“You didn’t think to mention this to me?”
“I guess I sort of forgot with everything happening, and you and Jost were fighting.” Even as I make the excuses I know that’s what they are, despite the truth streaking through them.
“Security is tight between things with Kincaid and the Guild. It’s not your fault…” Jax trails off, wiping his palms on his pants.
“I thought you went with the mission,” I say to Jax, recalling what Dante said about Jax not being around.
“Nope, but I’ve been here most of the time,” he says. Dante lied to me about Jax to cover up where he was really going. It’s a good enough reason to be dishonest, but it doesn’t sit well with me.
Falon and Dante are walking toward us, and neither looks happy. Dante tries to slip a hand into Falon’s but she avoids him. He settles for a quick squeeze of her shoulder, but the grim expression stays on his face.
“That explains that,” Erik mutters to me.
“Lover scorned,” I say.
“And then he shows up with a pretty girl after weeks of no contact,” Erik says.
“I’m his daughter,” I remind Erik.
“Do you think she knows that?”
Good point.
The whispers die on our lips as they come closer to us.
“I apologize for my rudeness,” Falon says. She offers her hand to Erik and they exchange formal introductions. “Dante has caught me up on everything.”
“Everything?” I ask, looking at Dante. Has he told her he is my father?
“Everything,” Dante says, pressing his lips together.
“Okay, then,” Erik says, breaking the tension. “Can you show us the loophole?”
“We’re making a run in ten minutes. You have good timing, Dante,” Falon says. Her eyes look black in the dim light.
“Not really,” he says. “I caught wind of some intel coming from within Kincaid’s web.”
“Good to know you’re still paying attention,” Falon says. She strides off. With her leather pants and simple black braid she’s intimidating, but we follow her as she exits through the dome’s hole onto the dock.
“Give her a few minutes,” Dante says. “She’ll warm up. She doesn’t like to admit when she’s worried.”
“And she’s been worried about you?” I guess.
“I’ve been preoccupied and with Kincaid hovering over you it’s been even harder to slip out.”
“So Kincaid doesn’t know about this operation?” Erik asks.
Dante takes a deep breath and then slowly shakes his head. “A lot of these people run refugees for him. It provides a cover and a living, but Kincaid doesn’t know about this place or everything our operation does.”
I look around at the workers. It’s a strange mix of people—many our own age, but plenty of older adults. They have belts with tools and goggles over their eyes or hanging at their necks for easy access. As we pass through the burst of steam that hangs over the dock, I see what’s at the end of it. The doors and windows I spotted are part of a metal box that hangs suspended from a balloon drifting in the air. Great steel ribs circle the envelope, locking in its shape. The aeroship is tethered to the dock by thick ropes. It’s the same type as the one I crashed on our first night here—the one I assumed was Guild.
I whirl on Dante. “Where are we? Who are these people?
Dante spreads his hands wide, gesturing to the bustle of activity around us. “Welcome to the resistance. Adelice, you’re in the heart of the Kairos Agenda.”
THIRTY
DANTE LEADS US ON A SHORT TOUR of the facilities, past instrument panels and groups poring over blueprints.
“What are they working on?” I ask.
“The grid,” Jax says, pointing to the panels. “We’re getting close to self-sufficiency.”
“You’re building a power grid?”
“The only way the Icebox—or any future city on Earth—can exist is with a power source,” Dante says.
“But Kincaid—”
“Is shortsighted,” Dante interrupts me. “He can only think of destroying Arras. He’s never considered what it will take to rebuild Earth after that. If we’re going to repopulate civilization, we’ll need access to power, and the last thing I want is to rely on Kincaid when that day comes.”
“We’re experimenting with an exclusively solar-based system,” Jax tells us. “We don’t have access to coal at this point. That’s still under Kincaid’s control, but I’ve built a photovoltaic array that is entirely dependent on solar energy. It will be easier when we have a power station with permanent arrays, but we’ll have to wait until the Interface comes before we can fully utilize my system.”
Jax and Dante answer more questions about their plans, but I stay silent. Not only is the Agenda alive, it’s growing. Dante and the other revolutionaries aren’t planning for war, they’re preparing for what comes after. As annoyed as I am that Dante hid this from me, I admire his foresight. It’s not something I’m naturally gifted with.
They take us to the aeroship and we step inside it to find a spacious viewing area that overlooks the ocean below us. Outside, a corridor exits onto an open-air deck, with ladders onto the rigid body of the ship. I can’t bring myself to ask the question waiting on my lips as I look around.