Zoe Thanatos

by Cierlak, Crystal

  “And in the process it’s going to disassemble me then put me back together on the other side?”

  Eva smiled. “Something like that.” Oh, sure, Zoe thought.

  A ping of light caught Zoe’s attention. It sparked close to the frozen ground and travelled up and around, forming the shape of an arc, leaving a dazzling trail of light in its path. The center was like a blacked out wall, but Zoe could see it had some depth. It resembled what she imagined a black hole to look like. A breeze of bitterly cold air blew into her mouth as her jaw dropped open.

  “Follow me closely,” Eva instructed.

  Zoe recovered and adjusted the carrier hanging from her shoulder. She watched in continued awe as Eva approached the gate, and the arc grew thinner and taller around her body to accommodate her shape. She walked through the arc and disappeared into the black void.

  Zoe knew there was no time to hesitate, and yet she felt her mind telling her feet to run off in the opposite direction. This was it. She couldn’t back out of her decision, not after everything she’d learned, and everything she had yet to find out.

  She willed her feet to move forward instead of backwards. The arc adjusted to her shape and as she moved closer she felt a cold sterile breeze coming from the void.

  With all the courage she could muster, Zoe stepped through the arc and into the darkness.

  Evan entered the Throne Room and stopped dead in his tracks. Apart from the Crown Soldiers, who had doubled in number at every entrance, the Throne Room was empty. Never once had the great room not been filled with residents. He started again, hearing the unnerving sound of his footsteps echoing against the vaulted walls and columns that stood like giants around him.

  He was permitted to enter the Straton residence and found all of the Queen’s personal attendants gathered around in a group. A hushed silence quickly fell upon them as though they had been whispering in secret and didn’t want him to hear.

  “Ladies,” he greeted with half a smile. “What’s going on?”

  Every single one of them looked to Julia, the attendant Evan had previously met. She looked around her before her gaze met his. “We are to wait here until the King has arrived and then go to our residences,” she explained.

  “Then go home. The King is back safe and sound.” He walked to the doors leading to the Queen’s private residence and waited as Crown Soldiers opened them. He heard the whispers of the Queen’s ladies pick up again as he entered, their voices simmering to a hush as the doors closed behind him.

  A large square glass table had been placed in the room since his last visit, with two place settings on each end. The Queen emerged from a corner of the room, dressed down in a simple short black dress. Her hair was pulled neatly behind her head, showing off the lovely curve of her chin and long neck.

  “You look pleased to see me,” she smiled appreciatively.

  Had he been staring? He cleared his throat and held the large book out towards her in his hands. “I believe you were looking for this.”

  The Queen took the book in her hands and smiled victoriously at it. “And the King?” Her eyes lifted up to meet his.

  “He’s fine. I think he went somewhere to decompress after all that has happened to him.”

  “Yes, I’m sure he has.” She didn’t sound as though she cared too much. Then again, she didn’t have to. She placed the book inside an open vault engaged in a nearby wall, and then shut the door closed until its seams blended perfectly into the surrounding glass.

  “The Elder woman and her accomplices from Last City are in the Military Complex with Alcander and Hector.”

  “Good. Would you like to join me for a meal?” Her hand waved at the two place settings.

  Evan hesitated. “I would, but I should probably find my sister.”

  “I sent Evadine on an errand for me. It could be a while before she returns.”

  Evan’s eyebrows crumpled. “Where did she go?”

  The Queen looked surprised by his question. “To find something for me,” she answered indignantly. “And anyway if the King doesn’t want to come home and share a meal with me then I will happily take you in his place.”

  He shifted uncomfortably where he stood. “What if he comes back?”

  She took a seat at one end of the glass table and pointed to the other. “Honestly I couldn’t care less. Join me, please.”

  Evan did so, seating himself opposite the Queen. She smiled at him coolly, seemingly amused at his expense.

  “You’ve never cared if the King found out about us,” she observed.

  Evan shook his head. “I don’t know,” he mumbled, mostly to himself. “With everything that’s going on with this Elder woman and the book something just feels unsettled.” The woman’s words were still fresh in his mind, as was the knowledge that someone from the original family was still alive.

  “Did she say anything to you?” The Queen picked up a glass filled with a golden colored liquid and took a slow sip.

  “She said many things. Some of which were quite unbelievable.”

  “Such as?” she asked sweetly.

  “Well, she still claims to be Thea from the original family, and that she’s not the only surviving member.”

  Her eyes narrowed at him. She put the drink back down on the glass and looked at him shrewdly. “That’s impossible.”

  Was it? Was Zoe Thanatos the other surviving heir of the original family? The Queen could never know. He had no doubt she’d go looking for Zoe, that she would possibly send him to do it, or worse yet, a Crown Soldier. He shuddered at the thought of Zoe coming face-to-face with Alcander or Hector.

  No. If the Queen thought Zoe was the surviving heir to the original family she wouldn’t lock her up or hide her. She’d make sure Zoe was gone for good. He needed to know for himself if it was true and then decide the best way to handle the situation. He could hide Zoe from the Queen. Keep her safe from her reach. But how?

  It was as though an invisible hand had reached inside Zoe, took a firm grip of her center, and pulled her chest first through a long, thin tunnel. Her extremities dissolved around her, shattering into long stretches of atoms that undulated like a wave of ripples. She was nothing but a consciousness, her active mind a ribbon through the waves like a double helix.

  A glass room materialized as she was rebuilt atom by atom. A bright light temporarily subdued her, nearly burning the corneas and sensitive nerves that connected her eyes to her brain. She squinted, slowly adjusting her eyes to the artificial light. It emanated from the glass, the structure itself twice the size of a pay phone booth. The air was clean with a strange sterility that felt surprisingly cool. From somewhere nearby she could hear the faintest electronic trilling, a crescendo of sounds that reached an apex before declining back down into silence. Each tone sounded as though it were a measurement, but of what she wasn’t sure.

  An unlit rectangular shape the size of a door unveiled before Zoe’s eyes. It opened with a pneumatic hush into a narrow glass corridor that lead to yet another door and a room beyond where she could clearly see Eva standing, looking at her expectantly. Eva encouraged her with a nod, her hand sweeping back and forth towards her in instruction.

  Zoe stepped into the corridor, a second and longer pneumatic hush blowing a burst of cool sterile air over the length and width of her body. The second door opened with another, leading into the large concrete and steel room where Eva was waiting.

  “For what it’s worth you look intact,” Eva joked with a smile.

  A laugh blew through Zoe’s cheeks, pushing out the breath she had been holding. A tingling vibration sent electrical charges along the nerves beneath her skin, shimmering like invisible lights up and down her body.

  “How long does the tingling last?”

  Eva pursed her lips. “I don’t know. I’m so used to it I barely feel it anymore. Do you need a moment?”

  Zoe shook her head. “No. I think I’ll be fine.”

  “Okay. Our residence isn’t far
. Just try to look like you belong.”

  The thought occurred to Zoe that technically she did belong. Around her several more people were entering the room from other glass corridors, what she assumed were the gates. Each one joined in a group that bottlenecked through another long glass corridor. Zoe attempted to casually look around at the others, noticing immediately they were dressed in all manner clothing. Most looked as though they had come from Earth, dressed comfortably in slacks or jeans, blouses or shirts with ties. A few were dressed like Eva in form-fitting fabrics that Zoe could only describe as leotards.

  As they collectively made their way through the corridor, Zoe picked up bits of their conversations, trying to put the pieces together into a cohesive narrative. Most didn’t know what was happening. Some speculated after the Queen and King’s health while others grumbled their disdain for having to come back earlier than planned. She heard one woman’s voice say Eva’s name, followed by Evander’s. No one seemed to look twice at Zoe.

  A great hall opened up before them as they stepped from the corridor. Lines of people dressed in the form fitting clothes were queued up to board what Zoe presumed was a line of trains, each one stretching out into even longer glass corridors.

  “This is the Transport Station,” Eva whispered in Zoe’s ear. “Usually only those who work for the Crown, or residents who are traveling by way of the gates, come through here. It looks like everyone is being sent back to their private residences.” There was a thread of worry in Eva’s voice. As they walked briskly through the enormous building she noticed uniformed security - the military perhaps - guarding every entrance and exit. A group of young women in long purple dresses with elaborate hair designs walked among the crowd, their chins held up high and backs razor-straight as they moved.

  Many seemed to recognize Eva as she escorted Zoe through the room, most of them then turning to whisper to the person standing next to them. Few looked directly at Zoe.

  Another corridor brought them into a yet larger hall, two walls of glass on either side displaying panoramic views of a lush tropical forest. Miles of dark green trees spread out around them, vines languishing between the great branches.

  “This is our Government Center,” Eva continued in a whisper. “Everyone who works for the Crown is based here, except for the Crown Soldiers. They like to make it look peaceful here, hence the trees,” Eva nodded to the glass windows.

  “They aren’t real?” Zoe asked.

  “Pretty convincing, isn’t it? All of the glass is programmable, so you can create any view you like. Evan’s room always looks like whatever universe he’s just come from.”

  Zoe felt her face pick up at the mention of Evan. She swallowed and tried to abate the butterflies forming in her stomach.

  “I don’t know if he’s there right now,” Eva remarked, as though answering Zoe’s unspoken thoughts.

  “Of course. I wasn’t...” Zoe’s head shook. “He doesn’t even know I’m here, right?”

  Eva gave a side-glance to her, a bit of a smile on her lips. “Come on. We’re almost there.”

  They walked to two large and imposing doors, each one sleek with oversized ornate glass handles. A line of Soldiers stood beside each door, the first two on either side eyeing both Eva and Zoe. They opened the doors without question, revealing a third large room, the smallest of the three but the most impressive. One glass wall looked out into a dark abyss of space, stars and galaxies stretching out infinitely into the distance. The celestial bodies themselves seemed to ebb with light, a subtle twinkling that made Zoe feel slightly ill from the perceived height and depth. “What is this room?” she asked, not daring to raise her voice higher than a reverent whisper.

  Eva’s pace slowed significantly, her head leaning in close to Zoe’s hear. “This is the Throne Room. See those doors up ahead?” Zoe’s gaze followed were Eva discreetly pointed, to two more large doors guarded with fewer Soldiers. “That’s our residence.”

  Zoe’s eyes moved to her right where another set of doors, far more commanding and imposing than any of the previous, stood ensconced in a great wall of steel.

  “And there?”

  Eva nodded to the soldiers standing outside the doors to her residence, thanking them as they opened the doors. “That’s the Straton Residence. Where the Queen and King live,” she whispered.

  Chapter 14: The Two Nero’s

  Evan poked at his food in silence, moving the contents of the plate around aimlessly. His mind was back on Earth, in Santa Barbara, with Zoe Thanatos. He tried to imagine how it was possible that she had gone to Earth without knowing it. Did someone send or bring her there? And when?

  In his memories he could just barely make out the original family, often playing with their children when he was just a boy. He couldn’t see their faces, didn’t know if they were boys or girls.

  Thea said she didn’t know whether her children were dead or alive, so who was Zoe in the Thanatos original family? If she was her daughter wouldn’t she have said something?

  “What’s that phrase you told me they say in Gaia? ‘Your thoughts cost a penny’?”

  Evan parted from his thoughts. The corners of his mouth lifted in a joyless smile. “‘Penny for your thoughts’.”

  The Queen nodded. She leaned forward in her seat and rested her chin in her palm. Her eyes searched him quizzically. “You’re not here with me, Evander. Where are you?”

  His hand went automatically for his hair, bringing back unruly tufts with his fingers. He had so many questions and no idea where to direct them. He could talk to Thea first and ask her about Zoe, tell her he found her on Earth, but what would that do? No matter what information he gave to her, her life was a certainty. She stole from the Queen and aided in kidnapping the King. Her life was over, and it was only a matter of time before she was eliminated by order of the Queen.

  The book! The book had the answers he was looking for and so much more. He saw the chart himself; the Thanatos name printed in the ancient texts. There must have been a record of Zoe somewhere in there. If only he had thought to look before handing it over to the Queen.

  His thoughts were interrupted again by her hands on his shoulders. Her palms spread out wide, fingertips extending out over the width of his shoulder, cupping the muscle in her hands with great care.

  “Where do you go when your thoughts take you away?” she whispered in his ear. His eyes closed at the sound, her voice a soft purr that had whispered many things to him when they were alone.

  “I’m sorry, Your Highness. I’m just preoccupied.”

  “Things will be taken care of, Evander. You have nothing to worry about.” She rubbed his shoulders gently, relaxing the nerves and tendons beneath his skin. Her hands moved to his neck, circling around them as she moved to his front. Without much effort she straddled him in his seat, keeping her body close to his as her hands moved up and down his neck from his hairline to the collar of his shirt.

  Evan’s arms move autonomously to her waist, holding her protectively. In his arms she looked like the Kyra he had come to know in private, the side of the Queen she kept hidden from the rest of the world.

  “You’ll see,” she declared. She brushed her hand across his head, pushing locks of hair off his forehead. “Everything will go back to the way it was.”

  He took in her dark eyes, the shape reminding him of Zoe again. The similarities were unsettling. Surely, it was his conscience speaking to him, forcing his heart and mind to stay on the same page. He, too, wanted things to go back to normal, but for him that meant something different.

  He wanted to see Zoe again, not to question her lineage or birthplace, but just to stand with her in her world. As long as he and the Queen continued their affair he couldn’t be the kind of man to Zoe that she deserved. He couldn’t go to Earth to see her and then come home to be with Kyra. There wasn’t room in his heart for both.

  “Kyra,” he spoke. Her mouth on his silenced him before he could speak further. She was sweet and a
little gentle, but he could feel that she wanted more. He had to fight wanting to kiss her back in order to maintain his focus. His hands moved against her hips and slowly pushed her from him. The kissing stopped abruptly as she teetered backwards, caught herself on her feet and stood in front of him. She looked confused, angry, and a little humiliated.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked.

  He hadn’t meant to physically pusher her off of him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to” he exclaimed. He desperately searched for an excuse but all he could think of was what Zoe would think if she knew what he was doing. “I just remembered some things I need to take care of in Gaia. On Earth.” It was a lame excuse and not good enough to quell her irritation.

  The Queen’s chest rose and fell rapidly as she stared at him, incredulity in every feature of her face. “You’re thinking about Gaia?”

  “No, I’m thinking about you. I just remembered a matter I left unattended and it’s going to bother me if I don’t make peace with it,” he explained bringing his hand back to his head.

  “The gates have been deprogrammed for Gaia,” she affirmed, her voice calming down to its usual tone. “Whatever you’ve forgotten will just have to stay that way.”

  He could barely manage to swallow. He felt like she had just slapped him. “Deprogrammed? Why?”

  The Queen looked down at him indignantly; the private side of her she shared only with him was gone. “What does it matter why? This is your home, Evan! Not Gaia!”

  He was too stunned to think. Before he was conscious of his movements he found himself walking briskly to the door, ignoring the Queen’s protests as he walked out and ran as fast as he could to his private residence.

  “And this is where we live.” Eva spread her arms out around the room. “This is the common room. Our rooms are through those doors there,” she continued while pointing. “I’ll show you how to work everything in your room.”