by P. Anastasia
“I’m fine, thanks.” I folded my arms to hide the distracting injury from view. I’d survived many fights without Brian’s healing touch. “So, does anyone have something else I can wear? This is not exactly incognito swagger.”
“Orange isn’t your color, either.” Brian grinned, trying to make me smile. “Jane still has some of my stuff down in the basement,” he said. “Think any of it will fit you?”
A few inches taller and slightly more built than Brian, I probably couldn’t wear his clothes. If they were my only option for now, I’d take a shot at seeing if they fit. Luckily, Brian was in damn good shape for a guy his age. There was a chance they’d work out well enough.
There was something unnerving about popping out of the basement wearing Brian’s clothes. A belt helped adjust the fit of the pants, and the shirt—although more snug than I’d prefer—was alright for the time being. The sleeves of one of his hoodies were too short, as were the pants, but at least I had a pair of shoes that fit. Albeit, plain white jail sneakers.
Alice cocked an eyebrow at me. “That’s so weird,” she said. “I’ve actually seen Brian wear that exact set before.”
“Sorry.” I shrugged. “It’s weird for me, too. Don’t normally go around wearing other dudes’ clothes.”
I glanced at Kareena. She was leaning against the wall on the other side of the room, arms crossed.
“Judas.” I sat on the edge of the coffee table in the living room. “Since everything’s going to shit right now and you’re stuck here with us, I want to ask you something. Assuming the others haven’t already.”
“Yes?”
“What is fluorescence? The way you explained it to me initially, I thought of it like it was living inside us—like a virus or parasite.”
“Fluorescence is not parasitic in any way. It is energy,” he replied.
“Like the soul,” Kareena said, pushing up from the wall. “The Prism said it was like the soul. That the energy is a life force.”
“We were once part of the Prism,” Judas said.
Everyone’s eyes were on him.
“The Prism are made of all variations of color. We are made of one. As are each of you, aside from the child. We parted from their kind centuries ago, evolving to host only one variation. In order to do this, we had to forgo the spectral form and succumb to a physical one.”
“So, if each of you are one single color and the Prism are all… doesn’t that mean Solus is closer, biologically, to the Prism than you?”
“That is why we need him back,” Judas said. “Blue fluorescence is the rarest of them all. It is both the most difficult to cultivate and the most tedious to bind to a host.”
“That’s why it had to be our child,” Alice said.
“Yes. But because fluorescence is energy, it is volatile and can be transferred between individual carriers. This is why you cannot be with others.” He looked at Kareena. “Your light cannot blend with the energy of others or it will corrupt the strain.”
“Well, it’s too late for that.” She scowled. “I’m still here, so it can’t be that bad.”
“Your simple human mind cannot understand the consequences of this complex process,” Judas replied, almost sneering. That surprised me. Then he twitched again and the expression went straight.
Another death? How many were left?
“We did not know it was possible with your technology, but the Seeker and I witnessed the crude piece of equipment utilized against you earlier. It disrupted your fluorescence.”
“You didn’t know this could happen?” Brian asked.
“We were unaware primitive technology could interrupt the fluorescent bond.”
“What about the portals?” I looked at Brian. “Do you—”
“I declined. I didn’t want Judas messing with what the Prism gave me.”
“And you?” I looked at Kareena.
She pulled her wrist in close to her chest and shook her head.
“Come on, guys! This thing saved my ass! We may need portals later on when things get… worse.”
“I don’t want it,” Brian said, gruffly. “I don’t want anything from them, especially not their help—if that’s what he wants to pretend it is. We’ve been screwed over enough by the Saviors already.”
“But it worked, Brian.” I stood. “Well… it did work.” I lifted my wrist and showed the line of burnt skin to the others. “Mine shorted out when I tried to use it in jail. The fluorescence went haywire and did this.”
“A malfunction?” Judas came closer. He lifted my wrist and rotated it slowly, staring at what was only a wisp of white smoke to me. “This should not have been possible. How did this happen?” Judas looked me in the eye.
“I don’t know. Maybe it was the shock from the taser that did it. You saw what it did to me, Kareena. It took me down fast.”
“It did,” she said in agreement.
“But for your light to attack you… that is not typical behavior.” Judas turned my hand over and prodded at the bracelet I could barely see. “I will attempt to repair it,” he said, dropping my hand so he could reach into his sleeve compartment for his tools.
. . .
The first ten minutes of the evening newscast was a report on the death toll from the Ghost Plague and how it was spreading across North America like wildfire. Cases were popping up in other countries, too, and scientists were baffled by the lack of comparable symptoms. The second report was about me—and how I had disappeared from the county corrections facility. They mentioned one of the guards had been relieved of duty after a sudden onset of hysteria.
Who wouldn’t be hysterical after seeing all of that crazy shit? On top of whatever Solus showed him.
“Can I… talk to you?” It was Kareena. She’d lightly crept down the basement stairs into the guest room and was hanging back on the last step, leaning on the railing. Lucy was upstairs with Solus and the others.
I got up from the bed.
“Uh, yeah,” I replied, though I wasn’t thrilled to see her. I wanted to be left alone, which is why they let me rest in the basement to begin with. “Shouldn’t you be up there keeping an eye on Judas?”
“Solus can see him just fine. I came down to check on you. Are you… okay?” she asked, chewing her lip as she cautiously approached.
“I don’t know if okay works in this situation, but I’m alive and Lucy’s safe so…”
“You’ve been a little, um, different since you got back. What happened to you in there? In jail?” She closed some distance between us.
“I think I need some time to myself, Kareena.”
Those damn bewitching green eyes of hers were drawing me in already.
“I need… to get my mind off other things so I can focus on what matters. I need to clear my head.”
She took another step closer until we were only inches apart, her heat making me tense. “I can help with that, you know?” she whispered as her hands came up to my chest. Her warm, golden skin reflected the diffused light of the nearby lamp.
I tried to reply, but nothing came out and my mouth hung open.
“I can get your mind off everything else,” she said, a coy smile curling her auburn lips. Fingers slid beneath the hem of my tight-fitting shirt and fingernails crawled up my side. I tried swallowing but couldn’t. A lump in my throat. Yellow light started up in my chest, burning and flickering—making her shadow dance upon the wall beside us. Heartbeat racing. I could barely breathe.
“You know, I can make you forget about it all, even if only for a few minutes.” She backed me up against the wall and pressed her nails into my skin as she leaned closer, electrifying me even as I wanted to hate her for it.
I wanted her, but… I wanted what Brian and Alice had even more. Something stable. Real.
“Say you’ll forgive me, David.” Her wispy words caressed my throat. “I said I was sorry.”
“Kareena…” Every inch of my skin ign
ited from her touch. Everything inside me yearned to cave in—to satiate the incessant thirst I still had for her.
When I was younger, I’d have screwed any girl who’d have me, but today, I had responsibilities. I just—
Pain sparked through me and I recoiled.
“What is it?” She gasped and lunged for me as I slipped away. “What did I do?”
I peeled up my shirt and showed her the swollen, stitched-up wound below my ribs. A splotch of rusty old blood framed it in color.
“Holy shit. Did someone stab you?” She reached a hand toward my face. Fingertips sliding across my jaw line felt nice. The tenderness made our eyes meet again. “David, I’ll ask Brian to heal it for you.”
“No!” I pulled away and scoffed. “No, damn it! I don’t need Brian’s help.” It hurt to move that quickly, but I bit my tongue and sucked it up because I was angry. “I already told him no.”
Brian wasn’t the answer to everything and I wished she could spend one damn second not thinking about him.
Then I remembered… I was even wearing his clothes.
Chapter 26
Platinum metal shimmered in the low light. Stars of bright blue twinkled on and off in a line below his eyes. I locked gazes with Judas and didn’t let him out of my sight while the others slept. Brian and Alice were upstairs in Alice’s bedroom, Solus and Lucy were in the basement with Judas and me, and Kareena was asleep on the couch in the living room.
Maybe I should have let her stay with me because she was in pain, too, knowing her father’s life was in danger. But no amount of sympathy could prepare me for another night beside her.
Sweat beaded on my forehead and I wiped the back of my hand across my brow. My stitches ached. Sitting hunched over on the edge of the bed aggravated the wound. I never did get that tetanus shot the doctor recommended. I didn’t know shit about that kind of stuff. I just wanted to live—to be a good father for Lucy. Somehow.
“You are in distress,” Judas said, staring at me. He stood near the staircase, refusing to sit because he claimed it was unnatural for him.
“I’m fine.” I looked behind me. Lucy was fast asleep beside Solus, her hand clutching one of his.
“You are in pain, as well,” Judas added. “But your pain is beyond the flesh wound you hide.”
“Thanks to you,” I grumbled through clenched teeth. “I’ve got whatever is killing everyone else. My fluorescence is killing me because of you.”
“Experiments carry risks,” he said flatly. “You are a powerful Tracker, nonetheless.”
“Is there anything I can do about this?” I said, shaking from an onset of chills. “I don’t want to ask the others. I don’t want to ask Brian.”
Judas lurched closer.
“Your wound will soon be infected.” He lifted a hand toward me. “It will take you before your light fades if you do not get help.”
“I don’t want help.” My voice broke.
“But you need it,” he said.
The bed quaked.
“Daddy?” Lucy came up behind me. “Are you okay, Daddy?” She wrapped her arms around my neck and leaned against my back, hugging me. I reached up to grasp her arms and smiled.
“Yeah, baby, I’m fine.”
Judas retreated back to his spot by the wall and looked off at the other side of the room.
“You’re tired. Why don’t you go to bed?” She nuzzled me with her nose.
“Daddy needs to stay awake to make sure Judas doesn’t get into trouble.”
“Oh…” She released me and dropped down into a cross-legged position on the bed. “Solus said the Prism are watching us. That they’re going to protect us from whatever it is that’s making people sick.”
I didn’t even know she knew about the pandemic. I wanted to keep it secret from her.
“Are the Prism coming back?” I asked, scooting over and turning toward Lucy.
“I don’t know,” she replied with a shrug.
There was a gentle tapping on my knee and I jerked my head.
It was Solus.
How the hell?
“You were just sleeping. How did you…” The kid was a ninja. I couldn’t hold back a nervous laugh. “Lucy, could you turn on that light over there, please? What is it, Solus?”
He stared up at me and blinked.
“The child knows you are ill,” Judas announced.
“How?”
“He can sense the corrupted light in you because he carries Healer DNA.”
“Does that mean he can—”
“No. He does not have the ability to stop the corruption from taking you. This is why we must study him further. He can assist you with your other infection, however.”
Solus cupped his hands and lifted them toward me.
“What is it? What do you want me to do?” I asked.
He used one hand to motion that he wanted me to give him mine.
I put out my hand and he carefully took it into his tiny, pale fingers and turned it over, palm up. Then he clasped his hands around it and closed his eyes. A teal glow emitted from his chest and tiny flecks of blue, green, and icy white light rose from his fingertips, prickling me with jolts of what felt like cold air licking my skin.
A rush of warmth shot through me and I grimaced as the heat became nearly unbearable. I doubled over on the edge of the bed and clutched my side. Fire rippled across my ribs and I peeled up my shirt to watch as a spark of wild blue color knitted through my wound, sealing the skin closed and soothing the inflammation.
“I didn’t know you could—” I rolled my shirt down. “Th-thank you.”
My entire body cooled and the sweat on my forehead dissipated. A serene calmness flushed through every muscle and tiredness swept over me. My eyelids became heavy.
Everything around me softened out of focus. I wanted to panic in fear, but there was no fear within me.
“Solus,” the name barely came out of my mouth. I fell backward onto the bed and tried to fight back the heaviness in my bones.
Every thought zipping through my brain vanished and I was sucked into a deep, dark sleep.
I awoke, unable to recall when I’d fallen asleep. Lucy sat beside me on the bed, combing her fingers through my hair lovingly.
“Morning, Daddy.” She smiled. My heart melted.
“Hey.” I pushed up from the bed and looked around. “Where’s Solus?”
“He’s upstairs with his mommy and daddy.”
“Oh.” Then I gasped. “Where’s Judas!?”
“Solus said he had to go home.”
“What? Do the others know?”
“He went to tell them, but he said I should let you sleep because you needed it.”
I assumed when Lucy said Solus told her things, she meant he showed her, because I still hadn’t heard another word from his mouth since he had called her name.
I went upstairs with Lucy. The others were eating breakfast at the kitchen table. Alice’s mother sat on one end and Kareena on the other. Brian and Alice sat beside each other and Solus sat in a chair across from them with a bowl, pushing cereal hoops around with a spoon. Getting Solus to eat was almost as much trouble as getting him to sleep.
I pulled out the chair beside Solus and gestured for Lucy to sit there. Immediately, Kareena pushed her chair out and stood. She scooped up the plate and fork from her place and stormed off into the living room.
I sat in the chair she had relinquished.
“Would you like me to make you something?” Jane asked.
Brian and Alice had eggs and toast. Nicest breakfast we’d had in a long time. Lucy took the empty bowl at her place setting and dumped cereal into it. She reached for the half-gallon of milk and I scrambled to grab it before she could.
“I’ll get that,” I said, twisting off the cap and pouring just a little milk into the bowl on top of her cereal.
“Thanks.” She flashed a toothy grin and then started eating.
Solus suddenly took a greater interest in his own cereal.
Jane got up and went over to the stove. She grabbed a pan from the sink and started cleaning it with a sponge and soap.
“Hey, it’s okay.” I waved at her. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me right now. I’ll just have cereal.”
“You sure?” Brian looked up from his plate. “I can make you something.” He twisted in his chair to look back. “Jane, you should sit down and relax.”
She scuttled back over to the table and sat in her seat. “Is, uh, she going to be okay?” Her eyes darted toward Kareena.
“Yeah,” I replied, taking a clean bowl from Jane. I poured some cereal and drowned it in milk. I glanced behind me into the living room. Kareena sat on the couch, leaning over her plate, picking at her food with a fork. “I think she’ll be okay. Things have been rough for us all lately.”
“I of all people know that,” Jane replied with a nod. “Things haven’t been the same since you two left. The police asked a lot of questions.” She gestured at Brian and Alice. “Part of me wanted to tell them the truth—that some crazy alien race had implanted in you all glowing DNA and that you ran away from home to get away from other people. But then I realized how ridiculous that sounded. I didn’t need to be put away with your mother, Brian.”
“How is she? Do you know?” Brian stacked his fork and crumpled paper towels on top of his plate and pushed all of it aside. “Have you heard anything at all about her?”
“No, Brian. I’m sorry, I haven’t. Since I’m not family, they don’t send updates. I don’t think she liked me much anyway.”
“She didn’t,” Brian said. “I don’t know why, but she didn’t. I’m sorry, Jane.”
“We aren’t obligated to like everyone,” Alice muttered, chewing the last piece of her toast.
“No, we’re not,” I agreed and ate the last scoop of cereal from my bowl. “Excuse me.” I pushed out my chair and walked into the living room. “Kareena?”
“I don’t want to talk to you.” She crossed her arms.
“Kareena, come on.”
“No.” She looked up and then away. Then up again. Her jaw dropped. “Your light!”
