EQUINOX
Skywatchers, Book 2
L.J. Higgins
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Books by L J Higgins
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by LJ Higgins
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Printed in the United States of America.
Cover by Maria Spada.
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Chapter One
It didn’t matter where I turned, Reece was right there. Avoiding him while co-existing in a dark, dingy cave was tougher than I’d imagined. With his tight, sympathetic smile and bright blue eyes, he kept offering me food or water, checking on my wounds. Each time he reached out, guilt twisted my stomach until it morphed into an internal anger, tensing my muscles and jaw.
I didn’t understand how he could be so nice to me. Why was he helping the person who’d spent the past two-and-a-half years murdering his people?
“Are you okay?” Reece’s voice cut through my thoughts.
“I’m fine.” How many times did I have to tell him?
"Two day’s hiding in this cave, and ‘I’m fine’ is still the most I can get out of you,” he sighed.
“What do you want me to say, Reece? It’s so fantastic sitting in a dark cave hiding from Skywatchers hunters who were my friend’s only day’s ago?” I snapped.
“Friends? It’s been a few days, but I don’t remember you having many friends.”
I knew he was trying to lighten the mood, but it only made me clench my teeth.
When I didn’t bite, he continued. “You’re not fine.”
“Then why keep asking me?” I said.
“Because I don’t know what else to say. I know I’m not your favourite person at the moment, but if you haven’t noticed, we’re kind of stuck together for a little while. At least until I get you back to Tyson,” Reece said.
My brother, Tyson. The reason I was in this situation in the first place.
“I’m worried about you,” he finished.
“You don’t need to be worried. I’m eating and keeping my wounds clean. I’m a big girl, you know,” I bit at him.
“I don’t mean physically,” he said. “I mean emotionally and mentally. Plus, it’s weird being here with you when you hardly say a word to me. I know you’re upset I lied…”
“I’m not upset you lied. I get it. You had to make sure I was ready to hear the truth before revealing I was killing the aliens my brother was trying to save.” Releasing a breath, I turned away from him. “I really don’t want to have this conversation right now.”
“Then what’s your problem? A few days ago, we were kissing and laughing, and now you won’t even look at me,” he said.
“Don’t you get it? I can’t!”
“Can’t what?”
“I can’t look at you after what I’ve done. I can’t understand how you can even look at me. Aren’t you betraying your own race by doing all of this?” I asked.
“Your brother has done a lot for my people and me. I’m repaying a debt,” he said.
“Tyson might’ve done amazing things, but I’ve done the exact opposite.” I hated the tears tightening my throat.
“Ky…”
“Stop. I said I don’t want to talk about it. In fact, let’s go back to not talking at all.”
In truth, as desperate as I was to be back with Tyson, part of me was terrified of the way he’d look at me, knowing everything I’d done. Knowing I’d been killing the aliens he’d been desperately trying to save. How many had I killed? I couldn’t even remember the number. I couldn’t remember their names. They’d always been nothing but monsters to me. Savages who’d killed my brother. Only they hadn’t. And I’d been naïve enough to believe Ricko and Commander Kane’s lies.
“When can we leave this horrible place anyway?” I asked, trying to distract my mind.
“I thought we weren’t talking.” Reece cocked an eyebrow.
I shot him a glare from where I sat against the damp rock across the cave from him.
“We can leave once I’m confident there are no more Skywatchers hunters out there searching for us,” he said. “The scanners I put out picked up a fair bit of activity again today. Maybe they’ll decide we’ve moved on by tomorrow?”
Reece and his fellow aliens had thought of everything. They’d stocked the cave with canned food, water, weapons, bedding, and devices they could put around the perimeter to tell them if there were people around. Skywatchers hunters had been spread out through the bushland over the past few days both on foot and in helicopters. They’d combed the area in an effort to find us. We’d had warning from the security devices each time they’d approached our deep tunnel, and the bush outside the cave’s small opening had kept our hiding place hidden.
“They aren’t going to give up easily,” he said. “They need you.”
The guilt sank back into my twisted stomach. “I might try to get some sleep.”
He gave me one of his tight smiles, and I made my way over to my sleeping bag and crawled in, groaning at the pain in my side. As I settled, the crackle and pops of the fire echoing through the cave lulled me to sleep. My ribs still ached from our altercation with Skywatchers in the bushland, and the dark bruises that’d come out the following morning were now a bluish black. It took some manoeuvring, but I eventually found a way to get comfortable while avoiding inflicting pain throughout the night.
The fire popped once again, drawing me from my thoughts. Opening my eyes, I watched as its light danced across the damp mossy rock wall of the cave. Reece had told me there were bug out places like this all over the country where aliens could hide once they’d been discovered. Had the aliens Reece had saved from one of my bullets hidden here? Would they be with my brother when we were reunited?
“Why do they bother?” I asked Reece, my voice cutting through the silence.
Reece moaned and rolled over. “What did you say?”
“Why do aliens keep trying to integrate with us when they know they could be hunted and killed?”
“Many aliens live in hiding,” he’d replied. “But the ones who try to live a normal life came to Earth because they were promised a new life and an adventure on a new planet. Could you imagine dreaming of a new life then finding out your friends and family had been murdered by the people who invited you? And, to make matters worse, you have to live underground to survive. I guess some of them feel it’s better to risk their lives to live with some semblance freedom than to live in fear.”
I closed my eyes again, drawing in a deep breath, attempting to breathe away the thoughts chasing each other through my mind.
“You okay?” Reece sat up, his sleeping bag still wrapped around him.
“Would you stop asking me?” I bit at him.
&
nbsp; “Sorry, it’s just… you said no more talking, and then you started talking to me,” he replied.
“It won’t happen again,” I said.
“Fingers crossed this is the last night on the floor,” he said, ignoring my words. “With any luck, tomorrow night, we’ll have a mattress and decent food in our bellies. Are your bruises hurting?”
“Not too bad.” The thought of a comfortable bed and food had softened my tone.
“What about your wounds? Do you want me to take a look and make sure they aren’t infected?” He ran his hand through his messy blonde hair.
I’d been shot during our escape from the Skywatchers’ attack. Guess they weren’t so happy I’d found out they were full of crap, and I was hanging out with an alien.
“They’re fine. They’re only scrapes remember. It’s not like my leg’s going to fall off,” I replied.
“It could. If an infection set in.”
“I promise to let you know if it looks infected. Despite what you might think, I’m not useless, and I don’t need you to fuss about me like a freaking old mother hen. Got it?”
“Yeah, sorry. Of course.”
Reece lay back down, and I rolled onto my good side.
Once I was back with my brother, Reece could go back to returning his people home and forget about me. And I could focus on finding out who Tyson really was and what he’d been doing while I was stuck in Skywatchers’ training to become a murderer.
Okay, maybe I was angry at my brother, too. Could you blame me? For years I’d believed he was dead. I’d grieved for him. Joined Skywatchers to avenge him. And it was all a lie. Now I knew nothing about him. Just that he was the only family member I had left. Before the invasion, we’d been so close. I had no idea what he’d been through. It was like I didn’t know him anymore.
It was hard to tell if it was day or night in the cave, but Reece managed to keep some form of normalcy to our days. Not that I knew what a normal day consisted of anymore. My eyes adjusted to the flicker of light from the fire. I feared I’d emerge back into the world only to find my eyes didn’t work in the sunlight.
I stretched my arms above my head, wincing at the pain it elicited in my side, and rubbed at my eyes.
“Spaghetti here if you want some,” Reece said.
Grunting at him in reply, I slid my stiff body into a sitting position and combed my fingers through my filthy hair. What I wouldn’t do for a shower…
“There’s been no movement on the scanners overnight or this morning. If there’s no more movement today, we might be able to finally move on tomorrow,” he said.
I gripped the heart-shaped pendant resting on my chest and looked to the ceiling. For better or worse, I was going to find my brother. The pendant with Tyson and my parents’ names engraved on the back was the last gift he’d given me before our worlds changed forever. ‘Always in your heart,’ was etched on the front, and I hoped my parents were watching over me, making sure we got to Tyson safely.
“It’ll be nice to get out of this cave,” Reece said. “And have some decent food and a shower…”
With a moan, I stood, stretching my tight muscles while trying to avoid hurting my side. Reece assumed I’d fractured a few ribs when I’d fallen, but he couldn’t be certain because I wouldn’t let him poke at them like he’d wanted. He’d said I was being a sook, but the truth was I didn’t want him to touch me.
Walking over to the small fire, I grabbed the warm can of spaghetti and a spoon before finding my usual seat against the damp wall. Scooping a spoonful into my mouth, my nose crinkled. It was all I’d eaten for the past few days, and I’d never been a fan of spaghetti.
“So, you still not talking to me?” Reece asked as he rummaged in the plastic bin holding the food and water.
I looked up from the can to meet his eyes with a deadpan stare.
“I’ll take your silence as a no then. I’m getting a bit stir crazy here in the silence, you know,” he said. “Maybe we could play a game or something.”
“I know a fun game,” I said.
“Yeah? What’s that?” His eyes lit up.
“Let’s see who can go the longest without speaking. We’ll call it the quiet game,” I said. “Ready, set, go!”
He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Let’s hope we can get moving tomorrow so I don’t go insane.”
“I win,” I replied before eating another spoonful of warm spaghetti.
Chapter Two
Reece hadn’t been lying about the cave sending him nutty. By lunch time, he’d begun pacing the small space around the fire, only stopping to grab a can of spaghetti or drink of water. I sat in my spot, head leaning back against the rock wall, staring at the firelight flickering on the ceiling.
By late afternoon, my butt had gone well and truly numb, and my legs had gone to sleep, so I stood and stomped around to wake them up.
“She’s alive!” he called out, his voice echoing around the cave.
Ignoring him, I stretched down to touch my toes, wincing at the pain in my side.
Then he started humming. I had no idea what the tune was, but the humming mixed with his pacing was sending me nutty. But I refused to bite. He’d said we’d leave the next day, and it was nearly bed time. Surely, he couldn’t hum and pace until then.
“Dooo, dum, dum, dooo,” he sang to himself, skipping a little as he walked.
I turned toward the wall, pulling my foot up behind me to stretch my aching leg.
“Dum, dum, dooo.” His voice dropped low.
I couldn’t take another minute. “Okay, stop!”
“What?” he asked as if he hadn’t just been annoying the crap out of me for the past eight hours.
“I’ve watched you go in circles and listened to your, ‘cat run over by a car,’ singing for hours now, and I can’t take it anymore. You think you’re going nutty? You don’t want to see crazy, Ky,” I said.
He smirked. Actually smirked.
“Do you want me to punch you in your stupid smile? I’d be happy to,” I offered.
“I’ve missed you,” he said.
I growled in reply.
“How can you really spend days in a cave with someone and barely speak a word?” he asked.
“I spent two-and-a-half years in Skywatchers without speaking barely a word to a whole bunch of hunters. I’m well practiced.”
“But you used to like speaking to me. We talked all of the time before this.”
“Before I found out you were an alien and had been lying to me. Yeah, I was stupid and naive back then.”
“But now you know the truth, and I’m here to help you get back to your brother. That has to count for something, right?” he said.
I looked at the pleading in his eyes. I knew he missed me. Missed what we’d had. The thought made my muscles clench tight and my stomach twist.
“I think you’re forgetting one vital part of all of this,” I said.
“What? That the moment things get too tough, you put up your brick wall and don’t let anyone anywhere near you?” he said.
I knew he was baiting me, looking for a reaction. I wouldn’t give it to him. Not here.
I gritted my teeth.
“Go on. Say it, Ky. I can tell you have something important to say,” he said.
I narrowed my gaze and locked eyes with him. His stare equally as stern.
“Tell me you hate me. Tell me I lied to you. Yell at me. Do whatever you need to do to get over the fact I lied to you so we can move on from this,” he said.
Laughter burst from my mouth, the scary, unhinged kind. “You think I’m avoiding you because you lied to me? That’s only a third of the issue. I don’t even know how you’re in the same room as me.”
He stepped back, his eyebrows creasing in the middle. “What do you mean?”
“For God’s sake, Reece. Do you even get what all of this means?” I waved my hands around me.
“You get to be reunited with your brother?” he asked.
&
nbsp; “No. All of your revelations about the Skywatchers actually being the bad guy and my brother devoting the past few years to saving aliens. It means I’m the bad guy. Me. What do you think my brother is going to say when he finds out what I’ve been doing?” I swallowed back tears.
He stepped towards me, but my gaze locked him in place.
“He knows you were lied to. He knows you didn’t know what you were doing was wrong.”
“But I still did it, didn’t I? How can you stand being here, trying to make me feel better when I’ve killed so many of your people? Your friends. Maybe even your family.”
Reece’s mouth gaped open and closed as he searched for words. None came.
“I’m a murderer. You’ve spent the last few nights harbouring a cold-blooded killer. You know how many of your people I killed?”
He shook his head, his eyes glistening.
“Me either. You know why? There’s too many of them. And I never bothered to count. I don’t even know their names.” Tears spilled over my cheeks, and I wiped them away angrily.
Reece stared at me, the pain in his eyes sending an ache through my chest. Unable to stand seeing him anymore, I spun around and made my way to the entrance of the cave. Reece didn’t come after me. But I didn’t expect him to. As I drew nearer to the bush covering the front entrance, I ducked and pushed my way through it, branches scratching at my bare arms. I blinked in the bright light of the full moon hanging in the sky above the tall trees and leaned back against the cave’s outer rock wall. Sliding down to my butt, I hugged my knees to my chest and sobbed into my arms.
I wasn’t sure how long I sat there crying. My eyes were raw, and my cheeks were hot and sticky when I looked up towards the moon and clear sky. It was stupid sitting out in the bush. Out where a Skywatcher hunter might find me. But I needed fresh air and some time alone. I’d gone from years of loneliness to being stuck with someone twenty-four-seven. Someone who might never forgive me for what I’d done. And if he couldn’t, how could I believe my brother would?
Equinox Page 1
