Zoe Thanatos

by Cierlak, Crystal

  “I’ve known Thea Thanatos my entire life. Not many people remember her as our Queen.”

  “That’s because we were forced to forget about her and the original family,” Eva answered indignantly, not one bit ashamed to speak so boldly towards him.

  “I never forgot. I’ve helped keep Thea hidden since her presumed death.”

  Eva was stunned. “How have you managed to do this behind the Queen’s back?”

  Owyn looked at her as though the answer was obvious. “She has a habit of keeping herself busy with matters that don’t concern me; your brother among them.”

  Eva felt her cheeks blush but refused to acknowledge the statement even further. So he did know. How long had he known and why didn’t he ever say anything? She could worry about that later. “How do you know about Zoe?” She’d only just discovered Zoe herself. She’d just assumed no one knew.

  “I’ve always known about her,” he answered. “When Thea realized what the Stratons were doing she could think of only one way to save her children.”

  “By sending them to another world,” Eva finished, her head shaking in disbelief. She couldn’t help but picture Zoe as a small child, ignorant to the chaos that descended upon her family as she was put in a gate and send to a universe at random, seemingly lost for good.

  “Zoe was the only one to make it out of Terra before the Stratons found Thea. They very nearly did kill her, and killed almost everyone else in her family before taking the Crown for themselves.”

  “What about the other children?” she asked.

  “They were never found. As far as anyone knows Zara and Zarek are dead. Anyone who doesn’t know any better thinks Zoe is dead, too.”

  Eva stood and paced around the room, trying to piece together the new information with what she already knew. Until recently Thea Thanatos was presumed dead. It was only after Evan unwittingly found her in Gaia that the events in Terra unfolded. She stopped her pacing and turned to look at the King.

  “So all of this, the stolen book and your fake capture, was predicated on Evan finding Zoe?”

  Owyn nodded. “Zoe is the key to everything. I knew either you or your brother would bring her here one way or another. Truthfully, I thought it would be Evan. You managed to do it right under the Queen’s nose.”

  “How did you know it would be either one of us? You make it sound as though it were a certainty.”

  The King smiled. “It is a certainty. Thea saw to it that Evan would always be linked to her daughters and you would always be linked to Evan.”

  Eva expelled a breath of air impatiently. “Linked how? How would she be able to do that?”

  The King narrowed his eyes at her. “Evan is the only one who could have found Zoe and likewise you will always be able to find Evan. The rest isn’t important right now.” There was definitely more, she thought.

  “So no matter which universe she was sent to, Evan would have always been the one to find her?”

  “Yes, and he always will. Your mother and father were closer to the Queen than anyone and she wanted your generation to be linked.”

  Despite the difficulty in imagining how Thea was able to accomplish something so seemingly supernatural, it made a degree of sense to Eva. She had always felt a closeness to Evan that went beyond their sibling bond, but to know that the Thanatos children were also a part of that bond instigated a feeling of propriety towards Zoe. She initially thought that bringing Zoe to Terra was doing her brother a favor, but in light of the new information she understood it as being deeper. She felt a growing sense that she should protect Zoe as though she were her own flesh and blood.

  Eva paced the room again until she came back to the chair she had been sitting in. Her hands went autonomously to the chair’s back, and she held herself steady as the weight of the King’s admissions settled in her consciousness.

  “There’s just one thing I don’t understand,” she began. “Why you? Of all the people to rebel against the Straton monarchy you are the very last person I would suspect. You’re the King and married into the most powerful family in Terra.”

  He shook his head. “Not married into. I am a Straton.”

  Eva craned her head towards him. “I don’t understand.”

  “You don’t know much about your own royal history, do you?” he asked in mock incredulity.

  “I stopped caring about it the day the first Straton Queen took Evan and me captive after our parents died,” she retorted. No, she didn’t give a shit about anyone’s own royal history until it involved her directly.

  “My aunt was the first Straton Queen. My mother and father were loyal to the Thanatos family, the Queen especially, just like your family. They had no part in my aunt’s betrayal and died trying to protect Thea and her family. My aunt and uncle took me in as a captive the same as you, only because I was blood I was given opportunities you and Evan weren’t.”

  “Opportunities like marrying your own cousin?” she spit. The thought of it made her ill. To her knowledge interfamily marriage was something that never occurred in Terra.

  “She’s not my cousin,” he said in a hushed tone. Eva’s face fell as her thoughts receded from her mind. The King’s face was that of relief. He looked like a man who had finally let go of words he had been holding on to for far too long.

  “I beg your pardon?” Clearly she had misunderstood him.

  “I can’t explain now. You’ll know what I mean soon enough.”

  Eva felt a stab of disappointment in her gut. He had been so forthcoming only to stop after revealing the most cryptic piece of information yet.

  “In the meantime, I need to prepare you for what comes next.”

  “What do you mean ‘what comes next’?” She could process everything she had already learned. She wasn’t sure she could handle anything else.

  “As soon as you leave this room you need to take Zoe and head straight to Last City. You’ll find a gate in the City Center.”

  “Wait a minute,” Eva interrupted. “They deactivated that gate. And besides, it was programmed for Gaia; you’re suggesting we go back to Earth?”

  Owyn shook his head impatiently. “There should be a map among the scrolls Zoe found in her home on Earth. That map contains instructions on how to reactivate the gate for one specific location: Thea calls it the Forgotten Gardens.”

  “Where do I know that from?” she wondered out loud, ignoring the question she wanted to ask about how he knew about the glass box Zoe found.

  “Like I said, you’ll want to brush up on your royal history. The Forgotten Gardens is where Zoe needs to be to understand who she is, to remember her family’s history.”

  “Why though? Wouldn’t it be easier for Thea to just explain it all to her?”

  “The Queen will undoubtedly interrogate Thea and it won’t be long until she also knows about Zoe. I don’t think I have to explain what kind of threat they pose to each other. Until Zoe remembers who she is you need to keep her as far away from the Queen as possible.”

  Eva drew in a long breath of air and expelled it quickly. “All right. What happens after Zoe is enlightened about her family’s history?”

  The King hesitated, his mouth forming a hard line across his face as he considered his words. “She’ll know what to do.”

  Eva’s jaw nearly unhinged from her head. “How? By divine intervention?”

  He breathed deeply. “Something like that.” He was serious.

  Eva circled around the room with her hands on her head, willing her mind to absorb every word the King had spoken, committing it all to memory.

  “This is a girl who has spent countless years growing up in Gaia, who literally only just found out she’s from another universe, and you’re expecting her to magically download generations-worth of history in a mythical garden, with the hopes of doing what, exactly?”

  “Claiming her birthright.”

  “You mean starting a war against the Queen, just like the Stratons before her?”

&nb
sp; Owyn gave a sober nod. “Yes.”

  “And what about Thea? The Queen is going to sentence her to life imprisonment. Or worse.”

  “We all have a part to play in this,” he asserted. “Thea knows what hers is, as do I.”

  “And my brother? What is his role?”

  The King’s eyes cast downward, a grave expression on his face. “The Queen trusts him.”

  Eva shifted on her feet impatiently. “What does that mean?”

  “It means that his part is to help you from beside her.”

  “He has feelings for Zoe. Once he knows she’s here…”

  “He can’t know,” Owyn interrupted. “At least not until Zoe is safe in the Forgotten Gardens. The Queen needs to believe he has nothing to do with Zoe whatsoever.”

  Eva shook her hands nervously at her side, her feet pacing again around the room. She couldn’t willingly deceive her brother, could she? It was true that the Queen trusted him more than anyone else, but could he use that to keep both Zoe and her safe from the Queen? Was she really prepared to help ignite a civil war against Kyra Straton?

  Chapter 16: A Brief Reunion

  Zoe opened the door and peered out into the common room, her eyes sweeping the expanse for any sign of life. Eva had been gone a while and the room was otherwise quiet. She attempted to sleep but found the artificial air to be distracting. The room may have been a programmed recreation of a space she was very comfortable and familiar with, but she couldn’t allow herself to be relaxed in its artificiality.

  She cautiously entered the room taking great care to keep the sound of her footsteps at a minimum. She felt silly for being nervous, like a child afraid of being caught doing something bad, but she was in a foreign place without a friendly face in sight. She made her way to the kitchenette and stood in front of the Nutrition Replicator. A strange giggle escaped her mouth. Everything about Terra was like a surreal dream, or an episode of Star Trek.

  Her stomach growled. When was the last time she ate? She eyed the Replicator again, recalling the delicious truffle it had produced earlier. She wondered what else it could replicate.

  With an ounce of hesitation she placed her hand on the designated corner of the glass and ceremoniously closed her eyes. A burrito with chicken. No, carnitas. Cilantro-lime rice, beans, extra cheese. Sour cream and guacamole. When her eyes opened again they fell immediately on a plate with the most generously sized burrito she had ever seen with wisps of steam curling up into the room. She picked up the plate with two hands and carefully carried it to a nearby table, placed it down and took a seat.

  She inhaled deeply. It certainly smelled real. She picked it up and bit generously from one end, closing her eyes as her mouth absorbed the taste. Artificial or not, it tasted like the real deal and reminded her so much of home.

  Home. The word made little sense to her anymore. How was she meant to reconcile with having lived her life in one world, only to be told that she was from another? It was easier to accept the knowledge that another universe existed, but to also come from it? And then there was the other thing. Eva told her that the Thanatos family was the first ruling monarchy of Terra. She saw for herself her name on the genealogical chart next to others; a mother, aunts, and a sister. If they were part of the ruling monarchy, then didn’t that mean she was part of it as well? What did that make her, then? Some sort of princess?

  A laugh erupted from her gut and her hand whipped to her mouth to keep the food from spitting out. She swallowed and tilted her head back, the laughter roaring out of her loudly and shaking her abdomen. Zoe Thanatos, princess of an alternate universe named Terra. She laughed, full-bellied and louder than necessary with tears streaming from her face for what seemed like five whole minutes, her food discarded on the table.

  The muscles in her abdomen were aching by the time the laughter began to subside. Even her mouth was sore. As she calmed she felt the peculiar sensation that she was being watched. She glanced to the left and found a pair of green eyes ardently observing her from the doorway to his personal residence. The laughter subsided and left a trace smile that grew half an inch at the sight of him. She had to part her mouth to take in a breath of air, hoping it would abate the increasing rate of her heart in her chest.

  I should have kissed you. The memory of their last moments together came to mind as she looked at Evan, who was even more handsome than she remembered. In the short amount of time she knew him she had more than once shared her physical space with him; in her living room, at the restaurant overlooking the Channel Islands, and again in her backyard. She never wanted to be kissed so much in her life.

  “Evan,” she breathed. Her heart was still beating fast, pumping enough blood through her body to heat her from beneath the skin. She stood, the back of her knees pushing the chair away hastily, and walked towards him, her heartbeat pounding in her ears as he approached her, each of them closing the gap. Her arms circled around him as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. His arms circled around her torso, holding her body close to his. She had to stand on her toes to reach his height. He smelled so clean and warm, like soap and fresh laundry. Her body relaxed. Being in his arms felt like the only non-artificial thing in Terra.

  Her breath expelled in slow drafts against him and when she opened her eyes she saw his skin was prickled with goose bumps. Her lips were close enough to touch his skin, but she resisted the urge to do so. She stepped back from his embrace and let her arms fall to her sides as her feet brought her back to her own height.

  “Your laughter is the most beautiful sound,” he whispered softly.

  The air between them felt electrified, a charge that not even a simulated atmosphere could deny. The way he looked at her, like he thought he’d never see her again... No one had ever looked at her like that before, so filled with relief and longing. His hands were on her shoulders, still holding her close to him in their shared space.

  “I can’t believe you’re here.”

  “I was hoping I’d see you,” she whispered back.

  Evan bowed his head, resting his forehead tenderly against hers. He, too, was attempting to normalize his breathing, his chest rising and falling in front of her.

  “Zoe you shouldn’t be here.”

  She moved her head back, his rising again to look down at her. His expression was pained, caught between two conflicting emotions.

  “According to your sister, I’m supposed to be here.”

  Evan’s eyebrows creased above his eyes. “You know?”

  “I told her.” Zoe and Evan turned their heads and found Eva standing at the entryway, the door closing shut behind her. “And she’s not the only one who knows.”

  “Who else?” Evan asked, alarm in his voice.

  Eva walked to one of the partitioned sitting areas in the room and took a seat on a slick black chair. When Zoe felt Evan’s arms drop from her shoulders she followed Eva, taking an adjacent seat. Evan sat opposite her.

  “I just had a very interesting conversation with the King.” Eva looked to Evan, her facial expression a warning to him not to blow up. “He knows even more than we do.”

  “How does he know anything about Zoe?” Evan asked.

  “Because,” she started. Her head turned to look at Zoe, a pained expression on her face. “Zoe, Thea is your mother. He told me everything about her, and you.” Her attention turned back to Evan, who looked as thoroughly shaken as ever. She recounted her conversation with the King, volleying her attention between Zoe and Evan.

  It was as though they were talking about someone else’s life, another Zoe who had been sent to Earth as a child to avoid being captured and killed. This other Zoe had had a brother and a sister, a mother, aunts and countless other family members. Not to mention she was royalty, heir to a queendom in a universe she only just found out existed. The idea no longer seemed funny.

  They had grown up together, Zoe, Evan and Eva. Their parents had been close friends whose the children played together, and lived their lives t
ogether. If no one ever besieged the Crown she quite possibly would have inherited it. It was the kind of story she had only seen in movies: A week ago she was an ordinary girl from Santa Barbara, and then she was the sole living heir to a monarchy in a distant universe.

  ‘You shouldn’t be here,’ Evan had said. Zoe looked up and found his eyes on her. Eva was still talking, her attention going between them as she relayed the King and Thea’s plans. She could only imagine what Evan was thinking. He may have said she shouldn’t be there, but it was obvious from the way he looked at her that he wanted her there.

  She zoned out completely, silence in her ears and her mind lost away in her thoughts. Eva mentioned something about the Queen, and whatever it was set Evan off. She watched as the two siblings argued, each looking more intense than the other. Whatever their argument was about they both seemed intent on having the final word. For all she knew they were disagreeing on what to do with her, or what actions to take next. Where did she fit in besides as the topic of conversation? What about what she thought?

  Zoe looked to the entryway and retraced her steps since walking through it. The common room led towards the Throne Room. The Throne Room was connected to the Government Center through a long glass tunnel. The Transport Station was yet another tunnel away, the smaller corridors leading to the glass box of the gate she had traveled through. There were many doors between where she sat and the gates, but none of them could take her home even if she wanted them to.

  Her mind wandered back to the Throne Room. There was another entryway that went to the residences of the Queen and King. Was that where she grew up? Did she play in the Throne Room as a small child with Evan and Eva at her side, their tiny voices echoing jubilantly off the massive walls? Any memories were lost in time, her connection to Terra severed long ago. Her memories, what little there were of them, were of Earth.