by Alex Hayes
I intercept the burst with the barbell and deflect the crackling blue energy pulse into the ceiling, melting a hole in the steel roof.
Jesus, is that thing for real?
He shoots again, and I redirect the pulse into a wall. Concrete blocks blow out, leaving a singed hole.
Moldy goes flying, gun and all, into the wall behind him.
Good ol’ Cadi!
Time to take this guy down. I point the barbell and go barreling toward Moldy like Don Quixote after a windmill. With no time to recharge his weapon, he pulls its bulk across his chest like a shield.
Not a chance.
Sonic’s saser barbell skewers the gun, its owner and the wall. I pull back and stagger. As Moldy drops to the floor, his pierced sci-fi weapon starts to hum. Not like some grandad in the street with a harmonica. Nope. This hum is dissonant, a painful acoustic clash. It’s an I’m-about-to-explode-and-I’m-taking-you-and-half-the-State-of-New-York-with-me kind of hum.
I freeze, wondering what the hell to do with the thing.
The stupidest thing imaginable, what else? I dart forward and pick the weapon up.
Then I’m hurtling across the room, a la Cadi, but don’t hit the ground or the wall like I expect. I stop in midair and my legs drop to the floor.
Shit. This thing’s going to blow.
As I race toward the wormhole closet, a blue blur shoots past my head. With Cadi’s assistance, Moldy flies through the air, arms flailing, and disappears into the wormhole. I’m right behind him, legs pumping, then I stop short and hurl the shuddering weapon after the four-eyed, four-armed alien.
A deep thrum shakes the air.
“Idris!” Cadi shrieks.
A blast of heat and light explodes out of the doorway, sending me flying. I hit the ground. Hard. And the light fizzles out.
“Hey, bro. Wake up!”
A flash of bright white nails me in the eyes. I swat it away.
“Jeez, Id, you scared the shit out of us.”
Smooth fingers curl around my hand. “We did it,” Cadi whispers. She sounds exhausted. “The wormhole’s gone.”
I drop my head back against the floor and groan. Halle-freaking-lujah!
44
Cadi
Idris pulls the floating box with the crystal tree cutting behind him as we step out into early morning. The air is dewy and cold. I look up into his perfect green scaly face and he gazes down into mine. There’s something on his mind.
Marek passes us, barbell resting on his shoulder. “Hey, you two. Stop ogling each other and turn back into humans, for Christ’s sake.”
“Sure, Mar, we’ll be right there.” Idris tugs me back into the warehouse lobby. “Cadi…” He rubs a hand over his ridged head. “I, um…I’m sorry about the way I walked out on you.”
Phew. Is that all that’s wrong? “You were upset. I understand.”
His brow lowers and he reaches to touch my shoulders. “When I went back to the Thorny Rose, it…looked like you were leaving?”
A twinge of past sadness revisits. “You had your crystal, so I figured you’d transform back into a human and,” I swallow, “want to forget about me.”
His eyes close and he shakes his head. “Like I could.” He blinks and focuses on my face. “So what’s the deal with us? Somehow, we belong together.”
“You’re my bond brother.”
Idris’s eyes widen. “Brother?” He chokes the word out.
“Not literally. Our race has a ritual of matching their children, then they’re given twin crystals.”
His frown deepens.
“Our parents chose us to be bonded.”
Idris’s eyes fall to a piece of gravel on the floor and he proceeds to push it around with his foot. “So what does that mean…exactly?”
I figure he’s already guessed, but I spell it out. “We were chosen to be life partners.”
His eyes flash up. “Seriously?”
Whether he’s horrified or happy is hard to tell, even sensing his feelings, but I meet his gaze. “Yes.”
A breath blows out of him and his eyes roll toward the ceiling. When he looks at me again, his face breaks into a grin. “Um, guess we’ve got some bonding to catch up on then.” His silken tone causes my heart rate to double. His hands slide down my arms and his fingers hook into mine as he steps closer.
I melt into his embrace. “I’m so sorry about Valdar.”
Idris brushes the scales across my cheek. His chest deflates. “He shared his memories with you, so he’s not completely gone.”
“Yes. I’ve a lot to tell you.” I look toward the door, aware Marek’s waiting.
Idris follows my glance. “Um, there is something I want to say before we head out. Something I meant to say that night on the lake when I first realized…” I pick up his awkwardness.
I take in the beautiful patterns of his scales and the vulnerability on his face. He really is gorgeous in a lizardy kind of way.
“Realized what?” I ask.
His eyes turn soft and deepen from the darkest brown to coal black. “That I love you.”
My throat tightens, cutting off any attempt to reply. I loop my arms around his neck and pull his face to mine.
I remember the first time I kissed him. Compassion prompted me, but also a deep attraction I didn’t understand. Now I do.
His hands cradle the curves of my hips and he pulls me closer. Will I ever get enough of this boy?
I nuzzle his cheek, lips straying toward his ear. “I loved you when I was three years old, and that feeling has only grown since we met again.”
Marek’s voice cuts through the air. “Id, time to get moving.”
“Yeah,” he calls back, then looks at me, eyes wistful. “We’d better go human.”
We do.
Remembering how he described himself, I almost laugh. He should’ve added hunk to that list. He’s as gorgeous in human form as he is in Livran.
While I’m just…me.
I seek his eyes. “Would you, um, like me to change anything?” According to Valdar’s memories I should be able to make adjustments.
A dark eyebrow rises. “What?”
“Change the way I look. Higher cheekbones, longer legs…darker skin.”
“God, Cadi. Stop. That crap I said about my type…that had nothing to do with you. I was green with scales. Please don’t change anything for me. Green. Brown. Blonde. I don’t care. You’re perfect just the way you are.”
While Marek drives and Idris navigates, I lean back in the rear seat of Marek’s car and close my eyes. “So Valdar said forty-two Livran kids were evacuated from our home world, Daïzani, when the Evatenon attacked.” Idris and I come from another planet. The whole idea still blows my mind. “Then a day or two ago — weeks in Earth time, I guess — a troop of Evatenon made their way through the wormhole to find us.”
Marek glances over his shoulder. “To kill you?”
Ugh. If only that’s all they planned to do. I shift in my seat. “No, to breed us for future assimilation.”
Marek growls. “They’re some nasty mother—”
“No kidding,” Idris cuts in.
I glance from one to the other of them. “So Valdar said we’re to find our carers, the elders who came with us. Four of them, according to his memories. They’ll know what to do with the crystal tree cutting.” Which is sitting in the back of Marek’s car. “And help us locate and deal with the Evatenon who’re still here.”
“How will you recognize those suckers?” Marek asks.
“According to Valdar, we’ll see the fire of evil in the eyes of any Evatenon we come across,” I reply.
Idris glances over the seat back. “You mean that weird violet glow?”
I rub a stiff shoulder. “Yes. One of the Evatenon who kidnapped me assimilated that old woman, then a man called John.”
Idris shudders. “Yeah, I’d met John before. Told him my name was Dre.”
I stare at the back of his head. “So you knew y
our real name?”
He twists to look at me. “Nah, not really. The name popped into my head, out of nowhere, like most of my memories from that time.”
Mine too. “So, I guess we need to find the rest of the Livran kids. Not sure how, but if we can track down the carers, they must know.”
A phone buzzes.
“Incoming,” Marek says. “Gotta be your dad.”
Idris groans. “I don’t want to think about Dad right now, but that’s not my phone. It’s Cadi’s.”
“What?” I almost shout.
He turns, a wide smile plastered across his face. “I bought it back from the guy at the pawnshop.”
Tears sneak into my eyes and my voice turns liquidy. “Idris, you didn’t have to do that.”
He drops a frown. “I know. But I wanted to.” He pulls out the charger cable and hands me the phone.
A text from Shri. We’re really worried. Where are you?
Then I notice dozens of messages and calls, from Mama, Shri and…Dean. Ugh.
I group text back. I’m fine. Lost my phone. Just got it back. Didn’t have anyone’s number, so I left messages at the farmhouse. Sorry I worried you.
The phone buzzes with an incoming call. Mama.
“Hello,” I say.
“Oh, Cadi! We’ve been frantic. I called the hotel, had them check your room and you weren’t there. And Victoria went looking for you. So I called the police—”
“The police? Mama, I’m fine. Didn’t you get my messages? I left them on the farmhouse phone because I didn’t remember any other numbers.”
“At the farmhouse? I didn’t notice the message light.”
I gasp. “Oh, no! I totally forgot. Those reporters kept calling the house number, so Shri unplugged the phone.”
“Well, that explains a lot,” Mama replies. “But Cadi, I really think you should have tried harder to get in touch. Victoria Lakewood waited for you at the hotel for two hours, Sam and Jessie have been looking for you ever since they got home, and your social worker, Everett Scrim, is in Hopper searching too. Where should I tell him to find you?”
Um… “Mama, hang on a sec.” I put her on mute.
“How long before we’re back in Hopper?” I ask the boys.
“Two hours tops,” Idris says.
Mr. Scrim’s a nice enough guy. Understanding. He always told me to try to fit in. “Okay if I have my social worker meet me at the Thorny Rose?”
Marek shrugs. “Is it okay if my mom starts charging you rent?”
I pull a face in his direction. “Is that a yes or a no?”
“Sure, why not?” Marek throws Idris a frown. “Everyone else except our parents seems to know you two are hanging out there.”
“Nah. Our parents know as well,” Idris pipes in.
Marek palm strikes his head. “My mom knows?”
Idris starts tapping on the dash. “Well, my dad spoke to your mom who guessed I might be there, and Dad later confirmed it. Don’t want to think about how—”
“Hey, guys?” I’m trying to talk to Mama. “Could you hush a minute?”
Marek growls. Idris nods.
I arrange to meet Mr. Scrim at the Thorny Rose at midday and end the call.
45
Idris
“See y’later, lovebirds,” Marek calls as we climb from the Toyota outside the Thorny Rose.
I dip my head into the car. “Say hi to your mom for me.”
“Sure, Id. If I can get a word in edgewise while she’s lip-lashing me about staying out all night.”
“Want me to say something?” I offer.
“Nah. She bought the car trouble excuse. As long as you corroborate if she asks. I’d tell her the truth,” he laughs, “but she’d have me admitted.”
I grin. “We got pictures.”
“She’d say those were CGI. Never believe ‘em for a second.” He gives me a thumbs up and drives off.
As soon as we’re inside, I pin Cadi to the wall, my mouth on hers. God, she tastes sweet. I want to carry her downstairs and pick up where we left off on the bed.
She presses her face into my neck. “I was afraid I’d never see you again.”
“I’d have been back here sooner if it weren’t for Dad.” I shake my head. “The second I was human again, he gets this big idea of dragging me to the city to meet some producer he’s courting for a TV spot. I finally escaped, but when I got here, you were gone.”
Cadi rocks her forehead against my shoulder. “Thank you for coming after me.”
I squeeze her into me. The length of her body against mine is a perfect fit. “Like I was going to let you go.”
We’re kissing again. Her lips are soft, and the thought of being in that bed with her pulls at me. I loop my arm around her waist, contemplating the best way to pick her up and carry her downstairs. Funny, when she was unconscious, I didn’t have to think twice, just scooped her into my arms and off I went.
Cadi clears her throat. “That talk with your dad…”
“Yeah.” The word comes out like it wants to reshape itself into later. I don’t want to let her go.
She strokes my cheek. “We should probably shower before we head out and be social.”
I give her a suggestive smile. “Together?”
She laughs. “Then you’d definitely never get out of here. Go.”
One. More. Second. I kiss her, long and leisurely, on the mouth, the neck, her chin, her nose. She giggles and pushes me away. I smile and go.
The sun blazes through a cloudless sky and gleams across the snow accumulated in front yards and on roadsides. A perfect bike ride if it weren’t for what’s waiting at home.
I swing into the horseshoe drive — which I’m hoping the sun cleared of snow, and not Dad — and circle to the back of the house.
Mom’s cooking Dad’s favorite breakfast. Fried eggs and smoked salmon on a pumpernickel bagel. Never did like pumpernickel, but the food smells amazing. Maybe because I haven’t eaten since yesterday lunchtime.
“Hey, Mom.”
She looks up. No frown. Just question marks dotted all over her face.
“Sorry.” My wind-burned cheeks glow. “An emergency. Honest.” I heave a sigh. “Where’s Dad?”
“In his office.”
“How’d things go last night?” Best to know what I’m heading into.
“You should ask him.”
Argh. Thanks a lot, Mom.
I’m about to be thrown into a smoking volcano, but off I go, anyway.
As I pass her, Mom says, “Have you eaten?”
“Nah.”
“Breakfast in ten minutes then.”
I force up the edges of my lips. “Thanks.”
She offers a half-smile back.
Dad’s at his desk, scanning his phone.
I knock and push the door open wider.
He looks up, an eyebrow rising in degrees until it reaches its zenith.
“Um, how’d things go last night?” Seems polite to ask, even if introducing the subject, right off the bat, isn’t the smartest idea.
“Have a seat, Idris.” By his tone, I figure he’s simmering on the edge of a rolling boil.
I sit.
This feels like a trip to the principal’s office. Not that I went there more than once, and not because of anything I’d done. But the principal’s office is still intimidating, even when you’re not in trouble. I’d imagined the sins of all the bad students hanging from the stained ceiling panels like misguided ghosts.
“You agreed to go with me to New York for an important meeting. One that could take my brand to the next level. I told Frank you’d be there. He made reservations for three. I had to explain to Pamela Rivera, the Netflix executive, what happened to the third person. You.”
Dad’s eyes are steely, brow raised so high it’s pushing his hairline. “So maybe you’d like to explain to me what really happened. Because, as you might expect, I had to be pretty creative coming up with a reason for your absence.”
> Guess what I told him about a friend in danger didn’t cut the mustard. Curiosity almost pushes me to ask Dad what excuse he came up with, but I figure I might not want to know.
He taps a set of neatly trimmed fingernails on his desk, and I get the feeling that if I don’t speak fast he’ll put me six feet under.
If Cadi were here she’d come up with this great synopsis of events that would end with…and we closed the wormhole and saved planet Earth from an alien invasion.
And then he’d ask me for the truth.
I decide to start with facts I think he can handle. “I went to say bye to my girlfriend before we left for the city.” I take a deep breath. “And when I got there…to the place where she’s staying, she was gone. She’d been…well, to be honest, kidnapped.”
His expression is inscrutable, like Johnny Ringo’s in Tombstone, fingers flexing like they’re itching to reach for his revolver and nail Doc Holliday right between the eyes.
“Um, anyway… Marek and I figured out where she’d been taken and were on our way to find her when I called you.”
Dad’s eyes are stuck on my face, reading it like a polygraph.
I rub a hand over my human head. “We got to this warehouse, and…” I sigh and lean forward. “Dad, you’ve got to take a leap of faith with me here.”
“Uh-huh.” He says it like he’s already dismissed what I’m about to say as total bull.
“Inside the warehouse…” Jeez. “Okay, I know this sounds ridiculous, but please, just hear me out.”
Dad’s brow twitches.
Shit. He totally doesn’t believe a word I’m saying. “We find the entrance to a wormhole.”
Dad’s eyes widen.
“Yeah, one of those Einstein theories, except this one isn’t a theory. It’s real. And Cadi had been taken through—”
“I thought your girlfriend’s name was Rebecca,” Dad interrupts, as if he’s detected the definitive lie that will break my story’s proverbial back.
I rush in to save it. “Not anymore. Rebecca moved to the city, remember? We broke up. And Cadi… Well, I’ll get to her in a minute. So we followed her and ended up in a cavern on a planet called Daïzani.”