by Darby Cupid
“We must return to the ship, Your Majesty,” Risiki bows. “It will not be in optimal position for our return much longer.” He glances for the first time at the cluster of people standing huddled behind me and Jaik. “I’m assuming you are the humans who helped look after our Queen. Starlatten thanks you with all our stars.”
“I guess this is it then?” Jaik says, turning to the group.
I watch as he happily makes his way around, offering back slaps, hugs and a kiss on the cheek for Linda. Even Eddie shakes his hand, I note with a smile.
“Thank you,” I turn to face my friends. “Thank you for everything. I’m so incredibly lucky you found me.”
Linda throws her arms around me and squeezes me, joined after a second by Sera. We stand, swaying for a moment until reluctantly, they fall away.
“We’ll never forget you,” Linda sniffs, swiping at her eyes with her sleeve.
I nod in reply, unable to find words sufficient enough to respond.
Eddie and Jordan take it in turns to envelop me in bear hugs so big they make me gasp.
“You’ve changed our lives,” Jordan smiles. “I really hope things work out for you back home.”
“Yeah. And hurry up and invent intergalactic email,” Eddie scoffs. “You call us primitive!”
I start to laugh, but as I turn to face Dylan it dies on my lips. He steps purposefully towards me and lifts me up off the ground into his arms. I’m vaguely aware of the Dyja altering their stance out the corner of my eye, but I don’t care. Nothing is going to come between me and my last moments with the boy I love so much it aches.
When my feet find the ground again, I open my eyes to find tears spilling down Dylan’s cheeks. My heart cracks, disintegrating into a million splinters and I bury my face in his chest. “I don’t want to say goodbye.”
He leans forward to kiss me and I try to bite back a sob but it’s like trying to hold back a storm with your hands. I can’t let go. I cling to him, my shoulders shaking with the force of my tears, as he murmurs that it’s going to be okay and that he loves me, over and over again in my ear.
Risiki coughs again. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. We really must leave.”
As I look up at Dylan’s face for the last time, the words burst from my lips in desperation before I even know I’m thinking them.
“Come with me.”
Dylan’s eyes widen with surprise. “What?”
My mind whirls with desperate possibilities. “Come with me. You wanted to travel; come to Starlatten.”
“I…” Dylan shakes his head, looking between me and his friends in confusion. “Is that even an option? My family - I haven’t said goodbye -”
“We have to go now, Your Majesty,” Risiki repeats with more urgency.
“Crystal!” Jaik shouts. “Come on. We have to go.”
I want to shout at them to shut up, but I don’t. Every atom of me is focused on Dylan and his answer. “Well?”
“This is a lot to spring on me at the last moment.” His brow is furrowed, but there’s something in his eyes that makes me think he’s made up his mind.
“I know. I’m so sorry.” My heart is pounding so loud, I can’t hear. All I can see is Dylan.
“Hey!” he yells, his eyes wild.
I can’t understand why he’s shouting at me until I realise someone has their hands around my arms, pulling me backwards. I struggle against them in confusion, looking back at Dylan just in time to see his outstretched hand disappear in a blinding flash of white light.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Crystal
Pressing my forehead against the ship’s window, I stare down at the blue and green sphere below me.
“I had to,” Jaik tries again. “We would have missed our chance.”
I scrunch up my eyes, sending droplets of liquid to the floor. Curling my hands into fists, I turn to face him. “He was about to answer.”
Jaik shakes his head and groans, looking up to the metallic silver ceiling. “He was never going to come. You can’t expect him to just leave all his friends and family forever to live on a different planet with no warning.”
I glare at him, trying to convey every particle of anger and hatred burning within me, before turning back to the window. I know in my heart he’s right. It was too much of me to ask. Dylan might have said yes. He might have come, but it wouldn’t have been fair on his family, his friends. Perhaps he would even have resented me for it in the future.
“Are you getting in?”
Begrudgingly, I turn and watch Jaik climb into the dark, metallic capsule, which will preserve us for the long journey back to Starlatten. I take one last long look at the patch of darkness dotted with lights I know contains Dylan and my friends, before making my way to the capsule beside Jaik’s.
Once we’re strapped in, the capsules rotate to an almost horizontal position. Two Dyja appear, securing the straps and pressing buttons. I stare up at the ceiling through the transparent casing, trapped within my own body.
My mind drifts back to the carousel we rode at the zoo the day before. It had been so much fun, and I’d been so sad when it had slowed to a halt. Right now, my life is a carousel, but it’s never going to stop; a constant motion of up and down, but I can’t get off or change direction. I just have to hold on and survive.
As the casing seals around me with a loud hiss, I turn and look over at Jaik to find he’s watching me. He grins at me and raises his eyebrows, reminding me of the boy I’d once known all those orbits ago. I can’t bring myself to smile back. I’m completely hollow.
Cool mist fills the chamber, the covers locking tight with a decisive click. I close my eyes and try to relax as the fog swirls around me, filling my lungs.
I’m going home.
Coming Soon
Rebel
STARLATTEN BOOK TWO
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Darby Cupid lives in the desert with her husband, two children and rescue dog. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her teaching, gardening and attempting to save the planet, one ecobrick at a time.
A lifelong book worm (or Ink Drinker as they say in France!), she wrote her first attempt at a novel aged eight and has never looked back.
If you want to find out more about what she’s up to, you can find her on Twitter, Instragram or via her website.
www.darbycupid.com
Acknowledgments
This story is over twenty years in the making, with many people involved. Thank you firstly, to those who have been there from the beginning. My sister Lindsay, for being my harshest critic and my biggest cheerleader since day one. Linda, who inspired the character of the same name in the book and has been on this journey from the start.
Thank you to my friends who read early drafts and helped this story become what it is: Kitty, Lisa, Charlene, Sarah and my sister Natalie. You are the best. A special thank you to Abigail – my first ‘fan’.
Thank you to my brother in law, Michael, for helping me visualize the cover and to Beck and Emily for the incredible artwork. You are all saints for putting up with my indecisiveness.
A huge thank you to my writer friends, who I found through the writing community on Instagram and Twitter, in particular the incredible members of B.R.A. Support Group! Thank you, Claire for your ongoing support and friendship. Thank you, Rebecca for your encouragement, inspiration and helping to make Crystal the best it could be. I would be lost without you both.
Finally, thank you to my husband and children for letting me lock myself away in front of my laptop for hours on end. It means everything to me.
And if you’ve read this far, thank you to you, the reader.
It’s all for you.
Thank you for reading Crystal.
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