by Enid Titan
It wasn’t just the crisis on earth that kept her here. The visions of her father tugged at the corners of her psyche. Sometimes she’d dream of them again, she'd dream of the boat, or dream of his hand, or dream of his touch.
After she made love to Cas, Ajax, and Jason, her dreams strengthened. She woke up with the taste of salt on her tongue. Poppy couldn’t leave the planet of telepaths without answers.
“I can already tell you what I’ve decided.”
“Go ahead, darling. If you want to drop out of the Academy, it’s your choice.”
“I don’t. I want to stay. I’m getting close to answers and I can’t leave now.”
“Alright. Suit yourself. I’ll work on finding word of CJ.”
“Do you think he made it?”
“It does no good to speculate, Penelope. CJ’s a resilient lad. Humans, in general, are resilient people. However, we’ve been cursed by our own glut. I don’t know how we’ll make it out alive.”
“At least you and I are safe here.”
“Yes, of course, darling. But here… there are none of our kind. I don’t know if we can stand to be the last.”
Uncle Monty’s words hung heavy in the air for a moment. Then he dusted off his tweed jacket and marched into the kitchen for another cup of tea. The urgency of her task nibbled at the edges of Poppy’s cognizance.
Enjoying tea became impossible without considering her visions, the progress she hadn’t made, and her intentions for the future. It was fair for Uncle Monty to have his doubts, but Poppy couldn’t afford to doubt herself any longer.
If she didn’t figure out what the visions meant or what the Devorans thought she could glean by gazing into their blue flames, the entire trip would be worthless. Her entire life would be worthless, laid to rot at the waste of the human empire.
*
32
Slow Recovery
“Why so glum, Poppy?” Jason whispered into her ear while jabbing her with a pencil.
“Focus on getting the answer to problem six right,” Poppy grumbled.
She’d made it a point to avoid being alone with the three boys. They were a welcome distraction from the pending doom of her planet, but a distraction all the same. With Earth collapsing and CJ possibly dead, Poppy didn't need any more distractions.
«Why so cranky? Are you missing me between your thighs?»
«Stop it, Jason.»
«I would but you’re so upset it’s distracting me. I feel everything that you feel.»
«That’s not possible.»
«We mated, jazad. It’s not just possible. It’s Devoran biology.»
Poppy stared at her math homework in front of her, hoping Jason would get bored with his attempts at psychoanalysis and focus on his work. She couldn't even be bothered to chide him for calling her jazad again, which he'd done to annoy her.
«Not going to work,» Jason intruded again.
Poppy slammed her math book on the table. Everyone in the library flinched. A few of the sophomore and junior girls glared in Poppy’s direction. Her cheeks reddened.
«I don’t want to talk about it here.»
«Fine. Want to meet this weekend at my parents’ flat?»
«No…»
«You’re a horrid liar. You do want to go, you worry about what will happen when you get there.»
«You three only care about one thing.»
«Yes. You.»
Jason touched her thigh under the table. Poppy stiffened rather than recoil and draw more attention to herself.
«Please, Jason…»
«Agree to come or I’ll slip my hand into your trousers.»
«You wouldn’t dare.»
«Don’t test me, jazad.»
«Fine. I’ll come.»
«Good girl.»
A shiver traveled down Poppy’s spine when he said “good girl”. Jason could be convincing and charming when he wanted to be. He finished his math homework and left Poppy alone to finish her studies.
The Academy was far more rigorous than schools on earth where they gave you plentiful breaks and long weekends.
Here, you worked straight through the First Winter until the "summer break", where you spent six months of Devoran summer away from campus. Summer was a stretch, Poppy thought, since summer on Devor boasted temperatures colder than Alaska.
On the weekend night when they’d agreed to meet, Poppy dined in the mess hall with Hecate. Hecate hadn’t been on campus since the incident and Poppy was nervous about meeting up with her. Hecate had never showed up at the temple. Poppy didn't believe Hecate wrote her that note, but Jason warned her not to be too trusting, so Poppy reluctantly agreed to dinner, intent on confronting her roommate.
Hecate showed up to dinner with half of her white hair shaved off — the bottom half — and the top half piled on her head in a braided bun with bangs that framed her flat forehead.
“I sent you a letter? No. I didn’t," Hecate answered when Poppy probed.
“Seriously? It was on my desk, asking me to meet at the temple.”
“I swear to you, Penelope. I never sent you a letter.”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know. I’m getting worried. Whoever attacked you in Vortha set you up. I don’t know anyone who would do that. The fucker who pretended to be me will have another thing coming.”
“It was strange. If it weren’t for Castor, Ajax and Jason, I might have died.”
“Those three?” Hecate responded, her voice dripping with disgust.
“Yes. They were a huge help.”
“I still don’t trust them, Penelope.”
“You don’t think they set up the attack?”
“What happened after they found you?”
Poppy’s cheeks grew hot as she realized that Hecate might be right. The boys might have set her up to make themselves look more like heroes. Getting in her pants afterward might have been the goal all along. Poppy's cheeks flushed. Could she have been so stupid as to fall for a ploy like that? She didn’t want to think they could stoop so low, but couldn’t they?
“They took me downtown and helped me get better. They're fine.”
“Hm.”
Hecate sensed Poppy's reticence but didn’t press the issue.
“What are you doing tonight?”
“Going into Vortha," Poppy said.
“Alone, at night?”
“Yes.”
“You should let me come with you," Hecate insisted.
“No!”
“I only want to help, Penelope. I don’t want anything to happen to you. It’s illegal for Devorans to commit psychic attacks like what happened. If it happens again, you could use a tough tall blue girl at your side.”
“I’ve been getting better this week. Jason’s helping me fight off psychic attacks because of what happened.”
“Hmph.”
“I thought you liked Daphne.”
“I did. Then I found out what she thought of the fact I had a girlfriend.”
“Join the club,” Poppy grumbled.
“It’s different though. You’re alien. On Devor, relationship configurations have never been taboo.”
“What do you mean configurations?”
“It’s the way our biology works. Sometimes you bond to a female, sometimes two females… there was one woman who bonded to seven males at once.”
“There’s nothing like that on earth.”
Hecate shrugged.
“Daphne’s beyond old-fashioned. She sounds verkit.”
“What’s that?”
“It didn’t translate? Hm… it’s an old Devoran myth of some kind of… cult of sorts. It’s hard to explain. It's like telepathy... but darker. From what I know, all of those people died out long ago. It’s impossible to go forward if you don’t believe in breeding of any kind. Our people learned that well enough,” Hecate said.
Poppy nodded along. She learned something new about Devorans everyday. How had these people welcomed her here knowi
ng she would be this ignorant to their culture?
“Seriously, Poppy. If you’re going out alone tonight, be careful. And be careful with those boys.”
Daphne entered the dining hall dripping in sweat, with her Devoran martial arts uniform clinging to her frame. Her tousled hair flowed down to the middle of her back with strands yanked out of her braid.
She grabbed a kelp muffin and sidled up next to Hecate and Poppy with a smile on her face.
“Hello, roommates.”
Poppy’s stomach turned in an instant. Hecate smiled.
“Hello, care to join us?”
Poppy glared at Hecate and shrugged. If Daphne noticed her hesitation, she didn’t comment on it.
“Sure thing.”
“I was just leaving,” Poppy mumbled. She grabbed her things and hurried off. She needed to suit up more before walking down to the capital alone.
Hecate was right. She wasn’t necessarily safe on Devor. She had to be careful.
33
Saving Earth
Jason pressed his hands to Poppy’s skull and put the directions in her head. Once she added another layer beneath her cloak and laced up her thigh-high boots, she readied herself for the walk through heavy snow.
They’d meet her there, Jason promised. On the way to the flat, as she struggled through the high snow, Poppy wondered to herself if she’d lost her mind. Here she was trekking through the snow to meet three crazy Devoran males on the off chance they could help her.
So far, every time she kissed them, something cracked inside her. Once Poppy took her distance, whatever had been about to break open was covered up again and hardened over.
She always pulled away when she got close. There was something beneath the surface, she was sure of it, but just not sure what to do about it.
Poppy had never seen Jason’s parents place from this perspective before. The previous times she’d entered the modest flat, she’d been forced. Now, as she approached the white walls with large thick panes of Devoran ice-glass, the impressiveness of the structure stuck out in her mind.
Rich. Jason had to have been rich — a feat on a planet that more or less claimed to have eliminated both class and poverty.
«Come on in, Penelope.»
They knew she stood outside before she even pressed her hand to the door. Poppy pushed it open and removed her boots. Jason came round the hallway dressed down in a white tunic and white linen pants. The house was still too cold for Poppy to stand without her outdoor clothes.
“Welcome. I didn’t think you’d come.”
“I knew she would,” Ajax interjected.
“I did too,” Castor added.
The three of them blocked Poppy in the hallway from moving deeper into the house. She felt suddenly self-conscious about her clothes, her black hair which stuck to her face from her struggle against the snow, and the black choker necklace she’d tied around her neck.
Would they think she was trying too hard? Or not trying enough? They all looked… amazing. They hung around in loose linens with their broad blue muscles bursting out of even the loosest linens.
“We finally figured out what’s been going on with you this week,” Ajax announced proudly.
“We were supposed to wait and tell her together you imbecile,” Castor grumbled.
“We might as well tell her now.”
They spoke as if they were in constant sync with each other’s thoughts.
“Your bad mood has been hell to deal with, I might add,” Castor grumbled.
“Sorry.”
“Yeah. I bet you are. I nearly upended Hector’s table in the library the other night because of one of your moods.”
“My moods?”
“Yes. We explained to you that what you feel, we feel,” Jason added impatiently.
Poppy thought he’d been exaggerating. Judging by the haggard expression on all three boys' faces, expressions that matched her own, they were not exaggerating. Not one bit.
“It took a lot of research,” Ajax said, “But we did sort it. Your home planet. The crisis has worsened.”
“How did you find that out?” Poppy folded her arms stubbornly, a bit upset that this entire conversation unfolded in a hallway in the first place.
“Let’s sit first, jazad.”
Poppy followed them to the living room and sat in an armchair. She didn’t want to risk sandwiching herself between the boys, lest they get the wrong idea about why she’d come.
She’d come to get help from them, not for another weird encounter.
“So. Why did you want me to come down here?”
“There’s no need to be so resistant, Penelope,” Castor mused, “We are already mated, whether you like it or not.”
Penelope wasn’t sure whether she liked it. They were all acting weird and suspiciously friendly.
“Whatever.”
Castor winked and Poppy avoided his gaze after that. Jason took control and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his white tunic.
“You should attempt to move the rings again and to have another vision at the temple.”
“That’s your plan?”
“Whether you’re aware of it or not, you have had a profound influence on all of us telepathically since we mated. You’re getting better at your telepathic exercises. Your next chance won’t be for months. It’s far better to take the chance now.”
“Are we permitted?”
Ajax leaned forward, his curls draping far past his shoulders.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re permitted. If you complete the task, you will have the vision you need to save your planet. You can stop your constant worry. I can stop flipping tables.”
“Maybe then we’ll be able to get some sleep,” Jason added.
The three boys had been losing sleep the same way Penelope had. She bit down on her lower lip, hoping they couldn’t detect how guilty she was. They’d only exploit that weakness if they became aware of it.
“Isn’t the temple guarded?”
“Yes… but I have a feeling we’ll be able to offer some distraction,” Castor finished.
Poppy rolled her eyes.
“We do not overestimate our abilities,” Jason grumbled.
“I’d appreciate it if you stayed out of my head,” Poppy snapped.
“Don’t you think we’d like to, jazad?” Jason snapped back.
“You two stop it,” Ajax snapped, “It’s a good plan. We should do it tomorrow night. Vortha will be empty except for the guards outside the temple and at the wall.”
“What will happen if we get caught?” Penelope asked.
“We won’t get caught,” Castor replied haughtily.
“That’s not what I asked.”
“Do you want to help your planet, or not, jazad?”
Poppy couldn’t argue with that. Sure, she wanted to help the earth, but breaking school rules at the Academy hardly seemed like a good way to do it. The three boys were convinced and they weren’t exaggerating the fact that her testiness, exhaustion, and worry rubbed off on them.
Even Cas, who was typically suave and calm, frittered around the room with agitation every few minutes or so.
“Fine. I'll do it.”
“That’s our girl,” Ajax said.
He walked over to Poppy’s armchair and planted a wet kiss on her lips.
“Ajax!”
“Sorry.”
“Tomorrow night then,” Jason replied, “My sister’s supposed to come down here soon, so we’d better get back to campus.”
Poppy’s heart stopped.
“Daphne? She knows I’m here?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. She doesn’t know about us. And she won’t if we hurry back.”
They all linked hands and teleported to the edge of campus. Daphne slunk out from the hall closet once they’d gone. They’d come close to finding her, but as usual, her brother had been too wrapped up in his world to notice her.
Good. She'd been hiding for hours, listening in and
considering her options.
34
Breaking & Entering
Poppy hated Vortha at night ever since the attack. The three boys at her side only made her feel marginally safer. What could they do if some twisted alien decided to crawl into her head? Jason might have been convinced she possessed the strength to move the rings into the fires of Vortha, but Poppy wasn’t sure.
Castor pressed his hand to her shoulder.
“Your anxieties are far too loud, Penelope.”
“Sorry. There seems to be a guard up there, at the top of the steps,” Penelope whispered.
At night, in the silent city, her voice traveled further than she intended. Luckily, the guard didn’t hear.
“Yes. I know her.”
“You do?” Castor and Jason whispered to Ajax.
He nodded.
«She’s a cousin. I didn't know she had this assignment. I can distract her and get you past her.»
«Are you sure this is a good idea?» Poppy asked one last time, giving the boys a chance to turn back.
As she neared the blue the flames, even standing outside the temple, Poppy rumbled with fear that she was being watched. The three boys didn't take her fears seriously. Poppy's nerves couldn't rest.
Breaking into a holy temple on an alien planet sounded like the first ingredient in a recipe for trouble.
Ajax left the group and approached his cousin.
«Go ‘round the back. She’s the only guard posted.»
The three heard the message. Castor led the way. Poppy followed him and Jason trailed behind her. As Poppy drew closer to the back entrance, a nagging feeling told her to turn back. She looked over her shoulder but Jason shook his head.
«Too late, jazad.»
These idiots would get her into trouble sooner or later. Castor nudged the giant doors to the temple open allowing a crack of light to spill onto the hard floors. The light from the Devoran moons was the only light aside from the fires which burned blue and hot in the center of the room as always. The fires hadn’t extinguished in over ten thousand years, according to Jason.
