by Lynn Vroman
“What? Farren was with me.”
Farren clapped my shoulder. “Thanks for the confidence, kid, but charge your phone.”
I held up my hands, nodding. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry, but we’re fine. Nothing to worry about.”
Mom rubbed my shoulder. “It’s fine.”
Jake stalked the small living room. “No, it isn’t. You had us scared to death.” He stopped right in front of me, pointing his finger in my face, and then up at Farren’s…and back to me. “Keep the phone charged or I’ll lock you in your room, got it?”
Getting mad would make him even more pissed, but the desire to break off his stumpy finger caused me to clench my fists. He took over as father long before Dad got thrown out of the picture, and the protectiveness intensified after he found out the world wasn’t as round as Columbus discovered. His love yelled at me, and I had to remember that.
“Got it.” I didn’t pull out my I’m-eighteen-now speech. Pretty certain that would’ve exacerbated the situation.
“Good.” Jake lowered his finger and turned to Farren. “Who was it?”
Farren and I talked about what we’d say once we got home. Scaring them with the blatant truth was out, we’d agreed, but they were entitled to know the closest information to the truth as possible.
Buying a few seconds to think, I went to the couch while Farren headed toward the tiny kitchen. He came back out with a couple sodas, shaking mine before tossing it to me.
“Thanks, jerk.” I tapped on the top, facing the parents. “It was a Synod Guide and her Protector.”
Mom gasped, coming over to the couch and giving my hand a death grip. “Did they try to hurt you?”
“No, they wanted to talk.” I glanced at Farren, hoping he’d jump in, give a plausible explanation that didn’t sound too deceitful.
Ginger took a long pull of his soda, taking a longer time to swallow. “They were curious after everything that went down in the spring. The Guide knew Lena before, wanted to make sure she was all right.”
That possessive look Mom had developed after she found out I’d lived a few times before brightened her green eyes and twisted her lips. “Well, next time she comes tell her you belong here with us now. No need for them to go lurking around the trailer park and theater, scaring everyone.”
“Will do. Ah…Farren’s gonna go talk to Wilma, let her know what’s going on, though.” When the worry shaded Mom’s eyes again and Jake resumed his pacing, scowling at the soda-slurping Protector and me every few seconds, I rushed to put them at ease. “It’s no big deal.”
“If you say so.” Her eyes made contact with Jake’s and some secret message traveled between them. “Just…don’t hide anything from us this time, Lena.”
Shit. She knew exactly where to aim the guilt. With a quick glance at Farren’s passive face–he obviously had no qualms about lying–I gave her a bright smile and some truth. “If there is anything we need to worry about, I promise, I’ll tell you.” I grabbed Jake’s hand, forcing him to stop. “Both of you.”
“You better, young lady.” Jake’s color returned to a more normal shade.
Farren gulping down his Dr. Pepper helped make the sudden awkward silence settling in the room not so transparent. Mom and Jake still weren’t comfortable with the way Protectors were able to cross dimension lines. But they wouldn’t ask him to go somewhere else.
Always the perfect houseguest, Farren’s empty soda can hit the recyclable container in the kitchen. He then stood in the middle of the living room, looking a little lost. “You want me to go in the bedroom or…?” His hand waved around the room.
I shrugged as Mom and Jake made an effort to seem inconspicuous as they headed into her room.
“Here’s fine, but listen, Tarek’s not staying at the castle.”
Farren rolled his eyes, groaning. “Ugh.” He gave me a droll stare. “Where’d he build his shack?”
I laughed. “How’d you know?”
“If the guy will build a cabin and live like a savage in the most technologically advanced dimension known, why wouldn’t he do the same in a place where the castle is the only modern amenity?”
“That predictable, huh?”
“That demented. Where?”
As if I could wipe the smile off my face, my busy hands rubbed the corners of my mouth. “Ah, he said by the riverbank.”
Farren threw a hand in the air, opening his fingers. As the tear ripped open, he shook his head. “He better hope the squid play nice.” When the last word spit out, the tear sucked him upward, closing as soon as his big body disappeared.
∞ ∞ ∞
After Farren left, I knocked on Mom’s door, let them know it was okay to come out, and went straight to my room. First thing I did was plug in my cell. After about three minutes, the thing dinged on and at least twenty texts came through. Most were from Mom and Jake, nice at first, but getting angrier with big caps and lots of exclamation marks. A few were from Belva, whose worry was as apparent. Sighing, I texted her a We’re okay message and started getting ready for bed.
11:45.
Fifteen more minutes until Tarek found his way into my head. It’d take Farren a little while to find the cabin, and so the rich voice I craved would be mine until Tarek and Wilma felt Ginger’s energy. He’d have to walk along the fluorescent river until they did. No big deal, unless the dimension decided to mess with him. That place was like the insecure bully on the playground.
Before I could sink into the memory foam, my phone dinged. Belva’s frantic message met my irritation. Thank God! I really screwed up this time, right?:(
My thumbs got busy appeasing her. No ur fine. Talk tomorrow. Going to bed.
Thirty seconds later, her reply screamed through. I’m freaking out!
My response was to shut off the cell and crawl between the sheets. Not even my best friend had enough power to keep me from my blond giant. Another glance at the clock–11:59–and I closed my eyes, waiting with my arms tight around Tarek’s shirt-pillow.
He didn’t make me wait long.
Hey, love.
His voice dripped with honey, melting my bones. He called me that every so often, not that I minded. In a few more days, he’d be able to do more than call me cute names.
Wilma didn’t like the sleeping arrangements. I haven’t heard the end of it all day. She’s coming back to you soon, thankfully. But it’s nice having someone to talk to, or someone to bitch at me, rather. Don’t tell her. No need to swell her head.
Wilma and Tarek had a love/hate relationship. They loved to act like they hated each other.
Anyway, the cabin is comfortable, makes me remember ours. It’s not as nice, but I’m working on it. It took fifty years to get our place right, but it shouldn’t take as long here when there’s not much else to do. Pause. Did I ever tell you about the fireplace?
About fifteen times, but I loved hearing the story–loved to hear anything he had to say. Except when he brought up his love for my former self and how amazingly perfect she was.
The stone had to be right; you took a piece from every dimension we went. Hard to mortar, make it fit, but I managed. You cried when it was finished. That day…you finally showed…something. I’ll never forget it.
For the past two months, Tarek had been giving me tidbits of our past. I tried to keep the jealousy locked tight, remembering all the details Tarek gave about his life and trying to ignore…her. Wasn’t easy, though. I curled deeper into the covers. In a few days, I’d make him think of me. We’d make new memories.
You–what the hell? Why don’t you two ever listen?
And silence. Damn. It didn’t take Farren that long to find the shack, after all.
LIES
Nicolette opened the portal on the outskirts of the capital where they left her shuttle. Exemplar was never quiet, not even late in the evening, but most sectors in the dimension weren’t boisterous or too loud, either. Noise pollution wasn’t tolerated, not that anyone living here would disrupt
the tranquility with abhorrent behavior. Their arrival didn’t cause any commotion. Portal jumping was as common as walking.
Avery touched the passenger door to let the metal read her print. As soon as the door opened, she folded her body in the tiny vehicle. A few seconds later, Nicolette jumped in, used the receiver on the visor to scan her retina, and adjusted the wheel as the shuttle started.
“Do you think she’ll help us?” Nicolette’s question snuck out of the dark, the Protector’s eyes never leaving the airway as she maneuvered her sleek, silver ride through organized traffic.
“I hope so.” Avery folded her hands so tight her knuckles ached. “If she doesn’t, we are on our own.”
“You can talk to the Wardens again, prove you can be trusted.”
“And how should I show that? It took years for Lena to build relationships with them, and only after Teenesee campaigned for her.”
“So, we’ll go to Empyrean, make the Warden listen.”
“We cannot make her do anything. And she would as soon kill every Synod member than listen to us.”
“I won’t let her touch you.”
Avery glanced over at her oldest, truest friend. They’d been Paired for her last three cycles, their Pairing always welcoming and accepted by both. “You could not stop her, my friend.”
Silence answered. Both knew the bitter truth. Without Lena’s help, Exemplar would never stop its corruption. The lines needed to be closed, and one Synod Guide and her Protector didn’t have the key–Wardens’ trust and cooperation–to accomplish the feat. If she had to use the false threat of Cassondra to convince Lena, so be it. Cassondra did want revenge; she just hadn’t acted upon it–yet. Guilt settled in her stomach, but…so much more was at stake.
“If Lena doesn’t agree, we could force her.”
“That would make us monsters.” Avery squeezed her Protector’s shoulder. “However, I believe what we’ve done already classifies us as such.”
“Stop feeling guilty. I’m willing to sacrifice my morals for the entire universe. You should be all right with it too.”
Nicolette had a point, yet the idea didn’t sit well. “I have faith in Lena. I only hope she will forgive me.”
Nicolette set the shuttle on the landing pad situated on the roof of Avery’s building. Each building had one, yet the one gracing all Synod members’ home quarters were more extravagant, like their apartments. As the shuttle landed, a digital reading of the registration on the undercarriage guided the vehicle to the lift closest to Avery’s apartment.
When they got out, Nicolette picked up the conversation where they left off. “She’s not the same Lena, not even close. She’s a girl.” They stepped into the lift. Avery’s hands folded tight while Nicolette crossed her arms, scowling at their reflection on the mirrored doors.
“Yes, but she’s been through much, which undoubtedly matured her. And she is brave. Did you not see that?”
The lift gave a lilting ding. Avery put her hand on the door and guided her right eye to the receiver above. In moments, the door swooshed open, closing as soon as the women stepped over the threshold.
“You give humanity too much credit.” Nicolette went straight for the stainless steel kitchen, pressing a few buttons on a control panel situated on the counter. A second ticked by before a steaming cup of coffee, raw sugar and soymilk coloring it a caramel brown, popped up.
Avery waved around the sparse room full of biodegradable beauty. “Yes, but, could you imagine what a gift all this would be, how we’ve managed to live with the environment, if we had not lost our humanity somewhere along the way?”
Nicolette smiled, blowing the steam from the top of her mug. “You’re such a romantic.”
She smiled, her face heating. “One of us must be.”
“You’re my favorite person, you know.”
“And you are mine.” Avery winked and went to her computer. “I need to catch up on some correspondence. We have been gone far too long.”
“It’s been two days, not long enough to be missed.” Nicolette set her mug on the counter and headed to her room. “I need to take this suit off, give me five.”
Avery nodded without looking up from the thin screen. She decided years ago living with her Protector wasn’t only convenient, but helped staunch the monotony that plagued life in a dimension that thrived on maintaining the status quo every day, every year…for centuries. Nicolette managed to spark passion whether in a debate or being in the same room. They were two halves of a whole. Sisters.
More than sisters.
As promised, Nicolette came back into the main room five minutes later, wearing comfortable, loose clothing and looking nothing like the warrior she was. All soft around the edges, she grabbed her mug and shuffled over to the over-stuffed couch, snatching up her hand-held from underneath the dark screens.
Rubbing her neck, Avery scrolled through her notifications regarding new energies and recycling Exemplian energies–her areas of expertise as Creation Lab overseer. Funny how she handled the most reprehensible parts of her world, yet led the fight against it. The irony was never lost on her. At least while she and everyone else had to play by the rules, the new energies and recycled Guides and Protectors were treated with compassion and respect. Well, apart from being lied to.
A document popped up on a lab missive, showing seven new energies added to the population. Her shoulders tensed. Much higher number than normal, seeing as the usual number added up to no more than two new energies per year. The amount was the second largest instance within the last six months. Twenty new energies in less than a year. A problem she’d have to bring up during the next sequester.
Avery massaged her temples, the headache that accompanied the job sneaking in. High new energy percentages weren’t the lone problem.
Peculiar…
She squinted, looking closer at the new energy entries. All Protectors–like the batch of thirteen six months ago. Her stomach dropped. If she were being truthful, the oddity of recent events resembled too closely to a recruitment of sorts. A trip to the Creation Lab reached the top of her to-do list, too.
Yawning, she forced her mind to still, a technique that took centuries to perfect. The guilt she carried when dwelling on the atrocity done to innocent energies, especially her participation in it, used to keep her awake for days. Nicolette would go crazy, trying to get her to leave the apartment, eat, and bathe…any function that required her to do more than punish her psyche with images of innocents living as slaves in the guise of privilege.
Then Lena came to her, changing everything. A brilliant Guide with unique empathy and talent for finding truth waltzed into her office on the rare occasion she made it there and gave her an out she’d been unknowingly pining for.
Shaking her head, to clear even Lena from her foremost thoughts, she concentrated on the final task. One quick look into her private messages and she’d retire for the evening. After punching in her password, she skimmed a few messages until one caught her eye. Dread filled her to the core. “Oh, no.”
Nicolette jumped up from the couch, her loose clothing no longer hiding the warrior. “What is it?”
Avery’s lips grew numb and her hands trembled. On unsteady legs, she walked over to the screens that fed the satellites’ images–screens that had been ordered to remain blacked out since Mateusz’s death for fear others may use them as he did for selfish gain. Synod elders had demanded a period of Exemplian isolation from other dimensions to allow for what they deemed a strong need for contemplation. In truth, the blackout was simply another form of control.
But someone decided the isolation was over.
She touched a button, and the monitors came to life, showing dimension images at random. “They’ve turned on the screens.”
WILMA
Dreams were great, especially when they starred blond giants with dimples and gray eyes.
“Wake up!” Wilma didn’t agree.
I snuggled deeper. “I’m not done yet.
Come back in an hour.”
Thwack.
“Ouch!” She probably left a palm print on my ass.
Next went the covers.
“Get out!”
Then went the bed. She yanked my foot and pulled me to the floor.
Still, I crawled over to my comforter, more out of spite than anything. “Give me a minute, for Christ’s sake!”
“You got five.”
I squinted through eyes not yet ready to open to find my Protector looming over me, arms across chest and tension straining her blue eyes. Her normally frizzy, curly hair was in worse shape than usual. With all the extra color compliments from a stay in Arcus, she looked a little deranged, too. Somebody didn’t like sleeping on the cabin floor. “Make me breakfast?”
Wilma shook her head, mumbling about ungrateful brats. Before she shut the door behind her, she said, “Five minutes and make your own damn breakfast.” As the door slammed, she yelled down the hall. “Farren! Make coffee!”
I smiled.
The boss was back.
∞ ∞ ∞
After I took twenty minutes to shower, change, and make some eggs, we all sat in the living room, including Mom and Jake, to figure out the next step. Farren squeezed in between Mom and me on the couch, his fingers dodging my fork as he snatched food off my plate. Jake took the chair while Wilma held council, standing in the middle of the little room, blocking the television.
I watched her as I chomped on toast, swerved my plate away from Ginger’s greedy paws, and tried to fake calm. If she didn’t give the okay, I wouldn’t be seeing Tarek outside of my dreams any time soon.
With an annoyed huff, her usual MO, she cleared her throat. “Thought we’d have more time before the bastards came creeping round.”
I swallowed some eggs. “Avery isn’t bad, Wilma. I could tell.”
“Oh, could you now? So, what’s the plan, Lena? Listen to a Synod member? Send you to other dimensions?” She quit with the questions. “Your punishment is to be here. If you go traipsing around on false information, your energy is in trouble.”