Worlds Between

by Heather Lee Dyer

  “And that’s not what I meant. I got caught sneaking around the mines. I just wanted to make sure you were alive. I came here for you.”

  “So it’s my fault you’re down here?” I snapped.

  “Why do you have to twist everything I say?” he frowns.

  Heat rises to my face, but it’s not anger this time.

  He came here for me.

  I know it’s not what he meant, but being this close to him, staring into his eyes, fills me with warmth. I don’t think I’ve ever been this close to another human in my life.

  “It doesn’t matter why I’m here. But I’ll do my best to get you out. All of you.”

  Something stirs within me, a desire to be free of this dirt and rock and to see sunshine again. My father would be disappointed in me. He always said you couldn’t put a price on human life, and now I was bartering lives for information, just to save my own skin. No matter how many we save, it won’t be enough. But I want to see the clouds again, breathe in the trees and fresh air. Taste real vegetables from our garden. If Ewan had a way out, I’d take it. Whatever the cost.

  “When?” I ask.

  “Tomorrow.”

  “We’ll be ready,” I nod. Suddenly I’m filled with gratitude. I expected to find Elan gone, that he’d already left without me, and that I’d be stuck here forever.

  I won’t say thank you, but he sees it in my eyes.

  He reaches out and touches my free arm, but then flinches.

  “What in the world?” His eyebrows knit together as he stares down at me. I reach with my other hand and pull down my sleeve, trying to cover as much skin as possible.

  “Do you have a fever, Rya? You’re burning up.”

  “I’m fine, apart from being buried alive. You should try it some time.” I allow myself the smallest of smirks and he grins in response. Masi is coming back toward me, handing out candy bars with a crowd of girls surrounding him. I guess the guards did give us extra rations after all.

  His pace picks up and the girls have to practically run over the freshly fallen dirt to keep up with him. Elan stands up quickly and walks off, giving Masi a wide berth.

  I can feel stickiness on my cheeks. I don’t know if it’s tears or blood. Now that the adrenaline is draining from my body, the weight of it all is hitting me. My legs feels shaky and I clench my jaw to keep my lips from trembling.

  The guards yell at us to clear the area, and I drag myself to my feet. We climb down the dirt pile and line up against the far wall. More mech guards come marching down the tunnel toward the crypt’s entrance.

  My back against the cool dirt wall, I can feel a warm tingling in my fingertips as I watch the Kreon guards. I pull my arm toward me and stare in disbelief at my hand. I open my palm and gasp at the light that radiates out. I can barely see it in the brightness of the cave, but I won’t be able to hide it for long. I make a fist and the light is trapped inside my hand again.

  I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths, willing the energy inside me to go away. Terror fills a corner of my mind as I think about what might happen if they discover I have the power they’re looking for, but it’s not at all what they expected. The Kreons have been forcing humans to dig for all these years. I have no doubt they’ll tear me apart to reclaim it.

  EIGHTEEN

  OUT OF THE CORNER OF my eye I see two of the mech guards leave the dig area and head our way with purpose, almost as if they’ve sensed my fear. Masi stands in front of me defensively as they hover over us.

  I try to stay calm as I look between the two sentinels. Although I still feel a tight ball of hatred deep down, I squeeze my fists, commanding the light to fade. I can feel the warmth of it shrivel and retreat, lost in shadows. I’m soon shivering in the wake of its absence, and only slightly relieved. It’s not the only thing I’m hiding.

  “Find anything down there?” one of them asks, almost too casually.

  The laser canon on his arm is only a few feet away, I could almost reach out and touch it. Soft lights glow against the cool blue metal, and I imagine I can hear it hum as it starts to warm up.

  “Only these,” I say, digging into my pockets. I pull out the little scraps of crafted metal I’d found beneath the lid of the sarcophagus and hold them up with both hands. They twinkle in the lights.

  The guards have no facial expressions but their bodies shift, going from predator-focus to at-ease. They must have viewed me as a threat. Their red eyes blink wider, zooming in on the tiny devices in my palms. One of the mechs swipes them into an enforced containment box and rushes off to show his supervisor. The other stays, considering me silently for a long moment.

  “This area will be closed to all workers until we can assess the damage,” he says finally, turning towards the doorway.

  Right. And to remove all the precious artifacts. I bite my lip. Minus one. The jeweled dagger was a weapon, hidden in the side of my boot. I wondered if it would come in handy later, but I couldn’t see how. It would be of little use against the hard armor of the mech guards.

  “Tomorrow you will be reassigned.”

  “We can all stay as a group still though, right?” I look up at him. “We work well together,” I add quickly. I have to make sure the others stay close to me, so we can all escape tomorrow. If they split us up, I won’t be able to get everyone out.

  “That will be up to the supervisor in the morning. We’ll take you back to your cells now. We’re clearing the area for safety.”

  As if they give a shit about our safety.

  He gestures to another sentinel, who leads us through the now-familiar tunnel toward the exit. I glance behind to see the other mechs crowding around the ancient doorway, like moths to a flame. The entrance is mostly filled for now, I had to squeeze my way out between boulders. It’ll take days for them to clear it again. With any luck, I’ll be gone before they realize what’s missing.

  I’m so sore every step hurts. I feel bruised on the outside and like I’m burnt up on the inside. Heavy footsteps pound behind me, and my heart races as a winged supervisor jogs after us. I will my feet to walk faster, but his large strides catch up easily.

  The dagger is slicing into my ankle, and I shift my weight to hide one leg behind the other. But he only hands us a box with our evening food and water rations. There’s enough for all of us, even Masi. I breathe a sigh of relief as I clutch the rations against my chest. With everything that’s happened today we missed our lunch and dinner meals. I feel more like puking than eating, but the girls need their strength, and the extra food might be useful after we leave the mines.

  Elan’s group is already in their cell as we walk past, the men’s faces drawn into worried lines. A pungent smell stings my nose, and someone is picking on a homemade guitar in the shadows. I see Elan shift over to the bars and watch me as I approach. He narrows his eyes at me, like he’s trying to figure me out, and I wonder idly if I could punch him again and get away with it. The surprised look on his face was priceless. But then he bites his lip with a concerned expression, and I want to do a lot more than punch him.

  My cheeks turn red as I drive illicit images out of my mind.

  I must have hit my head harder than I thought.

  I tighten my hands around the box of rations and grit my teeth, my gaze fixed to the dirt floor as we pass by. Once we’re back in our cells I settle the girls down on their mats with their rations, which are more generous than usual. Then I check their wounds as they pepper me with questions about what happened today. I tell them about the horse puzzle and the empty tomb, and their faces light up with wonder. But that’s enough for now. It’s still too raw, and I can’t risk telling them more and putting them at risk. As I look at all their little faces in the dim light, I hope Janice will be all right wherever they’ve taken her, and that she’ll be back in time to escape with us.

  I feel Masi’s presence in the next cell, but I’m not ready to talk with him yet.

  The power trap
ped inside me hums as I feel his eyes on me. The projection on the screen of his helmet is showing a cooking tutorial, but all I can see in my mind is the strange alien face it’s hiding.

  I thought he was a violent, dangerous rebel, maybe even a leader of the resistance. Not New Terra, maybe, but something. After all, he said he wanted the destroy the artifact and stop the Kreon. Now I wonder if he’s been playing me, using me all this time.

  I want to tell him what I found in the hidden chamber, but how can I trust him? And would he even believe me? I don’t know what really happened in the tomb, but maybe I made a mistake or screwed something up. He was expecting a powerful weapon to use against the Kreon, and instead all we’ve got is an ancient dagger and a teenage girl that glows like the bioluminescent fungi I saw in the crypt. Did I break it somehow? Was it gone, for good?

  I sigh with frustration. Masi was the only person I could discuss these things with, and I wasn’t even sure he was human. I take my time washing the grime off my skin with a wet rag, wincing as I brush past the deep cut near my elbow. It’s stopped bleeding at least. I squeeze the bloody water outside the bars of my cell and watch it run down the steep incline.

  Finally, I can’t put it off any longer. I turn to look at Masi through the darkness, his helmet propped against the corner and one hand wrapped around the bars. His gloves are dirty and wet.

  I frown. “Masi, take off your gloves.”

  He looks down, glancing at his hands.

  “I’m fine,” he says.

  “No, you aren’t. You’re bleeding again.”

  There’s a heavy stillness between us, and it lingers.

  “You saw, didn’t you. In the tomb.” He raises a hand and taps lightly on the side of his helmet. The projection is clear in the dark cell, and I watch as a pair of hands slices up a tomato.

  I get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

  “Masi,” I tremble, taking a step closer. “I need to know. What are you?”

  He pulls his hand away from the bars, hiding in the shadows.

  I hold my breath in the silence that follows.

  Finally, I see his shoulders slump.

  His sigh is heavy through the filter of his mask, so loud I almost don’t hear the word that follows.

  “Kreon,” he says sadly. “I’m Kreon.”

  ***

  My heart beats so hard it feels like it will explode out of my chest. I’m not sure if I should scramble away or stab him with the hidden dagger in my boot. He is my enemy.

  “Are you scared of me now?” he whispers gently, his helmet touching the bars.

  In that moment I realize I should be terrified. I’ve been working alongside a monster. He’s one of the aliens who invaded our planet, stole our resources and held people captive. The Kreon took my parents, and my brother.

  But I can’t forget the way he risked his own life to carry me out of the collapsing tomb, or his gentle manner with the girls. He was a prisoner, just like me, and he was injured.

  “Show me,” I say finally.

  He slowly pulls off one glove and dark blood drips down his fingertips. I gasp and look back up at his helmet. I’m not sure what surprises me more: the red blood or the blue skin.

  The Kreon bleed, just like we do. I stalk over to the corner of my cell and tear a few strips of cloth with my teeth. I’m afraid to touch or move the jeweled knife hidden in my boot, since it nearly incinerated me last time.

  The girls are so wiped out they’ve already crashed. Even Claryce is sprawled out sound asleep on my mat. I squat down at the cell door and reach my arms through.

  “Give me your hand, Masi.”

  He looks down the hallway, then slowly pushes his bloody hand through the bars. Although he can’t get his arm all the way through, I grab his hand in mine and pull it closer. I hear him hiss as the bar scrapes against his broken skin.

  I wet one of the strips of cloth and carefully clean his wounds, trying not to freak out too much about how different his alien hands are. The blue skin is softer and more fragile than mine, so I try to be extra careful as I wipe the pus and blood from the infected gash on his wrist.

  Then I wrap his hands with the dry strips of cloth.

  “I know I should be,” I say, finally answering his question. I hesitate, my hands holding his swathed blue alien hands. I look up at him.

  “But I’m not. I don’t trust you, but I’m not afraid of you.”

  “You really are extraordinary,” he says.

  He pulls his hands back into his own cell, shoving his gloves over the fresh bandages until his skin is hidden again. I’m almost disappointed once he’s fully covered. It’s like getting a glimpse of something extraordinary, and then having it disappear.

  “Masi… can you remove your illusion. I want to see you.”

  He turns toward the tunnel, and then back to me.

  “Are you sure, Rya?”

  I nod and press my face against the cold metal bars. If nothing else, it’s comforting to know he’s already locked up and can’t hurt me. He takes a deep breath and reaches around to the back of his neck. The chrome projection disappears and I see the blue face I saw in the crypt. It’s cast in deep shadows, and I can’t help but gasp and back away at first.

  It’s mostly humanoid, with a small mouth and nostrils, but the eyes are as big as my hand; yellowish green with deep black slits.

  “Honestly this is tame compared to what I was expecting.” I laugh sharply as I remember the nightmares I used to have of tentacles and claws after some of Dad’s stories.

  He blinks his large, green eyes at me. With the helmet on, I can’t see his whole head, only his face. His lips turn up into what looks like a smile. It’s the first expression I’ve ever seen from him. I might be the only human to ever see it.

  “Is this what all Kreons look like?” I ask.

  His large eyes blink from the sides, like a camera filter snapping into place.

  “I still have a thick protective covering over my face, but it’s close to what we look like. I can’t take off the inner covering down here. Your atmosphere is harsh on our bare skin, so we can only be truly without protection on our ships.”

  I reach up to touch his skin. He flinches slightly, but then freezes and leans closer. I stroke his cheek with trembling fingers. It’s textured, like it’s made up of tiny blue stones or scales, and both harder and colder than I expect.

  “That must be horrible to always be hidden. Never to feel the wind on your face, or the sun on your skin.”

  He chuckles. “It’s not like there’s wind or sun on the ship, Rya.”

  I blush. “So none of you have ever really experienced our planet without some sort of shield?” Sadness fills me, quickly followed by anger. No wonder they didn’t care about tearing up our Earth. They can’t ever enjoy it.

  He shakes his head. A comfortable silence stretches between us, which is surreal by itself.

  “I found something down there,” I say quietly. “In the tomb. I mean, under the tomb, in that chamber I fell into. But it didn’t make any sense. I think it might have been your Lucarite princess or whatever. But she wasn’t alone. There were at least a dozen bodies, and one had a crown. I think they were Kreon.”

  “That’s not possible, Rya.” Masi says. “She was buried alone.”

  “I know what I saw,” I say sullenly. “Besides, there’s this.”

  I pull out the dagger and hold it up into the light.

  The small pink gemstones glitter in the darkness.

  “Rya, what if they find that on you?” asks Masi as he watches me.

  “Are you going to tell them?” I glare, my body tense. “You are one of them.”

  He shakes his head. “I’m not like the rest of them. That’s why I’m down here.”

  My anger flares, pulling the light within to the surface. I’m glowing again, but softly now like a candle. I turn my palm toward Masi, who scrambles to his feet
. I smirk at his reaction.

  “Some weapon, huh? It’s barely bright enough for a reading lamp.”

  “But how—?”

  “It happened when I grabbed the dagger. Felt like it was burning my arm off.”

  He gestures for the weapon and I pass it to him through the bars. He turns the cool metal blade over in his newly bandaged hands, then reaches out and touches my glowing palm. This time, the cloth sizzles and turns black. He pulls his hand away quickly and shakes his fingers to cool them off.

  “I wonder why it’s not burning through your clothes?” he asks, staring at his fingers.

  “It didn’t exactly come with an instruction manual, Masi. If you have no idea, I certainly don’t.”

  “It’s just strange,” he says. His voice stays low, even though I’m pretty sure we’re the only ones still awake in this cell block. “This is supposed to be some awesome ancient power, an energy source like nothing else.”

  “Maybe it’s broken,” I said. “Or just too old. You said it’s been here for millennia, right? Do you know more stories?” I ask.

  He shakes his helmeted head.

  “Not in detail.” His voice is heavy with disappointment.

  “Great. Figures.”

  “Humans shouldn’t even be able to wield it. What you’re doing, it’s impossible. It doesn’t make any sense. Unless somehow you have Lucarite blood in you, and that’s impossible, too. The princess died down in that hole. Unless somehow, she didn’t.”

  “And what, had sex with a human, back before the birth of humanity?”

  “It’s worth considering.”

  “She looked pretty dead to me.”

  I cross my arms, adjusting my position against the cool dirt.

  “There’s a legend, a warning. It’s forbidden but I heard whispers when I was younger. That someday a great Lucarite warrior will rise and reclaim the artifact and destroy the Kreon empire. That’s partly why they’re so desperate to get their hands on it first. As long as it’s out there, it’s a threat.”

  I stare at Masi, and then start laughing. Maybe it’s just the stress or exhaustion, but the idea of me carrying ancient alien blood is too silly to entertain. I cover my hand with my mouth and press my face to the bars to look down the tunnel. I don’t hear or see anyone coming.