“Troy,” I said, my tongue suddenly heavy with surprise.
In the glow of the fire lay the answers of exactly what had temporarily blocked his vitals from me. The very thing that powered the entire fortress had blocked my abilities. It was only then I realized what lay in the remnants of the coals. The essence of the Zulu king.
“Oh goodness, Troy!” I called out again. He was climbing the steep, stone tower. I grabbed on to his forearm and helped him up. His lean muscles pulled in his arms and shoulders as his upper body strength easily lifted the rest of him onto the ledge, his legs swung under him, and he was suddenly wrapped around me. I had almost forgotten how gorgeous he was. I felt my breath catch as I pushed my face deep into the crevice of his soft, warm neck. It was then that I realized I could feel him. I pushed my face deeper, feeling everything of him, all over me. His warmth, the smooth skin of his arms over mine. His gentle fingers working through my hair. I came alive at his touch. He kissed my temple, stroking my hair from my face vigorously. “Are you okay?” he asked, speaking into my hair.
I nodded, staring into his eyes, his forehead pressed against mine.
“Don’t just say that for my sake. If he has done anything to you…”
I swallowed the tight pull in my throat in order to push the words out. “I just want to get the heck out of here, okay?”
He nodded and brushed his lips over my forehead, pulling me into his chest. His scent wrapped around me and lifted the dark cloud from my mood. I pushed him from me suddenly, remembering why it was that we were there in the first place.
“Please tell me you found them,” I asked with desperation.
“Maya is waiting for us, but…” His face fell. The laugh lines around his gorgeous eyes suddenly becoming folds of worry and deep sorrow.
My eyes searched his. “What?”
I need not have asked, the answer was evident in his tortured midnight glare as his eyes found mine. I covered my face with my hands, not sure what emotion I was experiencing at that very moment. It was too much, too many, and my instinct tore them away from me before I had a chance to feel the weight of it all.
“Come, let’s get out of here, your sister needs you right now,” he said, obviously seeing the change in me. I was not only losing the sensation of any feeling on my skin, but my instinct was so tuned on survival, it was determined to shut out any human emotion. I fought it, not wanting to go back to that lonely place.
“No, wait!” I pulled my hand out of his.
He turned. “There is nothing you can do – it’s done, I’m sorry, but you can’t fix this right now.”
“I… I…” I, what? I was blank. Arriana could not be dead.
He tied a rope around my waist and as he pulled it tighter around my hips, I lost my balance and fell into his embrace. He held me close to his chest once again, exhaling a deep, hurtful sigh. “Everything is going to be alright. I promise.”
He pulled us to the arch. “You first,” he said, motioning for me to go out the window.
I hesitated. “Now, Ava!” His face motionless.
I climbed through feet first, holding on to the stone frame beside me, one foot at a time, balancing on the ledge, staring down into the blackness. I couldn’t believe we were leaving Arriana behind. The star-speckled night air and the faint, yellow glow of the sand surrounding the entire stone fortress reminded me of where we were, but for a moment I didn’t remember getting there. I just remember being there.
“You better go, before I push you,” Troy’s voice brought me back.
“You wouldn…” But before I had a chance to finish my sentence, he pushed me from the window. I smiled as I went down, the rush of wind filling my lungs, pins and needles erupting from my chest all the way out. I screamed just before the ground came too close, but was yanked back by the rope. Troy was walking down the wall with a rope assisting his decent, along with a measure of extraordinary control. He gave me that gorgeous smirk as he reached my side, walking along casually.
“You could have killed me!” I yelled, while my body spun vertically above the fine, dusty, golden sand just inches away from my face. Troy used his feet to push himself from the side of the stone building and released the rope to drop down to the ground. The faint glow from the small fires burning against the outside of the building reflected in his black boots. He stared up at me with a naughty grin.
“Will you please let me down?” I crossed my arms over my chest, while suspended mid-air.
“Sure.” He smiled, pulling on the rope as I was slowly lowered into his arms. The electricity in my blood was all I felt while he planted his warm, silky lips against mine. My mouth parted to take all of him in, and then glided over his lower lip, my tongue touching his vibrant skin. I caught my breath as he gently drew moisture from my top lip, the heat slowly fading as we parted. I felt dizzy, drugged even.
“As much as I’d like to kiss you all night, we need to get away from here before the remaining guards find us,” he warned, untying us and folding the black rope over his palm, all the while twisting it over his elbow. In no time, the entire length of the cord was folded and tucked into the harness around his black, gravity suit. He turned taking my hand, and led me around the side of the building. Slowly, his touch brought about physical sensations of the gentle breeze created by our swift movement, his warm hand in mine, and the stupid dress tickling the back of my thighs. I kept my eyes on the curves of his body as we moved. We paused alongside a wall and as I looked up, his eyes still on me, I saw the guards. They were even more automated than Enoch was with golden, metal faces, thick canon-like arms and bionic legs. Their canons were suddenly pointed right at us, their eyes dressed with glass targets that shone a radiant, ugly blue moving over our chests like laser pointers. They were almost upon us. Intoxicated from my brief encounter with Troy, and embarrassed that he had caught me ogling him, I hadn’t heard them approach. But Troy had already let me go by the time I could focus and with the swift swoop of his leg, he pulled the mechanical being from his gigantic feet. Metal and flesh hit the ground, leaving me puffing in the wake of golden dust. Before the creature’s body fully rested on the ground, Troy drew an elongated metal shard from his leather halter, and struck the almost-entirely-metal being in his neck. My eyes lingered on the speared pin sticking out of the bluish glow of its skin. I was still in utter disbelief as to what I was seeing. Troy turned, just in time, to destroy and deal the other robotic guard the same fate. He grinned at his swift abilities. My eyes caught movement as yet another guard was upon Troy, he’d come from nowhere. My senses flashed, and from somewhere deep down inside of me a bolt of lightning escaped, ripping right through me and exiting through the palms of my hands. I was insanely mad as the pain left me, and it was this pain that made me even angrier and fueled the bolt. Something held me back, though. The anger was different, I never shifted. The guard stumbled from the blow and almost fell from the blinding flash. Troy flew at him with an upper cut, finishing off his decent to meet his fellow guards on the ground, going down hard. A pin to the throat ensured his immobility. When Troy turned around he was smiling wickedly, and my smile mirrored his. He was faster than I remembered, and I had a new ability. I should have realized at the swift change that I, too, was altered somehow. I should have known I was not myself, but I didn’t want to because it was all so wild and exciting! I had been ‘changed’ before, and was terrified of the next one.
He shook his head. “No idea where those three came from,” he said grinning.
His eyes shifted to the ground, as if he were all of a sudden shy about his abilities to move so fast and strike with so much accuracy. But then he looked very confused, bothered even. Suddenly, all my strength drained from me. That bolt had taken most of my energy. Troy was already holding me before my knees hit the shimmering dirt, his touch a zap of sensation to my skin.
“Hey, what’s going on?” he asked softly, staring into my eyes.
He brought me back with those iridescent e
yes. We were both changing rapidly. The prophesy was upon us. I steadied myself, hugging him.
“Where are the other guards, surely this can’t be all of them?” I asked, not really expecting an answer as I gently pulled away to take in some air, my eyes locked on his. I didn’t want to let go. His gentle stare grounded me.
He fumbled at his harness. “Crap, we should have done this sooner.” He pulled out the inhaler, as if he thought my collapse was due to the lack of breathable air. “Quickly.” He pushed it into my mouth.
He held the back of my neck while I sucked in the gas that would make breathing on that moon possible. I coughed a little less than I had the first time I’d inhaled the gas. I was suddenly shy about telling him I could breathe just fine without it.
I looked at him as he drew away.
“So. Three guards? That’s all Enoch’s got?” I quickly said to keep him close to me, to hear his voice so it could drown out the panic I was harboring inside.
“No.” He smiled almost shamelessly.
I stood, hand on hip.
Troy shrugged and said, “I took care of them.”
“And got hurt!” I was staring at his leg, the one I noticed he’d been limping on all this time but had tried to hide. With a hook of his arm my body met his unexpectedly. My hands came to rest on his strong chest and as I stared deep into his eyes, they shone the greenest I had ever seen. I kept staring into his dilating pupils as the green pulled back and left the brightest hazel. I didn’t back away. This was my chance to let him know exactly how I felt. His fingers trailed my cheek beneath my left eye.
“I see your scar has healed. Does this mean you have moved on?”
I didn’t care to answer, I just wanted him to kiss me. His hand cupped the back of my head. I shuddered with the pleasure in anticipation of what was to come. His arms enveloped me. Bliss enfolded over me in the circle of his arms, leaving me anchored to the floor. Pins and needles zinged through me, fast and furious, heating up all of me as my body came to an inferno of sensations. I took in his scent lingering beneath the dirt and sweat. Our lips fused together, and I felt naked from the inside out. How could I have ever doubted this? My mind started to swirl, a cyclone of emotions building up inside me as he held me dangerously close. We kissed deeply, truly and fiercely. The kiss was tender and wild with the relief that we had found each other again, and even more robust and hotter with desire for each other. Desperate for more, my hands pulled his hips to mine. But it was too much too soon because my knees buckled again, but his arms held me – floating in his grasp. I melted, and was at that point putty in his hands.
My heart stopped as our lips slowly parted.
“Breathe,” he whispered, smiling into my face.
I took a breath and continued staring up at Troy. I expected to see something other than confusion and annoyance staring back at me as our eyes focused on each other. His face darkened with bewilderment. Feeling the quickening of his pulsating heartbeat against my chest, I wondered if I had done something wrong to have him stare at me with so much confusion, when he suddenly let me go.
“We need to move, now,” he said gravely.
I nodded, shivering from the absence of his touch. We headed up a steep, golden, sand dune. He held my hand in his, the warmth of his skin had left mine tingling all over – the pins and needles were fading, and I hoped the sensation on my skin was returning permanently. I stared into his back, into the black, gravity suit and for the first time I had become aware of the sensation of sand slipping between my toes. I looked down at my attire, and started to ponder over my change out of the gravity suit, my halter belt which carried my inhaler, my only pair of boots, and my dagger – all gone. All replaced by a white, filthy, cotton dress. This is messed up, on so many levels, I thought.
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