Free Cress by Marissa Meyer Page B

hair would dry frizzy no matter how she coddled it. After a moment of staring at herself in the mirror, she decided to braid it, her best hope for keeping it tamed.
    She had just divided it into three sections at the nape of her neck when Little Cress’s voice squeaked. “Big Sister?”
    Cress froze. She met her own wide-eyed gaze in the mirror. “Yes?”
    “Mistress’s ship detected. Expected arrival in twenty-two seconds.”
    “No, no, no, not today, ” she hissed.
    Releasing her wet strands of hair, she rushed out into the main room. For once, her few belongings weren’t strewn across the floor and tabletops, because they were all packed neatly inside a pulled-out drawer that sat on top of her bed. Dresses, socks, and undergarments neatly folded alongside hair combs and barrettes and what food packs she still had from Sybil’s last visit. She’d even nestled her favorite pillow and blanket on top.
    All evidence that she was running away.
    “Oh stars.” She swept forward and grabbed the drawer with both hands, pulling it off the bed. She tore out the blanket and pillow and tossed them onto the mattress, before dragging the heavy drawer over to the desk she’d taken it from.
    00:14, 00:13, 00:12, sang Little Cress as she wrestled the drawer back into place. It wouldn’t shut.
    Cress squatted beside it, eyeing the rails to either side of the drawer. It took seven more seconds of harried finagling before she managed to slam the drawer shut. Sweat, or water from her still-wet hair, dripped down the back of her neck.
    Tugging out a lock of hair that had gotten caught in the drawer, she hastily straightened the bed as well as she could.
    “Mistress has arrived. She is requesting an extension of the docking clamp.”
    “I’m getting there,” Cress responded, darting toward the boarding ramp screen and entering the code. She turned back to the room as the clamp extended outside her walls, as Sybil’s ship attached, as oxygen filled the space.
    The opera singer was still there, and Mistress would be annoyed at Cress’s waste of time, but at least it wasn’t—
    She gasped, her eyes landing on the one screen that stood out from the rest, and the single bright green message on a field of black.
FROM USER: MECHANIC. ETA 68 MINUTES.
    She heard Sybil’s steps approaching as she launched herself across the room. She shut down the screen just as the satellite door whistled open.
    Heart in her throat, Cress spun around and smiled.
    Sybil met her gaze from the doorway. She was already glaring, but Cress thought her eyes narrowed even more in that moment between seeing Cress and noting her brilliant grin.
    “Mistress! What a surprise. I just got out of the shower. Was just … listening to some … opera.” She gulped, her mouth suddenly dry.
    Sybil’s eyes darkened and she cast them around the room, at the screens still quietly transmitting the opera singer engrossed in her song. Sybil sneered. “ Earthen music.”
    Cress chewed on her lower lip. She knew there were musicians and plays and all sorts of entertainments for the Lunar court, but they were rarely recorded, and Cress didn’t have access to them. Lunars generally disliked having their true appearances transmitted for all the galaxy to see. They much preferred live performances where they could alter the audience’s perception of their skills.
    “All screens, mute,” she murmured, trying to stop shaking.
    In the wake of silence, Sybil stepped inside, allowing the door to shut behind her.
    Cress gestured to the familiar metal box Sybil carried. “I don’t believe I’m in need of any supplies, Mistress. Is it time for another blood sample already?” she asked, knowing it wasn’t.
    Sybil set the box on the bed, sparing a distasteful glance for the rumpled blankets. “I have a new assignment for you, Crescent. I trust you noticed that one of our primary feeds from New Beijing Palace was disabled last week.”
    Cress willed herself to look natural.