by Lucy Kelly
“We also downloaded all the laws to the nano-patches and watched several visual training guides on your TV,” he added.
“Never mind, Becky, it seems the guys have been keeping secrets from me. So we’re good for the driving. Wait a minute! Hold on, Becky.”
She turned back to Jalen. “What about your wings? You can’t have them bursting out at the wrong moment in the middle of Chicago.”
“It’s alright, Addie. My back only started to itch when I saw this picture. I should have five or six light cycles - I mean days - before I will need to complete the Joining. And even then, we must all be together for our wings to emerge for the Joining Flight.”
She gave him a smile and picked up the phone again.
“Did you hear that? We’re good to go. We’ll drive him into the City and drop him off at Grace’s. I’ll check him in with building security,” said Addie.
“No need. Building security has been temporarily replaced. We can’t have someone mentioning Grace is a cop. And since her partner’s cover was blown, I had to come up with an alternate address pretty quickly. Jalen is expected; just give him the keys. Grace made me promise to keep you out of the City.”
“What? Why that overprotective, little vixen! So I’m not allowed to go into Chicago now?” asked Addie.
Before Becky could answer, she heard one of the guys over the phone.
“Anu Libbu, there is much to be done here. Jalen will see that Grace comes to no harm. If you are there, keeping you safe will have to be his first priority, even over the well-being of his own happiness. You are our planet’s last hope. We will not risk you, ever,” said Arjun.
Addie looked deeply into Arjun’s eyes as he spoke to her. She picked up the phone again.
“Becky, I’m going to go now. I need to speak to my Ankida. Jalen will be on the road as soon as we can make the arrangements. Tell Grace to buy lingerie. Bye.”
Addie didn’t wait for Becky to say good-bye; she just hung up.
“Arjun, you and Rune and Kylan are my heavenly hearts, too. My, Anu Libbu, sweet-talking me doesn’t mean I’ll let you dictate my actions just because I’m Queen. I’ve been taking care of myself all over the world in some very not-so-nice conditions for a long time. I’m not defenseless. I’ve studied Aikido for years. That being said, I won’t ask Jalen to split his loyalties between my sister and me. I’m also not a moron,” she said as she turned to Jalen.
“What about your brothers? Where are they, anyway?” asked Addie.
“Justyn and Jett are sleeping,” replied Jalen. “We’ve been splitting up the guard duty so one of us is always awake.”
“Humph! That is not necessary! This is a very safe, and somewhat dull, farming community and college town. We roll the streets up at nine o’clock.”
Just then Suzanna entered the kitchen and heard the last two exchanges.
“Addie, until we know that the government accepts my report, you and the guys aren’t completely safe. We also have to give them a reason for the signals they picked up. Until they track that down, someone will always be looking,” she said.
“Okay Suzanna, I take your point.” Addie turned to Jalen.
“Jalen, you go to this club and send a signal from there. I’ve asked you all to provide me with a huge amount of data on your planet to be downloaded for my use. Have it all come in while you’re on the premises of these bad guys. Let’s put them in the frame. Of course, you should check with Grace first. This is her first big undercover assignment, and I want her ‘to get the collar’ as they say, if that’s what she wants.”
“You make it sound like you’re giving her a treat,” said Suzanna.
“You just have to understand Grace. She’s wanted to be a police officer since she was a kid. Protect and Serve isn’t just a motto for her; she’s a cop to her very bones. I’m determined that she comes back to HeVan with us. If she breaks open a big case, then she’ll be leaving on a high note.”
“You’ll convince her, won’t you, Jalen?” she asked.
“I’ll do my best, Beleti Addie,” said Jalen. “I and my brothers would prefer to return to HeVan rather than remain here on Earth. We are needed there much more.”
“Man, you’re just like her. You should get along great. Well, let’s finish making these pancakes.”
“Suzanna,” said Addie, “Is Heidi awake? See if she wants some, okay?”
“Jalen, go and wake up your brothers. You can’t leave without talking to them about this anyway.”
Addie turned to her three Ankida with a big grin. “I like being Supreme Queen! I get to tell everyone what to do!” she said, and they all laughed along with her.
Thirty minutes later, they’d moved breakfast to the dining room to accommodate everyone, and added sausages and eggs to the menu to go with the pancakes. They were about to sit down when Suzanna came in with Heidi. Boris and Bella, Addie’s two oldest Great Danes, were still staying close to Heidi, as if they could tell she still needed the security.
There wasn’t much talking during the meal as it was delicious, and everyone was hungry. When the meal was over, Arjun and Rune once again lost at ‘rock, paper, scissors’ and had to do the clean-up. Kylan sat at the table next to Addie while they made a plan of action. Except for Addie, they were all drinking coffee.
Addie started them off. “I don’t like you going to the City by yourself, Jalen. You need to take one of your brothers to help you. I haven’t been able to reach my sister because of this assignment, so obviously she doesn’t know I’m pregnant. Would you tell her? I’m sure you’ll think of the best time to tell her nicely and don’t let her worry about the fact that there are six babies, my Ankida will make sure I have the best care.”
“Becky didn’t mention it, but she did say you’ll be going undercover as Grace’s rich boyfriend. So I think you should also stop at the Diamond Mart and buy her an engagement ring. That’s what we do on this planet when we ask someone to Join with us. So when you see her, you go down on one knee, ask her to marry you and when she says yes, you put the ring on the third finger of her left hand. This one,” she said, as she held up her bare hand and pointed to the correct finger.
“If this is the correct custom, I will do as you ask. And I will take Jett with me. His expertise in technology may prove useful. Will you take Heidi and Suzanna and go back to the station until we have completed this assignment? Or bring another group of guards here? I don’t like leaving you unguarded, Nam-Nin,” said Jalen, using his own language for calling her Supreme Queen.
When he saw her frown—before she could speak, he quickly added, “If not for yourself, for your children?”
Addie was not pleased that he’d brought up the babies. She was carrying sextuplets, three sets of twins according to Valerie, and even she knew this was going to be a high-risk pregnancy. She thought for a minute, and then turned to Suzanna.
“Suzanna, how long can you be out of touch from your agency? I know you took leave, but surely you have to check in.”
“They aren’t expecting another report for four weeks,” said Suzanna. “Then I have to check in. They may try and contact me in the meantime if something happens; I’m their best tracker.”
Addie thought quietly for a few minutes and then turned to Kylan.
“None of you would wait for a week or longer if you felt that I was in danger. You must have a ship standing by to take me to safety. Am I right?”
He blushed, and then said, “Kasharra, we did feel we should take precautions…” he stopped when she held up her hand.
“I’m not angry at any of you. I’m glad you thought of it. I may have thought of it myself if I had been thinking clearly at the time. Send for another Fighting Cluster so Jalen stops worrying. Justyn will be in charge of them. Send for Gaius and Gael to come also; I want them to meet Heidi, and the three of them can choose some land for us to buy. And also send for Rapha; he can keep an eye on my pregnancy.”
“Addie, Gaius and Gael are at the ma
in ship, it would take a week for them to come. Wouldn’t it be better to have Heidi go to them?” asked Arjun.
Addie nodded, then turned to Heidi.
“Heidi, you have the power to make things grow. How extensive is this power?” she asked.
Heidi looked all around the table. She felt safe here. Bella and Boris sitting on the floor on either side of her chair put their heads down on her knees in a show of support, somehow knowing she needed it. For some reason she wanted to tell these people, she felt almost compelled.
“Well, actually, there hasn’t ever been anything I couldn’t grow. And if plants are sick or diseased, they’re cured after I spend time with them. It’s like I will it to happen and it does. I can feel myself doing it. Actually I’m almost giving a part of myself to the plant. It doesn’t hurt or make me tired. I usually feel better, more energized after working with plants.”
“Thank you, Heidi, for telling us. You really are a special lady. Now, I’m going to tell you something. The reason you have those gifts is because of an ancestor of yours.”
Addie pushed her hair off her forehead.
“See this mark? You have a mark like this, don’t you?”
At Heidi’s nod, she continued.
“Suzanna here works for the government. Like you, she has a very special gift, too. Suzanna, would you tell us all about your gift?”
“My gift always knows the right time and place to go to find out the truth in any given situation. By concentrating, I can feel a part of me unfold and go to work, like thinking hard and then the solution pops up in my brain. I then also know where to get the proof I need to support the solution.
“I work for the government. I’m what you may have heard called ‘a man in black.’ I investigate UFO sightings and other strange phenomena. I’m good at debunking hoaxes and discovering the truth in any situation.”
“Oh, wow,” said Heidi. “Have aliens from other worlds really visited Earth?”
“Yes,” said Addie, “they were here around ten thousand years ago; give or take a thousand years. They crash-landed here and joined our population at that time. They left their descendants special gifts, like being able to find things or being able to help plants grow.
“And they left those descendants something else too, a special birthmark,” she added. Saying this, she once again pushed aside her hair, revealing her own mark. Suzanna then pushed aside her shirt to show her own Mark of the Nephilim on her wrist.
Then Addie spoke up again. She could see the truth beginning to dawn in Heidi’s eyes.
“It took a really long time for the people from their home world to finally get their signal, and come here to find out what had happened. In those ten thousand years on their home world, very few female children were born. And now their population has dropped to a level of barely thirty-five thousand women and just over ten million men.
So they came here looking for their lost Queen. She would have the power to restore the balance between male and female children on the planet. She’d been badly injured in the crash and for that reason and because they were so far from home, she was put into stasis and was held there all this time, until I woke her up. My own powers led me to her at just the right time and place.”
There were tears in her eyes as she continued.
“When that happened, since there wasn’t anyone else there, she started transferring her powers to me. Once started, she couldn’t reverse the process or didn’t know how, she had to continue. She might have lived on but she chose to let herself die. She had done her duty and didn’t want to be ten thousand years out of step with her people and without her Ankida or her children.”
Addie stopped speaking for a moment and the others around the table remained quiet while she pulled herself together. The death of Tamiel had really affected her. After a few moments she went on with the story.
“Now I’m the Queen of a world I’ve never seen and married to three alien men. And it looks like my sister is going to be marrying three men, too. Unfortunately, it looks like you’ll only get two,” she said with a crooked smile in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Heidi looked at them all as if they’d all grown an extra head. “You mean…”
“Look at it this way, Heidi. There is no way your lousy ex-husband will ever find you in space. Arjun’s people are building a Space Station at the edge of our solar system. They’re also building a jump gate, kind of like what you see in a sci-fi movie. So travel between HeVan and Earth will be easier and will take less than a month.
“Miranda says that Gaius and Gael are your perfect matches. Right now, they are up in that station growing all the food and making a garden in space for all our people. So you have something in common already. We, all of us, are Nephilim from the planet HeVan.” Addie paused to see how Heidi was taking it all in. She looked stunned but her eyes weren’t glazed over.
“Um Guy´-us and Gay-el´?” asked Heidi.
They’re both taking this extremely well, Addie thought, even better than I did.
“Yes, Kylan has their pictures if you want to see what they look like. You have a decision to make, Heidi. We’re going to be sending the Nephilim from Earth who’re willing to go, back to HeVan to be Joined. HeVan is a matriarchal planet so all the women coming over will be treated really well. And, of course, since I’m the Queen, I’ll make sure of it. It’s also a mainly agrarian planet, lots of farming communities,” said Addie.
She turned to Arjun then. “Arjun, at one point in Earth’s history, we gave away large plots of land in order to encourage settlers to farm it and to immigrate. Can we do something like that on HeVan?” she asked.
“Much of our world is now uninhabited, Aditya, though it is owned by the ruling family for that region. Each of the Nephilim of Earth can trace their lineage through the colors in their birthmark. Almost all of the men on Queen Tamiel’s ship came from the HeVanthian region. So it is in your power to give them lands.
I’m sure others would be happy to do the same if it meant welcoming more women to live nearby,” he said.
Addie then turned back to Heidi who had followed along when Arjun was speaking.
“Your decision is whether to stay here on Earth. You can work the land we’re going to buy here, or you can go up to the Station and work the land in the arboretum. It’s great there. I didn’t even realize I was in space while I was there. Then, option three is to come all the way to HeVan with us when we leave. Whichever you choose, I think you should give Gaius and Gael a chance to win you over,” Addie finished.
Then she turned to Jalen. “Jalen, Suzanna will drive you into town when you’re ready to go.”
Moving on to Suzanna, she added, “Suzanna, I want you to go and get your mother and bring her to stay with my Granny Mac. Where is she, exactly?”
“Not far. Chicago is once again my home base,” Suzanna answered. “She’s in the northern suburbs.”
“That will work fine, then. Just bring her back here to the house, and we’ll go to Granny’s together later. Heidi, you can think about what you want to do. I’m going to be in the home office looking online for real estate. I’d like your input on that, Heidi. Because I don’t know what would be right for farming.”
With that, Addie got up from the table and left the room, with Kylan and Rune following behind.
Arjun stayed at the table. “Jalen, while you are buying this ring for Grace that Addie speaks of, would you also take some of our gems and have a ring made for Aditya? And matching ones for us? We have decided that we need to marry our Assat, I mean wife, the way they do here on Earth. She is giving up everything for our people and us. This is her culture; it is important to her. If the jeweler is greatly skilled, I would also like some other things made. Hoping we would at last meet our Join, we brought our family treasures with us. We knew if we left them, Malpha would find a way to take them.”
“Arjun, I would be happy to complete this errand for you. If Grace wishes, we will also Join with he
r in the way of her people,” said Jalen.
“We should start using the Earth word. Their culture puts much emphasis on the Wedding Ceremony of Marriage. And yet they discard their vows so easily. Our own Joining is private and without ceremony, and yet divorce is not known to us. Why do you think that is?” Arjun asked.
Before Jalen could answer, Heidi interrupted. She’d stayed at the table because she felt safe with Boris and Bella at her sides. And she knew the men here would never hurt her. She’d known that not all men were like her brute of an ex-husband and these men in particular were very nice to women.
It was strange, she thought, that so many of the people who treated her well were aliens from another planet or like her and descended from them.
“Arjun,” said Heidi, “I think what you’re doing is wonderful. I know that I would want to be married in front of those closest to me. I think it means more when the people who are important to you witness your promises to each other. I don’t know why other people get divorced, but if I’d stayed in my marriage, I’d probably be dead by now.”
“Heidi, you are a brave and resourceful woman. I look forward to the day when the shy bud you’ve become blossoms into the strong self-assured woman you have it in you to be,” said Jalen. Then he stood up and excused himself to go and pack his things and wake up his brothers.
Arjun looked over at Heidi. “Heidi, do you have any questions about the Nephilim or your male Joins?” asked Arjun.
“Addie said it takes about a week to get to your Space Station?” she asked.
At Arjun’s nod, she continued, “I think I’d like to go there to meet Gaius and Gael. Will I be able to take some time to get to know them before we get married? I’m not sure I’m ready for that.”
“I won’t ever lie to you, Heidi. The trip from our home world took almost two hundred years. I’m not sure of their ages, but they’ve been without a woman for at least two hundred years. Do you understand what I mean?” he asked. At her blush and nod, he went on, “When they first meet you, they will recognize you for their perfect match. They can tell because their Joining wings will begin to emerge.”
