“From what restaurant?” the voice asked as different locales and food categories populated the screen.
“You in the mood for pizza?” he asked with a smile.
Emery nodded in awe as she waited for him to continue.
“Sam’s Pizza,” he confirmed.
“Please state your order for Sam’s Pizza.”
“Two slices of cheese pizza and two glasses of lemonade.”
The machine processed the order and a confirmatory beep sounded to signal it had been received by the restaurant. Not even two minutes later, their food materialized right in front of them.
Emery picked up the slice of pizza cautiously, turning it over in her hands to examine it. When she decided it was safe to try, she took a generous bite, nodding her head thoughtfully as the cheesy goodness swarmed her taste buds.
“Pretty cool, huh?” Torin swiped his hand in a counterclockwise motion to power down the machine, then picked up his meal and carried it over to the dining room table.
Emery followed, glancing back at the machine along the way, then sat down next to him as she took a large gulp of her lemonade. “Don’t we have to pay for the food?”
Torin bobbed his head from side to side. “Technically we already did.”
“But I didn’t see you—”
“It’s a monthly fee,” he interrupted. “Your handprint is like your credit card. 7S actually came up with the idea. Each household chooses a meal plan—basic, regular, or premium—and pays a monthly fee for the service,” he explained through mouthfuls. “Pretty neat, huh?”
Speechless, Emery picked up the remainder of her pizza. It was difficult to wrap her head around how much more advanced everything was in the 7S world, and it was hard not to feel completely out of place, like she’d traveled through time from the Renaissance era onto a planet of martians. Regardless, she wasn’t going to let a few new technological advancements intimidate her.
Her thoughts scattered as the reason they’d come to her house in the first place resurfaced. Without warning, she jumped up from her seat and darted out of the kitchen and into her mother’s bedroom. She rummaged through multiple dresser drawers, paying little attention to the socks and undergarments she was flinging across the room. Nothing. The nightstand was her next target. No mercy was given as she shuffled through the multitude of electronic gadgets and pieces of jewelry.
Torin appeared in the doorway, clearly amused at the sight before him. “What exactly are you looking for?”
Emery stopped mid-rummage, forehead crinkling as her mind went blank. “Actually . . . I don’t know.”
Torin grinned as he took a few steps into the bedroom. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve found that it’s pretty hard to find something when I don’t know what it is I’m looking for.”
Emery sighed as she plopped down onto the bed. “I guess I’m looking for a clue of some sort.” She looked at him expectantly, hoping that she wouldn’t have to explain further.
“I wish I could help. I also wish I knew what in the world you’re even talking about. Want to fill me in?”
Emery bowed her head to collect her thoughts. The flurry of activity recently made it difficult to keep everything straight. “Remember earlier today when I mentioned that I’d left something valuable behind in Dormance?”
He nodded.
“Before I left for Darden, my mother gave me a ring. It was shaped like an outline of a fish—”
“You mean like an alpha symbol?” he cut in.
Emery couldn’t help but narrow her eyes. “Exactly like an alpha symbol.” It was almost uncanny that he’d been able to describe the ring so accurately without ever having laid eyes on it. She sucked in a breath before continuing. “I tucked the ring in a closet drawer in my dorm room at Darden at the beginning of the year, but the last time I looked for it—right before deployment—it wasn’t there.”
“So you lost it. No big deal. People lose things all the time.”
“Not me. I hardly ever lose things.” The words came out a little harsher than she’d intended. “Everything has its place and I know exactly where to find it. I know for a fact that I didn’t move that ring from that drawer. What’s even weirder is that I’ve had these strange dreams,” she pulled the pendant out from underneath her shirt, “where I found this.”
“Whoa.” Torin took the pendant in his hands, his fingers tracing the horseshoe shape. “What do you think it means?”
“I have no idea. But both of these symbols were on the mainstation in Dormance.”
He shook his head, his focus shifting between Emery and the pendant. “So, let me get this straight. You think that since your mom gave you the alpha ring and you found this pendant, there might be a clue here, at your house, explaining why?”
Hearing him say it out loud made her feel worse. It did sound a little out there. “I don’t know. But the one thing I do know is what my mom said. She said the ring represented new beginnings,” Emery recalled. She could still hear the way her mother had said it, almost as if there had been a hidden layer of meaning. Or maybe she was reading too much into it. After all, she had been off to a “new beginning”—starting a new life at Darden. Perhaps that’s all her mother had really meant.
She unclasped the pendant from around her neck and held it in both hands. Her thumbs traced the shape over and over again. What am I missing?
“Well, I’ll start looking for . . . something. A clue, I guess,” Torin said as he headed for the door. “How about I tackle the upstairs and you stay down here?”
Emery nodded absentmindedly, her eyes fixated on the pendant. “Sounds good,” she murmured. By the time her stare had finally broken, he was gone. She walked further into her mother’s bedroom, eyes scanning the perimeter. “What am I missing?” she repeated, aloud this time, even though there was no one there to answer her question. She squeezed her eyes shut, firmly grasping the pendant in her right hand. “Alpha and Omega.”
Emery almost lost her footing as she opened her eyes. Trees upon trees suddenly surrounded her, their thick branches swaying in the breeze. Although the sudden change in scenery was disorienting, she knew exactly where she was. Prescott, Arizona. The same place her mother had taken her and her sister camping when they were little. Giggles erupted and filled the air around her. Emery turned toward the sound. In the distance were two small figures who were chasing each other and squealing with delight.
Two little girls.
Her breath caught as she blinked a few times, trying to make sense of the scene before her. She looked down at her hands, noticing a beautiful two-carat wedding ring adorning her left ring finger. My mom’s wedding ring.
A young version of herself, approximately five years old, ran toward her, followed by an even younger Alexis.
“Mom!” Alexis screeched. “Emery got hurt!”
Emery gaped at Alexis as she shifted her gaze to herself as a child. Five-year-old-Emery stomped her foot and turned her right leg outward so that her calf was clearly visible. Her mouth crinkled into a pout. “See.”
Emery remembered this moment as if it’d happened yesterday. Her mother had taken them camping in Prescott, like she did every fall when the weather finally cooled down. She and her sister had been playing a little ways away from the campsite and she’d accidentally fallen into a patch of poison oak. Luckily, Alexis had stayed back far enough to not be affected with any symptoms, but the leaves had brushed against Emery’s right calf and she’d immediately broken out in a rash.
Emery brought herself back to the present moment. What was so strange about this particular situation was that her mother was nowhere in sight—and she was wearing her wedding ring. Somehow I’m in a flashback. And I’m seeing it from my mother’s point of view.
“Not to worry,” Emery said, the voice of her mother’s and not her own. “Follow me.”
This is incredible, she thought to herself as she took the two little girls’ hand
s into her own. She led them over to a dense area of trees and pulled out a strange silver device that resembled a spout. She lightly hammered the spout into the tree, smiling as her younger self and Alexis intently watched the spout turn a deep orange. Shortly after, sap began to flow out of the tree. Emery collected it in a small container and then knelt down so that she was eye-level with the infected area on her younger self. She poured some of the sap onto her hands and smoothed it onto the rash.
Five-year-old Emery breathed a sigh of relief as the sap worked its magic.
“It’s zagume,” Emery heard herself say, although the voice wasn’t her own. “Now this is the really cool part. Watch.”
Within a minute, the rash had completely vanished and her normal shade of olive-colored skin returned.
“All better!” Alexis said as she clapped her hands. “Mom fixed Emmy.”
“Thanks, mom!” her younger self squealed as she leaned in for a hug.
Before she could say anything, Emery found herself floating away from the campsite, away from her younger self and sister. She extended her hand forward, reaching for them, wanting to stay in the moment. Tears pricked her eyes as the two little girls slowly disappeared before her. Everything faded to black. As she wiped her eyes, a familiar setting came into view. A bed. A nightstand.
I’m back in my mother’s bedroom. She took a deep breath as she brought her hands into view. Her knuckles were a ghastly white from clutching the pendant. She let go and watched as the pendant fell to the floor, spinning on its side before falling over completely. What just happened?
Emery stumbled backward until her heels hit the edge of the bed. Her body collapsed onto the mattress. Another tear fell from her eye, and she quickly wiped it away. She missed her mother and sister so much. Not knowing where they were or if they were safe was almost too much to bear. Her throat thickened with grief as terrible situation after terrible situation plagued her mind. What if they were still trapped somewhere? What if they were in pain?
Don’t think like that. They’re fine. Emery inhaled a shaky breath as she sat up, her eyes immediately going to the abandoned pendant lying on the floor.
“How did you do that?” she whispered to the inanimate object. “What were you trying to show me?”
Before she could reflect any further, Torin appeared at the doorway. He must have immediately sensed her distress because he rushed over to her and sat down, his eyes full of questions. His gaze followed hers until it landed on the pendant.
“Did I miss something?” he asked.
Emery shook her head. Try as she might, she couldn’t quite make sense of what had just happened. “Yes.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Emery tilted her head back, eyes trained on the ceiling. “I honestly wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
“Well, whatever it is, it seems to have made you a little distraught.”
“You have no idea.”
Torin popped up from the bed. “Well, seeing as you don’t want to talk about it, let’s do something to occupy your thoughts. Let’s keep looking for this mystery clue.”
Emery gave him a small smile. It was hard not to admire his enthusiasm.
“Okay,” she agreed.
As much as she wanted to fill him in on her out-of-body experience, she couldn’t seem to find the right words—if any words at all—and until she figured it out herself, how could she explain it to someone else?
With a sigh, Emery brought herself to a standing position and scooped the pendant from the floor. She secured it around her neck, determined not to think about the strange phenomenon for the rest of the day.
But after two hours of searching the remainder of the house and coming up empty-handed, she still couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that the flashback hadn’t just been a coincidence. It had something to do with her mother, and it had been trying to tell her something. She wasn’t sure how to even begin to figure out the answer, but somehow she would.
She had to.
3
Torin watched as Emery drifted into an even deeper sleep on the couch. Her chest rose and fell, eyelids fluttering as her mouth parted to release small breaths. She looked so peaceful, so relaxed—and yet, Torin knew the tranquility wouldn’t last long.
They’d been at her house in Arizona for three days now, and every night they’d spent there had started off the same. Emery would drift off to sleep, followed by a period of peace and quiet, followed by night terrors so intense they shook her awake. Her haunting screams were enough to chill him to the bone. The girl had demons—that much he knew—but still he yearned to know more about her.
He lay on a leather recliner, his eyes threatening to close, when his phone buzzed. He glanced at the holoclock on the wall. It was eleven o’clock at night. Who in the world is calling me so late? Torin groaned and leaned forward, swiping the phone from the edge of the coffee table. His eyes grew wide as they landed on the number lighting up the screen. He’d recognize that number anywhere.
Someone from 7S Headquarters was calling him.
A rush of energy surged through him as he sprang from the chair and darted into the nearest bedroom, closing the door quietly behind him. He cleared his throat and tested his voice to make sure he didn’t sound half-asleep before answering. “Hello?”
A holoimage of a male’s shadow appeared as a raspy voice on the other end greeted him. “Mr. Porter.”
Torin froze at the familiar voice. It was the Commander. “Sir,” was all he could manage.
“Porter, is there a reason why you haven’t checked into headquarters this week?”
Although he didn’t exactly sound angry, Torin could pick up on a slight edge in the Commander’s voice. The question confused him because the last he’d heard of was his suspension from the Seventh Sanctum, so why would he need to check in? “To my knowledge, sir, my suspension hasn’t been lifted.”
The Commander cleared his throat. “Ah, yes. Well, after that stunt you pulled, we really didn’t have much of a choice, now did we?”
He’s speaking in past tense. Torin narrowed his eyes, wishing that he could see the Commander’s face for clarity. Oh, please, please give me my job back. “I don’t understand, sir.”
The Commander sighed. “You know too much, you’ve done too much and, to be honest, we could really use you. You have a very special skill set that is hard to come by. As much as I hate to admit it, and despite recent events, somehow you’ve proven yourself.”
Those words were music to his ears. A wide grin stretched across his face. “So, does this mean—?”
“Sergeant Porter, you are hereby officially reinstated at the Seventh Sanctum. Your duties as Sergeant will begin this coming Monday . . .”
But Torin had stopped listening after the first sentence. Instead, he was parading around the bedroom pumping his fists in the air. Sergeant! I’ve been promoted!
He’d been a Corporal for years. If he’d known that getting suspended was all it’d take to get promoted, he would have hatched that egg a long time ago. Better late than never. “Thank you, sir, for this incredible opportunity,” he said as evenly as he could. “I will see you on Monday.” A small laugh dared to escape, but he quickly covered his mouth to silence his glee.
“Roger that.”
There was a moment of silence before the line clicked off. Once he was certain the Commander could no longer hear him, Torin threw his phone onto the bed. He broke out into a sort of jig, his feet moving in a way that only a leprechaun was capable of.
He’d proven himself. He was worthy. Finally.
He rushed back out to the living room where Emery lay fast asleep, faint snores escaping from her lips. He considered waking her to share the good news, then thought better of it. With a quick glance at the holoclock, he realized that she’d been asleep just long enough to where she should be having night terrors. But she was still.
Peaceful and calm.
<
br /> Torin fell onto the recliner and leaned back as far as it would go, sinking into the worn leather headrest. How could he sleep at a time like this? Things were finally looking up. He was here with Emery, he’d gotten his job back, and he’d even been promoted . . . and for breaking the rules, no less.
But still, something in the Commander’s voice told him that what he’d just agreed to would be a major undertaking. Something had the Commander, and probably the rest of 7S, on edge, but he was completely out of the loop.
No use worrying about it now. I can worry about it on Monday.
For now, he would focus on the good news, and the look on Emery’s face when he told her that same news tomorrow morning. They could both use some after their failed searches at her house.
He glanced over at her again, surprised at how quickly one look at her could quiet his mind. It was almost as if someone entered his brain and flipped a switch—awake one minute, exhausted the next.
That’s enough excitement for one day.
His eyelids grew heavy, but he continued to focus on Emery before finally surrendering to a deep sleep. Little did he know, it’d be the first time in days he’d sleep through the night without a single disruption.
4
How could such a miniscule object hold so much value? Victor spun the alpha ring around his pinky finger, the diamonds catching in a faint glimpse of light. He rose slowly, his attention so consumed by the ring that he didn’t even notice the oversized leather chair roll toward the other end of the room.
With one last look at the ring, he lifted his gaze to the massive window before him. The view was breathtaking. Rolling hills covered the abounding landscape, thousands of pine trees scattered across the uneven terrain, the sky a magnificent cerulean blue with not a single cloud in sight. Although he hated to admit it, it was times like these that made him wish he hadn’t turned out this way. Evil. Deceitful.
The Order of Omega (The Alpha Drive Book 2) Page 2