by Terina Adams
Who was the real Jax? Not the boy who accosted me in the convenience store all those centuries ago. Nor the boy who jumped from the Adolphy Tower and dragged me into Dominus to watch me fail as revenge for his family’s murder. But a part of him was that boy. There were many shades in all of us.
The longer we spent together, the more it would hurt. I just knew it would, because this wasn’t a fairy tale, and bad things happened all the time in real life. Idealism bled from the wounds created by Dominus, Carter, and my dad until there was nothing left within me but the strong will to survive.
“We gotta go. Elva will be waiting for me at Aris HQ.”
“What about Nuke and Patrick?”
“She’ll leave them at her place. And if they are smart enough, that’s where they’ll stay.”
To cut our conversation off, Jax moved around me and headed for the kitchen, where he rummaged for things in a drawer, which he then slipped into the pocket of his clothes. He changed from earth clothes shortly after we arrived into a navy-blue jumpsuit teamed with black boots, which looked made for running and reminded me of the STU from the last game we played in Dominus.
With a hand out, he signaled for me to join him. It was time to face my new world.
Chapter 9
Dominus gave Califax the familiarity of a frequently visited city, but the people made it foreign. No warrior-clad fighters here, but normal human lookalikes dressed in outfits recognizably earth-like to weird. We exited Jax’s apartment onto a boulevard of broad-leafed trees. With no cars on the street, boarded gardens pockmarked the pedestrian walkways, filled with a rainbow of color. This was not the Califax I knew. There was little difference between Jax’s street and many of the others I moved through while in Dominus, but the air smelled alive with floral perfume, the wind tickled the hairs around my face, and the sun bathed my cheeks. Real sensations, not a mockup from a computer plugged into my neural pathways to convince me what I tasted, smelled, and touched were real.
“It’s beautiful.”
Jax snorted his reply.
“You don’t think so?”
“Beauty never penetrates very deep.”
“I never realized Califax smelled so good.”
He huffed. His mouth remained tight. Small creases etched fine lines across his forehead. Best to leave the conversation where it stood, behind us.
Skytrains crisscrossed overhead like dozens of spiders busily creating an invisible web. Their metal hulls glimmered in the sun, the light reflecting onto the tops of the highest buildings, so they sparkled like jewels.
“Do they every collide?”
“No. They’re equipped with advanced avoidance systems. It would be impossible.”
“Nothing’s impossible.”
He slid a sideways glance my way. “Normally, I would agree with you, but it would be incredibly hard. The system requires authorization to override. And central command have the ability to override all controls if the system is hijacked. It’s one of the reasons Carter and Nixon decided to go underground rather than overhead. The senate controls the airways.”
Jax set a brisk pace, forcing me to jog the occasional step to keep up. Rejuvenated from a concoction of tablets he’d taken when we first returned to his world, Jax hurried us along the street, heading for the Central Terminal, which reared up over the surrounding buildings like an alien from War of the Worlds. I couldn’t help but groan at the irony of how close we were to living out a real-life War of the Worlds.
The swelling on Jax’s face had disappeared, leaving minor bruising and a few remnant scabs from cuts. He felt healthy enough to set a punishing pace, and given that I was on another world, I couldn’t help but tread on his heels while I gawked at everything around me but the direction we headed. He was polite enough to keep his cool about my clumsiness.
“I keep expecting one of these people to transform—”
Jax lurched to a stop, rearing on me. Alarmed by his sudden action, I jumped back a pace, but the one thing that echoed through my head was the way his hand halted inches from touching me. He looked over my head at the people passing as he said, “We won’t talk about that in the open. Come, let’s keep moving.” Just like Dominus, fear and vigilance followed our every step.
The crowd of pedestrians now became a crowd of enemies. The people around me looked as human as anyone on a city street back home, and yet I remained alert, tense, waiting for someone to lurch my way while pulling a weapon from their belt. My factional nature prowled under my skin. I dared not reach within and soothe the wild call. Any acknowledgement of what crept inside fueled my need for release.
No eyes met mine, and I was perhaps drawing attention to myself by staring at each face, scanning behind each ear for the revelation of who they really were. Jax increased his pace, forcing me into a light jog. Did we keep moving for fear the police would arrest us for standing too long in one place?
Close beside him, the tension in his body radiated through the space between us. I didn’t need to look at him to know his own factional nature pestered him as much as mine did me. Too much time spent beside each other fighting, and I could practically taste the vibe of his feral nature. It ran along the outside of my skin as if enticing destruction into a deadly game, which would see us both killed at the hands of the senate.
“Relax,” he breathed with as much strain as I felt.
“If you want me to relax, perhaps we can slow down. That way we don’t look like we’re on the run.”
He slowed a smidgeon, enough so I could catch my breath. I leaned in close. “I’m alien. Give me a chance to look.”
He snorted but made no other comment, just directed me across to the other side of the street, which was easy to do when you didn’t have to dodge traffic.
“We’re going to take a skytrain. I’m not overly comfortable with the idea, being crammed in with so many people, at least while you’re design-free”—still so cautious, he avoided using the word tattoo in case someone passing overheard—“but it will take too long to walk where we’re heading.”
“Why can’t we just zap ourselves there, like you did at the prison?”
“I don’t want to risk it. There have been some unregulated shifts by some senate members to other dimensions in the last year or so. According to Carter, the last time he was back here, the senate ruled to increase research into a way of monitoring shifting by listening for the echo of any warp along the seams of the dimensions and time. It wasn’t so long ago that Carter returned with that information, so I doubt they’ve made a lot of headway. Up until now, I’ve been careless in the way I shift. But I’m not willing to risk it now.”
“What information could they get?”
“It’s too early to say. A rough location of where the warp began would be a logical guess. They would be keen to know the destination as well. I’m sure they will succeed in the end. It’s only a matter of time.”
“What will that mean for you?”
“It means I will no longer have the option.”
“You will have to make a decision as to where you want to be.”
He nodded.
“And where would that be?”
“Here, of course.” He spared me a quick frown before glaring ahead.
Stupid me, stupid question. This was his home. Of course he chose to remain here. Why had I thought he’d think otherwise? Because I would choose to remain in my world.
The triangular black shadow of a skytrain swept over us and raced along the ground toward the terminal. The first time I’d ridden in one of those, I blew it out of the sky in order to exit Dominus. The idea of boarding one again wasn’t high on my list of must-dos, even if they did look like a carnival ride.
A memory flashed forward so real and fast I sucked in a breath. The metal door divides the cockpit from the passengers. Jax’s hands rest on my showers as he whispers in my ear, “I believe in you.” A bright white flash blinds me, and a roar explodes through my ears.
“Sa
ble?”
I blinked, blinked again, then shook my head. “I’m fine.” The power of the memory had sent me reeling back a few paces. Destruction punched a beat through my chest. “Dominus has gouged the memories in too deep.”
“Just as long as you don’t start fighting phantom bad guys.”
“I make no promises.”
“Hold out until we get where we’re going. Then you can freak out all you like, and no one will notice.”
“That doesn’t comfort me any.”
That earned me a quick smile, but Jax spared no time for anything else before he hurried off down the street once more.
“This is the only way?”
“We need you decorated ASAP. Haven’t you flown before? Outside Dominus, that is.”
“Yes, but are these things air-worthy?”
“They have a spotless record. More so than I could say for what you’d call an aircraft.”
“How do I know you’re not just saying that to get me onboard?”
“You’ll have to trust me, Sable.” And with that, he flashed another quick smile, and I forgot about our surroundings and goal for one moment.
Trust was what he asked of me from the start, when his intention was to get me killed. I’d given him my trust, and he saved me. He wasn’t looking at me now, so my smile was for myself.
People scurried around the tripod legs at the base of the terminal like busy ants seeming to have no direction. They crammed into the lifts, which then shot through the floor of the first platform in a blink before returning to the ground a short time later.
God, I remembered this. I turned away, but Jax snagged my elbow and pulled me along with him to join the waiting line. Once in line, he took a thick strand of my hair and brushed it down over my right shoulder in a slow caress, like he was fascinated with the texture, but his eyes weren’t on mine. It made his gesture seem unconscious.
“Have you heard from Elva?” I kept my voice low.
Jax’s focus returned to me. “She’s busy with Nuke and Patrick.”
“Have they been taken care of?” I couldn’t help but glance around me.
“It’s happening as we speak. Don’t worry; we’re on target.”
Don’t worry? What would happen to me once I was tattooed a Persal? Where would I go? How would I survive in this world if I was not alongside Jax?
The swift movement of the line meant I didn’t have to bother Jax with my fear. Besides, I knew what he would say. A life of living on this earth and the senate’s rules had permeated deep. He rebelled enough to side with Carter, but there were perhaps perceptions too pervasive to release.
The line grew short, and in no time, Jax placed his hand feather-soft on my back, encouraging me inside. A waterfall of people flowed into the lift, sandwiching us in the middle—my preferred place, as it meant I couldn’t see us rising off the ground. Even when I thought enough people entered, more kept coming. Hopefully, we wouldn’t exceeded our capacity. I was pressed back into Jax as, unbelievably, more decided there was room to spare. If we’d not been packed tight, I would turn and ask him if he was worried about the amount of people the lift would have to carry. Just when destruction’s urge to create a few windows in the glass and get some fresh air became too great, I was whizzed out of my body when the lift left the ground and slowed at the first platform before I had time to inhale.
About a quarter exited. Jax slid his arm to my waist, pressing his fingers firm into my side, keeping me from following the third out. The doors closed, and my stomach was left behind once again as we moved to the next tier. Here, Jax dropped his hold, so I shuffled forward with the exiting handful out onto the platform and the sea of people.
I faltered to a stop amongst the throng crisscrossing the platform to reach their skytrains before they departed. Jax moved beside me and took my hand, guiding me forward away from the lift entrance.
People pressed past us, faces of humans wearing clothes of varying designs, from the commonplace, like my outfit, to the outlandish, such as starched high collars, bowing outward and down from the neck, and weird ribbed fabric bunched around the torso. Each rib rippled discretely as the person walked. One lady wore boots that reached to the top of her thighs and finished off with PVC style underpants. When it came to clothes, it seemed anything was acceptable.
Jax said nothing as he led me through the crowd. Unlike in Dominus, no one parted to allow us through. Forced to make our own path, we bumped and squeezed our way past groups who gathered to chat.
I was swallowed by the crowd, drowned by the babble and laughter, and assaulted by the strong combination of smells that either tickled my nose or burned the hairs and scorched the back of my throat on the way down. Bumped and pushed, destruction responded, firing along my arms, chest, and torso. Feeling the ignition, I looked down my body, expecting to see my jumpsuit alight or at least my body glowing through from underneath. Nothing, my ungrafted factional nature remained concealed.
A laughing woman tripped into me and sent me staggering backward into someone behind, ripping Jax’s light hold on me free. The woman’s makeup—bold hues, heavily applied—flashed in front of my eyes before she disappeared. Her open mouth, white teeth gleaming sharp and straight, had my heart racing to a manic pace.
Around me, warrior’s clash with the reverberating sound of metal on metal, the harsh grunts of fighting, and the harrowing cries of agony. Chaos spins me in circles until I spy a warrior break free, sprinting across the platform then diving for the opening door of the skytrain.
There was pressure on my upper arm, and my attention struggled to return. My breath came through in short, sharp pants driven on the wave of destruction’s path under my skin. On autopilot, my legs did as told, stepping one after the other, but my mind ran in confused circles. If not for Jax’s hand, my anchor, moving me forward to where we needed to go, I would’ve tripped over whomever got in my way and ended up groveling at people’s feet. Destruction flirted on the edge of eruption. In the end, I closed my eyes and focused on Jax’s touch, shunting the dangerous part of me deep inside.
“Are you in control?” His breath tickled wisps of hair around my neck.
His voice was like an elixir, firm and demanding, snapping me back to myself, grounding me within.
I would’ve nodded, but I felt verbalizing it was stronger. “Yes.” I heard the steel in my voice, putting destruction in its place.
When I opened my eyes, I stared into Jax’s dark pits, both his eyes clear and menacingly sharp thanks to the concoction of pills.
“It’s all right. I’ve got everything under control.”
“We need to reach our destination, so keep the skytrain intact.”
Jax making a joke? At such a crucial moment as this? He backed up his remark with a budding smile, so I would have to say yes.
I looked past him at the skytrains docked around the perimeter of the platform. “Which one is ours?”
“We want the blue one.” He pointed to the farthest from the lift. Of course. “If you’re ready, we should go.”
People sat on large, round, cushioned seats looking like giant mushrooms in the center of the platform. They either chatted or stared into space, perhaps browsing their cephulets like people on earth did their phones when they were bored. No doubt, those who talked were from the same faction, and those who stared into space were not.
I glanced behind people’s ears where I could see, looking for the one thing that segregated them into categories and forced them to live a certain way and love certain people. If their arms were bare, I glanced at their wrists to see the tattoo that protected them from the senate’s fear and retribution.
I saw a few I knew. Phonus, Perun, Negal. My pulse quickened when I discovered a group of Persal, two men and women, standing in a huddle laughing. The women wore lavish clothes, something you’d see on the latest catwalk, with draped shawls that trailed along the ground behind them like a wedding train. The men dressed equally smart. Perhaps these peo
ple were the elite of this world, rich and influential, like my father had been. They reminded me of the sorts of people Mum and Dad entertained. I knew how to mingle with the likes of this group, because up until months ago, I grew up in that life. I attended the same school as their children. I’d been content in that life, because I knew no better.
The old me was pathetic and weak. I longed to see my family again, to overcome this feeling of vulnerability and chaos, but I would never choose to rewind time to the safe place where we were still a family, to believing Dad would always protect me. That life was more a fabrication than the game. I didn’t need Dominus to teach me that. Fate—destined to outrun us and end our charade—would’ve taken care of it.
Jax led me around the mushroom seats and up the few steps to the waiting skytrain. I slowed as we neared. There was nothing below the skytrain but an endless supply of air. The wind rushed over the side and into my face as if pushing me back from the edge. We’d ridden the lift in lightning time but ended up so high the horizon expanded to the city limits.
“The docking arm is solid enough to support the weight. It’s not about to fall off the edge of the platform.”
“How about out of the sky?”
“No one in Califax has a problem using skytrains.”
Which meant I was drawing attention to myself. Jax had taught me to find the other side of my fear. I followed him over the edge of his apartment to do just that. He was right. It made me stronger. But it didn’t mean I had to look.
When we neared the skytrain, I ducked my head and closed my eyes, using Jax’s firm hold to guide me across the threshold. I’d already plummeted from a STU utility through a busted skylight. Perhaps this would be like knitting compared to that experience. As if hating this fear, destruction burned across my chest. I clenched my fists and teeth to force it down then remembered Jax held my hand. He didn’t say anything, and I kept my eyes closed, because it was easier to concentrate on controlling destruction that way.