We eventually all sat around the kitchen, a few packets of chips floating around. Despite their age, they really didn’t taste that bad. They might kill us with some unseen fungus, but they helped pass the time.
Lochie’s cell phone was on the table in front of me. I had texted Rob earlier with it, letting him know to contact me on Lochie’s number when he could. It had been silent ever since.
Darkness fell with still no news. Upon my insistence, everyone went to bed when it grew late. There was nothing they could do so there was no point in exhausting themselves.
Typically, only Lochie refused to listen to me. I was too tired to argue so I sat on the bench and placed my head on the table, using my arms as a cushion. It wasn’t long before his hand started rubbing my back. I wasn’t going to move while he did that, it felt far too good.
“How could I have been so wrong, Loch?” I asked while still facing the table. “I was so certain Rob would take care of everything.”
“You can’t be blamed for trusting someone. If Rob doesn’t come through, then that’s on him, not you.” Lochie was too quick to let me off the hook, he wasn’t looking at the situation unbiased. But, God, his hand felt so good on my back. He was working out all the knots individually.
“I’ve got to think of something to fix this.”
“Do you remember that time the Originals were chasing us and we hid in the supply closet at school?” Lochie asked, out of nowhere. I had no idea where he was going with that.
“Of course I remember,” I replied. How could I forget? It was my first encounter with the Originals, except I didn’t know that’s who they were then. All I knew was that men wearing suits were trying to catch me and I really didn’t want them to. Unfortunately, Lochie and I were forcibly studying together in the library when they found me. I ran and had no choice except to take Lochie with me.
“You know what I was thinking at the time?”
I smiled, grateful Lochie couldn’t see my face. The supply closet had been tiny, meaning we didn’t have any room. We weren’t a couple at the time, in fact I’m pretty sure we hated each other then, which made the close proximity even more awkward.
I could imagine what Lochie had been thinking with our bodies pressed up against each other. I wondered if I was right or not. “Tell me what you were thinking.”
“Well… there were many things,” he started. I could hear the smile on his face too. “But one of them, the only one I should probably repeat, was how sure you were. Sure we’d be okay, sure your parents were going to come and rescue us, sure hiding was the right thing to do. And you know what?”
He paused and I knew he wasn’t going to go on until I said something. It was his way of making sure I was listening intently. He did that to me all the time, it was annoying about ninety percent of that time. “What?”
He tickled my ribs at the delay. “You were right. I’m only ever going to admit this once, Jones, so soak it up. But you were right. Everything turned out exactly like you’d said it would. There’s no reason why this won’t too.”
I sat up, needing to make sure he wasn’t just joking. When our eyes locked, there was nothing but sincerity in them. I opened my mouth to speak but was interrupted.
The phone rang. And Rob’s number was on the screen.
CHAPTER 19
“Are you near a television?” Rob said. Like always, it was straight to business.
There was a battery-run television set in the kitchen. It was ancient but it worked. Garrick had been flipping through it earlier in the day before giving up on waiting for some news.
“Yeah, why?”
“Turn it to channel thirteen, quickly.”
I jumped up and hurried over, Lochie moving with me. I pressed the buttons underneath the television screen until finding channel thirteen. The news was on.
We stood there in shock. President Domacki was on the screen, holding an emergency press conference from the White House. He declared all the Truconians free and thanked them for their healing services. He said they weren’t to blame for the disease and more details would be released in the near future.
The show flicked to a story about how the water around Portview had been infused with alien healing power and was the only defense against the deadly disease.
The next familiar face to appear belonged to Krom. I should have known he wouldn’t miss a chance to be in the spotlight. He made a bold statement, promising the Truconians would work around the clock to heal the world’s population.
It all happened so fast I wondered if I was actually dreaming it. I held the phone back up to my ear. “Are they all released?”
Rob replied immediately. “Every single last one of them. Our jails are empty of Truconians. Krom has managed to recruit as many healers amongst you as possible. They’re being dispatched around the world as we speak.”
“How many?” I asked, holding my breath.
“About three thousand in total. They’ve got quite a task ahead of them.”
“There’s eight more still in hiding,” I pointed out, remembering Senph and the others who had healed my family.
“No, there’s not,” Rob countered. “Senph has already contacted me. We picked them up an hour ago.”
Senph had volunteered? A part of me wondered if we were actually talking about the same woman but I didn’t mention it. The less the humans – even Rob – knew about Senph’s hatred, the better.
I finished up with Rob after he assured me the Originals were going to be arrested over the next couple of days. For now, he was still getting agents in place so they had the best shot at getting as many of them as possible. He didn’t want to take any chances of tipping them off so they could get away.
Handing Lochie his phone, I was still stunned that it was actually happening. It was all going to be over soon. I would be able to return home with my family and get back to a normal life. It made everything worth it. So worth it.
“You did it,” Lochie said, his smile a mile wide. I fell into his arms and he held me while it sank in. I wasn’t naïve enough to believe everything would be perfect, but we weren’t going to be locked up again. I could go home with the comfort that nobody was going to hunt me down.
We didn’t wake the others to pass on the good news. They deserved to sleep. Instead, Lochie and I curled up in one of the other cabins. It was snug in the single bunk but I couldn’t have slept any other way. With Lochie’s arms around me, and knowing I was safe, there was nothing keeping me awake. Even in the dark.
I awoke the next morning still in his arms. He may have claimed he felt great, but his body was still weakened from the disease. He had needed a good night’s sleep much more than I had. I let him continue to sleep as I found the others.
The news was bursting from me when I caught up with them in their cabin. Still in bed, they didn’t remain there when I told them all the updates from the previous night. A whole new round of hugs and happiness followed.
We packed up the rooms and made sure it was in good condition before we left Camp Holloway. Lochie, Lola, and Garrick took one car while my parents and I took another – they had insisted I travel with them. Four hours stuck in a car with my parents should have seemed like torture. But after coming so close to losing them all, it didn’t bother me. I was actually glad for their incessant commentary on my life.
Returning home to Portview was bittersweet. While I loved being in my own home again, sleeping in my own bed and knowing it was safe there, our city’s population had dwindled significantly. It was difficult walking around the town and noting how many people that were usually there weren’t any more. It was heartbreaking, to be more accurate.
Garrick moved straight back into our house and claimed his old foldout bed. He wasn’t a healer so he wasn’t needed by the Department. Not that we saw him much. Every spare moment he had was spent with Ella. They were making up for lost time in a spectacular way.
Lola organized a memorial service for Asher’s friends a
nd family. Half the school attended to say goodbye to him, although a much smaller crowd than it would have been before the disease. We shared our memories and said a final goodbye to him. It gave Lola some strength to let him go.
Two weeks after returning, life was getting back to normal. The Originals had finally been exposed and the truth was reported in great detail by the Department. They skimmed over the fact they hadn’t caught them earlier and fell for their trap of blaming the Truconians, of course.
The best part of the whole incident was the fact the Department was actually actively integrating the Truconians now. Instead of letting it happen naturally, they were singing our praises at every opportunity they got. Tales of our good deeds were being ‘leaked’ to the media, high profile and important jobs were being given to us, and laws were being passed to include us in the anti-discrimination legislation. Soon, we were going to have the exact same rights as humans.
I resigned from my liaison job with the Department. Krom had ‘retired’ with the promise he would still be called upon for any significant matters. When Senph had been given his position, I was actually happy for her. Already she had proven her dedication to the integration by putting forward some great ideas. Plus, Rob loved her. So my job was pretty much redundant anyway.
I casually suggested Kyle would make a great deputy for Senph, which Rob had jumped on. If anyone could keep her on the straight and narrow, it was Kyle. He was all too happy to have a new purpose in life. Plus, he would get to use the spaceship now and then too. He already had plans to return to space and show the humans a thing or two about interplanetary travel.
If anyone else thought it was weird that Senph was now the public advocate for integration, nobody mentioned it. I think everyone was too happy with the changes to even care that much. Instead of being ostracized, we were being welcomed back into communities. It still felt too good to be true.
I was getting ready in my bedroom, putting the final touches on my hair, when someone knocked on the front door. Taking one last look in the mirror, I hurried down before any of my parents could get there first.
I pulled open the door. “Happy birthday!” I shrieked before Lochie could even move. I smothered him with kisses, taking him completely by surprise.
He laughed, trying to hold me still. I finally let him go and got my first real look at him. He was still too thin, but his muscles were returning and so was the bulk. He didn’t look sick anymore which was a good step in the right direction.
His blue button-down shirt hung over his black pants, making his eyes pop with the same color. By the looks of his hair, he had tried to style it which was kind of cute considering it was still messy. All up: breathtaking.
“You, Jones,” he started, sliding a hand around my waist. I was wearing his favorite red dress. He deserved it, considering it was his eighteenth birthday. “Are more beautiful every time I see you.”
“Must be your eyesight going. You know, now you’re getting old and everything.” My comment earned me a round of tickling before I begged for mercy.
Seeing as though it was Lochie’s big day and everything, he got to choose the restaurant for his celebrations. He had insisted he didn’t want a big party or to make a fuss so we had compromised on a quiet dinner for just the two of us. I didn’t really think that was an appropriate way to celebrate his eighteenth, but it wasn’t my decision to make.
I half suspected Lochie would choose Adele’s for dinner, considering he loved their burgers so much. So when we pulled up outside Chez Seafood, I was surprised. And underdressed. “You chose here? Why?”
I had to wait for an answer as he hurried around the car to open my door for me. “Why do I do anything? It’s my birthday, my pick. Are you coming or what?” He held out his hand, which I took without hesitation.
We walked down the wharf together. The lights strung between the posts were sparkling against the backdrop of the black sky. Much fewer people than usual were on the wharf. I tried to pretend that I didn’t know why. Like the disease hadn’t wiped out so many.
“This is where we had our first date, remember?” Lochie commented as we were seated at a table by the large window overlooking the bay.
“It wasn’t a date,” I reminded him. “More of an ambush and show of masculine prowess.”
“It was totally a date. I paid and everything.”
“Because you wanted to show you had more money than Havi Brooks.”
“I drove you here.”
“But you didn’t drive me home. In fact…” I let my words trail off as I realized Lochie was doing it on purpose. His eyes were sparkling as much as the lights were, trying to get a reaction from me. It was his birthday, I should probably let him win this one. “Fine, it was a date.”
“I told you,” he said smugly, holding up the menu so I couldn’t see his smile. I took a deep breath while I remembered it was his night. He let out a sigh as he peeked over the top of it. “I still have no idea what any of this French this.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, remembering how terrified I’d been of ordering the first time we were there. “Neither do I.”
“Chef’s special?”
“Sounds good.” I put my menu away as Lochie did the same. The waiter hurried over to take our order and disappeared just as quickly. “I hope we don’t end up with snails.”
“I’d like to see that,” he teased.
“Although, it probably wouldn’t be worse than the food on Trucon.”
“Have to agree with you there, Jones.” He slid his hand over the table so just the tips of our fingers touched. The entire time he played with my fingers, little shots of lightning danced on my skin. “Have you made up your mind about college?”
“I have,” I replied. Since all the Truconians were hailed as heroes for curing the disease, my inbox had been ablaze with offers from universities. Every one of them had offered me late enrolment, scholarships, and all kinds of incentives so I would pick them. Everyone wanted to lay claim to an alien studying at their prestigious university.
The whole situation seemed so surreal. It wasn’t very long ago that I was doing some major stressing about my future or lack thereof. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to go to college at all, let alone have a choice of colleges. The selection offered to me was overwhelming.
Hence the reason I had been stewing over it for weeks. I didn’t want to make the wrong decision. But I also didn’t want anyone else’s advice about what I should do either. Decisions had been made for me for too long. This one was all mine.
Lochie’s foot started tapping the floor as he waited for me to divulge more information. He knew better than to hassle me about it, but I could tell he was dying to know. If I chose a college on the other side of the country, we wouldn’t see each other very often. I wasn’t sure we’d be able to stand being too close together either though – high school had almost killed us.
I put him out of his misery. “I’m going to Starton University,” I blurted out. His face instantly lit up when he realized I had chosen the same college he was returning to. “Before you get too excited, I want to make it clear that I didn’t choose it because of you. Well, not entirely anyway.”
“So why did you choose it then? Not that I’m complaining,” he quickly added.
“They’ve got this amazing science department and I decided to study pre-med.” That earned me two raised eyebrows. After a lifetime of knowing each other, it was good to know we could still shock one another.
“You want to be a doctor?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
His fingertips caught mine, pinning them to the table. “It makes sense, you like helping people.”
I would let him believe that was the reason I went with pre-med. I hadn’t told anyone the truth, it was something I wasn’t ready to talk about yet. But when I saw those I loved the most in the universe so seriously ill around me, and I was helpless to do anything, I hated it. Even just the memory of it filled me with this horribl
e sensation of sinking into quicksand and unable to move. I wanted to help people, yes. But I didn’t want to be powerless anymore either. I wanted to heal.
Our meal arrived – some kind of rice and fish dish. We fell into easy conversation for the rest of the dinner. Lochie wanted us to get a place in Greenfield instead of living in dorm rooms on campus. Considering dorms reminded me of the prison cells, I was ready to dive in. We’d either kill each other or learn to live with each other, one or the other. Plus, he could cook better than I could so it would be nice to take advantage of that little fact.
The nicest thing about being with Lochie in public again was the fact nobody was shooting us glares anymore. A human/alien relationship wasn’t as frowned upon as it was before. There were still some groups that had a problem with it, they would never accept a new race, but the majority actually smiled at us now. It was nice not being an outcast for a change.
I grabbed a small white box from my handbag and slid it across the table. “Happy birthday,” I said.
Lochie’s eyes flicked between me and the box, like it might explode if he opened it. He cautiously picked it up, making a show of rattling it against his ear. “It’s empty.”
“It’s not, I promise. Open it.”
He pursed his lips as he slowly removed the lid. He pulled out the long red piece of ribbon as his brow wrinkled in confusion. “Ribbon?”
I waited for the penny to drop. It didn’t. Great, that meant I had to explain while trying desperately not to blush the same color as the ribbon. “You said for your birthday you just wanted something? Something wrapped in a bow?”
Realization finally hit him as he grinned like a fool. “It’s just what I wanted. Thanks, Jones. I’ll save that for later.”
My face was burning with embarrassment as he replaced the ribbon in the box. His eyes were locked on me, making it even worse.
Dessert was something pink and frothy. My best guess was a strawberry mousse. It tasted kind of like that anyway. “This is really good.”
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