The Separation Trilogy Box Set: Books 1 -3

by Felisha Antonette

  “Marc?”

  “Dammit!” I hiss under my breath. Collins.

  I throw a glance over my shoulder to see how far back she is—only a few feet. Kylie has stopped. She watches Collins’s quick approach with sober eyes and a relaxed stance.

  “Now’s not a good time, Collins.” I’m so close to cracking through Kylie’s growing concrete wall. If I can get her in a good enough place to sleep for a few hours, I’ll be fine. She’ll be fine.

  Kylie steps to my side and pushes me by my shoulder. I hold my ground, hearing her say, “I’m not going to kill her.” She smirks, saying, “She’s like me. But still not better than me. I pity her.”

  I groan, pushing my hair from my face as I step between them, facing Collins. “Collins, just walk away. You’re both in your feelings and need some sleep.”

  “We don’t need a mediator, Marc.” Collins tries to shove me aside, but I’m not moving. Pointing past my shoulder at Kylie, she says, “You better be happy you’re important to these people or I would slit your throat for what you did, Ky.”

  “Move, Marc,” Kylie hisses.

  Shaking my head, I purse my lips and drone, “I’m not moving.”

  Kylie sighs. “You should be ashamed of yourself, Collins. Down on your knees for the enemy. You’ll do anything for some attention, you—”

  I clamp my hand over Ky’s mouth before the word slut or bitch can stab Collins in the throat. I pull her into the opening elevator and hurry the doors to close. Collins can’t make it in time, and I grumble with relief. “Four,” I say to the elevator.

  “I could’ve taken her,” Kylie says.

  “I know,” I say reflexively, watching her reflection in the golden doors. She’s looking down, kicking the toe of her boot against the gold carpeted floor. She lifts her head slightly, and her gaze flicks up at my back. “Whatever you’re thinking, we’ve settled it. Don’t take your anger for Collins out on me.”

  She gives me a dismissive wave. “Shut up, Marc.”

  “Fine.”

  The door chimes, and she charges past me and heads to our left.

  My room is the other direction, and damn, do I want to head there and pass out. But I head to the left, to make sure she’s okay. I care too fucking much.

  I make it to her as she’s opening the door, and she shoves me hard against my chest. “Wait,” I say, dodging blows. “What did I do now?” She tries to kick me, and I knock her leg down. “Enough!” I catch her by her wrist and yank her to me. I seal her in my arms, holding her tight against me. “There.” Late at night, in the middle of the hall where anyone could walk by and see us, I hug my affection into Kylie. “All this acting out and immature tantrums are a waste of your energy.” She tries to shove me away, but I’m not letting her go.

  The door is cracked, and I shuffle us into the room and nudge the door closed with my foot.

  “Don’t try to attack me, Ky. I’m going to let you go.”

  “Don’t,” she whispers. Kylie wraps her arms around my back, clutching at my shoulders as she turns her head into my neck. “Don’t let me go yet. Please.”

  The muscles in my legs are screaming, and my back is tight. At any minute, I’m bound to fall over, lids closed, brain shutting off. But I don’t hesitate to say, “I won’t. Ever.” And we stand here until her legs begin shaking from standing too long.

  I pick her up, carry her to the bed, and tug off her boots. She blinks twice and forces her eyes to stay open. “You shouldn’t have this much trust to sleep next to me,” she says after a yawn.

  I snatch a pillow from the bed. “Who said I was sleeping next to you?” I cross the room to the chair in the corner and prop my foot up on the desk, keeping Ky’s resting frame in sight.

  “You can’t stay awake all night.” She yawns again.

  “I’m not worried about you. If you really hated me, you would’ve done something about it. Get over it. I was there once, and I got over it. I fell in love with you and turned you into my lifeline. Put you over my brother. I put aside my best judgement and gave up everything for you. And you think all of it was a show? Just to get you to reveal your heart to me and get in your pants?”

  Kylie turns on to her back and tips her chin to look at me. I sit in the corner in the shadow, leaning my head against the wall. I, too, peer at her through my lashes, growing tired, not only of explaining myself, but of the day as well.

  “I don’t know, Marc. None of it makes sense.”

  “You know, Ky. You sometimes choose to ignore information, like you want to remain in the dark. And now, you want to stay angry, wasting your time fighting everyone you see. Except for your overly happy boyfriend, Carson. You’re remaining angry with Collins because you two just don’t get along. You got your vengeance when you saved Collin’s life just so she could experience the loss of her twin. Wasn’t death good enough of a punishment?”

  “I—”

  “Hush. Let me finish.” She grunts and looks away from me. I snap up from the chair and am at the foot of the bed in two strides. Over her, I press my fists onto the bed to hold my weight. “Collins wasn’t enough. You came for me and my brother, shot me in the neck and shot Sean twice. Sean doesn’t hate many people. He actually thinks this shitty world isn’t so bad. But where he actually liked you once, you’ve quickly turned those tables. I, on the other hand, can’t get over you. Haven’t been able to since the first day you checked me out in the hallway back home.”

  “I wasn’t checking you—”

  “I said hush.” She smacks her lips, a sound I’ve never heard her make before. “So what is it? You want me out of the way? You want me dead too?”

  “Exactly.”

  Her response silences me momentarily. She can’t mean that. It’s hard to see her face, with the shine of her eyes beaming up at me. I clear my throat after I gather my words. “But death isn’t good enough, right? So whose punishment will it be by taking me out, yours or Sean’s?”

  Kylie lifts her hand to my cheek, and I nearly relax against it, but a reminder of her kicking me in the back on too many occasions encourages me to use better judgement. Instead, I wait for her words. “You hurt me.” She points to her chest with her free hand. “Right here,” and points to her temple, “and here.” Her hand falls from my face and she grabs my shirt at my waist, causing it to pull tight around my back. “It’s not because of Luke. I know you two were good friends, and Luke wouldn’t befriend anyone. But it’s because you got the jump on me, and I would’ve never expected that. I know you’ve apologized, but my head still hurts. It feels like the only way to make me feel better is to lose you too, never see you again, if it be death or walking away. Maybe if I lose you, I’ll feel better about me.”

  I lower down to my elbows to free up my hands. Closer, I can make out her face. I brush her hair from her forehead, and she turns away from me. “You’re not responsible for Luke either. And you don’t have to lose me but use me. Talk to me. Hug me. Stay up late at night and open up to me. I’m not going anywhere. From the day you told me to stay, I’ve been here. So push me off, try to kill me, try to move here. Leave. Get married. Whatever you think is best. I’m staying.”

  A smile tugs at her cheeks, but she fights it. “It would be out of the ordinary if I were to marry and you were to tag along.”

  “Tell me something we’ve done that has been ordinary, Ky.” Ky adjusts, and I stop her from moving. “Wait. Do you want to take back what we did?”

  “Yes.”

  I hide the blow by clearing my throat and adjust from hovering over her to lying on my back beside her.

  Kylie props herself up on her elbow and her eyes beam at me. “You weren’t expecting that one, were you, Marc?”

  I shrug once. “You’ve done a lot of things over the past couple of days that I wouldn’t have expected.” I shake my head, taken far off guard by her revelation. Kylie says a lot. Most of it she doesn’t mean, keeping up an image, and damn it, does she play her part well. So I have to
ask, “Did you mean it?”

  She leans over.

  Her kiss lingers on my lips as she inhales deeply. She releases a sigh, kiss deepening as her body curves against mine. With her hand pressed to my cheek and mine on her back, I accept her answer and am content with her truth.

  “I want to mean it,” she says against my chin before laying her head on my chest.

  I smirk. “But your wants don’t matter.”

  “Sorry I shot you. And Sean.”

  I rub my hand over her head, sighing. “Just get some sleep.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  I breathe. Marc’s heartbeat pounds in my ear as I lie awake on his chest. It taps against the side of my face, and I consider the impact of his existence on my life. I can’t lie, it’s huge. And if it made sense, or we could find a way for all this craziness to work in the world we live in, maybe we could exist together. But everything has changed.

  I’ll miss him…a lot.

  The rising sun brightens the hotel room. I carefully sit up, place a kiss on Marc’s cheek, and ease off the bed. He sleeps peacefully, and I don’t want to wake him as I leave. I also want to avoid as many questions as possible. Because most of my answers will be lies. I can’t tell him about the letter, nor can I reveal that my parents and Luke and I may be Itteix. I still don’t know what Itteix is. So it’s best to avoid it all together.

  I gently pull the room door closed and head down the hall to the elevator.

  “Ky,” Sean calls from behind me. I look over my shoulder. “You seen Marc?”

  I hand him my key. “Yeah. He’s in my room.” I point two doors down from where we stand.

  “Thanks.”

  “Hey, Sean,” I call as he turns for the door. “Sorry.”

  He nods, turning away.

  I finish walking down the hall and take the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator. Marc will be up soon and will try to find me as soon as he realizes I’ve left. I’ve known Marc for less time than I’ve known Luke, and the thought of losing him hurts me more than the loss of my brother. I don’t understand that. Even the thought of the world ending sounds better than us ending. My intentions may cause me to feel desolation: anguished misery or loneliness, but it’ll pass eventually. At least that’s what Luke would say.

  I search the lobby and conference rooms for Jord, curious about today’s itinerary. I head down a gold-painted hall that leads away from the lobby to two black doors, and I realize I’ve headed the wrong direction. That is, until Seits exits through the doors.

  “Hello, Kylie. I see you’ve finally slept.” She drags her hand over her bald head and blinks slowly. The golden columns shine against her brown skin, making it match the radiance of the hall. “At least one of us has gotten our rest.”

  I nod and look away from her. “Um.” I pause and meet her bloodshot, drooping eyes. “Thank you. For your protection.”

  Seits steps her feet apart from each other and juts out her chin. She looks down at me through her lashes, the spitting image of her brother. “We are not the same, Kylie.” Her whisper is so low I step closer. “You are still a child, new to many avenues of our government, of our world. At your age, we think we have it all figured out, and one day, we discover there’s someone who knows a little more than we do, even about ourselves.”

  “And that would be you?” I ask with a nod in her direction.

  Seits turns down the corners of her mouth. “No. That would be the people in charge. And I needed to prove them wrong in order to save your life. We needed you and Luke to help us. We needed Fein and Floyd as well, and it was shocking to discover my brother thought otherwise. But,” she crosses her arms and draws her shoulders back, “what’s in the past is in the past.”

  “Well,” I carry on, “It’s appreciated, Madam Seits. I was looking for General Jord. Would you happen to know when the departure for base will be?”

  “This evening, after sundown.” She flicks her wrists and checks her watch. “We have more than enough time.”

  I lift a brow and think over her response. “Sundown? When the Zombies are at large?”

  “We need more weapons, and we have to give them the time to make them. We can’t wait until tomorrow. So like last time, as soon as they’re completed, we’re out of here. They’ll have the plane loaded up, and we’ll be prepared, armed, and ready by the time we land.”

  Chatter sparks behind me in the lobby. I recognize the cheerful, boyish voice greeting the guests. “I see,” I say to Seits, looking over my shoulder to Carden gleefully strolling the lobby. “Excuse me. I need to speak with the future Guidance leader.”

  “Kylie?” Seits catches me as I pivot. “We’ve been made aware the Guidance has offered you a potential placement change to live here and become, what I like to call, a sidekick to one of the leaders of the Guidance.” She pauses and looks me straight on. “In light of recent events, you may be considering the change, and while I’m not in a place to sway your thoughts… this place,” her arms splay at her sides as she gestures around us, “is not what you were built for. It’s not what your parents wanted. It’s not what we want.”

  My parents…Why does everyone try to persuade me of one thing or another by mentioning my parents? I snort, rolling my eyes. “And what do you know about my parents, huh?”

  Seits waves me to our left, and we move closer to the wall. She drops her voice even lower, and I have to turn my ear to her to hear her more clearly. “Had we delivered the pieces to that incomplete letter to you earlier, you and Luke would have blamed us and went straight for answers so many Creations and Normals died to obtain.”

  “Wait.” I thrust my hand in her face, shutting her up. “It was you, this entire time? What do you know?”

  “Not enough to answer your questions. But enough to know your parents were tossed around by the Trade and the Vojin. They knew our government was collaborating, enemy to enemy, and dared them to do something about it. I know that anyone who threatened the Vojin’s plan wound up dead, like them and Harold’s brother. Now we know their secret, which puts our lives in danger too. And if you stay here, you are more at risk than any of us.”

  I throw my hands to my head as the befuddlement brings back my headache. Turning my back to her, I groan, working through the never-ending surprises. She doesn’t know the detail of the first part of the letter, the part that reveals Luke and I are Itteix, although, I wish she did so that I could find out what it is.

  Seits taps my shoulder. “I understand you may still be upset and unforgiving about Luke. But you coming here, to be a pet of the Guidance, is insane regardless of what your intentions are. The leash they’ll have around your neck will be shorter than your arm. You’ll accomplish nothing and be left under their rule. You’re far more valuable to us then you are to them.”

  Shaking my head, I turn to face her. “That’s not the problem. Being a Creation makes me used to people using me. I run when I’m called and stand down when it’s demanded of me. It’s time for a change, Seits. I want to explore other avenues outside of being a Creation.” I need to get closer to the Guidance to uncover what the relationship is between them and the Vojin, and then get next to the Trade to uncover their relationship between them and my parents. I’m in the Guidance headquarters now. I can’t get any closer. And the Trade’s island floats high over the city. One day, and I hope one day soon, I’ll find a way to fly up there.

  Seits inhales a sharp breath as she rolls her tongue over her teeth. She digresses. “I suppose you’ll have to do what you feel is right. Go to Carden if you must, stay in this place of misery, shackled to their plan and your pain, be content with captivity disguised as freedom and know when they reveal their true colors, I warned you.”

  I don’t…I can’t tell her why I’m truly staying, and I won’t fight with her about her assumptions. Instead, I give her a soft grin and pat her shoulder before turning on my heels and heading down the hall.

  The lobby has emptied, and Carden’s left. “Ex
cuse me.” My voice echoes through the circular foyer. From behind the desk the receptionist pops up with a bright smile and big brown eyes. I’m inclined to accommodate her perky posture, smiling just as wide as she does. “Have you seen Arletta’s son Carden?”

  “Hello, Kylie. I have. He’s informed me to advise you he is in room three-A. Follow the hall in the direction of the elevator. Pass them, and it’s four doors down to your left.” She gestures to the right. “He will be there.”

  I follow her instructions to room 3A where I push open the swinging dark brown double doors to a cinema. Lights mounted on the wall cast shadows over the seats though they light the red carpet. I walk behind a row of seats. There’s a wall to my back with curtains in both corners that reach the ceiling thirty feet over my head. I face the backs of five rows of chairs, five chairs per row. They’re empty, and the screen—about twenty feet tall—is blank.

  “Hello?” I expect the same echo I heard in the lobby, but my voice falls flat.

  “Oh!” someone says from above my head.

  I tilt my head back, finding Carden leaning over the balcony. “How’d you get up there?”

  “There’s a staircase over there,” he says and gestures to my left. “Behind those curtains. If you just—”

  From the back of a fifth-row theater chair, I jump up to catch the balcony by the lowest bar and pull myself up and over the railing. Up here, there are three rows of reclining chairs facing the screen.

  “That was entertaining,” Carden says, patting the seat of the chair beside him.

  I sit. “It was exhilarating.” I could really go for a run on an obstacle course. “Will we watch the gray screen or will a movie play?”

  “It should begin playing any minute now. I just made my selection.” He shakes his frameless tablet in front of me. After stuffing the device into his left pocket, he pulls a white box from the other. Its contents rattle about inside. “Do you like candy? It’s flavored sugar.”

  I roll my eyes. “I know what candy is. I don’t live under a rock.”