Suddenly she wanted to run to them. Full speed and to hell with explanations, to hell with the armor and whatever trouble it might cause. Just run and knock down the kitchen wall and stomp in like the Kool-Aid man yelling I’m home! Oh Yeah! And it would all be okay.
But reason prevailed. Judging by the angle of the sun it was late afternoon. It made sense to wait until dark, leave the suit and go in under cover of night.
And so she chose patience.
She scanned the barn, which sat in the wild field between her and the house. She would go there after the sun set, sneak in and hide the armor, somewhere among the old, rusty farm equipment. That would do for now. Then she would run to the house and tell them she was safe.
She estimated the amount of time that had passed since disappearing from the playhouse. On Anitra she’d spent one night asleep in the woods. All through the next day and into the next night, then a little more sleep, then the day-long trip to the Crucible and the wait, then a night in prison and a day she would never forget. That was the truth of it. Probably three total days here on Earth, more or less.
The reality was that it felt like an eternity.
The next hours crawled by painfully slow. For a while she held the Icon in her armored grip, studying its plain, featureless surface. Looking at the reflection of the Skull Boy in the chrome, her face somewhere behind that wicked, armored mask. It was like looking at yourself in the mirror with a Halloween costume on.
At length she placed the Icon in a small, armored storage satchel on the lower abdomen of the suit. Feeling better each moment. Feeling in control. The Icon was hers to use, if she wanted. She could return.
If she wanted.
When at last she deemed it dark enough to conceal her movements—she played with the features of the suit in the interim, measuring total lumens as the sun dropped, seeing what other things she could tap into—she stepped slowly to the edge of the woods and … into the open field.
It felt a little freaky to be in plain view of the neighborhood, just a few hundred yards away, walking tall in the hulking alien machine, but the warm lights shining up on the hill were the opposite of danger. They were signs of comfort, complacency. The people inside would never see her moving way out here, so far away in the dark.
She came to the back of the barn, opened the wide tractor door, went inside and closed it. Using the night-vision function and a few other spectral scanners she mapped the entire confines of the interior, finding the perfect spot for the suit: behind a stack of dried hay that hadn’t been touched in decades. She arranged it a little, made a space between the hay and the wall, stepped into it and, for good measure, pulled over an old piece of worn, rusty farm equipment, using it to cover the opening. It was a plow of some sort, probably weighed a thousand pounds, and she positioned it easily.
Doing things in the suit was actually pretty awesome.
Time to get out. Careful to leave herself enough room to do so, she popped the helmet, took it off and waited as her natural vision adjusted to the darkness. It was a rush of familiarity to the senses; the sounds of silence, subtle creaks and a gentle breeze, crickets chirping outside; breathing in the pungent smells of the barn; the old hay, the moldy wood and rusting metal she knew so well. Days spent out here with her thoughts, writing her poems or drawing or just daydreaming.
I’m home.
Once she could see as well as she was probably going to she climbed all the way out and finished taking off the rest. The ribbed operator suit with its plugs and wiring could never be explained so she took that off too, removing it and putting it with the armor, covering it with a musty tarp and more hay until that corner of Skull Boy, hay, rusty plow and lumpy tarp looked completely inconspicuous.
She looked around. Realizing she still wore the Venatres issue undergarments given her with the operator suit. Not much, but if scrutinized they could lead to more difficult questions. Questions that could never be answered. Reluctantly she removed them too, knowing it was the only way. There was no telling what the reaction would be to her absence. Otherworldly clothes that weren’t hers, no matter how Earth-like, would be impossible to explain away.
And so she stood in the darkness, naked, debating her next move. Wrap a piece of tarp around her? But if she did that, wouldn’t they realize the tarp came from the barn?
Better not to take that chance. Better not to take any chances.
It doesn’t matter, she told herself. Naked was better, under the circumstances. She was cut, bruised and otherwise a mess from her ordeal. Showing up naked might actually lend credence to her story.
And this she’d given much thought. What to say? Her plan was to claim amnesia. Claim she got lost, that she just “woke up” and didn’t know where she’d been. Certainly the truth would never work. All she wanted was to slip back into normal life. Endure the obvious probes, questions and all else, let them believe her at last, then put the whole thing behind her and be back to normal.
The weak link, of course, was Bianca and Toby. They’d seen her pop out of existence. They saw Zac. Now here she was back, and Zac was gone. What would Bianca have told the authorities? Would her friend back her up?
Time to find out.
Carefully she cracked the barn door and slipped through, into the cool night air. She closed it back the way it was and turned around. Eyes roving the neighborhood in the distance.
Her neighborhood.
I’m home!
It felt so incredible. She started across the open field, slowly at first, picking up speed as she went. Nervous, scared, the whole thing surreal. I’m home! She couldn’t believe it.
I’m streaking under the stars!
Running. Inviting lights shone from the windows and soon she was able to make out the interior of her house. Ceiling fans, the tops of chairs around the dining room table.
She ran faster. Preparing herself; convincing herself of the truth of her fabricated explanations. Ready to endure the interrogations that would follow. The suit was hidden, she was completely naked, free of it all, and there was nothing at all to give anything away.
She cleared the field and sprinted up the small hill into her back yard, heart racing. Between the exertion and her nerves … she realized she was about to burst into the house, scaring the hell out of everyone; naked, out of breath and unable to speak.
But she didn’t care.
She reached the house, moving so fast now it was reckless; driven by a mad impulse—like when she used to run to her parents’ room as a kid after waking to the threat of monsters, desperate to reach them at all costs, certain doom on her heels. Forcibly she banged through the screen door onto the back porch, hitting the kitchen door in nearly the same motion.
Wham! She grabbed the knob and twisted.
Locked.
BangBangBang! she smacked the door with her palm. A shadow moved through the curtains, startled. Afraid.
It was Mom.
“Mom!” she called to her, heedless of the commotion. “Mom! It’s me!”
And the door flew open.
And she was there.
Mom! she lunged into her arms.
“My god!” her mother fairly screamed. “Baby! Oh my baby!” She grabbed Jessica so hard it cracked her back, beside herself, alternating between violent hugs and holding her out where she could see, confirming the reality of the specter before her. Confirming her daughter was whole and alive.
“Oh, Mom!” they fell into an embrace and remained that way, tears flowing. Her mom ran her hands over and over her and through her hair and across her back.
“Jessica!” It was Bianca. Behind her Amy, hand over her mouth and eyes filling with tears. They threw themselves into the pile, making a 4-way hug that seemed to go on forever, the floor practically puddling with their relief.
Jess relished being in the middle of that hug. She could smell Amy’s perfume, Bianca’s. That unique smell her mother always had. The smells of home.
“My god, baby!” Her
mom withdrew a little, motherly expressions beginning to find their way past the relief. “Where have you been?! What happened?!”
“I don’t know.” Jess practiced forgetting. “I … don’t know. I just came to down the street and started running home.” Best not to mention the woods, even.
“Oh, baby!” Her mother’s tears turned sad.
Jess risked a glance at Bianca—confirming there would need to be a better explanation for her friend. But, in that same glance, confirmed her friend probably hadn’t told.
Thank you, she wanted to tell her. Thank you!
But then, what would Bianca have said? Jess disappeared into thin air? Now that she was standing there she realized Bianca’s silence was nearly implicit.
“You’re home,” Amy’s voice was filled with such raw relief, the most emotional Jess had seen her. And if Amy never expressed it before her reaction confirmed for Jess just how much her sister loved her. I love you! she wanted to tell her so badly, wondering why she never had. She reached and grabbed her in their own personal hug, just the two of them, the tightest hug she could. Amy squeezed back, crying as Jess relished the feel of being in her sister’s arms.
“I love you so much!”
“I love you too,” Amy sniffled. Then, in a whisper full of feeling: “I love you Jessica!”
Mom brought a little control to the situation.
“Let’s get you some clothes,” she said. Jess collected herself. Looked herself over. Funny how she didn’t seem to care right then. The old Jess would’ve been mortified.
“I’ll go with you,” Bianca decided to be the one to take her upstairs.
Mom’s lip trembled and she nearly cried again. Looking at her daughter’s naked, beat-up body. So happy she was alive but now fearing worse things. What happened to you?! was writ plainly in her worried gaze.
“I need to call your father,” she exhaled, shaking. And this time she couldn’t bite it back. The sad tears came in force, frightened ones, and she went to get her phone.
“I’ve got to make some calls,” she fairly whimpered, dialing.
“Come on,” Bianca took Jessica’s hand. Amy remained with Mom in the kitchen, watching them go.
Bianca could barely wait until they were alone before the questions came.
“Where’s the guy?!” she hissed urgently as soon as they were climbing the stairs.
Jess hadn’t yet decided how much to tell her friend, but she deserved more than a brush-off.
Before she could say anything Bianca was waving her hands, jammed with too many thoughts at once.
“Where did you guys go?!”
They reached Jessica’s room and everything came crashing in. My room! Her knees wobbled and she steadied herself against the door. Bianca reached for her, concerned.
But it passed and Jess took a deep breath.
I’m home.
She followed Bianca in and closed the door behind. Jess went over to her dresser and got out an oversized T- shirt. Her hands were shaking. Bianca just kept staring at her as she pulled it on.
“You don’t have amnesia.”
Jess confirmed the truth of that with a glance.
“Have you said anything to anyone?” she asked her friend. Needing to confirm what she suspected.
Bianca shook her head “no”.
“What about Toby?”
“We told everyone we came home with you, then you walked off and didn’t come back. We didn’t know where you went.”
Jess exhaled.
“I mean, what were we going to say?” Bianca started to become upset as she remembered the strain of that moment. “ ‘We were in the playhouse and Jessica and this alien dude poofed into thin air?’ Come on. We’ve been freaked the whole time.”
The two girls stared at each other. Wrestling with all the emotions clamoring to be expressed.
“So,” Bianca asked quietly, “what really happened?”
Jess fought with indecision, wanting to tell her friend everything, yet worried about letting any of it become known.
“You’ve got to swear not to tell anyone,” she warned.
Bianca put a hand on her hip. “I have a feeling no one would believe me.”
That was probably true.
And so Jess told her.
Most of it.
EPILOGUE
School seemed different somehow. Everything seemed different. Two weeks after the incident and things were nearly back to normal, yet an overriding calm had settled over Jess to where nothing seemed to affect her. Nothing bad, anyway. It was as if her awareness had expanded beyond measure. She saw and appreciated more than she ever had. Found joy in more moments. Dismissed trouble more easily. Issues that once might’ve stopped her, turned her away in search of less resistance, an easier path, now seemed effortless.
The future was wide open. Hers to create.
Examinations following her dramatic return had been difficult, as expected, but she’d gotten through those with similar aplomb. Aside from the cuts and bruises there was little to pin anything to. No serious trauma. A few days of psych evals were unable to dig up any contradictions to her story. A simple case of amnesia it was called in the end, and she was released with certain instructions. The ruse worked.
No searchers had ended up in the barn—her biggest fear—and no one had come looking. Nothing else was found.
For the last few days she’d been back at school. A curiosity, no doubt, confirmed by the stares of students everywhere. Her disappearance had made the local news, to say nothing of the posts, texts and Tweets. But that was to be expected. On the first day back it was almost as if she were the walking dead.
Or a celebrity.
She took a quick look around as she headed across one of the quads, carrying her books for the next class; noting most of the kids still stared.
No matter. That, like everything else, did little to bother her.
Over the past week she’d come to grips with the idea that Zac was, for all practical purposes, gone. And, finally, was okay with that too. Though she’d spent less time with him than with any other boy, the time they had spent together was intense beyond measure. Even now, two weeks later, he dominated her feelings.
But she was finally ready to live her life, as she’d promised him she would.
Yes, she thought. Time for Jess to get a life.
Up ahead was Mike, on a bench under a tree—right where she expected to find him. Alone, waiting on either Matt or Levi. Or both. As she made her way over, subtly smoothing her skirt and running a few fingers through her hair, she reflected on the fact that the old Jess would never be doing this. Yet here she was, not only doing it but doing it with confidence. Her heart rate hadn’t even picked up. Breathing was normal. Palms weren’t sweaty. She was totally, totally calm. In control. Kind of freaky, in a way, but she savored it.
“Hey, Mike,” she said as she reached him. He looked up, startled, and she could see at once he was nervous.
“Hey,” he shifted around, trying to find something to do with his hands.
So cute, sitting there squirming.
“I heard you got your license?”
“Huh? Um, yeah.” Then he mustered a little courage of his own: “Got it Tuesday.”
“Cool.” And she laid it on him: “Want to go out?”
He swallowed.
Then actually stuttered.
“S-sure.” He was dumbstruck, yet there was a definite, dawning happiness as he realized she was asking him on a date. She could see this was exactly what he wanted, and the sight of his excitement only made her confidence surge.
“Great. Pick me up tonight. Here’s my number.” She took his phone and typed it in. He watched all this, not believing it was happening.
She handed it back. Time to go. The boys would be along soon and the testosterone fest would begin. Better to be gone by then. Let Mike tell them what he wanted.
“You drive I’ll buy?”
“Um, cool. Yeah.”
“Thai sound good?”
He nodded. “I love Thai.”
“Perfect.” She gave him her best, subtly flirtatious wink. “See you around seven.”
And, with a little flourish, turned and walked away.
Unable to stop the smile spreading wide across her face.
Next:
Book Two: Return to Anitra
Book Three: Dawn of War
Book Four: Rising
Book Five: Prophecy
visit:
TeamStarAngel.com
Star Angel: Awakening (Star Angel Book 1) Page 41