Chrystal Bones (Finding Home Book 1)

by Billie Jo Hanlin

  Blue could feel that he knew what this meant to her. She would love to take the pod from the government. In fact, she would like to destroy the whole place. But she only killed when necessary. "Is there anyway to make sure that the place is empty. Most of the people who work there don't even know what really goes on,” She said softly.

  Idris wanted to take her in his arms and sooth her like he used to when she was little. Instead he clasped his hands behind his back to keep from reaching out to her. Where the child would have welcomed the comfort, the woman she had become would not.

  "The building where they have the pod is empty right now. In any case only the pod itself will be destroyed,” he said wishing he knew what she was thinking. Her face was devoid of expression and his heart broke a little more for that happy child who did not exist anymore. The carefree innocent child his sister had been did die under the Ragillians weapons and what was reborn was this strong, unbendable, damaged woman with so much courage it scared him.

  She had come to a ship filled with six strange men to save a planet and its people she didn't even remember. She would never be content to sit on the sidelines he knew as he watched her hand hover over the panel with an almost invisible quiver before firmly coming down and sending the signal that would destroy the escape pod.

  Blue's eyes never left the screen as the small area flared red then disappeared. It was underwhelming, no dramatic explosion or anything. She did feel a sense of satisfaction of depriving the American Government of their favorite toy for the last twenty two years. She could live with that, she decided giving a mental shrug. "What now?" she asked looking away from the screen to find all eyes on her.

  "Now we wait for the anomaly that brought us here to open so we can get back,” Jayden answered.

  "Why do you have to wait? Can't you just open it?"

  Everyone suddenly had something to take care of and all of them except Jayden looked away and pretended to be busy at their consoles. "Whats going on?" she asked suspiciously.

  "We have no control over the anomaly. It opens and closes on its own timetable,” Jayden told her. Then he told her the rest of what they had learned from the one man who had made it back to their galaxy.

  "Let me get this straight. Dozens of ships have disappeared from the other side of this anomaly and only one ship ever made it back! Seven hundred and fifty years ago!" She put her hand on her hips and glared at him, “That's what you are basing all this on. How come it didn't open for the other ships?"

  “We are assuming that the other ships missed the second opening. Either by being too far away from it or damaged in some way. Or they just wanted to stay."

  "Awful big assumption to make. But okay, I get it. When did Captain Jabrel say it opened the second time?"

  "His exact calculations put it at seven days four hours and thirty two minutes. That is twelve hours and thirteen minutes from now,” Jayden said looking at Dro to make sure he was right. Dro nodded.

  Blue didn't want to wait. Now that she was here she wanted to get on the way. She looked out at the space surrounding them. Without giving it any thought she sent her mind out in to the vastness. Trying to get a feel for anything, anything at all. She felt more that saw Dro's head whip up and around to stare at her. He knew what she was doing Blue realized looking back at him. Right, telepath; she really needed to remember that she wasn't the only one around anymore who could sense things.

  Too late to hide it now so she might as well continue. She felt him follow the path of her mind and when he spoke to her, his voice was soft and filled with wonder, "You are a true telepath."

  "I think so, but the only one I have ever connected to is my friend back on Earth, and some animals,” she said indicating Leo.

  “Apart from my people there are only a few thousand people in the galaxy who can both send and receive mind speech. Everyone on this ship can receive but only Jayden and Idris can do both. Even then it is only superficial communication. It has been a long time since I have had true communication with anyone. It is my great pleasure to meet you, Blue of Shillidon,” he said walking to her.

  “Thanks. Um….Nice to meet you too."

  Dro held out his hands to her. Instead of taking them she put hers behind her back. If she touched him he might find out more than she wanted him to. But the hope in his eyes couldn’t be ignored.

  "I have this other little quirk. If I take your hands I can hear everything you are thinking wether you want me too or not."

  He heard the pain in her mental voice, ”Little one my shields are such that you will not hear anything I do not want you to. Besides, there is nothing rattling around in this old mind of mine to worry you." He stood there patiently with his hands held out, his pale yellow eyes holding steady on hers. Leaving the choice up to her. Blue looked deeply but could find no deceit or malice. He held a sorrow that was seared deep in his soul, but she brushed that aside, not wanting to pry. She knew that she could trust this alien. Slowly she put her hands in his.

  Jayden watched Blue put her hands in Dro's and wondered what was going on. He had known Dro for over a hundred years and he was not the touchy feely type. Although he had just met Blue he knew she was not either. Yet there they were, holding hands and staring into each others eyes.

  He felt a vicious stab of jealousy and wanted to rip Blue away from Dro even knowing that there was nothing to be jealous of. He watched them and felt a hint of something brush his mind. Before he could dwell on it too much the space directly in front of the ship opened up and the anomaly appeared.

  "It is back,” Sparks sang out. "Gentlemen, and lady, we are going home." Wasting no time he guided the ship towards it. As they got closer the sensors died and they were once again caught in a tractor beam and pulled through. Everyone sat back in their seats and got comfortable. The ship was in the control of the unknown. There was nothing they could do now but enjoy the view for the next several hours.

  "Do you hear them?" Blue asked.

  "Who?" Dro asked at the same time Jayden did.

  “Them,” she waved a hand at the swirling, dancing ribbons of color. “They are singing to us; they are so alive." She touched the screen and for the first time ever she left her body without conscious thought and floated through the walls of the ship to join the swirling ribbons.

  Jayden and Idris both jumped up as Blue fell to the floor but the large tiger leaped to her and stood over her body. He knew his job was to protect it when she wasn't there and he wasn't letting anyone near her. He roared when the big man tried to get close. "What the hell just happened?" Jayden demanded. But no one had any answers.

  Idris pushed past him trying to get to Blue but the tiger wasn't letting that happen. He pulled his stunner determined to find out what was wrong with his sister. The tiger snarled and hunched ready to pounce. Dro grabbed his arm, stopping him before he could shoot. “STOP," he shouted. "Idris put your weapon away. You hurt her friend and she will never forgive you no matter what your motives are. Is that what you want?"

  Idris shook his head, "But she might be hurt?"

  "No, she might have a bruise or two from the fall but she is not hurt. Jayden quit growling at Leo you sound ridiculous. He is just doing his job"

  “What is going on old man?" Jayden said in low rough voice.

  "Well, I am not exactly sure,” he projected to all of them. "But I believe her spirit has left her body to join with them." He pointed at the colorful ribbons of light.

  Sparks let out a low whistle, "Can that even be done?" he asked.

  "Yes, but I have only heard of the oldest of my people being able to do it. I can not." Dro answered Sparks’s next question before he could ask it, then turned back to Jayden and Idris, "We call it Pontue, and it is the art of walking unseen. Although it does usually take some preparation."

  "How come you think this Pontue is what she is doing?" Jayden asked.

  "We were talking before the anomaly appeared so our minds were still open. I did not close the connectio
n because I was… well, enjoying the contact,” he sounded almost embarrassed as he admitted that. "Her mind is incredibly strong and unique. I heard the singing through her and then I felt her being pulled to them. I felt Blue's surprise but no alarm. I don't think this is the first time she has traveled this way."

  "If she is with them, do you think they will let her come back?" Idris asked him. He was beyond worried. He had just got her back and now if Dro was right her body was here but her spirit was not and who knew if she would or could come back . He ran his hands over his face. He couldn't go through this again.

  Jayden griped his shoulder, "We will get her back." He asked Dro, "I know you have some empathic ability ,do you feel or hear anything? She mentioned singing right before she fell."

  "My empathic talents are just enough to feel that they are alive, same thing I felt when we came through the first time and I only heard the singing through my connection to Blue. I don't hear anything now but a faint hum in the back of my brain."

  The next several hours were filled with tension as they waited. The beautiful anomaly had lost any appeal, now it felt sinister to them. It had stolen one of them and all they could do was wait. Leo finally laid down next to Blue with his head on her stomach and if any of them got too close he would snarl. Jayden had never seen such devotion in an animal. He thought Leo would lay there forever if he had to.

  Blue felt the wrench of being pulled from her body and found herself among the colorful ribbons of light. She heard them singing to her. A joyful song full of hope and happiness as they coaxed her to dance with them. As she swirled and swayed she learned of them and their purpose.

  This was their own little universe and they existed outside of normal space. They were not corporal but made of energy and were explorers in their own way.

  Only they had to bring people to them. It did not always turnout right in the end but they tried.

  When the ship reached the end of the tunnel they invited her to stay with them. She could stay in this form and be happy among them but she had a freaking planet to save, even if she had no idea how. She was the only one of her kind they had found able to dance with them and they were sad to see her go. She promised to come back when they said she could open the tunnel anytime she wanted and showed her how to call them. With one last dancing swirl she headed back to the ship.

  Floating through the bulkhead she saw her body with Leo guarding it as he always did, Sparks and Dro were at their stations. Idris was pacing back and forth with frequent worried looks at her body. Jayden sat in his chair, still as a statue with his eyes locked on her still form. Leo lifted his head and looked at her. He always knew when she was back.

  At Leo's movement Idris stopped and stepped forward. Leo whipped his head around and snarled at him. Backing up Idris said, "I really am starting to dislike him."

  Jayden straightened slowly, "I wouldn't say that, she is here."

  "What, where?" Idris said looking around. "I do not see anything and she has not moved."

  "Look at the tiger he knows."

  Jiggs up, Blue thought and began the process of returning to her body. She opened her eyes to find Leo's face in hers. He gave her a growl of disapproval then swiped his tongue across her face. She gave him a hug before she slowly sat up to find, once again, all eyes on her. It was a bit disconcerting to go from avoiding people and staying under the radar most of her life to being the center of attention. Granted it was a small ship and there were only the six of them aboard, but surely they had other stuff to do besides watch her. She looked at Jayden with his piercing purple eyes and shivered. He was royally ticked off at her.

  "Nice trick princess, care to tell us where you've been for the last twelve hours?"

  Holy Moly, she thought in surprise, she had been gone for twelve hours. It had only felt like a few minutes. No wonder Leo had growled at her. She conceded that she had probably worried them. After all they needed her. It wasn't like they actually cared for her, they didn't know her. She missed Riley and it had barely been a day.

  She sighed and pointed at the ribbons of energy, "I was with them."

  "And just who are they?"

  She got to her feet. She wasn't going to have this conversation sitting on the floor.

  "They are the energy beings who live there,” she pointed to the swirling ribbons and kept her answer short.

  Jayden towered over her and said through clenched teeth, “You are going to have to do better than that princess. One minute you are here and the next you fell to the floor. Dro told us your spirit was gone and that it was probably not the first time you have done that."

  "Don't call me princess!" she said furiously. Thinking quickly, how much do I tell him. At the rate she was going she wouldn't have any secrets left. They knew she had telepathy thanks to her conversation with Dro. Not a big deal since they all had it in varying degrees. Now they also knew she could astral project and apparently fly around in space. That was pretty cool. If Dro had told them she could hear thoughts with a touch then they knew that too. Okay, she could deal with this. They weren't going to lock her up and experiment on her and if they tried, well she wasn't a little kid anymore.

  "Yes, I can leave my body and travel around but this was as much a surprise to me as it was to you. So don't get all huffy."

  "Huffy, you are telling me not to get huffy. You laid on the floor for hours and no one could get near you thanks to your friend,” Jayden yelled. "We had no way of knowing if you were even alive. If not for Dro we would have had no idea what was going on and now you are standing there calmly telling me not to get huffy."

  Note to self, the big guy doesn't like to be called huffy, she thought with amusement.

  "You both need to calm down,” Idris said.

  Jayden and Blue turned and said at the same time, "Stay out of it!" Then went back to glaring at each other.

  "I didn't know I was going to go visit the friendly, dancing aliens. If I had any warning I would have told you,” then she spoiled it by muttering, "Maybe."

  Of course he pounced on that word, "Maybe, maybe you would have told me. Princess I am responsible for the safety of everyone on board this ship and that includes you. You will tell me when you plan on going anywhere with or without your body!"

  "You are not the boss of me, you, you dictator!" Blue exclaimed just as furious as Jayden.

  "I may not be the boss of you but this is my ship and you will do as I say!"

  "Then I'll get my own ship,” she shot back.

  Jayden lost what little control he had left. He grabbed her by the arms and pulled her up into his arms. He brought his lips crashing down on hers. His tongue demanded entrance and when she parted her lips he swept in and claimed her mouth for his own. Blue had a moment of shock before she was kissing him back with a hunger that matched his.

  They were lost in each other when she heard the muffled laughter. Pushing out of his arms she jumped back, putting several feet between them. She touched her swollen, tingling lips and stared at him dumfounded. What had just happened?

  One minute they were arguing like six year olds and the next they were locked in a passionate kiss. She did not do things like this. She had never even kissed a man before. She had never wanted to. Oh boy, she sooo didn't need this right now. With effort she pushed the kiss out of her head. She would think about it later. She replayed the shouting match and and felt like an idiot.

  Looking around at the others she saw Sparks was the one who had laughed. When she looked at him he gave up trying to hold it in and burst into loud laughter. His brother Jos joined him. Idris, and Vihan stared at them in shock. Dro was his usual placid self but she saw the twinkle in his eyes. Leo just looked at her. He had heard her and Riley get into a shouting match a time or two but they certainly didn't end up kissing and she was surprised he hadn't attacked Jayden.

  Jayden could not believe he had lost control like that. He had kissed her in full view of his men. And one of them was her brother. Idris was goi
ng to beat him to a pulp and he might just let him. What had he been thinking? He had not been that is what. At least he had not been thinking with his brain. This woman shredded his careful control.

  He had sat and watched as she lay so still on the floor with that damn tiger guarding her. He had wanted to take her in his arms and keep her safe himself. For twelve long hours he had been unable to do anything but sit and watch her. He had hated feeling so helpless.

  When she had sat up acting like nothing had happened he had reacted without thinking. Now she was looking everywhere but at him. He remembered her last statement before he kissed her. He gave her a predatory smile. Get her own ship would she? He chuckled and asked her, "How do you plan on getting your own ship?"

  She glared at him and didn't answer. Only now noticing that while she and Jayden had argued the anomaly had closed and they were in a space blacker than the darkest night. “Where are we?” she asked changing the subject.

  "This is the dead zone,” Sparks told her. “That is all it is known by. Unfortunately it is going to take us about two months to get back to occupied space."

  Two months stuck on a ship with Jayden. This was bound to get interesting. Maybe she could avoid him.

  Blue spent the next week familiarizing herself with the computers with help from Dro. She managed to avoid Jayden for much of that time. She wasn't ready to face her feelings for him. Especially after the kiss she couldn't stop thinking about. Idris? Well, she still didn't know how she felt about him. They were making the effort to get to know each other. Sometimes it was painful. She could feel and see his frustration. He had told her a lot about Shillidon and the chrystals. Hoping to jog her memories he had also told her about their parents. No matter how hard she tried she could not bring their faces to mind.

  Right this minute she was on a mission. For days she had been feeling a slight vibration in the ship and she was beginning to wonder if something was wrong. She spent her days with each of the men learning all she could about every system, and her nights studying tech manuals. Thank goodness she had an excellent memory because the systems were light years ahead of anything on Earth.