“He’s one half of a starmate.”
“I know that, everyone knows that. But why do you care about it? You’re not his other half.” He shifted his weight from foot to foot.
She chuckled. “His other half? No, I’m not. But my fate rests in his hands. His hands need to become more capable.”
“Don’t make me relive this. It’s going to destroy me. I’ll be useless to anyone.”
“How do you know? Maybe looking at things through more experienced eyes will help.”
“Did you alter it?” Another thought hit me. “Did you alter the memory?”
“No. It’s your experience.” She released my wrists. “And you will survive this. It is nothing you haven’t survived before.”
“I lost myself that day. I am only now starting to feel whole again, and it’s because of Rachel.”
“And that’s the problem.” Janda stared into my eyes. I didn’t like the terror I saw reflected back. “You have to be whole on your own first in order to be the half of something greater.”
“I can’t watch—”
“You can. And you will.”
“I’ll be with you.” Dale straightened up. “You don’t have to do it alone.”
“Yes he does. You shouldn’t even be here. I don’t understand how you are.”
“I already told you, it’s technology.”
“Still you shouldn’t have been able to slip in.”
“But I did.” He smiled. “Have a retort to that?”
“I know why you are the way you are.” She nodded. “Want me to show you?”
“No.” He shook his head. “But I don’t see why I can’t go with Noah. I’m his friend.”
“He needs to do this alone. We’ll see him when he’s through.”
“Wait. What? Aren’t you going to wait for me?” Facing that horrible memory was going to be bad enough. Having to find my way out alone afterward was worse.
“You will be fine.” She put her hands on my shoulders. “I promise you that you will come out the other side of this stronger. Ready to take on the storm.”
“I need a promise before I go down there.”
“I don’t make promises.”
“I need to know that I will see Rachel afterward. I need to make sure she is okay.”
“That isn’t a promise for me to make. It’s one for you to make for yourself.”
“I will see Rachel as soon as this is over or there will be consequences.” I wasn’t sure what kind of consequences I could really cause, but I would find a way.
“Good luck, man.” Dale patted my back. “You can do this.”
“I have to do it so I will.”
“Remember, you’ll be stronger on the other side,” Janda repeated herself.
“Keep telling yourself that.” I started down the stairs, taking each step as slowly as I could.
Part 8
Angie
16 Angie
Against my better judgment I was back with the twins. With Kelby acting like a zombie I didn’t see too many other options. I wasn’t really sure if I could trust Darto, but I had no easy way off this training planet, and even if I did get onto a ship I’d have no idea how to fly it or how to get back to North Star. If I was going to spend any more time in outer space, I was going to have to develop a whole new skill-set. College certainly didn’t prepare me for any of it.
I looked down at my watch and tried to contact Noah again. I’d tried three times already. I got nothing. Evidently these watches didn’t have built-in voicemail or anything. I wished it at least had a tracker. I needed to know where he was. I tried not to worry, but it was impossible. He’d always be my baby brother even if he were taller than me.
“Don’t be too hard on yourself about Kelby. Evata has her powers.” Cami swam around her tank. “And I’m sure you were too shocked to react.”
I had been. Or too weak. I didn’t know what had happened exactly. All I knew is I’d let Darto convince me to leave Kelby with her. Was I crazy? Or a complete pushover?
But she shouldn’t have even been there at all. “Why did you bring her here?” Maybe I was supposed to be careful not to anger the twins, but I needed to know. How could I work with them if they willingly brought such an awful being in?
“We didn’t have a choice. No one would willingly bring her anywhere.” Laci set up her bow. She was back in the frozen area again. The room felt smaller now somehow, less overwhelming too.
I prepared myself for the shattering glass I knew was coming as she readied the arrow. “What do you mean you didn’t have a choice?”
She let the arrow sail. Despite my preparations, I still jumped when the bottle shattered.
“She means we didn’t have a choice.” Cami pulled herself partly up to the side of her tank. “Evata has her ways of coercion.”
“She can turn you into a zombie-like Kelby?” I shuddered. It would be terrifying to have someone control you like that.
“Kelby isn’t undead.” Laci let another arrow fly. This one knocked over two bottles—the final two. She set down her bow and walked over.
“You know exactly what I mean.” I wasn’t about to sit there while someone nitpicked my word choice.
“No. You have to be intimate with her for that to happen.” Laci pulled herself up and took a seat on the edge of the tank. The position didn’t look particularly comfortable. “It doesn’t just happen randomly.”
Intimate? That meant Kelby and Evata? Ugh. I didn’t want to think about it. Not that I should have cared who he’d slept with. Earlier that morning I’d shushed him when he started to talk about it. “Oh.”
“She’s a Wardo. I guess you never met one before?”
“No. Never. But then again I didn’t know anyone but humans existed until a few days ago.” Life had been simpler a few days before. But that didn’t necessarily mean better.
Laci glanced at me over her shoulder. “Humans? Are you referring to those from Earth?”
“Yes.” I tried Noah again on the watch. Still no response. My worry was turning into full-on alarm.
“Well, then you should say Earthlings. Humans is a broader term.” Laci turned back toward the tank.
“Are we speaking the same language? I can’t tell the difference now when my translator kicks in.” Which was frightening. Yet I didn’t want to take it off. I didn’t want to be at any more of a disadvantage than I already was.
“We can follow your meaning of the term. Some words translate well.”
“Are you implying there are humans from planets other than Earth?” I thought about how similar the Andrelexas seemed to humans. Just super tall. And the whole emotion issue. “Is Kelby?”
Cami laughed. “No. He’s Lexa.”
I hated being laughed at. I tried to reign my annoyance in. “Then who’s human?”
“You’ve met one.”
“Who?” I was getting tired of having to ask for more information.
“Why don’t you ask the dog in your backpack?” Cami pulled herself mostly outside of the tank. I shielded my eyes from the sparkle.
“Malton isn’t human.” No one was going to convince me of that even if he did talk in a normal voice.
“No. He’s a dog.” Cami laughed. “Obviously.”
“Then why did you say to ask him?” I groaned.
“Because his owner is human.”
“King?” I sputtered out his name. “You’re telling me he’s human?”
“Did he look otherwise to you?”
“No, but he’s not from Earth.”
“Didn’t we just go over this? You don’t have to be from Earth to be human. Although you all descended from the same place…”
“Okay. Now this is getting weird.” Trying to take this in was giving me a headache.
“This is getting weird? As compared to everything else?” Laci chortled. “Really?”
“Yes. It’s easier to accept everything else. I don’t want to think that there are other Earths out t
here.”
“Why not?” Cami pulled herself fully out of the tank, letting her tail hang over the edge. She maneuvered well for someone with a fin in place of legs. “Why does that bother you? Shouldn’t it make you feel better? There are more like you in the world.”
“No.” I shook my head. “It makes Earth seem less important somehow.” Earth was special. It was one of a kind. At least that’s what I’d always been led to believe. Thinking otherwise put my world—or rather universe—view into a tailspin.
“Why would it do that? It’s still Earth. It’s still special in its own way.” Laci turned on the edge to face me.
Somehow Laci’s words made me think of Kelby. He was definitely special in his own way, and now I was going to give him up to that stupid Evata? No. “Where did Evata take Kelby?”
“Why?” Cami swung her tail.
“Because I need to find him. She can’t have him.”
“Finally.” Cami grinned. “I thought you’d never come to that decision on your own.”
“Does that mean you know where she is?” Now that I’d made up my mind, I didn’t want to waste a minute of time.
“Don’t you want our help?” Laci rubbed one of her horns.
I thought over Darto’s words. The only person I could trust is myself. “I can do this.” Of course I had no idea what I was doing or how I was going to pull it off, but maybe it was better that way. Evata would never expect it. “I appreciate your help, but this is something I have to do on my own.”
“Please don’t die.” Cami pursed her lips.
I waited for her to laugh. Was she joking? “I wasn’t planning on it.”
Laci leaned forward a little. “Seriously, don’t. We need you.”
“I don’t want to die. Trust me. Plus my brother needs me.” Even if sometimes I felt like I needed him just as much. Maybe that’s how adult sibling relationships were supposed to work. And that was one of the many reasons it was time to get Kelby back. I couldn’t reach Noah, and I had no idea what was happening with him. I assumed he was probably all right, but anything could happen. Hell, he could even be entranced by an Evata type. Although I was sure he wouldn’t have slept with one. He was way too into Rachel.
Laci jumped down from the edge, landing perfectly on her feet. “Well, she wouldn’t have taken him out of here. Too risky.”
“Too risky?” What was Evata afraid of? That detail seemed important.
“She has a lot of enemies. It’s why she slips onto planets and hides when she can. Kelby isn’t the only one she’s entranced. There are lots of others like you out there full of anger.”
I ignored her insinuation that I was something more than a friend to Kelby. I had a whole lot more to worry about. “So they are still here.” I hadn’t even thought about the possibility that they wouldn’t be. I got stressed even thinking about it. Could I have been that close to losing him forever? My conflicted personal feelings about him aside, he deserved to be saved. Making a mistake in the past didn’t mean he deserved to be punished in the future.
Cami slipped back into the water with a splash. The water spilled over the side, soaking me. “I bet she took him to the zero gravity room.”
I shook my arms around to shed the extra water. “Why?” Once again Darto’s warning rang through my ears. They could easily be sending me in the wrong direction. Speaking of Darto, where was he? Why had he left? And why hadn’t he told me he was leaving? At least I had Malton—even if he was sleeping.
“Aren’t you gifted?” Cami picked up a piece of my hair and turned it in her hand. “Shouldn’t you be able to find him?”
I waited for her to let go of my hair. “I don’t have that kind of gift.”
She dropped the hair. “We aren’t leading you astray. We need Kelby too. He’s a big part of this.”
“I hope you are being truthful.” Not that there was any way to know if they were. Or anything I could do about it if they weren’t.
“Why would we lie to you? We even offered to help.”
“Because I can’t trust anyone anymore.”
“You can trust me,” Malton piped up from inside the bag.
“You say anymore as if you’ve ever been able to trust anyone. That’s your problem. You used to live in the clouds.” Laci pointed a finger at my chest.
“I haven’t lived in the clouds for a very long time.” Not since Joseph died. I’d left la la land forever after that moment.
Cami pressed her hands into the side of the tank. “I hope you find Kelby.”
“I will.” Because I had to. There was no other possible outcome I would accept.
“What should we tell Darto when he gets back?” Laci leaned up against the tank.
“Does it matter?” I was still annoyed at him for taking off.
“He’s going to want to know where you went,” Cami called as she swam around.
“Tell him I had some unfinished business to take care of.” Even though this was way more personal than business.
17 Angie
I probably should have asked more questions. I had no idea what I was up against, nor where I was going. But oddly the unknown felt good. I was by myself, if you didn’t count the dog in my backpack, for the first time since arriving in space, and there was something nice about that. No following someone else’s orders. No fighting. Malto was sound asleep, and the only noise coming from him was a light snore.
Now I was off searching for a zero gravity room. Wherever that was. I hadn’t thought much about gravity since leaving Earth. But it was convenient to have found the right balance everywhere we went. I’d thought zero gravity training rooms were only an Earth thing. But then again I’d thought humans were only an Earth thing too.
There were no signs on the walls. No descriptions. No convenient maps posted about. Nothing. I walked down one hallway, just to turn and walk down another. After twenty minutes of walking in circles I stopped. This was pointless. Now I was going to have to crawl back to the twins and ask for more help.
“What are we doing?’ Malton put a paw on my shoulder.
“Trying to find Kelby.”
“Oh. I can help with that.”
“And you say that now?” I glanced over my shoulder to look at him.
“You didn’t ask.”
“Didn’t you hear me talking to the twins?” We hadn’t exactly been very quiet.
“I slept through most of that. And when I was up I tuned everything out that didn’t involve me.” He yawned.
“How can you help me find Kelby?”
“I’m a dog. What else is my nose for?”
I pulled the pack off one shoulder and gently pulled Malton out. “Do I need to set you down on the ground?”
“Absolutely not.” He recoiled “Hold me. My nose will work just fine up here.”
“Do you remember what Kelby smells like?” I was pretty sure you were supposed to let the dog smell clothing or something else belonging to the person you were searching for. But I had nothing of Kelby’s.
“Yes, I remember his smell. And if I need a reminder his smell is all over you.”
“No it isn’t.” I shifted Malton in my arms.
“It is.” He turned to look at me. “I’d know more than you. I have a better nose.”
Arguing with a dog was pointless. “You know what. Forget it. We don’t have time for this. Help me find him.”
“Go that way.” Malton didn’t move at all.
“Which way?”
“That way.”
“I don’t know what that way is.” I tried to keep my frustration in check, but it wasn’t easy.
“And I don’t have hands to point.”
“That’s why I suggested putting you down so you could lead.” The white and grey hallways were so nondescript. Every door looked identical. The white floors were just as nondescript.
“Do not put me down.” He nodded his head to the right. “Understand me now?”
“Yes. For future reference that is g
oing to the right.” I turned as instructed.
“I’m a dog. I don’t worry about future reference.”
“I find it interesting that you now keep insisting you are just a dog. No more higher level being stuff.” I continued down the hall, slowing down each time a turn came up, and continuing if Malton didn’t say anything.
“I won’t let you put me on the ground. Isn’t that sufficient?”
“Sure.”
“Turn again,” he instructed when we reached a hallway that ran perpendicular to the one were walking down.
I stopped. “Turn right again?”
“No the other way.” I turned left.
“No. The other way.”
I turned around and went in the opposite direction.
“Finally. You really aren’t good at following directions.”
“You better know what you’re doing. Otherwise it won’t be worth listening to you.”
“It’s worth listening to me.” He snuggled into my side.
The next few turns were less confusing. He seemed to be getting the hang of it.
“Okay. Here.” He rested his chin on my arm. “Kelby is in there.”
“You’re sure?” I looked at the unremarkable grey door beside us. Was Kelby really in there?
“I can smell him. This is the door.”
“Your nose can’t actually tell me whether there’s gravity in there, can it?”
“No. But please make sure to strap me into my bag if you think there’s a chance of zero gravity. I don’t want to get lost or thrown around.”
“The bag has straps?” That was news to me.
“Of course. What kind of owner do you think King is? He plans for everything.”
“Is he really human?” Maybe it didn’t matter compared to everything else going on, but it seemed important to know.
“King?” Malton shifted around. “I don’t know. He seems similar to you.”
“Okay. I guess it doesn’t matter.” It was something I could figure out later once I had Kelby back and we were in contact with Noah again.
Starless: Half Light Page 10
