Off Balance

by Aileen Erin

  As far as I was concerned, she could be totally insane, but if she helped me, then I didn’t care about that. “I don’t have the luxury of having an opinion about her. Right now, I need help. Last night you asked me to trust you, and it worked out. So, if you say that she’ll help me, then I’ll go see her.”

  Lorne’s eyes were bright aquamarine and shimmering with unshed emotions. “Thank you.” He pressed his right fist to his heart and bowed to me.

  It wasn’t lost on me that the crowned prince was showing his loyalty to me. It was the same move that some of the Aunare did when I walked into a room. The same move that all Aunare did whenever Lorne enters a room.

  “Thank you for trusting me,” he said again softly.

  I looked at Declan. He was standing now, but Ahiga was keeping him upright with his tight grip on Declan’s arm. The look on his face wasn’t mad but disappointed, sad, hurt.

  I knew he wanted me to fix everything for him, but I couldn’t. No war should ever be put on one person’s shoulders. It was too much. And if he kept forcing me down that path, then I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to like the results.

  “An hour?” Lorne asked.

  “Sure.” I glanced at Ahiga, who gave me a nod. He’d take care of Declan.

  And then I left.

  A shower, food, and then I was off to meet the High Priestess.

  This day had started out nicely, but the last few hours had been…difficult. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen next, but at least I’d had a few hours of sleep.

  It was a small win, but it was something. I was focusing on that, and hoping that this woman would have some answers for me.

  Because for the first time in thirteen years, I would’ve given anything to have my memory back.

  Chapter Twelve

  AMIHANNA

  The ship we took was larger than Lorne’s personal ship. It had ten seats, plus the pilot’s chair. A few of Lorne’s guards went with us, along with a few of mine. The chairs looked comfortable, but I paced almost the entire two-hour flight to the High Priestess.

  When I first agreed to see her, I assumed that she would have her church or temple or whatever in Ta’shena, but instead, it was in the country. We flew over farmlands and mountains before reaching a great plain. There were miles of green in every direction. The skies were bluer than I’d ever seen before, and the planets and suns gave everything a slight rosy quality. I stopped to watch the vidscreen as a house came into view off in the distance.

  As we grew closer, I realized that it wasn’t nearly as big as my father’s estate, but it was a solid size. Big enough for two families to live comfortably inside. Beyond the main house, there were a few smaller buildings, one giant domed structure, and then what looked like a little row of cottages.

  “What is this place?”

  “This is where the High Priestess lives,” Lorne said from beside me. “She likes solitude, although every once in a while, she’ll let people who need help with their energies stay in one of the cottages.”

  “Are we staying here?” I liked the comfort of the estate, but if Lorne said we were staying, then I would stay.

  “Not unless she says you need to. I’m hoping that she can help you this afternoon, and then we can get back.” Something about the way he said the last little bit had me turning to him.

  I knew he probably had a million things he was supposed to be doing. I didn’t need a babysitter. “You didn’t have to come.”

  He brushed a fingertip on my cheek, just below the shallow cut. His skin flared for a second before he shut it down. “Yes, I did.”

  “He didn’t mean to hurt me.” I didn’t know why I was defending Declan, but I felt like someone had to.

  “He might not have meant too, but he did.” Lorne looked back at the vidscreen. “He learned a long time ago to shove all his emotions away, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there. He’s got a temper that he rarely shows.”

  “He definitely showed it to me today,” I muttered and turned to watch the house getting larger on the screen.

  “I think he’s in love with you.”

  I spun to face him again, but he was staring at the screen. His skin had a soft glow to it again, but his hands were fisted tightly at his side.

  “I thought so, too, but he’s not in love with me. He just wants to be.”

  “How do you know?”

  Finally. Something I could answer easily. “He wants to love me because then he would feel better about dragging me along on his mission to destroy his father. But he really doesn’t love me. He likes me and admires me—maybe he’s a little attracted to me—but if he loved me, he wouldn’t have fired at me with a gun. Even on stun.”

  Lorne turned away quickly. “He was mad, and—”

  “Could you fire a gun at me?”

  Lorne spun back. “Never.”

  “Sucker punch me while sparring?” I pulled up my sweater and tank a little. The bruise was already turning black and blue.

  His skin flashed bright, and then he closed his eyes. “Sorry. I’m really mad at him right now. I trusted him, and…”

  “I’m pretty mad at him, too.” I was working on letting it go, but he’d really pissed me off.

  We were quiet for a while, and before long, the ship slowed. We’d arrived.

  I watched the vidscreen as the pilot landed in a field of grass. In the distance, I could see a massive two-story house.

  The back door lowered to the ground, giving me a gentle ramp to walk down.

  Lorne walked me to the door. “This is as close as we can get you. You’ll have to walk from here, but it’s not far. No one’s around except the High Priestess, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

  The field of grass we landed on was a little more manicured than the rest, but not by much. I looked back at Lorne. “You’re not going with me?”

  “No. I’ll be close if you need me, but I’ll stay away. She’ll help you more without me there to taint her readings with my own frequencies.”

  “Okay.” I stepped out of the ship and walked toward the house. The suns were hotter than I’d expected out here. I’d dressed in leggings, a tank with built-in support, and a long, loose sweater that hung off one shoulder. I’d braided my long hair and wound it up, so it was off my neck, but even that wasn’t enough to keep me cool.

  I kept looking back at the ship as I made my way to the house, but it just stayed where it was. At least until I was almost there.

  The ship rose soundlessly. The wind picked up a little as it shot high up in the sky. And I was left alone on the plains at the High Priestess’s house.

  “Well, I guess I’m stuck here.” Except I had my wrist unit, and I knew Lorne wouldn’t go far. He’d said that he would come if I needed him. Maybe I should’ve asked more questions about what would happen when I saw the High Priestess, but I was less than twenty feet from the house. It seemed a little late to do that now.

  The house was large and white. A short hedge seemed to mark where the country ended and the house started, but from what I could tell, there wasn’t a gate anywhere. Flowers and plants were mixed together, making a beautiful garden that surrounded the house. The roof of the house was a dark metal, but now that I was closer, I could see that the house itself was made up of lots of small white square stones. A porch seemed to wrap around the entire house, and the front door was made of glass, edged in the same black metal as the roof.

  The hedge was pretty short, so I stepped over it.

  There was a sudden, painful pop in my ears, and I froze.

  What was that?

  I stretched my jaw from side to side to ease the pain a little, but whatever that was, it’d passed.

  Weird, but I didn’t exactly have a typical frame of reference when it came to visiting a High Priestess’s house.

  I walked up the front steps and onto the porch. There wasn’t a panel beside the door. Instead, it was a regular, low-tech door with a handle and everything. A crystal hand
le, but still, this was the most Earther-like house I’d ever seen. Nicer than anything on Earth by a lot, but still, normal.

  I knocked softly twice and waited. When no one came, I knocked again, this time hard enough to rattle the glass, but still, no one came to the door.

  I thought about waiting, but Lorne had said he hoped to get back to the estate. I was sure whoever was here had to have heard the ship drop me off. Aunare ships were quiet, but not that quiet. Which meant the High Priestess was ignoring me.

  Or maybe she wanted me to find her.

  I walked around the porch. When I got to the back of the house, I heard someone humming a sweet song. A female someone.

  The garden beyond the back porch was bigger than the front. Flowers of all colors and heights were growing together in some sort of chaos that was absolutely breathtaking. Tiny purple birds flew around a feeder, and I spotted a few chairs down below.

  Beyond the garden was the giant white-domed building, but the plants in the garden blocked the view of the cottages and buildings that I’d seen from the ship. Even if she had someone staying in each cottage, she still had her privacy.

  Okay. So, the High Priestess had some taste. I would love to live here. The quiet was soothing, and it made me want to sit down in a garden chair. I felt like I could stay there watching the birds at the feeder and just breathe for a while. But I was here for a reason, not to hang out.

  “Hello?” I said.

  The humming cut off. “Come on back here,” she spoke in unaccented English. The voice came from the garden in front of me and a little to the right. But I couldn’t see anyone through all the plants.

  I went down the steps. There wasn’t a path exactly, and I wasn’t sure if the High Priestess would be mad if I wrecked her garden. So, I tried to step as carefully around the plants as I could. “Where is here?”

  “Over here.” She started humming again.

  I followed the sound of her voice and found a woman maybe a few years older than me kneeling in the flowers. She was wearing a pair of loose pants and a loose white shirt. A wide-brimmed straw hat shaded her face. She was yanking plants from the ground and putting them into a basket beside her.

  I’d never really seen anyone garden until I watched the gardeners work at my father’s estate. But I’d seen them do this, too. After living so long on Earth where the pollution made it nearly impossible to grow anymore, I wondered why anyone would pull something living from the ground.

  “Are you the High Priestess?”

  She grinned then tilted her hat off her head to let it dangle down her back from the tie around her neck. Her eyes were the most beautiful lilac color I’d ever seen. Her red hair was coming loose from its intricate braid, and a few strands blew in the breeze across her face.

  “Hi.” She tried to tuck the strands behind her ear but gave up after a couple tries. “You found me.” She rose gracefully from the ground. “I’m Jesmesha.” She pressed her fist to her chest and bowed a little.

  Jesmesha was a little taller than me, but not by much. She had the same thin, lanky build as most Aunare, but she looked young to be a High Priestess. Maybe younger than me, but she spoke excellent English for an Aunare.

  “Of course I speak English. Once you were betrothed to Lorne, all key officials were required to learn your language. I’ve had lots of time to practice while you were gone. A language dies if it goes unused.”

  I opened my mouth a few times, but no words came out. I hadn’t said anything about her speaking English aloud.

  “No, but you see, there’s a reason why I’m the High Priestess.”

  She could read minds. I wasn’t sure I liked that very much. I wanted to keep my personal stuff personal. “Can you read my mind?”

  “No. Not really. Well, kind of but not in the way that you’re thinking right now.”

  “If you can’t read my mind, then how do you know what I’m thinking?” It seemed like the more I learned about the Aunare, the more confused I got.

  “I can read your tones. Your frequencies and your auras and your emotions. From all of that input, I can make an intelligent guess as to what you’re thinking. Come on. This way.”

  She started to move quickly through the gardens. If there was a path, I didn’t see it, and I was left trying my best not to trample her plants.

  “Don’t worry about the flowers. They’ll grow back. Just come in. We’ve got a lot to do, and I feel like Lorne is in a bit of a hurry for you to get back.”

  What? How did she know that Lorne was in a hurry? How did she know I was worried about stepping on her plants?

  God. This was crazy. I was struggling to keep up with her. I followed her quick steps out of the garden, but it felt as if she’d left me standing among the flowers. Or maybe I’d left my sanity back there. The way she talked—knowing what I was thinking from my frequencies—seemed crazy at best.

  But I followed Jesmesha to her geodesic dome anyway.

  Plants formed a little frame around the outside of the dome. The large triangle tiles that made up the dome were some sort of white stone with dark, natural-colored wood fitted between the tiles.

  “Shoes off here.” She pointed to a spot beside the door.

  I bent down to take off my shoes. As soon as they were off, Jesmesha swung the door open and motioned me through.

  There were candles lit all around the outside edge of the circular room. There had to be thousands of them—all widths and heights and colors. It was beautiful, but also dangerous. “You shouldn’t leave them lit like this. It’s a major fire hazard.”

  “Don’t worry. I just lit them.”

  She hadn’t just lit them. From the massive pile of plants in her basket, she must’ve been in her garden for a while, but I wasn’t going to argue with her.

  The inside of the dome smelled like it was filled with flowers from her garden. The ceiling was so solid and dark that I couldn’t see it. Even the walls were such an inky black, they seemed to absorb the candlelight. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that this candlelit floor was hovering in deep space. It almost felt like when I stepped inside, I’d be entering a whole other world, but one that felt welcoming and cocooned in loving darkness.

  I could use a little welcoming right about now.

  There was a mat in the middle of the dome room and a poof chair next to it. Beyond that was a semicircle of crystal bowls. That must be where we were heading.

  As I stepped inside, the ground crunched. I looked down and noticed that it was made of loose, rough pink pebbles. With each step inside, the room grew warmer. I tugged off my sweater and tied the sleeves around my waist as I walked to the center of the room.

  Jesmesha led the way to the mat. “Lie down on your stomach. Arms next to your sides.”

  “All right.” I did as she said, resting my head facing toward one side on a thin pillow.

  She sat on the poof next to me and slowly ran her hand down my back. “No. I can’t see your fao’ana like this. Take the top off.”

  “No. This tank has built-in support. I’m not wearing a bra.” I wasn’t getting naked.

  “It’s just the two of us in here.” She gave me a long look. “I need to see your whole back. Unobstructed.”

  I gave her my no-fucking-way look back.

  “Please.” She smiled at me. “I’ll turn around if it’ll make you more comfortable.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Turn around, please.” But Lorne really was going to owe me for this. I pulled it off, held it to my chest, and flopped down again.

  I flinched a little when she ran her hand down my back, but her hand wasn’t cold, and it didn’t feel creepy like I thought it would.

  She patted my back twice. “Good. Relax and wait here.”

  She walked over to the crystal bowls. She hit a few, ran the mallet around others, creating a musical symphony of sustained notes that rolled over me again and again. Then she’d quiet the bowls, and start again with a different combination.

  I
closed my eyes and started drifting. It was warm, and the candlelight gave the room a pleasant glow. The scent of the candles wasn’t like anything I’d smelled before. It had a woody-smoky scent to it that seeped into my pores.

  I let out a long, slow breath and felt myself relax into the mat. Just as I was about to fall asleep, the ground crunched under Jesmesha’s feet.

  She ran her fingertips over my back, muttering something in Aunare to herself.

  “What are you saying?”

  “You were on Earth for too long, and if I’m not mistaken, you had some implanted tech.”

  “Yes.”

  “That could’ve killed you. You should’ve known better.” The way she said it with a hint of condescension really pissed me off.

  “You might be some sort of special healer, but you don’t know anything about my time on Earth. You don’t get to judge me for what I did to stay alive.”

  “Hmm. There it is. The anger. It’s holding you back.”

  I clenched my teeth to keep from snapping at her. It was time for me to go. I was done with this. I started to sit up, but she pressed my shoulders into the ground.

  “I’m about to start. Stay still.”

  Two tones rang. I felt the vibration deep in my muscles. Everything tensed inside of me and then all at once, let go. Tensed and let go. Tensed and let go.

  I rested my forehead against the mat and tried to breathe. It didn’t hurt, but it was uncomfortable. “What’s that?”

  “Just harmonizing and cleansing. Usually, it’s not so bad, but you’re incredibly misaligned. I know what Lorne meant now.”

  “What do you mean, misaligned?”

  I tried to look up at her, but the room tilted and spun, and I felt like I was floating away into the inky blackness.

  Jesmesha knelt in front of me, but when I looked at her, I noticed that her eyes weren’t lilac anymore. They were glowing orange orbs.