Ivy shrugged.
“That isn’t a name that I recognize.”
Ellora adjusted the page in her hand as she started to rest it back to her lap and Ivy heard a sharp intake of breath. She looked at Ellora’s hand and saw a narrow trickle of blood from a cut made by the jagged edge from where the page had been broken from the rest of the file.
Chapter Five
Jonah and Aubrey walked into the kitchen and found Nana sitting at the table, her hands wrapped around a mug of coffee as she seemed to stare into the distance, not paying attention to anything that was happening around her. They stood in front of her for several seconds, waiting for her to acknowledge them, but she continued to stare.
“Nana?” Aubrey said.
The older woman lifted her head and looked at them as if she hadn’t noticed that they had entered. She shook her head slightly and took a long sip of her coffee. The grimace on her face told Jonah that the beverage had long-since gone cold as they were moving around the house doing their last-minute preparations for their journey to the factory.
“Oh,” Nana said. “I’m sorry. I was just…did you need something?”
Jonah shook his head.
“No,” he said. “We’re ready to leave. We just wanted to let you know that we were heading out.”
Nana nodded. She took a breath and another sip of coffee before setting the mug on the table and pushing on the surface to give her leverage as she stood from the chair. He felt the urge to help her, to rush to her side and grasp her arm to help bring her to her feet, but he resisted. Even in the few weeks that he had known her, he had learned that Nana was an extremely independent woman, fiercely protective of her ability to handle things on her own. Though this didn’t change his compulsion to protect and help her, Jonah knew that he needed to give her the respect that she deserved by not forcing his assistance on her if she didn’t want it.
Once she was to her feet, Nana looked back and forth between Aubrey and Jonah. There was a hint of some emotion in her eyes, something that he couldn’t fully interpret. Finally, she reached for Aubrey’s hand. Aubrey took it and he could see them squeeze each other’s affectionately.
“Promise me that you are going to be careful,” she said. “Both of you. All of you.”
“Of course,” Aubrey said. “We know what we’re doing, Nana.”
“Do you?” Nana asked. “None of you know what you’re going to be facing when you get there.”
“Ilya has been there,” Jonah said. “She can tell us as much as she knows what to expect.”
“That’s not going to be enough,” Nana said. “You have to remember that she only saw a small amount of the factory before she was captured. All of you are going to have to be on your guard even before you arrive. You don’t know who might be there or who might have been hired or assigned to watch it and the area around it to make sure that people don’t get close to it.”
“If there was someone who was doing that, how did so many people from the lab get in there?” Aubrey asked.
“Just because someone is meant to stop certain people from finding their way into somewhere doesn’t mean that they are supposed to keep everyone out. Do you really believe that it was an accident that Ryan captured Ilya when she was in the factory?”
Jonah felt a chill roll through him. It hadn’t occurred to him that the fact that Ilya was captured and brought into the experiments when she went to the factory might have been intentional. His concerns about going to the factory had revolved around the idea that Ryan or some of his servants might discover that they were there once they had snuck their way inside. Now he worried that they would know that they were there and would allow them to enter, cornering them so that it would be easier to do with them what they pleased. Despite this, he knew that they couldn’t turn back. The decision had been made and the plan was already in motion. No matter what may be waiting for them at the factory, he knew that they needed to go. Answers to the questions that they had been asking and the key to the secrets they had been uncovering may be waiting there, and they couldn’t risk not finding them. All he could do was have courage and lead the group in the best way that he could, hoping that he was able to walk them through as safely as possible.
“I will try to get in touch with you while we’re gone,” Aubrey said.
Nana shook her head.
“No,” she said. “There are still people here with me that need to be protected. You don’t want anyone to find out that they are here. It would only put them at higher risk. Just be careful and I will see you when you get back home.”
Aubrey nodded.
“Alright,” she said. “The factory is about a day’s drive from here. I don’t know how long we’re going to have to be there. If something goes wrong…”
“It won’t,” Nana said.
“But if it does…”
“I’ll know.” Nana pulled Aubrey in for a tight hug. “I will take care of the women while you’re gone. Don’t worry about them. They are all doing well, and I have the doctor already scheduled to come back for another visit tomorrow to check on them.”
“Thank you,” Aubrey said as she gave her grandmother another squeeze and then took a step back from her.
“Thank you, Nana,” Jonah said, stepping up to her and giving her a hug as well.
“Go on, now,” she said, gesturing them toward the door. “The car should be here by now.”
Jonah walked to the front door and scooped up several bags that were sitting on the floor.
“Where’s Mordecai?” he asked.
“I think he’s outside,” Gannon said. “Is Willow here yet?”
Jonah opened the door and peered outside. Willow’s car was in the driveway, still running as if she had just arrived. He nodded and pointed toward her. Gannon stepped out of the house and started toward her, opening the door as the car turned off so that he could help her out. Jonah waited while the rest of the group stepped out onto the front porch before following them. Nana had come to the door and she took it from his hand as he stepped out. Ahead of Willow’s car in the driveway he saw a van large enough to accommodate all of them. He had been surprised and hesitant when they first mentioned to Nana that they were going to go to the factory and she said that she would have a car delivered for them, but now that he was seeing it, Jonah was thankful that they were going to all be able to travel together rather than trying to stay close enough in multiple vehicles. It would be easier for them to stay connected and move around as a group if they were together. This made him feel more secure about the trip and their ability to respond to an emergency situation effectively.
Jonah climbed behind the wheel of the van and stared at the control panel embedded into the dashboard. It reminded him of the controls on the StarCity and he realized quickly that he had no idea how to utilize them. Aubrey sat in the passenger seat beside him, watching as he scanned the buttons and screens, trying to figure out how he could turn the vehicle on and input their destination. Finally, he looked at Aubrey. Without saying a word, she slipped out of the van and walked around to the driver’s side. Jonah traded sides with her, reluctantly getting into the passenger’s seat and latching his seatbelt as the rest of the group settled into place in the seats behind them. Jonah watched as Aubrey turned on the van and used one of the small screens to establish the factory as their destination.
In a few seconds the screen lit up with a map, a bright green line tracing the path of their drive. Jonah felt a tightness of frustration and anger in his throat, hating the disconnected, incapable feeling that he had watching her. Sitting in that driver’s seat was as though he had never driven before. The technology was completely foreign to him, well beyond what was in place the last time that he was on Earth and driving his own vehicle. His mind went to the vehicle that he and Rain designed on Uoria and the technology that they had implemented within it. Though it seemed incredibly advanced to them while they were designing and building it, Jonah wondered now if any of tho
se advancements were new or if they had all already been found, used, and discarded for something more. It was an unsettling feeling that he hadn’t expected to feel, and he wanted to push out of his mind so that it couldn’t distract him from the mission at hand. As Aubrey took hold of the wheel and guided them out of the driveway and onto the road toward the factory, however, he couldn’t stop thinking about all of the change that had happened in his time away from Earth and how hard it was affecting him each time that he recognized it.
He watched everything passing him by as they zipped down the road, taking in everything that looked strange and unknown to him. Though he had never visited this particular area in his time on Earth, there were still things that he noticed that were so different than anything that he knew. It seemed ridiculous to admit, but he hadn’t given an extensive amount of thought to how much would have changed if he got the chance to come back to Earth. Though he knew that there would be some things that would be different, he hadn’t envisioned that things would have changed very much, especially not to this degree. As he thought about it, however, he knew that that came from his own perceptions of time. The people, land, and technology of Earth had gone through more than a century of changes and development in the time that he felt was less than two decades. If he could bring himself to really accept the true amount of time that had passed, it might be easier to accept the changes.
Jonah turned back to Aubrey, trying to force himself not to think about it all. He didn’t want to consider everything that he had missed and the things that he might never understand. He also didn’t want to let his mind wander to what he was going to have to do when all of this finally came to an end. He didn’t want to think about how painful it was going to be when the time came for him to really come to terms with everything that he had lost in the time that he was away, or how he was going to put his life back together and move on. For now, he needed to only think about the next step that was ahead of him and how he was going to handle it.
“We’re going to have to stop for the night eventually,” Aubrey said several hours later.
“I know,” Jonah said, glancing back over his shoulder to see that the other four had already fallen asleep.
“I don’t think that we should risk checking into a hotel. Somebody might be trying to trace us, and it would take too much time to check in and out.”
“Besides, I think that we might be more noticeable than we really want to be right now,” Jonah pointed out.
Aubrey nodded.
“I think the best that we can do is finding a camping ground for the night. Nana mentioned that she was going to have the houseman put some equipment in the back of the van before we left.”
“She thinks of everything, doesn’t she?” Jonah asked.
“She always has,” Aubrey said as she leaned forward to touch her fingertips to the screen with their highlighted path again. “That’s one thing that has always impressed me about Nana. Nothing ever seems to trip her up or really surprise her. She always seems ready to handle anything that she might encounter and thinks of things before anybody else does. I have to admit, though, this has affected her more than anything I have ever seen.”
She typed something into the screen and then drew a circle with her finger around one section of the highlighted path.
“She’s just worried about us,” Jonah said.
“I know,” Aubrey said. She pointed to the screen. “That’s the closest campground. It’s about fifteen minutes away.” She let out a sigh and kept driving for a few seconds before looking at him again. “I know that she’s worried about us.”
“But?” Jonah asked.
“But it just feels like there’s something else.”
Chapter Six
Icelyn walked up to the edge of the creek and reached out to rest her fingertips to Theia’s palm so that she could help her as she stepped down into the water. It felt cool as it washed around her ankles and then started up her legs, soaking into the thin, lacy skirt of her dress. Her eyes locked on Malcolm standing in the center of the creek and she remained focused on him as she made her way to him. The moonlight poured through the branches of the trees that hung overhead, surrounding him with silvery light and dappling the surface of the water around him. When she reached the place in front of him, she took the flowers that she carried in her hand and tore the petals from the blooms. Though not the intricate woven chain that she would have made for the ceremony had she had the time, these simple flowers were just as beautiful as they rained down on Malcolm from her fingertips. She sprinkled them over his head, allowing them to fall to his hair and shoulders, and then to the surface of the water so that they floated away with the current.
When she was finished, she offered him the empty branches and watched as he bent them, eventually cracking the thick bark and releasing the fragrant sap within. He dipped the pad of his thumb into the sap as it rose up out of the open branch and reached forward to touch it to the front of her throat, running it down to create a slick, cool trail to the soft dip between her collarbones, and then further until he stopped just over her heart. Malcolm gathered more of the sap and created a trail from one shoulder down to her hand and then repeated the process on the other side. Athan walked along the bank of the creek until he stood across from them and offered each of them a small bowl carved out of stone. Icelyn took hers and filled it with water, waiting as Malcolm did the same. Whispering the sacred, ancient words of the wedding ritual, she lifted her bowl and gently poured the water down over Malcolm’s head.
Malcolm tilted his head back to allow the water to stream through his hair and down his back into the creek, then straightened and poured the water from his bowl over her head. In the moments that it streamed down over her and swept around her hips from the creek, she felt surrounded by the cleansing, purifying effect of the water. One of the most precious elements of the ceremony, this represented washing away their pasts and carrying away the burdens and pain that they might have experienced in the days before they came together so that they could welcome in the sweet newness of their lives bound to one another.
Icelyn felt incredible emotion filling her as they went through the ceremony. Just days before, she didn’t even know Malcolm and now she was looking into his eyes, tying her soul to his, and there wasn’t even a thread of doubt or question in her heart. This was what she had been born for, a moment that had been destined for her from the very beginning, and she could feel nothing but happiness that she had reached it.
When the ceremony was over, Malcolm’s lips touched hers and she closed her eyes, wanting to cherish this moment, this first kiss from her husband. He took her hand and helped her across the creek and out onto the soft grass. Athan was there waiting and wrapped each of them in a piece of cloth. Had they had more time in their engagement, she would have embroidered these cloths, readying them for this use after their wedding and then to be used in their home first as a blanket for their own bed and then to be integrated into blankets for their future children. Though the cloths were plain now, she looked forward to evenings spent stitching them when all of this was over. She would make them more beautiful than any of the cloths that she had ever seen, ensuring that anyone who looked at them would know how deeply and passionately she loved her husband and how dearly she held her hopes for their future.
They said goodnight to Athan and Theia and made their way back to the house, their fingers linked loosely between them as each looked around at the village and the stars above their heads. It was as if she was seeing everything differently than she ever had. She noticed brightness and detail that she had never seen before, appreciated the depth of the Universe and the abundance of the stars more than ever before. It was as if in his kiss Malcolm had breathed life into her and brought her into new reality.
When they got into the house, she carefully took the two cloths and brought them to the back of the house where she laid them out on a wooden rack so that she could let them dry. Malcolm had gone into
the bathroom when she came back, leaving the rest of the house empty. As she always did, Icelyn walked into the kitchen. Their mugs from earlier in the day were still sitting in the sink and she reached for them so that she could wash them, feeling strangely pulled between the exciting new reality of her marriage and the simplicity of the daily life still being there. She heard Malcolm come out of the bathroom, but before she could turn around she felt him step up to her and place his hands on her hips. He leaned forward and nuzzled his face into the damp hair tumbling around her shoulders.
Icelyn's hands gripped the side of the sink and her head dropped forward.
"Malcolm," she whispered.
He used his grip on her hips to guide her back against him so that his body molded to hers from her shoulders down her legs. Ribbons of his warm, damp breath rippled down her neck and her eyes closed so that she could savor the feeling. Her own breath slid from her lungs and she relaxed against the feeling of his warmth on her back. One of Malcolm’s hands left her hip and brushed her hair away from the side of her neck to expose her skin. A moment later she felt his lips touch the spot, sending a shiver along her skin. Her breath caught in her throat and he held her in place as if he worried that she was going to pull away from him.
Icelyn felt him turn her in his hands so that she faced him. He had changed out of the clothing that he had been wearing during their wedding and she took in the chiseled beauty of his bare chest, biting her lip at the urge to run her hands across his smooth skin. Her back touched the edge of the sink as he eased her back and pressed against her. The fullness of his body enveloped her, and her body arched slightly to bring them closer together. He leaned forward to touch a light kiss to the soft dip between her collarbones and she imagined he could taste the sweetness of the sap that he had placed there during the ceremony.
Malcolm’s hands tightened on her hips and he pushed against her suggestively. She could feel the muscles of his chest on hers and the hardness of a surging erection cradled against her belly. She wished that she had had the chance to remove her dress, not wanting to waste even another second without their skin touching. Malcolm brought his mouth to her ear so that his lips brushed it as he spoke.
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