Burn the Night

by Jonathan Yanez

  “No.” Richard extended his own right hand out palm forward. “No, you don’t get to walk back into my life and have the first word after you left me with our daughter. You don’t get to do that.”

  Tears raced down Emma’s father’s face. For the first time she could ever remember, her father choked on the tears he shed. Growing up, she had seen him wipe away tears, blaming them on allergies or lint in his eye. They were always there one second and gone the next. Her father wasn’t one to allow himself the luxury of crying, at least not in front of her.

  “You lied to me,” Mr. Jackson said, fighting back the tears so his words could come out. “You lied to me for years; you lied to me about our love together and then you left our daughter to grow up without a mother in her life.”

  “No, I didn’t—I didn’t—I didn’t lie about us,” Tistan stuttered as her own eyes filled with tears. She took a half step forward, then stopped herself. “I was here as a spy for my planet. I didn’t expect to fall in love with a human. But I did. I do—I still love you.”

  CRUNCH!

  All eyes turned to Laloyd, who had gone to the kitchen and now returned with the entire jar of pickles. His eyes were as large as silver dollars as he munched on his favorite food, eager to hear every word.

  “If you don’t stop listening to our conversation, Draconian,” Tistan snarled like an animal thirsty for blood, “I will remove each of your fingers and feed them to you instead of your pickles.”

  “So dark,” Laloyd gasped, retreating backwards into the kitchen.

  “I do love you, Richard,” Tistan said with more resolve now that she had already said it once. “I love you and OUR daughter. It is because of this love that I left you.”

  “No, you can’t have it both ways.” Richard shook his head, taking in a deep breath and wiping his eyes dry. “You can’t abandon us, then show up sixteen years later, orange and apparently some kind of warrior, and tell me you lied and left me because you loved us.”

  “My people would have sentenced you to death if they knew I had a family on Earth,” Tistan pleaded with Richard. “I couldn’t take you with me. When I was called back to my planet, it was the only way. If I had refused, I would have been hunted down and they would have found you and Emma.”

  “So you decided for us,” Richard finished her thought. “You don’t get to decide these things for the people you say you love. You’re honest with them, you tell them the truth no matter how hard it is, no matter how much it tears you up inside, and you get through it together. You don’t get to run off on your own and do as you see fit.”

  Emma sucked in a silent lungful of air. She had never seen anyone talk to Tistan like this before. By the way she saw her mother’s jaw muscle clench and unclench beneath her skin, this wasn’t going to end well.

  14

  “Hey, so it sounds like you two have a lot to go over.” Emma took a step toward the kitchen. “I should probably go and keep Laloyd company before he decides to eat pizza with ketchup or something crazy like that. Seriously, that guy, am I right?”

  “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to,” Emma’s father said to her. “It seems like you’ve already had time to come to grips with all of this and forgiven your mother. You’re a better person than I am, Emma.”

  Guilt racked her from the inside out. She had lied to her father as well, not only about her being an Arilion Knight, but about her mother’s true identity.

  “You either forgive me or you don’t.” Tistan shook her head as tears still fell down her orange cheeks. “I can only say I’m sorry so many times.”

  “I need time,” Emma’s father answered. “I feel like I’m going to have a mental breakdown. You’re orange, for goodness sake. Riley, you’re an orange alien spy, maybe warrior now. Am I taking crazy pills or something?”

  “It is a lot and I have much to atone for, but I’m not going anywhere.” Tistan reached out again as if she wanted to touch her husband as if by coming into contact with him, she could comfort him in a way her words weren’t able. She retracted her hand yet again. “You won my heart and have kept it these many years; whether you believe that or not does not make it any less true. I’ve traveled the universe, defeated countless foes, and I’ve never stopped thinking about you or our daughter.”

  “I don’t have anything else to say to you right now,” Mr. Jackson said, shrugging. “I have to figure out for myself what I need to do.”

  “I understand.” Tistan whipped the tears from her own face and cleared her throat. She turned to Emma. “Emma, I’ve also been instructed by the Alliance to tell you that Earth has been accepted into the coalition. You’ll need your holo band to teleport back and forth. General Fox has agreed to bring another Arilion Knight to the Academy with more training using Will to aid you with dispatching the Vilmar from Earth.”

  Tistan reached into her cloak. She handed Emma a black holo band that would slip onto her wrist. True to Madame Cherub’s words, her mother’s wrists were completely healed. Emma accepted the piece of tech and the news, the whole time wishing her mother and father would spend more time talking out their feelings.

  Her mother was beyond stubborn and she had never seen her father act like this before. He was usually calm and cool-headed with a heavy dash of good nature. The man that had spoken with Tistan was hurt, maybe beyond repair. It was a side of him she had never seen.

  “I’m supposed to take you to the Academy now, but—but I’ll give you time to say good-bye.” Tistan looked over at Richard one last time, then hit her own holo band. She shimmered for a moment and then disappeared.

  “Can I come out now?” Laloyd asked from inside the kitchen.

  “Yes,” Emma’s father said, sinking into one of the heavily cushioned couches. “Bring some of those pickles with you but leave the peanut butter.”

  Laloyd obeyed, handing the oversized jar of pickles to Richard. He accepted, choosing a large, salty specimen and biting into the vegetable.

  Richard’s eyes looked bloodshot. His face was worn and drawn. Emma went to him, sitting beside her father. He moved to allow her room, handing her the jar of pickles without looking at her.

  “I know I already said it, but I’m sorry, Dad. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I—”

  “I already forgave you.” Emma’s father looked her in the eyes with a tired smile. “That means you don’t have to apologize for this ever again.”

  “Does that mean you’re going to forgive her?” Emma asked.

  Laloyd leaned so far forward in his chair waiting on Richard’s next words, he fell on the ground with a thud.

  “I don’t know,” Emma’s father said with an amused smile at the Draconian. “I’m going to try, but the lies run so much deeper than keeping a secret for two months, Emma. It’s different.”

  “I get that,” Emma said, crunching her pickle and enjoying the way the salty food coated the inside of her mouth. “I want you to know that whatever you do decide, I’ll still love you more than anything.”

  “Thanks, kid.” Emma’s father leaned into her, pushing her shoulder with his own. “I’m an emotional wreck right now. I just need some sleep, and I’m sure things will be clearer in the morning.”

  “I don’t know about that.” Laloyd shook his horned head. “I mean, you might have some clarity, but you have a lot to work through. I mean, I don’t envy your position, Mr. Jackson. Your ex-wife is an alien warrior that now proclaims her love for you but left you and your daughter high and dry without any explanation? I mean, if you can forgive her for that, it’s going to take some time.”

  “Laloyd.” Emma’s father looked at him with a blank stare. “You just reiterated, literally, everything that took place here.”

  “I know.” Laloyd shook his head. “You couldn’t write this stuff. I’m still trying to process it all myself.”

  The last thing Emma wanted to do was leave her father. She was more than Emma Jackson, though. She was an Arilion Knight. It wasn’t a
bout what she wanted anymore. She had to get to the Academy to train—sleep first—but train to be what the Earth needed her to be.

  “Go ahead, I’m a big boy.” Emma’s father brushed a strand of her blonde hair behind an unexpectedly pointed ear. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Are you sure?” Emma asked, holding on to her father’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “You’ve been through a lot today.”

  “Ugh, Em, you’re crushing my hand.” Mr. Jackson winced.

  “Oh, sorry.” Emma released her father’s hand, forgetting the power she wielded now as an Arilion.

  “It’s okay. The feeling should come back soon,” her father teased as he flexed his hand open and closed dramatically. “I’m good. Go. I’ll be fine. I have Haven, Laloyd, and a team of Marines looking out for me.”

  The sounds of deep snoring that reminded Emma of a bear gone into hibernation distracted the two for a moment. Laloyd had fallen asleep in his chair, a half-eaten pickle held tightly in his right hand.

  “I think you’re going to be taking care of each other.” Emma stood up from her seat by her father. A wave of fatigue washed over her.

  Has this really only been a day? Emma rubbed at her burning eyes. Did I just go and fight Desmond this morning?

  So much had taken place it seemed impossible, but it was true. It was a funny thing that on days packed with so many events that morning could feel like another day altogether.

  “I’ll come back as soon as I can,” Emma told her father as she adjusted her holo band. “I love you, Dad.”

  “I love you too, Em.” Her father stood up with a smile on his face. “Be careful.”

  Emma tapped her holo band, sending her from a view of her father inside the safe house named Haven one second to the stark white teleportation room in the Academy the next.

  A second year recruit Emma recognized by his appearance but not by name pulled his feet off the desk in front of him as she shimmered into view.

  “Emma Jackson, the Arilion Knight.” The tall Halyna boy jumped to attention. “I’ll notify Dean Extile that you’re here right away.”

  “Sure.” Emma waved to him not dismissively; she was just too tired to care at the moment. “Tell him I’m going to my old room to sleep. If he needs me, he can get me on the holo band.”

  “Yes, ma’am, of course.” The Halyna boy hunched over his console, already opening a channel to the Academy’s dean.

  Emma didn’t wait around to find out if Slain wanted to see her now. It was well past midnight and she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. Placing one foot in front of the next eventually brought her to her old quarters in the barracks level where the rest of the recruits slept.

  As an Arilion Knight, Emma had been granted access to a suite of her own on a level that was being repurposed especially for Arilion. It was spacious, her very own quarters, and held every amenity. What it didn’t have was her friends.

  Emma traveled down the hall, stopping at the door of the room she, Layga, and Jeba had shared. Whistling like the air being pushed hard out of someone’s nose penetrated the door.

  Emma stepped inside to see Layga’s massive form on her bed. Her nose played a steady tempo of sending whistling air through her nostrils in time with her rising and falling chest.

  Jeba blinked and sat up in her bed as Emma entered. One second she was trying to process where she was, the next she reached for the blade beside her bed.

  “Layga, get up! Get up! We’re under attack!” Jeba shouted, still trying to get her bearings.

  “Who? What?” Layga rolled off her bed with a heavy thud that reverberated through the floor.

  “No, it’s just me, it’s just me.” Emma flipped on the lights, putting her hands into the air. “Take it easy.”

  Jeba blinked at her, slowly lowering the knife. With her free hand, she wiped the line of drool coming from the right side of her lip. “Emma, you should be careful when waking me from a deep slumber. I nearly ended your life. Arilion or not, my blade is as fast as a lightning bolt in space.”

  “Can lightning exist in space?” Emma squinted, trying to remember what she knew on the subject.

  “Mine do.” Jeba sat down on her bed, placing the knife beside her.

  “Why do you have a knife next to your bed?” Layga picked herself off the floor and moved over to give Emma a hug. “Hey, Emma.”

  “I am always prepared,” Jeba stated flatly, as if that answered everything.

  Emma found herself grateful for her friends not for the first time since she had met them. Layga’s warm embrace and Jeba’s personality were exactly what she needed.

  “Sorry to wake you,” Emma said, releasing Layga and heading over to her own bed. “I just didn’t want to be by myself tonight.”

  Emma changed into her shorts and plain black shirt. She told her friends everything they had missed up until that point. Jeba tsked at times, shaking her head. Layga sucked in her breath when she heard about Emma’s parents being reunited.

  “Your family politics are a mess.” Jeba shook her head once Emma was done. “Your father should leave Tistan for good.”

  “Jeba,” Layga nearly shouted. “That’s not what Emma needs to hear right now.”

  “It’s okay.” Emma yawned, closing her eyes. “I can’t worry about any of that. Worrying isn’t going to help. I just need—I just need to sleep.”

  15

  Emma fell into such a deep sleep, dreams didn’t even bother to pierce the depth of her slumber. It seemed like she had just closed her eyes for a second when Layga and Jeba were trying to move quietly around the room and dress for their day at the Academy.

  Even though Emma’s life had drastically changed when she was chosen by the vambraces to be Earth’s Arilion Knight, life at the Academy for everyone else was business as usual.

  Emma was just mustering the courage it would take her to sit up in bed and start her own morning when her holo band blinked off and on, signaling an incoming message.

  Emma brushed away the blonde strand of hair in her eyes. She read the message. It was from Slain. The Human Arilion Knight working with General Fox has arrived. He would like to meet with you in the mess hall when you are ready.

  “Holy crap!” Emma jumped from her bed, searching for her Academy uniform like a wild woman.

  “She finally went off the deep end.” Jeba shook her head. “The stress of being an Arilion Knight proved too much for her feeble mind.”

  “No, no, I’m fine.” Emma felt a tingle of excitement race toward her stomach as she pulled on her boots and buttoned her shirt. “I mean, I’ve been excited to meet this guy for a long time, but I didn’t know it would happen so soon. Should I shower? Do I have time to shower?”

  Layga smoothed down her own black and purple Academy uniform. “How much did you sweat yesterday?”

  “What?” Emma asked, trying to wrangle her hair into something presentable.

  “That’s how I gauge the necessity of a shower,” Layga explained. “If I sweat during the day, I know I need a shower for sure. If I didn’t, then I feel good about skipping the shower for the day.”

  “That’s disgusting, giant.” Jeba shook her head as if she were disappointed in her friend. “You need to bathe, especially your nether regions every day. Sometimes even twice if they begin to feel unclean.”

  “Ugh, I just don’t have time.” Emma stopped her manic process of getting ready and stood in the room, debating a shower. “He’s already there waiting for me.”

  “Here.” Layga ran to the dresser by her bed and came back with a spray bottle full of black liquid. “It’s a perfume I usually save for special occasions, but it’ll help with masking any scent. Just be sure to take a shower before you go to bed tonight.”

  “Okay, okay, cool. Thanks Layga.” Emma approached her friend with her arms open.

  As Layga applied the first spray from her bottle, Emma understood how horrible of a mistake she had just made. The odor of the perfume hit her nostrils l
ike a batch of newly cooked bbq, which wasn’t a necessarily horrible smell to Emma. She liked bbq; she just didn’t want to smell like it.

  “Whoa, that’s enough,” Emma said to her friend as Layga applied a second spray, this time moving from her torso to her face. The liquid hit her tongue as she said the words.

  Emma spat, working her tongue in and out of her mouth as the taste of chemical and old meat entered her mouth.

  “You poisoned her with your sultry feminine wiles of perfume.” Jeb shook her head. She waved her right hand back and forth in front of her nose to clear the air. “Now she smells like a meat buffet.”

  “What are you talking about?” Layga placed her perfume back in the drawer by her bed. “This stuff smells great.”

  “I don’t have time to try and change again.” Emma shook her head, trying to spit out the last of the meat chemical taste. “We have to go.”

  The three girls speed-walked to the teleporter on their level that would take them to the mess hall. All the other girls on the barracks floor had already made their way to the hall for breakfast.

  Emma, Layga, and Jeba were teleported to the level a moment after they stepped into the cylinder-shaped teleportation device that acted as a kind of elevator around the Academy, if elevators teleported people.

  Emma felt a nervous wave of excitement wash over her again. Not only was she going to meet someone who knew what it was like to be an Arilion Knight, but he was a human.

  Jace Hunter was the only other Arilion she had met and he wasn’t exactly the chatty type. If this new Arilion Knight could teach her more, if he could just talk with her, it would be something she hadn’t had before. Only someone also chosen by the vambraces could truly understand what it meant to be an Arilion.

  As soon as the girls walked into the mess hall, it was obvious as to who the Arilion was. Not only was he the only other human in the room, but everyone was sneaking peeks at him; the boys in admiration and the girls in a completely different kind of admiration.