Read Online Hakusan Angel by Alex Powell - Free Book Online

coordinated nod and settled into seats. The pilots slowly retook their own and waited.
    It was time to talk.

4
    Kaede hadn't been certain where exactly she was going to go after she'd fled her own chambers upon discovering it was overrun by hostile pilots. Going back to the medical bay wasn't really an option, but there wasn't anything else on this floor. The guards would probably stop her if she tried to take the elevator down.
    She was standing alone in the cold hallway when the elevator light flicked on, indicating it was in use. She looked around, but the hall was completely empty. There were no doors or alcoves, just the flat grey of dull metal that barely reflected her face back at her. There was nowhere to hide and wait for whomever it was to go by.
    She was still standing there, rooted to the spot when the doors opened.
    "Kaede?"
    Kaede couldn't believe her eyes. "Sae?"
    Sae stepped swiftly out of the elevator, and she was followed by what looked like most of the Level 3 Sources.
    "How did you get here?" Kaede had given up on being allowed to see any of her friends indefinitely, so it was a shock to see them here in front of her without any warning.
    Sae smiled. "Did you think that we would just abandon you? We knew what had happened immediately. They questioned me about the incident. I was obviously not the Level 1 Source they were looking for, so it had to be you."
    Kaede looked down at her toes peeking out from the hem of her yukata. "They're blaming me for everything, because I didn't tell them I was a Level 1."
    Sae stepped forward and awkwardly put her arms around Kaede's shoulders. Displays of affection were not that common among sources, but Kaede appreciated the gesture, all the same. She allowed her forehead to rest against Sae's silk-clad shoulder and breathed in her lavender and rainwater scent.
    "I'm sorry," Sae said softly against her ear. "I am also to blame for what happened. Are they ... are they treating you well?"
    Kaede didn't answer and Sae's fingers tightened on her shoulders. She didn't need words; Sae knew how the military treated sources.
    They returned to the room, and Kaede could only stand there in a daze as Sae took control of the situation and started up a conference right there in Kaede and Mariko's shared suite.
    Sae pulled Kaede to the front to sit next to her, closest to the pilots arrayed across from them. She leaned forward so she could speak quietly in her ear, "I know you're not the type to want to talk or disagree with the pilots or make a big production, but this is about you. So please, I need your input."
    Kaede nodded. She knew she had a problem with expressing her complaints to the person they concerned, but Sae was right this time. Maybe now they could find a way to reconcile themselves with their counterparts.
    "Right," one of Mariko's friends said, scratching a hand through bright orange hair. "If we have to discuss this, I feel that we should be able to have a drink at the same time. No way I'm getting through this conversation without some help."
    "That's true," Sae said, shrugging apologetically and looking at Kaede. "You destroyed the bar and now there's nowhere for us all to unwind."
    "No problem," Mariko piped up from her perch on top of what looked like an in-suite bar. "I was bored, so I insisted on making them stock up on everything."
    "Planning on drinking it all yourself, Ishigaki?" laughed her orange-headed friend.
    Mariko ducked her head, "Well, you know I wanted you to come visit, so I had it done in the hopes you'd be allowed one day. And here you are."
    "So I suppose it's all beer, is it?" Sae rolled her eyes. "Pilots."
    "No actually." Kaede was surprised to see Mariko's face flush. "I thought that Kaede might like it if you visited, so I had them bring some of everything."
    Kaede didn't know what to say to that. Mariko was a constant contradiction! One moment she was saying disparaging things to or about Kaede and the next she would do something to belie