The Blood of Amietta

XV. Goodbye Moonwake

"Noelani has a brother?" Arabelle asks sleepily.

"Yeah," I say when Noelani doesn't answer. I release the break on the truck, preparing to head back out on the road. We need to find a safe place to stay tonight– the Outskirts are dangerous if you don't know what to look out for.

Arabelle sits in the back seat, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "So you met the prince, but you didn't know who he was? That's a strange coincidence," she comments.

"I know," I say. "I mean, we were friends, but we didn't really talk much about our personal lives."

Did Mak know who I was? I shake my head. That's impossible.

Noelani raises an eyebrow. "Friends?"

I blush as I realize that my words could be taken the wrong way.

Gross. Mak is not my type.

"Yeah," I deadpan. "Friends. He taught me how to manipulate Identification Chips so that I could get out of my Civic Duty."

Blank looks cross the faces of my fellow Armentians.

I sigh deeply. "Identification Chips are required to be worn in Mega-Cities," I explain. "They're used to keep track of citizens. Money, whereabouts, things like that."

"And what's a Civic Duty?" Arabelle asks, seemingly genuinely interested.

Noelani scowls in the front seat.

"All citizens are required to work for the Government when they turn twenty. They assign you to a city and a position to be filled for at least four years. I was in the middle of finding the hitchstone and I needed the freedom to be able to move freely. Mak helped me fake an identity."

"You–"

"And that's required for everyone?"

They both speak at the same time, but Arabelle cuts Noelani off, earning another glare.

"Yes," I answer. "You can get out of it by leaving the Cities, but not many people can survive in the Outskirts."

Arabelle looks out the window pointedly. "You mean, where we are now?"

I nod. "There's no authority out here. It's all about fending for yourself, which means it can be extremely dangerous," I pause. "I have plenty of experience, though. Mak taught me."

Arabelle goes quiet, her face turning white. Maybe I should have sugar coated that bit of information, but I think it's better that she knows.

"You were looking for Moonwake?" Noelani asks after a moment of silence.

I glance at her before returning my attention back to the road. "Yeah. It took me ten years to track the damn hitchstone down. Somehow, it fell into the hands of a museum curator who believed it was an ancient Tsulonian relic. It became part of an exhibit. I tracked it across three Mega-Cities until I was finally able to intercept it during transport. I didn't know what it was when I opened it– I just knew that Ettiana had it when she sent me here. I thought it would send me back to Nirasus."

That's a ridiculous thought– hitchstones can't be used to travel realms, but I didn't know that at the time. Mama didn't teach me anything about magic.

"How did you get trapped in the hitchstone, Arabelle?" I ask.

She frowns, her eyes refusing to meet mine. "I don't remember," she mutters.

I shoot a worried look at Noelani. "Why hasn't she gotten her memories back yet?"

She shrugs. "It might take some time."