Behind the Stars

by Leigh Talbert Moore

  No. Be strong, Prentiss—don’t give up! Struggling to my feet, I recognized where I was. I’d stepped off the rocky ledge on the side of the hill where we’d danced that night. I was standing in front of our small creek where we’d come to swim so many times.

  Limping around the water’s edge, my face contorted in pain as hot flares shot down my leg from my hip. I knew exactly the way to go, but now I could barely walk. I supported myself, tree to tree as I dragged my leg, remembering how long it had taken us to get here after Bully was born with Gallatin carrying me. Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to move faster.

  When I reached the last hill, I dropped to my knees and tried to crawl up, but it only made the pain worse. I reached out for a branch to pull myself up, but it broke off and I flew back onto my side. Luckily it was on my uninjured hip this time, and the damp leaves had broken my fall. Still, I lay on my back in the darkness, wet and injured and ready to give up.

  Tears streaked down my temples into my hair as I stared up at the stars. My heart beat so loudly, it drowned out all the other noises. Then I noticed what was in my hand. The broken branch. A walking stick!

  I rolled onto my side and used my good knee to climb up, and with the help of the branch, I made it to the top of the hill. From there, I could see the camp and the path below that led to the small cabins. I took a shaky breath and started down the hill, making it to the fence. Pushing through the break and leaning heavily on my stick, I limped to his cabin. The door swung open as I reached for the handle. The latch wasn’t caught.

  Inside, all was dark, and as I stepped through the door and looked around the space, I saw what I’d feared. Everything was gone. The room was swept clean and empty.

  Still, maybe... I turned and limped out the door again, slowly making my way toward the yard. Maybe it wasn’t too late. I set my eyes on the dining hall at the top of the rise and using the broken branch, I hobbled across the open space. The half-moon cast a dim light as I passed the small grove of trees in the center, the dark barn, and finally arrived at the screened-in building where we’d eaten, where I’d lost Flora, and where I’d found Jackson.

  The screen door let out a metallic creak as I pulled it open, but the room was dark and empty. No one was inside.

  “Hello?” I called. But only the short echo of my voice bouncing off the metal tables answered me. Everyone was gone.

  I didn’t even enter the building. I turned and started slowly back down the hill. There was somewhere else I needed to try. If it were there, at least I’d have something to hold onto, something to remember this by, to remember everything that happened and how far I’d come.

  Many painful steps later, I reached the barn and made my way past the dark, empty stalls to the door in the back. Turning the handle, I stepped into the narrow stall, but what I found made me lean forward and clutch the slats.

  “Bully?”

  Nothing greeted me.

  The little bull that changed everything was gone.

  Standing on one foot in that empty barn, I clung to the slats and broke down. I pressed my face into the wood, and allowed myself to cry. The whole place was deserted. They were gone. It was all over.

  After what felt like a long time, I gave up. I was so exhausted, when I reached his small cabin at the bottom of the hill, I hobbled straight to his bed and lay down. I pulled the pillow down, and his lemony-soap smell flooded my nose, twisting the ache in my chest. Hugging my knees, another sob pulled my muscles together so hard, I thought I might stop breathing.

  Finally, I couldn’t cry anymore, and like a blanket, depression wrapped around my shoulders. Almost instantly my eyes closed and I fell asleep.

  * * *

  In my dreams, I swam in the pool. I lay on the blanket in the sun and laughed as the warmth returned to my skin. I turned my head and amber eyes met mine. He smiled, and I reached out and laced our fingers. We’d never done it before, but already it felt like the most natural thing. I lifted myself onto my elbows and elbow-walked to where he was lying on his back. My face hovered over his for a few moments as he squinted up at me, then I lowered it and pressed our mouths together.

  It was so real, I could taste the cool creek water in his kiss, and I didn’t want to wake up. I didn’t want to open my eyes and see that I was alone. I didn’t want to know he was across the galaxy, billions of miles away, never to return, and I’d have to pick up the pieces and move on after everything we’d shared. For a moment, I wished I’d never left. I wish I’d stayed to have my memory erased.

  Surfacing from the dream into wakefulness, I realized something was wrong. I still lay on my side in his bed, his pillow clutched tight against my chest, his smell all around me, but something was in my hand—or rather, something had my hand.

  My fingers were clutched in what felt like... I blinked my eyes open and a head was lying beside mine. He was sitting on the floor, his body leaning forward, and his hand was against the pillow, holding mine.

  “Gallatin?” My head snapped up, and a surge of joy flooded my chest.

  His long lashes were soft on his cheek, and his hair fell as usual over his scar. I reached forward and gently pushed it back as I whispered his name again. My breath caught, and I continued stroking back his hair, blinking away tears, lightly touching his scar, firmly holding the hand that grasped mine.

  I tried to move, and pain shot through my hip. “Ahh!” I cried out.

  At once, his eyes flew open. His head popped up, and his grip tightened on mine.

  “Prentiss?” He tried to pull me up to him, but I struggled back.

  “Wait!” I cried, my eyes warm. “My hip!”

  Instantly he stopped. “What happened? And... Why are you here?”

  “I had to come back, I had to...” But I hesitated, unsure. “I thought you were gone.”

  “I was. Or, well, they are.” He reached out and touched my cheek with his thumb. “I sneaked off the ship.”

  I opened my arms, and he leaned forward, pulling me into a hug. We held each other for several moments, and I was sure my lungs would burst from the happiness expanding in me with each breath. His arms tightened then he lifted his head, tracing the hair away from my face with one tingling stroke.

  “When they discovered you were gone with D’Lo and the captive—”

  “Jackson.”

  “Yes, Jackson. When they discovered you were gone, Ovett convinced Cato we had to leave immediately. We mind-wiped the remaining humans and released them into the woods then we went to the ship.”

  “I didn’t see anybody in the woods.”

  “It was only a short while ago, and we sent them in the direction toward your town.”

  My brow lined as I thought. “I don’t even know which direction that is.”

  He smiled. “Opposite of the spring. Our spring.”

  “But you stayed here?”

  He sat back and looked down, and now he seemed as unsure as I’d been a moment ago. “I used to think being alone was best,” he said. “But these last few weeks changed my mind. I was on the ship, and I looked out at the trees... All I could see was you, your blue eyes, your soft hair... You here, and me who knows where. Alone.”

  His palm was up, and he smoothed his thumb over it. “I had to come back, whether you’d have me or not.”

  My damp eyes met his gleaming ones. “I’ll have you.”

  He leaned forward and placed his palm against my cheek, kissing my nose. “I was ready to beg you to forgive me.”

  “You don’t have to beg.”

  His thumb drifted across my cheek. “And it was strange. As I sat in the ship watching the lights shine through the trees, I thought I heard your voice begging me not to leave you.”

  I jumped up on my elbow, ignoring my hip. “I did! I did say that! Is it possible you heard me?”

  His brow lined. “Maybe... I thought it was just me wanting it so much.”

  I rolled forward into his arms, but he caught my chin. My eyes fluttered shut as h
is lips found mine, and a pulse of joy rushed from the center of my body through my arms, to my fingertips, down my legs. His arms tightened around me and my mouth opened, deepening our kiss. He tasted sweet like the spring water, then salty like my tears. He pulled back and kissed them away again before holding me tightly in his arms. My fingers threaded in his soft brown hair.

  “You came back to save your friends?” he asked.

  “I promised them I would.” I smiled and shook my head. “But I hoped...”

  Our eyes met, and I saw he was smiling, too. “You came back for me?”

  I was nodding as his lips covered mine again.

  * * *

  When I opened my eyes, we were curled together in his small bed. Gallatin’s body had replaced the pillow under my head, and my cheek rested on his chest. I blinked and slid my arm up around his neck, and his arm tightened around my waist. He sighed and slowly pushed himself to a reclining position at the top of the bed, and I lifted my head to smile at him. He smiled back and slid my hair away from my face.

  “I guess they’ll come back for you,” I said.

  He shrugged. “Probably. And your people will come for you.”

  “I don’t know.” I pushed up to a sitting position, now wearing his tee to replace my filthy, wet tank top. “If everyone shows up in town, and you’re all gone, why should they?”

  “Your fiancé will let you go that easily? I wouldn’t.”

  “My ex-fiancé.”

  A smile teased around his eyes, and my own narrowed. “Are you trying not to smile?”

  “I can’t say I’m sorry you’re not together anymore. I will be sorry if that’s the only reason you’re here now. If you regret—”

  “It’s not. And I don’t.” I tried to stand, but my face contorted as pain shot down my leg.

  He caught my arm. “You never told me what happened to your hip.”

  “I stepped off the ledge,” I gasped. “In the dark.”

  Quickly he stood and crossed the room. I watched his long body move fluidly around the small cabin. “I might have some more of those pain pills.”

  He opened a small locker and pulled out a metal box. Opening it, he lifted a plastic bottle that had one pill left.

  “I told you not to give them all to me,” I teased as he returned to where I lay.

  “There’s no water to take it with.”

  I reached for the pack I’d strung around my neck, but it was gone. “My pack had a water bottle. It must’ve fallen off me when I fell down by the creek.”

  He looked up and out the window at the morning sun already strong and hot. Then he looked back at me and smiled. “Let’s go there now.”

  I couldn’t think of anything I wanted more.

  * * *

  One pain reliever wasn’t quite enough to ease the pain radiating down to my knee, but it took the edge off. We swam in the small creek as the heat rose off the ground with an intensity you could almost see in the air, but in our little escape under the trees in the valley, it was cool and beautiful.

  I tread water in the middle of the pool, and he smiled before disappearing under the surface and shooting through the glassy stream to come up right in front of me. Strong arms went around my waist, and I wrapped mine over his shoulders as his lips pushed mine apart. Waves of fizzy joy spread from my head to my toes as our warm bodies tangled together in the frigid water.

  “Are you doing that touch thing to me?” I laughed in his ear as he hugged me close.

  “No.” His voice was soft against my cheek. “Does it feel like I am?”

  I pressed my forehead against his shoulder, embarrassed by how strong my emotions were. He leaned back, I lifted my chin, and when our eyes met, he kissed me again.

  “What will we do?” I sighed as his lips traveled to my cheek and up to the line of my hair.

  “You’ll come with me.”

  He said it like it was the most obvious answer. I loosened my arms, feeling like I was leaving half my soul behind as I moved away from him. I swam to the bank and pushed myself out of the water. He was close behind, swimming after me.

  “Or if you don’t want to leave, I’ll stay here with you,” he said.

  I crawled over to the blanket he’d spread in the hot sun. We couldn’t hide in this little escape forever, and I knew he couldn’t stay here if his uncle was hunting for him. At the same time, blasting into outer space wasn’t anywhere on my bucket list.

  In two steps he dropped beside me, studying my face. “Unless you don’t want me to stay.”

  Leaning forward, I pressed my forehead to his, our eyes closed. “I never want us to be apart, but how can you stay? Your uncle—”

  “Who I despise—”

  “Who tried to kill you...”

  My eyes fluttered open, and at that closeness, I saw what I’d only caught a glimpse of before. “They are reflective!”

  His eyebrows pulled together. “What?”

  “Your eyes! Why do they do that?”

  Now he turned away embarrassed. “I have a slight tapetum lucidum.”

  “A what?”

  “It’s not very strong, but it helps me see at night.”

  “Like a cat?”

  “But without the eyeshine.”

  I caught his face and turned it back to me, moving my head around different angles trying to see it again.

  “Stop.” His voice was a short order.

  “How does it work?”

  He sighed. “I don’t know. Shubuta says there’s a thin layer behind the retina that’s reflective. It magnifies small amounts of light in dark conditions.”

  Dropping back to sit, I smiled up at him. “I sure could’ve used that last night!”

  He wouldn’t meet my eyes now. “Please don’t.”

  “Why are you embarrassed? You’ve never cared before about having special abilities. What’s wrong now?”

  “You think my eyes are weird.”

  I dove forward and caught him around the neck, sending him onto his back. “They’re hazel, remember?” Then I kissed his nose. “You’ll be the designated night-driver from now on.”

  He snorted a laugh, rolling those crazy eyes. “So I’m staying here then?”

  I sighed and dropped my head against his chest. “I’m afraid to go into space. What if I blow up?”

  My head bounced up and down with his laughter. “Our bodies are so similar. If I don’t blow up, you won’t.”

  “I don’t have a ... Tapesterium reflecitividium.”

  “What?”

  “The eye thing.”

  “Tapetum lucidum. And I don’t know if that’s what it’s called in me. That’s what you call it in your beasts here. On Gliese, it’s called a gift.”

  “That’s another thing.” I gingerly eased myself into a sitting position. “How can I go into outer space with you? I’m so boring. I don’t have any special powers.”

  He sat up quickly beside me. “You are not boring, and who knows? We might discover your unique size is a gift on another planet.”

  My eyes narrowed, and I pressed my lips together. But my smile won out as he leaned forward and brushed his lips over mine. I closed my eyes and leaned in for a better kiss, but a strange whizzing sound flew past my ear. I turned to look, but Gallatin leaned forward heavily on me, pushing me down to the blanket, onto my injured hip.

  “Oh! Ow! Gallatin!” I cried, struggling to make him get off me, but he didn’t budge.

  Cold fear tingled down my neck. He would never hold me down, and he was always so quick to protect my injuries.

  “Gallatin?” My voice shook, but he was still.

  Fear shot adrenaline straight to my chest, causing my heart to fly like a jackrabbit. I pushed against his bare shoulder, but my hand slipped and flew out behind him. It was covered in sticky black oil, and I nearly screamed. Using all my strength, I rolled him onto his side, and then I saw more black liquid staining the blanket, me, and all our clothes. I remembered what he said about their b
lood.

  “Gallatin!” I did scream then.

  My vision grew white, but I pushed against the swoon and tried to find where he’d been injured. His face was pale, and my hands shook so hard, I almost couldn’t use them. Tears blinded my eyes as I desperately searched his body.

  Finally I saw it—a gash on the back of his head. I grabbed his shirt and pressed it hard against the flow. Frantically, my eyes searched the woods. I could never get him back the way we came. Not with my own injury. My breath was coming in short gasps, and then I saw them.

  Three skinny boys stepped out of the thicket.

  * * *

  “If I Fly”

  Volume 6

  Chapter 26

  A team of shirtless boys stepped from the woods in a semi-circle around us. Animal blood was painted on their thin chests, and today they’d added white stripes to their cheeks and down the bridges of their noses.

  Hatred twisted their features, and one of them held a leather strap he must’ve used as a sling. What frightened me most was they didn’t act confused or like they’d made a mistake. They were focused and vengeful.

  “Help me!” I screamed. “He’s hurt.”

  “Tie them up, men.” I recognized the voice as Dexter’s behind the face paint. “We have to take this to Jackson.”

  The tiny savages circled us, their hands holding ropes. I struggled to calm myself. I knew these boys. They knew me. We’d gone to school together, and I had to think of a way to work with them, to change their minds.

  “You’re too small to carry him,” I said calmly.

  Dexter stood back, his lips pressed together. “She’s right. Thomas! Get back to camp and bring Jackson here. Run!”

  The boy turned and immediately scaled the hill, reaching the top and taking off over it with amazing speed. That left Dexter and another boy behind.

  “Dexter,” I tried to reason, but my voice shook. “You don’t understand—”

  “Shut up, woman!” he snapped. “Take her to the prison.”

  “Dexter!” I tried to struggle, but the other boy was taller than me and possibly a few pounds heavier.

  He roughly jerked me up, and I cried out from the pain in my hip. My hand dropped the rag I’d been pressing against Gallatin’s head, but his bleeding seemed to have slowed. Fear held my lungs tight. I didn’t want to leave him, but I didn’t have a choice. The boy holding my arm started walking and dragging me back to our former prison.