"We lost our memories of ever living in space. Without memories, it was like it never happened. This crew leaving on the Mayflower will be the first humans from Earth to ever live in space and remember it."

-Galaxy

TEMPEST

Thirty minutes after Neo has left, there's a knock at my door, and that same feeling of excitement from when we—let's face it—held hands earlier bursts and sizzles in my veins. I hop off the rose-colored bed, past the bathroom that smells overwhelmingly of roses, and open the door with a smile.

But it's my mom.

"You look happy," she says. "Settling in?"

Every bit of enthusiasm within me escapes with my breath. "I could settle in if my room weren't overflowing with roses."

"Roses?"

"Yeah, come in and see," I say, opening the door wider. I step back and gesture to the open bathroom door, and my mom peeks in.

"Wow. Are those from...?"

"Yuri? Yes. His errand boy Neo is off getting me vases to put them all in now. I thought it was him at the door when I opened it."

She smiles and cocks her head. "Is that why your smile was so big?"

"Ugh, Mom, stop. I'm not interested. Just anxious to have all those roses in vases, so I can bathe before take off. Which will be when exactly?"

Her tone becomes serious again. "There are still some more people and supplies being loaded onto the Mayflower, but we are set to leave in the morning."

"Then why are we here?" I nearly shout. "Let me call Esther. I need someone who will sympathize with me and not just tell me I have to do what is best for preservation."

Mom bites the inside of her cheek. "It is for preservation. There's a lot you can't quite understand right now, but you will."

"I'm nineteen years old. I'm past the childhood phase of not understanding things. That excuse just makes you sound like a liar."

Her expression stiffens and she stands. She pulls a card from her pocket and leans into the bathroom to set it down on the sink. "It's an invitation for dinner from Yuri. Go. Don't be cruel. Give him a chance. As for the phone call, you have a phone in the top drawer of your nightstand. It won't work to call Earth once we're up in space, it will only work to call other rooms on the Mayflower."

She turns to leave the room through the still open doorway, but stops just as she crosses the threshold, her hand still gripping the door frame. "Neo is from Hicksmon, like Esther. He and his sister Oriana played with you and Esther at the Guzman wedding and at Isla and Daniel's wedding. Be kind to him too. He's not just someone working for Yuri. He's taking his life into his own hands and trying to make something of it." Her face is red now from the anger she's trying to hold back. It takes a lot for Mom to censor herself. "You should do the same," she says, walking out of sight.

"Hi Neo," I hear her say farther down the hallway, and just when I'm about to close the door, he appears in front of me pulling a cart with at least twenty glass vases on it.

He looks confused and concerned. "Everything ok?" he asks.

"Fine. Want to come in?"

I'm too flustered from my mom's lecture for any excitement to ignite inside me, so I ask him inside like I'm asking some mundane question.

"Sure," he says with a smile, and pushes the cart inside.

I retreat to my bed and fall across it. Lying on my belly, I reach for the top drawer of the nightstand and pull it open. A corded phone sits inside the drawer, the kind of device people must have used well before the end of the world, nothing like our small, portable phones.

I hear the sink running from the bathroom and water moving as Neo must be filling the vases, but I don't acknowledge him, I'm too angry to. Instead, I dial Esther's number.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring. "Hello?" I recognize the voice as my aunt Eleanor's.

"Eleanor, hey, it's Tempest. Is Esther around?"

"She's been out all day... we're... we're actually not sure where she is right now."

"Is that Eleanor Crowley from Hicksmon?" Neo whispers behind me. I look over my shoulder and nod to him. He smiles, and joins me, lying down on his belly too, right beside me on the bed. A little firework lights inside me. There's that excitement back. "Can I talk to her next?"

I nod. "Well, when she gets back can you have her call me back on this number? This is super random, but... I'm actually on the Mayflower."

"Wait... is that the ship going to Janus? Why? Are Ava and Ian there too?"

"Yes, because I'm being bartered for peace, and yes."

"Bartered for peace?"

"I'm here to be with Yuri Oshiro, the emperor's son."

"Oh... was that the only option?" she asks. Why do all the adults I talk to about this respond in the same nonchalant way?

"No," I say. "He could have, I don't know, grown up and not been a spoiled little brat about having me come along?"

She sighs into the phone. "It's not that simple, I'm afraid. There are things about the generation you all call the 'Perfects' that you don't know. You and Esther don't have anything to worry about, but... it's not that simple with some of the others."

"What are you talking about?" I ask.

"I don't want to start a panic, maybe Yuri is just a brat."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I ask again. Neo raises his eyebrows in shock, and Eleanor pauses, probably in the same response.

"Again, I don't want to start a panic or step on anybody's toes, but... if I tell you, it will make things worse. Just do what you're asked, Tempest. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry that this is happening to you. But you will have such a great, big adventure in space, I promise. The Mayflower is the best of the best in comfort and style, you'll love it. And who knows? Maybe you'll learn to love your companions there too."

"Tell me what the hell is going on," I demand.

"I'll tell Esther you called," Eleanor replies and then hangs up.

I slam the phone into his holder, then dial the number again.

"Hey, I wanted to say hi," Neo says.

"Not now."

Ring.

Ring.

Ring. Straight to voice mail.

I dial again, and once again, I'm sent to voice mail. I try three more times, before Neo rest's his warm, strong hand on mine. "Take a break," he says. "We can try again later."

"I have a dinner with Yuri later."

He shrugs. "I'll stop by after. We can try then."

I slam the drawer shut and take a few deep breaths. "Did you hear that conversation?"

"No," he says.

"There's something bigger going on here than just Yuri wanting to be with me. There's another reason why me and him being together will bring us peace. Eleanor was being way too cryptic on the phone for something not to be going down."

His brows furrow. "It's probably nothing too huge. They probably just want to start an alliance for the future."

"Yeah, that's what I figured, but it seems to be more than that. I have to find out."

"Do you think it's something we should be concerned about?" he asks.

I bite my lip and shake my head. "I don't know."

"Whatever it is," he says, curling his fingers around the palm of my hand, "we will figure it out together."

I look into his eyes, his warm, chocolate brown eyes, and smile. "Why? You work for Yuri."

"Because I remember you from Hicksmon. I remember you from even before that, when we were still on the Immortal inside Hellhole."

"What?" I laugh. "I have no memory of any of that."

"That's because you were a baby. I've known you all your life, Tempest Becker," he says. His voice as he says it sounds gentle and soft, and I allow it to soften some of my anger.

"That's fine. We will have our whole lives to make new memories while stuck on this ship," he says, finally releasing his hand from mine and pushing himself up off the bed. "First memory: Putting all these roses into vases."

He walks into the bathroom and I hear the sink start again. Glass clangs as vase after vase are filled. When Neo and the flowers finally evacuate the bathroom, it's time for me to take a shower and get ready for dinner. Neo leaves to give me some space before he comes back to take me to dinner with Yuri.

Is it bad that I'm more excited for the walk to dinner with Neo than the actual dinner with Yuri? Whatever the reason for me being set up with Yuri, it just might be derailed if Neo continues to be the only one on my side.