Colliding Skies

by Debbie Zaken

  I got up and turned to Taylor, who was now tense. His jaw tight, his right hand clenched into a fist by his side, his eyes in the distance, avoiding Ethan’s gaze.

  “I’ll see you later.” The words sounded like a question.

  He looked up and a look of resignation crossed his face. “See you around, Skye.”

  We left Taylor sitting on the steps, neither of us talking until we reached the courtyard.

  “I assume the conversation went well,” Ethan said.

  “Yes. He got the message. He’ll back off as long as you do the same. Those were his words.”

  “I can live with that. And did he say anything else?”

  I stopped and gave him a strange look. He stared back, waiting, his face devoid of any emotion. But just underneath the surface, I sensed the tension he was trying to keep in check.

  “You’d know if he had. You are the one with superhuman hearing, after all.”

  “I wasn’t listening in on your conversation, Skye. I told you I trust you.”

  His tone was calm, but that didn’t mean I didn’t notice the slight strain of his eyes. This night wasn’t shaping up to be magical at all. The last thing I wanted was an argument.

  “No. Nothing else.”

  Ethan wasn’t convinced. “I would understand if you two…discussed any unresolved issues there may still be.”

  I folded my arms over my chest. “Okay, for someone who claims they trust me, you sure aren’t acting like it. All issues between Taylor and me have been resolved.” The hand-holding had been a result of habit. And the feelings it brought were mere familiarity between Taylor and me. Nothing more.

  “Well, maybe he’s the one who needs some clarification.”

  I glared at him. “You’re the one who made me go talk to him. It’s not fair to get mad at me for doing exactly what you asked me to.”

  “I did not ask you to hold his hand, now did I?” He gritted his teeth.

  “You know, for being this super-intelligent being, sometimes you have the emotional maturity of a seven-year-old.” I huffed. “What happened back there—it’s called being human. It was empathy, and a little guilt. Yeah, I care about Taylor, enough to not want to hurt him. But I don’t feel for him the way I feel about you.” I ran a hand through my hair and held his gaze. “Ethan, you’re the one I want. You’re the one I’m ready to run away with. What more do you want from me?”

  He rubbed his forehead hard and exhaled. “You are right. I am sorry, Skye. I do not always know how to deal with all these emotions. I do trust you. You have already given me too much, more than you should.”

  “Let’s not fight.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips. When I pulled back, he was smiling again, the storm passing. “So, we’re not really going to dance, are we? I mean, we’re not going back inside?”

  “Oh, we are going to dance, all right,” he replied. “And eventually, I suppose we should go back. But right now I would prefer to go somewhere a little less crowded, if you do not mind.”

  I looked at the devilish smile on his lips and gave him one of my own. “I don’t mind at all. The less crowded the better.”

  He led me down the courtyard to a small, beautiful Asian garden. The trees decorated with paper lanterns lit the way to a red pagoda that was probably used for weddings. Tonight, it housed only soft music.

  “I told you we were going to dance,” he murmured, as we climbed the steps.

  He put my arms around his neck and with his hands resting on my waist, we began to whirl. The melody was haunting and beautiful. I leaned my head on his chest and listened to the lyrics that filled me with a sad longing.

  “What if this is our last night together?”

  “Nonsense, this is only the beginning,” he whispered.

  “How can you be so sure?”

  He stopped, and tilted my chin so that our eyes met. “Because as long as you want me by your side, I will find a way to be there.”

  “I’ll always want you.”

  A lazy smile crossed his lips. “Then I will always be there.”

  I pressed myself closer to him, trying to ignore the apprehension squeezing my stomach. We continued dancing until the last note.

  “We should go back.” His warm breath tickled my ear.

  But I didn’t want to leave his electrifying embrace. Or deal with all those curious stares and whispers again. “Do we have to? Can’t we just stay here? Maybe we could go somewhere else.”

  “You cannot do that to Emily, especially not when she is supporting you.”

  “But all those people…”

  “Just ignore them. You have as much right to enjoy your prom as they do. And if they have a problem, they can talk to me.”

  His lips twisted into a wicked grin, knowing full well no one would dare approach him. But he was right. I couldn’t just blow Emily and Lucas off, even if Lucas was only there because she kept him under constant threat.

  “Okay, let’s get this over with.”

  The steps leading up to the pool area were now empty. I stepped up and heard the crackling of broken glass beneath my feet. It crumbled under the weight of my silver heels. Ethan walked up behind me, and the snapping sound of glass breaking was unmistakable. I looked down and saw the shards of a broken bottle everywhere. One of them still had part of the label stuck on it. I picked it up, careful not to cut myself. Scotch. Expensive scotch from the fancy black label. My mind went to Taylor.

  He lied to me. He looked me straight in the eye and lied.

  “Is everything all right?” Ethan asked.

  “Yeah. Let’s go in.”

  In the ballroom, I searched for Taylor. I wanted to see if he was okay. But he was nowhere to be seen. What I saw, instead, were enough pair of staring eyes to do me for a lifetime.

  “Don’t think about it.” Ethan gave my shoulder an encouraging squeeze. “Look, there are your friends.”

  Emily and Lucas stood by the drink table. They looked perfect together—he in his black tux and she, striking in her long, royal blue gown, smiling and swaying to the music.

  “Hey, there you are!” Emily said. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” I scanned the room again for Taylor, but found nothing. I turned to Emily and whispered, “Have you seen Taylor?”

  Emily chewed on her bottom lip, her forehead wrinkling. “Yeah, I saw him walk out with Julia a little while ago.”

  “He left with Julia?” I blinked, trying to understand this piece of new information. Maybe I’d jumped to conclusions. Maybe the broken bottle wasn’t Taylor’s. But something deep inside told me it was. I remembered the crude comment he’d made about Julia.

  “Oh.”

  I’m such an idiot. Here I am worrying about him and he’s…. Whatever. It’s none of my business.

  “Are you sure you are all right?” Ethan asked.

  “Yeah, yeah. Absolutely,” I answered. What did I care what Taylor was doing? Lucas gave Emily a curious look, but she shook her head, grabbed his hand, and led him to the dance floor.

  “Want to go home?” Ethan’s brows furrowed in question.

  I thought about it for a second. I realized for the first time that night, I didn’t want to run out the door. I wanted to enjoy prom, with Ethan. “No. I want to dance.”

  “Really? Dance? Out there? With everyone?”

  “Yes. Now are you going to dance with me or do I have to find someone else?” I teased.

  Ethan’s lips spread into a wide grin. “By all means, let’s go.”

  He led me to the dance floor next to Lucas and Emily and pulled me close. I caught site of one of Lucas’s basketball buddies, eyeing us. He was dancing with his girlfriend. Ethan glared back, the lightning bolts striking menacingly in his eyes, and Lucas’s friend dropped his gaze in record time. Soon everyone else followed suit.

  “Are you having fun?” Ethan whispered in my ear.

  “Yeah, I am.”

  And I really was. Now that ev
eryone wasn’t paying us much attention, it almost felt like a normal prom—even if I was the girl dancing with the divine alien in the impeccable black suit. He pressed me closer, his hand on the small of my back and lifted me until my feet no longer touched the ground. Then he twirled me in the air. I laughed.

  “I am glad.” He smiled. “That is all I wanted. I told you people would get bored of staring.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure it was just boredom and not some beautiful, slightly intimidating but well-intended extraterrestrial with electric eyes scaring the living daylights out of them.”

  An innocent smile touched his lips. “I do not know what you are talking about.”

  “Sure. But thank you.” I smiled and kissed him gently on the lips.

  We spent the rest of the night slow dancing, unconcerned with how fast or slow the song was, or the flashing lights. We were where we wanted to be, in each other’s arms. It was magical, just like Ethan had promised. But all too soon, it was over.

  “Are you sure you do not want to go?” Ethan asked as we walked to the parking lot. Emily and Lucas were going to one of the many after parties, but for me it was enough to have made it through prom.

  “It’s just going to be a bunch of seniors dancing, drinking, and making poor life choices.”

  “Yes. And why would you want to be a part of that?” Then he shot me a sly look. “Your parents waived your curfew tonight, right?”

  “Yeah. Why? What did you have in mind?”

  “The tower? I don’t have the equipment with me, but we could use the telescope.”

  I leaned my head on his arm and smiled. “That sounds perfect.”

  We left the city behind. It was late. The road heading to Turner Farm was dark and almost deserted. There wasn’t a car for miles.

  Then, out of nowhere, they came.

  ETHAN SWORE UNDER his breath. I tensed in my seat, sensing something was off. Ethan never swore. He sped up and we were doing a hundred miles an hour.

  “What is it?” I glanced behind us and saw nothing but darkness. Not a car in sight.

  He gripped the steering wheel tight, his foot flooring the gas pedal, eyes glued to the road. The speedometer reached a hundred and twenty and my heart hit the car floor. He was trying to get away from something, even if I couldn’t see it. I shifted to look at him.

  “Ethan, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

  His eyes opened wide and without warning, he slammed on the brakes. The force propelled us forward. The seat belt snapped against my chest hard, knocking the breath out of me. I settled back into my seat and looked up—right into a set of headlights. A car on the wrong side of the road headed straight in our direction. The Tesla skidded, the wheels screeching, only seconds from colliding head on into the Jeep speeding toward us I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the impact. We jerked to a stop just in time, the force thrusting my head back against the seat hard.

  The black Jeep stood less than a foot away from our car. Ethan put the car in reverse, but before he could back up, another Jeep appeared behind us, seeming to materialize out of thin air. He turned the wheel. But before he could get around the two cars, a third Jeep appeared on the left and a fourth one to our right. Within seconds, we were surrounded on all sides. The Jeeps revved their engines, pushing us off the shoulder, leaving Ethan no choice but to pull over onto the deserted road.

  “Stay in the car,” he ordered, tension pinching his features. “Whatever happens, do not get out. Do you understand? I doubt Aaron and his crew are here to just talk.”

  Too stunned to speak, I nodded.

  “Sit in the driver’s seat,” he continued barking orders. “Keep the engine running. I will move those Jeeps out of the way with my bare hands if I have to. Then drive as fast as you can home. No stopping. No turning back. I do not care what it is, you keep going. Understood?”

  “I—Wha—”

  “Not the time for questions.” His gaze sharpened. “Do as I say. Do not worry about me. I will meet you back at your house. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, I understand.” The words stammered out.

  Ethan got out of the car and slammed the door shut. I followed his orders, moving to the driver’s seat, ready to drive. From each car, a male Celeians got out, all four of them looking godlike and menacing. Their eyes glowed in the dark, like cat eyes in unnatural colors—yellow, red, amber, even a pair of green eyes that appeared more feline than human. I recognized Aaron from the State dinner. The others I’d never seen before. The adrenaline rushed through my blood.

  Fight or flee.

  They moved in on Ethan like a pack of wolves ready to attack. Aaron in the middle, the two yellow-eyed aliens flanking his side, and the one with the red eyes behind. Ethan faced Aaron head on, his body slightly twisted in the direction of the car, trying to keep me in his peripheral vision. The flashes of lightning in his eyes echoed in the dark.

  Aaron kept glancing in my direction while Ethan tried to back him away from the car. The other three remained close to Aaron. He tried to sidestep Ethan and the next thing I knew, he and the red-eyed alien flew in the air. Ethan had catapulted them with such force without even laying a finger on them. They landed about twelve yards back.

  Confusion followed. Ethan seized his opportunity and concentrated his gaze on the Jeep in front of me. It began moving excruciatingly slow. I tapped my foot on the brake, waiting for him to push it far enough for me to squeeze out, when a flash of light caught my eye. A lightning bolt heading straight at Ethan so fast I didn’t have time to scream. It hit him, sending an explosion of electrical sparks.

  The two other Celeians must have tackled him, because the three disappeared into a giant electrical orb— sparks and currents flailing on the ground as they fought. The light was so bright, it blinded me. Then a second bolt of lightning hit the side of the Tesla. The impact shook the car and almost bent the passenger door in half. Live electrical currents ran all over the outside of the car, blowing both headlights. For a second, I thought the car had actually been hit by lightning until I leaned over and saw Ethan on the ground, pressed in between the bent door.

  I slapped a hand to my chest. “Ethan!”

  He got up quickly. In a flash he stood by the Jeep in front of me. But before he had a chance to shove it out of the way, the two aliens caught up to him. They disappeared into a nimbus of electricity once again.

  The knock on the window made me scream. I turned to see Aaron staring at me, amusement gleaming in his cat-like eyes. Before I could react, a light flashed, followed by an explosion. Sparks rained on my window, falling like drops of electricity from a welding torch, and Aaron vanished. The blow from Ethan sent Aaron and the Jeep he’d crashed into flying to the other side of the road. The sound of them hitting the ground mimicked a bomb exploding. The two yellow-eyed aliens grabbed Ethan, but not before he banged his fist onto the hood of the car.

  I put the car in reverse and hit the accelerator. The tires shrieked, but the car wouldn’t budge. Something was preventing me from backing up. I turned around to see an alien pushing the car forward with the palm of his hand, forcing it in place. I put the gear into drive and floored the pedal. The car jerked back, the red-eyed alien pulling it by the rear bumper. My foot pressed the accelerator harder. The wheels spun, but the car didn’t move. I pressed down harder and the metal bumper groaned under the strain. A deafening metal screech erupted and my door was gone. Aaron stood beside me, the door he’d just torn off in his hand. He flung it in the air, crashing on the asphalt with a loud bang.

  “Keep going, Skye!” Ethan yelled.

  But I didn’t even have time to react. Aaron’s hands gripped the steering wheel and ripped it right out of the dash board. I stared at the gaping hole, my hands shaking uncontrollably in the air over the spot where the steering wheel had been. He tossed it, sending it flying like a Frisbee and smiled.

  “Good evening, Miss Reilly. Kindly step out of the car. The Magistrate requests the honor of your pre
sence tonight.”

  “I said no, Aaron! She is not going anywhere with you.”

  With fear rattling my every limb, I noticed Ethan’s hands were tied to his front, bound by some sort of glowing manacles, and his eyes blindfolded. Two yellow-eyed alien thugs dragged him.

  Aaron laughed. “Do you really think she can get away?”

  “I hope she is not foolish enough to try to outrun us.” The alien with the red eyes taunted.

  “It could be entertaining. Ethan here did not have much of a fight.” One of the ones grabbing Ethan by the shoulder snickered.

  “Enough!” Aaron interjected. “Let us do this in a civilized manner. Miss, if you please.”

  He extended his hand, as if to help me out of the car. I froze in place.

  “No!” Ethan struggled to break free from the shackles and from the aliens holding him. The green ray around his wrists glowed brighter, making him cry out in pain.

  Those things around Ethan’s wrists weren’t just handcuffs. He writhed in agony. The three alien thugs laughed.

  “Easy, Ethan,” Aaron cautioned.

  Seeing the pain on Ethan’s face pulled me out of my shock. “Leave him alone!”

  But Ethan continued to fight his restraints. “Let her go, Aaron. You have me. That is enough.”

  “It is not you they want. These are orders. Do not make this any more difficult than it needs to be.”

  The green glow of the manacles around Ethan’s wrists grew brighter. He grinded his teeth, holding back a scream. The pain distorted his face, his body convulsing.

  “Stop it! Stop it! I’ll go with you. Just don’t hurt him.”

  “Skye, no!”

  Aaron sneered. “Smart girl. Maybe loverboy should take a lesson from you. You seem to be much more reasonable than he is.” He jerked his gaze to Ethan, whose teeth still clenched in pain. “If you thought she could escape than you are a bigger fool than I believed.” He extended his hand to me again.

  I snubbed him, got out of the car and ran on legs that could barely hold my weight to Ethan’s side. Aaron’s cronies still held him despite being bound and blindfolded.

  “Are you all right?” I longed to throw my arms around him, break whatever that glowing torture device was around his wrists, but the two yellow-eyed aliens blocked my way.