“Mom, just tell us. It’s okay,” I say.
She cringes as if in pain, like asking me this is physically hurting her. “We have a special mission for you. We want you to kill the President.”
Her words are like a dark fog in the air, pressing down on our shoulders. It was the last thing I expected her to say. She rushes on, “Without him at the helm, we believe the sun dweller army will fall apart, will lose their resolve. He’s the mastermind behind it all, and if he falls, we think we have a chance. Realistically, our armies don’t stand a chance against the Sun Realm, but this might just give us the edge we need.”
“Why us?” I ask.
My mom sighs. “You all have proven what you can do, and Tristan and Roc know the lay of the land in the Sun Realm, and, well, we knew none of you would go unless all of you go.” She’s right. I’ll never leave my friends again—will never leave Tristan again.
Tristan grips my hand, squeezes twice. A signal. He’s in. “I’ll do it,” I say, my eyes dry again, my face firm. I’ll do it for my dad, for my sister, for my mom. For me.
“I’m in, too,” Tristan says.
At the same time, Tawni and Roc say, “Me too.”
My mom nods. “I thought you would say that. And Trevor and Ram will be going with you, too, as representatives of the Star and Moon Realms.”
Trevor nods at me, a slight smile on his face. A week ago I would have cringed at the thought of spending more time with Trevor, but now grin back. He’s a friend. Not because he saved me—twice—but because he stood by me when I needed him most. Just like Tristan, Roc, and Tawni.
A big, dark-skinned guy, who I assume is Ram, stands, looks directly at Tristan, and says, “I’ll do whatever I can to help fulfill this mission. I’ll even follow Tristan into the belly of the beast. But I’m warning you, if I ever so much as suspect you’re working for your father, I’ll kill you with my bare hands.”
I glance sharply at Tristan, expecting his face to be red as he prepares to fight this Ram guy, but I’m shocked to see he’s laughing. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you, Ram,” he says.
I guess there’s something I don’t know about their relationship.
* * *
I go to see Elsey one last time before we leave.
“Do you really have to go?” she says right when I walk in.
I sigh. “Oh, El. If there was any way I could stay with you, you know that I would,” I say, sitting next to her.
She’s beneath the covers, like when I saw her the last time, just her tiny head sticking out. Her thick raven hair covers most of the white pillow she’s resting on. Unexpectedly, she twists her left arm out from the sheets and pushes off, sitting up straight. I stifle a gasp when I see the stump of flesh sticking out from the short right sleeve of her hospital tunic.
“Does it scare you?” She giggles, waving the stump slightly in the air.
And just like that she’s just Elsey again. My sister. Not my crippled sister. Despite myself, I laugh, although not as long or as loud as I’d like to for her sake. “You could never scare me,” I say, putting my arm around her so she can lean on me. When I feel her minimal weight against my chest I feel complete.
We lay there together for over an hour, sharing memories of Dad, of Mom, of life, sometimes laughing, sometimes crying—always loving. When she falls asleep I slip my arm from behind her head, covering her to her neck with the white spread.
“Goodbye, Elsey,” I say, kissing my hand and touching it to her forehead.
* * *
The Resistance is full of surprises. We stand on a large overhang high atop the cavern walls in subchapter 1. The Dome looks like a giant bulge from up here, sticking out amongst the toy buildings around it. We’re all sweating from the exertion of the climb. At least this time we got to use ropes.
We’re shoulder to shoulder on the ledge, Tawni, then Roc, then Tristan, then me. My mom insisted on accompanying us this far. I take one last look at the Moon Realm, perhaps the last time I’ll see it ever, and then turn around to where Mom is pulling away a big gray tarp from the mountainside, revealing a hidden ink-black tunnel into the rock. Like I said, the Resistance is full of surprises.
“We built this during the Uprising, but never had a chance to use it,” she says.
“We’re using it now,” I say.
When she turns, her eyes are full of conviction. “You will succeed,” she says.
“Of course we will,” I say, trying to make it sound like the truth.
She hugs Tawni first, holding her for a long time without saying anything. Then she hugs Roc and says, “Elsey’s sure going to miss you.”
“And I her,” Roc replies. He winks. “Don’t worry, we’ll see you again soon.” It seems Elsey’s optimism is rubbing off on him.
Next up is Tristan and she whispers something in his ear as she pulls him close. He just smiles and nods.
I’m last and we hug the longest. After all, she’s my mom, and I’m going to miss her. Just as I’m pulling away, she tugs my ear close to her lips and whispers sharply, “It’s no accident that you and Tristan met.”
My eyes widen and I open my mouth to speak, to ask her what she means, but it’s too late, because she’s pushed me into the thin tunnel and corralled the others behind me, blocking the path.
I grit my teeth, frustrated at my mom’s cryptic message, but trying to focus on the task at hand: find the President; kill the President. I lead the way into the tunnel, flicking my flashlight on with one hand and gripping my mother’s emerald necklace in the other.
###
Keep reading for a peek into the heart-stopping third installment in The Dwellers Saga, The Sun Dwellers, which will be published in December 2012.
Acknowledgments
This time around I’m most thankful to all the readers who bought The Moon Dwellers and wrote the most wonderful reviews that helped inspire me to write the sequel. Your words of encouragement and your feedback mean so much to me, I can’t even put it into words. I was literally tearing up as I read some of your reviews. I can’t thank you enough for your support and for your willingness to take a chance on my books.
To my editor, Christine LePorte, thank you for helping me take my ideas and writing to the next level—the pearls of wisdom you provide do not go unnoticed.
A HUGE thanks to my marketing team at shareAread, particularly Nicole Passante and Karla Calzada, without whom there would be no buzz. You’ve taught me so much.
As always, thanks to my incredible team of beta readers who embraced The Star Dwellers from the very beginning and who have been so encouraging the whole way through. You are truly an inspiration. Without your feedback, The Star Dwellers wouldn’t have been nearly as good! So thank you, Laurie Love, Alexandria Nicole, Karla Calzada, Christie Rich, Kayleigh-Marie Gore, Nicole Passante, Kerri Hughes, Terri Thomas, Lolita Verroen, Zuleeza Ahmad, and Kaitlin Metz. And of course, the biggest thanks to my ultimate beta reader, my always-honest wife, Adele.
To my friends in my Goodreads fan group, you are all amazing, I hope you know how highly I think of you, and I appreciate all your jokes, kindness, and comments. You brighten my life every day that you’re in it.
I like to wait till near the end of the acknowledgments to recognize my awesome cover artists/designers at Winkipop Designs, because they are the first impression everyone gets, and so they should be the last two. Thank you for all your hard work within challenging deadlines and for finding a way to sum up an entire story in a single image. As one of my readers said, “After reading the book I realized what a work of art the cover is.” I couldn’t have said it better.
The saga continues in other books by David Estes available through the author’s official website: