Catching Stardust

by Heather Thurmeier

  “So let’s get on another train then. One that takes us as far away as possible.” Maia looked around frantically. “We’re as good as sitting ducks here.”

  “I have a plan. Come on.” Hopefully a plan that would buy them enough time to regroup and figure out what to do next. Zander ran up the stairs to street level. They were right in the heart of the financial district. Not exactly a prime spot to hideout. “This way,” he said, heading further south.

  Maia fell into step beside him, her anger at getting off the subway still radiating off of her like a furnace in the dead of winter. This was a different side of Maia he hadn’t seen before. He wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. Here he was trying to help her and she was being resistant. Didn’t she understand everything he was giving up to be here with her right now?

  “I do have a plan you know.” He sounded a little bitchier than he’d intended to.

  “Well, I wish you’d fill me in,” she snapped back.

  He stopped walking, commuters brushing passed him on all sides, mumbling complaints as they went. She stopped too, staring at him with hardened eyes.

  “I gave up a lot to help you, Maia, the least you could do is go with it when I’m trying my best to keep you safe.”

  “I told you not to come with me. I’m fine on my own.”

  “What are you saying? You want me to walk away from you right here and now and let you go on your own? Is that what you really want me to do?”

  “Maybe it would be best. I don’t want you giving up your life for me.”

  He laughed. “It’s a little too late for that, don’t you think? I gave up everything the second I picked protecting you over telling Jude the truth. I’m in this now and you can’t get rid of me that easily.”

  “I can’t be with you, Zander. At least not in any lasting way. That doesn’t happen for my kind when they get involved with people from Earth. So if you’re thinking we’ll ever be anything more than we are right now, I’m sorry to burst your bubble.”

  “I don’t have a bubble. I have you and I’m not going anywhere until I know you’re safe from Orion. So get used to me being here. And since I know the city a hell of a lot better than you do, maybe you want to trust me a little more.”

  “Standing on the sidewalk out in the open like this, not moving, isn’t going to help us. So if you have somewhere for us to go, then let’s go already,” she said.

  Damn she was feisty when she was pissed off and nervous. It would be a turn on if it weren’t so infuriating. “You know you’re really cute when you’re pissed off,” he said, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. Maybe it was a turn on after all. “If we weren’t in so much danger, I might want to piss you off a little more just to see this fire in your eyes.”

  He brushed his lips against hers, hovering for only a few seconds. If only there was more time. If he wasn’t mistaken, tears pooled in her eyes before she blinked them away quickly, leaving only an expression of deep confusion behind.

  So the softer side of Maia he knew and liked so much was still there, hiding under a blanket of stress and fear. Fair enough. Time to move and ease those worries from her.

  They hurried down the sidewalk as quickly as they could until reaching Water Street, then turned south toward the very tip of the island. He glanced at his watch. If they hurried, they would make it just in time.

  “Can you jog?”

  “Can you keep up?” She fired back, running down the street. He sprinted to catch up. When he fell into step beside her, she spoke again, her breath not at all impacted by the extra exertion. “Where exactly are we hurrying too?”

  “Up ahead. There.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Maia looked ahead as she jogged to where Zander pointed. She saw nothing but city streets, then water with a park to the right. Where exactly was he taking her? For a swim in the Hudson River? A picnic in the park? Neither were good options.

  Then she saw it.

  The Staten Island Ferry dock. In the dock, a ferry rocked gently on the water. It looked full. In fact, it looked like it was about to push away judging by the glances at the watches and the last minute people running for it.

  They sped toward the boat as quickly as they could, just making it on to the dock before the ferryman moved to pull the gate closed behind them. Once on the boat, she walked to the rail and leaned on it, peering into the water while trying to catch her breath from the sprint she’d just done.

  She needed to exercise more. If she got out of this stupid situation unharmed, she was making a pact to start jogging regularly.

  Who was she kidding? She hated jogging and not even the threat of being chased by Orion or anyone else was going to make her start liking it.

  Zander wrapped his arm across her shoulders, pulling her tight against his body. His warmth felt wonderful against the light spray of water coming up from the boat cutting through the river. She leaned into him, taking a deep breath of his scent as she did. He smelled wonderful. He smelled comforting.

  He smelled like the future she wanted but couldn’t have.

  She closed her eyes and let herself daydream about a life with Zander—one where he was able to come back to Pleiades with her and live a happy life. They would wake up each morning and swim in the lake beside her house. Every day he could study the stars and learn more than he’d ever known possible. And every night they’d curl up in her big, soft bed together and spend hours awake in each other’s arms.

  It sounded better than she could ever hope to have.

  Which is why she needed to smarten up and stop daydreaming about a future with Zander that could never be. He couldn’t come to the stars, and even if he could, his mind would go crazy with her reality, which was his universe.

  They would never work. Cuddling with him was only going to make it harder to say goodbye.

  “I meant what I said back there,” she said softly, still leaning against his chest. “I can’t be with you. This isn’t going to work. Kissing me is a bad idea for you.”

  “I don’t really think you believe that. You didn’t kiss me like you believe it.”

  “I’m serious,” she said, pulling back from him enough so she could peer deeply into his eyes. “You know what I am now. You know I can’t stay here.”

  He looked down at her with softness in his eyes that she hadn’t seen before. His hand grazed her cheek. “What I know is that you are the most amazing person I’ve ever met and I’m not letting you go so easily just because of a long distance relationship.”

  She laughed. Long distance? “It’s more than that and you know it.”

  “I know I really care about what happens to you, Maia. I’m not ready to say goodbye yet.”

  “Better start saying your goodbyes now, because I’m taking you home.”

  Maia froze. No. Impossible.

  Zander’s body tensed around her, his arms strong and comforting, and feeling way more right than they should. “Over my dead body,” he said back. The words came out as more of a growl than anything.

  Orion was behind them only a few feet away, and beyond him Jude slumped against a support beam, catching his breath. Good thing rush hour commuters were already out and filling the boat to capacity or they would have nothing separating them from Orion’s grip.

  “If you insist,” he said with a grin that told her he meant every word. “It’d be my pleasure to make that wish come true.”

  Oh great. Now they were going to have a testosterone party.

  Good thing the commuters on board were engrossed in their cell phone conversations, many with headphones on. The noise caused by Orion and her was lost in the regular hustle and bustle of the daily evening commute. No one even glanced their direction.

  “How did you find us?” Maia asked. They’d done everything they could to lose him. How did he still manage to find them?

  “You’re not that good at hiding your scent. I could smell you a universe away.”

  She scrunched up her no
se. “Gross. That makes it sound like I have terrible body odor. Can we leave my scent out of this? It’s creepy.”

  Maybe if she could find a way to distract him a little, to make him drop his guard a bit, she could figure out a way to get out of here. If she’d been on her own, she would have been gone already. Into the water and out of sight. But she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t leave Zander behind to fight her battle for her.

  Maia gripped Zander’s arm. “Do you trust me?”

  A wrinkle of concern creased his forehead. “Yes.”

  “Good,” she said, climbing up onto the rail of the boat and extending her hand back toward him. The people around them murmured with concern while still trying to ignore what was going on. “Then let’s go.”

  He shook his head. “No way. You can’t jump into the river. The current here is too strong. We’ll be swept away if we’re not crushed by the boat first.”

  “No, we won’t. Please, trust me.”

  Finally after what seemed like the longest moment, Zander climbed up beside her and swung his legs over the railing. Behind them people shrieked, calling out for them to stop, to come back over the railing and onto the deck of the boat.

  Maia stared hard into Zander’s eyes and took his hand. Please, Gaia, let this work. She hadn’t ever tried something like this before, but the principal behind it was good. It had to work. It was their only option.

  “Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and then jump when I tell you too. Whatever you do, don’t let go of my hand. Got it?”

  Zander wore an expression of concern, but nodded his head despite it.

  Thank Gaia he wasn’t fighting her on this. She didn’t have time to convince him. Damn it to Hades, she wasn’t sure it would work herself. She was hoping for the best at this point since options were sorely limited.

  Behind them Orion roared with anger. He yelled a few universal profanities as he pushed people unceremoniously out of his way. Her blood ran cold with fear as he drew closer. In another few steps, he’d reach them.

  She squeezed his hand tightly in hers, relieved to feel the strength in his hand gripping hers back. He would listen. He would do as she asked without question.

  “Jump!”

  ***

  Zander felt as if the air in his lungs was going to be sucked away with the undercurrent as his body hit the cold water of the Hudson River. The current moved him along with a little help from kicking his legs. He clung to Maia’s hand, worried she would be swept away.

  Then he realized something unusual.

  It was almost as if Maia was actually pulling him through the current. She seemed right at home here in the freezing water of the river. The murky water blurred his vision, but he felt her legs kicking beside him.

  Oh good. She still has legs. So she isn’t a mermaid.

  Of course she isn’t a mermaid. Mermaids don’t exist.

  Star people don’t either, but yet Maia was one of the Pleiades stars.

  Zander let out a yell, the sound muffled under the water. He snapped his mouth shut, but not before getting a mouthful of fish-flavored river water. If he made it out of this alive, he’d probably need a set of vaccines against whatever parasites he’d just ingested.

  How was he still alive? The thought startled him as he realized they’d been swimming under the water non-stop since they’d jumped from the boat. They hadn’t surfaced for air once yet, at least not that he could remember and he was pretty sure he’d remember something like breathing.

  His body wanted to scream again and fight against Maia to get his hand free so he could swim to the surface for air. But her grip on him was surprisingly strong.

  Weirder yet, his lungs felt perfectly normal and not at all like they struggled for oxygen.

  The scientific part of his brain took over. How was this possible? How could either of them swim under water without breathing? There had to be an explanation that would make sense to him—that would satisfy this moment in his mind so that he could rationally deal with what he was experiencing. So what was it?

  Maybe he was able to go without breath because of the adrenaline pumping through his body, infusing his every cell and jacking him up on some crazy natural high. Sort of like how people can sometimes display incredible and impossible feats of strength because the moment calls for it. Like lifting a car off a person who’s trapped. Maybe this was his supernatural, yet natural feat of strength—not breathing under water for a really, really long time because he had to.

  Nope. He just wanted the hell out of the water.

  Maia stopped kicking her legs beside him and instead looked as if she were walking on the bottom of the riverbed. He attempted the same, finding a small measure of comfort in having his feet on semi-solid ground.

  If they could touch the bottom, maybe that meant they were reaching the edge of wherever they were. Maybe that meant he’d get to breathe actual air again too.

  Just then, they broke through the surface of the water, falling forward on to the suddenly shallow shore of the river. He crouched on his hands and knees, gulping huge breaths. The crisp air filled his lungs, the oxygen going straight to his brain, making his head spin.

  Maia was already up and looking around, as if trying to figure out if Orion was behind them. He glanced back himself but all he saw was water and the ferryboat they’d been on, way off in the distance. Way, way off in the distance.

  “What the fuck just happened, Maia?”

  It was a rude and abrupt question, but he didn’t give a shit anymore. She couldn’t just do stuff like that and not tell him what to expect. He was human. He needed to breathe.

  “Sorry. It was the only way to get away from him. He’s a great tracker, but a terrible swimmer.”

  “Not that, the no breathing under water thing. We didn’t come up for air once and look how far we swam,” he said, pointing back out toward the ferry. “I don’t understand how I’m still alive enough to breathe again right now.”

  “It’s because of me. I told you I was a water nymph. I have a special relationship with water. It doesn’t affect me the same way it does everyone else.”

  “I get that’s how you’re able to swim without breathing, but that doesn’t explain why I’m not dead. Last time I checked, I wasn’t a water nymph.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  Seriously, she’s going to roll her eyes at me at a time like this?

  “Of course you’re not a water nymph. Nymphs are only girls and I’ve seen you naked. I know you’re not hiding any girly parts under those wet clothes. Nope, you’re all man.” Her eyes traveled down the length of his body.

  “Are you really ogling me at a time like this?”

  She blushed. “Water does other things to me too. I can’t help it.”

  Really? Intriguing. Maybe that explained how their picnic at the dam that first date had almost turned into a night under the stars making love to the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. What would happen if they did it in the water right here, right now?

  Shaking his head, Zander forced those thoughts—very enticing thoughts—to the back of his mind where he could retrieve them later. Oh yes, this new little piece of knowledge opened up a whole new world of possibilities he wanted to explore with her—once they weren’t being tracked by the most menacing person in the universe.

  “We should keep moving,” he said, pulling himself up out of the water.

  His clothes felt like they weight a hundred pounds now that they were soaked with water. He took a moment to look around and finally get his bearings. Judging by the angle of the city’s skyline and the section of lower Manhattan that he could make out, he guessed they’d washed up on Governor’s Island.

  “If we head that way, there’s a row of houses. With a little luck, we’ll find one that’s open and be able to hide long enough to warm up and dry off.”

  Maia nodded as she slipped out of the water to join him. She didn’t look at all weighed down by the water in her clothes. Was she
protected from that too?

  She shivered, wrapping her arms tightly around herself.

  Nope. She was susceptible to the cold and wet just as much as he was. Time to find some shelter. And fast. It might be summer, but there was still a chill in the air now that it was approaching evening. And soon enough, the sun would set. Even dry, people still needed a sweater after the sun set at this time of year, and being wet and on the shore of the Hudson would make the night feel even colder.

  They trudged across one of the expansive lawns, moving toward the buildings they could see beyond a cluster of trees. As they got closer, music drifted on the air. Somewhere, someone had a party going on and it would be in their best interest not to get too close to it.

  As they came up on the first building, they could see just around the corner there was a large party underway complete with food and dancing and lots of lights strung in the trees. Zander guided Maia to the back of the building instead. Aside from a few staff moving, it was relatively deserted.

  “This way. Act natural and maybe they won’t notice we’re wet.” Zander held out his arm and Maia twined her arm with his. They walked arm in arm as if they’d just slipped from the party for a private stroll around the grounds. They paused, pretending to look at some flowers as a staff member walked by without giving them a passing glance. As the staff person disappeared back into the first building, they walked off again as quickly as they could while still looking normal.

  When Zander thought they were out of immediate danger of anyone taking notice of them, he sprinted ahead, putting a few more buildings between themselves and the party. Maia kept pace with him easily.

  Rounding another corner, he spotted the row of houses he’d known were here somewhere. He wouldn’t have minded if they’d been a little further from the party, but he’d take what they could get at this point.

  “Which one, Zander?” Maia asked from beside him, eyeing the houses.

  “Any of them should be fine. But let’s try the ones furthest away first.”

  They crept down the street staying as close to the bushes and trees as they could. He wasn’t sure who might be around this section of the island, if anyone. As far as he knew, these houses weren’t in use anymore as actual residences, but he wasn’t eager to be proven wrong.