by Andi J Feron
“Just be yourself and you’ll be fine.”
She looked at me as though she was doubtful that was what I really wanted, but it was. I would never want Allie to be anyone other than who she was.
Fausto was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, but his dad was wearing his admiral uniform. I let them inside.
“Talon, this is my father, Admiral Fausto.”
I shook the admiral’s hand. “Nice to meet you, sir.”
Allie stepped out from the kitchen. “You’re an admiral, that’s pretty fancy.”
Both Mr. Fausto and his father stared at Allie, and it looked like his dad was going to tear up. All of this was off, but I couldn’t place why.
The Admiral took off his hat. “Who’s this beautiful little lady?”
Allie introduced herself. “I’m Althea, but you can call me Allie, everyone else does. Talon is my brother. Thank you for employing him.”
The Admiral smiled. “Nice to meet you, Allie.”
We sat down at the dinner table. Allie couldn’t help herself and talked nearly nonstop. I was worried they would be annoyed, but they seemed to hang on her every word. They appeared overly interested in her life, and it made me uncomfortable. I kept telling myself not to worry because they couldn’t recruit her.
When dinner was over, Admiral Fausto bent down on one knee to talk to Allie. “Thank you for the amazing evening, madame.”
She gave him a hug. “Sure, feel free to come back.”
He closed his eyes as she hugged him, and that made me feel more unsettled. I was glad when they left. The next day I went to work, and Mr. Fausto thanked me for the hospitality. I finished up the day and stopped at the pizzeria on the way home. When I pulled up my drive, I noticed a car that I didn’t recognize. Maybe John’s mom got a new vehicle.
I walked in and heard music playing loudly. My dad must have been at the bar because he wouldn’t have put up with the music. I turned the corner and froze in shock. Allie was dancing with Admiral Fausto. He was alone in my house with my little sister. Admiral or not, I was about to remove him from my house forcibly.
“What’s going on?” I tried to keep my tone under control to not alarm Allie.
Allie smiled at me. “Talon, you’re home! Admiral George and I had a fun afternoon. We went fishing, then he took me to lunch, and now we’ve been dancing. I told Admiral George I like to dance, so he’s teaching me how to swing dance. I told him you wouldn’t care if he stayed for dinner.”
“Allie, go to your room for a minute.” I didn’t take my eyes of the Admiral.
Her smile dropped. “Why?”
“Just go.”
“Am I in trouble?”
“No, not at all. I need to talk to the Admiral.”
“Okay.” Allie stomped up the stairs to her room. I heard her door click shut and stared the Admiral down.
“I know this must seem strange to you, but I promise you she’s safe with me,” Admiral Fausto said.
“Why are you spending time with my little sister?” I clenched my fist.
“She reminds me of my daughter, who passed away. I missed out on time with her. Your sister made me feel like I had her back for a bit. I promise that’s all this was.”
“I don’t know you. I know you are an admiral and outrank me quite significantly, but she’s my sister. I have the say when it comes to her.”
“I understand. She’s an amazing little girl. Full of so much love for life. She loved everything we saw and did today. I haven’t seen that since I lost my little girl. I can see why you didn’t want her recruited. She needs to have a normal life.”
“Yeah, she does. I’m glad we see eye to eye on that. I’m sorry about your daughter.”
“Me too. So, how are things here at home? Does your father treat you both well?”
“Our dad doesn’t treat us any way. To him, we don’t exist.”
He frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that. I’m going back to my post pretty far into the galaxy, so you don’t have to worry about me coming around. I am very grateful that I got to meet Allie. I won’t forget your hospitality. Is it okay if I say goodbye to her?”
“Yeah, that’s fine. Allie!”
She ran downstairs and pulled the Admiral’s arm. “I want to show you something, Admiral George.”
“Allie, the Admiral has to leave,” I told her.
“It’ll just take a second.”
She led him to her treehouse, and he climbed all the way up the ladder to peek inside as she told him about everything. When they both descended, she had an oval-shaped rock about the size of a baseball. The rock was painted blue with stars and strangely familiar planets. The large purple one next to the green and yellow one caused me to stare at it a little longer. She painted a scene eerily similar to the area Lucius took her to when he kidnapped her. The memories didn’t appear to be gone, only buried.
“You said you like space; so does my best friend, John. I painted this for him, but I’ll paint him another one. I want you to have this to remember me. Now please stay for pizza.”
“Oh, I couldn’t possibly.” He didn’t sound convincing.
“You have to. Please.”
I took a deep breath. “Allie, he said he couldn’t.”
“He is only saying that because you are trying to push him out the door for some reason.” Allie appeared to regret her words after she spoke them and quickly backtracked. “I’m sorry, Admiral George, he isn’t really. Please don’t tell your son to fire him.”
“Don’t worry about it, Allie. Your brother’s job is safe as long as I’m around. Thank you for the rock. I will treasure it.”
I sighed. “Let’s go eat pizza.”
We ate pizza, and I was relieved when he left. He couldn’t use Allie as a replacement for the daughter he lost. She wasn’t something he could use to soothe his regrets. Allie hugged him, and he drove away. Admiral Fausto didn’t come back after that, and I hoped he could make peace with his daughter’s death. I learned from my father that grief was a complicated thing, and some survived it better than others.
“I really like him Talon. I showed him Mom and Malcom’s graves. He was sad they died. He said he knows how I feel because his daughter died. I think he’s a lonely man.”
“I think you’re right. I’m glad you had a fun day, but I do think we need to talk about you being so trusting. You shouldn’t have let Admiral George into our house without me being here, or spent the day with him without me knowing. You can’t trust strangers, no matter how nice they seem.”
“But he wasn’t a stranger. He’s your boss’ father.”
“We still don’t know him that well. Promise me that John and his family are the only ones you’ll let in the house when I’m not home.”
Allie frowned. “Okay, I promise.”
I was worried that Allie was way too trusting of everyone she came across. I didn’t know how to convince her the universe wasn’t as safe as she seemed to think it was.
A few weeks later, I came home on a Friday night to find Allie and John were in the treehouse. I brought home pizza again. John was staying the night, and Allie wanted me to set up her new game console so they could play most of the night. We ate pizza and Allie rambled on about a book she read last night. John was even quieter than normal, and he only took a few bites of his pizza.
“John, you feeling okay buddy?” I asked.
He picked at his food with his fork. “I’m not sure. Just not hungry, I think.”
“Need me to take you home?”
He shook his head. He got up and started walking to the bathroom, but he threw up halfway there.
“I’ll get the coffee!” Allie ran for our pantry.
She handed me the coffee grounds, and I poured it where John threw up. I felt John’s head—he was burning up. I got the thermometer, and it read 103 degrees.
“I’m going to call your mom. It’s probably best she picks you up. My motorcycle won’t be the best way to travel when you’re feeling t
his bad.”
John scrunched his face in pain and grabbed his stomach. I called his mom and gave her an update, and she said she would be right there.
Allie came up to me and whispered, “I’m worried. I think John might be dying.”
I found him curled up on the floor, holding his stomach.
“John, are you in a lot of pain?” I asked, and he nodded. “Can you show me where?”
He pointed to his right side.
“It hurts really bad,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Okay, buddy. I’m going to get you some help. I’m going to carry you to the sofa.”
John nodded, and I carefully carried him over. Allie brought him a pillow and blanket. I went into the other room and called an ambulance, then I called John’s mom to let her know the new plan. She said she would meet us at the hospital.
“John, I think you have appendicitis. Your mom and I think an ambulance ride is best.”
Allie’s eyes went wide. She was on the floor, sitting next to John. She grabbed his hand.
John grimaced. “Allie, I’m fine. Don’t be worried.”
“You can barely talk, of course I’m worried. Please don’t explode your appendix and die,” she begged him.
“I’ll do my best.”
The ambulance arrived and picked up John, Allie and I following behind on my motorcycle. John’s parents were waiting when we arrived and thanked me for my quick thinking.
“Where’s baby Teddy?” Allie asked about John’s baby brother. Allie told me she really like baby Theodore and played with him whenever she could. John didn’t act thrilled with Allie giving Theodore attention. The entire concept of a sibling was new to him, and I think he had mixed feelings about it.
“We left him with the neighbor so we could focus on John,” Mrs. Trammel said. John’s parents went back with him. Allie couldn’t sit still.
I put my arm around her. “Come here kiddo. Relax. John is in good hands.”
“I don’t think I would be okay ever again if he died,” she said as a tear fell.
“He’s not going to die. These doctors take appendix out every day.”
“Do people live through it though?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure they do.”
A few hours passed, and Allie fell asleep in the chair next to me. Mrs. Trammel came out to talk to us.
“You made a good call Talon. The doctor says another hour and we could have lost him. His appendix almost burst on the table. Thank you!”
She hugged me, and Allie woke up.
“Oh, no! We lost him!” Allie gasped and began to sob.
“Honey, John is fine. He got his appendix taken out, but he’ll be fine.” Mrs. Trammel hugged Allie, then left to be with John.
Allie wanted to sleep at the hospital. I told her we needed to sleep in real beds, but promised I would bring her back in the morning. The next day she packed up her new gaming console to take to the hospital. We stopped in the gift shop where Allie got John a bunch of balloons.
John was watching TV when we walked in; when he saw Allie, he lit up. Allie let go of the balloons and ran for him. She slowed when she got to his bed, as if being careful not to hurt him.
She hugged him. “John Trammel, don’t do that to me again!”
“I’ll do my best.” John had a huge smile on his face.
“How are you feeling?”
“About two minutes ago, things got a lot better.”
I set up the game console, and they played for most of the day. Over the next three weeks Allie mothered John and wouldn’t let him do much for himself. I heard her ask him why he came over that night if he was feeling so bad.
He told her, “You were so excited about your game console, and I didn’t want to disappoint you. I figured I could tough it out long enough to make you happy.”
John was fully recovered after about a month and the rest of the year went without any further issues. I spent the rest of the year recruiting teens to most likely die in a nonhuman war for an average of five hundred dollars a week. I perfected my art, and I quickly became a top recruiter worldwide.
As much as I tried not to focus on her, Seraphine stayed on my mind. I would see remnants of her everywhere I went. I passed by the flower shop and remembered her favorite flowers were pink daisies. I read through Seraphine’s favorite book because I wanted to see why she thought it was appealing. It was almost as if I was trying to make her presence seem close. I would check on her in the database every once in a while to make sure she was still safe. Tracking her randomly felt like it was too invasive for the level we were at.
After Allie’s thirteenth birthday I decided I wanted to go active duty for a while. The main pull was seeing Seraphine again. I took Allie on another vacation. When it was done, I told her I needed to return to work and wasn’t sure when I would be home again.
“It’s okay, you do what you have to. I’ll be fine. It was a great year Talon.”
“Yeah Allie, it really was.”
I grappled with mixed feelings about her growing up and not needing me much anymore. I put in my request for active duty, and it was granted almost immediately. I showed up to Saturn base with a duffle bag as my only luggage. I was assigned quarters and told to sit tight until I came up on the roster for a mission. Quarters on Saturn base were small apartments and contained a bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen. I pulled out the pink daisies I brought from Earth and checked the directory.
Seraphine was in the same quarters. I remembered she had refused to leave, even though it was where Lucius hurt her. She said she wouldn’t make changes because of him. I went two levels up to the floor she was on and rang her bell. I hoped she was in, and that was soon answered as she opened the door. Her mouth dropped open.
She threw her arms around me. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m assigned back to base.”
She let go and stepped back a little. “What about Allie?”
“She’s getting older. I left with her blessing this time.”
“I’m glad to see you. I wonder about you all the time. I was even thinking about making a trip to see you in a couple months.” I handed her the flowers.
“You got me flowers? Pink daisies.”
“Yeah, I thought you might like something tangible from Earth.”
“I can’t believe you remember the story I told you about my mom.”
“I remember everything you told me.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Everything?”
“Well, I guess if I don’t, I wouldn’t know it.”
“True.”
We went to the mess hall to grab a bite to eat. We caught each other up on the abridged versions of our years. Seraphine had seen a lot of battle, and I could see how tired it made her. Constant emergence in death was what I willingly requested. Not because I wanted to be engulfed in it, but because I wanted to be engulfed in Seraphine. At that moment, I finally understood why my breathing paused a little every time I thought about her.
Chapter Ten
Seraphine - September 7, 2007
Talon was back a year after I last saw him. Orders separated us quickly after I left the hospital. I knew if Talon hadn’t barged into my quarters that day, I would be dead. Lucius was despicable. He used his ability as a manipulator to render me helpless. He never bothered me after that. I wasn’t sure if it was fear of a court-martial or of Talon that drove his distance. I ceased giving any of my thoughts to him.
I honed my skills as a projector and could take down quite a few Khalbytians in one projection. I even learned to pick out the thing an enemy feared most and have it appear before them. This took over any other instinct they applied to be brave, as phobias rarely side with logic.
I made some friends from the team I was assigned to. There was Helen Liu—she was Chinese and had the most beautiful black hair I had ever seen. She was the first healer I ever met, which wasn’t surprising because it was the rarest ability. She was a level-
four which, from my understanding, was slightly above average for a healer. Most healers were a three or lower. There had only been maybe a dozen above tier-four, and I was told there had only been one tier-seven.
The higher-ups got a little excited when a healer was found because their ability was incredible. They could repair wounds as well as heal themselves. They were perfect for war. Helen healed a couple of nasty wounds for me before. However, she would burn out quickly. She could only heal one wound at a time, and then she would have to rest.
That’s when Fayard’s chameleon skills would come in handy. He could hide her off to the side until she rested. Survivable wounds were saved for the end of battle, and we would be triaged from worst to least. She would heal the worst injury and have to recharge for a couple hours, then she would go through our group until everyone was healed.
Her healing ability also allowed Helen to raise the body temperature of an enemy. She was able to melt a few Khalbytians before draining herself. Helen wished to be better at her ability though. She told me she heard rumors that some healers could bring back the dead. If they existed, though, they were scarce, making them almost legendary.
I was happy when I discovered Fayard was joining the same team. Him and I were newest to the team together, and it made it easier not being new alone. Elliott Amador was from Ecuador, and he could cook like no one else. He told me his grandma taught him to cook when he was growing up. Elliott was nice to have around on more extended missions.
He carried spices in his pack, and he could make even the worst of rations into a feast. He was a tier-five heightened, which meant all of his senses were magnified and precise. I was sure this added to his cooking skills; he could pick out every individual ingredient of any dish, no matter how diluted.
Ajax Thompson was our tier-five empath. Being an Empath meant more than sensing the emotions of other people. Empaths were telepathic and could also use their mind to enter someone else’s mind. This was useful for battle, as Ajax could gain access to a Khalbytian mind and use the enemies’ own fears against them. The enemy would fight the fears that Ajax brought out, but in the process destroy themselves.
