Sun Touched (Diamara Book 1)

by J. C. Hart

  "Who?"

  "Sarai. She still lives there, you know."

  "I do. Do you really want to bring her into this?"

  "She's going to find out sometime, it might as well be from me. She's smarter than you give her credit for."

  "I have no doubt she is smart, but she's also your father's daughter."

  "What, you don't trust her?" Madea frowned. "She's your daughter, and she loved you. She loves me."

  "There are very few people I trust, Madea. Your father saw to that."

  "At some point you're going to have to get over that slight. You know that, don't you? Yes, his actions were dreadful, but look at the amazing things you've learned. If he hadn't faked your death, you never would have experienced the wonder the ether creatures can bring."

  A splash of colour brightened Tahra's cheeks and her eyes misted over. "It is amazing."

  "He treated you badly, but he didn't ruin you. You are still Tahra Linae, you still have a life ahead of you."

  "I need to think about it more. What's important right now is getting Garrett back. I'm assuming that you'll want to go and get him?"

  "I do. It was my fault he was captured. I need to make it up to him."

  "Well, I can look after Jaxon—"

  Madea laughed. "You think I'll leave him with you after the last time?"

  "Well, what else could I possibly do? I promise I'll play by the rules. We'll read books, and draw, and eat lots of yummy food." Tahra's eyes were wide, and she was trying to look as motherly as possible.

  "Fine. I can't really take him with me, anyway. But be on your best behaviour, or I won't let you babysit when this one is born." Madea placed a hand on her belly.

  "I've got some people who will come with you, but you know your father's place the best, so you're in charge."

  "No, I don't want anyone else. I have some people I can ask, but they aren't going to trust me if I come to them with a group of people intent on breaking into Father’s house."

  "I can't send you off alone."

  "Well, you're going to have to."

  "You're stubborn. Just like him." Tahra clenched her jaw.

  "You're pretty stubborn yourself, you know." Madea placed a hand on her mother's knee and smiled. Tahra grasped her fingers and smiled back.

  "So, what can I do then? I don't feel good about letting you go out on your own."

  "You can tag me with some locators and watch my progress. If I stay in one place for more than two hours, send in your team to get me out. I need a chance to do this my way first."

  "Okay. I can tell this is important." Tahra slumped in defeat. "I'm going to call our armoury guy, and he'll kit you out. When do you want to go?"

  Madea glanced at the clock, surprised to find that it was mid-afternoon. "I want to go tonight. The less time he has to spend there, the better."

  "Okay then." Tahra pushed herself off the couch and headed for the desk. She made the call and spent some time looking at Jaxon's drawings. "He'll be here in five minutes. I want you to come see me before you go."

  "All right." Madea went to Jaxon and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, leaning over to see what he was drawing. There were a lot of colours and it looked like he had drawn some of the things he'd seen outside the domes; a vivid blue sky filled with clouds, and a tree with white blobs in it covering most of the page. "This is beautiful, Jaxon."

  "Thanks." He smiled and pointed at a tree. "I saw that today, it was big and green and there were birds living in it."

  "That's great! Do you think you can draw something special for me? I have to go somewhere, so Tahra is going to look after you tonight. I'll be back to see your drawing in the morning."

  "Where are you going?" He looked up at her very seriously.

  "I have to go and help a friend. When we get back, you'll be able to meet him. I'm pretty sure you'll like him." Madea winked at him and he laughed. She dropped a kiss on his forehead then made her way to the door. "See you later."

  She only had to wait a minute for the man to come by.

  "Hello again," said Sturm. He held a hand out and gripped hers firmly when she offered it.

  "Hi," she said. "Thanks for helping me out like this."

  "Not a problem. I hear our boy Garrett's in trouble, and you're going in to get him. Don't you want some back up?" He frowned at her.

  Madea forced a smile. "I've got this, don't worry. And I'm fairly sure that while my mother is letting me go on my own, she'll have a back-up team of her own in place anyway. Right?"

  "I guess you really are your mother's daughter." He laughed and headed towards the armoury.

  Madea mulled over her plans. She wasn't just going to get Garrett, she needed to speak to her father as well. Her mother's pain, her anger, had made an impact, and she couldn't waste this opportunity. He would be there, in the house, and he needed to know what was at stake if he didn't make some changes.

  What changes, she had no idea. She couldn't seem to figure out how to spread the truth about being Touched when there was such a stigma against it. It was entrenched into their daily lives, and yet if there was a way to convince people, to show them that it wasn't something to fear...

  There had to be a way. She couldn't let her mother, or Garrett, or anyone else, force exposure on anyone, no matter how harmless it was. Everyone deserved the right to choose how to live their lives.

  Madea knocked on her mother's office door, but there was no response. She pushed inside and crossed to the desk where she scrawled a note. As she was about to leave she spotted a photo of her mother outside the domes, obviously taken post fake death. Madea slipped it into her pocket.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  When she reached Rickard's apartment, she paused to gather herself. It was earlier this time and she could see both Rickard and Sarai in the kitchen. Madea considered going in the back door again, but thought better of it. The only way to show that her intentions were above board was to knock on the front door and wait for an answer.

  Her heart thumped in her chest as she raised her hand and pressed the intercom. It was a risk coming here at all, but she had to have faith that Rickard wouldn't have told her father she'd been there. He had seemed to genuinely care about Jaxon.

  "Who's there?" Rickard’s voice came through the speaker.

  "It's Maddy," she said. There were so many other words she could have added, but none of them would make a difference right now. A minute passed, then two, before the lock clicked and she pushed open the door. Sarai was standing in front of Rickard, as if she could protect him from Madea.

  "What do you want?" Sarai asked. "You're my sister, and I love you, but I won't let you hurt him again."

  "I was doing it to protect Jaxon, I swear. If there had been another way to be sure—"

  "You really think you can't trust me?" Rickard asked, stepping around Sarai. "You drugged me, Madea. If that doesn't seem a little crazy to you—"

  "I told you, I'm not crazy. I'm not."

  "Tell us what you want." Sarai was doing her best to keep her voice flat, but Madea could hear the wobble in it.

  "I got Jaxon to safety. He's with Mum."

  "Mum's dead." There was no confusion in her eyes. It was a fact. Nothing more or less.

  "No, she's not." Madea reached into her pocket and drew out the photo that she had stolen from her mother's office, and held it out to her sister. Sarai reached for it, her fingers trembling, brow furrowed. She glanced at it. Her face drained of colour and her legs gave out beneath her. Rickard managed to catch her before she hit the floor.

  "But Dad said..."

  Madea knelt beside her sister. "It's a long story, Sarai. A really long story, but the gist of it is that Mum got Touched, and Dad couldn't let that ruin his career, so he faked her death."

  "He faked her death? Why didn’t he have her Hollowed? What if she hurt someone? Hurt us? I don’t understand." Sarai glanced at the photo again, tears welling in her eyes “She’s really alive? She’s not crazy?”<
br />
  "Look at that photo. Does she look crazy to you?" Madea pointed at the image. Her mother was smiling, enjoying a sunny day. It could have been any hiking trip back on Earth, except that it was clearly taken on Diamara.

  "No. She doesn't. But..."

  "Being Sun-Touched is not what anyone thinks it is. It's not easy to explain, but I'll try. If you'll listen." Madea looked into her sister’s eyes, pleading with her. Rickard stepped around them and closed the door.

  "I want to know what's going on, Maddy. No more secrets. You came to us, so you have to tell us everything."

  They listened in silence until she got to the end of her story. Their hands clasped tightly together, knuckles white and faces wary.

  "I don't know what to say," Sarai said. She hadn't looked at Madea in more than ten minutes, but now she did, staring her in the eyes. "So you're one of them now."

  "I'm Touched, yes, but that doesn't mean I'm mad. Do you believe at least that much?"

  "I guess. But those creatures, that doesn't seem possible."

  "I know, I agree. And yet I've seen them with my own eyes. I've felt them. That's how I knew about Jaxon." She glanced at Rickard, who looked away.

  "What about Jaxon?" Sarai confusion swamping her features.

  "You didn't tell her yet?" Madea asked, still looking at Rickard.

  He licked his front teeth. "No. I didn't think it was a good time."

  "Well, now's good," Madea said. "If you don't tell her, I will."

  "I don't care who tells me, but someone better start talking. Now." There was a firmness to Sarai's voice that wasn't often there. It made Madea smile, and she thought maybe Rickard had really met his match.

  "Rickard?" Sarai rubbed his cheek with her hand. "Tell me."

  "He's my son. I'm Jaxon's father." The words sounded awkward in the room, unwieldy, as if somehow they took up more space than anything else.

  "Your son? I don't understand."

  "I had a lover, years ago, and she got pregnant. I didn't know at the time, but I'd heard a rumour. I thought if I never found out for sure, it would be better, but then he was there, in Maddy's house and..."

  "And you loved him. Didn't you?" Confusion had been pushed aside by a strangled form of hope, as if Sarai wished, but wasn't sure, that the words she spoke were true.

  "I do. I love him. I can't deny he's mine, and I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I didn't know. I didn't know—" His face was streaked with tears. Sarai pulled him into her arms, nuzzling his head against her chest and murmuring to him that it was okay.

  Madea stood quietly and moved into the kitchen, leaving the couple to deal with this moment, and whatever it might mean for them. Perhaps she should have left this a secret, but Sarai was her sister. She deserved to know, and Rickard needed to be free of the guilt he was carrying before she could get them to help.

  Eventually, they came to her, their hands linked, their eyes leaving each other for no longer than necessary.

  "Thank you for helping me tell Sarai," Rickard said. "I knew I had to, I..."

  Sarai reached up and touched his cheek. "You were worried. It's normal. But it's me. Besides, Jaxon is impossible not to love. I think he must get that from you." A grin played on her lips, and Rickard's face broke in a smile. They kissed, and for the first time Madea realized that she wasn't jealous anymore.

  "Well, I'm pleased you two have sorted that out. Really, I am. But I came here because I need your help."

  "What with?" Sarai looked at her, finally seeming to snap from her little love buzz. She was taking the news of Rickard's child very well, Madea had to admit.

  "Father has someone captive, someone important to me, and I need to get him back."

  "He?" Sarai raised an eyebrow. "And what do you mean, Father has someone captive? Why would he do that?"

  "Have you not been listening to anything I've said?"

  "Hang on. You've told us a lot of stuff tonight, too much to even begin take in. You came in here last night, took my son and drugged me, so don't get all high and mighty on me." Rickard had let go of Sarai's hand and marched across the room to Madea. The vein in his forehead was throbbing, and his face flushed red.

  "I'm not— That's not how I meant it to come across. I guess I see the world a little differently now than I did a week ago." Madea took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders. "Father knows about Mum. She's been threatening him for ages, and finally came good on her promise by exposing me. He was keeping an eye on my place, and they caught Garrett."

  "Who's Garrett?" Sarai asked.

  "He works with Mum, and he's someone that...I don't know. We have something going on, but I'm not really sure what."

  "He's your lover?" Sarai raised an eyebrow, her lips twitching as though they wanted to slide into a smile.

  "No. I mean, we have...something. Something is happening, but we haven't really had the time or space to work out what that is, or where it might go."

  "Do you really think you're in a position to be starting up with someone new? You're pregnant with another man's child."

  It took all her will power not to slap Rickard. Her fingers clenched into fists and she ground her teeth together.

  Sarai pushed Rickard behind her. "He wasn't trying to be a jerk. Right, Rick?" She looked at him pointedly.

  "What? No, I mean, of course not. I was looking out for you. That's all."

  "Well, I am more than capable of looking out for myself. Why do I have to keep telling people that?" Madea threw her hands in the air. Why couldn't anything be simple? She took a deep breath to calm herself. "The point is, they have him captive, and I need to get him out." She moved to stand in front of Sarai and placed her hands on her sister’s shoulders. "Can you think of anywhere they might keep him?"

  Sarai closed her eyes and sucked on her bottom lip. "Give me a minute." She nodded her head slightly as she thought, then her eyes sprang open. "He has some rooms in the basement set aside for work. They might be holding him there. I don't think I've ever been down there, so I can't tell you more than that."

  "That's all I needed, thank you." Madea kissed her sister on the cheek. "I have to go and get him back. Whatever happens to me, trust that Jaxon is safe, and that Mum is out there. She'll get in touch with you."

  "What do you mean 'whatever happens'? What do you think is going to happen?" Sarai's eyes widened.

  "I have to free Garrett, and then I need to talk to Dad."

  "You never call him Dad. What's going on, Maddy?"

  She bit her lip, trying to summon the right words. "Look, Dad might have been in the wrong about some things, but if I'm honest, Mum has her own agenda, too. If I can't make him see sense then she is going to do whatever she can to bring down the domes and expose everyone here. I know that there is nothing to fear now, but the chaos that colony-wide exposure would cause is something I can't even fathom. Unless he agrees to talk, to make some kind of compromise, she's going to act. I can't let that happen."

  Sarai's face paled, and Rickard pushed in front of her. "You said that Jaxon would be safe. It sounds like you left him with a madwoman."

  "I didn't know her plan when I took him! I wanted to keep him safe, to make sure he didn't end up Hollowed like his mother. Which would you rather? That he was Touched, or Hollowed?"

  Rickard was quiet. "Okay. I get your point. What can we do to help?"

  "I don't want you putting yourselves at risk."

  "We're not the ones who are Touched, remember? Besides, I'm an adult, what's he going to do? Ground me?" Sarai forced a grin onto her face.

  "Thanks," Madea said. "It means a lot." She wrapped her arms around her sister, squeezing away the years since they had lived together, the time since they were last close enough to really confide in each other.

  "Promise me that after this is all over we get to meet this Garrett. Okay?"

  "Alright." Madea nodded. "Sarai, if you could go in first, switch off any alarms you think might be connected and then distract F
ather, that would be a good start."

  "What about me?" Rickard asked.

  "I need some kind of distraction, something that will mean he sends part of his security team away from the house so that I can sneak in and get Garrett. Do you think you could do that?"

  "I think I can." Rickard smiled. "I know he's your father, but this can be my payback for what he did to Jaxon's family." Sarai squeezed his hand and Madea hoped she wasn't setting them up for a fall. Still, they weren't Touched. Even if their father wasn't happy about what they were doing, he had no reason to make them disappear.

  "Right. Get whatever you think you'll need, and let's head out. How long will you need to organize your distraction?" She could see the lines of worry around Rickard’s eyes. There was no time to ask which of the many difficulties had created them.

  "Give me a half hour, then Sarai can head out, and you can follow behind. Okay?"

  "Sounds good to me," Sarai said, her voice slightly higher than normal.

  Madea reached for her spare hand and squeezed. "You can do this. I know you can."

  "Thanks. It'll be fine, I'm sure," said Sarai.

  Rickard bent down to kiss Sarai and then headed for the door. "I'll come back here when I'm done," he said over his shoulder. "Where will you go, Maddy?"

  "I need to get Garrett to safety first, but I'll be in touch as soon as I can." She bit her lip, wishing she had something more positive, more encouraging to say. "Stay safe, and thank you."

  "You're almost my sister, and this is what family do, isn't it?"

  "It's what our family will do," Sarai agreed. "We don't have to lie or live secret lives, not like our parents." She looked right at Madea when she spoke those words, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

  "We don't have to be anything like them," Madea agreed, giving her hand another squeeze.

  Rickard closed the door behind him. Sarai moved to the couch and sank down into it. "Might as well try and relax. This next half hour is going to feel like a lot longer."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  The half hour crawled by, and when Sarai stood, Madea did too, folding her into an embrace. "Please be careful. Don't say anything about me, don't let on that you know about Mother, none of it. If he doesn't suspect anything from you, he's less likely to worry about me."