by Cohen, Bryan
Erica shrugged. "I don't know. But if I do, I won't be her anymore. I won't be me anymore."
Ted took a second to look around the band room. He could see that the clock on the wall had frozen in time.
"I guess I may never see you again." Ted squeezed her hand. "You changed everything."
Erica's face looked wise, like a person who had seen it all. "I've lived a lot of lives, Ted. Some of them short and some of them long. But I think this one was my favorite."
Ted's stomach filled with butterflies. "I guess this is goodbye."
As he stood, Erica stood with him, bringing their hands to his chest. "It is. Goodbye, Ted." She looked over at the door to the room. "You know, I don't think Natalie is going to walk in this time."
Ted tried to bury the feelings that brought tears to his eyes. It didn't work as he put one hand behind Erica's lower back and put the other behind her neck. He tilted his head to the side at the same time she did and their lips connected. The moment was perfect, but it was only a moment. When Ted opened his eyes, Erica was gone.
The long, constant tone that signaled a flatline brought him back from his past. Back from the band room. Back from Erica's arms. He remained seated next to her with her hand in his.
He forced the breath through his lungs as he looked upon her. "Goodbye."
Ted leaned over to the machine and flipped the switch off. There was nothing in the room but silence.
26
Dhiraj sat alone on his bed fiddling with the top sheet. From all the self-help reading he'd done, he knew every trick in the book to get rid of unwanted anger. But he wasn't interested in getting rid of it. He wanted a full on rage pity party to tear his mind apart.
"This is my fault. I vouched for Jennifer, and now there are hundreds of soldiers dead. Hell, the nuke probably wouldn't have happened if it weren't for me either. There's another 1,000 on the old ledger."
Dhiraj pulled at the sheet with both hands. Despite his best efforts, it wouldn't rip. He pulled, and pulled, and attempted to tear everything in his life into pieces. But he couldn't even do that right.
He threw the sheet down in frustration and grabbed his laptop. The presentation he'd created for Jennifer popped up on his screen. He took a second to look at the picture.
His finger traced along the edge of her cheek and down her prom dress. "You're dead. You've been dead for a month."
Dhiraj whipped the laptop across the room. It crashed hard into the wall, cracking the screen and case as it slid down for a second impact against the ground. Dhiraj stood up and threw his chair in the same direction. The metal of one leg bent as it landed beside the now-worthless computer.
"I wanted this so badly! I wanted to believe that my life wasn't utter crap for five seconds!" Dhiraj swept his arms across the desk, sending everything scuttling to the ground. He kicked at his tear-away quote-per-day calendar. It slid under his bed, and he looked around for something else to attack.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Dhiraj spun toward the door. Natalie leaned one shoulder against the frame.
He sniffled and rubbed at his nose. "I'm sorry you had to see that. I know you're used to me being cool and collected."
She straightened up. "'Cool’ isn't the word I'd use. But to tell you the truth, I have been predicting a breakdown for the last few years." She walked into the room and stepped around the items he'd tossed in every direction. "Mind if I join you? I can help break stuff too."
Dhiraj laughed before it opened him up for the tears. Once they started, he wasn't sure if they'd ever stop. As they streamed out, he sat beside Natalie, who conveniently had a pack of tissues for him.
He dabbed his tear-stained face. "You knew I was going to cry? You didn't think I was manly enough to be able to handle things?"
She rolled her eyes. "I'm as tough as they come, Dhiraj, and this crap still gave me PTSD. Being manly isn't about not crying. It's about dealing with your crap." She handed him another tissue. "So, do you want to talk about it?"
He blew his nose. "No, but I wouldn't mind venting my frustration at whatever the hell it is that took over Jennifer."
Natalie smirked. "That is something I would be happy to oblige."
Dhiraj couldn't stop his feet from tapping on the ground as he sat beside Natalie waiting for Jennifer to appear on the other side of the glass. But he knew it wouldn't really be Jennifer. He was nervous to see her again, but this time he wouldn't be fooled. This time he wouldn't let her turn his entire life upside down.
As soon as Jennifer entered through the door on the other side of the room, she looked like she wanted to turn away.
Natalie whispered to him. "She seems nervous."
Dhiraj folded his arms. "She probably thinks we're going to kill her."
"Are we?"
Dhiraj hadn't thought that far ahead, but the possibility intrigued him.
After being corralled by the guard at the door, Jennifer finally sat down in front of the protective glass pane.
She fidgeted and kept her eyes down. "I know you don't believe me when I tell you that I'm me again, so I'm just going to let you talk."
Dhiraj stood up and slammed his hands on the table in front of him. "Look at me! Look at me!"
Slowly, Jennifer brought her eyes up to his.
His heart struggled with the mix of fear, love, and sadness.
He fought to keep his eyes from watering again. "You already killed thousands of innocent people, and now you think you can trick all of us again by pretending you're human? That's even lower than some of the things the General did."
Jennifer scrunched up her face as if tears were on the way. "I was coming to save you. Whether or not you believe who I am, I was coming to save you and who knows what would have happened to you if you were still with the General."
Dhiraj let go of any inclination to control the volume of his voice. "Because of you, I let in the Trojan Horse! I wish the General had killed me and then none of this ever would have happened."
Jennifer's tears flowed freely now. Dhiraj continued the internal battle between his desire to comfort her and his hopes of killing her.
She put her hand on the glass. "If that is the only alternative, then I'd do it all again. I would doom thousands of people so that you got to live. And even if you never trust me again or you kill me, I would know that something I did saved your life."
Natalie touched Dhiraj’s shoulder. "This is less therapeutic than I thought, maybe we should go."
Dhiraj punched at the glass, wincing in pain immediately after he did it. "You and the General and everybody else who stands against us will burn in the deepest part of hell for what you've done! I'm through with letting you screw around with our lives." He turned away and cradled his knuckles. "I'm done with her."
Just then, Ted opened the door from behind. His face was stoic, but Dhiraj could tell there was a lot going on beneath the surface.
Natalie looked back to the sobbing Jennifer before she focused on Ted. "You need to interrogate her?"
Ted stared straight ahead. "No need. Seaweed wore off. She's telling the truth."
The Molotov cocktail of emotions within Dhiraj exploded all at once. "Excuse me?"
"Whatever it is Riu’s powers did, they didn't just rip the dark souls out of everybody's body. They brought the original inhabitants back to life."
Dhiraj listened to the sounds in the room. He heard his heart beating faster and faster. He heard Jennifer's sobs into her hand.
He walked up to the glass. "You're alive?"
Jennifer only looked up at him for a second before returning her gaze downward.
Natalie looked calm amidst the chaos. "And Erica?"
Ted looked down. "She didn't make it."
Dhiraj continued to look upon Jennifer as her sobs turned into a full-on wail.
27
Erica opened her eyes to a world she left behind. As was customary when her soul returned to her rightful body, she woke up in a bed in
her living quarters in the Realm of Souls. She ran her hands through her hair and patted down her body just to make sure. The attributes of Erica LaPlante were no longer hers. She was shorter and stouter. Her hair was darker and thicker. And while she wasn't quite used to thinking of herself that way yet, her real name was Cora.
"I need to get back there. I need to help him."
Cora ignored the soreness in her arms, legs, and neck that often came with the return. It was like torture changing out of her outfit and into something that would be suitable for crossing back over to earth, but she knew that getting back into the thick of things was more important than her sharp aches and pains.
From the moment she stepped out into the hallway, she could tell that something wasn't right in the light souls’ capital city. Guards, soldiers, and civilians moved about as if their world was about to change forever. She mostly ignored them as she kept pace on the path to headquarters.
As her mind attempted to rectify the persona she'd just left with her true reality, she focused on her final mental moments with Ted. If she went back there with a new body, would things be different? Would he still trust her? How would he feel about her if he saw the real person behind the body?
Cora struggled to get through the hubbub in the army's main headquarters. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen her comrades in arms preparing for an offensive strike. Or a defensive standoff.
It took longer than she'd hoped, but Cora finally reached the one person who might hear her out.
Reena was barking out orders to a few pilots when she locked eyes with the protector.
"I'm both sorry and happy to see you."
Cora huffed. "There was a spy. The boy took care of her. I need you to send me back."
Reena shook her head as she walked away.
Erica kept pace.
"Not going to happen, Cora. If we sent your soul across the cosmos, there's a good chance the dark souls would take it down. Besides, we can't spare the manpower for the operation."
Cora followed the army's second-in-command up a series of stairs. As was common with the procedure, her legs felt as though they haven't been used for a long, long time, but she pressed through. "Fine. Get me a gatekeeper and—"
"I need you here. Both mentally and physically. The humans will be fine."
"I'm not so sure of that."
Reena stopped in her tracks and turned toward her protector. "Your mission on Earth is over for the time being. You helped the living soul on multiple occasions and now you have to help us protect our city. Your city."
Cora took a step toward her. "My city is Treasure. My world is Earth."
Reena shook her head. "We don't have time for this, Cora."
Cora stared straight into her commander's unforgiving eyes. "I need to go back."
Cora thought of the aircraft carrier bobbing up and down in harm's way. She pictured Ted mourning over her body as Natalie tried to put the army back together. She knew that they were strong without her, but that didn't mean she thought they could win.
Reena sighed. "I need to show you something."
Cora could still feel the defiance building within her, but she followed her commanding officer up several more flights of stairs until they reached the top of the wall that looked out upon the rest of the planet.
Reena gestured out beyond the wall. "This is why we need you here."
Cora looked out and saw the massive army walking toward them. She spied the snarling Lychos and the various tribes of their enemies banging their drums. She'd never seen an army that large.
Cora put her hand to her temple. "That must be every last dark soul on the planet."
She nodded. "We've had a few days to prepare, thanks to our little spy, Vella."
Cora recalled the little girl from when she and Travis had gone on their rescue mission.
"Reena, you're saying this is the end."
Her commanding officer looked out at the army as it approached. "It's all of them versus all of us. But your duty isn't on the frontline."
Cora heart rate quickened. "I'm not going back to Treasure, am I?"
Reena shook her head. "You may not be able to help Ted anymore, but you can protect the people he loves the most. I want you to keep the refugees of Treasure safe. If the living soul survives the conquest of Earth, we want his family to be able to see it in person."
Cora nodded. "That's a worthy mission."
Reena placed her hand on Cora's back. "I know you care for him. Right now, this is the best way to show it. Now get to your post, Commander."
Cora dragged her tired legs away, heading straight for the impromptu refugee village within the city walls.
She clenched her fists as she slipped between the soldiers headed in the opposite direction.
Don't worry, Ted. I'm not going to let those bastards near your parents.
28
Ted felt numb as he and Riu walked side-by-side through the ship. No matter which prisoner they spoke with in whichever compartment they traveled to, all had been absolutely transformed by Riu’s show of power. Those who had died during the battle were lost in them forever, but all of the members of the crew who had been changed by the dark soul version of Jennifer had been brought back to life.
Ted brought each of the confused prisoners before Natalie and Agent Harding, who explained exactly what had happened even though Ted couldn’t be sure how such a miraculous event had taken place.
Riu looked up at the living soul. “I’m sorry about Erica. But in a way, her death brought hundreds of people back to life. And it could bring back thou—“
“Thank you, Riu. I’m just not ready to talk about it quite yet.”
Riu took Ted’s hand. “I’m sorry, but you have to be ready.”
Ted stopped in his tracks. A part of him wanted to slap the boy for pouring salt into his wound. But he knew that wouldn’t save the human race.
Ted bent down to look the powerful boy in the eyes. “You want to put her plan into action.”
Riu stood as tall as his tiny frame would allow. “You saw what happened when I came into contact with Erica’s blood. You may not like it, but we still have her body and her blood at our disposal.”
Ted’s chest tightened like a vice. “You’re right. I don’t like it.”
The living soul attempted to walk away, but Riu locked onto his hand. “I have a theory and it could save the world.”
Ted still felt like curling up into a ball in the corner somewhere, but he knew what his purpose was on this world. He knew his destiny.
Ted took in a slow, deep breath. “What is it?”
“Erica isn’t the only powerful being in this universe whose blood could enhance my powers. If just touching you and using the books helps me get stronger, then your blood plus her blood plus something else could be enough to put the entire world back to how it was.”
The living soul shook his head. “I think I know what you’re talking about for the third thing, and it’s too dangerous.”
Riu raised his voice such that it echoed through the small metal corridor. “I need the General’s blood, Ted!”
The words hung in the air for several seconds.
“If I have your blood, Erica’s blood, and the general’s, I think that touching the books will send every dark soul back to where he came from. Maybe my destiny is to die trying to pull this off, but I understand my dreams now. Erica wanted you and me to go to the capital. So let’s go to the damn capital!”
Ted didn’t know how to feel. He was proud of Riu for being willing to sacrifice himself. He had regretted they couldn’t have figured out how to enhance the boy’s powers before the unthinkable happened. He also felt shame at needing the shortest, youngest person on board to convince him to be a hero.
Ted nodded. “Okay. I want you to go to the infirmary and tell the doctor you have my permission to get what you need.”
Riu smiled. “Whoever she is, she is happy that you’re fighting. She is happy that
you’re moving on.”
Ted swallowed hard. “You have two hours to get ready. I’ll meet you on the deck.”
Riu gave him a light pat as he walked away.
Ted tried not to think of spraying the boy with the blood of his dead protector. When the sound came in over the ship’s speakers.
“Ted, we need you in the com room.”
With a combination of jogging and flying, the living soul made it quickly enough to Dhiraj’s side. He could tell that his best friend was struggling with the situation as well. But much like Riu, he was doing what he had to do.
“Princess Leia, for you.”
Ted pushed down his heartache and tried to put a smile on his voice. “Leia. You run into any Ewoks out there?”
Christina didn’t laugh. “I wish we ran into some tiny furries. But instead, we’re looking at the General’s death squad here on the coast. They are sending out the firepower of a dozen nations to take out what’s left of the US settlements.”
Ted sighed. “I would have rather dealt with furries too.” He considered the best possible strategy. “Princess, I can’t come to help."
His sister made a frustrated noise on the other end. “Excuse me?”
Dhiraj gave him a quizzical look.
Ted tried his best to sound like he was speaking with authority. “I can’t come, but I’m sending our entire army to help. Natalie and all.”
Christina’s frustration turned to fieriness. “It’s about damn time.”
Dhiraj pressed the button to mute the mic. “But Ted, what if the planes take out the whole army? We'll be sunk.”
Ted put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “The war is ending today. Whether we win or not.”
Ted couldn’t read the look on his friend’s face as Dhiraj unmuted the microphone.
“Sis, give me a few hours to get things ready. And just in case something happens—"
“Nothing is going to happen—"
“Tell mom and dad—"
Christina coughed deliberately. “Don’t give me a message to take to mom and dad. You're going to live. I’m going to live. And we’re all going to take some crazy road trip when all of this is over. You understand?”
