Fallen from the Stars

by Tiffany Roberts

  Melaina ducked her head and peeked up at Vasil. “Sorry.”

  Vasil offered her a smile. He understood her curiosity, but he had denied himself its pursuit for all his life. “The sand felt the same, but it was a few shades lighter, and most of the beach was backed by jungle instead of rocks and cliffs. We found a sea cave there that was filled with halorium shards.”

  Her brows rose, and her siphons twitched. “Really? A cave? Halorium? Could you take me?”

  “It is very far away.” Vasil glanced at Rhea, whose hard gaze left no question as to her thought on the matter. “I do not think it would be a safe journey to make.”

  Melaina visibly deflated. “Nothing is ever safe.”

  Rhea frowned. “We have discussed this, Melaina.”

  Vasil wanted to tell Melaina he’d take her, that he’d find a group of kraken willing to make the journey and show her every part of that beach until she was content, but he knew better than to contradict Rhea.

  “The ocean is dangerous,” Vasil said, “especially for a lone kraken. Your mother wants only to keep you from harm, not from seeing the wonders of the world.”

  “I know.” Melaina sighed. “I just…want to see it.”

  “Melaina… I… I didn’t come here to talk about caves or my journey.”

  She looked up at him, brows furrowed. “You didn’t?”

  “There is something we have wanted to tell you,” Rhea said. “The ways of our people have changed, and we believe it is time for you to know.”

  “I don’t understand, Mom.”

  “Well, I’ve filled the role of a father to you,” Randall said, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “And I love it; it’s been great, and more fulfilling than I could have ever imagined. But I’m not your birth father, and… Well…”

  “Vasil is your sire,” said Rhea. “Your father by blood.”

  Melaina looked back and forth between Rhea and Randall until her gaze settled on Vasil. There was still confusion written upon her features. “And?”

  “What do you mean, and?” asked Randall.

  “I already knew that. Was there something else you wanted to tell me, or was that it?”

  Vasil’s lips parted, but no words came out. His mind was, for several heartbeats, empty. After all his deliberation, all his struggle…

  “You knew?” Randall asked.

  Rhea spoke at the same time. “How?”

  Melaina gathered her tentacles beneath her and shifted closer to Vasil. She smiled at him and settled a hand over his. “We are alike. You hide it inside, but I’ve seen it. And we have the same eyes.”

  Vasil couldn’t have stopped his laughter if he’d wanted to; it flowed from him freely, and it felt good. “How long have you known?”

  “For many years. I saw you once when I snuck out of our den, while the males were gathering for a hunt, and I just knew. I knew you were my sire.”

  “I feel like a fool for having waited so long.”

  “It was not our way,” Rhea said softly.

  Her words made his smile fade; Rhea was right, but knowing what he did now, he could no longer look upon that tradition favorably.

  “I did not know my sire,” Vasil said. “I never followed my curiosity because it was not our way. But our ways have changed, and I know now what I have missed. If you would allow me, Melaina, I would like to be more than your sire. I would be a father to you.”

  She grinned and squeezed his hand. “I would like that very much.”

  They talked for a while longer; Melaina was quite animated as she rattled off stories and a seemingly endless string of questions. Eventually, she led him into her room to show him the various objects she’d collected over the years, both on land and in the sea, and told him stories of how she’d come by them. The items ranged from shells, driftwood, rocks, and dried flowers to paintings similar to those Aymee often created, carved toys, and bits of humanmade jewelry.

  Melaina plucked something off the stand beside her bed and turned to Vasil, holding the object to him on her palms. It was a shell, its silvery interior surface reflecting the light in the room.

  “You can have this one,” she said. “I found it the day I first saw you. It made me think of you.”

  Vasil looked down at the little shell, a strange tightness spreading through his chest. “And you kept it all this while?”

  “Of course. And now you can have it so you can think of me.”

  He lifted his hand, palm up, and she carefully laid the shell upon it. Slowly, he curled his fingers around the precious little bauble. “I will keep it always. I am sorry. I have no gift for you.”

  “You could bring me one. Tomorrow,” she said, eyes bright and hopeful.

  He nodded. “Tomorrow.”

  “Melaina,” Rhea said from the doorway, “it has grown late. We should let Vasil return home to his mate.”

  “So soon?” she asked with a frown.

  “This is just the first time,” Vasil said. “Not at all the last. I have to bring a gift tomorrow, do I not?”

  “Yes!”

  Smiling, Vasil raised his hand — fingers still around the shell — to his chest. “I will find a safe place to keep this. Rest well, daughter.”

  Like a silver darter, Melaina threw herself at Vasil and wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you, father.”

  He embraced her, the sensation in his chest only intensifying. He’d never imagined it would be so simple — just a few exchanged words, and he had another piece added to his little family. “Thank you, Melaina.”

  “You are welcome in our den, Vasil,” Rhea said.

  Vasil bid the females, Randall, and Ikaros goodnight and exited their dwelling, feeling oddly light as he moved along the path. A few stars had broken through the clouds, and one of the two moons was visible over the water, casting silver light on the rolling waves. He entered his dwelling quietly; Theo was silent and still in bed, and he didn’t want to risk disturbing her until he was alongside her.

  He moved to the storage chest at the foot of the bed and lowered himself to open it but stopped before he put the shell inside. He wanted to keep the shell safe, but it held too much meaning to him to be locked away in a box. Rising, he turned to survey the room. Muted lamplight bathed it in a soft glow, but he’d lived here long enough that he would’ve known the place just as well in total darkness. After several moments, he went to the fireplace and propped the shell on the mantle, its reflective surface facing outward.

  He backed up and assessed the placement, smiling to himself.

  When the setting sun shone through the windows, it would hit the shell and set it aglow with reflected light.

  He turned off the small electric lamp on the table and crossed the room to climb into bed beside Theo, gently slipping his arm beneath her and drawing her against him. She turned to face him, snuggling her arms and cheek against his chest.

  “How’d it go?” she murmured.

  Vasil twined his tentacles with her legs and settled his cheek atop her hair. “Good. You were right, Theo. You have made both myself and my daughter happy.”

  She hummed contentedly. Her breathing slowed.

  He kissed the top of her head. “I love you, Theodora. You are the only star I need ever see shine again.”

  Chapter 20

  “Thank you so much, Theo,” Jenny said, throwing her arms around Theo in an unexpected embrace. “It took Camrin three days just to figure out the sink was broken, but you fixed it twenty minutes.”

  Theo awkwardly patted the woman’s back. Since her arrival in The Watch a little over a week ago, she’d discovered that most everyone like to touch — handshakes, hugs, pats on the back, kisses on the cheek. It was a tight-knit community.

  The townsfolk had done nothing but make Theo feel welcome, but it would take time for her to grow used to their demeanors. The lessons of her childhood — no one gets close to you without trying to take something — were still hard to shake all these years later.
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  “It didn’t take me that long, Jenny,” Camrin said, scowling with his arms crossed over his chest.

  Jenny released Theo and stepped back to look at her husband. “You flooded the kitchen. Twice! You may be a fine fisherman, Camrin, but a repairman you are not.”

  “Aww, come on,” he said, his tough-guy scowl giving way to a wounded frown beneath his short, red beard. “That was just run-off from my boots. You know I get splashed with seawater all day.”

  “From your boots? It covered the entire floor, Camrin! James was practically swimming in it.”

  He shrugged sheepishly. “Can’t stop the kid from playing, right?”

  Jenny pinched the bridge of her nose. She glanced at Theo, and her cheeks reddened as though she’d forgotten there was an audience present.

  “Walter asked me to take a look at the lighthouse today,” Theo said, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder. “So… I’m going to head over there. If you have any other issues, just let me know.”

  “Oh, I will,” Jenny said. “Before Camrin breaks it more next time.”

  Camrin scoffed. “I didn’t break it, Jen.”

  Theo chuckled as she put away her tools and closed her toolbox. “Have a great day.”

  “You too! And thank you again, Theo,” Jenny said, smiling.

  Theo picked up her toolbox and made her way toward the front door. Behind her, she heard Camrin’s footsteps as he moved toward Jenny, followed by soft words and giggles. If Theo had guessed they were on the verge of a fight, she’d apparently guessed wrong.

  She closed the front door firmly, but quietly.

  “If nothing else, I can say this life is markedly different than our old one,” Kane said in her mind. “Certainly more entertaining.”

  Theo breathed in the pleasant, salty air, and briefly closed her eyes to relish the refreshing breeze on her face. “Yeah, but it’s a good kind of different. I don’t feel so…alone. So trapped.”

  “It makes me happy that you’re so happy,” he replied with none of his usual snark. “This place lets you tackle problems you wouldn’t have faced on that ship. I think it will only help you grow — there’s going to be a lot of improvising in your future.”

  “There will be — in our future. And getting hot water for everyone, without having to light fires, is the top of my list right now. I’m tempted to have Vasil bring me back to the Facility just for a shower.” She shuddered as she recalled the cold shower she’d taken on her first night in town while Vasil was meeting with Melaina. Calling it unexpected would’ve been the understatement of the millennium. Her scream had been so loud that she wouldn’t have been surprised had the roof collapsed on her. The shock of that first blast of icy water had been more than enough to knock Theo on her ass.

  Her short stay in the Facility had spoiled her.

  “What about you, Kane?” Theo asked, shifting her toolbox from her left hand to her right as she walked through town toward the lighthouse. “Are you happy?”

  “Of course I am,” he replied. “I get to live, Theo. If we weren’t here, it’d only be a couple years before I was removed and wiped. We have meaningful work, we don’t have to worry about getting blown out of space — at least not again — and the only person that matters to me is happy and healthy. All in all, it’s more than I could’ve ever hoped for.”

  She ran her free hand through her hair, tugging it back as she fought back stinging tears. “Thank you, Kane. I don’t think I would have been the same after you were removed.”

  “I know I wouldn’t have been the same.”

  “But at least you wouldn’t have any memory of me to be sad about. I’d never forget you.”

  Aymee, who stood in front of the town hall with the town’s bartender, Aiden, waved to Theo as she passed.

  Theo offered a smile and a wave in return. Aymee was one of the town’s doctors and a good friend of Larkin’s. Theo had met her and her mate, the kraken called Arkon, soon after her arrival, along with the other human-kraken couples — Jax and Macy, Randall and Rhea, and Eva and Kronus. They’d all been friendly and welcoming.

  Well, except for Kronus. He seemed to have a metal rod permanently shoved up his—

  Theo quickly shoved the thought from her mind before her imagination ran with it and generated unwanted images.

  Though the ochre kraken was a little rough around the edges, Theo had seen a light in his eyes when he looked upon his mate. She suspected, against all the instincts that she’d built during her early life, that he was a good guy deep inside.

  Theo followed the main road up a steady incline that took her out onto the promontory. The buildings she passed were varied in their appearances; centuries of modifications, expansions, and repairs had turned each into a unique testament to human ingenuity and perseverance, but she could see the old bones hidden beneath many of them. Like so much else humans had made on this planet, the structures in The Watch had been built to last, and it showed.

  The road ended at the lighthouse. The door squeaked open when she pressed the button, and she stepped inside and began her ascent, trudging up the winding steps. By the time she reached the top, her legs were burning, and she was covered in sweat.

  “Fucking hell,” Theo groaned and pressed her hand to the door that led into the upper chamber, taking in several deep breaths.

  “I believe in you,” Kane said cheerily. “You can make it!”

  “I already have. Encouragement would have been nice about two hundred damned steps ago.”

  “We all have our limitations, Theodora. I’ve done my best.”

  “Ass.” She slammed the heel of her hand into the button beside the door. It opened quietly, in sharp contrast to the entry door below.

  I’ll have to take a look at the door downstairs… After I rest for about two weeks.

  The door closed behind Theo after she entered the chamber. The air was immediately different — muffled, contained, close. The echoes of her footsteps, which had followed her up the entire staircase, were nonexistent here. Even the crashing of waves against the cliffs far below was silenced.

  The room was circled completely by tall windows. Theo glanced through them as she walked to the central console beneath the beacon. The bright blue sky was filled with tufts of gentle white, a far cry from the dark rain clouds she’d seen so often since waking on Halora. The horizon seemed impossibly far away — from this high, the sea went on forever.

  She set her toolbox down at her feet and turned her attention to the console. “All right, Let’s see what we’re dealing with. Walter said the light’s been flickering when they use the manual turn-on, and the watchers have been having to kick the console to get it to work, right?”

  “Essentially, yes. Likely some loose connections in the wiring,” Kane replied.

  “Exactly what I was thinking. Can you turn the light away from the sea? Don’t want to bring the fishermen in early for no good reason.”

  “The system here is closed. I need you to make physical contact with the controls in order to gain access.”

  Theo placed her palm on the console. “Here ya go.”

  “Hmm. Strange.”

  “What?”

  “I’m going to try something. You might feel a bit of…discomfort for a moment.”

  Theo’s brows furrowed. “What do you—”

  Electricity jolted up her arm, locking her muscles for an instant before it cut off and she yanked her hand back.

  She rubbed her stinging hand, frowning. “What the fuck, Kane?”

  The control console sparked to life, projecting a holographic control panel. A progress bar at the bottom stated the system was performing a background repair function.

  “I just needed to give it a jumpstart,” Kane said innocently. With a soft whir, the light above Theo turned to face inland. “I’m in. That’s what counts, right?”

  “A little warning next time, yeah?” she grumbled.

  “I did give you a warning.”

  “A b
it of discomfort is not the same as you trying to cook me from the inside out.” She turned her attention to the holographic panel. “What’s it repairing?”

  “This system has been inactive for a long while, but it suffered several failures in the past. It has nothing to do with the light’s functioning. There’s a surprisingly complex computer system installed here… This was part of a military base, long ago.”

  “Well, we’re not here to fix the computer, right?” She reached for the manual control switch and flipped it on, tilting her head back. The beacon flickered, struggling to come on fully. She banged her boot on the side of the console. The flickering intensified.

  “Looks like you need to open that sucker up,” Kane said.

  Theo crouched down and felt for the panel’s release along the bottom edge. Tugging the lever, she pulled the panel up and lifted it away from the console, setting it aside. Wires and circuit casings filled the opening. Kane inserted the purpose of each in her retinal display, flashing through them rapidly until he identified the most likely source of the issue.

  She opened her toolbox, took out an old-fashioned screwdriver, and opened the connection box. Sure enough, several of the wires bridging the manual control switch to the beacon were loose. She had them tightened within half a minute. Placing a hand on the console, she pulled herself upright, positioned her finger at the on-off switch, and tested it.

  The light went off and came back on four times without the faintest flickering.

  “Easy,” Theo said. “Don’t know if I should be happy or disappointed.” She crouched again to replace the lid of the connection box.

  “So…interesting bit of information available, now that I’m able to access the data stored in this system,” said Kane.

  Theo slid the outer panel back into place. “And what interesting bit of information did you happen to find?”

  “This lighthouse was also utilized as a control tower to communicate with ships. Space ships. They organized landings and supply drops from here.”

  “And?”

  “The structure itself can act as an antenna. It just needs the proper transmitter to compensate for the lack of satellites in orbit…”