by Wendy Knight
* * *
“I’M NOT GOING TO do it.” Enika tossed the brochure on the kitchen counter, safely back in their borrowed house. “I don’t want to live forever, I don’t want to be an alien, and I don’t want to look like them.”
“Me either,” Phoenyx said. The wings, though…
“Can you imagine trying to find clothes that fit over those wings?” Enika asked, ever the designer. “You’d have to wear, like, a mumu and leggings all the time. Unless they dressed you in their fluttery fairy clothes. And who would want to wear that all the time? What about winter when it’s cold?”
Phoenyx flopped onto the couch. She was exhausted. They’d gotten home just as the sun rose and she felt like she could sleep for another few hours. Or months. Whichever.
“What are we going to do today?” Cole asked. He sank next to her and she curled instinctively toward him, laying her head against his shoulder. “Is it weird that I kinda miss school? Or work? We have nothing to do. We’ve explored. We’ve—”
“We should organize a sports team. See if anyone’s up for a game of baseball.”
“Or football?” Cole asked hopefully. He’d be playing football right now if not for the invasion. He’d be a senior, ruling the school, no doubt. Colleges would have been scouting him. He’d been good.
So good.
But the aliens had taken that away from him. Like everything else.
Phoenyx laughed. “Yeah. Or football. We can go back into town later and see.”
* * *
THEY MANAGED TO ENTERTAIN themselves for several weeks after without going back to town, playing their own game of football and baseball with ridiculous, made up rules so Cole didn’t always win. It wasn’t until Enika got the massive craving for plums that didn’t grow in their garden that they finally ventured back, carrying an Easter basket Phoenyx had found in the basement. Perfect for holding plums so they wouldn’t have to come back for a while.
At first glance, the town seemed abandoned. She froze at the entrance to the neighborhood, staring around her in shock. The fruit still grew on the trees, the vegetables in the garden, but there was nobody out harvesting any of it. Nobody in the streets.
“Garce?” Cole murmured.
It had to have been. What else could cause such abandonment?
Phoenyx’s heart dropped and she sprinted through the streets, leaving Enika and Cole behind.
Cherish. Mom.
Her breath was the only sound tearing through the silence. She bounded up the stairs to her mother’s adopted house and shoved through the door. “Mom!” she screeched, racing through the house. “Mom!”
She pushed open the master bedroom door, her heart in her chest. Flashbacks, so strong they nearly drove her to her knees, crashed through her brain — the blood, her father’s screams, her sister’s cries— and then they were just… just gone.
Melina jerked up in bed, a mask over her eyes, blond-black hair in disarray. “What?” she yelled. “What’s wrong?”
Phoenyx skidded to a halt. The sun was high in the sky and her mother was still in bed? “Are you sick?”
Melina pulled the mask off and glared. “We were up late with the Empyreans. What are you doing here?”
They’d been partying all night long. Phoenyx blew out a pent up breath and raked a hand through her hair. “I thought you were dead.”
“You were worried about us?”
Phoenyx shrugged. Yes, she had been worried. But she wouldn’t admit it. Her mother would use it against her at every chance. “Where’s Cherish?”
“Down here,” Cole called from the main floor. “She’s fine.”
Of course she was.
“Everyone is sleeping?” Phoenyx crossed the room to stare out into the neighborhood. She could almost see her house from here — her real house — and she shuddered and turned away.
“Well, not everyone.” Melina stood and stretched, shoving the covers away from her. “Most of the women are gone. We’re some of the few left.”
“Gone?” Phoenyx asked, turning so quickly she nearly tripped over her own feet. “Where?”
“With the Empyreans, of course. You can’t honestly think anyone would turn their offer down?”
Phoenyx swallowed hard. Yes, she could think that. “You’re—you’re not going to do it, are you?”
It was Melina’s turn to shrug as she combed through her hair. “It’s kind of nice being the only woman in town. People… take care of you.” She smiled at Phoenyx in the mirror.
Ew. Phoenyx wrinkled her nose, equally disgusted and grateful. “Has anyone come back yet?”
Melina shook her head. “They said they’ll keep them until they’re fully healed and adapted to their new skin.”
Phoenyx gnawed on the inside of her cheek. None of this felt right at all, and she was shocked that so many of the women had left. How could these adults not see what Enika and Phoenyx so clearly saw? “We’re—we’re just here for plums.” She backed out of the room and nearly smashed into Cole, who leaned against the wall at the top of the stairs, arms crossed over his broad chest. Watching her silently, as if he could read the pain in her soul. Silently, he pushed away and took her hand, walking with her back downstairs where Enika was testing a machete she’d found hanging above the mantle. Cherish watched her from the kitchen in horrified fascination.
“How’s that?” Cole asked.
Enika wrinkled her nose. “Not yet.” She dropped the machete back into place and sighed.
Cracking a smile, Phoenyx patted her on the shoulder. “You’ll find it.”
“By the time I find a weapon, the war is going to be over. Maybe it already is.”
Cole frowned, brown eyes scanning the street. “Or maybe it’s just beginning.”
* * *
THE THING WITH LIVING after the world as she knew it ended was that she never knew how many days passed. Had it been a week since the meeting? Two? Phoenyx had no idea. She did know that she hadn’t seen a Garce in ages, and was truly starting to believe they were gone for good. The Pys had done that, at least. She watched the skies off and on at night, but she never saw any newly changed, immortal women from the neighborhood. It must have taken a long time to heal after a change like that.
She hoped that was the case, anyway.
Cole had lit a fire out back so they could have roasted vegetables, and now leaned against the doorjamb, watching it. He’d filled out again now that he had food to eat. Started lifting because they really had nothing else to do.
She got butterflies every time she looked at him.
Enika was wrapping corn on the cob, and Phoenyx diced peppers, trying not to cut her fingers off because she was distracted by her boyfriend. They still had no electricity, but they’d been without it for so long it was barely an issue now. Did she long for the days when she could take a hot shower or throw leftovers in the microwave? Yes. But would she survive without it?
Also yes.
A knock at the front door startled her, and she dropped the knife, which was much preferable to cutting her finger off — what she would have expected to happen. Phoenyx snatched her gun off the coffee table, flipping the safety off. Cole had a rifle resting on his shoulder and Enika grabbed the dropped knife, glared at it in disgust, and moved to the door. “Who’s there?”
“It’s Cherish.”
Enika froze, knife raised in indecision.
Phoenyx sighed. “Put the knife down.” She dropped her own gun back onto the table and padded across the floor to the door. “What do you want?”
Cole kept his gun on his shoulder.
“We have a dinner invitation for you,” Cherish said. Her eyes strayed to Cole and lingered there.
“Hello? I’m right here.” Phoenyx waved her hand in Cherish’s face in an attempt to draw her attention again, but mostly failed.
“Mom wants you to come to dinner tonight. She has a surprise for you. But just you. They aren’t invited.” It sounded like the words pained her very m
uch.
“Oh—okay… What time?” Phoenyx risked a glance over her shoulder. Enika glared fiercely, knife still in her hand, and Cole hadn’t moved. His finger rested lightly on the trigger.
Apparently, he didn’t trust her sister.
But hope lit in her chest. Her family wanted her. They were inviting her, not demanding, not horrified that she was embarrassing them. Not insulting her. She tried to squash it, but it lingered, as hope did. “I—I guess I can come.”
“Good. Then can you walk back with me? Because the guy who walked me here ditched me three blocks ago, and it’s creepy with no people anywhere.” Cherish looked eagerly at Cole. Cole peered around the gun at Phoenyx, raising one eyebrow.
“Yeah. I’ll walk back with you.” Phoenyx snatched up her gun and shoved it back into the holster and made sure it had ammo.
That was clearly not the answer Cherish had been looking for. She wrinkled her nose. “You’ll have to walk back by yourself. In the dark.”
Apparently Phoenyx wasn’t invited for longer than dinner, then. She pretended it didn’t hurt and busied herself with her gun. “I’ll be fine.”
“We’ll come along.” Enika was already tying her shoes, and Cole finally dropped the gun to grab his jacket. Neither could know how their simple actions eased the sting Cherish’s words brought, but they did.
So much.
“I’ve got to… do something… at home anyway,” Enika said lamely. There were no things to do at home. Phoenyx knew this. Enika wouldn’t go back home. It hurt her too much.
“Yeah, and I’m seriously not letting my drop-dead gorgeous girlfriend walk into a neighborhood with only two women and a bunch of depraved men unless you’ve got more ammo than that. Which you don’t.” Cole winked at her. Her knees shook and her mouth went dry, but she managed to control herself.
“Fine.” Cherish sighed. “Let’s go. I’m starving.”
* * *
MELINA HAD SET EVERYTHING up before they got there. Candles, fancy china, the works. “Happy Thanksgiving!” she called as Phoenyx ducked through the door. Melina was even dressed up, and Phoenyx was suddenly very aware of her jeans and flannel shirt.
“Is it Thanksgiving?” Phoenyx asked slowly. Wasn’t it still October? She knew she got confused with the passing of time, but they hadn’t even had snow yet.
Melina shrugged. “Sure it is.”
Cherish shrugged off her coat. She was dressed up, too, in jeans and a soft pink sweater that would do nothing to keep her warm. Sweet of her to mention it to Phoenyx. Oh, wait.
She hadn’t.
“Come, sit.” Melina motioned them over and enveloped Phoenyx in an unexpected hug. Something in Phoenyx healed, something she had known was broken but didn’t know how to fix.
Practically giddy, Melina set Phoenyx away from her and pulled out a chair. Obediently, Phoenyx sat.
“Well, we all have something to be super grateful for.” Her mom held up her wine glass — that was full of sparkling cider because her mom would never think of putting wine, or even caffeine, into her body.
“Family?” Phoenyx asked with a smile. What family they had left, anyway. Most of the time, they weren’t particularly grateful for one another, but this year, they had survived the Garce attacks and here they were together. That, in Phoenyx’s mind, meant more than harmony or family peace.
“No, silly girl.” Her mom rolled her eyes, winking at Cherish. “I’ve signed us all up for the Empyrean’s program. We’re going to be beautiful and we’re going to live forever!” She beamed at them both.
Phoenyx’s glass clattered to the table and sparkling cider spilled everywhere. She jumped up to get a rag, moving with automatic purpose while her mind refused to process what could possibly be going on around her.
“But they’ve got wings. I don’t want wings.” Cherish whined.
Melina shrugged, watching Phoenyx with a frown. “I’m sure we can get them removed.”
“I don’t know. Is it like plastic surgery and I’m going to look hideous for a few weeks? Because I can’t do that.” Cherish was talking, but it seemed like a completely foreign language.
Phoenyx mopped up her spilled drink, her mind trying to explode through her mouth but no words would come. Finally, she found a single word. “No.”
Melina paused, raising an eyebrow. “No?”
“Of course not. Because the princess already thinks she’s beautiful.” Cherish leaned back in her chair, watching Phoenyx with a cruel smile.
“That’s not why!”
“It is too! You have the hottest boyfriend in school, and you think because he picked you over everyone else, you’re better than the rest of us.” Cherish wanted Cole. Still, after all this time of him wanting nothing to do with her, she wanted him.
“It’s not why. And I don’t think you should do it, either!” Phoenyx resisted the urge to stamp her foot or pound the table or maybe throw her empty glass at her sister’s head. “We haven’t talked to anyone who has actually done it and survived. Lots of women go and go, but they don’t come back—”
“That’s because the Empyreans want to make sure we’re completely ready to face the world before they discharge us from their medical facility. It says right here in the brochure.” Melina flipped the shiny paper open and pointed at lines blurred through Phoenyx’s tears.
“Please. Please don’t do this. Not yet.”
“You’ve always been ungrateful, Phoenyx. Always. I’m not going to let you ruin this. If you don’t want to do it with us, fine. I thought we could bond. It would give us something to do together.” Melina pouted, but there were no tears in her brown eyes. The one characteristic Phoenyx had inherited from her.
Her argument almost won, because Phoenyx was desperate for her mom’s love, and they all knew it. But she shook her head. “No.”
Cherish looked smug. “I told you. She thinks she doesn’t need it.”
“That’s not why!” Phoenyx yelled. “We don’t know anything about it—”
“It’s all right here in the brochure.” Melina jabbed a finger at the pictures. “You can read, right? I paid for that expensive education of yours.”
Phoenyx shook her head, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “I went to public school — look, just give it more time. Wait until they come back before you make any decisions, please?”
Melina pursed her lips and stared out the window into the night. “You ruin everything.”
Her words were like hot knives tearing through Phoenyx’s soul, and she fought the tears that stung the back of her eyes. She would not let them see her cry. “I know. Just — please, promise me you’ll wait.”
Cherish opened her mouth to object, but Melina silenced her with a look before turning back to Phoenyx. “Fine. We’ll wait. But I think you should go home now.”
Phoenyx swallowed hard, nodding. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.
Chapter 7
COLE STOOD WITH ENIKA IN FRONT of their house. She’d been staring at it for ten minutes now, trying to muster the courage to go inside. “All my pictures are in there,” she whispered for the hundredth time.
“Do you want me to go in and get them?”
She gave him a look of utter disgust. “You don’t go into empty houses alone, Cole. Especially at night.”
“I’ll go with him.”
Enika jumped. Phoenyx appeared out of the shadows like a ghost — he hadn’t even heard her approach.
“That was a fast dinner,” Enika said, hand still clutching her chest.
Cole studied Phoenyx’s face. Her huge, doe-shaped eyes were red-rimmed and her full lips still trembled even as she fought to control it. Fought to hide her tears. “What’d they do?” he growled.
Phoenyx shook her head, forcing a laugh. “They—they signed us up for the Pys’ program.”
“What?” Enika bellowed. His sister was small, but, damn, she could make a lot of noise. “You’re not considering—”
“No!” Phoenyx held
up her hands in defense. “No. I told them I wouldn’t do it. They said they were going to do it anyway—”
“Are they crazy?” Enika was still yelling.
Phoenyx almost smiled. “Yeah. But they promised to wait.”
She hurt. They’d gotten her hopes up, plied her with kindness and torn her to shreds with it. He could see her broken soul through the pain in her eyes, and rage nearly drove him to his knees. He wanted them to hurt like she hurt. Wanted them to suffer, to see what they’d done and be sorry for it. But she would never let that happen, so he swallowed the rage, stuffed it down deep where it smoldered angrily in his heart, and tried to chase away the pain in her eyes, instead. “Hey. Come here.” Cole pulled her against him, and she buried her head against his shoulder. He didn’t know what had happened there, and she probably wouldn’t tell him, but it had hurt her badly enough that she was still trembling. Not for the first time, he wondered if feeding her mother and sister to the Garce would be a bad thing.
Probably, but he was tempted.
Phoenyx turned her head so she could see Enika but didn’t raise it from Cole’s chest. “Want us to go inside?”
Enika studied the house for a long time and finally shook her head. “Not yet. I’m not ready yet.”
He understood. Enika was their light, their little leader, but that house held too much pain. Maybe one day, but not yet. “Let’s go home.”
Phoenyx was quiet the entire walk through the dark. A month and a half ago, this wouldn’t have been possible. The Garce would have eaten them alive before they made it to the end of the street. But now…
Life had changed.
They had to start rebuilding. They had to move on with their lives, create a future. He wasn’t sure how to do that now that they weren’t fighting for survival. He couldn’t exactly go to college. Everything he’d worked so hard for his entire life didn’t matter now. The only thing he knew for sure was that his future was Phoenyx. His life was Phoenyx. Without her, he would be truly lost.