Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X #1) 0

Two armed soldiers in gray-and-maroon uniforms stood stiffly at attention outside of the plane, but Tessa didn’t find them nearly as intimidating as the plane itself. Everyone in this city walked around with guns; she’d seen them her entire life. Nothing new there. The woman who emerged from the plane, however, made Tessa do a double take.

“Prætorian Koskinen,” Justin called, giving her a mock salute. “Good morning.”

“Dr. March,” she returned, crossing her arms. Her expression was calm and unreadable, like a marble statue’s. “So nice to see you again.”

Justin stopped and put his arm around Tessa. “First test,” he whispered. “Is she telling the truth?”

“No,” said Tessa.

“I didn’t think so.” More loudly, he said, “Tessa, this is Mae. Mae, Tessa. She’s the prodigy I told you about. She’s super good at this stuff. Almost as good as me. You’ll be impressed, just wait.”

“Wow, almost as good as you?” asked Mae dryly. “Is that even possible?”

Tessa regarded Mae with apprehension. She wasn’t in uniform but still radiated strength and dignity. Justin had spent a considerable amount of time describing her this morning as he analyzed how a Nordic woman had ended up in the military’s highest ranks. Occasionally, he’d gotten sidetracked and expounded on her hair and eyes. Tessa, however, had stopped paying attention to his discourse after he’d said the word “prætorian.” Prætorians. The monsters of the RUNA. She’d heard about them, of course. Everyone had, and even if this blond woman didn’t look like a killing machine, Tessa vowed not to say anything that might test that observation. She simply gave a polite nod as she walked up the steps.

The wry expression Mae had reserved for Justin transformed into a smile as Tessa passed. “Prodigy or not, I’m very glad to meet you. You’ll love the RUNA.”

Tessa blushed and nodded again, overwhelmed at such kindness from a woman who managed to be both glamorous and dangerous at the same time. Justin lingered on the ground and dropped his cigarette onto the tarmac. He gave it a fond look before stamping it out. “The only thing I’ll miss from around here. I’m quitting here and now. Nothing that good back home anyway—well, at least nothing legal that’s that good.” He shifted his messenger bag on his shoulder and headed up after Tessa. It was his only luggage, since he’d claimed he had nothing here that was worth taking back. Tessa was starting to wonder why he’d ever come to Panama at all if he hated it so much.

“Mae was telling the truth about me,” she murmured to Justin, once they’d stepped inside the plane.

“About what?” he asked.

“About being glad to meet me.”

“Show-off.”

The rest of the Gemman delegation responded with varying degrees of politeness and directed her and Justin toward the back of the jet. Along with the soldiers and Internal Security officials, there was a young woman named Candace who appeared to be some type of assistant. She jumped whenever any of her higher-ups spoke to her. When she looked at Justin, however, Candace would flush and smile.

Tessa had seen women behave that way near him before and couldn’t understand being stupid around a guy, even handsome ones. Her mother had had plenty to say about Justin’s appearance. Too good-looking, she’d said. Make sure you marry a plain man, Tessa. They won’t stray, and they’ll never have power over you. Tessa wondered what that said about her father.

No matter how much Justin kept poetically painting it as “soaring off into a new life,” she found flying absolutely terrifying from the instant they left the ground. The jet’s interior felt too small and the sky too big. As the plane bounced along air currents, it seemed impossible that the engines would keep them up. Tessa expected to come crashing to the ground at any moment. She wished now that she’d worn her rosary but had packed it at the last minute. Gemman attitudes toward religion were no secret, and she hadn’t wanted to attract attention.

She squeezed her eyes shut and felt Justin put his hand over hers. “Breathe, sweetie. You’re okay. This is completely safe.”

Tessa forced her eyes open, seeing rare compassion on his face. “How long is this going to take?”

“Nine hours. We’ll probably stop to refuel once we’re back in RUNA airspace. This is a small plane for a trip like this.” He grinned. “I guess I wasn’t worth first class.” His eyes drifted forward, focusing on Mae as she spoke to the orange-haired woman from Internal Security.

Tessa closed her eyes again and tried to distract herself from her imminent death. “Why are you obsessed with her?”

“She’s my boss. My life is in her hands.”

“Not her. Mae.”

“I suppose there’s an argument that my life’s in her hands too. But I’m not obsessed. I don’t even know her.” His tone was too casual, even for him, and his eyes constantly strayed to her when he thought no one saw. Mae never looked at Justin, and it seemed to Tessa that the avoidance was too adamant to be a coincidence.

Tessa eventually tried to sleep, with no luck. She wasn’t sure how much time passed before she heard Mae join them. Each minute felt like a lifetime. The plane had steadied a little, and with a great effort, Tessa opened her eyes. Mae was watching her, her face kind.

“Do you need anything?”

“I could use a drink,” Justin said.

Mae turned toward him with an exasperated look. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

She called for some water, and Candace came scurrying back with a glass. “Thank you,” Justin told her. It was only two words, but the way he smiled completely bedazzled Candace. She tripped as she returned to her seat.

Mae shot Candace a look of contempt and turned back to Tessa with concern, making Tessa feel even more backward than when she’d first boarded. She’d been an idiot to think she could slip off to this glittering world that her father dreamed about and Justin embodied. Her mother had been right, and this plane ride was probably some sort of divine punishment.

“Do you want something to watch or read?” Mae asked her.

Tessa shook her head. “I’ve got a reader.”

“You do?” Even Justin seemed surprised at that.

Tessa leaned over to her suitcase, welcoming the small distraction. She pulled out the beloved reader and handed it to Justin.

“EA tech,” Justin said, examining it. Even Mae leaned in for a closer look. “Where’d you get it?”

“Someone gave it to Papa,” said Tessa.

Mae sat back in her seat, no longer interested. “It’s out-of-date. Very out-of-date. They fold up now without hurting the screen. Can probably hold about three times as many books.”

Justin looked up from the device. “Voice commands?”

“On the newer models. About as good as the egos.”

“I don’t even think they bothered with voice on these.” He handed it back to Tessa, his expression as dismissive as Mae’s.

Tessa snatched it back, surprised at how irritated she suddenly felt. “You make it sound like it’s a stone tablet.”

“Not far off,” said Justin. He patted her arm. “We’ll get you a new one, a better one. You don’t need an EA castoff.”

“I like this one,” she insisted. She slipped it back in the suitcase, half-afraid Justin would throw it away right then.

“Because you don’t know any better,” he said.

A spot of turbulence suddenly made the plane lurch. It soon righted itself, but Tessa gasped and forgot all about readers. Justin nudged her arm. “Here, take this.”

When Tessa looked down, she saw he was holding out a tiny white pill to her in one hand. “What is it?”

“Something that’ll make you feel better. Just let it dissolve.” He shook a second pill out of the bottle. “Might as well take two. I won’t be able to bring them through customs anyway.”

Tessa took them without question. Mae looked disapproving, but it seemed to be more over Justin’s offering them, not Tessa’s accepting them. Mae tossed her long hair over one shoulder and returned to the front of the plane.

“Did you see that?” Justin grumbled. “That hair flip? Pretty sure castal girls have to learn that in school.”

“You’re obsessed.” It was the last thing Tessa managed to say before the pills suddenly seized hold and black curtains closed across her vision….

Someone was shaking her and saying her name. “Time to wake up. Come on, sweetie.”

Tessa blinked the world into focus, which was hard since it felt like someone had scraped her eyes with sandpaper. The wheels of her mind turned sluggishly, and for a few moments, she had no idea where she was. Slowly, she recalled the godforsaken airplane and saw that it was Justin who was waking her up.

“Is it time to refuel?” she asked. Her own voice sounded husky and far away.

“Been there, done that. You slept through it. Vancouver’s right outside your window.”

Tessa felt the plane tilt, and when she looked out, she could see that they were slowly circling over a body of blue-gray water. The sun was low, the sky dotted with a few stray clouds. A cluster of tall, shining buildings clung to the coast, like sentries of the water. They were pretty but not that different from some of the skyscrapers in Panama City—except for the fact that most of those Panamanian buildings had been abandoned and fallen into disrepair in the Decline.

From the way Justin stared at the city’s skyline, you would’ve thought they were flying to some golden city in the clouds that was populated by angels and unicorns. There was an emotion she’d never seen in his eyes, an ache that was radically different from the cynical air that usually followed him around.

Her teeth rattled when the plane landed, but it didn’t matter. She was on the ground again, back where she belonged. She’d never fly again if she could help it—unless, of course, she returned home. Maybe she could take a boat.