Off Planet

by Aileen Erin

  “None of it was easy, but we made it work.” I didn’t know what all Mom had told Declan, but I didn’t feel like spilling my guts about the last thirteen years. And I certainly wasn’t going to argue about the choices my mother made to ensure our survival. “Can you help me with my skin? I want to go home. I need sleep. My shift starts in five hours, and I haven’t been to bed yet. I just need to get through the next day.”

  “Your shift?”

  “For the last five years, I’ve been waitressing at a diner during the day. My mom is a cook there, too. She got me the job once I was old enough. In the evening, I teach martial arts to people—mostly teenagers. I don’t make money on the classes though. But I’m going on twenty hours of no sleep after a double shift, teaching, and my workout—”

  “You’ve been working out since ten, and it’s now past three in the goddamned morning. That’s more than a workout, Maité,” Roan said.

  “I had to do something. Once you left, the glow…” I took a breath. “Lorne. Can you help me? If not, I’m just going to crash here and see if sleep will help.”

  “I can help.” He was quiet for a second, and I wondered what was running through his mind. “If you’ve been working out for hours on end, you might have thrown your energies too far in the wrong direction. We’re very sensitive to frequencies and energy shifts—especially emotional ones. Lie down and relax. I’m going to try and align them. This way is a little slower, but it’s all I can do from here.”

  I lay back and closed my eyes, waiting for something to happen. After a minute, he started playing some instruments that sounded like soft bells. Sometimes the notes from the bells seemed to draw out endlessly. One note melded into the next, and then a bell would toll. I’d never heard anything like it before, but the vibrations of the instruments—whatever they were—made my hands and feet tingle.

  And then he started singing with them. I didn’t understand the words, but the tingling worked its way toward my heart until I felt something in me loosen. Align. Unlock. It left me with a feeling that everything was going to be okay. I wasn’t so on edge anymore, and that was a huge relief.

  I didn’t want it to end, but when the last note finally faded into nothing, I stayed quiet on the floor. I knew Declan and Roan were still there, but with my eyes closed, I could pretend that it was just me and Lorne and his impossibly seductive voice and the instruments he was playing. It was beautiful.

  “What was that?” My mouth was dry, and I knew I had a water tube somewhere in the warehouse, but I didn’t want to get up. “How did you make me feel so…relaxed?”

  “It’s an ancient Aunare healing tune, and I used crystal bowls to enhance the effect. It’s the first one we learn as children. Balance in all things.”

  He took a long, slow breath, and when he spoke again, he sounded sad. “I can appreciate what your mother did, and I understand that she’s managed to keep you safe this long, but I’m glad Declan finally found you. You are out of balance. Out of practice. And without any training, you’re in a very dangerous position.”

  “Dangerous position?” I wasn’t sure what he meant by that.

  “If what Declan says is true, you don’t know what it means to be Aunare, let alone what it means to be from the di Aetes lineage.”

  He was right. “No. I don’t know what any of that means.”

  “It’s okay. You’ll learn. But you should know that this is just a bandage. Tomorrow, when you wake up, you could feel more on edge than ever. And that’s okay, too. Just remember, you’ll be safe soon.” He was quiet for a second.

  Lorne seemed to think things through before he spoke, while I tended to just vomit out words. I wondered if all Aunare were this careful with what they said or if that was just Lorne. “Declan?”

  “Yeah.” Declan’s voice popped the little, peaceful bubble I’d been in, surrounded by Lorne’s voice.

  I blinked my eyes open, and for the first time in hours, my skin didn’t have any glow to it at all.

  Roan and Declan were standing together against the wall. They looked like they’d been talking, but I’d been so focused on Lorne’s voice that I hadn’t heard them at all.

  “Teach her the Aunare breath. It could help,” Lorne said.

  His crystal blue gaze found mine, and he gave me a nod. “I will.”

  “Is there any other reason why your energies would be so out of tune? Hearing my voice shouldn’t have done that.”

  Something about energies out of whack made me think of something. “I have an implant.”

  “Remove it, Declan.” His response was quick and vicious. “She can’t survive with that in her. Especially someone with her lineage.”

  “Sure. I can remove—”

  “No. He can’t remove it. I need it,” I said. “I hate the stupid chip. It puts me on edge and hurts all the time and is generally driving me insane, but if someone notices that I don’t have one, I’m dead. They’re used for everything, and I can’t blend without it. It’s only one more day.”

  “No. No. I hate this. I want you to leave now. Get off the planet. Who cares if Jason finds out? Use the Aunare boost on your ship. If I hurry, I can meet you just outside the Naustlic System and take you the rest of the way. They won’t be able to keep up with my ship.”

  “You come inside SpaceTech territory, it’ll be an act of war. Too many innocent people would die.” Declan took a breath. “And I can’t get through the checkpoints as they are now even if I wanted to leave. The boost won’t help with that. Once Jason is gone, they’ll lighten. They won’t think twice about me, but I won’t risk her getting caught. Not now. After talking to Liz… I just can’t risk it.”

  I wanted to know what he was talking about, but I didn’t think he’d answer me now. “I agree with Declan. I’ve been doing this for thirteen years. A few more hours isn’t going to kill me.”

  Lorne was quiet for so long that I wondered if the signal had been severed.

  “Fine,” Lorne finally said. “Teach her. I want to stay on the line, but it’s hard for me to not be there and…”

  “I understand. I’ll take care of it, brother.”

  “Thank you. Amihanna?” Lorne said.

  The way he said my name sent shivers through my body. I couldn’t control or stop them, and it was driving me crazy.

  Why did hearing my true name from him make me feel like I was falling from the top of a skyscraper with no parachute?

  “Yes?” My voice was weak, but there.

  “Soon.”

  The single word—part promise, part threat—had my heart beating way too fast.

  My mind was instantly empty of everything except echoes of that one word.

  Soon.

  Soon.

  Soon.

  It felt like someone ran their fingertip up my spine, and I shuddered and then let out a startled laugh.

  What the hell was that?

  Roan was staring at me as if he didn’t know me. What was that? He mouthed to me.

  I shook my head. Some guy had just rocked my world via galactic teleconference. I wasn’t sure there was anything I could say about it.

  Declan quickly hung up and packed up the device, and I was left feeling like part of me was gone.

  What the hell?

  Declan slid it into his pocket and then glanced at me. “You ready?”

  “For?” I honestly couldn’t remember.

  “The Aunare breath. It should help you. It’s something to use before the glow gets this bad.”

  I had a second to be disappointed. To wish that Lorne was still on the line. He should’ve been the one to do it, but the more I thought about the way Lorne made me feel, the more relieved I was that he was thousands of light-years away. It was too much. Way too much.

  I forced all my questions about Lorne out of my mind. The only thing that mattered right now was learning how to control the glow of my skin. Because if the next day went even a little how the last few days had gone, I needed that knowledge.
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  “I’m as ready as I can be for someone who hasn’t stopped moving in almost twenty-four hours.” My shift had started at eight a.m. yesterday, and we were now pushing six a.m.

  For the next hour, Declan taught me the calming breathing patterns of the Aunare. Little by little, it started to make sense and feel familiar to me.

  “I think you’ve got it now. You ready to go home?” Declan asked, finally.

  “Yeah.” I was too tired to see straight. I had to get to my bed before I crashed.

  “Come on. I’ll drop both of you off.”

  Roan was curled up on the floor with the pillow and blanket I kept stashed in the makeshift locker room. I was going to have to wake him up, and he would have questions for me. Questions I didn’t want to answer.

  “Is it safe to leave with you?” I asked.

  “I think so, but I’ll keep an extra close eye just in case. Okay?”

  I nodded. “Thank you.”

  “You don’t have to thank me.”

  But I did. I was thankful for Declan. I hadn’t known him for long, but he felt familiar. I wondered what I was forgetting. What did my mom have wiped?

  And Lorne?

  Lorne.

  Just thinking his name after hearing his voice had me on edge, and I felt like there were so many things that Declan was keeping from me. So many things about Lorne. About the Aunare. About why he was here helping me when he should want me dead, just like his father and brother did.

  One more day, I told myself. One more day of pretending and hiding and lying. One more day, and then I’d be far away from here and have all the answers I wanted. I just hoped that I made it through the day without anything else going wrong.

  Chapter Seven

  I’d only managed to get a couple hours of sleep before Mom woke me up for my shift at the diner. She was too afraid of someone noticing my absence to let me skip it, even though I begged. Two hours into my shift, I regretted listening to her. Lorne wasn’t kidding about waking up and being more on edge than ever. The stupid implant wasn’t just making my finger burn constantly anymore. It was starting to malfunction, which meant I was messing up every entry. As I jammed in the order via the kitchen’s tablet, I wished I’d let Declan cut it out. The thing was a pain in my ass and now slowing me down while I worked. It was useless. I was seconds away from grabbing a knife and getting rid of it myself.

  The more the day wore on, the more I realized staying polite to my customers was going to be an impossible feat. The one currently sitting at my counter was looking at me and licking his lips like I was a juicy steak he wanted to take a bite of. I wasn’t sure I had it in me to be civil to him, let alone polite.

  The man gestured to the line of display bottles behind the counter. “I’ll take an Orange Fizz.”

  Figured he’d want such an expensive drink. The way he was looking at me like he could own me if he wanted, made me think he must have money.

  “Plus, eggs scrambled with extra cheese. Extra bacon. Extra butter on my toast.” His gaze traveled over my body as he spoke, making my skin feel extra greasy.

  I showed him my teeth, hoping he’d mistake my expression for a smile. “Anything else?” My tone was a little too sharp, but he didn’t notice. His gaze stayed fixed on my chest.

  “Not right now, sweetheart. But maybe later.”

  I bit back a retort and turned around carefully. Spinning too fast would make my short skirt rise, and no way would I let him see even a glimpse up my skirt. I reached into the metal fridge, bending at the knees to find the Orange Fizz.

  It took me entirely too much time and effort to find the last bottle hiding under a mountain of other sodas and ice cream. When I turned back to the jerk, his head was tilted to the side.

  Pervert.

  I knew it. I had him pinned from the second he walked in the door. He was at least a decade and a half older than me—maybe more—and he was trying to see up my skirt? Disgusting.

  I grabbed my multitool from the counter, popped the cap off the bottle, and barely stopped myself from slamming it down in front of him. Losing my cool wouldn’t be smart. Especially not when I was so close to escaping this hellhole. But, thankfully, Declan had been right. Not a single officer in uniform had entered the diner today. This perv’s haircut had me wondering for a second if he was one in plain clothes, but he was too tubby around the middle to be SpaceTech. They had fitness requirements because of all the space travel that was required of them.

  I dropped the multitool in the sink under the counter, placed a glass of ice next to the bottle, just in case, and showed him my teeth again. “Anything else?” Even with my clipped tone, the idiot mistook that as an invitation, wrapping his fat hand around my arm before I thought to pull away.

  My finger burned again, and the urge to unleash every emotion I was holding inside grew so strong my hands shook. It was taking everything in me not to kick his ass, grab my go-bag from my locker, and leave the diner.

  But that’s not what Declan said to do, and I wasn’t about to blow my chance at getting away from here by losing my temper with some random customer.

  I clenched my fists. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Don’t be stupid now, Maité.

  I let out a breath for the count of six, and then let the air slowly back into my lungs for a count of three, using the Aunare breathing technique just like Declan had taught me.

  Tonight, I’d be gone. I could do anything for a few more hours. I’d been through so much worse.

  But still, as his thumb moved up my arm, I couldn’t think of one worse second in my life.

  “You been in Albuquerque long?” The sound of the perv’s slightly nasal voice irritated me.

  “All my life.” The lie I’d uttered so many times before slid smoothly off my tongue. I had to get away from him without causing a scene, but how?

  “You ever been off planet?” he asked.

  An idea came to me. This would end in bloodshed, but not his.

  The perv’s eyes stayed glued to my breasts as I slowly reached for the multitool again. “No,” I said.

  “This close to the oldest spaceport on Earth and you’ve never gone anywhere? You’ve never been off planet? Not even once?”

  “No, sir.” My heart hammered. Why was he asking me this? What did he care?

  “You ever meet any Aunare?”

  “No, sir,” I answered him as calmly as I could. My voice didn’t waver, but it was a little higher than normal. I had to fix that. “I was only a little kid when Liberation Night happened. I don’t remember them at all.” My voice sounded more natural. I knew he wasn’t asking because he suspected anything. He didn’t know anything about me. The perv was just being a jerk.

  “You sure? Pretty girl like you would attract them. You almost look like one, but then you can’t be a halfer. Right? I saw you using a chip earlier.”

  Shit. I should’ve worn my hair down.

  I took another practiced breath, hoping to prevent my skin from glowing. He didn’t know anything. Not yet. But I couldn’t give him any reason to ask more questions, and I had to get out of there. Now. “The Aunare were exiled from Earth when I was barely more than a baby, so there’s no way that I could know any.” I flicked the corkscrew open under the bar with my thumb and twisted it around in my hand. It was awkward, but I managed to slice my palm.

  “Ouch!” I said with a heavy dose of whine and jerked my arm free from his grasp. “Damn it.” I held out my bleeding palm. “Excuse me. Gotta clean this up.” I tucked my palm against my chest and spun toward the kitchen a little too fast.

  My skirt flew up. Air brushed the back of my legs.

  I tugged it down but it was too late, and his chuckle made me feel dirty. I moved a little faster to get away from him before I did something I’d regret, but the sound of his laughter followed me into the diner’s kitchen.

  What a perv.

  The diner’s uniform wouldn’t bother me so much if it wasn’t so revealing. The dress was supposed to
look like the diner’s original 1950’s uniform, but the manager updated them two years ago. It was now made of a stretchy fabric. The top clung to me like a second skin. The bottom was still flared, but it’d lost three inches. For most of the customers the waitresses were invisible, but every once in a while someone would come in here and think the missing three inches meant that we were open for other kinds of business.

  The noise of the kitchen covered up his laughter as the door swung shut behind me. A round bot zoomed past, nearly nailing me in the face with its bowl of chopped onions. “Watch it!”

  Mom caved a couple weeks ago and let the boss buy a bot to help her with prep work. I wasn’t used to it flying around here yet. It made the diner more efficient during rush hours, but neither of us liked it.

  Mom was alone in the kitchen, busy in front of the large griddle top. Bacon strips sizzled as she placed them on the hot surface. Her thick black hair was pulled back in a ponytail as she cooked. It was just us here today, thankfully. From the way she was working—a little slower than her usual frenzy—I knew I wasn’t the only one tired and on edge.

  I spotted a towel and grabbed it.

  “Order up, table five,” Mom said as she looked over her shoulder at me. She spotted me wrapping my hand in the towel, and her eyes went wide. “What happened?”

  “It’s nothing, but there’s a guy at the counter. I needed a distraction to get away from him and—”

  “Maité. Don’t you dare pick a fight with anyone. Please. I know you’re on edge, but…” She wiped her hands on what used to be a white apron and looked at the screen to check the orders. “It won’t be long now. Just stay focused. Do your job.”

  Was she serious with this? “I am doing my job. I just—”

  “I don’t want to hear it.” Mom’s voice was more than snippy. “The sun was almost up when you came home. You had me so worried. Anything could’ve happened, and you didn’t call or message or answer any of my million messages.”

  “You’re right. I wasn’t paying attention, I was…” I’d been so focused on trying to stop the glow that I’d filtered everything else out. It was a shitty thing to do, especially now. “I’m sorry. I’ve been on edge, but that’s exactly why I was out late. I was at the warehouse, burning off some energy.” I had to keep my emotions in check, and working out helped. She knew that. “I don’t know why we’re even talking about this right now.”