Under Different Stars

by Amy A. Bartol

  “Is that bad?” I feel my heart accelerate.

  “It’s said that the priestesses of Alameeda are endowed with…gifts.” Trey watches me, like I’m supposed to know what he means.

  “I don’t…gifts?” I wrinkle my nose at him.

  “Other senses…senses that go beyond the five that are common in us all.”

  “Like ESP?” I ask. Trey’s eyebrow rises in question. “You mean some of them can see the future or something like that?”

  “Yes,” he nods. “Pan committed to Arissa and she to him. It’s the Alameeda who objected the most. They threatened to go to war with us again unless she was returned to them.”

  “What! Why would they go to war over one woman?” I ask in complete disbelief, even when I can see he’s being truthful. He, at least, believes what he’s telling me.

  “They say Arissa was very powerful…perhaps they didn’t want their enemies to benefit from her knowledge,” he says, watching me like a skilled interrogator.

  “What knowledge? Could she predict the future?”

  “I don’t know what her gifts were, Kricket. It was never common knowledge.”

  “Someone knows—the Alameeda for sure. Kyon said that I’m the daughter of a priestess, making me a priestess, too. Is that why they want me?”

  “Without a doubt,” Jax states, looking grim. My extremities seem to go numb then and my fingers weaken their hold on the rope spindles.

  “They can’t have you. You have Rafe blood in you. You’re part of our ancestry, a Rafe citizen. They cannot take you from us,” Trey replies, like he wants to reassure me.

  “Kyon said you have no idea what I’m worth,” I reply, thinking of all the ramifications of his statement.

  “If you’re a priestess, too, then…you have gifts,” Wayra says, as if the thought just occurred to him.

  “I…” I trail off, thinking.

  “What can you do?” Wayra asks. Jax and Trey both lean forward a little, studying my every move. “Do you know? Have they developed yet?”

  My survival instincts kick in. “I’m…tired.” I fake a yawn, stretching my arms above my head before yawning again loudly. “I’d like to rest now. Is there somewhere I can sleep?” Easing back from the edge of the deck, I stand up, looking at them for direction.

  “You’re avoiding the question,” Trey says, his gaze running over me slowly. Despite my fear, something warm ignites in me at his gaze, confusing me. Raising my chin a notch, I avert my eyes, but I still feel a raw awareness of him.

  “It’s been a long day for me,” I say honestly, putting a shaky hand to my forehead and rubbing it. Seeing my hand tremble, I bring it down, putting it in my other one and watching them both shake now.

  Trey notices my hands; his eyebrows come together as he watches them. “It will be even longer tomorrow,” he says softly. “We should all try to sleep now.” Jax and Wayra both rummage through their packs, coming out with bedrolls.

  “Here,” Jax says, handing me a bedroll. Jax spreads his out where he had been sitting, perpendicular to the tree so that if he rolls in his sleep, he won’t roll off the edge. I spread mine next to his and see a small smile form in the corners of his mouth.

  Trey spreads his bedroll next to mine so that I’m between them. Trying to ignore them, I lie down on the blanket, resting my head on the pillow. I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths as I attempt to slow my racing heart. It takes me a second to figure out that what I find the most frightening in this moment is the silence. I’m lost in it. No horn honks or sirens or passing El trains disturb the night. No trace of my home exists here.

  As I hold back tears that threaten to slip from beneath my closed eyelids, a thought occurs to me: They were real. My parents weren’t just some made up dream that I conjured late at night in my bed, in the dark. My sketchy memories of them are real. Piercing elation crashes into and vies with crushing grief. I find it hard to breathe. There are people in Rafe and Alameeda who know a lot more about them. I can find out the truth. I can finally know who my parents were. But at what cost? I wonder.

  My body is weary, but sleep eludes me. I open my eyes and gaze at Trey next to me. He has his arms crossed behind his head as he stares up at the brilliant stars in the clear, night sky. He seems almost ethereal, bathed as he is in the bluish glow of the light stick. The warmth I felt earlier comes back, slipping through me and filling me with another kind of glow that calms my fear. Feeling his radiating body heat, my breathing slows. He’s too perfect looking to be real. This has to be a dream after all. With that thought, I relax enough to sleep.

  CHAPTER 7

  WITH EVERY MISTAKE

  Curled on my side, my fingertips glide softly over warm, supple contours on their way to my face. Tucking my hair back from my eyes, I open them, focusing on the thick, inky line of Trey’s tattoo. My fingers return to rest on Trey’s chest again, and then I still, suddenly wide-awake. I cringe, seeing that I’m snuggled up against Trey’s warm body like he’s an oversized teddy bear. My head is just below his chin and his arm is resting on my hip as we’re turned toward each other like…lovers.

  Stiffening, I close my eyes, mouthing the words “holy shit” before trying to ease back a little from Trey. Inhaling a breath, I smell his scent all around me. My eyes fly open again as a pulse of desire shivers through me. It surprises me and makes me want to hide from him. I have to quell my impulse to run. Instead, I ease my hand off of Trey’s chest, trying really hard not to wake him as I begin to roll away.

  “Where are you going, Kricket?” Trey whispers softly, opening his eyes and watching me freeze like a criminal.

  “Uh—nowhere—um, bathroom?” I ask, my heart pounding like I did something wrong. Feeling my face flushing as I move back to my blanket, I see now that I had invaded his space, not he mine.

  “There are personal totes in Jax’s gear. Take one with you. Come back when you’re finished. We’re going to rest until the sun is fully up,” I nod, not meeting his eyes. Hurrying over to find a tote bag of toiletries, I take one with me around the bend of the tree.

  Closing my eyes and leaning against the trunk, I fight the urge to completely fall apart. I’m still here in freakin’ Etharian Hell, I think. I’d been hoping that this was all some weird delusion that would go away in the morning, but it’s definitely real because I can smell Trey all over me.

  My hair tickles my nose; I inhale, feeling another twinge of desire tear through me at Trey’s scent. “Ugh,” I groan. “What’s wrong with you? He’s the enemy…and he’s completely old!”

  Taking my time because I’m in no hurry to go back to my blanket, I use all the toiletries in the bag. I carefully wash my body before combing out my hair. After braiding it in one, thick plait, I tie it with a leather string I find in the bag.

  Chewing on one of those minty leaves, I creep back around the tree to my blanket. None of the guys have moved an inch. Wayra is snoring softly on his blanket as I step around Jax. I sit down before lying back and staring up at the leafy canopy above my head.

  “I thought I was going to have to come and find you,” Trey murmurs next to me, making me jump at the sound of his voice.

  “Oh?” I ask, not looking at him.

  “You took your time.”

  “I wasn’t aware that it was a timed test,” I shoot back, glancing at him and seeing the corners of his mouth tip up at my response.

  “Do you always rise so early?”

  “Do you always sleep so late?”

  “Days are longer here. There are thirty-two parts in a rotation. You’re probably used to Earth time,” he surmises, stretching his long arms. “The transition will be brutal for you. You’re going to want to sleep when you should be awake and be awake when you should sleep.”

  “So…noon is at…sixteen o’clock?” I ask, feeling my heartbeat pick up.

  “Yes,” he grins, showing his perfect teeth.

  “Eight more hours in a full day?”

  “That’s righ
t,” he replies. “But, we call it a ‘rotation’ not a ‘day.’”

  “How long will it take to adapt to the time change?”

  “That depends on you. How adaptable are you?” His eyebrow rises.

  “I’m a chameleon,” I reply in a clipped tone, looking straight up at the leaves above. “I’ll survive.”

  “Really?” he asks with surprise in his tone.

  “Yes.” I nod once.

  “All alone?”

  “Yes.”

  “It will take a very hard, very determined personality to survive what is ahead for you without help.”

  “Got it,” I growl through clenched teeth, anger flaring up in me at the sympathy in his voice.

  “You’re tough?”

  “I’m stone.”

  “Stone can be broken.”

  Tilting my head toward him, I meet his eyes. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. I’m used to holding on to nothing as tight as I can.”

  Wayra snorts irritably from his position on his blanket. “Ah, you gotta stop talking, because she’s breaking my heart!” He sits up and glowers at Jax next to me. “Okay, we’ll hire her a wigg, but that’s it! After that, I’m out.”

  I frown. “I don’t need your charity. If you want to help me, then let me go home,” I say softly, not sure of what they’re talking about, but fairly certain that it’s charity.

  “We are taking you home, Kricket,” Trey says. “Ethar is your home. You should know that by the way they abused you on their planet,” he says, looking angry all of a sudden.

  “It wasn’t all bad,” I mutter, defending my home. “I had friends there…friends that are probably worried about me now.” I begin to panic as I think about Bridget and what she’ll do when she finds out I’m gone. Maybe she’ll move in with Eric and he’ll take care of her, I think. Enrique will be okay. He’ll miss me, but he has a huge family and maybe Michael will help him.

  “If that wasn’t all bad on your scale, Kricket, then I definitely don’t want to see you define really bad for us,” Jax says next to me. He moves from his blanket, crouching to smooth and roll it before stowing it back with his other gear.

  “It was almost over…I was almost free,” I sigh with exasperation. “If you take me back, things will be different for me there. I can go to school and be somebody. I can have a life in a couple of months. I won’t have to hide anymore.”

  “You’ll have a life here, Kricket,” Trey says. “After you pay your penance, you can be whatever you want.”

  I still, staring at Trey. “Excuse me? Did you just say ‘pay my penance?’” I ask, wide-eyed.

  “Yes,” he replies, frowning. “But, the most they can give you is a few floans. It will actually work out well for you, since you don’t have anywhere to live, it will be provided for you.”

  “Like jail?”

  “No! Not jail! Penance…uh…” he looks to Jax for help. “Like public service…” he trails off at my scowl.

  My eyebrows slash together. “You’re going to make me pick up garbage on the side of the road?” I ask, putting my hands on my hips.

  “You won’t have to pick up garbage—I don’t think—depends on where they place you,” Jax says, and he has the decency to blush a little.

  “How long is a floan?” I ask, crossing my hands in front of me as my foot begins to tap.

  “About a year, give or take a speck,” Jax replies, watching my foot.

  “A FEW YEARS!” I glare at them. “ARE YOU OUTTA YOUR MINDS?”

  “I said give or take a speck—a month. That’s really not that long,” Jax says, sounding defensive.

  “Jax, you’re telling me that someone wants to punish me for being born. It doesn’t matter if that is for a day…uh, a rotation or a floan, it’s insanity,” I retort, trying to reign in my temper.

  “Technically, no one petitioned Skye to relocate or to trespass on Earth. You can be held accountable for violating our encroachment laws regarding Earth,” he says, looking a little embarrassed, but I’m not sure if he’s embarrassed for me or for the idiots at Skye.

  “Well, Jax, I don’t really understand any of this, but I THINK that I was probably a fetus when all this went down!” I pace the deck, thinking. “That’ll probably give me some legal recourse,” I say softly to myself, biting my thumbnail. “It sounds like a lame excuse to come looking for me. Someone needs a pawn for something—‘”

  “What did you say?” Trey asks, his violet eyes training on me.

  “Pawns…” I repeat absently.

  “We’re pawns?” he asks intently.

  My lips twist in an ironic smile. “Oh, you’re a pawn—soldier—Cavar, whatever you want to call yourself,” I wave my hand in a dismissive gesture. “You follow orders, but don’t go thinking for yourself because you’re in their army now,” I point in the general direction where I think they might be. “Should we go?” I drop my hand and go to my blanket. Rolling it up, I hand it to Jax. “I’m interested in meeting with your Skye—whoever they are.”

  Jax says, “Skye is the military branch of our government...uh, sort of like—”

  “The Army?’ I ask.

  “No.”

  The Navy?”

  “Uh-uh.”

  Marines?”

  “The Cavars are like the Marines. Skye is like—”

  “The Defense Department.” Trey says, handing his bedroll to Jax.

  “But I thought Skye was like your judicial system.”

  “You violated encroachment laws—a global violation, which falls under defense. They have their own judicial subsection. Defense isn’t accountable to any other branch of government; they’re autonomous.

  “They’re self governing?” I ask with dread.

  “Yes.”

  “And you think that’s okay?”

  “It’s worked so far,” Trey replies.

  I put my hands on my hips. “For who?”

  “There’s no way she’s only seventeen floans,” Wayra mutters, pulling his gear together. “She looks like a blusher, but she acts like a saer.”

  “Me-ow,” Jax says next to me, grinning.

  “How long will it take to get there?” I ask them, dropping to one knee and tightening the laces of my boots.

  “That depends,” Trey says, lifting his gear. “We can only go as fast as our weakest link—a few days if we move.”

  “Did you hear that, Wayra?” I ask, looking at him. “You’d better keep up.”

  Heading toward the hole in the planks, I hear Wayra say, “I think I’m in love.”

  “You’re taking all of this well,” Jax says, joining me.

  “Am I?” I ask, brushing off the concern I can see in his eyes. “Well, the thought just occurred to me that I might as well hang out on Ethar for a few months. Take in the scene. I’ve been in worse places. I’ll see what Skye has to say for themselves. If it reeks, well, then I only have a few months—urr, specks—until I’m eighteen, right?”

  “You plan to go back to Earth—to escape?” he asks, looking concerned. “Um, that’s not a very good idea. Everyone will have learned about you by then. The Alameeda will know everything—”

  “So,” I shrug, “What do you care? Your job will be over. You’ll have delivered me to my…penance. I won’t be your problem anymore.”

  “Yes, but it will be okay. We can help you—”

  I interrupt, holding up my hand. “Look, I get the guilt thing. You’ll check in on me, you’ll make sure nothing really bad happens to me, blah, blah, blah. Don’t sweat it, Jax. In a couple of weeks, you won’t even remember my name. Now, how am I getting down from here?”

  Trey grasps both of my arms, before turning me and making me look at him. “What Jax is trying to say is that going back to Earth will not be a viable option for you. Ever,” he says, unsmiling. “The Alameeda will follow you. Kyon will follow you.”

  “Oh…” I trail off, thinking. “He is a total…what’s the word I’m looking for, Wayra?”


  “Wacker?” Wayra replies, and Trey narrows his eyes at him disapprovingly.

  I point my finger at Wayra. “Yes, he’s a total wacker, but now that I’ve met him, he can be avoided. I’ll just have to look out for huge blonds.”

  “What about us?” Trey asks with menace. “How will you avoid me?”

  “Why would you come looking for me if I vacate? Skye will probably send someone else and I can play shy with him, too,” I say stiffly, not liking his tone.

  “I’ll volunteer,” Trey counters.

  “No, you won’t. You’ll move on to the next one,” I say, blowing off his words.

  “On to the next what?”

  “On to the next goal, ambition—the next thrill,” I retort with heat. “You think I should follow their rules? Well I’m going to do what’s right for me, not what you think is right for me.”

  “This is the problem with authority that you alluded to last night?” Trey asks, leaning his face close to mine.

  “No, this is survival, Trey. I’d love to coach you, but I charge for babysitting.”

  “I have a feeling that you’ll be the navigator for my next thrill,” he replies, loosening his grasp on my arms with a scowl.

  “Request permission to carry her down, sir.” Wayra says, staring at me.

  “Denied,” Trey scowls with a clipped tone, making me climb on his back before he easily picks his way down from our treetop haven. He lets me go when we hit the ground and for the next few hours, it’s an endurance test as we run at a fairly steady pace through the woodland terrain.

  The terrain is amazing though. Our path is carrying us near shear cliff drops that overlook canyons with rock that contains striations of red, orange, brown, and silver. Everything is big, massive, like it could swallow us up. Feeling very small, I push myself to keep up with them. I’m trying to focus on the simple problem of continuing to move, instead of the fear of what lies ahead.

  Trey, running beside me, scans me critically before signaling to the others to stop. Sinking to a rock beneath a shady tree, I pant, fighting the urge to double over from the cramp in my side. Sweat is pouring down the sides of my face, not only from the exertion of running through the woods, but also from the heat. It’s tropical here and I’m still used to winter temperatures. Jax tries to hand me a protein bar, but I push it away from me, shaking my head. The smell of it right now is enough to make me gag.