Project Integrate Series Boxed Set

by Campbell, Jamie

  “Wait, you spent the night together?” She gripped the edge of the bed, like she was going to spring out of it with the news.

  “Not like that,” I quickly replied. “We slept in the same bed but we just slept. Nothing happened. Can you imagine how crazy I’d be by now if it did?”

  She calmed down a little. “Why don’t you call him?”

  “Because he’s the guy. And I don’t want to make a fool out of myself if I completely misread the whole thing.”

  “What part of ‘I love you’ could you have misread?” She had a point, but I still wasn’t brave enough to lay my heart out there for Lochie to trample over. We had spent too many years arguing to let him have the upper hand. Old habits die hard. “Take charge, Amery. Show him who’s boss.”

  I laughed, not even entertaining the idea. I was too new to the whole dating thing. I wasn’t even allowed to be dating, not that I was entirely following the rules anymore. “I’ll think about it,” I finally replied. I doubted I would be doing anything but thinking about it. Not until I saw Lochie again.

  A part of me was really angry at Lochie for not contacting me. A simple text could have solved everything, whether it was good news or bad. I just had to know what was going on and he should have called. No matter which way I looked at it, he should have done that. It just went to show how my first instincts about him were probably correct. He was annoying and always would be.

  “So besides the whole Lochie thing,” Lola started. “What’s going to happen to you now the project is on hold?”

  “No idea,” I said honestly. “The Originals won’t stop trying to kill all the aliens and the Department won’t protect us. I guess there’s interesting times ahead.”

  “I wouldn’t say interesting, I’d say scary.”

  “Scary means the Originals have already won,” I pointed out. I couldn’t let them win or that would mean none of my race could make it to Earth. As determined as they were, I was double it. “I don’t have any intention of letting them win.”

  Lola smiled. “That’s my girl.”

  “So tell me everything about Asher, you said he visited you yesterday?” I returned her grin, trying to match her level of enthusiasm while subtly changing the subject.

  I spent all afternoon with Lola, grateful I was able to and the Originals hadn’t hurt her like I had envisaged. There were so many times I had feared we would never get to hang out together again.

  I left her alone just before dark, remembering the curfew my parents had enforced. They had to know where I was at all times, I had to answer each call they made to me, and be home before dark. I couldn’t go out at night and it was best to avoid being in open spaces. The Originals were ensuring I was given barely any more freedom than the average prisoner.

  After dinner, I went to my bedroom for an early night. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep so I flicked on the television and tried to dull my mind.

  It wasn’t working as I kept fidgeting. I would have even welcomed some homework or something to keep me busy. Was I really looking forward to returning to school just so I could get some homework? Perhaps there really was something seriously wrong with aliens.

  My phone pinged with a text message. I practically lunged for it to give me something to do. Anything to break up the long night.

  The message was from Lochie. I considered not reading it, in case it said something I didn’t want to see. I had already got the hint loud and clear that he didn’t want anything to do with me. At this stage, it was hardly worth actually confirming it in writing. I knew where I stood and it was behind all the bimbos he usually preferred.

  Still, I was really bored and beyond curious so I opened the message.

  Look out the window.

  My brow furrowed in confusion. It was night and dark as ink outside, I wouldn’t even be able to see anything. As I walked to the window, I could feel my annoyance growing. It was a familiar feeling.

  I pulled back the curtains and peered out. Just like I expected, I couldn’t see a thing. Everything was pitch black, only the streetlights twinkled in the distance. If he was trying to play games with me, then I guess I fell for it.

  “Argh!” I yelped as a face appeared right in front of mine. My heart raced with the fright. Even when I recognized the face as belonging to Lochie, my pulse raced.

  He pointed to the window lock and I seriously considered closing the curtain again. I let him sweat it out for a few moments before I opened the window and let him in. He climbed through from the tree he was perched on.

  “How did you even get up here?” I asked in greeting.

  “I climbed the tree,” he replied, shrugging like it wasn’t a big mystery. Whatever, I didn’t really care.

  I crossed my arms, silently letting him know I was angry with him. If I didn’t let him know now, I would forget myself pretty quickly. He was looking just as breathtakingly gorgeous as I had remembered. And acted just as annoying as I remembered too.

  “What do you want, Lochie? It’s late.”

  “I needed to talk to you and I didn’t want to wait a moment longer.”

  When he didn’t continue, I uncrossed my arms and held them out questioningly. “Well? What did you want to say?”

  “More what I wanted to do.” Now I was completely confused.

  But in the next moment, Lochie closed the gap between us and had me locked in his arms in no time. Another second and his lips were on mine. I melted into him, completely forgetting what was so infuriating about him.

  I had thought the feelings I got from our first kiss were just a fluke, like maybe the near death experience had heightened the experience. With just one more kiss, I knew they weren’t. As his lips possessed mine, I felt safe and warm. I wanted him and I would do anything to have him. My heart fluttered, as well as the butterflies in my stomach.

  We eventually let each other go, needing to breathe for a moment. I hit Lochie on the chest. “It’s been five days. Where were you? I thought you changed your mind.”

  He grabbed my hands so I couldn’t hit him again. It was probably a wise move, knowing our history. “I asked your parents if I could come around and they said you needed space. They said I would have to see you at school but I couldn’t wait.”

  “My parents told you that?” My mind whirled with what else they could possibly have been keeping from me.

  Lochie nodded, starting to kiss my hands in turn. I wished he would stop, he was making all the thoughts fall out of my head. But he better not stop too, the sparks shooting out of every kiss was worth it.

  “I didn’t know that. I’m sorry for hitting you.”

  “That’s alright, you hit like a girl,” he teased in between kisses. Finally, he stopped to look me in the eyes again, his baby blues drilling into me. “Before we go back to school, I want you to know I’m going to keep your secret. I promise I won’t let anyone know about what your parents do for a living. I’ll take it to the grave.”

  I took my hands back and wrapped my arms around Lochie’s neck, pulling him close. He was so sweet and I was lying to him. He had no idea what I was and he was so honest with me. I didn’t know how long I could live with that kind of guilt.

  “Lochie?” I asked, enjoying the warmth of his body against mine. He mumbled something I couldn’t make out in response. “Can you stay with me tonight?”

  He let me go so he could read my face. “Of course I can, if you want me to.”

  “I do.”

  I pulled him over to the bed, turning off the light and leaving the bedside lamp on. It cast a soft orange glow around the room, just enough to be able to see my way.

  I lay down, facing the wall. Lochie snuggled up behind me, putting his arm around my waist. I could feel his breath on my neck, it tickled just slightly. I felt so safe there with him, like nothing could hurt me. It was like everything seemed bearable, I could handle anything I was thrown. I felt fearless and brave. And I felt tired. I knew I would finally be able to sleep.

&nb
sp; “Hey, Jones?” Lochie whispered.

  “Yeah?” I asked, my eyelids already droopy.

  “Don’t hog the blankets.”

  I squeezed his arm, hoping it hurt a little. But just a little. Because as annoying at Lochlan Mercury was, he held my heart in the palm of his hand. I closed my eyes and drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

  DIVIDE

  “Know thou that every fixed star hath its own planets, and every planet its own creatures, whose number no man can compute.”

  - Baha'u'llah'

  .

  CHAPTER 1

  How on Earth did I get there? That wasn’t me. It wasn’t even allowed. Everything about the entire situation told me to go home and forget about everything that had happened. It would have been nice. But also impossible.

  All I was doing was lying on a towel in a secluded part of the park, just trying to read a book and mind my own business. I couldn’t help it if Lochie just happened to be rubbing my back, whispering things that made me blush into my ear. That was his prerogative, it had nothing to do with me. Right?

  “Your shoulder’s healed well,” Lochie commented, touching the scar on my left shoulder. I didn’t let him see me wince as I remembered how I got it. It was definitely nicer having him caressing my shoulder rather than digging into it with a fishing knife.

  I turned over to face him, squinting a little in the sunlight. He wasted no time in leaning down to kiss me. It didn’t feel so weird anymore. After four weeks of adjusting to my new life without the safety net of the Department’s protection, everything was starting to settle down again. I had to be super cautious about my safety and that of those I loved, but it was worth it to stay in my regular life. Sometimes I even forget about the organization that was trying to kill all us aliens.

  “Lochie Mercury, do you realize how cute you are?” I teased. He didn’t seem to mind as he brushed the hair from my face. Every moment was gentle, like I was a china doll that might break with his touch.

  “Do you realize how beautiful you are?” He replied, making sure I knew it by leaving a trail of kisses from my forehead to my lips. My stomach fluttered in response. Damn he was irresistible.

  “You make me feel beautiful.”

  “You are beautiful.”

  I pulled him closer so he had no choice except to kiss me again. The bracelets on my left wrist clunked together with the movement. Who would have thought the most annoying person in the world could also be the world’s greatest kisser? It was as much a surprise to me as anyone else.

  A rustle in the bushes took my attention away from the warmth that was quickly spreading through my body. My head instantly snapped around, all my senses on high alert. “Did you hear that?” I whispered urgently.

  Lochie pulled himself off me, leaning back so I could sit up. “I didn’t hear anything.”

  A shiver ran down my spine even though the weather was nothing but sunny in the park. My ears strained to hear the noise again but there was nothing except the distant giggles of children as they ran about in the playground. I sighed with relief, my nerves were totally shot since my last encounter with the Originals.

  “Just my ears playing tricks on me,” I said, taking a few breaths so my heart would slow down again. Sometimes it was Lochie that sped it up, other times it was the Originals. One was welcomed, the other definitely wasn’t.

  Lochie wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him again. “I’m not going to let them hurt you.”

  I smiled, knowing that when it came to it, there would be little he could do to prevent it. He didn’t even know what I was. He had no idea I was an alien from the planet of Trucon. I still carried the guilt around from not telling him. He thought my big secret was that my parents were FBI Agents. I knew there would come a time where I would have to tell him the truth, but I also knew it wouldn’t go down well.

  My best friend, Lola, had been told the truth about me. She had taken it well, she even thought it was kind of cool. However she would be the exception to the rule. We weren’t part of a twenty-five year project to integrate into the community for nothing. You tell the average Joe in the street that aliens lived among them, they would freak out. And there was nothing to say Lochie wouldn’t do the same. He might even be disgusted by it. I couldn’t have him looking at me that way, not when his eyes now burned with nothing but love.

  “It’s going to start getting dark soon, we should head back,” I said, even though the thought of being out of his arms made me sad.

  Lochie didn’t argue, he just let me go and started packing up our picnic. He knew the rules and one of the most important ones was to be home before darkness settled in for the night. If the Originals wanted me, then they would have to fight my parents for me.

  “Got everything?” Lochie asked, holding the picnic basket. I looked around one last time and nodded.

  Just as we were about to move, all hell broke loose. Five men jumped out of the dense bushes surrounding the area. They ran straight for us, forming a circle in less than a second. Lochie grabbed my arm, pulling me into his protection.

  The men were wearing nothing but black from head to foot, thick material shielding them from any weapons. In their hands were large guns, ones that looked like they could kill you with a single bullet.

  “Amery Jones,” one of them barked at me. “Come with us immediately.”

  “You’re not taking her,” Lochie yelled back.

  In response, someone grabbed me from behind. They tore me away from Lochie as they started fighting. Two of them were attacking him, throwing punches left and right.

  “No!” I screamed over and over again. They couldn’t hurt Lochie, he was innocent in whatever war I had going on with the men. They had to be Originals, striking while my day was too perfect to believe.

  A man covered my mouth, holding me with his other hand. There was no way out of his grip, no matter how many times I clawed at his arm. I threw in some kicks for good measure but my feet didn’t collide with anything. Whoever this guy was, he knew how to protect himself.

  Lochie copped a thump to the jaw and his head shot around with the impact as he fell to the ground. I yelled into the man’s hand but was drowned out by his flesh. I would have done anything for our attackers to leave him alone. He looked so innocent lying on the ground, trying to regain his bearings.

  Before I knew it, the men were taking me away. They left Lochie lying on the ground by himself. I caught one last glimpse of him before we disappeared into the bushes.

  I didn’t stop struggling against them but I wasn’t doing any good. The man that gripped me had strong arms and was much taller than I was. He held me a good foot above the ground, ensuring I wouldn’t have any opportunity to make a run for it.

  They passed through the shrubs and bushes to the suburban street on the other side where a truck was waiting. It was just like the type a house removalist service would use except there were no signs or writing on the side. The nondescript white panels ensured nobody would remember it.

  I was unceremoniously dumped into the back and the heavy roller door closed in front of my face. Everything went black. Within seconds, the truck was alive and I started swaying with the movement.

  The back of the truck was as dark as a winter in Iceland. I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face. When the door was closed, I was facing it. If I wanted to steady myself, I needed to find a wall and lean against it. At least then I wouldn’t fall out when they eventually opened the door. If they ever opened the door.

  I felt around, locating the ridges of the roller door and then moving sideways. I knew there had to be a wall at the edge somewhere. As I knelt, I continued my swaying. The truck went around a corner, I had to stop myself from tumbling over and found the wall faster than I had anticipated.

  My knees were killing me by the time I felt the side and turned around. I leant my head against it, wishing I could see something in the darkness.

  I had never been a fan of the dark.
Even though I was seventeen years old, I still slept with a nightlight on. It wasn’t so much the lack of light that made me scared, but what the dark hid. Anything could hide in the darkness and I would never know it.

  I tried to focus on my breathing, trying to suppress the level of panic that was quickly escalating in my head. My mind tried to think of Lochie, hoping he was okay. They had left him there, that was a good sign. He would recover from his blow, or someone would find him. He would be fine, I tried to reassure myself.

  As my breathing started to quiet, my ears pricked up. I could still hear breathing but it wasn’t my own. I held the air in my lungs to double check. Nope, definitely wasn’t me. Someone else was in the truck with me.

  “Hello? Is someone there?” I said to the blackness around me. I strained to hear a response.

  “Yes,” came the reply – a woman’s voice. Okay, so it wasn’t a lion or tiger or something about to eat me while I couldn’t see it. At least, I hoped not. My back had been to the truck when they dumped me there, I didn’t get a chance to glimpse inside before it went black.

  “Who are you?” I asked. She sounded as scared as I was.

  “Holly. We’ve all been in here for a long time.”

  “We? How many of you are in here?”

  “Fourteen.”

  Fourteen? My stomach sunk. If it was the Originals all holding us hostage in the back of a truck, that could only mean one thing. “Are you all in the project?” Several mumbles replied an affirmative answer. “Does anyone know who they are and what they are going to do with us?”

  “I assume they’re the ones trying to kill us,” a male voice answered, a little patronizingly. I resisted the urge to snap back, he was probably a nice guy if he wasn’t being held hostage in the back of a truck. “They’ve been rounding us up all day.”

  “Five took me, have you seen any more?” I asked. If our odds were fifteen to five, perhaps we had a shot at winning if we took them on.