“And so now Finn is trying to convince me that we should move all the way to Sanfe if you can believe it. Like why would I want to live in the desert, right next to a Breach? I actually enjoy not being Hexed, thank you very much,” Cami Ortega said emphatically before taking another bite of her hamburger. “Honestly, I can’t imagine how insane you must be to actually go into Mythia territory, Fletchie. I nearly had a panic attack the one time I left the walls.”

  Fletcher smiled and shrugged. His dad was next to him, busy chatting with Mr. and Mrs. Ortega. Cami and her husband, Finn, were sitting across from them with their baby girl in a high chair shoving fries into her mouth. He’d been back in Alcett for six days now.

  “I’ve tried multiple times to get him into a psychiatrist, but he won’t go,” Javier joked from Fletcher’s other side, sawing at his steak. “Fletcher’s been crazy with a capital ‘C’ since the day I met him.”

  With it being a Friday evening, the restaurant was stuffed to capacity, and the extra noise made it hard to fully concentrate on the conversation, but Fletcher was just happy to be surrounded by the people he considered family.

  “Sanfe really isn’t all that far from here. It’s what, a ten hour train ride?” Fletcher noted. Loketa was more than double that, up in the northwestern corner of the remnants of the United States. Sanfe was down south, and a little bit west of Alcett. And it wasn’t even as close to a Breach as Loketa was. If there was that much danger of being Hexed, the colony would have moved long before now.

  “Fourteen,” Finn corrected him with a smile. “I already have a job offer for the power plant, and the colony is small enough that almost everyone gets to live in townhouses. Imagine if Amy could grow up with a backyard? And with the lower cost of living, we might be able to afford a dog.”

  “Get real. A pet would still be unaffordable,” Cami said with a roll of her eyes. “We have good jobs here, and most importantly, we’re safe.”

  “That’s why I moved Fletcher out here when he was a kid. Being near a Breach doesn’t sound all that bad until you have a Cloud touch down, and one of your neighbors’ kids gets Hexed,” Sebastian added in, having at some point ended his conversation with the other two Ortegas.

  “See? Amy might get a backyard for a few months, but then some accident turns her half-freak, and she gets taken away. Is that what you want, Finn?” Cami accused her husband.

  Finn sighed in resignation. “No, dear. You’re right. We’ll stay in Alcett.”

  The look he gave Fletcher warned that this was only a public concession to end the argument, and Finn would not let this topic die so easily once he was no longer surrounded by others who took her side.

  “So what do you plan to do with your last three days in Alcett, Fletcher?” Maya Ortega asked him. The woman had become like a mother to him from the moment they met, back when he and Javier first became friends in fourth grade.

  Three days. It seemed a little surreal to think that in less than a week, he’d be in an Unhuman city, farther away from his home than he’d ever imagined he could go. It was only six days ago he’d returned from the Academy, and two days after that he’d met with Sunlight for several hours to learn not only about the new job, but all the rules and policies dictating a Human living among Unhumans. There was going to be another orientation once he got to Bren’it’p, but for now he knew that the city would provide housing and almost anything else he would need to live.

  “Packing, mainly. The job will last at least a year, so I’m putting most of my stuff in storage and giving up my apartment,” he answered.

  “What are you going to do with all your books?” Cami asked. “Surely you aren’t going to leave a collection that valuable sitting in some musty storage unit.”

  “I’m holding on to them,” Sebastian replied before his son could. “My guest room is now going to be a library. Maybe I’ll rent them out, make a little cash on the side.”

  Fletcher’s eyebrow twitched slightly, but he refused to take the bait. His dad knew just how much he cared about his books. They all came from the years before the Merger, back when physical books were commonly produced, but nowadays the struggling Human population didn’t have the resources for such things, so almost everything was handled digitally. Most of those books were in poor repair after over sixty years, and he didn’t trust people to take proper care of them, so he rarely lent any out, and even then it was only if he trusted the person a great deal.

  “Well that’s not fair to you, Sebastian. Why don’t you let me hold onto a few? I’m sure I can find places for them. My table’s a little uneven, so I’m thinking one or two could help with that.” Javier grinned, noting Fletcher’s face.

  “We’ll take some too. I’m sure Amy would enjoy getting to feel a genuine book,” Finn joined in.

  Cami reached across the table to pat his shoulder. “Deep breaths, Fletch.”

  He forced a smile while reminding himself that they were only joking. They would never harm his books.

  His dad shook his head. “Sometimes I worry that you care more about those books than you do me.”

  “No. Of course not. But they are a close second,” Fletcher said with a chuckle.

  “Once a nerd, always a nerd,” Javier replied.

  Before the dinner and conversation could continue further, two soldiers stepped up to their table, startling everyone.

  “Mr. Fletcher Anders,” the front one said, a woman with short black hair.

  “That’s me,” Fletcher said cautiously. This couldn’t be about the Hexed Human attack again, could it? That’d been nearly a week, and Friday evening seemed like a strange time to start nitpicking his story.

  “If you would come with us, sir.” She gestured to the door of the restaurant.

  Everyone was staring by now, even the waiters.

  “What’s this about?” his father said.

  “Official business,” the woman answered cryptically.

  Javier interrupted as Fletcher stood up. “Come on. We’re at dinner. Surely this can wait an hour. Or a day. You have no right to drag him off now.”

  “I’m sorry we’re disrupting your plans, but this is urgent,” she maintained.

  “It’s alright. I finished my food anyway. I’ll catch up with you guys for the movie,” Fletcher promised. He nodded to the official who then took the lead in leaving the restaurant with the other soldier trailing just behind.

  “Is this about the thing with the Hexed Humans last week?” he asked once they were outside in the evening air. The sun was just starting to dip behind the mountains, sending brilliant hues of pinks and purples into the sky to paint a backdrop against the Alcett skyline.

  “It’s official business,” was the only answer provided to him yet again. She opened the door to a car, an actual car, and motioned him inside.

  Private vehicles were another thing of the past. Since everyone lived in the colonies, public transit, walking, or biking were the only available means of travel except for the few most important officials who were granted their own cars and farmers who were given trucks for work use—not that those were allowed inside the actual city.

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  He hesitated only a moment before getting in, nervous with the fading light that it might be just dark enough to trigger his [Skill] and mark him as Hexed. The seats were leather and the same black as the rest of the interior of the car. After he slid all the way to the other door, the second soldier got in the back as well, and the first took the passenger seat. Another uniformed man sat at the wheel, and when the woman nodded to him, he started up the engine and pulled into the street.

  Luckily there were enough streetlamps that the interior remained light enough to keep his [Dark Vision] from triggering. Nobody said anything, and Fletcher didn’t bother asking any more questions. They’d made it clear they had no interest in providing actual answers.

  It was a short drive. Fletcher expected them to go to the base out near the wall, but instead they only went to the city offices at the heart of downtown. They pulled to the side, and the soldier in back with him got out and held the door open for him to exit too.

  Entirely confused and more than a little nervous, Fletcher stepped out of the car. The woman then took the lead again, walking confidently into the building.

  The man took up the rear, and Fletcher couldn’t help but feel that he was being escorted like a prisoner more than a guest. The lobby was made up of granite floors with a grand, high ceiling, and pristine white walls. The officer took him straight to an elevator and up to the highest floor and then to an unmarked office, still giving no hint as to where they were going or why.

  Fletcher entered the room where a wide table waited. Three chairs were on one side, all occupied, and another lonesome empty one waited on the other side, presumably for him. The middle chair on the far side was taken by an Asian man with graying hair in a formal military uniform. The one to his right had a young black woman with her hair in braids and the same type of uniform, and the one to his left held a white man around forty. He was busy looking through some kind of file and wearing a suit typical of a businessman or politician.

  “General Taki.” His guide saluted.

  What could a general want with him?

  “At ease, Lieutenant,” the center man said, gesturing away the salute. “You may go. We’ll take it from here.”

  She ducked her head and then exited, closing the door behind her.

  “Mr. Anders, take a seat,” General Taki said.

  “What’s this about?” Fletcher asked as he stepped up to the chair. Despite being in an office with several pictures on the wall, this still felt more intimidating than his interrogation the day he arrived back in Alcett.

  “First, I believe introductions are in order. I’m General Taki. This is Captain Monroe, and Secretary Walen.” The man gestured first to the woman next to him, and then the man, both of whom nodded in acknowledgement.

  Secretary Walen, as in the Human Secretary of Security. He was one of the highest elected government officials and oversaw the use of the military in protecting colonies from both Mixhuman and Unhuman threats. What on earth could he be doing here to converse with Fletcher?

  “Fletcher Anders,” Fletcher said reflexively, meeting smiles from the other three. “Which you already knew. Or else I wouldn’t be here…” His voice trailed off to an awkward end as he bit his bottom lip.

  “Why don’t you take a seat, Mr. Anders? We just want to have a conversation. There’s no need to worry,” Secretary Walen said.

  Fletcher nodded, though he remained suspicious of the three officials before him as he sat in the uncomfortable office chair. He said nothing more, letting them decide how the “conversation” should go. All he knew is that this was bad news, and he was seriously regretting leaving dinner behind with such minimal fuss.

  “Let’s start off with our congratulations, Mr. Anders. Gaining Unhuman citizenship, especially at your age, is quite the feat,” Walen began.

  “Yes. A very impressive accomplishment for a young math teacher,” Taki concurred in a hollow voice.

  “Thank you,” Fletcher said. He looked at Captain Monroe, who had yet to speak, but he could see in her eyes the hateful word he’d heard for so much of his life—freak-lover.

  “I understand you were out celebrating with your family tonight. I’m sorry you had to leave early,” Walen continued with the typical politician’s tone.

  “Less of a celebration and more of a farewell type of thing before I leave for Bren’it’p,” he corrected him.

  “Ah, yes. Another monumental achievement. Being given an Unhuman job,” Walen said.

  “And the reason we’re speaking with you.” General Taki finally admitted the purpose of this strange interview.

  Fletcher tensed, not liking where this was headed. He’d already been through all the processing on the Human side of things earlier in the week, so whatever this was, it had to be something else.

  “Currently, there are about five hundred Humans who are allowed to live in Unhuman cities. All except fifty of those are confined to the Human Embassies where they see little to none of the city and culture. Those other fifty—Unhuman citizens like you—are divided into groups, a minimum of three or four together who live and work in some of the major Mythia cities as tech advisors. You are the first Human to be asked to reside so deeply into Unhuman territory without any Human support,” Captain Monroe explained.

  “Yep. More or less the information I received in preparation for the move,” Fletcher agreed. Part of him was nervous to move so far away from all others of his species, but at the same time, he recognized that he was being shown a high level of trust.

  “As with any other Human who is… accepted by the Unhumans, we are coming to you with an assignment, a duty we need you to fulfill as a Human to benefit all of us,” General Taki said.

  “Duty…” Fletcher repeated slowly, his stomach dropping.

  “Do you keep a journal, Mr. Anders?” Secretary Walen jumped back in.

  “I’m not sure what that has to do with anything.”

  “All we’re asking is for you to keep a specific type of journal during your time in Bren’it’p. We want you to document your life there as well as the culture and interesting parts of the city such as which species live there, how its setup—” Captain Monroe began to explain.

  “Any defenses they have?” Fletcher suggested with a raised eyebrow.

  Taki smiled. “If you run across any, yes.”

  “You want me to spy for you?”

  “Spying is a little bit of an overstatement. All we want is a log of things you encounter in the city. We’re not asking you to seek out military secrets or anything dramatic. It really is nothing more than keeping a journal,” General Taki assured him.

  “Why? What does it matter to you what species live in Bren’it’p?”

  The man’s smile dipped for a moment. “The right information can win wars, Mr. Anders.”

  “We’re not at war with the Unhumans. We haven’t been for three decades,” Fletcher replied sharply.

  “And I hope the peace holds. But if history has taught us anything, it is that the Unhumans are a volatile people who are not afraid of unprovoked attacks. My duty is to ensure that if the day comes the Unhumans bring war to the planet again, the Humans are ready.” General Taki sat forward, fire in his voice.

  “I think that preparing for war is a good way to start one,” he accused him.

  “The Unhumans are not our friends, Mr. Anders.”

  “No. The Unhumans aren’t your friends. You don’t speak for me,” Fletcher said. He stood up. “I won’t do this. That’s final. Now if you’ll excuse me, I would like to get back to my family.” He started for the door, but Captain Monroe was on him in a second, pulling him back before he could reach the handle. She spun him to face the other two, both of whom were standing.

  “One last thing,” General Taki said flatly. “As far as anyone outside this room, Human or Unhuman, is concerned, all we discussed was your recent run-in with the Hexed terrorists. Understand?”

  Fletcher took a deep breath before nodding in agreement. There was no point in spreading rumors of Humans prepping for war and freaking people out. Governments were always doing secretive crap like this, and he would be happy to forget this ever happened.

  The general motioned to Captain Monroe who released Fletcher and opened the door for him. His escorts waited there, and without any questions, they led him back downstairs and to the car. The drive was silent as they returned him to the restaurant where he found the others just finishing up their meal.

  “What was that about?” Javier asked as Fletcher returned to the table.

  “Someone had a few clarifying questions about the terrorist attack. It wasn’t anything important,” he lied.

  Everyone accepted the story, and within a few minutes, they started off to Fletcher’s dad’s apartment for a movie night. The three oldest adults got the couch, while everyone else was relegated to the floor with pillows and blankets.

  Sebastian had rationed his electricity for two weeks to save up enough for one of the three hour movies. They let Fletcher pick, and he went with the final movie in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, his favorite since childhood. They started the film but left one light on for Fletcher’s “condition.”

  As far as the Ortegas were concerned, Fletcher got blinding migraines if he watched TV in the dark, a lie that he’d used since he got Hexed to keep his secret, one that kept suspicion low and kept him safe.

  Normally, this movie engrossed Fletcher’s attention entirely, but after his conversation with General Taki, he just couldn’t seem to relax. The Humans wanted badly to use Fletcher for their own purposes, and while he wanted to believe the Unhumans were different, somewhere inside, he couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to this job in Bren’it’p than Minister Vi’le had let on. But doubting wasn’t going to help. In three days he would be on his way to a city on the other side of the planet, and there was nothing that could change that now.