Project Integrate Series Boxed Set

by Campbell, Jamie

  She finally smiled. “Then I’m having pancakes.” With that said, Lochie led us down the road to his usual café. The girl at the counter knew his order, which really irked me. Normally I wouldn’t have minded so much, perhaps even found it cute. Something had definitely changed.

  After placing our orders, we found a table on the sidewalk under a large umbrella. The heat was starting to fire up for the day, promising of more beautiful summer weather.

  Lola filled the awkward silences, questioning Lochie about his classes and what college life was like. He answered everything just like he normally would have. They seemed to get along a lot better than we did.

  The food arrived, a welcome break to the conversation. I had a fruit salad, considering my first breakfast of the day was a cinnamon bun.

  “So when do real classes start?” Lola asked with a mouthful of pancakes.

  “A few weeks. This place is going to be packed then, the dorms are only a quarter full at the moment,” Lochie replied. His choice was waffles drowning in maple syrup. “It’s going to be chaotic.”

  “Good thing you’re great under pressure,” I teased, well, I attempted it anyway. Lochie gave me a beaming smile in return. I relaxed a little. Perhaps everything was just in my head. It was stupid to think we could go back to normal so quickly, of course it would take time. Hearts take a while to heal.

  “All my best work is done under pressure.”

  “Mine too,” Lola added.

  The conversation was light and actually managed to be sustained until we’d finished eating. Lola looked at me pointedly as she downed the last of her coffee. “I’m going to the bathroom. Be back soon.”

  Lochie’s hand snaked across the table and covered mine. His touch still sent those lightning bolts shooting up my arm. “I’m so glad you came. Maybe you could stay a little longer?”

  “I wish I could, but I have stuff I need to do.” I hadn’t even told him about Senph and Rob yet. There seemed to be so much I needed to update him on but I didn’t feel like saying any of it. He didn’t need to be drowned in my problems.

  Worry creased his brow. “Okay.”

  “No, Lochie, it’s not like that. Besides needing to see you, I kind of needed the time away too. I sort of ran away from my problems and now I need to go back and deal with them.”

  “Anything you want to talk about? Is everything okay?”

  “It’s a long story, I’ll fill you in later. Right now, I don’t want to think about it.” I moved my hand from under his so our fingers could intertwine. “I just want to enjoy a few more moments with you.”

  He squeezed my hand. A wicked grin twisted his lips. “I know this sounds crazy, and I’m going to kill you if you tell anyone, but I’ve been dreaming about you.”

  “Oh really?” I arched an eyebrow in response, I couldn’t wait to hear this. “Do tell.”

  “Not those kinds of dreams, it was more memories. Like we were having a picnic at the lake, exploring Trucon, hanging out at school, that kind of thing.”

  “I dreamed we ran away.”

  “You’ve been dreaming about me too?”

  “Maybe.” Damn, I’d spoken before I could think about it. The memories of my dreams filtered through my head. And none of mine were G rated. I blushed, the heat rising to my cheeks before I could stop it.

  “Amery Cecilia Jones, tell me about these dreams. I am all ears.”

  “You know that’s not my middle name.”

  “Doesn’t matter. Tell me.”

  “Like I said, we ran away.”

  He studied me and the traitorous blush got even hotter. “Only ran away, huh? I’m betting that’s not all we did.”

  “That is all we did.”

  “You had a sex dream about me,” Lochie stated, so matter of factly he didn’t hold any doubts.

  “No, I didn’t.” I could hear the lie in my voice, no doubt he could too. He used his free hand to poke at my ribs until I laughed. “Okay, fine, stop it. It may have been a little on the hot side.”

  “Judging by the look on your face, it was more than a little hot. Was I good? Like earth shattering good?”

  I rolled my eyes, I really didn’t want to be having this conversation. I grabbed his hand so he would stop tickling me. I had both of them under my control now. “You were fine.”

  “Just fine? Come on, I had to have been better than that.”

  “Anyway…” I started, grappling for anything else to talk about before my face caught on fire. “How is college, really? Are you happy here?”

  He turned serious in less than a second. “The classes are interesting.”

  “You don’t sound very convincing.”

  Lochie sighed, looking so much like his old self that I almost jumped over the table to sit on his lap. “It isn’t as great as I’d hoped. I mainly just sit around missing you. Missing my family, missing everything back home.”

  “But it’s for your future,” I reminded him.

  “What about our future?”

  “I might have a new job when I get back.”

  “You might?”

  I nodded. “Rob came over the other day, he offered me a position with the Department. I’d be the alien/Department liaison, working with Krom,” I explained.

  “You’re not really thinking of taking it, are you?” Lochie asked incredulously.

  “Yeah, I’m thinking it through.”

  “I don’t want you working with those monsters, not after everything they’ve done to you.”

  “I could make a difference.”

  “Have you forgotten what they did? They locked you up, they were going to kill you, Ame. What’s to say they won’t do it again?” He asked. It was a good question, sadly a legitimate one.

  “It’s not that simple, there’s more complications.”

  He squeezed both my hands. “Look, I’m not trying to tell you what to do. God knows you won’t listen to me anyway. I just want you to be safe, that’s all.” It warmed me to hear that.

  Lochie still caring so much about me was not something I expected to hear when I woke up that morning. It was amazing how much could change after just one conversation.

  “I’ll take that into consideration,” I said.

  Lochie opened his mouth to say something but went into a coughing fit instead. He quickly unlocked his hands from mine to cover his mouth. I rubbed his back as the coughs racked his body. Had he lost weight or was I imagining it?

  “Are you okay?”

  He had to take a few breaths before he nodded. “Yeah, it’s nothing. There’s something going around campus. I hope I haven’t given it to you.”

  Instinctively, I felt his forehead with the back of my hand. He was warm. I remembered how hot his chest had been when we’d first hugged. His hands had been clammy too, I put it down to nerves, maybe I was wrong. “You’ve got a temperature.”

  He took my hand away from his forehead and brought it to his lips to kiss it. “I’m fine. It’s probably just a cold. I’ll take some vitamins later.”

  “And drink plenty of water. Promise me you’ll look after yourself.”

  He kissed my hand again. “I promise.” I didn’t entirely believe him. His cell phone started beeping from his pocket, he pulled it out and winced.

  “Something wrong?” I asked.

  “My physics class is about to start. We’re having a test today. I really need to go. I’m so sorry. If it was any other class, I’d ditch it in a second. But the test makes up a quarter of our final grade.”

  We stood. “It’s okay, I understand.” He grabbed me in a fierce hug, pulling me so close that I thought he might have been trying to fuse us together. The kiss he gave me afterwards was a million times more passionate than the earlier one. It reminded me of my dreams.

  I finally had to swat at his shoulder to get out of his grip. “You need to go or you’ll miss your test.”

  He gave me one last kiss. “I love you and I’ll call you later. You really can’t stick ar
ound?”

  “Sorry, I have to get back.”

  “Okay. Then be prepared to get so many texts and calls from me that you’ll wish I was ignoring you. Got it?” He flashed me the patented Lochie grin, the one that made my knees go weak and dimpled his cheeks.

  “Got it.”

  He started walking backwards toward the exit. “You’ve been warned. Say goodbye to Lola for me.” He almost ran into a girl while he wasn’t watching where he was going. My eyes stayed on him until he had to turn a corner. God, I was going to miss him. One breakfast had not been enough.

  No amount of time with Lochie would ever be enough.

  I looked around for Lola. Her trip to the bathroom had been way too long to be normal. I went looking for her inside, finding her at the counter reading a newspaper. “Hey, what are you doing in here?”

  She shrugged. “Thought you could use some alone time. How’d it go?”

  I couldn’t stop the smile spreading across my face. “It’s good. We’re good. I think.”

  “Great!” She held up the newspaper to the front page story. “You should read this.” I took it from her, the headline was ‘Segregation is the only safe option’. That couldn’t be good.

  The article went on to quote Alonso Ferguson, the leader of the Originals organization – the group that had revealed Project Integrate eight years before it was supposed to be made public. They hated us, and let’s just say, the feeling was mutual.

  According to the article, the Originals wanted all aliens to be rounded up and kept in a secure facility together. Apparently we deserved to be in a prison style complex to ensure we couldn’t hurt the human race.

  The Originals told everyone our master plan was to completely integrate into the human race and reproduce with them until there were no pureblood humans anymore. That was apparently how we could take over the world. Unfortunately, they had said it long enough for people to start believing them.

  I was all for integration, and I even dared to imagine having a bunch of hybrid children one day, but that was because I loved a human. It wasn’t out of some warped mission to take over the human race. If Lochie was an alien, I would have loved him just as much.

  If the Originals were talking about segregation, it wouldn’t be long before a whole bunch of people agreed it was a good idea. If enough people made enough noise, the government would act on it.

  I had been locked up before like a prisoner, it had almost killed me. If it wasn’t for Garrick helping me to escape, I would have gone crazy in there. Just the thought of going through all that again made me want to disappear and never come back.

  “They can’t really do it,” Lola said, catching a glimpse of the look of panic on my face. “They’re all talk, you know that. Nobody takes the Originals seriously.”

  “Except all their followers,” I pointed out. “And they seem to be growing by the day.” I remembered the people at the gas station, they were a perfect example.

  She took the newspaper back. “Come on, let’s go. I want to know everything that happened in Lochie’s dorm room. Leave no details out.”

  I followed after her, getting ready to have a long discussion back to Portview.

  CHAPTER 7

  We didn’t stop at the same gas station for fuel on the way home. I didn’t even look at it as we passed by. Arriving back in Portview was somewhat of a relief. It was always good to come home, but that meant having to face everyone as well.

  I dropped Lola at her house before going on to mine. Thankfully, everyone at home seemed preoccupied with their own tasks to pay me much attention.

  I found my adoptive mom in the kitchen. She gave me a big hug the minute she saw me. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

  “Me too.”

  She studied my face carefully, trying to determine my mood. “Did you get everything sorted out?”

  I nodded, smiling. “Everything is sorted. It was a misunderstanding. We’re still together.” I was so grateful I hadn’t told her everything about our misunderstanding. My mom liked Lochie, she might not have been as forgiving if she thought he had cheated on me. It had taken all my energy to convince Lola it was all Mrs. Mercury’s interfering.

  “Amery,” Garrick said from the doorway. “You’ve returned from your girls’ trip.” So that was the cover story, good one, Mom. “Can we talk?”

  I exchanged a questioning look with Mom before I agreed and followed him. Garrick led me into the study and closed the door. I waited, letting him do all the talking.

  He didn’t waste a moment either. “Senph has been asking about you. She thinks you’re ignoring her and is livid.”

  “Did you tell her I was away for a few days?” The harsh reality of being home was hitting me like a ton of bricks. I wished I was still in Greenfield with Lochie.

  Garrick nodded. “Of course I did. She wanted to know where you were and I didn’t have an answer. Why did you take off like that anyway?”

  “I had something I needed to do.” I was not prepared to get into the details with Garrick. He would probably be happy Lochie and I had not been going so well. “Why was Senph looking for me?” I was fishing for information, wanting to know how much Senph had disclosed to Garrick.

  “She said she needed to talk to you. Why is Senph talking to you?” Okay, so our illustrious informal leader was keeping her cards close to her chest. That was interesting.

  I sized up Garrick, trying to work out if I could tell him everything. There really wasn’t anything to consider. “She wants me to join her little group and convince everyone else they need to listen to her. She wants me to help recruit Truconians.”

  “Why you?” I should probably have been offended by the question, but not when it was Garrick asking it. He didn’t see what was going on like I did.

  “She thinks I have some influence over everyone because of how I helped the settlers when they arrived.”

  He nodded, getting it. “People do love you.”

  “What do you think I should do?” I asked the million dollar question. Not just out of curiosity too, I really wanted to know his opinion. It might help me decide.

  Garrick’s forehead wrinkled while he thought about it. “I believe Senph is right, that we need to fight back against the humans.”

  “So you think I should help her?”

  “I don’t know,” he admitted, sighing. “I followed Krom blindly when he first arrived here and that didn’t turn out so well. The only person who I truly trust is you. Whatever you decide, I’ve got your back.” That was probably one of the nicest things I had ever heard Garrick say. I wanted to hug him, even though it didn’t really help with my decision.

  “I might choose the wrong side,” I warned him before I got all mushy.

  “You won’t. You’ve got a compass for this kind of thing, you’ll do what’s right. But I do think you need to speak with Senph… and soon.”

  “I’ll go today.”

  Garrick gave my arm a reassuring squeeze before we parted. I couldn’t delay the problem any longer. I needed to make a decision and sort out what I was going to do.

  Or did I? There was no reason why I couldn’t keep an eye on everything going on. The whole thing with Lochie was distracting me before, but that was resolved now. Well, kind of. I could focus on the problems at hand.

  I picked up my car keys again and headed out to Senph’s house, where she was staying with a host family. I wondered what she thought of the humans that were being so kind to her by opening up their home to welcome her to Earth. I felt nothing but sorry for them.

  As I pulled up, my cell phone beeped with a message. I smiled when I saw it was from Lochie.

  A, aced the test. Maybe you’re my lucky charm. Can’t wait to see you again. L xxxx.

  He wasn’t kidding when he said he would be making sure to be in contact with me. I was going to treasure every single one of his messages. My phone had been silent for far too long. I sent one back:

  L, good to hear, well done. I miss y
ou already. A xoxo

  I wasn’t even out of the car before he replied.

  Come back then. I’ll make it worth your while ;)

  I slipped my phone away before replying, his flirting could wait for later. Right now, I needed to be focused on the dangerous alien that hated humans.

  Senph was the one who answered the door after I knocked. She stepped out onto the porch instead of inviting me in.

  “Member Amery, it’s been a while,” she started. Since when was three days a while? Someone wasn’t wearing her patience pants.

  “Sorry, I had a few days out of town with my best friend. We were making the most of the summer.” Only a small lie. I was going to be making a lot bigger ones soon. “Garrick said you wanted to speak with me?”

  “Of course I do, have you forgotten about our last discussion? I need to know whether I have your support or not.” There wasn’t an inch of warmth in her voice, it was all business. I guess she wasn’t trying to make friends, but build an army.

  “You have my support,” I replied, inwardly crossing my fingers and hoping I was doing the right thing. “I’ll support you in your plans.”

  A smile twisted her lips, it wasn’t friendly, more… triumphant. “Good, good. Now I have your commitment, I will start putting everything together for your attention. We can talk more after the next meeting.”

  I plastered on a smile. “That sounds great. I’ll be sure to get there.”

  “Oh, you’d better. We’ve got big things to do, Member Amery, big things.”

  I shuddered at the thought of what those big things were and how much damage they would do to the human race. I just hoped I was putting myself in a position to be able to avert anyone getting hurt – humans and aliens alike.

  I left Senph’s house with a fast goodbye and returned back home. I needed to make one more phone call and then I was done for the day. I hit Rob’s number on my phone.