by Kay, Theresa
“That makes two of us then.” I smile. “With the two of us on his side, no one can stand in our way.”
He laughs and wipes at his eyes with his sleeve. “So you’ll do it? Give me the device to hold on to?”
“Yes, I trust you. Though I might have to smack my brother around a bit for keeping this from me,” I say, throwing one arm over his shoulders. “You guys could have told me you know.”
Flint brings his other arm around and pulls me into a hug, resting his chin on my head. “Yeah. We were just so used to hiding it and we thought—”
“—you were doing what was best for me.” His chin bobs. “Do me a favor, next time you and Jace decide to do ‘what’s best for me’ without consulting me, smack yourselves upside the head.”
“Will do,” says Flint, chuckling.
NINETEEN
Two hours later, I watch Flint’s form recede into the distance as Lir drives us down Peter’s driveway. Flint and I spent a while in the woods discussing our plan and by the time we got back to Peter and Lir, they had gotten the truck running. Peter was chattering away to Lir in the passenger seat as the alien drove around in a circle. So, by default, Lir will be doing the driving.
Flint raises one hand in a wave, a somber expression on his face. When he lowers his hand, he pats the front pocket of his jacket lightly, the pocket that contains the small metal object from Dane’s desk. The reassurance I get from knowing he’ll do what’s needed is barely enough to edge out the gut-twisting guilt from not telling Lir about any of it. One week and then Flint will come in after me. I only hope I don’t need that time. I return his wave and send a second, happier, wave to Peter.
The silence between Lir and I borders on uneasy. He hasn’t said more than a few words to me since my breakdown in the driveway. Actually, the whole bordering thing isn’t true; It is uneasy. My mind still reels from my stupidity for kissing him and, even more important, the new knowledge of my heritage and potential abilities.
Obviously, the alien part of me can connect with Jace and had connected to him in my dreams. That part sounds similar to the mental communication Lir described to me, but it is the emotion thing that really worries me. Jace used it to control me. Even if he was trying to help, the fact that he did it without my knowledge has nausea brewing in my stomach. How do I tell what thoughts and feelings are mine?
Back at Peter’s, I’d recognized the foreign emotions coming from Lir, but they were strong and almost overwhelming. I can’t pinpoint any other time when I… connected with Lir, but would I have even noticed something more subtle? Jace had managed to use the connection without any training and Lir would be used to it, he would understand it, know how to use it…Pieces fall into place. The calm I get from his touch. The shorter nightmares. The draw I feel toward him. That stupid, impulsive kiss…
I burrow back into my seat, pull my legs up, and tuck them under me. Flint’s words dance in my head, poking at my own doubts and fears. I’ve spent barely over two weeks with Lir. Is that really long enough to know someone, to trust someone? Especially considering we weren’t speaking for a few days and I was out of my mind for another few.
When not sleeping or ill, I’ve been the one doing most of the talking. He’s been a steady, quiet presence, giving very little away. Or has he?
He said he’d heard rumors, but rumors of what exactly? The aliens as far as anyone knows stay in their city. How would the possibility of my heritage, my existence reach their ears? If they knew… that would mean that, as Flint said, they have been here far longer than anyone realized. But why hide that? What isn’t he telling me?
Driving is much quicker than hiking and it’s a little over an hour before we reach the outskirts of the city. The closer we get to the towering buildings in the distance, the more his muscles tense. His shoulders push back and he sits straighter. I can see his hands clenching around the steering wheel and I want to comfort him, reassure him that this is going to be okay, offer him the same comfort he has offered me before. But I don’t know how to bridge this distance forming between us, how to cross over the gaping chasm of my uncertainty and newfound distrust.
The wind has pulled my hair from its braid, so I run my fingers through it and redo the braid, twisting it into a bun on the back of my neck. Waves of tension cross the car and roll into me. I wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans and try to focus on keeping my breath steady. He’s doing it again. Has he been doing it all along? I want to ask, but icy trails of my own fear are starting to climb my spine as we draw even nearer to the city.
As my pulse ratchets up, the flow of… whatever it is coming from Lir cuts off abruptly and even more abruptly, the tires move into the gravel on the side of the road as he pulls the truck to a stop.
“What are you doing?”
Lir turns to meet my eyes, a nervous expression on his face. What now? “Before we go in there, there are some things you should know.” My face must do something strange because he is quick to reassure me. “Nothing bad, well, not…” Lir blows a breath out through pursed lips. “There are a lot of things that I haven’t told you.”
“No kidding,” I say dryly. “If we’re getting things out in the open, how about we start with the whole emotion sharing thing or whatever it is because that kinda creeps me out.”
A shocked look crosses his face for a moment and then he nods. “Fair enough.” His teeth press against his lower lip. “The emotional connection is called the dhama. It has various purposes and, although we can use the kitu to link to any within our race to some degree, the dhama develops between those with family ties…or, uh, emotional ties.”
Emotional ties? No time to dwell on that now. There are more pressing questions rushing past my lips. “Does this mean that anyone in the city can get into my head? Can they read my thoughts?”
“No.”
That was a very quick answer. I narrow my eyes. “You seem awfully sure about that.”
He becomes rather fascinated with the seat in front of him and rubs the back of his neck with one hand. “I told you before about the functionality of the kitu as a communication device, so we can communicate mind to mind, but unless you send the thoughts out there, broadcast them, no one else can pick up on them. Well, not without a kiun anyway.”
“What—”
“Not something you need to worry about.”
“That’s not what I was going to ask.” Actually it was, but then a pretty clear image of some sort of fancy headband popped into my head. Wasn’t anything I’ve ever seen, so it had to be from him. Can’t read minds my ass. Or maybe…I can? I squint my eyes and stare at him but nothing happens.
Lir gives me a confused look and raises an eyebrow. “There’s something else. I—”
“How did you hear rumors about me, about what I am, if you guys are supposed to stay in your city?”
He presses his lips together and shakes his head. “I will get to that, but what I have to say is more important right now. The—”
“No. Answer my question.” I fold my arms over my chest.
“The rumors aren’t from the humans. We have rumors of our own about what your friend called our ‘early arrival program.’ Your half-alien heritage isn’t exactly an accident.” At my silence, he continues. “When our planet started to fail, we sent scouts here, to research, blend in, find out if this planet was compatible. They arrived about ten years before what you call the Collapse. The team found that although their kitus allowed them to live comfortably, the atmosphere wasn’t quite right and would not be compatible for any children born here. There were efforts to create a hybrid….” He squeezes his eyes shut and drives his teeth into his lower lip. “…an organism our scientists could study to help us make any necessary adjustments to our own biology. The last transmission we ever received from Earth declared the attempts to combine human DNA with ours a failure. That was only days before the events that led up to the almost total decimation of this planet and the human race. But we had no other options. We ca
me to Earth anyway. Put the dome in place to protect the kitu-less children until a solution could be found. But you… you’re going to change everything. They’ll let you stay—”
Any other words crossing his lips don’t even register to me. Three phrases echo in my head. An experiment. An organism. For study… Flint was wrong about the weapon part but spot on about the carting me off to be a prisoner in this city. I’m across the seat, my back against the door and my fingers scrabbling for the handle almost before I can blink. Far, far away from the traitorous boy who pretended to care. I dig my nails into my palms until the backs of my eyes burn, desperate to stop my hands from shaking.
“Jax…” His voice is soft and his eyes plead with me to understand… What the hell am I supposed to understand? “Let me explain.”
Lir scoots forward. Once he’s in reach, my hand flies out, landing across his cheek with a loud crack. For the lies? For the manipulation? Or for the humiliation for thinking he actually cared about me?
“I don’t want your explanation.” I’m lost, alone and cornered, my words bitter barbs meant to cut and hurt and stick. “Have you been lying the whole time or just since you figured out what I am? Thought you’d just toy with the stupid, stupid girl you could manipulate with a wink and a kiss. And all along I’m some sort of experiment for you to toy with.”
“No! That’s not what you are to me!” The blazing green fire of his eyes stands out against his cheek, bright red with the imprint of my hand. He reaches forward, but I bat away the hand he raises to touch my arm, my cheek, my something.
“Get back!” He doesn’t listen.
“Jax…”
“When they take me will you hear my screams in your head like I hear Jace’s? How far could I broadcast? Can I make you all hear it, feel it?”
A lukewarm cocktail of worry spiked with guilt pours into me. Not mine. I flush it out with my own flaring rage, but without the heat of my anger, frosty fear takes over. Ice in my veins, freezing my limbs but leaving my head to spin. They’re going to put me in that white, white room.
Jace! My brother’s name becomes a chant in my head and my hands start to shake. I’m too frozen to move away when Lir grabs my upper arms and pulls me toward him.
His arms wrap around my back in a tight hug, pressing me against him. “Just listen to me. Please!”
The urge to relax into his embrace wars with my raging desire to flee. Flee the vehicle, flee the road, flee… to where? There’s nowhere for me to go, not without Jace. I force my limbs to relax and pull back.
A heated intensity brews in his eyes. “That’s not what you are to me.” And then his mouth is on mine.
My body freezes at first, but then gradually relaxes against him and his lips move softly against mine. The movement is gentle and unsure, fiery, but not demanding. I tentatively move my hands to his hair, trailing my nails over his scalp and Lir makes a sound in the back of his throat and pulls me closer. When my hand reaches his neck, I trace the scales there with one fingertip, making small circles against them. Every part of him that touches me causes tingles to rise up and race over my body.
There’s more to this kiss, a tiny shift, a spark, a rush of something that I don’t understand, but I lose myself in it anyway, giving myself the luxury of pushing aside all the worries and questions in my head. The connection— the dhama— flares to life and it’s almost disorienting, feeling his desire, his elation and his worry all mixed together with my own emotions in a swirling whirlpool that pulls me down and makes my head spin. But I see the difference now. I can tell his emotions from mine
Lir pulls away, presses another soft kiss on my lips, runs his hand down my cheek and then turns back to the steering wheel. “This isn’t going to be easy. I will do everything in my power to protect you and get your brother back, but you have to trust me. Please.” I nod slowly and he pulls back on to the road without another word.
Stunned into silence, I sit with the fingers of one hand brushing against my lower lip. In the heat of the kiss, my panic receded so it’s not fear that has left me reeling but the niggling sense that something major just happened. And not just to me. What was that?
TWENTY
The large buildings that towered when they were in the distance seem even more impossibly large as we get closer. I’ve never seen anything like it and my eyes widen with awe. Bridgelake, always so large to me before, is dwarfed by this place. I’m not entirely sure what the city looked like before, but I can’t imagine it was anything like it is now. Shiny, clean and perfect, the city stretches out for at least a few miles. Small buildings line the road, increasing in size toward the center where three large towers are arranged in a circle. The design is almost too uniform. The E’rikon must have done much more than just rebuild. To achieve this, they would have had to raze the city to the ground and recreate it how they wanted it. This is no longer a city built by human hands.
My eyes are pulled from the beauty of the city ahead to a shimmer in the air. I gasp at the wall of—energy?— blocking the road and any further progress forward. So that’s the barrier that has kept humans out all these years. It’s situated around a mile out from the first building and rises upward into the air quite a ways before curving over toward the city. I guess calling it a thingy was understating it a bit.
Lir stops the truck a good distance from the barrier and clenches his jaw before speaking. “I have not had the time to prepare you like I would have liked to, especially considering...” He shakes his head softly and then continues. “You have to trust that I will get you through this. In a way what you are will make this easier, but there are those that are not going to like that I brought a human into our city and until I can get my father to call a Council meeting, that is what you need to be, a simple human. No matter what happens, know that I am on your side and I am doing what I can to get you to your brother.”
I nod slowly. His green eyes search my face, as if memorizing it. Leaning forward, Lir presses his forehead against mine. “It won’t be easy. There are procedures, rules, expectations…I will need to abide by those as much as possible. Keep your head down and your mouth shut as much as possible, especially around any others.”
Irritation fills me. “I know how to handle myself. You don’t have to protect me.”
“Yes. I do.” He brushes his hand down my cheek and then straightens his shoulders and steps out of the truck.
I nod silently and exit behind him.
As we draw closer, two E’rikon move up to meet us, their kitus glinting in the sunlight. Both are dressed in uniforms similar to the other aliens in the clearing, form-fitting gray pants and high-collared jackets with tall boots. “State your business,” says the shorter one.
Shoulders back and with an arrogant tilt to his head, Lir manages to look every inch the soldier he was when I first met him. “Steliro Vestra reporting in.” Steliro?
A quiver of shock rolls through them. “Vestra?”
“Yes.” Lir’s short simple words manage to convey an authority I didn’t think possible.
They snap to attention and salute with their cuffed arms. “Sir.” They relax with a nod from Lir. What is he, some sort of alien big shot? Does this make my rescue mission more or less difficult? Does he have enough power to just order Jace to be released?
“I need entry and transport immediately. My kitu is not currently functional.”
“Yes Sir.” One of the guards steps forward and through the wall of energy shimmering in the air. He lightly grasps Lir’s upper arm and steps back through.
The three of them turn to walk away. My mouth opens in protest and I’m about to ask Lir what the hell is going on when he speaks. “And the girl. Bring her.”
The other alien steps through the wall, grabs me and yanks me through. Electricity zips along my nerve endings and tingles in my fingers. The sensation isn’t exactly unpleasant, more uncomfortable, but I don’t think my experience is normal. On the other side, the alien pauses, tilts his head an
d narrows his eyes at me for a second before shaking his head and continuing, never letting go of my arm. When his fingers dig in a little too hard, I inhale sharply.
“Do not get overzealous. She is not to be harmed,” Lir says, without even looking back at me. A brief sense of betrayal fills my belly, but I calm myself. What could I expect? Certainly not that he’d fawn all over me in front of these two after what he just told me. His disregard still stings though.
The walk isn’t long, maybe a hundred yards, before we reach a shining transport vehicle. It’s more of a pod than a car, bright silver with expansive windows. The interior seats face each other and I assume it operates on some kind of autopilot as there’s no steering wheel or anything else that I can recognize. Lir enters the vehicle first and I’m pushed in after him. I don’t slide into the seat next to Lir, instead I sit on the bench seat across from him, huddling as far into the corner as I can get. The two guards pile in, one next to me still holding my arm and the other across from me. When my knees brush his, he sneers a little and adjusts his legs to avoid touching mine.
The air in the vehicle is thick with tension. I keep my eyes downcast and stay silent, but my mind is racing. This is nothing like I expected. Despite the warning— if you could call it that—Lir’s sudden stoicism unnerves me. My heartbeat picks up and I can almost feel the walls of the transport closing in on me. Was this all a horrible mistake? There’s no escape now. My lungs constrict and it’s getting harder to get a proper breath. I have to stay calm. It’s one thing to freak out in private, or even in front of humans, but I can imagine the aliens would not take it well if I started screeching and banging my hands on the walls.
Most important thing right now: breathing. If I get that in line the rest should follow. I focus on my breaths. In and out. In and out. Gradually my racing pulses recedes and I feel normal, or at least as normal as I can feel locked in this tiny space with three aliens, all of whom refuse to even acknowledge my presence.