Broken Skies

by Kay, Theresa

  “You were completely out of it. Eventually, you’d let me sit with you for short periods so Jace could gather supplies, but never long enough for him to really get ahead. Winter came. There was no food left and he had nothing to trade. He turned that cabin upside down for something he could use to barter for food. Your father had a little hiding place under the floorboards. Not much useful to him at the time, mostly a few old notebooks, but there was something he thought he could trade— a bracelet, at least that’s what he thought it was.” He takes a deep breath. “My father knew what it was and put the pieces together almost immediately. I don’t know how, but he knew…things…He’d been searching for the alien hybrid child for years, only to find out there were two. He offered Jace the chance to move into Bridgelake. Jace accepted.”

  “But I was only out of it for a few days…”

  Flint’s eyes hold a mixture of remorse and sadness. “No, you were near comatose for months.”

  “Why didn’t he tell me?” Had I known, I would never have chased after that ship, never lead Jace right into their trap. We would be at home right now and Jace would be safe.

  Flint shrugs. “Even when you woke up, you were so distant and just broken. Once he figured out what was going on, he also figured out that you weren’t… functional? Jace was already paying the price. We decided it was better to leave it be.”

  “Functional? We decided…What the hell Flint?”

  His face goes red and his words start hissing through his clenched teeth. “You have no idea how hard it was for him, what you went through… He wanted to tell you about this, but he also wanted to protect you. We didn’t think any more complications would be good for you.”

  “Who were you to decide what was best for me?” The realization that Jace could hide so much from me stings like salt in a wound.

  “You checked out. You left him. He didn’t know what to do. He did the only thing he could— for you. No matter how much it hurt him, he protected you. Took care of you. Watched over you. My father is not a good man and the price he asked of your brother was high. The things he did to assure your safety have about destroyed him.” The bitter anger in his eyes cuts like a knife. “It was always about you.”

  Suddenly I see our last conversation at the lake in a new light, Jace looking forward to a shopping trip, Jace telling me it couldn’t be just us forever… Jace stepping in to distract the aliens. Bile rises in my throat. I stand and half step half stumble backwards with my hand over my mouth. Always for me. Always about me. All my fault. Everything. I don’t even bother trying to hold back or hide my tears, just let them trail down my cheeks and bite down on the side of my hand, shaking my head back and forth.

  Flint moves up from his chair and moves toward me.

  “Get away from her.” Lir steps up to stand in front of me. “She doesn’t need to be yelled at for things beyond her control.”

  “And I bet you know just what she needs, erk. To be carted off to live as a prisoner in your city? To fix all your problems? I’m sure Jace is having a swell time with your friends.” He steps forward, inches from Lir’s face. “What do you even care? What she doesn’t need is you.”

  “I care about her,” yells Lir. The air leaves my chest in a whoosh. “Yes, I care about my people too and she’s obviously a part of that, but I won’t make Jax’s choices for her. You and her brother seem to have done enough of that.”

  Lir and Flint glare at each other, their muscles visibly vibrating with tension. The pressure in the room rises another level, so I step between them, putting my hands out. “You two fighting is not going to help anything. I don’t like that you and Jace kept me in the dark, but I can’t do anything about it now.” I drop my hands and grasp Flint’s shoulder. “But there is something I can do. I can bring him back. It’s my turn to protect Jace and I’ll do it or die trying.”

  “He wouldn’t want you to do this.” Hope and anguish fight for control of his features. “Jace wouldn’t want you to die for him.”

  “But he would die for me.” I lower my hands and step away from the two boys. “Time is running out and there’s a lot we have to do.”

  EIGHTEEN

  Between Peter and Flint, my choice for a driving instructor is obvious. Being in an enclosed space with the chatty priest with my already frayed nerves would not work out well for Peter. The truck has to be running first though. Peter’s ‘upkeep’ apparently hadn’t been very recent.

  We’re all standing outside now, Flint enforcing the uneasy truce with Lir.

  Daniel is the only one here with any mechanical knowledge and he refuses to help with the truck. He keeps narrowing his eyes at Lir and then sending Flint loaded looks. Both are better than his expression when his gaze rests on me. Flint ends up pulling him aside and talking to him in low tones with a lot of head shaking going on. The two other soldiers follow.

  Peter fusses over me, claiming my leg won’t be able to handle the stress of the clutch. I pull up my pant leg and show him the now healed wound. His eyes widen and he opens his mouth, but Lir pulls him to the side over by the truck and the two of them put their heads together, deep in conversation. Their conversation over, the four Bridgelake soldiers eye the duo and Flint breaks away and comes to stand with me.

  “You sure about this?” he asks.

  “I’m getting Jace. There’s no other choice for me.”

  He sighs and runs a hand over his face. “Yeah. I know that. I meant are you sure about…the alien? Can you trust him?”

  I watch Lir and Peter. Can I trust him? If Flint had asked me yesterday I would have said yes without hesitation, but he’s been distant and strange since the soldiers got here. Since he found out what I am. Of course, having guns pointed at me wouldn’t do anything good for my mood either.

  Green eyes meet mine over the top of Peter’s head and he gives me a weak smile before shifting his gaze to Flint.

  “He’s not too fond of me,” says Flint. I snort and the side of his mouth goes up. “Rather fond of you though. Wanna explain that?” He leans forward and turns his head to look at me.

  Why is Lir fond of me? I mean, we’ve made huge strides lately and there was that super embarrassing kiss, but what is his interest in me? It’s not like anything else is possible between us. He’s got his world and I have mine, at least as soon as I’ve gotten Jace back I will. I shrug. “We’ve had to depend on each other. I’ve saved his life. He’s saved mine. We’re friends.”

  “Friends?” Flint does his own version of the eyebrow thing.

  “Yeah.” I try to avoid the heat that fills my cheeks and look away. “What else could we be?”

  Flint doesn’t answer, just presses his back against the wall, folds his arms over his chest and watches Lir. “I’m worried about you,” he says after a few moments. “Something isn’t right in this situation. What was he doing out there? Why was he left behind? If you go into that city, they have both you and Jace. What if they won’t let you back out? Especially since that one knows what you are?”

  “Lir’s different. He’s not like the rest of them.”

  “How would you even know?”

  He’s got a point. Lir and I have spent over two weeks together and he knows an awful lot about my life, but I know virtually nothing about his. I know how old he is and that he has a younger sister. I’ve slept curled in his arms, cried on his chest, even kissed him and I don’t even know his last name. Do the aliens even have last names? He’s known all along what my mission is, but never given me any idea of how or where I might find Jace, never even hinted at the layout of the city and how he’s planning on getting me in there.

  We’d been shoved into an intense situation, well, I dragged us into one anyway. It’s only natural that we’d develop a strong connection, right? Only natural that guilt eats at me for not defending him to Flint more. Only natural that I’d like nothing more than to be curled in his arms right now. Have I been a total fool?

  Flint breaks me out of my roaming though
ts. “There’s something we need to discuss before you head in there. Away from the alien.”

  “Your buddies going to refrain from shooting him while we’re gone? I don’t trust Daniel.”

  He presses his lips together and his eyes go back to Lir. “I’ll talk to them.”

  I narrow my eyes and nod slowly. “Okay.”

  Flint walks back to the rest of the soldiers. After a few minutes of intense discussion, Daniel and the other two walk away down the driveway.

  Lir breaks away from Peter and opens the hood of the truck. Maybe that’s his job in the city, an alien mechanic. I can hope, right? He props it open with a block of wood the priest hands him and rests his hands on the raised hood, staring intently into the engine compartment. He turns his head to talk to Peter and I study his profile.

  His hair looks ridiculous, but it doesn’t detract from his other features. He stands tall and confident even under the glares of the other humans. I’ve seen him scared and he doesn’t look like he’s worried, but I feel just the slightest edge of unease rolling off him and curling in my stomach. The familiar heat of anger is buzzing in my body too, but it’s not mine. It’s more of a slow burn than the sudden, intense flare that signals my own emotions. What is happening to me?

  My breath stutters in my chest. This has happened before. Someone else’s emotions, someone else’s thoughts burrowing into my head. Unwelcome. Hurting. Knife. Blood. Hands. Hands on hair. Hands on neck. Hands on…Nonononono.

  A screech. Palms pressed to temples, I fall to my knees. Get them out. Out. Out. Out. Banging hands on head. I forgot to breathe again. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out.

  Slowly my breaths even out, oxygen bringing reality back into focus, bringing Flint’s gun back into focus, the gun that’s pointed at Lir.

  “Get out of her head.” Flint’s words are a hiss beside my ear.

  “I’m not… I didn’t…Blazes, do you really think I would do that to her?”

  With one shaky hand, I push the barrel of Flint’s gun away. “Stop. Not his fault.” My tongue loosens with each word I manage to push out. “A flashback. A panic attack. Old news now, right?”

  “Jesus, Jax.” Flint puts his arms around me and pulls me back into his chest. “Since when do you have them when you’re awake and no one else is anywhere near you?”

  “Since today?” Breathing is still work right now. “At least one that bad. It’s been a rough couple weeks.” I clutch his arms folded in front of me and close my eyes as my heartbeat stops racing.

  The gray sludge of sadness laps at me from across the driveway. Lir. I wasn’t imagining it then. I open my eyes and meet his. There are so many emotions there I almost drown. Sorrow. Anger. Regret. And even something else that I don’t want to face. I see a realization cross his face and the flow of emotions from him slams shut, leaving me strangely empty.

  * * * * * * *

  I spend about twenty minutes getting my bearings back before following Flint to the other side of the house and walking into the woods. He glances back behind us as he walks until the house cannot be seen through the trees.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” He places a hand on my shoulder and comes to a stop.

  Still a little shaky, I almost dodge his touch but I pull myself together before he notices. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.” Squinting at him, I tilt my head to the side. “Why did you assume Lir was doing something back there? What did you mean by get out of my head?”

  Flint blows a loud breath out through his lips and paces a few steps with his hands clasped together behind his back. He pauses and looks up at me from under his brow before taking a few more steps. “They have some sort of mind connection thing…Jace can…He does it too. That’s how he’s always able to calm you. He can push emotions at you or something.” He shrugs and shakes his head. “I don’t really know how it all works, but I figured you were looking at…him… when it happened. He all but admitted to being in your head, you realize that right?”

  “Yes,” I say. Up to this point, I’d been handling the whole half alien thing rather well. I don’t feel any different, but the idea that Jace had been in my head outside of whatever twin connection we shared sends my mind reeling. How different are we? Am I? What other strange abilities will manifest? How much did Jace keep from me? How long has he been manipulating my emotions? And has Lir been doing the same?

  “Though, as much as I don’t want to admit it, I don’t think he was trying to hurt you,” Flint says, breaking me out of the escalating cycle of worry spinning in my brain. He rubs the back of his neck with one hand. “He seemed genuinely upset to see you in that much stress.” I raise my eyebrows and he frowns. “Doesn’t mean I trust him. There’s a lot more to the situation with Jace and the aliens, a lot of things you don’t know…”

  “You’d be surprised about how much I do know. I know about Jace. What he’s done.”

  He flinches and purses his lips together. “He didn’t want to do any of that. That’s not him.”

  “I know that.” I fold my arms over my chest. “As much as he’s obviously hidden from me, Jace is not a bad person.”

  His mouth turns up into a small, sad smile. “When did you find out?”

  “A few days ago.”

  A wrinkle forms on his brow. “But… you’ve been gone for weeks? How’d you find out about it?”

  “Lir told me.”

  Flint stops pacing altogether and gapes at me. “He knows. He knows who he’s helping and he’s still doing it?”

  I shrug. “Yeah.”

  His eyes roam back toward the house and he shakes his head softly. “That’s interesting.” Another noisy exhalation. “How much do you trust him?”

  Good question. I trust Lir with my life, but with Jace’s? I’m still not so sure about that. “Why?” I ask

  “Jace was assisting my father with an attack plan.”

  “A plan to attack what?”

  “The city. The aliens.”

  I scoff. “Impossible. There’s no way he could get through the barrier.”

  “The alien ships get in and out,” says Flint. “How do you think they do that?” When I don’t respond, he continues. “He hasn’t told you much then. There’s a small device installed on each ship that lets them pass. That’s what Jace stole off the last downed ship. That’s what got them all worried and trigger happy. They know we can get in now.”

  “Why hasn’t Dane already attacked? What’s he waiting for?”

  Flint laughs nervously and rubs his hand over his head. “That’s a funny thing. Seems the device disappeared the same night you did.”

  The little metal object I took from the locked desk drawer. Has to be. “So his plan was what? Send you out to drag me back?”

  “Uh, not exactly. He doesn’t know I’m here.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  “Well, I was planning on rescuing you from the erk,” he says dryly. I open my mouth to respond, but he holds up a hand to stop me. “Obviously, that’s unnecessary. But …I’d like you to give me the device.”

  “So you can take it back to Bridgelake and hand it over to your father?”

  He shakes his head. “No. I’m a lot of things, but I’m not stupid. The second he’s got that thing back, he’ll attack and he won’t be selective about targets.” He pauses and swallows. When he looks at me again, his eyes are shiny with the start of tears. “Jace is in there and…for now…he’s at least alive. If there’s any chance… I can’t lose him.” He bites his lip. “I promised him I’d protect you, but instead I’m begging you to go in and get him. I’ll hold on to the device only as a backup plan, just in case…I need to come in after you, in case you can’t get out on your own.”

  “Lir won’t let anything bad happen to me.”

  “You don’t know that. I know you think he’s being up front with you, but what if he’s not? You have no idea what you’re getting into in that city. They might look like us, but they’re still aliens. They came here and never off
ered to help us, never suggested integration, nothing. Just holed up in the city and ignored us. But it turns out they’ve been here a while, you and Jace are proof of that. What if they’ve been here even longer than that? What if they caused the Collapse and now they’re just biding their time while the rest of us die off?”

  The implications of that make my head spin. What if…?

  He must take my silence as understanding. “As crude as it is, there’s a reason for the breeder camps. Fewer children are being born and those that are, they’re sickly. Every child born in the last ten years.” I fill in the rest of that thought on my own. Every child born since the aliens moved into the city…

  I’d known there were tensions between humans and the aliens, but it had never been something I paid attention too. Dad hadn’t raised us that way, though I guess I now know the reason why. Even level-headed Emily didn’t trust Lir, yelled at him, called him ‘it’ like the others. Once again, there’s so much more going on that I’ve been completely oblivious to. What else have I been blind to?

  Flint sighs and studies his feet. “Unless, you can talk the erk into bringing me in too, I need you to do this. Jace would never forgive me if I let you walk into that city without some kind of back up plan.” He raises his face, anguish etched into his features. “You know what they’ve been doing to him, you’ve seen it. What if they get their hands on you too? I don’t think you’d come back from something like that, Jax, not again, and we have no idea how much damage they’ve already done to him.”

  As I study his features, pain and longing obvious on his face, another thing I’d been too selfish to see becomes clear. “You and Jace, huh?”

  Shock crosses his face and he shakes his head frantically and takes a step back. He watches my face for a beat and then his shoulders slump, he sighs and nods. “Nobody else knows. My father would… not be happy.”

  “How long have you guys been…together?”

  “There’s always been something between us, but we didn’t…act on it until about a year and a half ago.” He meets my eyes. “I love him. I would do anything for him.”