by Zara Zenia
I needed to observe and digest her facial expressions and regulate whether her eyes exposed any lies. She had the secrets. Now was the time to give them up. Finally, I made my way to her cell and stood in front of it.
The first thing I noticed about Katie was the fact that she had tucked her tiny little body into a ball and she sat in the corner with her head down. Her arms and the side of her face were caked with dried dirt. I cleared my throat to alert her of my entrance.
She gasped and sharply went into a standing position, trembling on the side of the wall. She cowered under my presence, just as I anticipated.
“What do you want?” She brushed some dirt that had collected on her face off her cheek and sniffed with defensiveness.
“I am here to talk to you,” I told her. “I just want to have a civilized conversation, if you will agree to participate.” I only wanted to bring out the claws if she gave me a hard time.
“Okay,” she said warily and crossed her arms protectively over her chest as if she didn’t believe me.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I reassured her. “I just want answers.”
“I don’t have the kind you want.” She shook her head and flicked her eyes to the ground as if she was filled with sorrow that reached to oblivion.
“I think you have exactly what I’m looking for in that head of yours.” I lowered my voice and furrowed my brow, glancing at her with a knowing expression. I leaned in against the bars of her cell door.
“I just want to get out of here.” Her voice was desperate and hopeless at the same time as it cracked, giving a glimpse of her state of mind. She was breaking already. This would be a piece of cake.
“Are you willing to tell me what I want to hear?” I raised an eyebrow at her and reached the lantern through the cell bars so that I could gauge her expression with more aptitude.
“Yes.” She adamantly nodded her head and wiped a single tear that had escaped her eye and trickled softly down her cheek. She sniffed again, and her lower lip quivered.
I decided to cut to the chase and start the interrogation with a bang. “Do you know where Chad is?” I asked the one blatant question that she knew would be coming.
I didn’t really expect her to give me a promising answer, but I had to take a stab at it nonetheless. Who knew? Maybe she’d surprise me.
“I don’t know.” She whispered in fear as she trembled. I could tell that she was mentally torn between the boundaries of gaining her freedom and betraying her boyfriend.
I could tell that she was communicating the truth. Her eyes spoke volumes. She had no clue where he had run off to. He’d left her here to rot. I’m sure that was part of the reason she was now willing to help me as the harsh reality began to sink in.
“Are you sure?” I said softly and guardedly.
“Yes, I have no idea. He probably left me here for dead and went back to Earth.”
Her voice sounded heartbroken. For a few moments, I actually pitied her. She was all alone and betrayed by someone who was supposed to love her. She had her own set of problems.
“He can’t get off the planet,” I advised her. “He would be shot down by my police and Interstellar Protection Agency before he even took off.” I hoped this reassured her. The empathy that radiated from Georgia was beginning to rub off on me too.
Katie peered up at me with her huge, wide blue eyes, studying me reflectively. It was if she was trying to wager whether I was bluffing or luring her into a trap.
“Do you think he is dead?” she croaked. She looked petrified of finding out the answer.
I shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea.” If he was dead, he hadn’t been found yet, or else his body would have been brought back here to me. I kept that tidbit of information to myself.
“Oh.” She sagged her shoulders and glanced at the ground again. She sounded depleted, disappointed, and shell-shocked.
“You don’t have any idea where he could be hiding based on the personality traits you know about him?” I studied her hard.
I clung to the hope that she could at least mollify me with a clue or a step in the right direction. Katie seemed like a smart enough girl. She needed to dig into the depths of her psyche to try and figure out where he could have run off to.
“No.” Katie cleared her throat. “I’m sorry. I don’t know where he is.” She glanced at the ground and shook her head with shame. She hated being in the dark about Chad’s whereabouts as much as I did.
“Hmm.” I deliberated this snag. There had to be another way.
“What are you going to do if you find him?” Katie’s voice was high and squeaky, fitting her slight size perfectly. I watched as she wrung her trembling hands together.
“That’s none of your concern.” I shifted my weight and peered into the cell at her.
“Tell me what happened here. Explain to me how we got to this point where you were able to trick both Georgia and me into having completely different views about what contract we were signing and getting ourselves into.”
Katie was quiet for a moment. I could tell that she was trying to concoct a perfect answer that would get her out of trouble.
“Katie,” I told her in a domineering tone, “you are not doing yourself any favors by withholding crucial information that I need.” I needed to show this girl tough love.
She sighed with exasperation, at last acting like a person with a shred of dignity.
“Fine,” she groaned and rolled her eyes. She had been beaten. I had won. Almost.
“Start at the beginning,” I ordered with a hint of a bark to my tone.
Katie met my gaze and quickly flicked her eyes away again, but she began to speak, spilling the long-awaited truth that I had been wanting to hear ever since Chad had disappeared.
“We tricked Georgia,” she began and then stalled on her words again.
“That much is obvious.” I crossed my arms patiently and waited.
Katie sighed dramatically, then continued with her explanation. “It was just supposed to be this dumb joke. I had no idea how many lives would be affected by it.” She flicked her eyes at me, but I wasn’t sure if she was believable.
We made eye contact again and for the first time since meeting Katie, I saw a glimmer of remorse in her expression. Maybe she had a conscience, after all.
“Okay,” I said. I took a deep breath and waited for her to continue.
“Anyway,” she continued. “The plan was to tell Georgia that she was going to go to Mixis to become a teacher for children here who needed to learn to speak English.”
“How did you get the application?” I interrogated her with a menacing glare.
“We made it up ourselves. Chad knows a guy who is fluent and was able to help us throw the application together so that it would look relatively legitimate.”
“Well, it fooled Georgia, so I guess you met your mark there,” I told her with a flare of sarcasm.
“Yeah . . .” Katie trailed off and leaned against the wall. “So, Chad worked on the other side, putting out the ad for you to see that showed Georgia’s profile. We made sure that the questions were invasive and personal, especially when it came to physical features.”
“That’s how you kept it from me,” I admitted and leaned back. I was furious.
“Right.” Katie raised her eyes to give me a sheepish glance. “I told Chad that Georgia would catch on, but he said she was too stupid and it would fly right over her head. It turns out, he was right.”
“She’s not stupid,” I roared as my fists instinctively clenched at my sides. “How dare you speak about her that way.” I ground my teeth and took heated breaths. This girl was running on razor-thin ice.
“Sorry,” Katie whispered. She knew she’d crossed the line.
“Georgia is a smarter girl than you, and with a million more times kindness. She was a girl who wanted to see her dreams come true, and she obviously had a hopeful attitude.” I loved coming to her defense.
Katie didn’t resp
ond. She continued to stare at the wall in front of her as if she were a sullen child being reprimanded.
I got a sense of prideful joy coming to Georgia’s defense, and I felt it was overdue to put this minx called Katie in her place. I knew her act was purely done because she had been caught.
“We told Georgia that you were a teacher, so that’s where the confusion in the interview room became really overheated,” Katie confessed.
“Unbelievable,” I mumbled under my breath and shook my head at their sheer audacity to devise a devious plan like this. I knew that Chad was the ringleader, but Katie was less than innocent for agreeing to participate.
“In retrospect, I realize now that it was erroneous and imprudent to go along with Chad’s wishes,” Katie admitted sheepishly. I still didn’t know whether I should trust her.
“I’m glad you are finally admitting the foolishness of your actions,” I told her.
“Chad said it would be really funny if we filmed Georgia’s reaction for our holovid channel.”
“What?” My reaction was erupting into lava. It was a good thing Chad wasn’t there right then, because I would have thrown him right through the stone dungeon walls.
“That was the whole point.” Katie stared at me with irrational horror and dread-filled eyes.
I was furious. I had to even the scales and ensure that justice was served on this maniacal prick named Chad.
Without even saying another word to Katie, I raced back down the hallway from which I came, not even bothering to retrieve my lantern. I didn’t care if she cried and wailed behind me, begging to be released.
My feet splashed through puddles as I thrashed my way back up to the palace grounds. My feet boomed, shaking the ground below me.
I could hear Katie’s screams haunting my eardrums as I scurried away. She begged and pleaded to be released, but after a few moments, her faint cries disappeared completely. I would just have to deal with her later.
For now, nobody was left there to hear her pleading cries of despair. My next intention was to confront Georgia.
There were still so many unanswered questions. Katie made it seem like Georgia was completely innocent in this little chain of events, but I needed to discuss what she knew about her brother.
Adrenaline pumped in my veins, charging me with new irritation. I wasn’t angry at Georgia. No. all of that blame still fell directly on Chad and Katie. They were the real enemy in this situation.
Even if Georgia and Chad were estranged, I knew she could still help me in addressing the root of the problem. I wasn’t going to stand for being made a mockery of on my own planet, and I needed Georgia to disclose her wisdom about her brother’s weak spots. She held the key to finding him.
I halted my jolting run at the foot of the palace steps and paused a few seconds before entering the house inside. I wanted to catch my breath and collect my thoughts before I advanced on Georgia with a new quest. I didn’t want to be hasty and brash. She was on my side, and I had to remind myself of that fact.
I had to make sure I didn’t scare her off, because right now, I needed her more than ever. Together, we would take down our enemies one at a time. Alone, we would crumble into nothing.
Chapter 7
Georgia
I stood on the edge of the terrace, my thoughts swirling with massive numbers of scenarios of what my fate might lead me to, here on Mixis. It wasn’t a good thing. I shouldn’t let my thoughts run away with me. I needed to stay focused so I wouldn’t lead myself into a trap of panic.
The morning dew on the grass and the tree leaves was slowly evaporating under the warming sun, and the day threatened to be hot. I didn’t know what the weather was like on Mixis, but I would soon find out, the more time I spent here.
Was Chad out there somewhere, suffering in the unyielding heat? It was only a matter of time before that clever asshole made a mistake. When he did, I’d be ready.
Startled, I spun around when I heard a noise behind me. There was no telling who might be approaching me. I could only pray that it wasn’t Chad coming back for more torture and taunting. At the same time, I kind of wanted it to be him so we could get this over with. I’d immediately prepare myself to scream for Kylin’s guards.
“Who’s there?” I called out from the outside, craning my neck to see into the bedroom used by Kylin.
My heart raced, and I swallowed hard as an edgy sweat formed on my skin. I had no idea what to expect out of the creatures here on Mixis, although my previous knowledge of them was to understand that they have a passive nature. I swallowed hard and waited, bracing myself for impact.
I held my breath and waited for the footsteps to end and for the person on the other side of the partially shut door to reveal himself.
“It’s just me.”
I heard his voice before I saw him and recognized it instantly.
Then when he passed through the door, I naturally sighed with relief, although I was still processing the reality of my growing depth of feelings for him. I was relieved to see someone familiar on this strange and daunting planet.
I didn’t know why I trusted him or felt so drawn to him, but something instinctively told me I didn’t have to fear him. He had kind, empathetic eyes.
“Hello.” I leaned against the side of the terrace and smiled at him in friendly greeting.
“Georgia,” he began and edged closer to me. “I need to talk to you, if that’s okay?”
“Sure.” I shrugged, noting how he was respectful enough to address my feelings and request in advance to have a discussion with me. I also became a little unnerved. He seemed frantic and worried about something.
“I have gone down to my dungeon this morning.” His expression was grave.
“You have?” I asked. My interest had peaked by this point. He seemed desperate to confess something to me. The hair on the back of my neck prickled like a pear. “Did you find Chad?” I hoped that he would next say that Chad was in his dungeon, locked safely away.
“No.” He sighed with visible distress and a twinge of frustration.
“Oh.” I glanced at the ground, feeling slightly disappointed. We were back to square one, but Kylin still seemed rattled about something.
“I interrogated Katie.” He met my gaze and our eyes locked briefly.
“You did? Is she still in custody in your dungeon?” I didn’t know whether to be horrified or joyful.
I didn’t know why I held any ounce of compassion or grief for Katie. She wasn’t innocent by any stretch of the imagination. There was still something gnawing at me though. It was obvious that she was daily baited into a manipulation situation with my brother, who no doubt used her for his advantage. She still went along with the plan, though, which to me made her equally as guilty.
“I left her there,” he said flatly, as if he didn’t have any remorse whatsoever about it.
Horrified of hearing his discoveries, I stalled in questioning him further, so he took the liberty of pressing forward with his explanation on his own. I felt like I was too in shock to speak words anyway.
“Katie did not want to talk to me at first,” Kylin began. “After some threats, she agreed to come clean with the whole truth.”
“Okay,” I said, treading the waters lightly. I was eager to find out what she had told him.
“She confessed and came clean about being an active party to this situation, this little prank.”
Kylin’s voice lashed with bitter resentment. “She told me that the plan hashed out by Chad was to get you to believe that you were coming to work for me in Mixis and be my teacher.”
“Right,” I said, knowing that much to be true. I nodded my head in understanding.
“In turn, they led me to believe with your application that it was really your agreement to enter into a contract to become my wife.” I hated to hear the harsh reality as it came crashing down upon my shoulders.
My vision blurred and the knot in my stomach turned to a solid, heavy rock of disgust
. I shook my head with disbelief even though I knew this was no nightmare I was going to have the luxury of waking up from.
“How could my brother do this to me?” I whispered softly as fresh tears burned in my eyes. I was feeling the worst kind of betrayal imaginable.
I raised him after our parents died. I had done the best I could at the time and had loved him unconditionally. My efforts had been in vain. He was a sociopath and cared for no one but himself. It soured my soul to realize that in fact, he’d cared so little about my feelings. The effort I put into making sure he had a safe, warm, and hospitable environment to live in came back to haunt me and slap me in the face.
His total disregard for another person’s emotional state was nothing but sickening. “He’s a sociopath,” I stated bluntly. I kept hearing the word screaming through my brain.
“I’m so sorry.” Kylin touched my shoulder with cautious, yet fond affection. I could tell that he was genuinely apologetic for everything I’d been through with my brother.
“It’s not your fault.” I shook my head, discovering that Kylin was every bit of a victim as I was in this nasty situation. The only difference was, he was apparently taking it better than I was.
On the other hand, I knew I had my own confessions to make to Kylin. No matter how tough they would be to account for, I had to be honest.
I was beginning to care for him, and I was undoubtedly attracted to him, although admitting it was harder than I imagined. I felt embarrassed or something. I didn’t want Chad to win.
“I think I should tell you something.” I glanced up at him with sheepish, large eyes.
I wrung my hands together and fidgeted with anxiety. I took a nervous deep breath. I had to come clean now. I’d already opened the door for communication.
“Okay,” Kylin said and looked perplexed but interested.
“This is, um . . . difficult to say,” I began, but then I trailed off, losing steam and crushing my nerve.
“Go on.” Kylin took my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “You can be honest with me about anything.”
