Polaris by Mindee Arnett

can’t even say good-bye.”
    Jeth choked back guilt, fighting hard not to cry. I didn’t have a choice, he thought, but couldn’t bring himself to say it.
    Celeste’s words seemed to shatter the spell Sierra was under, and she staggered forward, heading for the nearest chair. She sank onto it, tears now flowing freely from her eyes.
    â€œWhat happened?” she said.
    Jeth swallowed. “It was that old man, the one in the priest’s robes. I . . . I was stupid and didn’t check him for weapons. I thought he was just a bystander, but then he said something that made Vince panic. Vince told me to run and I did. Ionly made it because he warned me.”
    â€œWhat did he say?” Lizzie asked, her voice thick. “The old man.”
    Jeth thought back, the memory blurred by emotions. He inhaled, expanding his chest as far as it would go, the sudden intake of oxygen making him momentarily dizzy. “He said ‘I am the Storm that Rises.’ Then Vince called him some name I didn’t recognize.”
    Sierra sucked in a breath. “Saar.”
    Jeth frowned. “Yeah, that’s right. Who is he?”
    â€œAdmiral David Saar,” Sierra said, and now Jeth recognized the name.
    â€œNo, it can’t be,” said Milton, jerking upright. “It’s not possible.”
    Sierra cut her eyes to him. “Why not? We know he’s still alive.”
    Jeth crossed his arms over his chest. “Are we talking about the same Admiral Saar from the history books?”
    Both Sierra and Milton looked up at him with alarmed expressions, as if in their mutual horror they were startled to find they weren’t alone.
    â€œThe same.” Milton sagged against the sofa again.
    â€œBut who is he?” asked Lizzie.
    Jeth wasn’t surprised that Lizzie didn’t know. She’d spent less time than any of them in a classroom. But from their confused looks, Jeth guessed Flynn and Shady were in the dark, too. He couldn’t tell with Celeste, who still had her face buried against Shady’s chest.
    â€œAdmiral Saar,” Milton said, “is a living legend. Not that any of you are old enough to fully understand what that means. I was your age when he was at the height of his glory. He’s most famous for single-handedly ending the Emet Insurgence.”
    A shiver went down Jeth’s spine as he remembered studying the Insurgence back at Metis Academy, the ITA-run boarding school he’d attended up until his father’s death and his mother’s imprisonment. He’d never been particularly interested in history, then or now, but he could recall with perfect clarity the videos and photos chronicling the conflict that his teacher had shown them. Most of the ones he remembered were of the aftermath—entire cities pulverized into an unknowable wasteland of twisted metal and ash; the murky water of poisoned rivers and streams; farmlands scorched into hellish landscapes; and piles upon piles of slaughtered livestock. And the dead of course. Millions of them.
    Sierra nodded. “The ITA reveres Saar. All first-year agents are required to study his war tactics, whether we wanted to or not. Saar . . . liked to get his hands dirty, personally performing executions and whatnot. Sadistic. But there’s no denying he was a genius.”
    Shady looked unimpressed. “What was this Insurgence?”
    â€œThe last time any planet ever attempted to secede from the Confederation.”
    This news didn’t have any effect on Shady. In fact, he barely seemed to listen as he guided Celeste back to the sofa.
    â€œYes,” said Milton, rubbing his eyes. “Saar’s victory overEmet secured the ITA’s power over the aligned systems and it earned Saar the name Storm Scourge. Although if I remember correctly, he often referred to himself as the Storm that Rises.”
    â€œYes, that’s true,” said Sierra.
    Jeth didn’t want to