“I was speaking of the gestational state of your pattern when the Kyroibi was introduced. Pure of heart does not exempt you from flaws of character,” Julian corrected with a quiet chuckle, but just as quickly, his expression became serious. “I maintain that your father chose well, El’iadrylline. I did not need to submit to the power of the Kyroibi to know a selfless love courses through you. This is your nature. You have always wanted to save the world. To make Earth a better place for all of her children.”
“Yeah well…” Ellie blushed at the unexpected praise and quickly changed the subject. “So, um… I guess you’re not really a Julian then are you?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Your name. What’s your real name?”
“Julian.”
“Oh come on, you’re playing with me,” she said, hanging her head over the side of the bed to pin him with a look of incredulity. “Julian Bond is so English that I know it has to be a fake name.”
“Just Julian,” he corrected. “Some names are simply universal. The spelling varies from culture to culture, of course, but the mouth sound is similar.”
“Fascinating.” Ellie wondered how many other seemingly normal human names were used on other planets. The notion of running into a little green man named Fred made her giggle. “And Bond?” she asked.
“We do not use surnames. Your father, Richard that is, gave me the name Bond. He found it… amusing.”
“Of course,” she said rolling her eyes. “He loves James Bond, and if you’re a secret agent, that makes sense.”
“Assassin.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m not a secret agent, Ellie. I am an assassin.”
“Oh.”
Julian’s matter-of-fact confession hung uncomfortably between them and Ellie rolled over onto her back. It made sense, of course. After all, he admitted Svoryk had sent him to capture her. The thought left a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“Is that why my mom fears you?” Ellie could hear the tremble in her own voice. “She treated you cruelly because you were sent to kill us?”
“Among other things.”
“Such as?”
Again, Ellie was taken aback by the bluntness of his answer. That Julian did not try to defend his actions or blame Svoryk’s brainwashing was unsettling.
“She believes I am the assassin who killed your father.”
“Are…” she began to ask, but stopped. Ellie wasn’t sure that she wanted to know the answer to that question. But then, she let out the breath she’d been holding. Julian was not in the habit of being vague and he had only said her mother believed him to be the assassin. He did not say he was in fact the one who killed her father.
“Of course,” she said with a nervous chuckle. “You can’t possibly… I mean, you’re not that much… Wait… How old are you, Julian?”
“By Earth’s rotation, I am twenty-seven years old.”
“Well that’s just… but you…” she sputtered as she was flooded with relief. “You would have been merely a child when I was born. Surely my mother isn’t so blinded by power that she thinks there’s any way you could have been responsible for my father’s death.”
Julian did not immediately reply. Ellie thought that perhaps he had fallen asleep, so she snuck another peek over the edge of the bed. A cold shiver ran down her spine and she had to wonder if it really was a trick of the light or if Julian really was not breathing. She’d never seen anyone stay that still for that long. But before she had time to panic, Julian opened his eyes and a faint, sad smile appeared.
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Ellie knew that the quote was from Hamlet, but not much more than that.
“Is… is that a confession, Julian?”
He sat up and reached again for her. Ellie wanted to pull away, but when his skin met hers, the spots on their hands flared for the briefest of moments and a sense of calm washed over her.
“Life and death are not absolutes for us,” he said, gently squeezing her hand. “There is much about the Eidyn people that you have yet to learn.”
“Then tell me, Julian.”
“I will,” he promised, and released his grip on her hand, but did not pull away. “One day soon, I promise you will learn all there is to know about your history and your people, but now is not that time. It is late and Richard will be arriving in a few short hours. Please, try to get some rest.”
“Fine,” she said with a dramatic sigh and rolled onto her side, facing the wall. Ellie was aware that Julian had done something to manipulate her emotional state and she was bothered by this. The calming effect had stayed with her, but Ellie didn’t expect she could fall asleep any time soon. Especially not when Julian had all but confessed to murdering her father.
Chapter 7
Although she finally managed to fall asleep, Ellie awoke feeling unrested. Whether it was simply stress or something more, her dreams had been vivid and perplexing.
In them, Ellie found herself at the center of a large arena that was futuristic, but also reminiscent of the gladiator’s arenas of ancient Rome. In front of her towered a shadowy figure in black. She heard a sharp, familiar cry and looked up. High above, her mother stood, leaning with arms outstretched over the balcony until she was pulled away by guards. In her place, another figure stepped into view. Ellie recognized Svoryk and turned away, only to find the shadowy figure advancing.
Most disturbing was the sense of déjà vu that came as she jolted awake, sweating and short of breath. It took a long moment for Ellie to calm down and convince herself that meaningful or not, it was just a dream.
A loud and apparently heated discussion drifted down the hall, alerting Ellie that Richard had arrived. She sat up and glanced over at the clock with a groan. The late morning hour explained the brilliant sunlight that streamed in through the open French doors. Doors, she realized with sudden concern, which should have been shut and locked. When a figure appeared in the open doorway, features obscured by the sun at its back, Ellie let out a high-pitched yelp.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
She sank back onto her bed, weak from the relief of recognizing Julian’s voice and more than a little embarrassed.
“But I am pleased to see that you are on alert and mindful of your environment,” he added.
“I could have done without a morning heart attack, you know,” she said with a withering glare.
“My apologies.” He came inside and shut the door behind him. “Richard arrived about an hour ago. I felt it best not to interrupt their reunion, so I took the opportunity to meditate.”
“Meditate?” Ellie scoffed. “Wearing that?”
Julian was once again dressed in his usual impeccable suit and Ellie had to wonder if seeing him in pajamas the night before had been a dream.
“Is there something wrong with my attire? I was under the impression that this is a respected label and that I am projecting an air of professionalism.”
“I’m beginning to wonder how I didn’t notice you were a space alien.” She shook her head and laughed at the genuine look of befuddlement on his face as he inspected his appearance in her mirror. “Well, out with you, then. Let me dress. The sooner they ask for the Kyroibi, the sooner I can say no.”
She ushered Julian out the door, and shrugged on the same battered jeans and wrinkled hoodie from the day before, feeling somewhat self-conscious after commenting on Julian’s attire, but not enough to bother rummaging through her closet for something nicer. At least, she noted as she closed the door behind her, her parents had stopped arguing.
“Hi sweetie, I’ve missed you!”
Richard Whitmore set down his coffee cup and stood as Ellie entered the living room.
“Missed you too, Dad,” she said with a smile, giving her stepfather a hug and a kiss on the cheek, ignoring the fact that his cheerful demeanor was clearly forced.
&nbs
p; “And how is university?”
“Blessedly over for the summer,” she replied with a tight smile. She hadn’t seen Richard in several months and did not want to appear as if she didn’t care, but at the same time, Ellie felt that the contrived small talk was pointless avoidance of the elephant in the room. “How was your flight?”
“Not terrible once I made it to Sao Paulo, but the commuter from the film site had me reaffirming my faith. Next time, I’m hiring a driver.”
“Last time you swore you’d never ride in a cab again after your driver seemed to make a game of hitting the potholes,” Isa reminded her husband with a soft chuckle.
“Right then. Next time perhaps Mom can just do her space alien teleportation thing and right now maybe we can all stop pretending things are normal,” Ellie snapped, unable to put up with the charade any longer. From the snippets she’d overheard, her parents had been arguing nonstop about the situation ever since Richard arrived. That they were now acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary bothered her more than it should have. “I’m sorry,” she added. “That was uncalled for.”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” Richard said with a sympathetic smile. “I can’t but imagine what it must be like for you right now. Heck, half the time I don’t know what I believe and I was there when your mother’s ship landed.”
“You what?”
“The remote coordinates where the ship was supposed to land weren’t so remote after all,” Isa explained. “Richard and a small camera crew were scouting locations. His crew was sworn to secrecy and he brought me to London.”
“That’s the abridged version,” Richard said with a wink. “Truth be told, even though I witnessed the ship’s landing and even got high quality footage, I was convinced it was all an elaborate prank that the guys were playing on me. Why, all the way up to and even after we were married, I firmly believed your mother would one day turn and tell me to smile for the hidden camera.”
“I can understand that, but, um, here’s a question…” Ellie toyed with the frayed edges of a decorative pillow as she looked up at her mother. As interesting as it was to hear how her parents met, it still felt like they were avoiding the real issues. “If you were supposed to be hiding, then why did you choose to become an internationally recognized celebrity?”
“You may thank Richard for that,” Isa explained. “I did not think drawing attention to myself was a good idea, but I’d not been aware of the concept of hiding in plain sight.”
“Yeah, but there’s a huge difference between not drawing attention to yourself and going out of your way to make sure everyone on the planet knows who you are,” Ellie said with a small snort.
“Exactly,” Richard said with a nod. “It’s reverse psychology. Who would suspect the most public figures would have the most to hide?”
“Uh, everyone, if the tabloids are to be believed.”
“And who’s going to believe them?” Richard raised his eyebrows in question. “We all want to believe in the unknown, but when presented with proof, we rationalize it away. Remember how the science fiction purists ripped apart the alien ship landing sequence in Invasive Species? They called it unrealistic and scientifically impossible, right?”
“You can’t be serious.” Ellie’s eyes went wide. Invasive Species was an artsy sci-fi film that Richard wrote and directed when Ellie was quite young. “Are you saying that was mom’s ship?”
“The truth will always be stranger than fiction.”
“With just a few cosmetic changes, I was able to pass for an Earthling,” Isa added. “Richard theorized that if I did not act as if I had anything to hide, any inconsistencies in my behavior might be overlooked as the eccentricities of fame. Quite brilliant, isn’t it?”
“Sure, for keeping the Earthlings from figuring out you were an alien, but Mom, Svoryk found you,” Ellie reminded her. “Don’t you think maybe being in the spotlight helped?”
“No, Ellie. Svoryk used Julian to find you.”
“Um, same thing, right?”
“El’iadrylline, Earth is located in an incredibly remote arm of the galaxy,” Julian intervened before Isa could correct her daughter. “Most advanced civilizations believe this area to be devoid of life sustaining planets. Fewer space faring peoples even have the technology required to travel this far from the central band. Your mother could have safely announced to the entire planet who she was and where she was from. Even if anyone believed her, it would be unlikely for that to carry back to the Ghowrn system.”
“Convenient, though, that Svoryk would somehow know where to look and have the technology required,” Richard noted with a glare at Julian.
“I said it was unlikely, not impossible,” Julian corrected, unfazed by the hostility directed toward him. “It seems Earth has long been a haven for those who do not wish to be found. However, it is unlikely that Svoryk has sympathizers among them. I suspect the Kyroibi’s draw is what led him to Earth. El’iadryov believed that once activated, there would be no hiding the Kyroibi from those who had felt its power, directly or indirectly.”
“Enough.” Isa stood abruptly and grabbed her wrist. “You will not lie to my daughter anymore. Tell her, Julian. Tell her exactly who you are and what you did.”
“El’iadrylline is aware of what I am and what it is you think I did, Isaverlline.” Julian’s tone was almost bored. “Whether you believe me or not is inconsequential. The truth will be revealed in time, however, continuing to manipulate your interrupter will do nothing more than bruise your skin. You lost the ability to inflict pain when you lost your dominion over me.”
“Um, can we maybe stop with the crazy and get on to the—”
“He is an assassin, Ellie.”
“Mom, I know.” Ellie let out a sigh and squeezed her eyes shut. “He told me. And he told me… what you believe.”
“What I believe?” Isa’s eyes once again flashed silver and Ellie wondered if it was more than a trick of the light. “El’iadrylline, I was there. Svoryk forced me to watch the murder of my husband at the hands of this… assassin.”
Isa’s tone had changed. The anger was still there, but underscored with a deep hurt. Ellie certainly could not blame her mother. Despite never even knowing anything about her biological father, she could feel the profound loss almost as if her mother was projecting her own emotions into Ellie’s heart.
And yet, on an instinctual level, she knew her mother was wrong. She had to be. Julian may have admitted to being an assassin, but he couldn’t have killed her father. It was logistically impossible. He would have been a child.
But would that have mattered? Ellie’s heart sank as she recalled famous images of child soldiers in war-torn nations. Who was to say Julian was not similarly victimized? After all, he had grown up believing himself to be property.
“Okay, let’s look at right now for a moment,” Ellie said, pushing aside all of her speculations. “Svoryk is here and obviously he wants what I’ve got and that’s a bad thing. My question is, what do we need to do to stop him?”
“Sweetie, we aren’t going to do anything,” Isa said, softening her tone. “This is not our battle to fight.”
Ellie stared at her mother in horror. “Isn’t it? You would let your people live under Svoryk’s rule? I don’t understand.”
“Your father sent us away to keep us safe. As long as Svoryk does not have the Kyroibi, the Ghowrn people have a chance.”
“A chance?” Ellie cringed at her mother’s wording. “That sounds pretty harsh, Mom.”
“That’s not exactly what I was getting at, Ellie. Richard and I have discussed this at length.” Isa shifted her gaze over to her husband, who gave her a small nod. “We think it would be best if you were to give up the Kyroibi entirely.”
“Is that so? And I suppose I’m to give it to you then?” Ellie asked quietly, ignoring the warning look Julian sent her. “I saw what you did to Julian. I’m not going to let you do the same to an entire population of people.”
>
“How dare you…” Isa began, but caught herself when her husband gave her an odd look. “Ellie, I understand that my treatment of Julian may look bad, but need I remind you that he is an assassin who came here under Svoryk’s command to kill me and take you back to Huptsovia?”
“Is that true?” Ellie asked Julian. He’d admitted the night before that Svoryk had sent him. “Were you sent here to kill mom?”
“Svoryk’s instructions were to retrieve the Kyroibi by any means necessary, which one may assume includes eliminating any obstacle,” Julian replied without inflection. “However, as I’d explained to your mother and should have proven when I voluntarily gave her dominion, I have always served my true master and no others.”
“And your true master…”
“Was your father, El’iadryov, and is now you,” Julian answered.
“So, the person who holds the Kyroibi?” Ellie asked cautiously, unable to hide her displeasure at the use of the word master.
“The true master does not hold the Kyroibi, but is one with the knowledge, as you shall soon discover. Svoryk, your mother, or anyone who is not specified as the chosen protector of the Eidyn legacy may not command my loyalty unless I willingly give them dominion. Even then, the Kyroibi can break such a bond.”
Ellie turned then to her mother. “If you are unable to… host the Kyroibi, how would I even be able to give it to you?”
“Though I am not Eidyn, my genetics had to be manipulated for your conception. I received some…” she seemed for a moment to hesitate, temporarily at a loss for words. “The closest approximation would be implants.”
“Implants meant to hurt and enslave?” Ellie looked pointedly at her mother’s wrist, which was indeed bruised where she had been clutching it the night before.
“The interrupter was one, yes.” Isa nodded and bit back a comment that she deemed unhelpful to her cause. “Ellie, I may not be Eidyn, but I am able to safely transport the Kyroibi back to Ghowrn. There, it can be presented to the current Eidyn leadership delegate, who would then nominate a new host. From there, they would decide how best to assist the Ghowrn Alliance in rebellion against the Huptsovian Empire.”
A Space Girl from Earth (The Kyroibi Trilogy Book 1) Page 7
