Raven's Sphere

by Melissa Koberlein

  A few hours later, I’m back in a hovercraft on the dark side of Mythos. Tobias is driving, and Joe is spouting directions to the chamber of light. He’s planning to return to his dimension to bring more of Tobias’s people back to Mythos to rebuild. Tobias was pleased to see Joe and me getting along. If getting along means Joe hitting on me every chance he can get, well then, yeah, we are getting along.

  “We’re coming up on the door,” Joe says.

  Tobias slows and comes to a halt.

  Joe jumps out of the hovercraft. “Wait here.”

  He walks off into the darkness. A few minutes pass. Maybe I should have gone with him. What if he leaves us? What if this was all a trick? My heart beats faster, and I’m no longer cold from the chilly temperature and winds. I glance at Tobias, and he appears to be on the same wavelength as me.

  I unbuckle my seat harness, planning to go after Joe. A light appears on our left, starting small, like a pinhole, then gradually growing larger and larger until finally, it’s a rectangle of white light on black.

  A door of light.

  I hop out of the vehicle. “Come on, Tobias.”

  We head to the light, about fifty yards away from the vehicle. Tobias left the hovercraft floodlights on so we can see our way back. Joe must have already gone inside the room. I stand in front of the opening, vacillating between wanting to touch the space just beyond and running away. There’s something about entering an imaginary door of light that leads to another dimension on the dark side of a planet that sends a shiver down a person’s spine. But I have no choice. Immunity can only be granted halfway between our dimensions.

  Tobias gives me a little push. “I’ll wait right here. Good luck.”

  “Hey,” I say, frowning, “I’m going.” This is a huge deal. Give a girl some space.

  I face the door again, taking a deep breath. My hand shaking, I touch the white light with my fingertips. The space is warm and the air heavy. I push my arm into the light and feel more of the same. Before I can pull my arm back out, something grasps my hand and pulls me through the door. I close my eyes and hold my breath.

  When I open my eyes, I’m standing in front of Joe. He’s holding my hand after pulling me through. I turn back around toward the door, and it’s no longer there. Only an ordinary white wall remains. I glance around at my surroundings. The room is a perfect cube about ten meters across and long. All the other walls and floor are white. No doors. Around the room are white pedestals with objects sitting under glass domes. Above us, instead of a ceiling, is what appears to be deep space with thousands of bright stars. I inhale sharply. “Wow.”

  “Are you all right?” Joe asks, still holding my hand.

  “I think so.” I point up. “That’s beautiful.”

  “Yeah, it’s a nice view.”

  “Want to look around before I look into your soul?”

  It’s an odd question, but I do need a minute to get my bearings. “My soul?”

  “I’m being dramatic. I’ll just peek inside you,” Joe says, grinning.

  “You’re the boss.” He’s already been in my head a few times, so why not?

  He lets go of my hand and motions for me to check things out.

  I take a deep breath and take a step forward. The gravity is the same as on Mythos. I start on the left side of the room. Foreign artifacts, the likes of which I’ve never seen, are encased on the pedestals. They must be worth a fortune. The first one has a small bronze-colored cube in it. I turn to ask Joe what it is, but he’s already right behind me.

  “That is a potency cube. It can create fertility where there is none.”

  I move around the room, examining the many other devices and weapons. There are pistols, ornate swords, small dart sets, and some garments. “What are all these things?”

  “This is my personal collection. When you’ve lived for as long as I have, you collect things along the way.”

  One of the last cases I come to holds a silver band encrusted with black stones, a headpiece of some kind.

  Joe asks, “Do you like that?”

  “It’s interesting. What does it do?”

  He presses the button next to the glass on the pedestal, opening the case. He picks it up and sets it on my head.

  “That is a beautiful piece. The wearer gains a special protection. We have species that have mind-controlling abilities in my world. This band protects the wearer from any unwanted thought.”

  “We use something similar in our galaxy. But the mind bands are expensive and difficult to come by.”

  “Then you shall have this one. It looks beautiful in your sapphire hair.”

  I touch the band. “Thank you.”

  “All right, are you ready to gain immunity to the sphere?”

  “Sure, what happens next?” I ask, my heart skipping a few beats.

  Joe leads me to an empty area in the center of the room. “It won’t hurt. I need to possess your body and leave the piece of me you’re after—immunity to the sphere. But don’t worry, I won’t stay. No matter how much I might like that.”

  I stare at him, mouth agape, horrified at the thought of not having possession of my own body and him inside me…like, literally.

  He laughs. “Look who’s all serious now? I’ll be good. I promise.”

  “Yeah, you better be. This is giving me the heebie-jeebies.”

  “One last bit of advice. There is much good in your heart. It’s what’s up here,” he says, pointing at my head, “that is what gets you into trouble. All right, time for truth. I’m going to shed my human body. Don’t be afraid of what you see.”

  Did he just say shed?

  He releases my hand and Joe, at least the human part of him, falls to the floor in a heap. I can’t tell if he’s still alive or not, but a small blue glowing figure, child-like, floats in the air above the body, unmoving.

  “What happens to him now?” I ask, pointing to the body on the floor.

  Before I can gain a response from the blue being, the body at my feet melts into the floor, leaving only clothes.

  Ewww.

  The entity, which I’m pretty sure is what’s left of Joe, moves toward me, and he’s not stopping. I inhale sharply as the being moves into me, taking control of my body. It feels strange, like I’m here but can’t move. Paralyzed. And then, just like that, I’m back, exhaling. I turn to see the entity floating behind me.

  In my mind, I hear, The sphere cannot harm you now. I’ll see you again. Go now, save your world.

  Don’t have to tell me twice. “Thank you.”

  A dark rectangle appears on the wall I came through. I take one last look behind me at the being and walk back through the door to the dark side of Mythos, ready to save my galaxy.

  24

  Trust

  I thought I’d feel different, since a powerful being from another dimension possessed my body for a brief time. But I’m still me. Back at the monastery, Tobias and I have nothing to do but wait. We’re counting on Cole, the one person I still can’t trust. I hate not having a ship. Hopefully my last ship is still on Verta Moon. Now that I’m kinda Mythosian, I plan to lay claim to her. Tobias called for a ride, but no one wants to come here.

  The next few days and nights pass so slowly I feel like I could count the seconds. I pull the headband Joe gifted me from my bag and examine it for the hundredth time. The band is made of silver metal, and besides the dark stones, there are etchings, curling and swirling in an intricate pattern across its surface. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

  Tobias interrupts my thoughts. “Your hair is getting streaks of silver. It looks kind of cool with the blue.”

  I look up from the table I’m sitting at in the meeting room, on the bottom floor of the monastery. Tobias looks positive and hopeful, which is something I had for the first twenty-four hours after we returned from the chamber of light. Now, it’s been too long. Too long not knowing if Cole is coming back.

  “Thanks. Now if only I had someone to
show it off to…” I say sarcastically.

  Tobias sits down across from me. “He’ll be back, Raven. I’m sure of it.”

  I roll my eyes at his naiveté. “You don’t know him like I do. He’s screwed me over too many times to count, and his latest betrayal was a big reminder that I can never trust him. So, no, I don’t know if he’ll be back.”

  “Fine. Let’s not talk about that. The last I heard is that the Cadmarians successfully took over Verta Moon. Now they are setting their sights on Zeta. So what’s the plan?”

  I raise my eyebrows. “The plan?”

  “How are you going to get the sphere back?”

  “Well, to start with, we need a ship, don’t we?” I rest my head on my arms on the table and groan. So frustrating! I stand and kick at some chairs, pacing the room. “There has to be a powered ship on this planet somewhere. How can there not be? Maybe the Cadmarians left one behind…” I’m rambling, but I don’t care.

  Tobias sighs and leaves the room, tired of my venting. It’s just as well. I pace, muttering to myself. “If he does come back, then what? What if it’s too late? And if Garren has the sphere, what’s Garrick up to?” I scratch at the back of my neck. Starfire, if I stay here much longer, I’ll end up underground and depressed like Joe.

  “How’s it going?” a masculine voice asks from the doorway.

  My voice catches in my throat while my eyes travel the length of him.

  Cole.

  My degrees of oneness are gone. I narrow my eyes to slits, my mouth set, and stride over to him. How dare he leave me here without any means of transportation off the planet. A week, he said. “How’s it going? I’ll tell you how it’s going. Since you stranded me here, I’ve been burning bodies for the better part of the last three weeks, forced to pray and chant, meditate, get hit on by a being from another dimension, and now I’ve been sitting here doing absolutely nothing. What the hell have you been up to?”

  Instead of retorting, Cole stares at my eyes, his own softening. “Your eyes.”

  I glance down at the floor and back up. “Yeah, so?” A strange uneasiness niggles at the back of my mind. Wait, why do I care about how Cole feels about my eyes?

  “They’ve turned.”

  I can’t read his expression. Is he disturbed? Are my eyes that unsightly? I shift uncomfortably and look away.

  He reaches his hand up to turn my chin back to look at him. I bat his hand away but look at him all the same. “Your eyes are even more beautiful than before, if that’s possible.”

  My breath catches. His compliment stirs something in my belly, and a hint of a smile crosses my lips.

  But then I remember who I’m dealing with and squash it like a bug. This is Cole. He never does or says anything that isn’t calculated. Neither did I, for that matter, until I met Emery. “Okay, stop gazing into my eyes. What’s been going on up there? Is Garren still on Cadmar? What’s their plan?”

  “I called in every favor I had and talked up some major game about you. I hope you don’t mind. You did manage to get immunity to the sphere, right?” Cole moves to a table and sits.

  I sit opposite him, resting my hands on the table. “Yeah, no thanks to you. You knew exactly what you were doing when you left me here, didn’t you?”

  Cole’s eyes dance mischievously as a grin spreads across his face.

  “You son of a—”

  “You needed this, Raven. Whether you want to admit it or not.”

  I narrow my eyes at him. “Just when I think you can’t get any more underhanded. And you said you were earning back my trust. If you think—”

  He leans forward. “I’ve got an entire fleet of ships in orbit above us ready to take on Cadmar.”

  My jaw drops. “Starfire, did you say fleet?”

  “I did. It took me a little longer than I expected, and quite a few of the ships are passenger cruisers. But they’ve been outfitted with top-notch weaponry. There are also plenty of military-grade battleships and fighters too. Many are Zetian but not all of them. You know—” Cole beams, his eyes blazing as the vein in one temple pulses the way it does when he’s excited. I pseudo-listen and watch the wheels turn in his head, his eyes darting back and forth as he envisions space battle plans and a victory over Cadmar.

  A fleet of ships.

  He brought me a fleet of ships. After all this time being stranded on this planet, after hours and hours of burning bodies and meditating, fighting a ferocious lizard on the dark side, and confronting my demons. Not to mention traveling to a room between two dimensions to get immunity to the sphere.

  A. fleet. Of. ships. Just above us. Starfire, we could actually win this thing. I stare at Cole’s mouth. I think I want to kiss him.

  No, really, I’m going to kiss the hell out of him.

  I reach across the table, grab him by his suit, and pull his lips to mine. He stills at first, uncertain of my reaction, but then grasps me by the back of the neck, holding me to him. The next thing I know, I’m on top of the table, pulling him with me, him on his knees and me on mine as our kiss deepens, our tongues dancing around the intense carnal magnetism that has taunted us for most of our adult lives. His hands are in my hair, and mine are on his chest, unzipping, reaching inside his suit, massaging his muscular fine-haired chest, teasing his hard nipples between my adept fingertips. Then he unzips my suit, and I can’t wait to feel my skin aflame next to his.

  Tobias clears his throat from just inside the door.

  I break away from Cole and scramble down off the table, zipping my suit and wiping at my seriously-kissed swollen lips. He does the same.

  Looking down, flushed, Tobias asks, “So does this mean we have a plan?”

  Cole and I look at each other and smile. Eventually we break into laughter both at the situation and that we have enough firepower floating above us to make a serious attack on the Cadmarians.

  Do we have a plan? Yeah, we’ve got a plan.

  Saying goodbye to Tobias is more difficult than I thought it would be. Since first meeting him and wanting to take his head off, we’ve formed a connection. He understands me more than most. I tell myself that I’ll be back, but the truth is, I’m headed into a dangerous situation. Just because Garren can’t use the sphere on me doesn’t mean she can’t kill me. I wave one last time to Tobias as Cole and I make our way back into the atmosphere. Luckily, there are no storms today, and the wind is relatively mild.

  As soon as we break the atmospheric barrier back into space, I relax back into my co-pilot chair. After weeks on the ground, I missed being in space. Cole wasn’t exaggerating about the numbers either. There are ships as far as the eye can see, ready to rebel against Cadmar. I guess it didn’t take much persuading once Cole explained what the sphere can do and how Garren Geldian of Cadmar planned on using it. But none agreed to put the plan into action unless I could gain immunity to the sphere.

  Many of the ship’s captains are Zetian, including the head of Zeta’s military, General Casik. Of course, Uncle Teagan is with them. He helped to retrofit many of the Zetian passenger cruisers. I’ll be happy to see him. He can fix the damage to my artificial arm from the creature on the dark side of Mythos. There are also some non-humans, including the Geldak, who either owed Cole a favor or want to teach Cadmar a lesson. No one wants to be under Cadmar’s thumb.

  Cole docks our ship to the largest destroyer in the fleet, captained by General Casik. I idolized her when I was a kid. She saved Zeta from a complete Cadmarian takeover more than once.

  General Casik greets us at our docking station. She’s wearing a standard-issue black utility battle suit instead of a commander dress uniform. Her black hair is drawn back in a low, tight bun, pinching her already taut tan skin, her dark eyes serious. She stands a good five inches taller than me and commands every bit as much respect in presence as she does in reputation.

  I’m not sure if I should salute, bow, or what. I’m not military. Cole bumps my arm with his, as he salutes General Casik.

  Quickly,
I mirror him.

  General Casik places her hands behind her back, her legs apart. “At ease. Mr. Mason, thank you for retrieving Miss Nevar. Miss Nevar, Mr. Mason claims that the sphere Garren Geldian, Princess of Cadmar, possesses is a weapon capable of planetary devastation. You have seen the weapon in action?”

  “Yes, General Casik. I was attacked on Cadmar a few weeks ago at a filling station bar. My companion,” I pause, my chest tightening, “was a very brave Mythosian cleric named Emery D’Grath. He possessed the sphere. He used it to fight off my attackers. The sphere obliterated them to dust.”

  “Do you think it could be powerful enough to destroy whole ships?”

  You have no idea. “At the very least. The intel I gained on Mythos indicates that the sphere’s potential for destruction is limitless.”

  “To be clear, as Mr. Mason has indicated, you’re immune to the sphere and intend to retrieve it from Garren?”

  “I’m immune, and that is my intention.”

  General Casik moves forward to stand directly in front of me. “Well, your silver eyes certainly speak volumes.” She turns. “Admiral Desla, I want Miss Nevar’s image up on all the ships’ comms as proof of her immunity.” Then she looks back at me. “Are you sure you’re with us?” Her dark eyes harden as she stares into mine, gauging my reaction carefully. “You haven’t been on the right side of the law in a long time. Best be sure of that right now.”

  I return her glare and square my shoulders. I’ve been growing in confidence with each breath I take, especially up here among the stars. I have nothing to hide anymore. “Garren stole the sphere from someone I loved right after she killed him. Believe me, I’ll fight to the death to retrieve the sphere.”

  She nods approvingly. “Well, you might just have to. Garren is one of the most revered combatants in the galaxy.”

  I tilt my head and arch my eyebrow. “With all due respect, I’m not too shabby myself.”

  “So I’ve heard. Garren released a message that you should see.” She nods to a soldier behind her. They move to a screen on the wall. Garren appears on the screen, looking smug. I narrow my eyes at her as my heart rate whips up. Give me five minutes alone with her…