Not just because of his breath warming her face, but because she could feel him there. His presence was somehow both quiet and loud. Both infinitely massive and impossibly small. As though he was nowhere and everywhere at the same time.
“On the count of three!” Castor called out, the connecteur poised above his head. “One …”
Chatine tried to pull her hand free. Etienne squeezed it tighter.
“Two … ,” said Saros from the ladder, grabbing on to the other end of the connecteur.
Chatine looked over at Etienne, who was staring right back at her, a mischievous look playing in his eyes. Like he knew something she didn’t.
“Three!”
The couple cocked back their hands simultaneously and tossed the connecteur up into the air. In one swift motion, Etienne pulled Chatine toward him. The small piece of metal arced over the assembled crowd and headed straight toward Chatine. Etienne’s hands wrapped around her waist, and suddenly she was flying too. Her feet left the ground. She was as weightless as she was in space. There was no time to think. No time to negotiate. The connecteur was within reach. She could see it. She extended her right arm out, past all the other hands reaching around her. Her fingertips stretched, her body lengthened. But the connecteur was curving the wrong way. It was curving away from her. She wasn’t going to catch it. It was going to just barely graze her fingertips. Then she heard a grunt as Etienne hinged forward, pushing her closer, his arms shaking beneath her.
“You got it! You got it!” he shouted.
And he was right.
The looped piece of metal hit her palm, and she closed her fist triumphantly around it. But just as soon as she’d snagged the victory, she felt herself falling. Etienne was stumbling beneath her. They were both going down.
She felt a pair of hands land on her left arm. Then another on her right shoulder. The crowd had surrounded them, stabilizing them both. Chatine felt her feet land safely on the ground and she turned to look at Etienne, who was breathless and beaming.
He nodded toward the connecteur, and she lifted it high above her head. Everyone cheered and applauded. Chatine couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face.
“And we have a victor!” Saros shouted. “Thanks to the (questionably legal) help of Etienne, Chatine has captured the connecteur! Congratulations on your future linking.”
WHAT?
Chatine’s gaze shot up the ladder toward Saros, who winked knowingly at her. She turned and skewered Etienne with her eyes. “What is he talking about?”
Etienne opened his mouth to speak, but it was Astra who answered. She suddenly appeared next to Chatine with a huge grin on her face. “Whoever catches the connecteur is the next one to get linked!”
Chatine peered up at Etienne, her face still twisted with confusion. Etienne grinned sheepishly back at her. “Did I forget to mention that part?”
She raised the connecteur, ready to toss it at Etienne’s head. Etienne held up his hands to defend himself. But Chatine was stopped by a commotion at the back of the fête. There were voices, followed by a few shrieks. Chatine froze, her pulse spiking as her thoughts immediately went to the worst possible scenario.
Policier.
Ministère.
Roundups.
She lowered the connecteur and turned to Etienne for an explanation, but he looked just as confused—and concerned—as she did.
Then she heard a squeal of joy from below, and Chatine glanced down to see Astra taking off in the direction of the commotion.
“Astra! Wait!” Chatine called out, but the little girl was already too far away to stop.
“It’s Fabian and Gen!” Astra shouted with glee. “They’re back!”
Chatine stood on tiptoes to try to see through the crowd that had begun to migrate in the direction of the commotion. Relief streamed through her when she saw that she was not surrounded by expressions of dread, but rather expressions of delight.
“C’mon,” Etienne said, taking her hand once again. “You finally get to meet our other gridders.” As he guided her through the crowd, Chatine could just make out two people crouched down, their bodies covered with children who were all scrambling to get close to them. Chatine couldn’t even see their faces.
“Did you find your children?” a small voice called out.
“Why did you take so long?” said another.
“We have a new gridder!” a third voice informed them. This one, Chatine recognized as Astra, who had squirmed her way through the crowd and now had her arms wrapped around a slender man’s neck. His face was still obscured by