Free 1941539114 (S) by Jeremy Robinson Page A

leave again.” Three fingers. “Third, they still treat us like kids—”
    “Technically, both of us are under five years old,” Maigo said. “They might have a point.”
    Lilly groans. “Seriously? They take us on field operations. Like, all the time. We helped save the West Coast from the Tsuchi. And you nearly sacrificed yourself. It’s cool if we do that? But show a little initiative—bonus points—and what? We get in trouble? They can’t fire us. They can’t ground us. Or spank us. We’re two of the most powerful people—”
    “Sort of.”
    “ Sort of people on the planet. If this is what we have to do to prove ourselves...” Lilly shrugs. “So be it. I can handle red faces and angry voices. But I’m tired of being second string. I love all of them. I respect all of them. But who else can jump two hundred feet out of Future Betty and into a Russian camp without getting spotted?” She turned her index finger to herself, and then to Maigo. “No one else, that’s who.”
    “Still,” Maigo said, “we should at least let them know we’re okay. They’re probably worried.”
    “Radio silence,” Lilly said with a roll of her eyes. “Remember? Unless you think broadcasting our presence to the Russians will make a good impression?”
    Maigo sat down and sighed. While she was good on mission and had few qualms about action, or danger, Lilly lived for this stuff. Like most cats, she didn’t shirk from danger, Lilly headed straight for it. Said it was part of her feline DNA. But how much did that really influence her personality? She grew up on an island where danger and survival were a way of life. Adrenaline and tension were the norm for her. Maybe her behavior was just learned? Nurture over nature? Maigo hoped so, because her DNA wasn’t just feline, or any of the other animals making up Lilly’s patchwork genetic code. Maigo had the DNA of a vengeful alien killing machine polluting her humanity.
    And that was why she was here. She wasn’t seeking respect or thrills, like Lilly. She wanted to know she could do this without being a monster. And if the worst happened, and she went full-Kaiju, she didn’t want Hudson or Collins—Mom and Dad—being anywhere nearby. Lilly could take care of herself, but the others...if things went bad and she lost herself, they wouldn’t stand a chance. And she couldn’t live with the idea of hurting them. So when Lilly approached her about this little side mission, she saw it as a chance to prove to herself that the monster inside her really was contained. Plus, the force beneath this island had reached something inside her, something buried and powerful. She wasn’t sure what it was. She had to know.
    Maigo leaned her head back. “How long until night?”
    “Ten more hours.” Lilly smiled and faced forward again, watching the array of moving targets with the twitchy attention of a house cat.
    “Wake me up when it’s time.” Maigo closed her eyes. She had no intention of sleeping, but didn’t want to spend the next ten hours in conversation. Lilly had become a sister to her. They weren’t just the most powerful sort-of people on the planet, they were also the weirdest, and no one understood their unique issues better than each other. Hudson was a close second. He had been inside the head of a Kaiju after all, but he wasn’t a girl. Just minutes after closing her eyes, her thoughts drifted to the past. To the memories of carnage she fought so hard to block out.
    Go back to Christmas , she thought.
    “You don’t need to open that.”
    She opened her eyes. Christmas morning. Her dad’s childhood living room. The glowing tree. Scent of pine. But it lacked the aura of childhood nostalgia that her dad’s presence usually infused.
    Instead, it felt heavy.
    She looked for the person who had spoken and found Alexander Tilly, her biological father...her murderer ...seated across from her in a rocking chair. He smiled at her, bobbing forward and backward. “I