I'm going to shower and change, ready in 20 minutes?"
Iko winked. "Only twenty minutes? If I had to shower and change, you wouldn't be seeing me for at least another hour."
Cress laughed, the happy sound startling her slightly, and closed the bedroom door behind her.
.oOOo.
23 minutes later, Cress was showered and ready to head up to the palace. They called a hover, which brought them to the palace just in time for Kai to be done his daily duties, and for Cinder to climb out of bed for the first time that day.
When Iko and Cress walked into the library together, Kai greeted them with a warm smile. Cinder sat at the table, half-heartedly flipping through a pile of paper cards, each one inviting the recipient to the royal wedding in different fonts.
"Hey, Cress. Nice to see you back." Kai said.
"Hi, Kai. Cinder." Cress nodded at the both of them, casting a worried glance at Cinder. Cinder inclined her head towards Cress.
"Kai," Iko said, sliding into the seat next to Cinder. "Did you learn anything new about that maid? Or how she was hired?"
Kai's expression darkened. "I did. Cress, Iko, care to take a walk with me in the gardens?"
"What for?" Cress asked. They were already here, together. Why would they need to relocate to the gardens?"
"Just… please?" He looked at Cinder, who was still thumbing through the different sample invitations. He brought his voice down to a whisper. "I'm worried about Cinder."
Oh. That's why. All this talk of lunars in the palace was clearly still affecting Cinder, and Kai wanted to discuss it without her presence. "Sure," she said, grabbing Iko's arm and gently pulling her put of the chair. "Let's go."
After a short walk through the palace, Cress, Iko, and Kai stepped out into the thick late summer air. They walked in silence for a few moments, leaving Cress to admire the gardens.
After visiting the Royal Gardens for the first time after the revolution, Cress had done a significant amount of research on Royal Gardens, and even though she and Thorne had visited the palace several times in between antidote runs, the gardens never failed to leave her a little bit breathless at their beauty. The stone paths wound around flower beds filled with lotus flowers, jasmine, bushes of pink azaleas and clumps of chrysanthemums. Bonsai trees and stands of bamboo lined some pathways, and small canals and ponds filled with koi fish and lily pads sparkled in the sunlight. Stone statues and glass balls stood in some of the flower beds. Honey bees and butterflies landed on the flowers, making the whole garden seem alive.
Kai led them to a bridge that crossed a pond. The bridge was carved in a style that Cress recognized from the royal palace on Luna, with a crescent moon insignia of molded silver shining on the side. Cress' eyes widened.
Kai gave her a small smile. "I had it built the day after Cinder said she'd marry me. The press and the rest of the palace think it's a monument to mark the end of the tension between Earth and Luna, and I suppose that's true. But really, it's for Cinder. I know she understands that I accept her for who she is, but I still had to make something… permanent. To show her just how much she means to me. I don't think I could live without her."
His voice broke on the last word, and he ducked his head, leaning heavily on the railing of the bridge. "I- I hate what she's going through right now. I think-" Kai stopped himself, looking up and blinking hard. Iko rested a comforting hand of his shoulder. "I'd better tell you everything I know first."
.oOOo.
They stood on the bridge while Kai explained how he'd looked into the lunar maid, inquiring with the hiring committee about how she'd been hired. Having Lunars on staff wasn't illegal anymore, but many of the world leaders claimed they would feel more comfortable visiting the palace if they knew the staff were Earthen, so Kai had implemented the rule that any lunar on staff was required to have a bioelectricity barrier installed, like the one Cinder used to have. To his knowledge, there were three lunar staff members, all with the proper qualifications and bioelectricity barriers. When Kai had asked about the lunar maid, he was greeted with a surprise.
"The head of the hiring committee was just as surprised as we were. He had no idea that we had any Lunars without the barrier on staff, and when I described the maid, the way you two saw her, not the way I did, and he said there was no one under our employ that looks like that. I tried describing her the way I saw her, by her glamour. And the head of the hiring committee recognised her, but said he hadn't hired her. " Kai stopped to let the words sink in.
"Anyway," he continued, "the head of the hiring committee referred me to Li Wei, the guy who's in charge of hiring only the wait staff. So I went and talked to him, and he told me that he had hired that maid about three weeks ago. He also had no idea that she's Lunar, and he even gave me her file to look over." He unclipped his port from his belt and entered his passcode. Cress found herself thinking about the days when she'd known everything there was to know about Kai, including his passcode. When she'd told him that, he had immediately changed his passcode.
"Here," Kai said, handing Cress his port. "It all looks normal, it doesn't mention anything about her being a Lunar."
Cress took the portscreen and held it so that she and Iko could both see it easily. The profile of a woman she'd never seen before blinked up at her. She had shiny black hair that fell past her shoulders, warm brown eyes, and fair skin. She looked nothing like the maid Cress had seen around the palace several times. Cress scanned over the rest of the file, Iko reading over her shoulder.
NAME:YUÉ ZÉI
BIRTHDATE: JUNE 10, 103 T.E.
BIRTHPLACE: NEW BEJING
MARITAL STATE: MARRIED WITH TWO CHILDREN, AGED 4 AND 6
Cress stopped reading and turned to Kai. "Kai, what's going on? Photos can't be taken of glamours. This maid can't be the same lunar maid."
"What?" Iko asked. "Then why is Cinder so wonky? There has to be a lunar maid somewhere!"
Kai nodded. "I'm pretty sure there is. But Iko, I'm convinced that this maid, Yué Zéi, is actually Earthen. I commed her home to check, and I spoke briefly with her husband."
Cress stared at him, waiting for him to continue. "And?"
Kai gulped. "She hasn't come home in two days. Her husband reported her missing to the police."
Cress and Iko stared at him, shock and understanding showing on their faces.
It was Iko who finally spoke.
"You think the lunar maid has kidnapped the real Yué Zéi, and is impersonating her?"
Kai nodded gravely, his hair obscuring his eyes. "I think it's certainly possible. And I'm not saying for sure, but I have a feeling it has something to do with why Cinder's feeling so terrible. I think the fact that she didn't notice the maid was lunar right away scared her, like she's losing her powers. But she couldn't have felt the maid's lunar bioelectricity before, because she didn't have any."
"It makes sense," Cress agreed slowly. "But, as always, my question is, why?"
Suddenly, Iko gasped and started tapping Cress' shoulder incessantly. "What about Mia Martinez?"
Kai's eyebrows knitted together. "Who's Mia Martinez?" he asked.
.oOOo.
Cress and Iko took turns explaining what had happened at the Rampion the day before, both of them watching as Kai expressions changed from happy, to shocked, to angry. When they finished, Kai looked so exasperated, he looked just about ready to claw his eyes out.
"I was so sure that we knew of every single Lunar to immigrate or even visit Earth! Now you're telling me that there's more, possibly criminal Lunars who are coming to Earth without anyone knowing? Stars."
Iko and Cress shared an anxious look. "Kai," Iko said cautiously, "Mia Martinez might have already been on Earth before the new laws were passed. She might have even been born here."
Kai shook his head. "I don't buy it. On the same day that Cinder notices the Lunar maid and Yué Zéi goes missing, Cress discovers that Thorne is being glamoured into making out with a Lunar woman-"
Wouldn't be the first time, Cress thought darkly.
"There has to be some kind of connection." He finished. Then Kai looked at Cress, running a hand through his hair. "I know what you mean, Cress. My biggest question right now is why?"
"I don't know. None of it makes any sense. Everyone forgets me, then Cinder notices the maid, then Mia Martinez shows up, and I'm sure she wasn't on the Rampion when I first went back to go see Thorne, two days ago. How is it all connected?"
Iko twirled some of her braids around her wrist. "It doesn't compute. Maybe someone wants to sabotage the royal wedding…"
Kai groaned. Cress remembered that he had spent a significant portion of the rebellion having his wedding sabotaged. Mostly by Cinder.
"But what does that have to do with our missing memories of Cress?" He asked, surprising her a little. She had been wondering if Cinder and Kai actually believed her, or if they were just going along with it because Iko claimed to remember her. Now, she knew that Kai, at least, genuinely believed her. It meant so much to Cress that she wanted to tackle Kai with a hug.
Cress cleared her throat quietly. "I feel like I've been saying this way too much, but I don't know."
They lapsed into silence, and stood on the bridge for a long time. Cress was inspecting the railing so intently that she noticed letters inscribed in the white stone.
Cinder – I love you to the moon and back.
The words were simple. A common saying, really, though it was a little second- era. Coming from anyone else, it would have seemed like a cheesy declaration of love. But coming from Kai to Cinder… Cress knew it meant so much more.
She glanced over at the emperor, his dark hair obscuring his eyes. His hands gripped the railing tighter than seemed necessary, given they were in a beautiful garden filled with fragrant flowers, and Cress noticed with a pang of sympathy that his hands were shaking.
Cress looked over at Iko, who was mimicking Kai's tense stance. The colour-changing eyes of her friend were a deep blue-ish black. Worried, and… scared.
Cress' resolve hardened. She was going to solve this. She couldn't help thinking that it was her fault, so she should be the one to fix it. Whatever was wrong with Cinder, it was worrying Kai and Iko to death. Cress had to find the answer. She'd get Thorne back, get rid of Mia Martinez, find out why everyone forgot her.
She had to.
.oOOo.
"Iko," Cress murmured as they made their way back into the palace, twenty minutes later. "Iko, I need you to listen to me. I'm going to figure this out by myself, okay? Tell Kai not to worry, and just keep looking after Cinder." When Iko's eyes widened and her mouth opened in protest, Cress shook her head. "Please don't argue with me. I'll keep in touch. I'll be fine. I'm going to get Thorne back, and fix this whole mess. Please," She begged, when Iko tried to talk again. "Let me do this."
After several more minutes of walking, Kai went back to check on Cinder and Cress and Iko found themselves at the palace gates. Iko nodded.
"Okay. Be safe." She wrapped Cress in a hug, smoothing down her blonde hair with a soft hand.
Cress smiled, suddenly feeling like this might be that last time she saw Iko for a while.
"I will."
She walked through the gates, turning one last time to wave good-bye at Iko. Once she was out of sight, she broke into a run. She didn't need to be running, but for some reason, it felt important.
I promise.