by C. C. Bolick
Tyler stopped the elevator. “How long?”
She stared at her reflection in the opposing metal panel. “Six years. I always thought we’d get back together one day, until they told me you died…”
“We’re definitely going to my room. I’d rather spend the next six hours hearing about everything you’ve done for the last six years than face the end of the world alone.”
“The end of the world,” Erin repeated. “I can imagine you wouldn’t want to be alone right now.”
“Maybe you should let us off,” Rena said, her eyes huge. “This sounds like a conversation you two need to have alone.”
“No.” Erin’s voice hit a high note. “I’m not ready to talk.”
Tyler stared down at her. In all the time I’d known him, Tyler never looked at a girl in the same way he looked at her. “Maybe you’re right. Forget talking.” He leaned down and kissed her.
Rena slipped her hand in mine. Before meeting Rena, I would have insisted on getting off the elevator and away from this display as fast as possible. Now I watched in wonder as my friend faced the possibility of getting his happily ever after.
Gasping, Erin pulled back and stared up at him with glazed eyes.
“You were saying?” he asked.
“I… don’t remember.”
“Good,” he said. “I don’t want to remember anything for the next six hours except for how much I’ve always loved you.”
“I love you too,” she said. “No matter what you thought, I never stopped.”
Tyler restarted the elevator and seconds later it opened on my floor, the same floor as Tyler’s room. When he first came to the agency, he spent many late nights on my couch playing video games when we weren’t on call. Like me, he enjoyed the classics. They took his mind off Erin on the nights he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
How ironic that he now walked this hall by her side.
I held Rena back as Tyler led Erin toward the door of his room. We followed at a safe distance.
At his room, he opened the door and slipped an arm around Erin, pulling her inside. The door slammed and I glanced down at Rena.
A smile spread across her face. “I’m happy for Erin.”
“Tyler waited for years,” I said. “He never lost hope.”
“There’s nothing wrong with hope.” She gripped my hand. “I hope you haven’t lost any of yours.”
* * * * *
I crawled into the bed next to Rena. She pulled the sheet over her and closed her eyes. I hesitated as I stared at the ceiling and pictured the scene from reading Van’s future. The flash of light and the explosion he saw replayed over and over.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine.”
Rena rolled over to face me. “You’re not fine. I can hear the fear in your voice. Tell me what’s wrong.”
“I practiced my powers today with Dad. All of them.”
For several minutes, the only sound was the air clicking on. Finally, she said, “How did it go?”
“Beyond the obvious part of me burning people’s skin, I didn’t see anything useful until I read Van’s future. You know he’s the last person I wanted to get close enough to read his future.”
“At least you probably didn’t mind burning his skin. What did you see?”
“He was flying one of the ships near the star when it started to collapse. There was a flash and bright light flooded everything. I think it was the blast.” I took a deep breath. “I’m afraid we will fail and everyone will die.”
“That’s why you didn’t want to talk in the op-center.”
“I’m sure Van could read the shock on my face. He knew what I saw wasn’t good.”
“Not everyone wants to know the future.”
“What about you?” I asked. “How are you going to feel about me reading your future?”
She hesitated. “Does it matter? From what Sylvia said at the meeting, we don’t really have a choice.”
“I don’t like the queen’s plan.”
“Maybe we should practice,” she said. “You could try reading my future now.”
“The thought of burning your skin has been bugging me ever since the queen told us her plan. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I know, but it won’t hurt for long. You know how tough I am. The marks will fade.”
“But what I feel inside won’t.”
She held out an arm and pointed to a spot halfway between her wrist and elbow. “Touch me here.”
I touched the spot she indicated for a second, maybe less, before yanking my hand back.
“What did you see?” she asked eagerly.
Though she barely cringed with pain, my voice shook along with my insides. “I saw a bright light surrounding you. Everything was white.”
“That’s better than everything being dark. I’ve never feared the light.”
“The light was massive and powerful. It covered everything I could see and blinded me.”
“Maybe you did see the star collapsing. Either way, we can’t change that now.”
“The trouble with seeing the future is I can’t unsee what I’ve seen. It replays like a video loop.”
She snuggled into me. “We’ve got plenty of time to worry about the star tomorrow. Tonight, let’s worry about us.”
I closed my eyes and tried to take her advice. If only I could shake the feeling my vision was of our last moment.
* * * * *
The banging came again and again. Now someone was screaming my name and Rena’s.
I woke from the dream with a start and looked around. On the table next to me, the alarm was set on my phone and hadn’t gone off.
Rena stirred at my side. “Is it time already?”
“I don’t think so.” I rolled out of bed and opened the door.
Erin and Tyler stood outside. Like me, they still wore the same clothes.
I yawned. “What’s going on?”
“Erin thought of something,” he said.
“It couldn’t wait until we got up?”
With a grin, Erin pushed past me and called Rena’s name. Within minutes, she pulled Rena into the hall and toward the elevator.
I followed. “Did you ask where we’re going?”
Rena laughed. “It’s too early to ask questions. Erin wants to show us something in her office.”
“What could Erin possibly need to show us at two a.m.?”
“You’ll see,” Tyler said.
When we reached Erin’s office, she waved us inside and shut the door. The white board on her wall held an array of notes and shapes, most of which I couldn’t make out. There didn’t seem to be any method to her madness, and I was starting to think she’d really lost it.
Erin opened a marker and drew a series of lines. Maybe Sylvia’s promotion was too much for her to deal with.
“What is all of this?” Rena asked.
“It’s how I think. You could call it my own language since most people can’t figure it out.”
Rena studied the board. “Why are we here?”
“Do you remember the boy who could change paper into money by touching it?” Erin asked with excitement.
“Changing paper to money is a cool power to have,” Tyler said.
Erin’s hand stopped. “It got his family killed.”
Tyler lowered his voice. “I’m sorry.”
“His skin secretes an acid that alters the surface of the paper.”
An acid? “That sounds like my power.”
She pointed at me. “My thoughts exactly. The link has been bugging me ever since Sylvia asked me to take the boy’s case. I’ve studied all of your files, Travis. I’ve read every procedure the other doctors tried to make you normal.”
Rena’s eyes widened. “Did you find a way to make Travis normal?”
“I think so,” Erin said, her excitement growing. “I’m running short on sleep so forgive me if I don’t make sense, but I think we can develop a method of stripp
ing the boy’s power and then use that to help Travis. I’ve pictured how it should work even if there’s no time to explain.”
“What inspired this new idea?” Rena asked.
“When I woke up in Tyler’s arms…” Erin blushed as her eyes met Tyler’s. “Forget I said that. I finally got an hour of sleep and it seems my brain didn’t want to stop working. I think the truth was there all along.”
I slapped Tyler on the back. “Man, you should have kissed her months ago.”
Tyler grinned and put an arm around Erin. He pulled her close and placed a kiss on her temple. They leaned on each other as if no one else stood in the room.
To be normal… If she found a way to take this power, I could touch other people again. I could touch Rena.
Next to me, Rena smiled. Of all people, she knew how much a cure for this curse would mean to me. If only I could know for sure…
Wait a minute. Dad could see the future. He could read my future and tell me for sure if Erin’s idea was worth pursuing.
Rena looked up at me. “We’re not going back to bed, are we?”
I shook my head. “There’s someone I’ve got to see first.”
Chapter Fourteen
Travis
We found Dad in the conference room next to Sylvia’s office, along with Agent Mason. I didn’t ask to be a part of their meeting; I simply took a chair.
Rena sat next to me. “I guess no one here is getting any sleep tonight.”
“How can I sleep after what I’ve seen?” Dad asked. “I don’t think you understand the scale of destruction.”
“I do,” I said. “I saw the blast from the star in Van’s future. He’ll be there and I want to know why.”
“Van has been involved since the night I left,” Dad said. “He always seems to turn up when least expected.”
“He’s a monster,” Sylvia said. “I’ve known what he is longer than you realize.”
“You were there?” I asked.
She nodded. “I was in New York the night Noah disappeared. So was Van. This hatred between Van and your father goes back to before you were born.”
“We were different people then,” Dad said.
I leaned back in my chair and gripped the arms. “All three of you know what happened that night. No one has ever told me.”
Dad leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “I took Mason there that night for intel, along with Sylvia. There had been rumors of alien activity outside of the city. Until we arrived, I had no idea Van was involved. We approached the farmhouse under the cover of night.”
I glanced over Sylvia and Mason. “You both knew he wasn’t from Earth.”
“They knew,” Dad said. “I used technology the agency didn’t have to get us close enough. We were about to sneak inside when a young girl ran out. She almost crashed into me in an effort to flee, but I brushed her arm. For me, the shock of what I saw set all of this into motion.”
“Noah had a vision,” Mason said. “I’d never seen him so upset. He grabbed Sylvia’s arm and teleported her out of there. Then he came back for me.”
“He warned us Earth would be destroyed,” Sylvia said. “I asked your father to go back to Golvern and determine the cause of this destruction. He promised to return only after he was sure we could save Earth.”
“Then we’ll be successful?” I asked.
“The answer was there all along.” Dad opened his eyes. “Rena was the missing piece to the puzzle. But all of this had to happen to make sure she’d be successful.”
Mason lowered his head. “I’ve lived with the knowledge she would die ever since that night.”
Even though I’d sworn to hate everyone with a part in this, I was starting to understand the sacrifice Dad made by leaving. Not only that, I was beginning to see Rena’s father in a new light. I always thought his drinking was a crutch after his wife died. Now I considered the fact he’d lived with guilt eating away at him for thirteen years.
“It was supposed to be a simple spy mission,” Dad said. “I never planned to see the end of the world that night. The queen was the girl.” He waited for the words to sink in.
The queen was responsible for more than me losing Rena. Dad left after seeing her future. She’d taken away two of the people I cared about most. “She already told me.”
“Why are you here?” Sylvia asked me. “Shouldn’t you be preparing for this mission?”
“So should all of you,” I said. “I came here to see my dad. I need a favor.”
Sylvia stood. “I guess if you’re satisfied with our explanation, we should call it a night. There’s nothing left for us to discuss.”
“It’s morning,” Rena said. “We’ll be leaving in two hours.”
Agent Mason stood and put a hand on Rena’s shoulder. “I’ll see you at the ship.”
“Get some sleep,” she said.
He squeezed her shoulder and left the room. Sylvia followed.
“What do you need?” Dad asked.
“I want you to read my future. Erin came up with a possible cure for my skin condition. I want to know if this cure works.”
“Now isn’t the time.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Why don’t you ask the queen?”
I leaned forward in a fury, and Rena waved for me to calm down.
“She sent you to keep me from showing Paleris the future. I’m alive because of her and I intend to repay that debt.”
“Where is she?” Rena asked.
Dad smiled and I had the feeling I’d once again been conned. “She’s on the isolation floor. Be sure to give her my regards.”
* * * * *
Rena and I found the queen at the window to Paleris’s room. She stared at him in silence from the empty hall. Inside, he lay on the bed while he stared at the ceiling.
“Your highness,” I said as we approached.
“Call me Kayden.”
“Yes, your highness,” I said.
Her gaze remained in the cell. “You want me to read your future?”
I laughed with sarcasm. “From what my dad said, I should be reading your future. Because of you, my dad left when I was nine. Because of you, Rena is dead.”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Yes, I want you to read my future.”
“It’s no longer necessary since I read Rena’s future.”
Anger rose within me, anger and hurt. I turned to Rena. “You never told me she read your future. Why not say something?”
Rena looked at the floor. “The future she saw wasn’t great. Actually, it was my worst nightmare. Thankfully, she was able to change that future and what she saw won’t come true.”
“What happened?” I asked the queen. “Don’t tell me I went through with killing Van.”
“In your initial moments of grief, you killed Pade and then pushed everyone you cared about away. In the end, you couldn’t deal with the pain you caused. You took your own life.”
“I’d never do that.” In the cell, Paleris put an arm over his face to block out the bright light from overhead. “What are you doing here?”
The queen turned to me. “Paleris threatened to bring his fighters and take over Earth. I came here to change his mind.”
“Some people can’t be changed,” Rena said.
“You’re right.”
“Is anyone on your planet willing to back him up?” I asked.
Again, she stared through the glass. “Unfortunately, yes.”
The person she watched was her brother, though his mind was held captive by Paleris. No matter how hard this must be for her, I couldn’t afford to feel pity.
“I promised we’d find a way to save him and I failed.” She shook her head. “As you know, we can’t see our own future.”
I nodded. “That part sucks.”
“It’s for our own good,” she said. “How else could we live a normal life?”
“Have you ever lived a normal life?” Rena asked.
“At
one time, I would have given anything for a normal life. The fact people died to save me made me want to escape this life. I couldn’t be that important. No way could I lead an entire planet to freedom and stop a war.”
Two hours was all I had left with Rena. This conversation was useless. She obviously wouldn’t tell me if Erin found the cure. “Why waste your time standing here? You know he will never help us.”
“You and Rena will fly to Golvern together. My brother will be your pilot.” She sighed. “This isn’t what I expected as my last official function.”
Last official… Rena shot me a look of surprise. “You can’t mean—” she started.
The queen put a hand on my arm, softly gripping the fabric of my suit. “When you came to Golvern, I read your future and I knew what I had to do.”
“What did you see?” I asked.
“You were on a ship and Rena was at your side. It wasn’t her face that looked on but Rachelle’s.”
“How did you—”
“Growing up, I knew Rachelle like I knew Angel. In my vision, you called Rachelle by Rena’s name and talked about how she’d taken over Rachelle’s body. Since Rena was dead, I knew we had to kill her.”
“Why wait until the last minute?” Rena asked. “Van acted like he was trying to protect me.”
“He was. I insisted Van wait until after you and Travis had reunited. He didn’t feel right about you dying to save the planet, even though he knew it was inevitable.”
Rena leaned against the glass. “But you were okay with me dying?”
She shook her head. “Knowing what must be and accepting are very different concepts.”
“Your brother will never help us,” I said. “We’ve tried to talk to him. After his memories were erased—”
“Agent Lockhart returned his memories,” she said. “I have to believe he’s back with us.”
Rena nodded. “He can hear you, but he’s not strong enough to fight Paleris. He still believes you’ll save him.”
“There’s only one way I can.” She looked up at me. “If you’ll open the door…”
With a shaking hand, I typed my code and the door opened. She couldn’t be serious. The queen planned to show Paleris the future and hope he would be willing to help us.