Zon nodded. “And Earth? Where is Earth? It’s not in the Arkaron galaxy, is it? I always suspected they were going to venture our way.”
“No, it’s much further away than that.”
Something in his voice caught Zon’s interest. “The girl,” he mused. “She has traveled a long way then?”
“Yes.”
Uncomfortable under the prolonged stare, Zak crouched down to continue his work.
“That serum has allowed me to grasp many things. I see the way you look at her. I see how she looks back.” Zon paused. “You are in love with her.”
Zak felt like a fist was lodged inside his windpipe. “Yes,” he whispered. “It is a long tale.”
Next to him, the sound of a stick scraping mud blended with Zon’s voice. “They usually are. As long as they have a happy ending, all is good.”
“I want only for her to be safe,” Zak did not look up from his hunt in the shallow dirt. “She should not be on this planet. She came here to rescue me.”
“She must really like you if she travelled that far.”
The fist was now twisting inside his rib cage. “If we succeed here—if by some miracle we can destroy the Korons—” the thought that tortured him from the moment he heard of her transportation now manifested itself. “—I’m not sure how to get her off this planet. I don’t want her spending the next ren here.”
Zon stopped digging and leaned against his stick. “Have you asked her? Maybe she wants to stay here with you.”
Standing straight, Zak looked into his father’s eyes...his father. There, he acknowledged it. It had been so hard to accept—such a mental obstacle. But, when he looked into those eyes, and took in the high cheekbones and wide smile...memories of that face besieged him. And so he felt compelled to speak the truth.
“This is not my home anymore. I don’t want to stay here.”
A hint of pain pinched his father’s lips.
“And where is your home?” he asked.
Zak looked across the field. In the chorus of masculine voices, one bright flower bloomed. Her voice brought him peace.
“I see,” Zon whispered. “Then we will find a way to get you off of this planet.”
Zak closed his eyes. This had been missing in his life. Vodu was the best replacement for a father that any boy could have, but there was something different. This was a connection that could withstand the test of time.
“I take it your ship was destroyed,” Zon probed.
“Yes.”
“And you said she came here to rescue you?”
“Yes.”
“What about her craft?”
Laughter bubbled up in his throat. It really was absurd when you thought about it. “She came here in a terra duster.”
A thud sounded as Zon dropped his pail.
“A terra duster? In space?”
This time Zak let the laugh escape. “Yes. Believe me. I have the same questions as you.”
Zon stooped to pick up his pail. Wrinkling his nose against the odor, he announced, “We have enough for tonight. Let’s go talk to the pretty woman about her vessel.”
They fell into step alongside each other.
“Ahm-ee, right?” he asked.
“Aimee. Yes.”
“I think I am going to like your, Aimee. She did save my sanity, after all.”
“You’re lucky,” Zak grinned. “She tries her best to destroy mine.”
Chapter Thirteen
Aimee heard their laughter long before the profiles emerged from the dark. These shadows were no threat. These shadows carried with them a scent...and it was not pleasant.
When they emerged into the ring of firelight, the bait of their smiles was infectious. Her brooding, handsome hero had worn a frown since the day she first met him. This mirth suited him.
“Judging by your smell,” she goaded, “I’d say you came back with enough dung to seal this whole mountain.”
To her surprise the older man strode up to her with his hand extended. Arching an eyebrow, she stared at that hand imagining all the places it had been in the past hour.
“Ahm-ee,” he stated with his palm still proffered.
This was Zak’s father. With only the slightest hesitation, she reached out and clasped it.
Zon beamed and shook her hand.
“I did not get to properly meet you, or thank you before. There are no words to describe how grateful I am to you for restoring my psyche.”
He smelled like crap.
It made her smile.
Would it be inappropriate to thank the man for producing such a fine son?
“You are most welcome,” was all she could manage.
Whenever she was at a loss for words, purpose kicked in instead. “At first light we’ll apply this as the finishing seal. The sun should dry it quickly and our lake will begin to form.”
“All business, this one,” Zak chuckled. “Speaking of lakes,” he mentioned while walking backwards. “I need to head to the water and clean up.”
Aimee stared down at her hand. Yeah, me too.
In the firelight, Zon’s eyes glowed playfully. “Why don’t you two go on ahead, and I’ll catch up after reviewing the progress. I’ll just get dirtier digging into the work.”
Aimee gained newfound respect for the man. He was offering them alone-time. With one glance around the crowd seated before the fire, she started to backpedal before turning around and jogging in the dark to catch up with the silhouette ahead.
“Zak,” she whispered. “Zak.”
He halted. She could not see his face under the night sky, but she had the feeling that he could distinguish her clearly.
“I smell,” he declared quietly.
Does he see my smile?
“Yes. You do.”
She heard his amused snort.
“Stay there,” Zak ordered. “I can see better than you, and I don’t want you getting caught in this current.”
“That current should be backing up already. By tomorrow morning there will be a considerable-sized pond here...on its way to becoming a lake.”
A pond.
Her pond was worlds away. She thought of her parents. Were they okay?
“You miss it, don’t you?” his husky question startled her.
“Miss what? No. No. I am thinking if there is anything I neglected with the dam.”
“Aimee.” Warm hands wrapped around her shoulders. “It may have been some time since we’ve been together, but I know you. Don’t shatter the image I have had all this time—envisioning you happy and industrious in your home. You can’t tell me that you don’t miss it...that you don’t miss your parents.”
It was so dark now. She could no longer distinguish his profile.
“Yes, I miss them, but I missed you more. Does that make me a horrible person?”
Please don’t answer that.
The grip on her biceps eased and she found herself engulfed in his arms, her cheek pressed to his chest, where the steady rhythm of his heart lulled her eyes closed.
“If it involves you missing me...no, there’s nothing horrible about that,” he murmured.
Winding her arms around his waist so that she could hold him tighter, she accepted that there wasn’t anything she would do differently if she had to do it all over. She loved her parents very much. But Zak was her destiny.
“You’re cold.” His lips dusted across her hair as he drew her in closer.
“Warm.” With her head tucked into his collarbone, her words were muffled. She withdrew enough to warn, “Zak, we need to get everyone away from the dam now. Either back to the caves or seek higher ground.”
“Always thinking,” he murmured. “Does your mind ever shut down?”
“Every time you kiss me.”
A slight rumble sounded in his throat and then she felt his lips against hers. All coherence was gone and her stomach took a tumble.
“Zak. Zak.” A voice called in the distance. “Aimee?”
; It was Gordy. It sounded as if his hands were cupped around his mouth for maximum volume. “We’re heading back to the caves. Are you coming?”
“I want to be alone with you,” Zak murmured softly, his lips touching her ear.
A shiver charged through her.
“I want that too,” she purred against his throat.
A gap fell between them as Zak stepped back and hollered, “We’ll catch up later.”
Wind crackled across the grass. A call sounded. “Okay—” it grew distant, “—be careful.”
An edgy glimpse confirmed that the pit of the crater was clutched in a nocturnal glove. For a moment Aimee felt panic well up at the dark. “Let me guess,” she uttered. “You can see fine right now, can’t you?”
“Well enough to know that your cheeks are red, your beautiful hair that looks like the desert is now blowing into your eyes, which irritates you, and your hands are on your hips, which usually means you’re about to make a point.”
The wind was really ticking her off. She tried to angle her head into it, but that stung her eyes just as bad.
“You think you know it all, Mr. Hot Shot Warrior,” she teased.
“My name is Zak. And the only person in all the galaxies that thinks they know more than me is you.” He hesitated. “Well...and JOH.”
Aimee laughed.
In the dark, Zak reached for her hand. “I need to ask you something, but I want to get out of this wind. Somewhere where you can see me.”
That was a marvelous idea on all counts.
Surrendering to the tug of his hand, Aimee trudged through the grass, relying on Zak’s grip to guide her in the dark. Developing her own sonar, she listened to the gusts ruffle the meadow, the ebb and flow similar to waves lapping against a shoreline. In the distance muted laughter could be heard. Glancing up, she saw the crater walls dotted with the glow of man-made fires. From this perspective and with so many of these flares, it looked like a posh Tahitian resort lined with torch-lit balconies. Nearby, water lapped gently against a boulder. The current was already slowing down, met with a barrier it could not penetrate.
Zak’s hand parted with hers only to affix itself around her waist.
“Be careful, we have to climb a little.”
Before she could even respond she felt the natural incline strain her thighs.
“Stick close to me,” he instructed. “It’s a narrow trail.”
She had no problem sticking close to him, but the uneven terrain had her clutching his hip for support. Continuing in this manner for what she calculated was nearly fifteen minutes, Aimee became aware of the wind shifting. At this elevation it screeched past her ears like the whistle of a blizzard—only, there was no snow and she had grown warm from the physical effort.
Zak halted, his arm still secured around her.
“Stay right here, and don’t move.” He squeezed her waist. “I mean it, Aimee. Don’t move. If you take off in the wrong direction you could end up in the valley…below.”
Gulp.
“Where are you going?” Her voice was as high-pitched as the siren blasting past her ears.
“I need to light our way.”
Panicking when his hand slipped out of reach, Aimee heard a zap over the pitch of the wind. It sounded like one of those bug lamps. Immediately a glow enveloped the ground before her. Rutted with rocks and dirt, the path along the crater wall was indeed a narrow one. Behind her, the path dropped off into shadows that no light could reach. Shadows of oblivion. How far below was the valley?
Another zap, and the path illuminated. Torches that looked like smoldering mops ignited a trail into the crater wall.
“How did you light those?”
Zak wiggled a small crescent-shaped mechanism. “Just a terrene flare. Everyone carries one of these.”
A celestial pocket-knife.
Light beckoned. Zak beckoned. It didn’t take much coaxing to pry her away from the ledge. Aimee followed him into the cave and felt her ears ring from the cessation of wind.
If your ears are ringing, someone is talking about you.
That’s what her mom always said. But who was talking about her? Was it her mother? Aimee clutched the pendant behind her collar and whispered, “I’m alright, Mom.”
“What?” Zak spun around and caught a glimpse of what was in her hand. His expression softened. He stepped forward and cupped his hand around hers, both of them clasping the tiny sliver from his ship.
“You still have it,” he whispered in awe.
“Of course. It kept me close to you.” She cleared her throat. “And since I touched it every day of those five years on Earth spent missing you, it now reminds me of my parents too. Does that make any sense? This pendant links worlds for me.”
His fingers rose to cup her cheek, his thumb caressing her jaw.
“You miss them.” His voice was hoarse.
“I’ll always miss them. But I am where I want to be.”
Silence met her words. Humbled by the raw emotion in Zak’s gaze, she waited until he cleared his throat.
“You’re not making this easy on me.”
Easy? What? Wait.
“Making what easy?”
Was he breaking up with her? No. No!
Knowing Zak, he was doing what he felt was best for her.
“Let me show you something.” The warmth of his palm dropped from her face to clasp her hand. She was certain her fingers trembled beneath his, but she followed as he moved deeper into the cave. Dread gnawed at her stomach with wicked fangs.
This mountain dwelling distracted her, though. Cave was the wrong terminology. As Zak threw on the lights by kindling the torches, Aimee witnessed a habitat equipped with rudimentary furniture. A table, chairs, and even artwork dotted the earthen walls. Intrigued, she stepped up to a series of brilliant orbs hovering close to the cave wall. They bobbed with every lick of wind that extended into the grotto. Each globe shimmered with an internal glow, a glow that pulsed in tandem with their fluctuation. One orb was green with golden swirls emulating a cloud pattern, while the other orb looked like a maraschino cherry with a dab of whipped cream on its polar cap. Aimee extended her glance and found more floating spheres, as if someone had dropped a boxful of Christmas ornaments in a gravity-free chamber.
“What are they?” she whispered in awe.
“I like to think—” he took a deep breath, “—that they were left here by the great monarch, Zak.” For a moment he fell silent, and then added, “And I like to think that by bearing his name, I was destined to find them.”
Imagining Zak as a child listening to his father regale tales of the great monarch in the mountains, Aimee nodded. “You’re right, Zak. These are too ethereal even for Ziratak. There is something divine about them.”
Hesitant, she reached up and cupped her hand near a floating orb. It emanated heat and shifted the slightest to avoid her grasp. Again she sought to touch it, but it maneuvered beyond her reach.
“Don’t disturb them,” Zak warned. “They represent peace. They have helped to heal me. I can sit here in the dark and focus on their glow without any pain.”
“Does anyone else know about them?”
“Not that I know of.”
“You never showed anyone?”
“Just you. I kind of wanted to keep them to myself.”
“No one else stumbled across them?”
“Ummm...no.” Zak chuckled quietly. “People don’t stumble up here. Part of the reason I brought you up here at night was so that you could not see the trek to get here. You would have never volunteered.”
She didn’t want to imagine what that meant. “How did you find it, then?”
“Aside from destroying the Korons and saving my people—for the most part I have been alone. I climb. I hike. I find seclusion...and I found this place.”
What a puzzle these orbs were. They hypnotized her. They offered serenity. Standing at Zak’s side, their hands connected, she shared in his peace. As much as she di
dn’t want to break that tranquility, anxiety wormed its way onto her lips.
“You said that part of the reason you brought me up here at night was so that I would not see the path,” she quoted. “What was the other part?”
“Privacy.”
“Oh,” her demeanor fell. “Right. You had to tell me something. Was it this? Did you want to tell me about these—planets?”
Zak’s shoulder twitched. “I’m not sure they are planets, and no, that’s not what I wanted to tell you. Are you hungry? There are zukee cakes here, and some juice. I try to keep the cave stocked.”
“Zak?” She stared him down, worried when his genial expression faltered.
“Come here.” He swept his arm towards a wooden bench. It might have simply been a long plank nailed atop four legs, but the intricate carvings in the wood lent it a regal flare.
He sat and she fell in beside him, close enough that their thighs brushed. As long as she was connected with him in some manner she felt more grounded.
Nearby, a golden orb lobbed across a ripple in the breeze and then righted itself.
“Aimee—”
Here it comes. The, I think it’s best if you return to Earth speech. How was she ever going to hold herself together?
“We don’t know if this dam is going to be successful,” he began in a husky tone. “It might just antagonize the Korons. It will probably rally them into escalated warfare.”
You will be safer away from here.
It was coming. She knew it.
“If anything happens to you—”
Nothing is going to happen to me.
He took both her hands in his and ducked to capture her eyes when she sought to elude him by staring at the floor.
“I love you,” he declared with grave finality.
That was it. Those heartfelt words released the torrent.
“No, Zak. No. You can’t send me home. You physically can’t. I don’t even know if we can get off this planet, and we’re only at about a renna, a half-rotation of the galaxy or whatever. We have two years to go until we reach my solar system...I think. And, I have waited so long—so patiently to be with you again. I have traveled so far, and battled every obstacle that was thrown in my path—all to be with you. I love you so much—” her voice broke and tears started to pour out of the corners of her eyes. “Please don’t send me away. I can’t—I can’t be without you.”
Beyond : Series Bundle (9781311505637) Page 38
