I am so taken aback at the fact that Amarox, who was prepared to die to protect us, is capable of being so brutal and so cold that I cannot find the words to contradict him. As he watches he must see it in my expression because he visibly pulls himself together and the harsh lines fade from his face as it softens slightly. It’s too late though, I am repulsed and afraid of him.
“I want off this ship,” I mutter.
“That’s not going to happen.”
I get to my feet, swaying slightly with light-headedness and I wonder if I have had anything to eat in the past three days.
“Get me off this ship, Amarox.”
“No,” he narrows his eyes at me.
“Get-me-off-this-ship!” I scream. He strides around the bed and grabs my shoulders, his eyes blazing.
“You get off this ship and my brother dies,” he growls, his voice so low and so furious that it takes me a moment to make out the words.
“What?”
“Do you think that Dex will leave you here?”
“N... No. He’ll stay,” I answer.
“Oh,” he feigns pleasant surprise. “Oh right. So you and Dex will remain here on Earth together, in peace and harmony for all time?” he smiles indulgently before his face turns hard again. “Wrong, Rachel,” he spits, “do you really think that my father will allow that? That my mother will? Dex belongs on Venon. He will come home or he will die. And he would never leave without you, so it would seem the choice is yours. So tell me, Rachel, after everything he did to keep you safe, are you going to murder my brother?”
By the time Dex returns I have composed myself. Amarox explained everything and I am still astounded that Dex is prepared to die for me if I choose to stay here on Earth. He would rather die than force me to come with him.
“Can I say goodbye to my friends?” I ask immediately, blinking away the tears that are threatening to spill over my lashes. Dex’s head jerks up and he reads the truth from my mind and he closes his eyes, his disappointment palpable.
“You don’t want to go,” he states simply.
“No,” I admit, feeling ashamed after everything he has done for me, “I don’t, but I don’t have a choice – it’s simple, we go or we die. I want to live, Dex and I want to live with you. I don’t want to leave Earth, but the alternative is… well, not something I’d like to consider,” I echo his earlier words and smile bleakly. "Who knows, maybe we’ll find our way back one day.”
To my surprise he looks oddly satisfied. He closes the door behind him and strides across the room, bending his head low.
“I will bring you back, Rachel,” he murmurs.
“What?”
“This Earth expedition has changed things – I am not sure yet how much and for how long, but I think this is just the beginning.”
“The beginning of what?”
“Of my father’s fall from grace.”
“You want to overthrow him?” My eyes widen in shock and I begin to grasp what his plan is and why he was so forceful in front of his mother.
“I know my father - he is not going to let this go. Our actions will have consequences and you and I will never be happy as long as he can help it.”
“But how will you…”
“Amarox,” he replies, his green eyes flashing determinedly, “Amarox is the rightful heir to the Venon throne. I am going to help my brother steal his birth-right.” I heave a sigh, remembering how angry Amarox had been only moments before and I shake my head.
“It won’t work. Amarox won’t turn on your father.”
“Why don’t you trust me, Rachel?” he smiles knowingly and I narrow my eyes.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“A whole lot, but the less you know the better.” I curse the fact that Zonax’s power over quintessence can be used against me so easily. Dex takes my hand, “I am not saying this will be easy. I’m not even saying it will work – and I will have to do things that you won’t like.”
“What kind of things?” A sense of foreboding is trickling down the back of my neck.
“The only chance we have of succeeding – of ousting my father – will be if he doesn’t see it coming. I will have to act normally; go about my life as if I am still loyal to him. My father will never stop colonizing. His mission has not changed and, although Earth was spared, it will happen again. Planets will fall. Venon is nothing like this; it’s hard and cold and the people are different. I’m different.” I narrow my eyes in question at the last part.
“You’re different?”
“Very. Remember when you first found me in the park?” I wince as I recall that darker side of him. “I need to convince my father that I still believe in Venon’s cause including the colonizing. That this was never about changing our way of life. That it was only ever about you.”
“And the others?” I am thinking of Jason, of Darren and Kate, Kim and Noah and all the other people who owe him their lives. “How will we explain them?”
“Extensions of you,” he smiles. “Hurting them would have hurt you and I could not allow that.”
“So you will destroy other worlds?” I ask in a small voice.
“Possibly.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I can’t give you the answer you’re looking for. I’m different now Rachel because of you. I see things that I didn’t see before. I don’t know what I would do, I won’t know until it happens. Waging a war against my father is not something I look forward to, but he has left me no choice. It is imperative that I play my part convincingly, however hard it may be. Maybe I’ll hesitate, maybe I won’t. But what I won’t do,” he stresses the word, “is make you promises that I can’t keep. The only thing I can say for certain is that I will bring you back to Earth if it’s the last thing I do and I would rather be here with you than anywhere else.” Every word rings with sincerity. I stare at my hands, at the floor, anywhere but at him.
I take a minute to process, to really grasp what it is he is trying to tell me. I feel as though I’ve known Dex a lifetime and yet it has only been a few days – there are so many things I don’t know about him. I know that he loves me. I know that he would die for me. But it’s what I don’t know that terrifies me.
“Would Amarox be any different from Zonax?” I ask eventually. “Would he allow us to come back, to live here? Would he stop the colonizing, if he became King?”
“I think with Amarox in power we have a chance. And I think that you may be the one to get through to him. Human compassion is a powerful emotion and it brings out the good in our kind. I need you, Rachel. I wouldn’t ask you to come with me if I didn’t. But you do have a choice,” he squeezes my hand, “we can stay.”
He is lying of course. Amarox explained it to me, but Dex, being selfless, will not force me. If I choose to stay I can. I can help rebuild and move on with my life. In time, man will recover, we are nothing if not survivors. But if I stay, countless other planets will be attacked. If I stay, Dex will never leave. And his father will not allow that. If I stay – Dex will die. And if I go, I may see things that will change the way I feel about him forever.
“You love me?” I say desperately needing to hear it again. He cups my face in both his strong, tanned hands forcing me to look at him.
“More than my own life.”
“Your father destroyed my home,” I meet his gaze, determination rising in my chest. “We cannot let him do the same to anyone else. He has to be stopped.” I take a deep breath, my decision made. “I’m coming with you.”
Dex has negotiated me half an hour to say my goodbyes. He leads me down a silver corridor with the same black flooring, into a large domed room with no visible doorways. He presses his hand against a scanning device mounted on the wall and a black staircase descends from the floor a few feet away. A gust of air reaches me and I breathe it in greedily. The inside of the spaceship is cool and comfortable, but I still feel slightly claustrophobic without being able to see outside. I descend the
stairs, my sneakers silent on the smooth surface. I give a snort of hysterical laughter as I take in our surroundings. We are at the JFK airport. Dex smiles, too and I can see the irony is not lost on him. Most of the towers and surrounding buildings have been destroyed, but there is a hangar not far off that is still intact. Dex leads me straight toward it.
As we make our way across the tarmac toward the large structure I turn to stare at the spacecraft. I whistle softly through my teeth as I see the seven other ships fanned out behind it. I remember the eight cracks we heard as Joe was driving us to the studio. I wonder idly how many ships landed in various countries across the globe. The ship we have just disembarked from is much larger than the others although the basic design is the same. It is almost triangular, the front forming a sharp V, but the back is circular. I imagine that if viewed from above it would resemble a giant teardrop. It is entirely black, with no visible openings or landing gear. It seems to be hovering eight feet above the ground with no visible stands or struts.
“I’m assuming you didn’t get any landing permission?” I ask and he shakes his head ruefully. “Did you do this?” I indicate the wreckage of the surrounding buildings.
“It was before.” I can hear the infinite sorrow in his voice but I cannot offer any words of comfort. The sad reality is that Dex killed a lot of people when he first arrived here on Earth.
He stops suddenly, turning to face me.
“Are you sure this is what you want, Rachel? Will you ever really be able to forgive me – for what I’ve done here?” My immediate response is yes but I force myself to consider his words carefully. Yes, Dex has done terrible things. He has hurt people, killed people, and yet… he has also shown more courage than anyone I have ever known, and he has risked his own life to save strangers. That is more than I can say for many humans.
“I have forgiven you, Dex. I forgave you the second you climbed into that news-van.”
Chapter 37
The scene inside the hangar is bittersweet. My friends are there looking anxious but unharmed. I hug each of them in turn and quickly catch up on what I’ve missed. They have been left to their own devices, none of them have been permitted on board any of the spaceships and only Dex and Voka have paid them a visit. I see Voka sitting apart from the others watching Noah drawing in his notebook. As I watch, she gets to her feet, picking up the young boy and making her way outside. She doesn’t meet my eyes once.
I say my goodbyes, each more difficult than the last. Darren and Kate are holding hands and I am happy that they have found each other.
“What will you do now?” I ask.
“We’re going to search for survivors. I think there may be a lot more than we initially thought, judging by what we saw on our way back here. A lot of towns survived the attack– the Venites didn’t have much time, although they managed to do a lot of damage in what little time they had,” he adds grimly.
“You should stay,” Kate grabs my hand, “this is where you belong.” I know she is right but I have made my decision. If Dex insists on staying with me and rouses Zonax’s ire he could turn on my friends again and decide to kill them all. Besides, I have a score to settle with Zonax, and my need for vengeance outweighs any fears I have.
“What did you say?” A furious voice interrupts and I swing around to find Kimberley standing over me, a mask of disbelief on her face. “You’re not seriously thinking of leaving with them?” she raises her eyebrow and glares at Dex.
“Kim,” I tug her arm and we walk outside into the open air.
“You can’t go with them, Rachel. Don’t be ridiculous! Surely you aren’t that stupid?”
“I have to go.” She senses it – Kim, who knows me better than anyone, knows that deep down I don’t want to go.
“Why?” she snaps, and it is crystal clear that no explanation I can give her will satisfy her. I lower my voice so that the others won’t hear.
“There is something we have to do,” I whisper, “but I’m coming back, Kim. I promise. Please,” I add as she opens her mouth to protest, “don’t say anything. It could put us all in danger. I know what I’m doing – trust me.”
She gives me a look very similar to the one she gave me all those years ago in her bedroom – a cross between pain and cynicism.
“You saved my life, Rachel,” she concedes eventually, sounding accepting. “If you hadn’t told me where to go I would probably be dead by now.” I refrain from pointing out that, in fact, I had led her right into the belly of the beast and she would probably have been even safer staying put in Atlanta. “You’re really coming back?” she asks skeptically.
“I promise.”
She takes a step forward and hugs me – a real bone-crushing hug, and I laugh despite myself.
“I’ve missed you,” I whisper in her ear. She pulls back and her eyes are glistening with unshed tears.
“You don’t come back and I swear I will never forgive you,” she sniffs.
“I promised,” I point out.
Saying goodbye to Kimberley is hard enough and my resolve is almost crumbling so when Jason saunters over, I steel myself.
“I’ll see you soon,’ Jason claps me on the back fondly, and then wanders over to the others. I feel deflated, disappointed by the casual goodbye, but it’s probably for the best. I am already blinking back far too many tears.
As we make our way up the ramp and back on board the Venon craft, I turn back, taking a last long look at my home. Dex, standing beside me says nothing, but he takes my hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze. I force a smile and then we take the last few steps and head down the corridor.
“I want to show you something,” Dex murmurs and I follow him through a maze of passageways. All the doors are shut and I wish I could see more of the rooms inside. I assume they must be cabins. We emerge from the corridor into a large, open room, which must be in the very heart of the ship. I give a gasp of surprise at the windows which were not visible from outside the ship. They stretch along both sides of the vast room, providing a panoramic view of the world outside. I am about to rush over and look when I spot a dark head protruding over the back of a low, black settee.
“Noah?” My voice rings out across the room and he turns to grin at me, just as I notice Voka sitting across from him. She spares me only a cursory glance and then turns her attention back to the picture they are coloring.
“He’s coming with us,” Dex’s murmurs in my ear. “He has no-one, and the mess left behind is no place for him. He wanted to stay with her,” he tilts his head in his sister’s direction. My spirits lift, knowing that at least I am not entirely alone. Noah is a human boy, and it’s nice to know he will always be with me in a world full of strangers. Then I think about how selfish I am being.
“Noah,” I move closer to him ignoring Voka’s warning frown. “I want to talk to him,” I tell her, refusing to be intimidated. She narrows her eyes but Dex murmurs her name and, heaving a sigh, she gets up and strides past me. Dex follows her, leaving me alone with the young boy.
“Noah,” I take a seat beside him and make sure I have his full attention before continuing. “You do understand that where we’re going we might never come back home?” If things go badly, and Zonax discovers Dex’s plan, there is a strong possibility he will kill us all. Noah nods, his eyes dancing with excitement. “And you’re okay with that,” I press, “you won’t miss your friends?”
“No,” he insists, “besides, I’m going to see them.”
“Noah, your friends aren’t coming with us. Nobody else is. You won’t ever see anyone you know again.”
“But I’ll see them,” he insists.
“Them?”
“My mom and dad,” he beams, and a cold shiver runs through me.
“Noah, why would you say that?”
“Because,” he grabs his backpack, still recognizable even though it is filthy and mud-spattered, “she told me so.” I am about to curse Voka, when he hands me the small piece of folded paper he pac
ked before we left the Mills' house. I open it carefully, my eyes scanning the neat, feminine handwriting.
My Dearest Noah,
Words will never be enough to tell you how much we love you and how important you are to us. You are my life, my heart and my soul and, even though I might not be with you, I want you to live every single day knowing that I am always watching over you. Be brave, my Son, and be happy.
You will see me again and daddy too, I promise. We will be waiting for you in heaven.
Until then, know that we are always with you, in your heart, and we are so very proud to call you our son.
All my love
Mom
I swallow hard to keep the tears at bay. The note is so poignant and so sad.
“Gran brought it back from the hospital,” Noah explains and I draw in a shaky breath. His mother must not have died immediately after the car accident. She had lived, at least long enough to pen this final farewell to her baby boy.
“She told me,” he smiles, taking back the paper and folding it carefully before returning it to the back pack. “She told me I will see them again. That’s where we’re going, Rachel - to heaven.”
“Noah...” My heart aches for him, this naive, beautiful little boy who is so tragically mistaken. “We’re not going to heaven. We’re going to Venon. It’s another planet. It’s where they,” I gesture at the others, standing on the far side of the room, “live. Your mom and dad – they aren’t there. They’re in heaven, but that’s not where we’re going.”
“You’re wrong,” he shakes his head confidently. “You’ll see.” And with that he turns back to his picture.
Voka returns immediately sensing that our conversation is over, but I stand and intercept her.
“You have to tell him the truth.” My eyes flash angrily. “You can’t let him go believing he’s going to be reunited with his parents. It’s cruel, Voka. You know it’s cruel.”
The Traveler Page 26
