by RMGilmour
“What are they doing?” I whispered, glancing up at him, then understanding the feelings that stirred within me, as he gently squeezed my hand in response. His other hand covered his lowered face.
“Let’s just say it’s a good thing her father isn’t hearing this.”
“And feeling it,” I said, as her excitement coursed through me. I was glad I’d never gone there with Jordan while back on Earth. I doubt I would ever have left the confines of Grid’s apartment.
I needed to move. I couldn’t feel this way, sitting so close to Grid, but my limbs refused to obey. Sinking into the couch, I buried my face against his shoulder. His hand squeezed mine again, gently at first, but he then painfully entwined our fingers. The memory of Jordan’s body next to mine, mingled with Hera’s excitement was too much all at once and I bit into his shoulder. But he didn’t flinch. Instead, he wrapped his free arm around me and crushed me against him; our entwined fingers squeezing the other until I thought our bones would break.
“Force the feelings away,” he groaned. “Don’t think about it, or we may…”
But he didn’t finish. He didn’t need to. It was almost torture. I pushed away all thoughts that tried to enter my mind, keeping only images before me of the insertion process Grid had earlier explained.
Thankfully, their explicit discussion came to an end.
“Thank you,” I whispered to Grid as he released me, but I didn’t want to look up at him, not yet. The feelings were too fresh.
Though it didn’t take long before their conversation turned to Hera coming here once again. She wanted details. Where he was, who he was with, where would she be arriving? All important questions that never even crossed my mind when I was the one on that end.
I felt Grid look over at me.
“She’s a smart girl,” I could sense his grin.
“Shut up,” I whispered, and he laughed once more, but it was cut short.
‘Ok,’ Hera told him. ‘I’m ready. Bring me to you,’ she whispered.
‘Are you sure?’ Connor asked.
“No,” Grid pushed himself to the edge of the couch, ripping his hand from mine.
‘Yes,’ she responded. ‘Even if I don’t ever come back, I don’t want to be without you anymore.’
“No,” he jumped up, ready.
“Grid,” I stood with him. “It’s night time. Are the wards out?”
“Yes,” he groaned.
‘Hera,’ Connor whispered. ‘I love you.’
Moments later the pulling feeling began in my chest, and I fell forward, dropping to the ground, as I had once before. When I looked up, the screen was dark. All feelings were gone. She was here.
“You have to save her,” I cried, climbing to my feet. “Grid…”
“I know,” he said, but he was already running down the stairs.
I ran after him. Not able to match his pace, but I knew there would be a gathering in the food hall. Especially now.
I followed him across the courtyard, but he didn’t go to the food hall, instead, he was already on his way up the main stairs. The same stairs that I’d descended when I had first arrived.
“Be careful,” I called to him, but I doubted he heard, and he disappeared behind the wall at the top as it closed after him.
I remained glued to the spot. Hoping any moment, he would return. He couldn’t get captured by the wards. I couldn’t let that happen. I then remembered Haize’s glove that was supposed to send the wards back to the Spire, and wondered if he had one with him.
I began to ascend the stairs, but heard my name and turned to find Haize telling me no, calling me back to her.
“Grid went after her,” I told her. “He’s all alone up there.”
“No, he’s not. The Rathe have gone out the back way to help him. He’ll be fine.”
I didn’t understand their strategy at all, but I didn’t question it, hoping they knew what they were doing. And I trusted Haize. She’d brought too many good things into my life to not trust her now.
She led me back to the food hall, which was mostly empty except for several hunters and a handful of warriors. Aleric was not amongst them, and I wondered if he’d gone outside to help Grid.
The minutes silently ticked by, turning into hours. I moved a chair next to the picture window to see the night sky upon the ceiling, but also so that I could see the courtyard for when he returned. Though I couldn’t see the main stairs, they were hidden behind the valley trees.
“It’s ok,” Haize said, placing her hand on top of mine. “It took him a couple of hours to find you, and it was daylight up there then. It’s nighttime now. It’ll take him longer.”
“She won’t come quietly though,” Lena said. “I only hope he has sense enough to lie to her, to get her here alive.”
“If he does, she’ll never trust him again,” I responded.
“That doesn’t matter. So long as the wards don’t get her.”
She was right of course. My argument was weak at best, and foolish. I didn’t want to talk anymore though, and so, I sat quietly staring out of the window, as the darkness overhead lightened first to deep shades of blue, and then grew brighter with each moment.
Panic began to beat inside my chest. He should have been back already. I shouldn’t have encouraged him to go. I should have stopped him.
But not long after those thoughts cramped around my heart, her voice echoed down through the courtyard, yelling and screaming for Connor. The Rathe came down the back way, but Grid, trailing behind Hera, had descended the main stairwell. All of them overwhelming the food hall at once.
“Where is he?” she called. “Connor!”
I left the food hall to meet Grid, scanned him quickly for any sign of pain or wounds, but he seemed fine, and I threw my arms around him.
“Thank goodness, you’re ok.”
“It’s ok,” he said holding me just as tightly. “I’m fine. Hera on the other hand…”
“What happened?” I looked up at him, but he was smiling.
“Well, I’m glad I’m not her father,” he joked. “She has quite a temper.”
“You saved her though,” I told him, and realized I was still holding onto him. I released him, and he took my hand as we walked toward the food hall. “Grid,” I wanted to tell him how worried I’d been, but there was no point, and it didn’t make sense to anyway. He didn’t need me to say it.
“Thank you, for saving her,” Lena said to him, the moment we walked in. I left his side to let them speak alone. I was sure there was a lot they would need to discuss, for Castor’s sake.
Hera was seated beside Haize, but barely. She clutched the edge of the table and her feet dug into the floor, ready to run if the need arose. She made it clear both vocally and physically that she didn’t want to stay if Connor was not there. I decided to keep my distance; my presence would only add to the chaos.
Haize tried to calm her down, but nothing she said worked. Eventually, Aleric offered her a drink which she took without question, but then coughed it back up, screaming that he was trying to poison her. I laughed to myself, wondering if that was his own amusing ritual for new comers. But I was glad that it was no longer me sitting there, scared, shocked, stunned. Terrified.
Though from the little that she’d swallowed, she must have realized what it was, and she reached for more. I doubted it would have the same effect on her as it did on me, but anything would have been better than her non-stop demands for Connor.
Aleric looked over at me, offering the bottle, and I smiled wanting to accept. But I remembered my promise to Grid. And now knowing the wards, or the Guardian, were listening to us, I didn’t want to risk talking in my sleep again, so I shook my head, declining his offer.
Looking back at Grid, I found him deep in conversation with Lena, and I decided to quietly leave. I wasn’t needed there, and I only felt out of place, so I swiftly made my way back to my room.
Once saf
ely back inside the apartment, I was relieved that we wouldn’t have to suffer through anymore on-screen, emotional attacks. If it was the Guardian that brought her here, hopefully it was done, at least for now.
My last thoughts before sleep took over were of Jordan. I wondered if he’d started his painting of me, and I wished I could see it. I wanted to ask him if there were others he’d already painted, and I dreamed of being with him in his home, watching him while he worked.
21
The Guardian’s Instrument
I slept through most of the day and the following night, and it was still dark when I decided I had to get up. But I was alone in the apartment, and needing coffee. I attempted to produce a steaming cup as delicious as Grid’s and Jordan’s had been, but what it gave me was too sharp and too strong.
I sat beside the window and waited for the first hint of dawn. Unable to drink the coffee, I let it grow cold before putting it back into the counter, and decided I’d try the food hall instead. But the moment I began descending the stairs, Hera’s screams reached my ears.
She called Connor’s name over and over, yelling at anyone that came near her, to take her to him. Accusing them of keeping her prisoner, of keeping him away.
From her low volume though, I could tell she was not close to Grid’s apartment, and thankfully, she was not in the food hall. In fact, no one was in the food hall. Not surprising! No doubt they were already outside, and I didn’t blame them.
I quickly grabbed some food and downed some of what Aleric had passed for coffee. Hera’s screams though, strangely enough, were somewhat of a comfort knowing she could no longer invade my mind.
I made my way up the back stairs and out into the field where as expected, everyone seemed to be, and I rushed across the fields toward the tree-hut, hoping Jordan would be there. But I couldn’t sense him.
Instead, there was only Aleric, waiting it seemed, for me.
“He was here, but he couldn’t stay,” he informed me.
“Why?” I asked, wishing I’d foregone breakfast. I couldn’t believe I wasn’t going to see him.
“We need to be careful. He needs to be careful. He was gone from the city for too long…”
“But he said Mason would take care of that,” I interrupted.
“Yes, and he did, but while Mason monitors the Guardian, the Guardian monitors him, and it seems now the Guardian is also watching Jordan. But now with Hera and Connor… we still don’t know if Connor is real. But if he is, he’ll most likely come looking for her.”
I groaned, understanding his meaning. If Connor leaves the city without knowing what the wards will do, he would not only be putting himself in danger, but Jordan as well, if he should also happen to be outside.
“No fair,” I whispered.
“It won’t be for long. He left something for you,” he grinned, and retrieved a familiar looking item from the nearest table.
The moment he handed it to me, my lips formed an involuntary smile. Inside, I ached for him. He’d generated a copy of my favorite book. The one that I’d read to him while still on Earth; Persuasion. Telling me to wait. Be patient.
“Where’s Haize?” I croaked, stroking the cover.
“With Hera. Trying to calm her, talk some sense into her. She’s going to knock her out if she can’t.”
“You mean give her something to make her sleep!” I corrected. I didn’t want to think about Haize actually knocking Hera out with physical blows, although she was certainly capable of it. And it was most likely, something they did in their plane, on their planet anyway.
“Of course,” Aleric grinned.
“So, now what do I do?” I sighed, and wondered where Lena was. No doubt already at the Arena.
“Well, you can go back to the Colony,” he said, with a smirk.
“No thanks.”
“Or stay out here with us and wait for things to settle down.”
It was his latter suggestion that was the more appealing. I couldn’t stand the thought of being inside all day listening to Hera scream and yell. I stored my book in the tree-hut until it was time to leave, and that evening in my room, I placed it carefully under my pillow.
The following days were excruciatingly long as I passed them in the fields with the Rathe, helping them pull weeds, water, cultivate, and each day they seemed to spend longer and longer outside.
The evenings were spent with Grid as he talked about the insanity Hera was causing amongst those who were already not too stable. Hammond, he’d laughed one evening, had threatened to craft a dull sword to use upon her tongue, and Rebecca had been demanding a beheading. Lena had disappeared altogether.
After a weak of Hera’s screaming, Haize had left her with several others who had also attempted to calm her, and met us in the tree-hut where we’d gathered early before starting the day. It was easier and quieter, to eat in the hut, instead of the food hall.
Phaedra joined us, along with a companion she introduced to me as Seph, explaining they’d just come from the Arena. Seph, I couldn’t help but notice, was almost as large as Castor, and had very few scars, and I couldn’t help but wonder how he fared against Lena. Though I was glad to see Phaedra was not the one who had been taken by the wards, during the hunt.
“She’s gotta go,” Haize complained. “She’s no good here. I’d like to know exactly what Castor’s sister has been doing with her all of these years.”
“She needs to train,” Phaedra explained. “She needs to go to the Arena and accept her father.” Castor had attempted to speak to her several times, but she refused to believe a word, and only screamed louder.
“I think it’s time we left. All of us,” Seph insisted.
“We can’t all leave,” Aleric informed him. “The wards would be on us.”
“Let them come,” Phaedra said. “We’re ready.”
“Where would you go?” I didn’t want to include myself in their leaving. I couldn’t go anywhere that would be too far from Jordan.
“To…the Arena,” Seph told me. “That’s our home now. And there’s plenty of room for everyone. We don’t need their Colony.”
As grateful as I was for the implied invitation, I still couldn’t think about leaving. Once Hera was gone, I’d hoped Jordan could meet me again, outside of the city. It was hard to go through each day without him, not knowing if all was ok with him, not knowing when we’d be together again. Though I tried to keep his words in the forefront of my mind, and look forward to when we could begin the rest of our lives together.
“I think at least, we need to remove ourselves from the Colony,” Phaedra stated, indicating the Heart. “When the rest of you are ready, join us.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea that we all leave at once,” Haize said. “I’d suggest a small group leave with Hera, get her safely there, and then discuss the rest. Not everyone here is prepared for all-out war with the Guardian.”
“I can’t leave,” I said to them. “And neither can everyone else.”
Their heads all whipped in my direction at the same time; all eyed me suspiciously as though I was going to reveal that I was a ward. And I decided I had better explain myself quick, before they acted upon their stares.
“Others will come. If it is the Guardian bringing you here. It won’t stop. And the new ones will need us here, to know when they arrive, to help them. We have to be here for them.”
One by one they looked away from me and toward each other. They knew I was right. They couldn’t just abandon the Colony. We were all trapped there, no matter how perfect and secure the Arena was.
Seph stared thoughtfully at Phaedra. It appeared to me that they were having their own silent conversation with just a few simple looks.
“Ok,” he conceded. “We shouldn’t say anything to everyone just yet then either, even though they are all thinking it. I’ll take three or four with me to move Hera first thing tomorrow. The sooner we get her to the Arena, the better of
f she’ll be.”
“Better off we’ll all be,” mumbled Haize. She then looked up at Phaedra. “If she’s still screaming when I get back there, I’m sedating her until you take her away.”
Of course, no one had any objections to that.
That evening in the food hall, I suspected Haize had lived up to her threat. The Colony was quiet once more, and she came in with a satisfied look smooth upon her face, and joined me for dinner.
Shortly after, Lena entered as well, and I wondered where she had been all week. But I didn’t want to pry. For even though we were briefly amicable, I couldn’t assume she felt the same open friendliness toward me that I felt for her. It seemed I’d spent too many years lost in my self-inflicted solitude to trust my own worthiness as friend material.
“Miss me?” she smirked, sitting across from me.
“I’ve been counting the days,” I joked, shoving away my self-doubts. “What have you been up to?”
“Training. Which I hear, I’m going to be doing a lot more of very soon.”
“Lena,” Haize whispered. “Voice down.”
“Where’s Grid?” Lena asked.
“Most likely with Hammond, ensuring the calm has been restored amongst us. Why?” I have no idea why I wanted to know why she wanted to see him. It was really none of my business what they talked about. In fact, I hoped they would become closer. He deserved to be happy and so did she. However, as my thoughts traveled in that direction, I remembered the conversation I needed to have with him.
“What’s wrong?” Lena asked, without answering my ‘why’ question.
“Nothing that can be discussed here,” I whispered, looking up at Haize. Even if it wasn’t for Jordan, I couldn’t leave here without the others from Earth. Grid wouldn’t leave. He’d stay to take care of the ones that couldn’t care for themselves. And I’d stay with him. I owed him that much.
The following morning, we sat at his window and watched Seph move a soundly sleeping Hera. She lay upon a small sheet that floated near his waist and he gently pushed it along. Together with Phaedra, and two other warriors, they wordlessly left the Colony. I was glad they were going, not because they were taking away the source of the uproar, but because they would be safe, should the wards attack.