by Sarah Carter
Damien groans. “We have a lot of Neturu there. Everyone vacations. How will we know?”
“A ping will be coming from Mr. Grandin. The microchip sends off a ping. Different from the ones you have. She says look for that.”
“I will be right back.” With that, Damien disappears out the door.
Hello Xander.
“Whoa,” Xander says, jerking back. “Lexi?”
Yes. Silly Xander. Xander save Mommy. Lexi love Xander forever and day for saving Mommy.
“You told me to.”
Xander didn’t have to. Lexi tell Xander Auntie Trinity is okay.
His heart jumps. “You’ve seen her?”
She safe. She safe with others. She be safe. Time shift.
“There was a time shift?”
Yeah. Move date to come.
“We come later,” Xander says.
No, sooner. Tomorrow.
“Whoa. There are no plans yet.”
There will be. Lexi must get toys together.
With a chuckle, Xander replies, “You’re packing your bags?”
Uh huh. Taking my Barbie, my teddy and my blankie.
“Are you going to be able to carry all of that?”
Mommy help.
“Yeah, that’s cool.”
There’s a pause and then, Mommy awake! Lexi go by Mommy!”
“Okay,” Xander says. There is no little voice anymore. “Lexi?” Nothing. “Well, I guess Claire woke up.”
Chapter 16
Claire
Claire’s eyes flutter open and then close. They open again and she groans. Sitting up, a giant yawn escapes her. She hears Damien softly say, “Hey, you’re supposed to be sleeping.”
She rubs her eyes. “I was in a really deep sleep and then came out of it quickly. Did something wake me up?”
“No, I was walking past and I saw you stir. Go back to sleep.”
Swinging her legs to the floor, Claire says, “I feel alright. Just tired.”
Mommy… Claire hears whispered
“Lexi?” She replies.
Lexi be real quiet.
“Why would you be real quiet?”
Lexi whispers, Because Mommy always be quiet when she wake Lexi up.
“I’m already awake.”
OKAY!
“Ah!” Claire cries out. “You don’t need to yell.”
There is giggling and then Lexi says, Mommy come tomorrow.
“I thought I slept all day.”
Plan, then sleep, then karate chop!
“Do you even know what a karate chop is?” Claire laughs. Damien raises an eyebrow.
When Mommy kick butt like guys on tv.
“They let you watch those kinds of shows?”
No, Lexi change the channel.
“You have a TV in your room.”
Behind glass.
“How do you change the channel?”
Umm. Lexi likes Dumbo. Dumbo have big ears.
“How do you change the channels Lexi?”
Lexi show Mommy later.
“Can you move stuff like Xander?”
Lexi controls things. Lexi do all.
“What do you mean?” Claire asks.
Lexi show Mommy over time. Lexi pack her stuff for tomorrow. Barbie, snuffles and blankie.
“Who’s snuffles?”
My pink polar bear. His name is snuffles.
“Did The Collector get it for you?”
Lexi tell her what snuffles looks like and where to find him. Snuffles stays with Lexi.
Having to smile, Claire asks, “What’s your Barbie like?”
She’s a mermaid. Lexi want to be a mermaid.
This is news. “You can shift?”
Lexi don’t know.
“You don’t know. I thought you knew the future.”
Lexi don’t want to know her own future. Life no fun then. So many time shifts. Lexi never know for sure.
“That’s a good point.”
Lexi sees brothers and sister. Twins.
Surprised, Claire jerks up. “I have twins?”
Yup.
“They are so rare to the Neturu.”
Succubi.
“Oh, it’s not rare for a succubus.”
No. Lexi is so much older than brothers and sister. Lexi help. Lexi help Mommy.
“That’s very sweet of you.”
Mommy come tomorrow.
“Mommy is so tired honey. I don’t know if I can.”
Lexi don’t understand. Mommy do weird thing.
“What do I do?”
Touch Xander. Mommy touch Xander and then kiss Daddy.
“What’s so weird about that?”
Lexi pauses. Mommy and Daddy do weird thing. Mommy won’t tell Lexi what they’re doing.
Claire’s hand flies up to her mouth. “Oh! Oh my gosh!”
It make Mommy better. Lexi go now. Mommy go do weird thing.
“Okay honey. I will talk to you soon.”
Bye Mommy.
“Bye honey.” Claire turns to Damien. “It was Lexi. Obviously.”
“Claire. This is unhealthy.” He puts a hand on her arm.
She picks it up and removes it. “Damien. Shut up. We have to go in tomorrow now.”
“You’re going to listen to a voice in your head?” He replies, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes,” Claire curtly nods. “I’m supposed to have sex with you and then come up with a plan.”
“She told you to have sex with me?” Damien snorts.
Claire smiles and nods. “Get a jump start from Xander and do the deed.”
“She knew what it was?”
Shaking her head, Claire says, “No. She said Mommy and Daddy kiss and do this weird thing.”
He pauses and then smirks. “That sounds like an awesome idea. The one time I agree to her ideas. Are you up for it?”
“She said it makes me better.”
“I guess that makes sense. We should still talk to Dr. Galliger about it.”
“Also,” Claire starts. “I’m hungry.” She pats her belly.
“We can eat and make a plan at the same time,” Damien says, standing up.
She looks up at him. “Lexi said sex first.”
“How weird, but maybe it’s a good idea.”
Claire stands up. “I’m going to get in the shower. I’m nasty. You’re not touching me until I’m clean. Go talk to Dr. Galliger and get Xander here. I need to go brush my teeth…like ten times.”
“I will walk to Dr. Galliger and get your energy boost.”
“Okay. See you in a few.” Claire heads into the bathroom. She scrubs every inch of her down three times and washes her hair twice. When she’s done with the shower, she counts in her head and brushes her teeth for five minutes. Then she does it again. Finally, Claire feels clean. She throws on a pair of shorts and a tank top. Walking out into the living room, Claire finds Damien. “What did Dr. Galliger say?”
“He said your body is healing and your energy levels are fine. You’re not healing as fast as he’d like you to, so this may be a good idea.”
She puts her hands on her hips. “Where’s Xander?”
Damien points to the door. “In the hallway. Are you sure about this?”
“Yeah.”
He shrugs and goes to open the door. Xander is standing there. He waves. “Hey.”
“Hi,” Claire replies. “Thanks for saving me.”
“It was Lexi.”
“You had a hand in it,” Claire says, smiling. “Get it. Literally a hand.”
“Oh my god,” Damien groans, putting his face in hand.
“But thanks,” Claire finishes.
Xander puts his hands in his back pockets. “So, you need an energy boost now?”
“Lexi says that’s how I heal myself.”
“I bet you’re not objecting to it,” Xander says to Damien, with a grin.
“Nah,” Damien says. “If it’s what’s best for her…”
Rolling her eyes,
Claire snorts, “Men.” She reaches out. “Give me your hand.”
“Don’t do it for too long,” Xander says, grabbing hers.
She instantly grimaces. “Okay. Now, now, now.”
Damien yanks her into the room and says, “Bye Xander.” He turns Claire towards him. “This may be a little intense because I almost lost you. I’ve never been so scared in my entire life. I want to cherish this moment with you.”
Grimacing, but still smiling, Claire grabs him. “I’m about to knock your socks off.”
“Good,” he exhales before kissing her. It’s delicate at first. They slowly stumble their way to the bedroom. They get to the bed and Damien picks her up and throws her. Claire laughs even though the pressure is building. Nothing will take away from this moment. She almost died. They almost lost each other. Claire wants to remember every touch of this experience.
Damien gets onto the bed and slowly kisses his way up her leg. It makes every inch of Claire tingle. “Damien,” she exhales.
He passes her shorts and kisses her stomach. “I want to worship every inch of your body.”
“It’s building too much,” Claire groans.
“Well then,” he murmurs, unbuttoning her shorts. “I guess we will have to have some form of release.”
“You’re horrible,” Claire laughs.
“No, actually I’m very good,” he laughs too, yanking down her shorts.
A long while later, they are laying in each other’s arms. Damien’s tracing his fingers up and down Claire’s back. “That was amazing,” Claire sighs.
“You’re amazing,” he replies. “In so many ways.”
“Awww, I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Damien picks up her left hand that’s sitting on his chest. “When did you put the ring on this hand?”
“After Lexi talked to me,” Claire replies, spinning the ring.
He drops her hand and looks at her. “That’s why you did it!”
“No. No. No. It made me realize that there was no other future but you. This little girl was in my head telling me about my future and I didn’t even pause when she talked about us being parents. I didn’t second guess that we had this future. The twins kept bringing up us coming out to our people and it made me realize that I was proud to be joining the Merjyet line. I was proud of our relationship. I was proud of the person you have grown to be. I finally wanted to proclaim to the world what we are. You are going to be my husband. We are going to have children together. If Lexi is one of them or not.”
“So, she does have something to do with this.”
“Not like you are thinking,” Claire replies. “Do I believe her? Yes. I felt it in the deepest part of my soul when she saved me. I held her in my arms and felt like I found a piece of me. I can’t describe it to you. You’ll have to feel it for yourself.”
“You know…you all sound crazy,” Damien states, giving her a look.
“Why is it so hard for you to believe? You believed in me right away.”
“Maybe it’s too much. One ability is hard enough to believe but multiple? Also, it’s seeing the future. How in the hell would that ever be a sporadic ability?”
Claire gets up onto her elbows and looks at him. “How do you explain any of us? How do you explain how the Neturu were shape shifters and then Kenga telekinetic? We were from the same planet. How do you explain combining the species now? How do you explain the twins morphing into each other? None of us make any sense. I seriously make no sense. Lexi was created, which means there’s scientific basis to all of it.”
“That’s true,” Damien replies, tilting his head.
“Maybe when we go there we will find out all of this info.”
“Maybe,” he agrees. Suddenly, there is knocking on the door. They both jump up. “Hold on!” Damien yells. They both scramble to get dressed. Damien runs to the door. “Yes,” he says, opening it.
Coming around, Claire sees her grandfather on the other side of the door. “They found Mr. Grandin,” he declares.
“Perfect,” Damien growls. “I need to talk to him.”
Mr. Hardrick sighs. “You can’t.”
“Why?”
“He’s dead. He killed himself,” he says.
Claire crosses her arms. “Are you sure someone didn’t kill him?”
“He cut his spine in front of the guard. He knew precisely where to do it. There was nothing we could do.”
“Damn it!” Damien snaps.
Mr. Hardrick leans and whispers, “We need to talk. Mason says there has been a major time shift.”
“Lexi says we need to go tomorrow,” Claire says.
“Did she say why?” Mr. Hardrick asks.
“She left before she said. She left so…I could heal.”
He raises an eyebrow. “How?”
“Let’s not talk about it, but I’m me again. Good night’s rest and I will be ready to take down the bad guy.”
Mr. Hardrick gestures down the hallway. “Let’s go plan this.”
Ten minutes later, they are sitting around a table. The door opens and Mason’s brought in. He looks at them. “Look at this,” he says, putting his hands out. “I’m not behind a force field.”
“You have your cuff on and cuffs. Claire’s back to herself. There will also be guns drawn on you.”
Mason turns around to the guards behind him. “From these two.” The guys turn and walk out the door. It shuts behind them. Mason turns back around. “Who’s holding guns against me?”
“They are in the walls,” Damien replies.
Glancing around, Mason says, “No way. Where?”
“I’m not going to tell you. Sit down.”
Looking at Claire, Mason winks. “I will sit down because I can’t do anything.” Damien glares at him. Mason sits down and puts his hands on the table. He shifts around a little, obviously trying to get comfortable with the cuffs on. “So, what’s the first step?”
“What do you know about lay out of the institute?” Mr. Hardrick asks.
“I need pictures of it,” Mason says.
“Of course,” he replies. “Here you go.” Mr. Hardrick presses a few icons. The table becomes a screen and multiple pictures pop up.
Mason awkwardly leans forward. He brings over the overhead view of the institute and makes it bigger. Everyone looks at him. “Have you done this before?” Claire asks.
He looks over at her. “No, why?” She raises an eyebrow. Mason goes back to the picture. “There are entrances here, here and here. These two don’t lead to anything. The part of the institute we want to go is blocked off.”
Damien points at the last entrance. “So, we want to go in this entrance?”
Shaking his head, Mason says, “No, that’s like decoy entrance. Get me the north side of the building.” Mr. Hardrick brings it up. “Do you see that wall? There’s a door there.”
“How do you get in?” Damien asks.
He stands up. “Reach into my pants leg, from the bottom.”
“Excuse me,” Damien snaps. “No.”
Claire rolls her eyes. “I will do it.”
“Claire…” Damien growls.
“Damien,” she replies. “It’s not into the top of his pants.”
“Yeah dude,” Mason agrees. “Love Ariel remember?”
She looks at him. “You love her a lot, huh?”
A warm, genuine smile spreads across Mason’s face. “Yeah. When they escaped my heart shattered. I never knew such pain. I was happy they were out of there but I didn’t know if I was ever going to see her again. It killed me. I knew I had to find you to save the others, but I also needed to find them.”
“Well you did and now we’ll save the others,” Claire states. “Which pant leg?” She asks, as she walks over.
“My right,” he says, lifting up his leg.
She reaches up there and feels something hard. Pulling it out, it’s a plastic card. There’s a bar code and microchip on it. “What is that?” Damien asks.
&
nbsp; “A security card,” Mason replies.
“Won’t they have deactivated it by now?” Claire asks, as she hands the card over to Damien.
“Yes,” Mason says. “But aren’t you a super advanced race. Can’t you figure it out?”
Damien presses something on the table and instructs, “Send in Mr. Jenkins.”
“Yes sir,” can be heard over the intercom.
“Who’s that?” Mason asks.
“Our top engineer,” Damien replies.
Mr. Hardrick looks at Mason. “Tell us more.”
“Can I draw on that picture?” Mason asks.
“Yes, with your finger,” Mr. Hardrick replies. “Or I can get you our version of a stylus.”
Mason lifts his hands up. “I can’t very well do it with these on.”
“I don’t think we should take you out of those,” Damien replies.
There is a sudden pinging throughout the room. “What’s that?” Mason asks, turning around the room.
“My father,” Damien states. He presses a button and Mr. Blakely pops up. “Hi Dad.”
He nods at Damien. “Son. Kaleb.” His eyes turn to Claire and instantly soften. “Claire, I’m so happy that you’re okay. I was on my way there but they said it wasn’t safe.”
“It’s not right now Drake,” Mr. Hardrick says. “You need to stay safe with your top guard.”
“Tell them if anything happens to you, I will kick their ass…again,” Claire snickers, smacking her fist into her hand.
Mr. Blakely laughs. “Claire is obviously feeling like herself.” He looks at Mr. Hardrick. “You’re taking the guard back over for the time being?”
“Yes,” Mr. Hardrick replies.
“That’s excellent news.”
Mason pipes in. “He does it for a while.”
“And you must be the jumper,” Mr. Blakely says.
“Mason. Master Blakely. My name is Mason.”
Smiling, Mr. Blakely says, “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard you have an incredible ability.”
With a nod, Mason replies, “We all do.”
“I heard you can also fight.”
“That I can, but Claire fine tunes me.”
A laugh escapes Mr. Blakely and he nods. “That wouldn’t surprise me. It’s very nice to meet you.”
Gesturing with his hands, Mason points to Claire. “Other than Claire after she woke up, this is the nicest welcome anyone’s given me. You want me on your side and to help you, but you treat me like a prisoner.”