Wattys shortlist 2021. One morning the sun rises a few hours early, striking levitating skyscrapers in Soliara ahead of schedule. People in the streets stop to look up at the sky and then down at their watches. Most of them, puzzled but disbelieving...
Cristo had promised to meet Nova in the last place in Potestas Tower anyone would expect him to show his face again — after she had promised to make sure the boss had retired from the Solarium and to dismiss any security left looking for him there.
Even so, he linked and immediately crouched low in the bushes to make sure she was alone in the greenhouse-like dome on top of the main building and a hundred feet below the boss's floating penthouse. From the shadows underneath a tall patrinia olive tree, he could see that she was with Stephen Potestas — but that counted — and no one else was nearby.
He walked into the light. Nova and Stephen turned toward Cristo and Nova said brightly, "I told him everything."
Cristo stopped mid-step, still fifteen feet from them — to keep from strangling her. "What do you mean . . . everything?" he said. He clasped his hands behind his back and prayed she wasn't going to say what he thought she was going to say.
"Well, not everything," she said, and Cristo held his breath. "I won't tell him too much about the future, that would be stupid, right? At least that's what future Stephen said."
Cristo swallowed and, hands still squeezing each other behind his back, closed the distance between them as she went on, "I just told him you're from the future, so he needs to do what—"
"Stop," Cristo said. "Just stop talking. Don't say anything else. You really weren't supposed to tell anyone else. Anything. I thought you agreed to do what I say?"
"I didn't agree to not do anything you didn't say," she countered. "You told me to prep Stephen to speak with his father, and you left it up to me to determine how best to do that — with 'past' Stephen's input. It was — is going to be — his plan."
Cristo winced. Stephen Potestas was the last person he wanted to know the details of the plan. By Stephen's own estimation, he was the most likely person to give the whole thing away — he would probably advise that their best chance of victory at this point would be to lock himself in a broom closet until crepesculum.
But according to the plan, Stephen was their best bet to get the boss back on board.
"What's done is done," said Cristo. "No one else can know." He took a pause and gave each of them a firm glare. They both quivered and swore not to tell anyone else. "Are you ready?" he asked.
It was an unexpectedly cool night in Casicaa, and Novus Fortunato hadn't gone inside yet after a day, albeit a short one, under the sun. For the mere six hours of daylight he hadn't moved an inch, soaking up the rays by his pool. As shadows crawled across the deck and a light breeze picked up, it got cooler and he considered moving, for the first time all day, back inside, but he couldn't bring himself to get up.
And with complete darkness came the news that the president was dead, so he had plenty to think about as he lazed in his deck chair under a black sky.
He appeared to be doing nothing, and to his household he would appear to be mourning the death of his father. The truth was he was already planning his next moves in a life out of his father's shadow. His first move would of course be to catch and punish his father's murderer, but then life would go on; he would assume his father's role as count of Casicaa and as a board member of Constellation.
He had been told of Gaia's untimely demise by Aura Valerian, one of the exequis running for the presidency. Aura had shown up to personally inform him of the president's death, giving him more to consider without having to move.
Novus had expected the vultures to appear as soon as the news got out that Exequi Fortunato had been murdered, but they had politely waited until the next assassination before approaching him.
It was obvious to Novus, though, that his father had been the casualty of a power struggle for the presidency, and he felt sure in his gut that both his father and the president had been murdered by the same person.
Exequi Benito had supported Justin Marius's candidacy, while Novus had supported President Gaia Solin. For him the equation was simple: Aura Valerian was behind both murders. Why? Because she was the first to show up to solicit his vote.
Novus had sent her away immediately, but he was left with plenty to think about. The one thing Exequi Aura had gotten out before being escorted from the premises was that if Novus had truly supported President Gaia Solin, then she, Aura Valerian, was the next best option. Gaia Solin had agreed with her views, but wanted to move slowly, maintain balance. Justin Marius was a step, or a big leap, in the other direction, and Sunyin Aura a dangerous radical. She was right on all counts, certainly; Novus had disagreed with his father's beliefs — but that didn't mean he would be able to bring himself to vote for the person behind his assassination.
The air began to chill his skin and Novus was close to getting up to turn in when the next vulture entered his courtyard and strode toward him past the pool. Portia Nero had been a close friend of his father's and it couldn't hurt to hear her out.
Even if she was a pawn of Justin Marius.
On the patio of his favorite cafe, Ignatius Varian had returned to take advantage of the empty outdoor seating. He never drank coffee after dark. Unfortunately, the cafe appeared to be closed prematurely, despite the fact that it was only noon, despite the fact that the sun had gone down, but he sat down outside anyways in the hopes the proprietor would come back to work and take his order.
Almost immediately, Candra Satiri took a seat across from Ignatius. Without a greeting, she launched into what she wanted. "Not that I doubt your unwavering loyalty, Varian, but I came to check up on you. Make sure we still have a deal."
Varian nodded and said, "Yes, undoubtedly. How could I say no? What Marius is offering, well, no one else could offer. We have a deal, Exequi Satiri." He couldn't stop nodding. Satiri seemed to be buying it.
The truth was, Varian was between a rock and a hard place. He couldn't vote for Justin Marius. It was physically impossible, legally impossible, magically impossible, and impossible by any and every measure. But perhaps if Satiri didn't know that, Ignatius could still get what he wanted.
"It's just that—" he started delicately. He shrugged helplessly and drew air through his teeth with a resigned whistle. "I need to know you're telling the truth. I need to see her before I can promise anything. How can I be sure you truly can restore someone to life? And now, with the president gone, what's to stop you from bringing her to me first? Just to see that you can really do it. To see that you really are capable of reanimation or rebirth?"
Amazingly, Satiri was nodding as if that wasn't so unreasonable.
Ignatius held in a huge sigh of relief when she said, "All right, I'll ask if that's possible. We appreciate your loyalty, Ignatius, and if we can we'll reward you for it early."
Ignatius just nodded, a huge smile on his face, certain Candra was going to see through him at any second, particularly if he let the smile falter in the least. What would they do to him when he voted for Valerian Aura? Terrible things, possibly.
But he would risk terrible things for the chance to have Julia restored to him.
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Thank you for reading Hora Sexta. This is one continuous part, and I will try to have the next section up as soon as possible. Please let me know what you think, and leave a star if you like it!
