by Trina Novak
“So you want me to...” Zarak was so already exasperated with the conversation that he couldn’t bear to finish his sentence.
“I want you to fix it. You’re like a female, you seem to have all of those silly feelings. So just write them down,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Get her to agree.”
“You want me to write Cassandra a love letter?” Zarak asked. He couldn’t believe Rollox would even think of such a thing.
“Yes, exactly. Pour out that stupid heart of yours. Say some stupid things that women like. And do it quick, tonight. Bring it to me when you’re done, and I’ll have my man slip it under her door later this evening. Then we can get this settled.”
“So you think one letter is all it takes to win the heart of someone like Cassan—”
Before Zarak could finish, Rollox cut him off. “Don’t pretend to be an expert on women, Zarak. What do you know? No one knows women like I do. All you need to do is say some things to make them feel a certain way, and then they’re all yours. Just do it, ok?”
“Fine,” Zarak said. “I’ll write Cassandra a love letter. No problem.”
No problem at all. There was plenty Zarak wanted to say to Cassandra. A love letter, actually, was an excellent idea. Not for the reasons that Rollox thought, but still.
Of course, that likely meant that he couldn’t go back to her room later that night, but there would be plenty of time in the future. Plenty.
If Zarak had his way, they would have a whole lifetime.
Chapter Fourteen
I’d hoped that after dinner, Zarak and I could sneak back to my room and have some more time alone together. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like that was going to happen. He said there was something he needed to do.
“How about you sneak off and come see me in my room later tonight?” I suggested, giving my eyebrows a wiggle.
“Better not,” he said with a sigh. “Someone is going to stop by your room later, and I really have no idea when.”
“Someone’s coming to my room? Sometime in the middle of the night?” This sounded ominous. “Who? Why?”
“Don’t worry, they won’t come in,” he assured me. “You’ll understand later.”
“I don’t want to sleep alone,” I told him.
“Neither do I,” he said. We were at the far corner of the dining hall, whispering so as not to be heard by the other Azakians still in the room.
“Ok, fine,” I said, trying and failing not to sound disappointed. “I’ll see you tomorrow I guess.”
“First thing in the morning, I’ll come to you,” he assured me. Then he leaned in close and whispered, his breath tickling my ear: “I wish I could kiss you right now.”
“Me too. I wish all these damn people would leave already,” I whispered back.
“You tortured me tonight, at dinner,” he said, a slight scolding tone in his voice. “But I loved it. I wanted to bend you over the table.”
“I wish you would.” I bit my lip to try to stifle the urge to kiss him.
“Oh I will,” he said. He took a step closer to me, as if he was about to kiss me, and then he pulled back. “Good night, Cassandra.”
“Good night.” I didn’t want to, but I left him there, standing in the dining hall. I exited through the large copper door and began the slow walk back to my lonely room.
Before I’d made it more than a foot down the hall, I heard the door behind me open. I turned and saw Zarak.
“I realized I would be insane to let you leave without kissing you,” he said, then quickly took me in his arms.
Behind the door, I could hear the muffled chatter of Azakians, then all sound faded away for a minute as Zarak’s kiss overwhelmed me.
“Good night, Cassandra,” he said, his lips still lightly touching mine. And then he was gone.
I went back to my room, but I couldn’t sleep. It was never easy for me to sleep in unfamiliar surroundings, in an unfamiliar bed, and this bed was much more than just unfamiliar. It was a bed on another planet, millions of miles away from my home. A bed that held the only Earthling on a planet full of aliens, not all of them nice. And of course, it was a bed that just a few hours earlier I’d laid in with Zarak as he took me to heights I’d never reached before.
Nope. Sleep definitely wasn’t going to come easy.
I tossed and turned, wishing for Zarak’s warm body next to mine, and jumping at every little noise. Someone was stopping by my room, Zarak said. And I had no idea who or why. How the hell was I supposed to sleep?
I gave up on the possibility and began pacing the room. I tried to read, but all the books in the room were written in Azakian. Out of boredom, I attempted to do a headstand several times and failed. I laid back down. I counted sheep.
Hours later, I heard footsteps in the hallway outside, and my heart stopped for a moment. Then I heard a light whooshing sound by the door. I turned and saw a single sheet of paper laying on the floor.
I tiptoed across the room and picked up the paper. As I began to read, a smile spread across my face.
~
Dearest Cassandra,
I know we’ve just met, and there are many things about each other that we still don’t know. Even so: I feel like I know you. As crazy as it sounds, I’ve felt this way from the moment I laid eyes on you. And knowing you, Cassandra, I can’t help but feel lucky. Lucky to have found a woman, finally, after so many years, that inspires such passion within me. And lucky to have found a woman that is so much more than just the sum of her parts. You aren’t just beautiful, and you aren’t just smart. You aren’t just strong, and you aren’t just sensitive. You are all of these things and more. You amaze me, Cassandra, and I know that you are a fascinating mystery that is only just beginning. I am utterly hooked on you – decidedly so. And I can’t wait to learn more.
Yours,
Rollox
~
Rollox?! Yeah, right. I had to laugh. Obviously, there was no question as to who had written the letter. And it definitely wasn’t Rollox.
I read it again, over and over again, until I fell asleep, the letter next to me on the pillow.
A few hours later, I awoke to the feeling of warm lips on my neck. I opened my eyes and saw Zarak.
“Good morning,” he said. “Did you sleep well?”
“Not really,” I admitted. “This bed is too big for just one person.” I sat up and rubbed my eyes. “I got your letter, though. That helped. Or, Rollox’s letter, that is.”
Zarak chuckled. “He told me to write a love letter for him. He seems to think that’s all it takes to win you over.”
“Well, it worked,” I teased. “I mean, sure, Rollox has a completely disgusting soul, but he cares enough to have someone write a fake love letter for him. What’s not to like?”
He laughed as he ran his fingers through my hair, then he suddenly grew serious. “That letter wasn’t fake. The only fake thing about it was the name at the end.”
I decided it was time for me to be serious too. “Zarak, what are we going to do?” I asked, leaning my head on his shoulder. “We can’t sneak around like this forever. And I have to go back home in a few days. I don’t want to, but... I’m also not going to marry your disgusting brother just so I can stay here and be with you. You know that, right?”
“Of course,” he said, twirling a stray lock of my hair around his fingers. “Do you trust me, Cassandra?”
“Absolutely. I do,” I told him.
“Good. Because I have a plan. It may mean that you have to go back to Earth, just temporarily. We might be apart for a while. But I promise you, I’m going to fix this. Just leave it to me.”
“What is it? What’s the plan?” I asked.
“It’s... complicated. And I don’t want to spend what little time we have together talking about it. Just trust me, please.” I told him I would. “So the plan, for today at least, is to enjoy ourselves. There’s somewhere I want to take you. So get ready to leave, and meet me in the dining hall.”
“That’s Mount Azakia,” Zarak said.
I tilted my head and looked up at it; the planet’s twin suns hovering in the sky. “It’s spectacular.”
“This is one of my favorite places to be,” he said. “Here at the foot of the mountain.”
“But isn’t this... isn’t this where the infamous pit is? The one Rollox is always threatening to throw people in?”
Zarak shook his head. “Rollox loves to make empty threats. But he’s never actually thrown anyone in the pit.”
That was good to know. The scene would seem a lot less romantic if I knew there was a giant pit full of skeletons nearby.
Zarak pulled a blanket out of the bag he’d brought with him, and spread it out on the ground, then gestured for me to take a seat. But before I could, I heard the little popping noise that I had come to know as Keptin’s calling card.
I turned and saw Keptin, standing in the grass next to the blanket. My fists clenched.
“Hello!” he said, giving us a wave. “Just checking in.”
“Not now Keptin,” I snapped. “Please.”
“Well I was just—”
I cut him off. “I said not now. I’m trying to enjoy the view of this beautiful mountain here. If I need you, I’ll call you. Got it?”
Keptin nodded. “Yes, yes, got it. ‘My bad,’ as your planet’s teenagers like to say. Have a good day!”
Keptin popped off to whatever dimension he’d came from, and I let out a long sigh.
“That little guy...” I said, plopping down on the blanket. “Always popping in when you least expect it. Are all interdimensional beings that annoying?”
Zarak sat down next to me, then turned to me and smiled. “Do you want to know a secret?”
“Always,” I said.
“I’m interdimensional,” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“No way!” I truly could not fathom how Keptin and Zarak could be similar in any way. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Zarak shrugged. “It never came up.”
“So you can just... you can do what Keptin does? Pop into different dimensions?”
“Unfortunately, no. I suspect I’m only partially interdimensional. Maybe only one of my birth parents was, I can’t say. I have no memory of them. And not all interdimensional beings can do what Keptin does. There are many different races of interdimensional beings, all with their own specific powers. I can’t personally travel between dimensions, but I can pull things through. And if I try hard enough, I can also release them.”
“I don’t understand at all. Can you show me?” I asked.
“Sure,” he said, giving me a mysterious smile. Then he closed his eyes and held out his hand, and a large purple flower appeared in it, much like Keptin’s mysterious folders appeared and disappeared into thin air.
He handed me the flower and I turned it over in my palm. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said, completely enthralled by this new piece of information about Zarak. Then he took the flower back, extended his hand, closed his eyes, and it was gone again, as if it had never existed. “Where did it go?” I asked. “How do you do it?”
“I could try to explain it to you,” he said, “but I don’t think it would help you understand. Basically, it’s like a kind of interdimensional telekinesis. My mind goes somewhere else, and I can transfer objects between worlds, between dimensions.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I still don’t get it,” I said. “So how does an interdimensional mystery man get adopted by the queen of another planet anyway?” I asked.
“It’s a long story,” he replied. And then he told me.
Zarak, he explained, had no memory of his early childhood, or his real parents. His first memories were of living on a dusty, arid planet, surrounded by other young children. They slept in bunks, packed into filthy rooms, and were fed scraps twice a day by large men with weapons.
“Was it some kind of orphanage?” I asked, taking his hand and squeezing it.
“No, it was worse than that. It was a mining colony made up entirely of children. We were forced to work all day, every day, and if we were caught resting we were beaten,” he said, his voice low.
“Oh, Zarak,” I said, squeezing his hand tighter. “I had no idea.”
He went on to tell me that he spent years on that dry, dusty planet, working until his body ached. He grew taller, stronger, which of course meant that he was expected to work harder. And he did. He worked harder than any of the other children, working sometimes until he was physically sick. But it was, he explained, all he knew. All he knew was work. He didn’t know love, or kindness, or laughter.
Until, one day, a woman appeared on the planet, accompanied by her own group of large men with weapons. Zarak said that when he saw her, the sun shining on her golden hair, he thought she was an angel. Her name was Ramana, she explained to the children, and she was the Queen of a faraway planet called Azakia. And she had come to save them all.
Queen Ramana used her immense power in the Galactic Federation to shut down the mining operation and imprison anyone and everyone who had even the slightest involvement. Then she found the true identities of every child on the planet – all of whom had been kidnapped from their families – and personally delivered each child back to the safety of their home. Eventually, there was only one child left. A strong yet sensitive young boy with clear green eyes. No one knew where he came from, who his parents were. She took this last orphan boy home with her, and named him Zarak.
Later, the slave planet, known as Zylaxan-1, was destroyed, once and for all putting an end to that ugly time in history.
Zarak cherished his adopted mother, and she adored him. She felt, she once told Zarak, that she had been given a second chance, a chance to correct the mistakes she’d made with Rollox, who had grown to be a spoiled, arrogant, and extremely hateful young man.
Queen Ramana’s sons, one adopted and one biological, were never brothers, not really. They were just two men forced to live on the same planet together.
As Zarak grew older, his powers began to develop. He kept them hidden, as he was already different enough as it was. He had never told a soul about his interdimensionality. Not until he told me.
And that, Zarak explained, was the story of how he ended up on Azakia.
We sat in silence for a while after he’d finished telling the story, laying together on the blanket at the foot of Mount Azakia. “Zarak,” I finally said, “my heart breaks for you. You’ve been through so much. I don’t know what to say...”
Zarak turned to me. “Say you love me.”
“What?” My eyes widened. Had I heard him right?
“Say you love me,” he repeated. “Because I love you, Cassandra.”
Chapter Fifteen
Zarak fixed his eyes on Cassandra, waiting for her to answer him. Then, finally, she spoke.
“I love you, Zarak,” she said, the words coming out with a deep sigh. “I really do.”
He took her in his arms, then flipped her onto her back and covered her body with his. He kissed her, tasting the sweetness of her lips, the warmness of her tongue as it pressed against his. They kissed for a long time, their limbs tangled together, the wind blowing in their hair.
He needed to put his plan into action immediately, he realized. There was no time to waste. The next day, he decided, he and Cassandra would run away together, far away from Azakia, and make a life together.
He had already scouted out a planet, called Alluvia. It was a beautiful, lush planet, with a glittering sea. He had friends there, and he knew that he and Cassandra would be welcomed and protected by the Alluvians.
He hated to leave Azakia – after all, it was the only home he had ever truly known. And he had alway
s hoped that one day he would be able to bring the planet back to its former beauty, repair its tarnished galactic image, and make it once again a world that all Azakians could be proud of. He wanted to do this, most of all, for his adopted mother.
But for Cassandra, he’d leave it all behind if he had to. Rollox could stay and rot in his pile of putrid zonberries. Zarak had a woman to fight for, a woman to protect, a woman to love.
“Will you come away with me? Leave Earth behind?” Zarak asked her, pulling his lips away from hers. He held his breath and waited for her response.
“I’ll go anywhere, Zarak,” she said. “As long as we’re together.”
“Let’s leave tomorrow,” he said. “My plan isn’t completely in place yet, but I can make it work.”
He briefly explained everything to her – about Alluvia, about his friends there, about leaving Azakia, and Earth, and making a new life together. He was so eager to spring into action, to stop talking and start doing – that his words came out hurried, rushed, breathless.
“Let’s do it,” Cassandra said after he’d explained the basics to her. “Tomorrow. I’m in.”
Unfortunately, that meant that they couldn’t spend the rest of the day lounging by the side of Mount Azakia, enjoying each other’s bodies. Zarak had so much to do – too much, almost, to do in one day. But he could do it. For Cassandra, he’d make anything happen.
They walked back to the main Azakian compound together, holding hands until they’d crested the hill, and then they parted ways in the courtyard, unable to have a proper goodbye kiss due to the many Azakians that were nearby.
“I’ll come to your room late tonight,” he told her.
She smiled, then nudged him with her arm. “You better. I’ll wait up for you.”
“See you soon,” he whispered to Casandra as he walked away.
Zarak had no idea, in that moment, that everything was about to change, in ways more shocking than he ever could have dreamed of.