Page 19 of Reformation
“Yes.” Grennson’s eyes were huge and bright with an emotion Darrel didn’t want to see in his best friend. It looked suspiciously like fear. “I can’t feel them anymore. I could for a while, but now they’re moving away, and I can’tfeelthem!”
“Okay, c’mere.” He led Grennson over to the couch and pushed him to sit back on it, but Grennson wouldn’t let go of his hand.
“Stay with me,” he insisted, and Darrel couldn’t say no.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he promised, all while sending out a ping for Cody and Ten. His implant echoed dully: no response evident. He checked his messages again, but there was still nothing. What the hell were the two of them doing, leaving the planet but not leaving a note?
An incoming-call light flashed on the holo screen in the center of the living room. Darrel activated it instantly. “Hello?”
“Darrel?” The face that materialized in the vid was … Garrett Helms? Darrel felt himself relax a little. “Are you okay?”
“Grennson and I are fine. Do you know about the deployment?”
“I’ve heard about it, but I don’t have all the details yet. Is Cody there?”
Darrel’s tension ramped up so tight that he heard Grennson squeak in reaction next to him. “No,” he said slowly. “He and Ten are gone … I thought maybe they were with you? I haven’t seen either of them all morning.”
“No.” Garrett’s voice had lost all inflection. “They’re not with me. Do you have any idea where they could be?”
“Off planet,” Grennson whispered. Garrett’s eyes focused on him like a laser. “I felt them leave perhaps a quarter of an hour ago. I don’t know who they’re with if not with you.”
“Ah.” That was it, justah. “Give me a moment.” His face vanished from the screen, and Darrel and Grennson exchanged a blank look.
“What the hell?”
“If Garrett doesn’t know where they are, then they’ve—they’ve probably run away.”
“Why would they run away?” Darrel demanded. “Neither of them is afraid of something like a deployment. At the worst, it would be an inconvenience for Ten, but Cody wouldn’t just … abandon his responsibilities like this.”He wouldn’t abandon us.
“I don’t think it’s about avoiding conflict,” Grennson said slowly, like he was still working it out in his head. “I think it might be about—approaching it from a different direction. Do you know where the pirates are attacking?”
“They haven’t announced it yet.” Darrel felt his heart stutter a little in his chest. “Do you think …”
“I think we’re going to Pandora.”
“Then why wouldn’t they want to go?” Darrel exploded. “You wouldn’t be able to keep Codyawayfrom Pandora if it’s under attack, not with his dad there right now. It doesn’t make any sense!”
“I know.” Grennson’s voice was quiet. “Which makes you wonder, doesn’t it? What would pull them away from the opportunity to travel to Pandora and be part of its protection, without giving them black marks on their Academy records? What would make them leave without telling us? Why would they have to be so secretive? Why wouldn’t they even contact Garrett?” He gestured toward the frozen holoscreen. “Cody has never been careless of his fathers’ feelings. Garrett is greatly distraught.”
“How can you even tell that?”
“It’s very clear to an empath.”
The holoscreen flared to life again before Darrel could reply. “Stay in your quad for the time being,” Garrett said without ceremony. “You’re going to be personally escorted to your individual deployments.”
“How do you know that?” Garrett wasn’t a part of the Academy’s administration; he shouldn’t be able to know these things.
He just shook his head.
“Will we be together?” Grennson asked.
That got the first fresh hint of emotion from Garrett since they had told him Cody and Ten weren’t around. He smiled, and now Darrel could see what Grennson must have been sensing all along: it was the most fragile, careful smile he had ever seen. “Yes, you’ll be together. I promise.”
Grennson exhaled heavily. “Thank you, Garrett.”
“It’s the least I can do. Take care of each other, all right?”
“What about Cody and Ten?” Darrel pressed.
