by Jeff Altabef
Aaric nods and the glimmer vanishes.
I step around him, but he blocks the door with a blue energy shield.
“Am I a prisoner?”
He smiles. “Of course not, but you will need help. How about I come with you? We can leave for Arizona afterward. I have an airplane fueling up.”
“You don’t need to come with me. I’m sure you have more important things to do.”
He steps past me with long confident strides, and the energy barrier disappears when he reaches the door. “Do not be silly. Besides, I might come in handy. We can take my car.”
I follow after him. “I can do this on my own.”
He grins. “Of course you can. Storming into a police station and freeing a prisoner is child’s play to someone who has come into her powers—” He looks over his shoulder and smirks at me. “—what, two weeks ago?”
He does have a point, but I don’t want him thinking I’m a charity case, so I add as much confidence to my voice as possible. “I’ve done pretty well so far.”
“Yes, you have. Remarkably well, in fact.” He opens the driver’s door and gets into the SUV.
I climb into the passenger seat.
“Just think of me as a chauffeur without the black hat. Maybe, if you would take pity on me, you might let me help just a little.” He starts the car and arches one of his perfect eyebrows. “Otherwise, my ego will not be able to take it.”
I have to smile. “Okay, since you’ve asked nicely, and only to help your fragile self-worth.”
He grins back at me. “We are agreed then. Where to?”
I close my eyes and picture Connor’s face, complete with his slightly bent nose, and feel his spirit tug me. “Go straight and make your first left.”
He pulls the SUV from the curb.
I steal a glance at him and wonder if I can trust him.
Did he know about the Heart Stone before I told him? What’s his plan, and what does he really want from me?
Juliet
Twenty minutes later, Aaric drives past the police station and pulls the SUV to the curb two blocks away. The streets in this sleepy little town appear deserted, and the cool night air smells ripe with rain.
We hop out of the SUV and slam the doors shut. Doubts cloud my mind. I’ve always thought of the police as helpers, but to save Connor, we’ll have to hurt some of them. They’re not Seekers or Deltites or creeps who prey on the young. They’re innocents in all this—innocents who just happened to arrest the wrong guy at the wrong time. It doesn’t seem right.
Aaric must sense my anxiety because he grabs my hand and squeezes. His skin is hot to the touch.
I wonder if Alphians run hotter than humans.
His voice sounds like velvet. “I am sure I can handle this on my own. You can wait in the SUV if you prefer. I did not get to be Prime Elector without certain skills.”
He lifts his chin confidently and a gust of arrogance wafts toward me as if he’s put on too much cologne. Part of him thinks humans are an inferior species to Alphians, like we’re just really advanced apes that haven’t evolved enough to be equals yet. He tries to hide it, but every now and then his true feelings show.
I don’t want him to think of me that way, like I’m inferior, so I straighten my back. “Please, the way I see it, you’re a burden. I’ll be surprised if I don’t have to carry you out over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes.”
He laughs and I squint my eyes. Mid-laugh he’s morphed himself into a short, bald old man with a gray splotchy beard.
I shake my head, and after I stare at him for a few seconds, I see beyond the old man and his true self reappears. The whole thing is freaky. It’s as if there are two Aarics—one old and one young.
He smiles. “How do I look?”
“Ridiculous.”
He shrugs and starts to the station. “No one will expect trouble from an old man bent at the waist.”
“Tell me you’re not going to look like that when you age.”
We stop in front of the jail, and he changes his appearance even more, increasing the size of his nose and ears, which makes him look even worse. He even adds curly ear hair that’s more than a bit gross.
“It’s not so bad.” He shrugs. “I think I make a dashing old man.”
“Oh, please.” I smirk at him. “You’re not exactly headed for the cover of Senior Citizen GQ Magazine.”
“I’m not worried about it. Alphians age differently from humans. We don’t change in appearance as much.”
Of course they don’t age like humans. I should have known that, but they do age. I remember a vision of an old Alphian woman who had gray hair and looked to be in her sixties. “How long do Alphians live?”
“For some, a long time.” He nods at the door, and I see through his disguise. The young Aaric appears with the old just a faint shadow that covers him like a hazy light. “Is your friend inside?”
I don’t need to concentrate long on the auras inside the building to answer his question. Connor’s energy flows from the back of the jail as if seeking me out, so I nod.
The police station is a small standalone brick building with a near-empty parking lot in the back. I pull up my hood and reach for the door.
Aaric moves faster and grabs the doorknob first. “Age before beauty.”
A bell jingles as he walks into the station with me a step behind. A beefy uniformed police officer sits behind a desk right in front of us. He looks annoyed as he talks on the phone and rolls his eyes. He barely glances up as we stroll inside.
Only one other cop is in the room, sitting at one of a half-dozen desks behind him. He’s typing on a computer and looks half-asleep. The place smells like stale coffee, body odor, and industrial strength air-freshener. A heavy metal door blocks entrance to the back of the station where they’re holding Connor.
Aaric projects his thoughts into my head. “I will take care of the officer in front. You deal with the guy in back.”
I catch his eye for a second and nod with the slightest bob of my chin.
The wide-bodied officer finishes his conversation on the phone, hangs up, and glances at Aaric. “Yes, is there something I can do for you?”
Aaric sounds old, his voice gravely. “Probably not, sonny boy.” He leaps over the desk and knocks the cop out with an elbow to the head.
That’s my cue to jump into action.
It takes the officer in the back a full two seconds to look up. That’s one second two long.
I practically fly to his desk and reach him as he stands, trying to pull his nightstick free. I hit him with a right hook before he can even raise the baton to defend himself.
The punch sends him spinning to his knees. He lifts his head and looks at me with glazed eyes.
I feel bad, but I have to knock him out, so I hit him with a short downward jab that’s just hard enough to leave him unconscious.
Aaric already stands by the secure door. He’s all business. “We must move fast, free your friend, and get out of here.”
“The door’s probably locked.”
He shoots me a weird expression, as though I must be slow or something. “I think I can handle it.” He pushes against the door using his mind, and it flies inward with an explosion of energy.
Two policemen in the holding area are caught off-guard. One stands and turns toward us, but Aaric uses telekinesis, grabs him, and whips him headfirst into the bars.
The other officer reaches for a radio, but I yank it from his hand with my mind and his jaw drops.
Aaric finishes him off by smashing a chair against his head. The entire confrontation takes less than ten seconds and we’re still standing in the doorway.
Neither one of us had to move, and I haven’t even broken into a sweat... until I glance at Connor.
The look on his face sends me spinning into an emotional vortex.
Connor
I twist my hands against the bars until the friction burns.
Juliet stands in the door
way with a weird-looking old dude by her side.
Conflicting emotions collide inside me. She’s come to rescue me, and I should be grateful, but anger incinerates all other feelings. I can’t forget the last time I saw her—when she clobbered me and chose the Prime Elector over us—over me.
My face burns. “What are you doing here?”
“What does it look like?” She walks toward me with the old guy tottering beside her. “I’m not touring English jails for the fun of it.”
“I figured you’d be too busy palling around with your new friends to worry about us.”
She stands just outside my cell now. “Maybe I should just leave then.”
I open my mouth to say something snide, but she pulls down her hood and the words freeze in my throat when I see her face: her eyes, the curve of her chin, the fullness of her lips. Her hair swoops down her head and frames her remarkable face. She’s more beautiful than ever, yet there’s more to it than that. She’s also more powerful than before; energy radiates off her in waves. Somehow she’s changed in the short time we’ve been apart. This new version seems like a concentrated Juliet—more beautiful, more powerful, and more dangerous than before.
I’m pulled into her world, and the anger melts off me. I don’t want to be upset with her anymore. I just want to breathe her air, feel her lips against mine, and have her look at me wide-eyed and full of emotion... like she used to. She’s more than I deserve, but maybe if I’m lucky, and if the fates don’t screw with me too much, she might not notice.
We stare at each other for a long moment, the silence thick with questions neither one of us asks. I want to tell her I’m sorry for the incident by the rock. It was foolish of me to bring her where I used to bring other girls. I want to tell her the truth, that there weren’t really any other girls before her—no previous feelings even remotely compare to what I feel for her.
She breaks the silence. “Looks like you need a little help.” Her eyes glow with an otherworldly gleam, the scarlet flecks flickering to life, looking electric, powerful.
My face starts to burn, and I feel like an idiot for ending up in jail. My hands twist against the bars again, and I feel inferior.
She would have freed herself. She would’ve been powerful enough to bend the bars or escape in some other way.
I start to feel angry and my stupid pride gets in the way. “Good thing you came when you did. I was just about to escape. You would have missed me.”
A tentative grin inches across her face. “Oh really. Let’s see.”
“Really, I don’t want to show off, and since you’ve gone through all the trouble to visit me, I wouldn’t want to ruin it for you.”
A smile blooms across her face like a flower blossoming for the first time, and the girl I used to know shows through the cracks. “Really. Since I’ve come all this way and all.” She glances at the lock on my cell door, it clicks, and she swings it open without moving a muscle.
For a second I wonder how she did it, but then I realize she used telekinesis to turn the locking mechanism. I didn’t need to liquefy the metal. If I were thinking clearly, I would have known that and could have used my mind to open it like a key. Further proof that I’m a total plonker.
The old man glances toward what used to be the door to the holding area. “We should be going. That transport could show up at any moment.”
“Come on,” she says.
She shifts her weight to leave, but I grab her arm before she turns away. “Who’s he?”
“We can talk about him later.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on and we sort this out. Starting with him.” I might not be as powerful as she is, but I deserve to know what’s up. My life is on the line too. I’m a Chosen, just like her.
Her face pinches together. “You’re so stubborn.”
I cross my arms against my chest. “Aye.”
The old dude turns his body so he’s facing Juliet, to make it clear he’s not talking to me. “It’s up to you.”
She sighs and nods.
I blink my eyes and shake my head as the old guy transforms into the young Deltite leader I had seen Juliet meet at Hampton Court Palace.
She steps between us. “Connor, meet Aaric, the Prime Elector. Aaric, this is Connor.”
My mouth must have dropped open because my tongue feels sandpaper dry, and it takes me a few seconds to find my voice. I should probably ask how he changes his appearance, but that’s not the most pressing thing on my mind at the moment. “Are you daft? Why would you bring him?”
“There’s nothing wrong with me.” Her eyes fire brilliantly like priceless gems. “I’m not the one who got plastered and tossed in jail. You’re the one who needed saving. Aaric came with me to help save your ass.”
I glare at him. He’s probably everything I’m not: stronger, better-looking, rich beyond measure, no doubt perfect in every way. I immediately hate him. “I don’t owe you anything. I never asked you to help me.”
“So noted.” He turns toward Juliet. “We should be going.”
Her face softens and her eyes widen as she looks at me. She still feels something for me.
I haven’t lost yet.
She grabs my arm. “Come with us. Please, Connor, we can trust Aaric. I’ll explain everything, I promise.”
I pull my arm from her grasp. “You can’t be serious. You know what they did to my parents. I can’t trust them.”
“He wasn’t even on the planet back then. You can’t—”
“Yes, I can. My parents died fleeing a Seeker.” I face him and sneer. “I don’t know what you’ve done to Juliet, but I’m not so easily tricked. How about we settle things right now?”
He smiles. “Fine with me.”
Juliet huffs and conjures an energy wall between us. “You’re both acting like idiots!” She turns toward me. “You won’t reconsider and come with us?”
I shake my head. “He’s got to pay for what he’s done to my parents. And I’m not going to let him enslave the world either.” I throw in the last bit for good measure, so I don’t sound so selfish.
She sighs. “Tell Troy that I’ve figured out where to find the bomb. We need to go back home. I’ll meet him there and any of the others who want to help, but Aaric’s not the enemy. If you don’t want to come, that’s your decision.”
She grabs Aaric’s hand and pulls him toward the doorway.
The arrogant wanker winks at me before he turns.
I step forward, but I can’t break through the energy barrier.
“Nice to meet you, Connor,” he says over his shoulder before disappearing from view.
Once they leave the room, the energy field disappears and I sprint after them.
When I hit the street, they’ve already reached a black SUV.
Aaric leans out the window. He catches my eye, tosses a duffel bag onto the street, and peels away from the curb.
I jog over and pick up the bag.
I rip open the zipper and see the hilts of our crystal swords glittering in the streetlight.
Connor
On my run back to the vicar’s house, my mind fills with questions about the Prime Elector and Juliet: What’s their relationship? Why’s she so convinced she can trust him?
He helped free me, but that doesn’t count for much in my book. The tosser could have just been showing off, making believe he wanted to help, or had some other unscrupulous motive I can’t even fathom. He is the Prime Elector, after all. By principal we’re supposed to defeat him. That’s the only constant we’ve been working with from the start. If that’s not true, we have nothing to hold on to, and all our tethers to the world would come unmoored.
He certainly casts off an arrogant I’m-the-master-of-the-universe type vibe, and he looked at Juliet with a chummy expression. Even worse, she seemed to like him. That could be my imagination, but as I close in on the Vicar’s house the feeling only intensifies. I remember the way her fingers touched his, and how h
e winked at me as if he were rubbing salt in a wound.
How did this happen? Did he brainwash her, or is Juliet right about him?
At least I’ve finally sobered up, but I still feel unsteady on my feet. My mind reels from all these conflicting emotions.
I shove the vicar’s front door open with a crash, and everyone glares at me.
Blake stands and meets me in the foyer, his face angry. “Well, where have you been? We were about to go search for you.”
Akari joins him. “We thought something bad might have happened to you.”
“Then you should be happy to see me.” I close the door and recount my story, starting with my concern over Michelle and why I let the police take me to jail. Finally, I tell them about Juliet and the Prime Elector, Juliet’s message about the bomb, and that she’s headed back home to find it.
“You let her go with the Prime Elector, alone?” Troy rubs his hand over his face. “That’s not a good idea.”
I lift my arms. “Okay, okay, I didn’t handle that well, but what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t just go with them. He’s the one we’re supposed to kill.”
“You should have protected her.” Akari practically stomps her foot. “She’s in danger with him.”
“Well, I’m not sure Conner did the wrong thing.” Blake faces Akari. “She could be brainwashed. She might have turned on Connor when they were alone.”
“Right. She broke him out of jail with the Prime Elector just so they could lure him away and kill him!” She kicks Blake in the shin, and he moans.
Barrett appears in the doorway that separates the living room from the kitchen.
Damn! I forgot he was here.
“The Prime Elector changed his appearance?”
“Yeah. Is that important?” I eye him suspiciously. If Juliet’s right that we can trust the Prime Elector, then we can’t trust Barrett. That would mean that we’re after the wrong alien and need to defeat him instead.
“It’s a rare talent, that’s all. He must be extremely powerful.”