by Allison West
Chapter 2
“You shouldn’t have come back!” Damien shook his head, his eyes narrowed, appearing displeased as he lowered the baton yet again, shocking Holden.
Pain seared through his blood, forcing his body to convulse on the ground as electricity surged through him. “It wasn’t my idea,” Holden said, gasping for breath. “She found the galactopter.”
The guards, all but Damien, disappeared down the corridors, tending to their responsibilities. Holden felt relieved. One on one, he could take Damien. He just needed the opportunity.
“That’s what this is?” Damien bent down, lifting the device that had fallen to the ground when he’d been detained. His eyes stared at the cylinder, transfixed.
“We’re a long way from Adair.” Holden wasn’t an idiot. With the metal walls and floors, and the guards patrolling, he’d found himself in a prison. On Adair, the planet he was from, criminals were kept in the sky, transported to prisons in space. He hadn’t seen a window since transporting with Jade to verify his theory, but without a doubt he could smell the recycled air. There were no fresh fragrances of the outdoors wafting inside. No hint of grasses or pollen revealing him to be wrong.
“Lucky for me, since you’re my prisoner.” Damien appeared smug, with the wide shit-faced grin matching his black hair and dark eyes. His crooked nose accented his face as his top lip twitched with a snarl. “Stand up!”
Relieved to stand and stretch his legs, the binds were still confining but at least he was done being tortured. “Since when did you get demoted to prison guard?” Holden asked, trying to push Damien’s buttons. He knew what pissed him off, they’d grown up together, training with the military, they were practically brothers, as they were both from the same unit.
“Demoted?” Damien’s jaw tightened. “I’m the warden.”
“Same difference,” Holden said and shrugged. “Are you going to let me out of the cuffs?”
“Maybe,” Damien said. He gave no indication of what he intended to do. “Who’s the girl you brought with you?”
Holden didn’t like where the conversation headed. “She’s no one. A school teacher who moved in next door.” He did not want any harm to come to her.
“Then why’d you bring her here?” Damien asked.
“The better question you should be asking is why am I back.” Holden needed to steer the topic far from Jade. She’d accidentally found the device that shouldn’t have been in an envelope. He’d given the device to the government of the United States. Was he a traitor to Adair? Yes, but only because he knew of their plans for harvesting Earth and its inhabitants and wanted no part of it. The invasion wasn’t on schedule for a century for Jade, but in Holden’s time, it was happening as they spoke.
Damien’s eyes narrowed and gestured for Holden to spin around. “I don’t know why you’re back, but you can’t stop the war from coming to Earth, don’t bother trying. You know it’s too late for their planet.” His answer was curt. It wasn’t an argument to be had right now. “You saved my life on Adair, I’ll grant you amnesty but only on the prison base. The only way you’ll blend in here is as a poppa.”
“I’ll do it.” Holden had never witnessed the prison program but he’d been aware of the rehabilitation idea, the regression of women into young girls to break their insubordinate behavior. The thought of anyone else touching sweet Jade made his fists clench. The program didn’t work on everyone, murderers for instance couldn’t be changed, but they weren’t brought by prison transport to the prison colony either. Jade would be in for a rude awakening when she discovered where they were. “Can I have the galactopter back?” Holden asked. Without it, he couldn’t travel through space and time.
“No chance in hell, brother,” Damien said, grinning. “You can have the girl, but returning to Earth, that isn’t going to happen.”
Holden showed no hint of emotion. He wouldn’t display an ounce of weakness, as Damien thrived on others’ displeasure. “Where did you take Jade?”
“She’ll be in the holding cell, until a poppa comes to claim her.” The smile only seemed to grow on Damien’s face, his eyes shining with mirth. “Better hope it’s not too late.”
Grunting in dismay, Holden turned and headed down the hall. He could find Jade on his own far quicker than Damien would help him. His old friend enjoyed watching others squirm in their discomfort, relishing pain. It was part of the Adair way. The corridors were long and narrow. Glancing out the window into space, the planet appeared to glow with reds and browns, a shrinking small pool of blue hardly seemed visible. Lack of water would eventually kill off the Adairans, unless they sought out a new planet. It had been the reason to harvest Earth, to take its resources and enslave the people. Earth wasn’t the first planet that had been drained either. His people didn’t learn from their mistakes.
He walked the empty corridors, coming to two doors, one on his left and one on his right. Glancing behind him, Damien hadn’t followed. He shut his eyes and listened for Jade. He hadn’t spent a great amount of time with her, but enough to tune into her call. Though he looked human and the Adairans called themselves human, his senses were stronger than anyone on Earth. In fact, his senses were stronger than most Adairans. His father called it a gift from the Gods though he didn’t know what the hell that meant then or now. Except he was grateful to feel her presence, hear her screams, and know to turn right.
Holden picked up the pace, his feet light under him as he followed the sounds of her pleas, begging to be released and screaming for him. It made his heart swell and at the same time his stomach knot. How would she respond when she discovered the truth about who he was? He couldn’t tell her. Even if he wanted to, it would be too great a risk to entrust her with the information. Besides, she’d never believe him. At least that was what he told himself as he came to stand on the other side of the cell block that she’d found herself in.
“Holden!” She rushed up to the bars, her fingers reaching out for him. Her dark chocolate eyes and wisps of dark brown hair flowed as she ran. “Help me. Please, you have to get me out of here.”
A dozen other women, none he recognized, shared a cell with Jade. At least no one would divulge his secret to her.
“Yeah, Holden.” Another woman with hair like golden wheat shoved her hand out to him. “You can be my poppa any day.”
Jade gave the woman a peculiar glare before stepping further from the woman beside her. “Help me,” she said, taking Holden’s hand briefly in hers. “I can’t be in here. I have to teach school on Monday. Besides, we didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I’m trying,” Holden said. He didn’t have keys, and he couldn’t open the prison doors without a guard’s assistance. “Let me find someone who can get you out of there. Hold tight.”
“Yeah, like I could go anywhere else,” Jade said, muttering the words under her breath.
He headed down the prison cell hall, finding a guard at the other end sitting with his feet up, reading a magazine.
“You there!” Holden grabbed his attention. He pretended to own the place, tried to act as if he belonged and they hadn’t just detained him less than an hour ago. “I’m ready to claim my prisoner for rehabilitation.”
The guard held up a finger as he finished reading the last of the sentence on the page, or perhaps the full paragraph because it took longer than Holden thought it should. Finally, the guard shut the magazine and placed it on the table. “Which cell block?”
Holden glanced behind him. He wasn’t sure of the numbers or the names. “The one just down the hall. You brought a girl in not that long ago. Dark hair, she’s probably been putting up a fight since she showed up. She’s with me.”
The guard’s eyes momentarily lit up. “Warden Damien is okay with this arrangement?”
“He told me to make it happen.” Holden stepped closer to the young guard, towering over him. “Do you want me to get the warden? We both know he’s busy, but if you can’t handle doing your job, we can bring him ove
r and have him babysit you.”
“No. Of course I’ll release her.” The guard stalked down the hall, glancing into the cells before stopping in the cell block that Jade was in. All the women she was housed with were approximately the same age, in their mid-thirties. What crimes had they committed that sent them to the prison colony? Shoving the key into the lock, he pointed at Jade. “You. New girl.”
Jade walked toward the metal bars.
“Come with us,” the guard said, unlocking the door, letting Jade out.
She no longer had handcuffs on her wrists though Holden noticed the bright red marks from where the metal had singed her skin. She’d probably resisted detainment and she’d paid for it with burns and scars that he hoped wouldn’t be permanent.
“All the new girls are first brought to the nursery to meet their nanny. Once you’re cleaned up and properly changed, you’ll join your poppa for dinner.”
Holden hadn’t thought about eating since she’d touched the galactopter. He’d prepared dinner and it was sitting idly at home, waiting to be eaten. Whatever meal the prison colony was providing couldn’t be as tasty or enjoyable as what he’d prepared back at home. Earth had grown to become his home. He’d lived there for over a decade, assimilating into the culture quite easily. Some things, even across different worlds, hadn’t changed.
“Nanny?” Jade asked.
“Nanny Marie will greet you in your room,” the guard said. He retrieved a capped syringe from his pocket and removed the lid, pushing the end just a bit to let the air out and the yellow liquid graze the top of the needle. “I’ll need your arm.”
Jade’s eyes widened in horror. She ran as far as she could get, which was to the opposite end of the hall, but there was nowhere else for her to go. Trapped with the guard to her left and Holden to her right, she attempted to bolt past them, only to end up in Holden’s strong grip. He didn’t let her go.
“Do it.” He gave the order to the guard, watching as the injection pierced through her skin, and he pushed the syringe emptying the contents into her body.
The guard tossed the syringe into a dark red biohazard containment bag, heading down the hall to properly dispose of the needle.
“I know you want answers, but I can’t give them to you.” Holden knew enough about the prison colony and how rehabilitation worked. It wasn’t spoken of too freely on Adair, but the fears and horrors of having to face regression were well-known.
He studied her face, waiting to see the changes take place. The injection was the activator. The prison colony pumped invisible gas through the nursery and playroom for the little ones. The combination created a golden halo around the pupils of one’s eyes that even after returning to an adult age, would never disappear. It would forever mark a felon of the prison colony, even long after rehabilitation.
“I don’t need a nanny. I’m thirty-six years old,” she said. It was clear to Holden that the regression hadn’t taken course yet. How long would it take to make her body and her mind work as it had when she was just a child?
“Of course you don’t.” Holden gently patted her back. If he was right and the serum kicked in soon, then he only had a few minutes to get through to her. “Remember the bronze cylinder?” he asked, keeping his voice so only the two of them could hear the conversation.
Jade nodded, her eyes wide, clinging to his every word.
“We need to buy time for me to get it back. It’s our only chance to return home.”
She didn’t argue with him. Perhaps she could see what he was intending to do. Even so, she nodded and shut her lips.
They turned down the hall and headed across the way, the same hall that Holden had momentarily paused in front of, trying to find Jade. Once through the door, the guard retrieved a key from his belt and headed down the hall. “Your nursery is right through here,” he said, shoving the key into the lock. He let her inside.
Jade paused, her feet as though they were stuck to the ground, refusing to go in.
“Go inside,” Holden whispered into her ear. With his hands on her shoulders, he gently guided her into the nursery and flipped the lights on in the room.
The bedroom was painted in a pale pink color, the bed covered with a quilt of fairies and crowns fit for a princess or queen. In the corner of the bedroom sat a small table and chairs with coloring books and crayons. Breathing in the stale air, it tickled her nose, forcing her face to scrunch.
“You’re to come with me,” the guard said to Holden.
Jade’s eyes widened as he retreated from the room. “Holden!”
“You’ll be fine. I’ll see you soon. I promise,” Holden said, assuring her not to worry. He knew she probably didn’t want to be left alone, but this was the safest place for her in the prison colony. She’d thank him for this one day. He was doing all he could to protect her.
Her eyes glistened with tears as he walked away from the room and the guard shut the door, locking her inside the nursery. His heart ached at seeing her sadness. It hurt him too, though he did well to hide it. “Is that absolutely necessary?” Holden asked.
“Yes,” the guard said. “We can’t have little ones running around making a mockery of the system. Nanny Marie will look after her. Don’t worry yourself about the young girl. She’ll be fine. They always are.”
“Of course,” Holden said, pretending not to care. “Where to?” he asked, unsure what was next.
“All newly joined poppas are required to take our introductory course. You should have been given a packet of information when you traveled on the prison transport to the colony.”
“Yes, I’ve looked it all over.” Holden had no clue what he was supposed to have received, but he could play along. Hopefully there wouldn’t be a test that he’d be required to pass in order to be Jade’s poppa. There was only so much pretending and lying that he could do.
Chapter 3
The moment the door shut, Jade rushed to try the handle, finding it locked. She shouldn’t have been surprised, seeing as how she was deemed a prisoner in this strange place. Where exactly was she and what had that strange cylinder done to get her there? If she was right, they’d need it to get home, which meant trusting Holden to retrieve it.
Unable to escape the same way she’d been brought into the room, Jade spun around on her heels and examined the bedroom. It had been designed for a young girl of four or five. With a table in the corner for coloring and a bed covered in a girly quilt, Jade rushed toward the shut door adjacent to the one she’d come in from. She’d briefly overlooked the second door, but perhaps it was a way out.
Her feet padded across the wooden floor. Carpeting shaped in a rainbow lay just in front of the entrance. Trying the handle, the knob refused to budge. Jade pushed with all her weight, her shoulder trying to force the door to break free. It wouldn’t budge.
Grunting in frustration, Jade stepped back and examined the room again. Maybe there was a key and this was all part of some game she had to play to get home. Though she doubted that was the case. The handcuffs had been pretty damn real. Glancing at her wrists, the red marks hadn’t yet vanished from her sensitive skin. She rubbed the marks, as if it’d help them go away.
“Tell me I’m dreaming,” she said aloud. No one could hear her. At least not as far as she knew. Paintings were affixed to the walls of young girls playing dress up. It was only then that she noticed there wasn’t a single window to the outside world. Her fingers rubbed along the painted walls. Unlike the halls of gray and steel, an ugly dark somber mood, the nursery as the guard so eloquently put it was warm and cheerful, inviting and inspiring for a young child. Except Jade was not a child. She didn’t understand what was going on.
On the opposite side of the door, the lock clicked and the handle turned. A woman in her forties with her blonde hair pulled back into a bun stepped into the room. “I’m Nanny Marie,” the woman said. “Come here, child.”
Jade tentatively stepped closer. “I’m not a child. My name is Jade.” The needle that
had pierced her skin left a bit of blood stained to her arm. It no longer hurt, but it did make her feel light headed.
“A pretty name for a pretty girl,” Nanny Marie said. “We must get you out of that hideous attire and into something much more appropriate for you to wear.”
Jade glanced down at her jeans and black t-shirt. Did she really look that bad? Sure she’d been unpacking, but she thought she looked fine when she got dressed earlier that morning.
“Come here.” Nanny Marie opened the closet, removing a pink dress fit for a princess with a huge skirt and white trim with lace.
“You want me to wear that?” How did the dress look more appropriate than her jeans and t-shirt? Had everyone gone mad? Jade still didn’t fully understand what happened after she’d crossed the wormhole. Obviously she ended up someplace else, but she couldn’t very well ask without seeming suspicious. In fact, she was certain if she tried to explain the truth, they’d think she’d gone mad and would lock her away for good. She’d seen the prison cells and didn’t wish to return there, ever.
Nanny Marie headed into the washroom, retrieved a wet rag and forcefully wiped over the sensitive skin that had just recently been pricked by the needle. Her arm hurt and her nanny’s forceful scrubbing over the dried blood only made her arm further sore.
“Oww!”
Satisfied that the dried blood had been removed, Nanny Marie gestured to the rest of the clothes Jade wore. “Undress,” the nanny said, waiting with the dress in her hand for Jade to strip down.
Jade glanced around. “Can I use the washroom?” She didn’t want to get naked in front of this woman.
“Do you need to use the potty?” Nanny Marie asked.
She hadn’t heard that word in years. “No.”
“Then I don’t see any reason you can’t undress right here.” Nanny Marie stood her ground and after a moment, placed the gown onto the bed. She grabbed Jade by the waist, pulling her closer as she lifted the woman’s top.