Hourglass

by Pauline C. Harris

  “Jude?” she asks. “What’s wrong?”

  But before I can answer two figures emerge from the trees behind her and Sylvia grasps Bella’s arm and sticks the needle into her skin before she can even make a sound. Her eyes roll back into her head and she slumps against Andrew who’s right there to catch her.

  I let out a shaky breath. “I was worried you guys would give up on waiting for me.”

  Sylvia pats me on the back as Andrew hoists Bella into his arms. “You sure took your time,” she teases and I laugh in relief as we make our way toward the ship.

  “Andrew, we need to hurry,” Sylvia instructs, jogging up to walk beside him. “The injection is meant to knock you out for only a few minutes. We need to get her back to the ship before she wakes up.”

  I run ahead and reach Hourglass minutes before the others, punching in the keypad combination, and letting the ramp down. Only moments behind me, Andrew and Sylvia catch up and hurry up the ramp, leaving me to close it up behind them. Angelica rushes down the hallway to meet us, relief painted across her features like a neon sign. She doesn’t say much, just watches and tries to stay out of the way as we decide what to do with Bella.

  “Where do we want to take her?” Andrew asks.

  I glance at Sylvia. We have a brig in the ship. It’s small and Dad only installed it in case of emergency. Piracy can call for any measures at any time. But it’s cold and empty and I feel guilty for dumping Bella in there.

  “One of the empty crew quarters,” I command. There’s a small one at the end of the hallway with just a cot inside. And all the rooms have locks in case we need them, so I’m guessing this will work for now. I lead Andrew to the room, open the door, and watch as he sets her down on the cot. She grumbles something, but her eyes remain closed.

  “She’s waking up,” Sylvia murmurs.

  I grab the sleeve of Andrew’s shirt and pull him out into the hallway before shutting the door to Bella’s quarters behind us. We stand in silence for a moment, all four of us glancing from the door to each other.

  “What do we do now?” Angelica’s soft voice sounds from beside us.

  “Interrogate her,” I answer, although I feel less confident than I sound. I’ve never interrogated someone and although I’ve watched Dad and other people of his crew do it, I can’t say I feel comfortable doing it myself. But then again, half of my crew has been taken hostage and she knows where they are. My reservations about questioning Bella suddenly slip away.

  I’m not one of Prince’s little captive children, I remind myself. I’m a pirate. And this is what pirates do.

  I sidestep everyone in the hallway and walk away. “I’ll question her when she’s had some time to stew,” I say. “If she’s worried, she’ll be more likely to talk.” I see Sylvia nod in my peripheral vision and then strike up a conversation with Angelica. As I round the corner, I realize that Andrew has followed me out. I keep walking, but incline my head towards him as he jogs up to walk beside me.

  “I hadn’t seen Bella in so long,” he comments, and I wonder if he has a point to what he’s saying or if it’s just an excuse to have a conversation. Either way, I don’t really mind. “Have you gotten any clues as to where your other crewmembers are?”

  I shake my head as we enter the cockpit, and Andrew looks around, surveying the room. “I’ve tried to talk to her, to Win, and even to Prince, but I’ve gotten nothing.” I sigh in frustration. “I only hope that kidnapping Bella will persuade either her or Prince to talk. Either one is fine with me.” I take a step toward the control panel and begin checking everything over, making sure nothing about the ship’s situation or outside atmosphere has changed. Overall, everything looks good.

  “What’s it like there?” Andrew asks quietly and at his tone I turn to face him.

  “Just a bunch of kids running around.”

  He’s silent for a moment and then my eyes narrow. “Do you miss it?” I ask.

  He shrugs, seeming to pick up on my tone, and then suddenly I realize what Prince’s camp must mean to him. That Andrew’s childhood was never anything other than this planet. That the good memories, everything a childhood should be, were from when he was a kid with Prince. I pause, unsure what to say. Andrew looks at me.

  “Do you remember it?” he asks. “Living in the camp?”

  I shrug and then slowly shake my head. “It’s still bits and pieces.”

  He nods. “I guess I just...with you coming back, its making me remember living at Prince’s camp, being a kid, and having you as a friend. And I want it back.”

  I stare at him for a long moment, torn between being angry at him for thinking so fondly of Prince and what he’s done, and reaching out across the room to hug him, to understand him, because who doesn’t look back that way? Who doesn’t want their childhood back?

  I go back to the sole memory I have of him, sitting in the grass watching the stars and again I wish for more because by the look in Andrew’s eyes I know that our friendship was his childhood. While I had Dad and Hourglass and the stars, Andrew had me. And there’s an aching hole in my chest ripping me apart with guilt because I can’t even remember it.

  And before I know it I’ve spanned the gap between us and am wrapping my arms around him in a hug. He seems startled and it takes him a fraction of a second to relax and hug me back. For a moment, everything is calm. Everything is right.

  “I haven’t told you,” Andrew says suddenly in my ear, “But I need to leave the planet.” I’m just about to pull back and ask him what he means, why his voice suddenly sounds so different. But then I feel his muscles suddenly go stiff and his grip loosens. He stumbles a small step backward, gasping, and I reach for his arm.

  “Andrew?” I ask, dread piercing my stomach like shards of glass. “Andrew!” I nearly shout as he falls to the floor, his eyelids fluttering. “Sylvia,” I’m screaming, leaning out into the hallway and then hurrying back to Andrew’s side. I’m staring at him, searching for anything unusual or out of place, anything that would suggest injury.

  Seconds later, Sylvia comes bursting through the door. Upon seeing Andrew, she falls to her knees beside me, and takes his pulse.

  “What happened?” she asks calmly.

  “He just fell over,” I say, afraid that if I ramble on with excuses or theories, my voice will crack.

  Sylvia’s eyebrows furrow together and I know from the years reading her that that’s not a good sign. Not in a medical situation. She scrambles over by his head and places her arms around his torso. “Get his feet,” she orders, and I instantly obey. We lift Andrew off the ground and stumble out into the hallway and to the medical lab, where Sylvia directs us to a cot to lay him on.

  She then proceeds to grab instruments right and left and continue with her examination. But with each passing second, I can see the frustration slowly leaking out onto her features. “I...” she stammers, “I don’t see anything wrong,” she finishes through gritted teeth. “Tell me exactly what happened, what were you doing?”

  “We were just talking,” I exclaim, but while gesturing with my hands, I realize they’re shaking so I stuff them into my pockets. “He was upset so I hugged him, and...and then he just fell over. And I called you. Nothing was happening; there was nothing that would have caused something like this...”

  Sylvia swallows and continues to inspect Andrew, but I notice she’s slowing down. She’s running out of ideas and scrambling to find answers. She checks his pulse again and a few other monitor signs before stopping to stare at him, her hands at her side. “I don’t know,” she finally says. Her voice is quavering. “I have no idea what’s wrong, I just don’t know.”

  “What?” I ask, trying to ignore the panic edging my voice. “But there must be something. He just collapsed.”

  “Of course there’s something,” Sylvia snaps. “I’m just clueless as to what it is.” She takes a deep breath before continuing. “His vital signs seem...fine.” She shrugs helplessly. “He should be okay. I’ll just w
atch and hope he wakes up soon...”

  I stand in silence, watching as his chest rises and falls. I bring a shaking hand to my forehead, trying to rub away the headache slowly forming. “I’m going to talk to Bella,” I announce, turning toward the door.

  “Jude,” Sylvia warns. “You’re upset.”

  “Yes,” I admit. “All the more reason for her to talk.”

  * * * *

  I calm myself down before entering Bella’s room. I stand outside in the hallway for what seems like ages, pacing back and forth and waiting for my hands to quit quivering. Ever since I landed on this planet, everything has gone down the drain. My ship, my crew, me, and Andrew—whatever his relationship is to me, I still haven’t figured it out. And Prince is my only way out of this hole that’s consuming me.

  I unlock the door and walk inside. Bella springs to her feet and then her face clouds over when she sees it’s me. “Jude?” she asks in disbelief.

  “Where’s my crew, Bella?” I ask frankly, keeping my face straight. I’d rather strangle the information out of her, to tell the truth. My patience and my nerves have been scraped to the bone and it stings. I don’t have tolerance for anything but the truth.

  Her eyes narrow. “You brought me here?” she asks. “You did this?”

  “Of course I did,” I spit. “He took three members of my crew—kids—and you all expect me to just be okay with that?”

  She goes quiet at the tone of my voice and for a fraction of a second, I feel bad for what I’d said. It’s Prince I’m angry with, not Bella. But she has answers and Holden, Jackson, and Gregory could be in danger. I lean down so that I’m eye level with her. “All I want are answers,” I tell her. “And you know more than you’re letting on. Prince may not tell you everything, but second to him, you know the most about my crew, the situation, and practically anything that goes down on this planet.”

  Bella swallows and sits on the edge of the bed. “I won’t tell you,” she says quietly. “I won’t do it.”

  I hold in a frustrated groan, expecting this to happen. “Then we’ll wait until Prince finds out his precious little girlfriend is missing and he’ll give me my crew back.”

  “But he won’t,” she says vehemently and instead of anger in her voice, I hear fear. “He’s not rational, you know that,” she says, her voice desperate with the words I never thought I’d hear her admit. “He’ll do something insane. He could do anything. You can’t keep me here.” She’s pleading now, but I don’t think she’s pleading for herself. She’s not afraid of me—she knows I won’t hurt her. She’s afraid for me. And for my crew.

  “What do you know?” I ask again, leaning closer.

  “He’s already angry with you. For leaving the first time, for leaving the planet.”

  “But in the woods,” I interrupt her. “You said I’d only been gone for a few months, you didn’t know I’d left the planet...” I trail off.

  She shakes her head. “I knew you were lying—I know everything that happened. He hates you, and he hates your crew—even Win because she likes you. And Andrew.” Even though the last words are pronounced like a statement, she says them like a question, reading my expression to see if I’ve found him, if he’s really here.

  “You know about Andrew,” I say, and then it hits me. Sylvia has no idea what’s wrong with him, what happened to him in the cockpit. But Bella holds more secrets about this planet than I’ve ever kept in my entire life. “What’s wrong with him?” I suddenly ask. “He’s sick or something—what did Prince do?” My voice is menacing and reeking with rage and desperation.

  “He let him grow up,” Bella states.

  “I know that!” I cry. “I’ve heard it a hundred times. Everyone talks about it—Prince chides me for letting myself grow up, Andrew talks about it like it’s a crime. Everyone knows Prince is obsessed with childhood—”

  “Wait,” Bella interrupts me, and then stops for a second like she finally understands something—like it just hit her in the head. “Wait, you don’t know. You don’t know, do you?” she asks like she’s truly waiting for my response.

  I frown, shaking my head. “What are you talking about? Know what?”

  “About the planet...” she trails off. “About growing up.”

  “Everyone grows up, Bella,” I say, exasperated. “Prince just has a problem with it.”

  “No.” She’s shaking her head. “No, you don’t understand. Not here. They can’t.”

  “Yes they can, Prince just stops them.”

  “No,” Bella says again, her voice rising. “Prince lets them.”

  I pause for a long moment, completely lost. I have no idea what she’s trying to tell me. I have no idea what the difference is.

  “Prince has the power to allow people to grow old on this planet, not to keep them young. We’re all children here, because the planet keeps us that way.”

  “But that doesn’t make sense,” I butt in. “Because adults have been here before.”

  Bella stares at me for such a long moment I almost snap at her to continue, to explain everything already because my mind isn’t putting the pieces together. But she eventually goes on. “Growing up is the worst thing that can happen to you. There’s a reason that only children live on this planet. Because growing up means you’ll die. Adulthood takes your life.”

  I pause, trying to shove together the puzzle pieces in my mind that won’t fit. “Adults die,” I echo. And then suddenly it hits me like a punch in the stomach. Like a wave crashing over me and pulling me under, spinning me against the sand over and over again. Our parents. They didn’t abandon us. They didn’t leave us here alone, giving up on us. They never left the planet at all. The supplies—so many of them—littering the old camp, had always stuck out to me. Why had they been left behind? They hadn’t. Because our parents had died here.

  “Andrew is becoming an adult,” Bella tells me, “And he’s dying.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  I stand still for so long, I begin to feel like I’ve forgotten how to move. Our parents dying. Andrew dying. Staying children, and growing up.

  “But that means I would be dying, too,” I eventually say. “I’m just as old as Andrew is—if he’s dying, then I would be, too.”

  Bella frowns slightly like she’s considering this. “You must be borderline,” she says. “Just enough of a child to still be living. Prince hasn’t stopped the planet from keeping you young—he’s only done that to Andrew.”

  “And...how do I save him?” I ask before I even realize I’m saying it. “How do I keep Andrew from dying?”

  “He has to leave.”

  My heart clanks to the floor. Just another reason to get off this rock. Just another reason to leave everything on this planet behind. Just another reason to hate Prince.

  “Tell me where my crew is,” I spit through gritted teeth, and when she remains silent, I go on. “Bella, if you care at all about me, or Andrew, or the kids, or anyone other than Prince, you have to tell me.”

  “I do care,” she says. “That’s why I’m not telling. Prince will do something crazy if I tell you.”

  I’m silent for a moment. “Do you really like it here?” I ask incredulously. “This planet, being alone, Prince?”

  Bella looks back at me, puzzled. “I’m not alone. None of us are. We have each other. And yes, I love it here.”

  I stare at her for a long moment before spinning around and opening the door. “I’ll be back,” I tell her before locking her room. I stand out in the hallway for a few minutes, breathing in and out and waiting to calm down. I lean my head against the wall and close my eyes. I try to get everything out of my head—it aches from trying to come up with solutions.

  But just then I hear footsteps running down the hallway and my heart speeds up again. The only reason someone could be running, must mean something bad. The first thought that springs to my head is Andrew, and I spin around to face whoever’s coming. But it isn’t Sylvia like I’d expected, but Angelic
a.

  “Captain,” she says, breathless, and the word startles me. It’s almost like I don’t want to be called that anymore. If there’s anything that this place has taught me, it’s that I’m nothing more than a child. And we’ve all been through so much together it seems silly to stick to rank like it still matters.

  “Jude,” I correct her and Angelica falters for a second before flashing me a shy smile.

  “It’s the engines,” she says breathlessly and my heart begins to sink before I pick up on the tone of her voice, the shine in her eyes. “I know what’s wrong.”

  My mouth drops open and I blink, thinking for a moment that I must be dreaming or hallucinating, or something equally preposterous. “Can it be fixed?”

  She nods vehemently. “It was so simple; I don’t know why we never saw it.” She laughs like she’s embarrassed and then goes on. “The main coolant stop valve—the pipe that cools the engines—it broke. The engine overheated, but all we have to do is replace the pipe.”

  I’m about to fall over I’m so relieved. It’s like all our other problems are tiny little specs of dust, compared to this one melting away. We can get off the planet. That was the main feat. Now all we need are the people.

  “Fix it,” I order with a smile, “And we’ll be out of here in no time.”

  Angelica beams and spins around, back to the engine room. And for the first time, I know we’re going to get off this planet. Because the engines were truly the only thing holding me back, and I’m not going to let a tantrum-throwing teenage boy get in the way of me and the stars.

  * * * *

  “I think I have a plan,” I’m telling Sylvia as we sit together in the medical lab, watching Andrew. He’s still asleep on the cot, tossing and turning every once in a while, but Sylvia assures me his vital signs are good, and nothing else has happened, so I’m a little less worried than I was initially.