Maybe Raea wasn't alone. Elis had touched people, inspired hope, and given them new life. A part of him lived on in his legacy, but she wanted the real him back. Nothing could replace him.
Amid her tears, she let Josh usher her out the front door and across the lawns to the blue-sided house next door. Outside and vulnerable on a warm spring day with a breeze cooling her wet cheeks. Outside, where the Risaal must have been watching them.
Were they still there?
No strange vans or SUVs or any vehicles parked along the curb of the quiet street, but in another day or two, it would be full of vehicles, hopefully too many for them to find a space. Thank goodness. How long until they returned for her, though?
At the door with the oval pane of decorative glass, he didn't knock but opened it and pressed on her back to move her forward.
Inside, Buddy's bark echoed in the open floor plan of vaulted ceilings with the laminate floor, his nails clattering through the quiet of what seemed to be an empty house in his rush to greet them. Where was everyone? Debbie wouldn't have left the door unlocked if no one was home.
"See? Buddy missed you."
Okay, that was stretching it, but the sentiment stifled her tears. "Buddy misses everyone if they're gone one minute." Still, the chocolate lab's greeting seemed unusually subdued, as if he sensed her grief, but was eager all the same. He licked her hand and shoved his head underneath for attention, the whole back end of his body wagging with his tail. She couldn't help but to stroke the soft coat and feel some comfort in the dog's appreciation.
Elis had thought the dog amusing, having never seen one until he came to Earth. She hadn't known until Debbie told her recently that Padina, Raea's mother, had been attacked by a dog when she first arrived on Earth.
Buddy wasn't like that, though. Her mother would have liked him. Elis had liked him.
Was she destined to lose everyone she loved?
"Go on. I'll stay here…Someone has to make sure you eat."
Okay, every Inari she loved?
"I mean it. A shower would make you feel better. And I'm sure it's been long enough since Dave used it."
Oh, Josh. He knew just how to lift her spirit. She couldn't help but smile at the thought of Dave losing their daily battle because she had waited until the hot water replenished.
After a last stroke of Buddy's soft head, Raea left Josh with the dog. The house seemed so quiet and eerie in the loneliness, like the void inside her.
It hurt so much. Damn it! It hurt like nothing else. She'd never realized how close she'd grown to Elis. She loved him more deeply than she thought possible and couldn't imagine loving anyone like that again.
Nothing was the same.
She went through the motions of getting in the shower and pulling off the wraps on her arms—the pokes from the Risaal spikes no longer bled—each moment a painful reminder that she was alone.
The scalding water of the shower couldn't wash away her grief, but it cleaned the filth of the old, musty bunker from her. She stood in the hot water for a long time while scenes replayed through her mind, until the water cooled to the point that no more hot water came.
With a towel around her hair and another around her body, she rushed from the shower to her bedroom to change. Josh had been right—the shower refreshed her. It couldn't erase the stain of last night, but it reminded her that she was alive.
But she wasn't hungry.
After changing clothes, she met Josh down stairs in front of the television and curled up in the chair by herself.
"Debbie called."
Probably checking up on her. For once, she didn't mind.
"She wanted to be sure you were all right. I told her I was staying with you."
"She went to work?" How could Debbie think of working?
"I guess. She said she hasn't told anyone about Elis yet and didn't know what she should say. She left the door unlocked thinking you'd want to change clothes at least."
"What day is it?"
"Thursday."
"Oh." Then she hadn't been a prisoner of the Risaal long. It almost felt like a dream, a horrible, dark, terrifying nightmare; like she could pick up the phone or run next door and Elis would be there.
She was tempted, just to see if it was all a lie.
"Hungry now?"
Not really, but maybe. "A little." It felt wrong to even consider her needs when she hadn't been able to do anything for Elis, and with her emotions twisting through her, food was the last thing she wanted. Over half a day must have passed since the Risaal had fed her. Her stomach protested a little.
"Good. Come on." Josh stood before her with a hand outstretched.
Did she have to? Knowing Josh, he'd hound her until she did what he wanted. His obsession with Dark Angel had been bad enough, until he learned the truth.
Tears burned in her eyes again, the familiar lump of emotions clogging her throat. Elis was gone in every form. If there was an afterlife, he would be the brightest angel in heaven.
Josh lifted her to her feet and she buried her face in his shoulder, wishing he stood a few inches taller, like Elis. There was something more comforting in Elis's arms and the fact that he stood so tall and strong with his quiet demeanor.
Josh said nothing for a long time, until she regained control of the pain inside and stepped back. "Thanks." She sniffed and turned to the kitchen, unsure what she even wanted to eat.
Josh stayed at her side until she made a choice and sat with her at the table while she ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a glass of milk. She hated him for interfering but loved him for watching out for her.
Still, she needed time alone and excused herself to her room. Josh followed her, insisting in his annoying way that she needed company. Sometimes he went too far. What part of alone didn't he understand?
After a small argument, he finally let her close the door on him.
Her room was as empty as it had always been, except when Elis had been there with her. She'd insisted they could make out there just as well and annoy Dave at the same time. Every moment together had been wonderful.
Now those moments were gone.
No tears, not again.
But she couldn't help it.
She needed a distraction. Elis would have continued the work of the Starfire.
As much as she didn't want to, she would do it for him.
What did the Risaal want with the monolith? Why had the Starfire reacted to her touching it?
LISTEN. LEARN.
What?
Pain throbbed through her head. "Stop it!" Not now. Why couldn’t the Starfire leave her alone like Josh?
The pain sliced through her skull and her knees wobbled. Raea stumbled back to her bed and fell on it to writhe on the flower-print comforter.
In a flash, her room disappeared, along with the pain.
One second, the monolith stood before her in the chamber where the Risaal had kept them.
The next second, the scene melted away in a flash of bright green-blue light, which crackled and erupted and shrank into blackness like a portal.
[No!] The voice shrieked from somewhere inside her and ended with all of Raea's sensations vanishing.
In the Beginning…
Through closed eyelids the brightness of a new day filtered in to wake her. Raea stretched stiff arms and legs, the cushion beneath her firm but soft enough for side-sleeping. Aware of the wings on her back, she rolled onto her stomach and pushed her pillow out of the way.
Just a little longer; that's all she wanted. The meeting with the oversight committee for the construction of the ocean city in honor of the renegotiated trade agreement with the Ahben wasn't until midday.
Wait. That couldn't be right. Where had those thoughts come from?
A chime sounded from somewhere nearby.
Raea opened her eyes to a sight that sent her heart racing in shock, or not. It should have, but she felt calm if not a little irritated. A floral-patterned white trim ran along the
edge of the ceiling and walls of a blue and green stone cut into mesmerizing patterns throughout the room. The few amenities in the room possessed a delicate simplicity giving an impression of wealth without the gaudiness of aggrandizement.
She slept on a mat on the floor surrounded by four pillars supporting sheer lavender drapes, which separated her sleeping area from the rest of the room. A short table on the outside of the drapes held a sparkling clear pitcher of water and a glass.
["Enter."] The word came out involuntarily, and the voice wasn't hers.
She caught sight of her hands and saw no marks. What the hell was going on? Was she dreaming?
A door several strides from the foot of her mat swung open and a small man in a dark brown waistcoat and matching pants stepped in and knelt, his reddish-brown wings relaxed at his back. ["Lady Atia, forgive my intrusion."]
Lady Atia…from the vision Raea had? She wasn't the lady. How was this possible? What was going on?
["Your presence is requested by Lady Mikael Akarin."]
Now what did her sister want?
Damn, this was annoying. Raea had no control over the thoughts passing through her mind. Was she dead? Was she dreaming? Had she somehow gone back in time to now inhabit the lady's body? None of this made sense.
["Send Suki in."]
["Yes, Lady."] He bowed and rose to his feet. After he backed out, he pulled the door closed.
To Ahben depths with her sister. Akarin might be the oldest, but she had no right to control Atia or denigrate her son Lantis to nothing more than a servant. A boy was as capable as a girl of learning the intricate matters of guiding their world, or even a province as Atia did.
Her light brown wings tightened at her back. She should return to Cormullen, the farthest city from Kanaki Palace, the heart of the Inari domain. She'd stayed too long in the old palace. The fond memories of growing up with Akarin and risking her mother's wrath for their pranks had faded with Akarin's attitude about Lantis and the limited future ahead. Her own sister, whom she had once admired for her intelligence while pitying her for the albinism and its limits to her time in the sun, had shunned the boy and her. Although Atia was older, the rule of Inar'Ahben had gone to Akarin after she bore her first girl.
It was law.
To Ahben depths with the law! Atia had never accepted it, shunning the genetic mating that would likely have produced a strong girl in favor of the lover whose son she bore instead.
Indignant, she threw off her covers and rose in her sleeping gown a moment before the door chimed and a female attendant with black hair and wings stepped in.
["You asked for me, Lady?"]
No, Raea wanted to say.
["My wardrobe, Suki."]
Definitely not Raea. Atia seemed unaware of her, going through the motions of her life while Raea experienced all her emotions and sensations like a passenger within the same body.
The attendant stepped to a panel on the wall and touched one of the odd shapes. The panel slid out several feet with shelves of clothes.
Atia stood, resigning to face her sister and whatever she felt was more important than rest.
With Suki's help, she changed from her sleeping gown and dressed in a light garment flattering to the figure of a woman much younger. Unlike Akarin, she had regained her youthful figure after bearing only one child. Two had given Akarin a permanent slouch to her belly that she hid beneath her blouses and suits.
While Atia finished securing the skirt around her leggings, the door of her chamber opened and a young boy rushed to her. ["Momma!"]
The slam of the small body against her legs knocked her off balance. She opened her wings around herself and took a step back to rebalance.
A man hurried into the room after him but stopped a step inside the doorway. ["My apologies, Lady. He insisted."]
["No apologies needed, Nakkil."] She always had time for her son.
After peeling Lantis from her legs, she knelt down and combed locks of gold from his beaming face. In her private quarters, she was permitted to show her affection, but beyond that door, she was the Devu ti Anoroun, the heir-apparent, since she'd been replaced by her lesser sibling for failing to bear a female heir while her sister had two. Her position now was simply advisor but with the privileges of the royal house of Mikael, the dominant nobility of the Inari Provincial Consortium.
Lantis's hug squeezed all her problems away.
Emotions and sensations passed through Raea as if Atia were her. She loved the boy, or Atia loved the boy, while resenting him for taking so much away from her. He should have been a she, but Atia intended him to be an educated and noble man admired by others.
["Can we go to the Pools of Arroko today?"]
["I'm sorry, Lantis. Maybe Nakkil can take you, but I have meetings today."]
The boy's lip dropped with his wings.
Raea wanted to laugh yet hold him. She knew that look from growing up with her cousins—what a little manipulator.
["Lantis."]
He turned away and crossed his arms.
["Lantis…"]
[Don't do it,] Raea tried to tell her. Her younger cousin Eric had tried it on Debbie more than a few times to no avail.
No such luck. Atia was a softy.
Atia turned him around to face her, her hands firmly on his shoulders. ["I'll make it up to you another time. This is important work I must attend."] Which Akarin could have done herself, but she decided to inconvenience her sister. ["We'll have fun together afterwards, but today you'll have to ask Nakkil to take you."]
She ruffled his golden hair with a smile and pulled him into a hug. ["I love you, Lantis. There's nothing I want more than to be with you, but I have to help Akarin. All right? I'll miss you very much. I wish I could skip this meeting and spend the day with you, but I can't."]
The boy relaxed his arms and wrapped them around her. ["I don't want Nakkil. I want you, Momma."]
["I know, my love. A little longer you must be patient. I'll be with you later…All right?"]
He stepped back, his bottom lip stuck out in a pout while he nodded his head.
Atia kissed his forehead and stood. ["Go with Nakkil, Lantis. I'll come for you later."] She watched him go, a pang in her heart that the beautiful boy would never realize his full potential. He would be no more than someone's consort, overshadowed by the women who would use him only to further their own lines and gain favor with House Mikael. Her job was merely to groom him to serve, but she would educate him in other matters, teach him to think for himself.
Unlike Akarin, Atia had loved the father of her child until his end. Lantis represented all that remained of what she held most dear.
No more. She wiped away a small tear as the boy disappeared through the door with his caretaker. She was requested on matters which Akarin felt important enough to disturb her rest and interrupt her life.
All right. If that's the way her sister wanted it, she was ready.
Suki tied back Atia's hair and stepped aside.
After a quick scan, Atia studied her holographic image rotating before her. ["Very nice, Suki."]
A quaint smile touched the attendant's lips and her wings shifted. ["Thank you, Lady."]
Now for her sister. Atia marched out the room and through halls shining brightly in the sunlight pouring through tall windows. Clouds occasionally floated by like thick fog obscuring the light and left droplets running down the glass to shimmer with rainbows when the sun caught them.
She passed through a darker, inner chamber of intricate designs of stonework, most of it imported from off world. Guests passed her with nods or stepped aside stiffly and with concerned faces. Tension thickened in the air.
Through an open doorway and a short corridor, her feet carried her, until she arrived at a closed door requiring confirmation to open. She put a hand to the pad next to it and the door clicked and swung aside on its own.
Near a holographic projection of their world floating in the air in the center of the room sto
od Akarin with four of her advisors. All turned as Atia stepped in and the door closed behind her.
Atia bowed her head in respect to the leader of their world. ["Lady Akarin. You summoned?"]
["Away with formalities, sister. We've no time for them. The Risaal now threaten us."]
["What?"] That couldn't be right. Atia hurried to the hologram. Cities and islands outlined in blue floated over the ocean world. In orbit around the world stretched a network of satellites. Beyond them drifted a fleet of ships. ["Why?"] She stepped closer, her eyes fixed on the cluster of red shapes.
["I don't know. Ambassador Nafeir Elisha indicated she left in peace."] Akarin bowed her head for a second to a stately woman in maroon leggings and a matching light jacket with gold buttons. Gold strings glittered upon her head from the simple headdress she wore.
Raea recognized the ambassador from another Starfire vision as the one who had accepted the Starfire. The Risaal who had wanted Raea to decipher the Atlantis stone had wanted the Starfire and claimed the Inari stole it. Was this a trick? A political ploy? What did it mean?
[What's going on?]
No one acknowledged her shout.
Atia recognized the emissary, often sent as the first contact with new races. Hers was a job Atia would never want—going into the unknown. She preferred the familiarity of her home province.
["What do they want?"]
["We don't know,"] the ambassador said.
["They appear to be intercepting all incoming and outgoing traffic."] Akarin touched the area where the ships hovered, and the image grew and shifted to become the focus of the hologram. In the midst of the red ships lingered a familiar curved shape highlighted in green—one of their own.
["A blockade?"]
["An illegal blockade and search of all outgoing and incoming vessels."] Akarin's lip curled up in a scowl.
["Why? What are they looking for?"]
["I don't know."] Akarin touched a different area and the ships shrank until the hologram looked as it had upon Atia's arrival with the planet as the central focus. ["They haven't said."]
Crystal Tomb (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 3) Page 11
