First Dimension

by Rebecca Royce

  “Bet that hurt, Hawky-boy.” It was the triumphant tone in the giant’s voice that made Hawk furious. Managing to pull his arm free, he elbowed Prize in the direct center of his neck. Prize made a choking sound and rolled away.

  Hawk jumped to his feet and scanned the deck, keeping one hand on his aching rib. Without looking, he shook his head, letting Jeremiah, who he spotted five feet to the right, know not to interfere. There was no way Prize was there alone. The man was strong, but dumb, and he couldn’t have located their vessel by himself. That meant someone else watched.

  Inside his body, his ribs began to knit together and he wanted desperately to bend over to relieve the pain. They’d be healed in moments, but they would hurt for days. He continued to scan the sky and wasn’t surprised when a large ball of flames appeared before him. It had been years since he’d last seen Wander but you didn’t forget something that disturbing. Hawk took a step back. He needed to handle this just right or they’d all get blown up, which would hurt tremendously, and then Hadley would be gone.

  Wander continued to float in the air in front of Hawk, not yet taking form. “I thought you guys said you were the good guys.” He’d always lisped his ‘s’ sound, which gave him the sound of a talking snake. It was a strange image, even for Hawk—a giant ball of fire that sounded like a talking snake.

  “Good and evil are relative terms, as you know. We are still monumentally better than you.” Hawk ignored the sick feeling in his stomach. They’d made their decision to take Hadley, which meant they had to live with it.

  “Good guys don’t steal women from their families.”

  This was true and Hawk couldn’t deny it. “Then maybe we’re not the good guys anymore. No one is. But I’m still putting an end to it. You can tell Pettigrew that. After all of these years, it ends. I have his capabilities now. So he can give the Princess back to me or he can watch person after person that he cares about go through what Hadley is about to endure. I don’t care how many it takes. The Princess comes back and we leave.”

  Wander’s fire image dissipated, leaving in its place the human form he often took. Dark haired and blue eyed, the women found him irresistible until they literally got burned. “I don’t know why you fight so hard to have her back. She’s not at all the same as you remember her. Not even a little bit.”

  “She can return. It’s been too long under your care. If we get her home, it will change.”

  “Nonsense.” Wander lifted bored eyes to the sky. “I’m not going to fight you, Hawk. We couldn’t win, not Prize and me by ourselves, not without risking her, and Pettigrew was clear—Hadley comes home. Seems the H girls are rather special to him. Must be something to do with them being twins. Fates now E, F, and G didn’t fare so well.” He shrugged his shoulders as Hawk forced the images of Emily, Fiona, and Grace from his mind. He couldn’t allow himself to think of them, it was fruitless.

  “If you feel that way then why not join with us, Wander? We would welcome you, as you well know.”

  He shook his head. “No, Hawk. I made my bed long ago as did you, even though you can’t yet see it.”

  Hawk’s temper flared. “That’s not true and it’s a lousy excuse.”

  “But Pettigrew did want me to express my seriousness. We will be watching you. We will get her back and there will be consequences if I don’t take her now.”

  “Ha. I wouldn’t trust her with you and Prize for a short second.”

  Wander raised an eyebrow. “Just moments ago you offered me friendship.”

  This was getting ridiculous. “Consider it a onetime deal for old time’s sake. It won’t happen again.”

  “Well, then this is a token of my esteem.”

  Too late Hawk realized what was happening. Flames engulfed his body and he fell to the deck roaring with agony. How long? How long would the burning take? This was the one and only maneuver Pettigrew’s soldiers knew to completely incapacitate him. And dammit, he’d given Wander the opening he’d needed to execute it.

  Off in the distance corner of his mind, he heard a female scream. Damn. Had Wander gotten to Hadley? The light in front of his eyes dimmed and he felt nothing but extreme peace.

  He loved this essence of nothingness, not a sound, not a word, not a deed could interfere in the sheer peace he felt in this moment. Unshed tears came to his eyes. He could see it. In front of him, the home he’d foolishly left so long ago. The quiet red sky atop blue oceans, his sister’s laughing voice, and the peace that came with service to the king filled him with pleasure inside.

  *

  His eyes flew open to the vast blue green of the ocean in front of him. It was the wrong tint. He wasn’t back home. Sitting up, he examined the deck. The sky was in the beginning stages of turning pink as the sun fought the moon for control of the horizon. His back ached and his skin stung like a thousand bees assaulted it.

  Recovering from burning up was always one of the longest ordeals. The deck was empty of people, not a surprise. His men knew to leave him alone while he recovered, as he knew to do the same for them. Well meaning ministrations only reminded him of how alone in this world he truly was.

  Someday he would go back through the veil with the Princess permanently and be among his own people, in his own dimension. He would never have to live in this sick, twisted version that the people here called reality.

  His thoughts flew to Hadley. Had she been the female voice he’d heard scream in the distance? Had Wander and Prize taken her? Ignoring his pain, he leapt to his feet in search of some answers. Gripping the handle of the banister of the stairs, he limped down into the galley of the ship. His men sat, grim faced, each one looking more tired than the next.

  “Hawk.” Stone jumped to his feet first, his grin genuine. Hawk reached out to squeeze his shoulder. At some point they would all have to stop thinking of Stone as the kid in the group. He had reached maturity a long time ago and deserved to be treated as an equal.

  Hawk turned his attention to Jeremiah. “Status on Hadley.”

  “She ran up top while you were fighting. I didn’t notice until it was too late. I take full responsibility for that.” With a wave of his hand, Hawk dismissed his apology. Other than physically restraining the woman, something he knew Jeremiah mentally incapable of, there was nothing the other man could have done.

  “So Wander got her?” He closed his eyes. All the planning and the time and it was all for naught.

  Jeremiah cleared his throat. “No, my prince. She saw you burn up by Wander’s hand, screamed, tried to rush to you, Gideon restrained her, she then saw you start to regenerate, and fainted right down to the deck.”

  Hawk’s eyes flew open. “So she’s still here?”

  Nodding, Jeremiah grinned. “Out cold in her quarters but still here.”

  “And she’s a fainter.” This didn’t surprise Hawk in the least. Tomorrow, they’d use her to find what they needed and retrieve the Princess. If she wanted to be unconscious for the whole thing, so much the better.

  Chapter Three

  Hadley pressed her face up against the cool glass of the Giant Squid exhibit at the Mote Aquarium in Sarasota, her favorite place to think. The red skin of the giant creature glowed in the dark light of the tank. Hadley knew it couldn’t really see her; the tank had been designed that way. As far as the creature was concerned, all around it was the pitch-blackness of the deepest parts of the ocean.

  So why did it look like it could see her? Hadley fanned at her shirt; she was drenched with sweat and not sure how she had gotten soaked or so hot in the first place.

  Why are you so upset? What do you think will happen?

  Hadley jumped backwards, nearly stumbling over her own feet before catching herself, and peered around. No one, not another soul, was anywhere in the vicinity. Who had just said that?

  I did. The squid waved its left front tentacle at her.

  Hadley gasped. Dear heaven, the sea creature spoke to her. It was impossible, it shouldn’t even be able to see her
through the one-way glass and yet it had addressed her, twice.

  Are you under the impression you’re awake?

  Blinking rapidly, Hadley couldn’t stop the giggle that formed in her throat. Of course. It made perfect sense. She was having another incredibly vivid dream. None of this was real. No one had ever managed to capture a Giant Squid and have it live. The Mote had a dead white one on display, the one the Japanese scientists hadn’t been able to keep alive, but not a live red one. Besides, when had she ever been to the Sarasota Aquarium and seen it this empty? Someone would be walking around, children would be screaming and grandparents would be looking at their watches.

  “Phew.”

  She waited a beat and looked around again. Usually, this was where she woke up. Knowing that she dreamt always made the dream itself go away. Except nothing seemed to happen this time.

  I thought you would be comfortable here, as opposed to visiting with me at the bottom of the ocean. I assure you, I find nothing about these surroundings particularly comfortable.

  She shook her head. “I could see how this sort of arrangement might be a problem for you. I never thought you should be caged. There’s always been something so remote, so otherworldly about your kind. We don’t see you very often, most of the time we can’t get a shot of you on our very high tech cameras and when we do catch a giant squid on a deep fishing line or net, you’re dead by the time we pull you up.”

  Even though she was now perfectly cognizant of the fact that she was not really conversing with a creature of the sea, it seemed a natural thing to do under the circumstances.

  I know you feel this way, which is why I am speaking with you now.

  Hadley nodded as if she discussed these matters with a giant red squid all of the time.

  So I will ask you again, why are you upset? What do you think will happen?

  “I don’t know, truly. I can’t seem to make sense of anything right now. First, I’m kidnapped by an incredibly handsome man, who says I’ll live, but I’ll experience pain, and the next thing I know he’s engulfed in flames and regenerating before my eyes. I’m not sure how any of this is happening.”

  Hawk is a complicated creature. His nature is always in conflict with itself, but we do not believe he will actually hurt you.

  Hadley stumbled to the brown bench behind her and sat down. “Who are we?”

  The squids.

  “Of course, the squids, obviously. Is it all the squids or just the giant ones?”

  Are you trying to be obtuse?

  “I never try to be obtuse. It just seems that my mind doesn’t work like everyone else’s.”

  There’s a good reason for that, but I am not going to get into it right now.

  Hadley huffed. It was bad when you couldn’t even get your own dreams to cooperate with you. “Then what would you like to talk about?”

  He’s coming, Hadley, we’ll talk again.

  *

  Hadley’s eyes flew open and she stared unseeing for a moment into the darkness of the cabin. It wasn’t the same room she’d slept in earlier. The bed felt significantly more comfortable, due in a large part, she quickly decided, to the fact that the mattress had fewer lumps. Her neck felt less stiff, which she quickly credited to the comfortable pillow beneath her head.

  But her physical comfort did nothing to relieve the mental fear building in her mind. The last thing she remembered was fainting on the deck. Where the hell was she now?

  “I moved you to my cabin … well the cabin I’ve been using since you were technically in mine.”

  Hadley squealed and pushed herself back against the headboard of the bed. Recognizing it was Hawk’s voice did not make her feel better. She’d watched the man regenerate from nothing more than dust on the ship’s deck.

  “Please don’t screech. My head hurts enough as it.”

  Hawk stepped forward out of the back of the cabin towards the window that provided a little light. He looked exactly as he’d looked when she first met him, not at all like the charred marshmallow he’d become on the deck. As frightened as she was, she had to admit, he was the sexiest man she’d ever encountered.

  If that’s what he was—a man.

  She swallowed. “What are you?”

  He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I had hoped not to have to explain it to you until after it was over.”

  “Look, I know I’m a prisoner here and you have plans that involve causing me pain, but I think I have a right to know. Whatever else you might deny me; don’t you have the decency to at least allow me that?”

  Hawk whirled around so his back was to her and stormed to the wall. He pressed his fist against the wall as if he wished he could pound on it. “You have no idea, no concept of what has been done to me. I have taken care of your family for eons and now I have been left with no choice but to do something that will cause you pain.”

  The muscles on his back bulged with tension and she knew they must be causing him discomfort. She shook her head. They were discussing his causing her pain, and she was thinking about his back? What the hell was wrong with her?

  She cleared her throat. “Hawk, if you expect me to care about something you’ve been doing for, quote, eons, unquote, for my family, think again. If you don’t want to cause me pain, don’t cause it. Seems simple to me.”

  “Does it now?” When he turned around his green eyes blazed with red fire. She sucked in her breath, but he either didn’t care about her fear or he liked it as he advanced towards her bed. “Nothing is simple, Hadley Pettigrew. If you only understood just how complicated life actually was, you wouldn’t sleep at night.”

  She stood up, her stance rigid. As far as she was concerned, the intimidation stopped now. “You talk in riddles, all clues and insinuations but nothing concrete. Then I come on deck and find you burning to death only you don’t die, you regenerate and no one seems to be the least bit concerned about it, which makes me think that probably your entire crew can do the same thing. So what is it?” She stepped forward and poked a finger in his shoulder. “Huh? Are you some sort of genetically modified people who can’t die?”

  “I’ve been changed, but it wasn’t through science.” He turned his back on her again and she threw the pillow from the bed right at him. It wasn’t okay for him to just turn his back every time he didn’t want to discuss something.

  Hawk spun around, an eyebrow raised and an amused look gleamed from his eyes. At least she knew he wasn’t going to overreact to things like soft pillows hitting him from behind.

  “That will teach me, I suppose, to turn my back on a Pettigrew.”

  “Why do you say my last name like that? What could my father have done to you?”

  He nodded. “All right Hadley, I’ll tell you the story and if you don’t believe me I suppose it’s your own doom.”

  “Start with why you can’t die.”

  He crossed the room and sat down on a large chair. She could barely make out his face in the darkness, which she supposed had been the point of his placing distance between them. “I can die, just not here.”

  Standing with her hands on her hips didn’t seem very natural when she wasn’t in the middle of a confrontation with him. She sat on the bed, feeling insecure now that he wasn’t near her. “Just not here on this boat?”

  Looking around, Hadley didn’t see anything different about the vessel. Maybe the whole thing was enclosed in some kind of electro-magnetic casing that altered the makeup of everyone on it. She gulped. What would that mean for her?

  “In this dimension, this plane of existence, if you like.”

  Hadley’s ears rang. “I was really hoping, like you can’t believe, there was a scientific answer to this.”

  “Ha. I know that, Dr. Pettigrew, I’m sorry to disappoint.” His amusement at her distress pricked her temper again, causing her head stop spinning and her anger to flare instead.

  “Okay, for now I’m going to buy this dimension stuff. It’s not my field of expertise. I study fish
and marine life. So who am I to say that there aren’t hundreds of other dimensions out there with people living in them?”

  “Thousands that we can visit. More than that, if you count the ones the people from my dimension still aren’t sure how to get to. It’s all about multiples of twelve’s. Twelve dimensions with twelve dimensions within each of them and twelve and so on and so forth.”

  She nodded. “Fine, thousands of dimensions and you’re now in this one, unable to die, with a vengeful plot against my father.”

  “When you say it like that, it almost sounds simple.”

  “I find that most things are when you get right down to the core of them.”

  Rising, he moved toward the bed where she sat and placed himself next to her. She wasn’t sure what had prompted his move but the sudden warmth of his body next to hers made her want to gasp. Different dimension or not, Hawk’s presence did strange things to her libido.

  He reached out to caress her hair and she felt sweat form on her neck. “It’s the details that make things interesting and they’re never simple. Like your hair, for example.”

  Heat rose in her cheeks. Why did he have to bring up her hair? She’d always hated everything regarding her hair. “What about it?”

  “It would be simple to say your hair is red. It is. If I wanted to simplify and describe it in one sentence I would say ‘Hadley Pettigrew has red hair.’ That is a true statement. But it doesn’t do it justice. More accurate would be for me to say something like ‘Hadley Pettigrew has the softest reddish-gold hair ever to grace the planet Earth in this dimension or any other.’ I could describe the way it curls on the ends, giving it the impression that it is always coiffed for a party or social event, even when she’s been abducted from her family.”

  As he spoke, Hadley stared deeply into his eyes. Gone was the fire she saw earlier. Instead, she swam in their green depths and allowed herself to pretend for one moment that he really meant it when he saw her hair as red and gold and not actually as the color equivalent of spaghetti sauce. She made believe that he didn’t say exactly what she wanted to hear because he manipulated her for reasons she had yet to understand. For exactly ten seconds, she decided, it was okay to imagine she was the kind of woman for whom he would really mean the things he said.