Free Strange Skies by Kristi Helvig Page A

gun at me. I pushed off the tree and freed my hands from his. “If you think that was an adequate explanation about why you shot me, you’ve spent too much time in the sun. You can’t go from wanting to kill someone to wanting to kiss them.”
    James stepped closer again but kept his hands to himself. “If we weren’t already late, I’d show you exactly how I feel about you.” He stared at me a second. “I promise I’ll explain when we have more time. We can’t miss this meeting.”
    “Right, the meeting,” I said, ashamed that I’d kissed him while Dad was still imprisoned across the planet. I was a horrible daughter.
    No, just a human one .
    I ignored the voice in my head as I stomped behind James toward the command center.
    We soon reached another shack-like building that was even smaller than the bar. Two men stood guard at the entrance. One of them tipped his hat to James as we approached. “Hola, jefe.”
    James gestured my way. “This is Tora. She’s with me.”
    “Got it. Welcome, Tora.” The same guy opened a thin, crooked door and waved us through. It’s good they had guns to help them guard the place because I probably could have taken down the door myself.
    Inside, a man at the front of the room spoke in Spanish to a group of forty-some people seated on wooden plank benches. He paused when we entered, nodded to acknowledge James, then continued. The heads that had swiveled toward us turned back to the speaker. James and I slipped onto a bench in the back.
    “Why is he talking in Spanish?” I whispered. Though I knew some basic words from when my sister and I playedaround on the Infinity, I had no clue what this guy was saying.
    James leaned over. “That’s Edgar. He’s in charge of basic operations. This is an update-and-planning session. All plans are made in Spanish. Since the Consulate banned all languages except English, no one there can understand what we’re saying. We use the Net for the Spanish lessons. You might want to check into that.” He smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll explain what he’s saying later.”
    His breath in my ear made my stomach do flips. Act calm . “Sure, that’d be great. But doesn’t Alec speak Spanish? He was Consulate? They can’t be that dumb.”
    “They’re not dumb, they’re arrogant,” James whispered back. “The Consulate thinks they can control everything around them. They believe that if they declare English the only acceptable language, no one would dare think otherwise. Alec told me one guy was overheard saying hola back on Earth and was shot on sight.”
    “So Alec hid his Spanish from them?”
    “Yes.” James nodded. “But he wasn’t typical Consulate. When I was in the containment center, Alec told me that the Consulate believes the new city is exactly what they envisioned. Everyone believes what they want them to believe and speaks how they want them to speak.”
    I stared ahead and tried to latch on to the few words I knew. Muerto. Sangre. Consulate was the same in both languages. Edgar’s intense speech was a far cry from my sister and me discussing our pretend swimsuits on a virtualbeach in broken Spanish. If only Edgar would count to ten or name some colors, I’d be golden.
    Most of the others in the room were about my age, and most were boys. I glimpsed the red hair of the girl from the bar a few rows ahead. She turned to glance back at James a few times, totally ignoring me. Anger welled up when I thought about her walking her fingers up James’ arm.
    Edgar continued for a few more minutes and then he called out to James in English. “Anything to report?”
    James stood. I understood the words, Alec , Consulate , and pistolas , and guessed he was telling the group what Alec had overheard in the containment center about the Consulate preparing a widespread search for Resistance troops and the bioweapons.
    Sonya turned to face him when he finished and spoke in crystal clear English. “Then where is Kale with those