by Sarah Carter
“Ha. Yeah, I don’t think that’s it. I have a feeling The Collector is scared of her. Honestly, no one should ever mess with that little girl.”
“I would beat the crap out of them, but why do you say that?”
Mason blows out a breath. “She’s powerful, but you will see that when we rescue them.”
Xander steps forward. “Have you seen Trinity?”
“She misses you. She can’t say anything, but she gets this look on her face when you’re brought up. Everyone knows you love each other.”
“Oh no. The Collector!” Xander exclaims.
He puts his hand up. “Relax. She’s fine. Everyone should make it out, as long as there isn’t a time shift.”
“How do we make sure that doesn’t happen?” Claire asks.
“There’s no guarantee. Little Bit and I spent a whole day going over what I could or couldn’t say.”
“She knows a lot.”
“She knows everything.”
Claire sits up in her chair and gets a big smile. “She can give me the lotto numbers.”
“First, the Merjyet line doesn’t need any more money and I believe that would create a giant time shift. Unless you were meant to win the lottery.”
“Yeah, once I marry Damien money won’t be a problem anymore. Though I’m keeping my job. I want to bring in my own income. I will not be a kept woman.”
“How much does a guard member make?” Mason asks, narrowing his eyes.
“Depends on the level of the guard. I get paid the most.”
He rolls his eyes. “Of course you do. How much do you get paid?”
“A quarter of a million dollars,” Claire murmurs quietly.
“A year!”
“Yes.”
“I really need to join the guard.”
Claire smiles and slams her hands down on the armrests. “I want you to! Could you imagine you and me on missions? With my friend Alex!”
“Alex has a big problem with me. As much as Damien.”
“Why?” She asks.
“Because of how close we become and I am one conceded SOB.”
Aurora half laughs. “You really are.”
Mason looks up at Ariel. “That’s why Ariel loves me.”
She rolls her eyes. “That’s not why I love you.”
“And why do you love me then?” Mason asks sweetly.
Ariel’s cheeks turn bright red. “I’d rather not say in front of everyone.”
“Ariel, babe, they’re not going to let me be alone with you for a while.”
She walks over to him. “You make me laugh.”
He steps up to her. “Your laugh is contagious. It’s wonderful. I love to hear it.”
“You’re so incredibly smart.”
Leaning against the force field, Mason whispers, “Yeah, that’s true.”
“You really are an arrogant ass!”
“I’m really not. I’m cocky, very cocky, but yes, I’m smart.”
Ariel puts her hand up right outside the force field. Mason puts his hand there, too. “I think you’re brave.”
“Why do you think that?” Mason asks, with a curious look on his face.
“You stood up to The Collector your whole life. Then you ventured out into the world with no one.”
“I was young and stupid. I didn’t think anything could take me down.”
Claire smirks. “Well, we got you and what nots. So there.”
Mason gets really close to her. “You want to know something? Little Bit said I could tell you with Damien not around.”
“What?” Claire snorts.
He raises his wrist. “The cuff doesn’t work.”
“What? Yes, it does.”
“Nope,” he replies, standing back up.
“Then jump,” Claire scoffs.
“I can tell you. Damien just can’t know yet.”
“Don’t believe you.”
“Like I said, I can’t tell you. If I do it, they will see on camera. Damien can’t know yet.”
She rolls her eyes. “Don’t believe you.”
“This force field. Nothing.” He puts his hand on it.
That makes her hesitate. “Whatever Mason.”
“I don’t do anything so you know you can trust me.”
Claire shakes her head, sits back and crosses her arms. “I still don’t believe you.”
“When I show you, then you’ll believe me. That’s when Damien believes me, too.”
Gesturing with her hand, Claire says, “Keep talking. It’s not changing my mind.”
Mason gets a devilish smirk. “It’s put a seed of doubt in your head.”
“Again, whatever Mason.”
He looks up and says, “I would like to talk to Ariel some more.”
Claire moves her chair backwards. Ariel walks up to Mason. “Hey.”
“Hi babe.”
“I finally got the locket open,” she whispers.
“So, you did still have it.”
She gestures backwards and says, “Yeah, it took a room of brainstorming people to figure it out.”
“But you finally figured it out,” Mason replies, obviously excited.
“Well yeah,” Ariel murmurs quietly. “We then did analysis on it.”
Mason laughs. “How romantic.”
“I had to. We needed to know more about you. If it meant saving people, I would do it over again.”
His smile falters. “You didn’t trust me.”
“It always seemed like you couldn’t pick sides.”
“I had to do that. I needed to find the Neturu, which meant I had to be free to roam. I was never on The Collector’s side. I want her dead.”
“I believe you,” Ariel states. She steps closer. “I wish I could touch you.”
“You will. Give it a little bit. Ha ha ha, Little Bit. Funny.”
Ariel looks down. “It’s hard to believe about this little girl.”
“It’s true.”
“I trust you. I’m glad you found us. I didn’t know if I’d see you again. I thought about you all the time. I didn’t think I’d ever get to tell you that I loved you. I never told anyone. I’m not sure if I even believed it myself.”
“I knew,” Mason replies, looking straight into her eyes. “I’ve known for years.”
She rolls her eyes. “Bull crap. I totally don’t believe you.”
“You had a tell. You would always put your hair behind your right ear. Then you’d blush this nice shade of pink. It started a few years ago and you only did it to me.”
“I was a bitch,” Ariel mumbles.
“I love that,” Mason replies, leaning in close to her. “You didn’t take my shit.”
Claire sighs. “I wish I could give you a few minutes together.” There is a ruckus in the hallway. She turns towards the door.
“Don’t go out there,” Mason states. “You’re too weak.”
She turns back around. “Yes doctor.”
“It’s chaos. Your grandfather will come to get you. Don’t worry.” He looks at Ariel. “As for you and I, we get plenty of alone time together.”
“Mason,” Ariel hisses. She puts her hair behind her ear.
“See. There’s the tell. You’re also even redder than usual.”
“You’re embarrassing me,” she snaps.
He leans in really close to the force field. “I could tell them what we do during this alone time.”
The color drains from Ariel’s face. “God. Please tell me Lexi didn’t tell you.”
Mason busts out laughing. “No. I just know what I have planned.”
Ariel looks at him carefully. “You’ve never…with anyone out here.”
He looks down at the floor. “Ummm…”
“You have,” Ariel gasps.
“It was a long time ago, before anything blossomed between us.”
“What in the hell!” Ariel yells, clenching her fists. “What have you done?”
“Umm,” he hums. “How about what I
haven’t done. I’ve never had sex.”
She throws her hands up in obvious frustration. “Oh, that comment is going to make me feel so much better. How many girls have you goofed around with?”
Looking up at the ceiling, Mason draws out, “…a few…”
“Three,” Ariel counters.
“Okay, maybe more than a few.”
Claire watches Ariel’s face get beet read. She is about to say something when Ariel exclaims, “Oh my god! I don’t even want to see you.” She turns and walks towards the door.
Claire moves over by her. “You can’t leave.”
“Well, I’m not looking at him,” Ariel snaps. She crosses her arms and stays facing the door.
Mason walks over to the corner of his prison. He puts his hands on the force field. “I haven’t done anything in years. Not since I started having feelings for you.”
“I don’t believe you,” Ariel murmurs, scuffing her foot on the floor.
“Ariel. I’m four years older than you. The first time I did anything, you were twelve. That would have been a little weird.”
She turns around. “When was the last time you did anything?”
“Somewhat over two years ago. You were sixteen. I was just twenty. It didn’t seem right for me to have feelings for you. We weren’t allowed to have feelings but I couldn’t get myself to not fall for you. I had to be sneaky. The Collector finally came up to me. She said she knew. I told her if she ever really hurt you again, I would destroy the institute. Give me a steel baseball bat and I would demolish the place. She said fine.”
“That’s why we weren’t severely punished at all.”
“Wait, she still hurt you?” Mason growls, getting a very angry look on his face.
“Only when you were gone.”
His eyes turn to Claire. “You may have a time shift because if I see her, I’m going to kill her.”
“We can’t have a time shift. You’re the one who keeps saying that,” Claire replies.
Mason’s shoulders fall. “Yeah, you kill The Collector. I don’t know when or how.”
A devious smirk crosses Claire’s face. “I have a sword made like a cina.”
“A what?” Mason counters.
Claire starts feeling around herself. “Oh, I still have one. See.” She flicks her wrist.
“That wicked cool,” Mason exhales.
“They are super sharp. The strongest metal we have. I have one sword. It was my idea.” She taps her fingers together and grins. “There’s only one and it’s all mine.”
“What a badass weapon. I was never taught a sword.”
She throws her hands up. “I can do something you can’t. SWEET. I knew there’d be something.”
“I can kick your ass though.”
“Is there only one of you?” Claire asks Mason.
“There’s only one of all of us, but then there’s Lexi.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I honestly don’t even know what she can all do. She says we will only see when the moments right. Whatever it is it must be big.”
Narrowing her eyes, Claire says, “She can do more than see the future?”
Mason shakes his head. “I can’t say, but you will see when we rescue her.”
“What about Jennifer?” Aurora asks. Claire forget she was back there, she’s been so quiet.
“What about her?” Mason asks.
Ariel looks at him. “When was the last time you were at the institute?”
“Two months.”
“Trinity said Jennifer can control the elements.”
He nods. “That makes sense.”
“Why?” Claire asks.
“I can tell you this part. So can Lexi.”
“What can they do?”
“Well,” he explains. “Lexi can touch something and change what it is. That’s how I’ve been funding all of this. She turns crap into gold. She’s made diamonds. I used it all to try and find you guys. I also used a lot of it to find the Neturu. I don’t think humans are going to figure it out anytime soon. I was looking for you and couldn’t find you.”
Claire smiles. “We are an advanced alien race that wants to be undetected. You’re not supposed to be able to find us.”
“Well, Little Bit said I needed to be patient. When she told me I’d find the council through Ariel, I almost had a heart attack. To find you both at the same time. I almost fell over in exhaustion.”
Her eyebrows go up. “I didn’t realize you’d been looking for that long.”
“Six years,” he sighs.
“Holy crap. That’s a long time.”
Throwing his hands up, Mason exclaims, “Undetectable alien species.”
“That must have been frustrating.”
He gives her a look. “You have no idea.” Mason turns to Ariel. “But when you escaped, I had to find you.”
“We had the opportunity. We had to take it.”
“You hid well. You must have travelled fast.”
Xander finally speaks. “We hid for a few days and then caught a bus to Florida. We stayed there for a while. Then we went to Texas. Then to California. Then Wisconsin.”
“Yeah,” Aurora snorts. “Who in the hell would look for us in Wisconsin?”
“True,” Mason agrees.
“That was winter,” Xander says.
“I thought I was going to die,” Ariel gasps. “It’s fricking cold there.”
Laughing, Xander says, “We finally had enough and went to Washington.”
“I was really nervous about being in the US,” Ariel states, looking at Mason.
“So, we went to New York and snuck onto a boat. We shifted into small animals and hid amongst the boxes,” Xander explains.
“I can’t believe you travelled that much. That’s more than me,” Mason replies.
“So, after a while, we ended up in Loch Ness.”
Claire smiles. “That’s when we found them.”
Aurora exclaims, “Ariel and I were turning into the Loch Ness monster and scaring people.”
“The council sent me in. We needed for them to stop and we needed to find out why they were so different,” Claire says.
Ariel walks back over to Mason. “Then we ended up here. I never thought I’d see you again, especially on a Neturu ship.”
Mason leans forward. “Behind a force field that does nothing.”
“Oh stop,” Claire scoffs. “You’re stuck there and you can’t jump.”
“Want to make a bet?” Mason whispers, looking her dead in the eyes.
She squares her shoulders. “Sure. I know you’re lying.”
“If I end up getting out of here by jumping, what will you do?” He asks.
“What do you mean?”
He smirks. “What will you do, because I will let you clock me right in the face?”
“No jumping?”
Shaking his head, Mason says, “No jumping. Right in the face.”
“I will write loser across my forehead.”
With a steady stare, Mason looks at her. He finally says, “For how long?”
“An entire day. I will even let you write it.”
Mason stands up straight. “Deal.”
“Now jump, oh cocky one,” Claire instructs.
“I can’t yet. Time shift. But you won’t have to take down the force field. I get a few guns drawn on me but Damien realizes I must not be a threat.”
Claire looks at him. “Lexi, told you this?”
“Sort of. I figured some of it out on my own. She gives me little snippets.”
“So you could be wrong and are lying.”
“Why do you think I can do this?” He asks, completely leaning against the force field.
“Because you’re like pure energy.”
He puts his finger up. “I can run a light bulb.”
“Okay,” Claire snorts. “That’s cool. I want to see.”
“Find me a light bulb.”
“We don’t use light b
ulbs. At least not like what you’re talking about.”
Mason furrows his eyebrows. “What do you use for light?”
“Tubes. They are tubes of pure electricity. We can get them blinding bright.”
“Why?”
“Because we are an alien species and can. I always wanted to try and tan with them. Mr. Paulson said no.”
He shakes his head. “Mr. Paulson?”
“Someone important. Anyway, he said I couldn’t. He said it would seer my skin. I replied that if we tuned them just right. He still said no.”
Aurora interjects, “I’ve never understood tanning. Why change the color of your skin? Can’t you just be happy with the way you are.”
Claire shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s a human thing. I don’t really do it that often. I just like pushing people. I know Mr. Paulson and Dr. Galliger so well that they are fair game. I was never that way with Mr. Grandin. Maybe my gut told me before I knew something was up.”
“The guard catches him,” Mason assures her.
“But The Collector must have all of our information now,” Claire groans.
“Yes, she probably does.”
“This is bad,” Claire cries, grabbing her head. “So very bad.”
“It gets worse…” Mason sighs.
She sits up. “What? How?”
“She plans to over throw the council,” he whispers.
“The council has ruled for thousands of years. You can’t just over throw it,” Claire scoffs.
Mason gives a devious grin. “That’s the plan, but we have a better one.”
“What’s that?”
“I will tell you, Damien and your grandfather. That’s it. No one else.”
Ariel gasps, “Hey!”
He looks at her. “This is mission stuff dear. You can’t know.”
Crossing her arms, Ariel says, “I’m still mad about your past girlfriends, so go ahead, go on deadly missions. Get blown up for all I care.”
His shoulders slump. “Ariel, oh my god. It wasn’t girlfriends. You’re the only girl that I’ve ever loved. The only girl I love. You were too young for me to look at that way. I felt wrong when you were sixteen, but I couldn’t stop it. I tried. I hit on girls out here, but I couldn’t do it. You were all I could think about.”
She stares at him for a minute and then says, “It was two years ago?”
With a nod, Mason says, “Yes.”
“When did you start to have feelings for me?”
“Roughly around the same time.”