Page 39 of Us Dark Few

Her heart hammered, but Khalani played it off. “Nothing to do with you.” She walked around her.

“I know it was papers,” Dana said. “Did he give you information about escape routes or changing of the guards?”

“No.” Her brows snapped together as she turned. “There is no escaping Braderhelm. How come I know that, and you don’t?”

“Not for you, there isn’t.”

Khalani frowned and stopped in her tracks, but Dana had already walked away.

12

An animal dwells within, sharpening your claws against the world.

“This can’t be real.”

“Which part?” Winnie asked.

“All of it,” Khalani exclaimed.

Winnie paused typing and twisted in her chair. “Why? Because it strays past your wildest imaginings?” Her eyes sparkled with amusement. “You’re only beginning to understand, dear. Nothing is as beautiful, harsh, or unforgiving as the Earth.”

Khalani frowned, flipping through the book Winnie gave her while she typed notes. It was titledNatural Wonders of the World—another object Winnie managed to sneak from the Archives.

“This. Right here.” Khalani turned the book so Winnie could see. Her fingers gripped the long glossy pages tightly. “These lights in the sky. Is it magic?”

Winnie leaned forward and adjusted her monocle for a closer look. She glanced up at Khalani with a quirky smile. “That’s the aurora borealis. They used to call it the Northern Lights. Not magic butscience. But science is so crazy that calling it magic makes more sense sometimes.”

Khalani’s mouth parted as she stared at the different hues. She gently stroked her fingers across the pages, outlining the green and blue colors as if to extend the dazzling lights past the boundaries of the page, attempting to paint distant magic into existence.

“I never imagined something so beautiful ever existed,” Khalani whispered. She continued to stare at the picture, but second by second, bitterness and contempt took root in her stomach. “But the more I learn about Earth, Winnie, the less I want to know. We had it all back then, and now…it’s all gone.” Her smile faded with the knowledge that humans would never gaze upon that perfection again.

“Don’t be sad,” Winnie noted Khalani’s forlorn gaze. “You still live on Earth, do you not? Were you carted off to space?”

“Well, no. But—”

“Then don’t give up on your planet if it hasn’t given up on you.”

Winnie gave her a gentle nod to keep reading and turned around, continuing to type up notes.

Every day, Winnie taught her more and more about Earth, knowledge she’d never dreamed of acquiring.

A month had passed since the city street cleanup. During that time, she’d stuck with Serene, Derek, and Adan like glue, avoiding any encounter with Barron at all costs. The task was almost too easy, thanks to Takeshi’s intervention and sustained threat.

Khalani and Takeshi hadn’t spoken since that day.

Their only interaction was the occasional glance he gave her when she was let out of her cell in the morning and returned to it at night. That was it. No words of banter or simple greetings were exchanged. She was a social pariah to him.

It was better that way.

She remained vigilant, never relaxing in Braderhelm. The only thing she looked forward to daily was conversing with Winnie while they listened to music. By now, she had every song on theGreasealbum memorized.

Khalani flipped the book to a picture of the Pacific Ocean. The pool of water was like a deep blue monster that threatened to swallow her through the page. “People were crazy to ever set foot in the ocean. Too bigandfilled with creatures that could eat you? No, thank you.” She shivered.

Winnie chuckled. “Just because something is bigger than you doesn’t mean it’s scary. You must hold respect for nature and her power. If Winnie could travel back in time, it would be the first place she’d visit, and then go to a movie theater.”

“And watchGrease?” A smile lit up Khalani’s face, a rarity before she met Winnie. She smiled more in prison than she had out of it.

Life had a wicked sense of humor.

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