Emery closed her eyes as the familiar tingling took hold, followed by a cool gust of wind. When she opened her eyes, she stood outside a massive wrought iron gate. Looking beyond the gate, she realized that there wasn’t a soul in sight. Good. I can grieve in silence.
The iron was cool to the touch as she pushed her way through the gates into the lawn area. Tombstone after tombstone lined the grass in neat, orderly rows. Bouquets of wilting white roses sat dejectedly next to a few of the headstones, as if the person who left them there couldn’t bear to bring themselves back to the site.
Emery approached her late friend’s site, feeling guilty for not bringing her own bouquet. To her surprise, an arrangement of fresh yellow roses sat next to his headstone. She stopped in her tracks, confused, and gazed around at the deserted cemetery. The bouquet was still lined in plastic, the stems sitting in a capsule of water, the price tag clear as day: September, 15, 2055.
That was today’s date.
Emery looked around the cemetery again, wondering who would have stopped by to drop off the flowers. A rustling in the distance caught her attention as a tall figure with shaggy brown hair emerged from behind a row of trees, his eyes cast down at his feet. Emery felt her heart stop.
It was Torin.
A mix of emotions welled up inside her chest as he lifted his head, his eyes locking with hers. Anger, fear, hatred, loneliness, sadness.
They didn’t speak for a few moments.
Finally, Emery broke the silence. “What are you doing here?” Her lower lip trembled as the words left her mouth.
Torin cleared his throat, then took a cautious step forward. “I wanted to pay my respects.”
“Yeah, well, that’s nice and all, but I think you’ve done enough already.” She bit her tongue, knowing that her words sounded harsh.
“Emery . . .” Torin began, his eyes brimming with tears.
“No. You don’t get to disappear, then come back when you feel like it. Life doesn’t work that way.” Her voice caught in her throat. “You don’t just leave the people you care about to suffer and grieve alone. It’s not right.”
Torin took another step forward. “I never wanted to leave you. You have to believe me,” he pleaded. “I just didn’t know how to be around you after what I did.” He nodded toward the grave. “I killed him, Emery. I killed Mason. Do you understand that? I’m the one responsible for his death.”
Emery broke eye contact, unable to look Mason’s murderer in the eye. Torin was right. He’d killed Mason. But he’d only done it to save Emery’s life.
“You may have killed one of my closest friends,” she shuddered, “but you saved my life. And for that, I will be forever grateful.”
As she turned to leave, his hand landed gently on her shoulder. “I never wanted to leave you alone,” Torin whispered, “and I’m sorry. But I’m here now. That’s got to count for something.”
Emery didn’t move, her back still facing him. She bowed her head. “No. No, it doesn’t.” His grip broke from her shoulder as she made her way back toward the wrought iron gates.
“Emery, please!” Torin shouted after her. “There’s so much we need to talk about!”
But Emery wasn’t listening. Both her mind and body were engaged in a full-fledged sprint toward the cemetery gates, tears cascading down her face with each and every stride. Just a few more steps. It should have been me. I should have died.
Emery stepped onto the T-Port, her voice shaking as she recited her home address. The last thing she saw was Torin running toward her, the expression on his face one of agonizing pain. She closed her eyes as the familiar gust of wind surrounded her.
And, for a few brief moments, she felt nothing.
No pain. No sadness.
Nothing.
2
That went well.
Torin stepped off the platform and walked upstairs to his apartment. He trudged over to the kitchen and turned the faucet on. The water felt cool and refreshing on his face. As he patted his skin dry, a clearing of a throat caught his attention. He lowered the towel so that he could see, his eyes landing on the petite female standing in his living room.
Alexis.
“You were gone for a while,” Alexis observed as she took a step closer to the kitchen. “Did you see my sister?”
Torin nodded as he flung the towel onto the countertop. “Yeah. I saw her.”
Alexis’s eyes lit up. “Really? How is she? Did you tell her?”
Torin gazed at her, unsure how to word what he needed to say next. Her childlike innocence made his guilt drop even deeper in his stomach. “She seems to be doing okay.”
“Just okay?” Alexis pressed, her forehead creasing with concern.
“She’s been better. We’ve all been better.” Torin sighed. “Listen, I didn’t get a chance to tell her. Emery doesn’t know that you’re here, but I promise that I’ll tell her the next time I see her.”
“I haven’t seen my sister in over a year. The last good memory I have of her is moving her things into her dorm at Darden,” Alexis sniffled. “Who knows if it’s even a real memory? After all, it did happen in Dormance.”
Torin took a step closer, wanting to comfort her. “All of your memories with your sister are real,” he reassured, his thoughts drifting back to the day he’d found Alexis.
He’d received orders from 7S to evacuate Novak’s underground chamber and instill calmness once the dormants awoke from their comatose state. It had been a no-brainer which two pods he needed to locate first: Emery’s mother and sister. They’d been easy enough to find, seeing as they were right next to each other. Alexis woke with ease and, although she was panicked, Torin had found a way to calm her. He’d explained who he was—that he knew Emery and their father—and she’d believed him. Their mother, on the other hand, had been a different story.
Torin snapped back to the present. Alexis was now sitting on the couch with her head in her hands.
“We should probably check on your mom,” he said as he walked to the spare bedroom.
Alexis sighed as she pulled herself up from the couch and begrudgingly followed him. A small sliver of sunlight poked through a gap in the curtains. Alexis stepped in front of Torin and took a seat gently on the edge of the bed. She raised her hand to stroke her mother’s hair, when, suddenly, she stirred. Alexis paused, her hand in mid-air, as her mother rolled onto her side.
“Let’s not wake her,” Torin whispered, hoping that he wasn’t overstepping.
She nodded, then slowly retreated toward the door, shutting it quietly behind her. “Do you think her memory will come back?”
Torin bowed his head. After finding Alexis, he’d attempted to wake her mother, expecting that the result of the comatose state would be identical in both cases.
He’d been terribly wrong.
Alexis’s mother had no idea who her daughter was and so, in order to keep emotions at bay, Torin decided not to tell Alexis about the Federal Commonwealth’s microchips or the memory purge—the timing just wasn’t right. Hysteria and depression probably weren’t good for someone who had been trapped in a pod, unconscious, for almost their entire life. So, he’d decided to keep quiet.
But things were growing progressively worse and he needed Emery’s help. It was clear that she was in a bad place mentally and emotionally, still mourning over Mason’s death as she should be, but Torin couldn’t keep things hidden much longer. The secrets were piling up and he didn’t know how much more he could take.
Torin shifted his gaze from his feet to Alexis, realizing he still hadn’t answered her question.
“Do you think her memory will come back?” she asked again, quieter this time.
“Yes,” he responded, his voice firm. “Your mother’s memory will come back.”
Kristen Martin is the author of The Alpha Drive trilogy: The Alpha Drive, The Order of Omega, and Restitution. An Arizona native, Kristen currently lives in Texas with her f
iancé, two dogs, and cat.
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The Order of Omega (The Alpha Drive Book 2) Page 22