He shrugged. Not my problem. Alan probably has other things for her to do. He usually does. I’m sure Giddy will be joining in. He gazed down at his phone, at the map on his screen showing directions for how to get to the park where Alan would pick them up. Then teleport. After teleporting to space, Orlando was pretty sure he could handle doing it on a smaller scale. Traveling through the atmosphere scared him a whole lot more than a few miles.
Space. Remembering being there sent a shiver down his spine. A pipe dream of his had been actualized and all he felt was nauseous. Then again, it didn’t happen the way he’d planned. No rocket ships were involved, just alien technology. Correction, native technology from my people. Orlando rubbed at his forehead as one of his cats nudged him at the ankles, like the animal could sense his distress.
He picked up the massive orange and white striped cat. “Did I trap you in here? Too bad, you’re stuck with me.” Pretty sure I closed my door this morning, which means Mom and Dad must have snooped around. Not sure what they’re expecting to find. Do they think I’m stupid? They had a lot of catching up to do. When it came to his personal life, he kept it under lock and key. Any Altura business was conducted at The Apartment, and that was rare to begin with. He showed up to meetings, but hardly ever got homework from Alan.
As for girlfriends and whatever other teen drama was going on for the day, if it infected his bubble of seclusion, he kept it confiscated to his phone. His phone never left his body. I have a lot of text messages I should probably reply to. Tait practically blew up my phone this afternoon during Spanish. Must have been bored. He scrolled through the messages in which she gushed over prom and something about colors and flower options and what kind of food and did he want to ride in the limo and a lot of things that didn’t particularly interest him. Probably a huge sign he was making a big mistake.
I can’t call it off now after all of this planning. We’ll go and keep it friendly. I can let her down easy next week. He hoped. When he saw the words “after party” in her last text, he groaned and blacked out the screen. Good timing, because there was a soft knock on his bedroom door.
“It’s open,” he called out and put his phone on his nightstand.
His mother walked in and sat down on the bed, opposite from where he lay. “Everything all right?”
“Huh? Yeah, why?” he asked, trying to figure out how she knew he was even mildly distressed. Okay, over statement. I’m confused. Nothing more.
She ran a hand through her blonde hair, averting her gaze, and she looked an awful lot like his sister then it was almost funny. “I can…feel it. It’s what I do.”
“What you…do?” He tilted his head to the side. “Your power? Like an empath?”
“So you’re familiar with the term?” She perked up, her whole demeanor changing.
Orlando shrugged. “You know you’re talking to a teenage boy who likes comic books and video games, right?”
“Interests change fast,” she said softly. “When you were five, you were obsessed with skyscrapers and airplanes. At twelve it was robots and some video game I could never understand. Something involving digging for supplies and building?”
He knew the game, but wasn’t about to go off on a tangent about it or how to play. “Certain things don’t change. At the core, I’ve always been into this kind of stuff.”
“I…I see,” she said.
If you’d been around, you’d have known that. He almost said it. But I promised to try. So instead he didn’t verbalize his disappointment. Apparently, she could sense it anyway.
She scooted closer to him. “Perhaps you don’t want to let me try and mend my mistakes. I know you don’t trust me. Still, if…if you need…me…”
“I do,” he whispered. “I always have. Your gift explains a few things. Helps, actually.”
“It does?” she asked. “I thought your powers were more like your father’s. Aggressive. Potent.”
Slowly, he raked his teeth over his lower lip. “They are, but there are things about it that are so intuitive, so connected with my core. I’d like to think that comes from you. We…aren’t as alike as I want to be. I want to be more like you and less like him. I…like you more.” I actually love you. Not so sure what I feel for him.
She gave him a gentle smile. “This makes me both happy and sad to hear. I think if you’re willing to give your father the same kind of openness you’re giving me, you two would get along great. You’re so much alike.”
“That might be part of the problem.” He chuckled. “It’d be a lot easier if he’d stop hassling me about the Altura stuff. I get it, he’s mad that I’m not following in the family footsteps, but he kind of lost that chance when he decided to leave us to fend for ourselves.”
“He has solid reasons to be concerned in your tribe affiliation,” she murmured. “They’re a lot more militant than ours. He’d rather you not be a soldier.”
Orlando held her gaze. “Eighteen is considered the legal age to be a soldier here. Not like I want to be one, exactly, but he can’t control me and I don’t respect him enough to value his opinion about anything. You know, in the off chance he decides to present something to me as an actual discussion instead of him trying to order me around all of the time. Ultimately, I’m an adult. I get to make my own decisions.” That sounded like a cliché, bratty, teenager kind of thing to say, but he was too tired to care about being a stereotype.
Whatever lecture he was expecting, he didn’t receive. Instead, his mother put her hand on top of his and rubbed his knuckles gently with her palm. “It’s hard to accept that you’re all grown up. I wanted so badly to come back permanently when you were younger. To be here for more crucial moments of your life. Things didn’t work out in my favor, of course. My powers were needed to weed out cracks in our structure. People who were putting our people at risk and jeopardizing our ultimate goal.”
“Which is?” he asked, not sure he’d ever been told what the whole point of the war was.
“Your father is better at explaining it.”
“I’m asking you.” He moved his hand onto hers and gave it a squeeze. “Please, Mom. This is the straightest anyone has ever been with me. What’s it all about?”
She patted his hand. “The war started over a land spat. While the Gelandrosimbol, or green tribe, for simplicity to you, agreed for diplomatic negotiations, they were only trying to stall the Yumsaltanz, or yellow tribe. Ultimately, they wanted to assassinate the royal family of the yellow tribe in hopes of a complete takeover of the nation. The royal family caught wind, fled the planet, and according to the Ilotus, sought refuge here. One child of this family lived, had a full life, and married into our tribe. We are the Nassalmvan, or gold tribe. A wise choice since our nation is actually far from the land the yellow tribe controls. For the most part, our country doesn’t like to be involved in the conflict of others. We hold no official stance on the war.”
“But you’re involved anyway,” he observed.
“Yes, because we are ambassadors to Earth. It’s our job to be in the know of what is happening and keep our government on Altura informed,” she said. “Now that word is spreading of the lost royal family intermingling with our tribe, we’ll be dragged even further into the mess.”
He let out a sigh. “Why fight so hard? And why…why leave the planet to do it?”
“When you’re pushed, you either fall down or push back. The green is pushing the yellow. While they believe in peace, they’re not going to just let themselves be overrun and destroyed.”
It made sense, but it still didn’t explain why the violence was needed in the first place. But he could say the same of a lot of Earth wars. Most were started because people couldn’t seem to get along due to their differences. “So why are they not fighting on Altura?”
“At first, they were, but the Alturan Unification Committee put a stop to it and demanded diplomacy on the planet. Negotiations weren’t going well, and there was some kind of a fight out in space involvin
g the two tribes. Alturan law is only valid in Alturan territories. Those don’t extend far into space.” She gave him a pointed look.
Orlando let out a sour chuckle. “A loophole. And all of the other tribes followed because?”
“The one you work with wants to keep change from happening. As an ambassador, we informed all of the governments of the war spreading here and what they desired to do about that. They had to decide just how much humans could handle.” She lowered her gaze to the bedspread.
“And I suppose they need locals to show them the lay of the land and teach them to mix in with the culture.” He stroked his chin. “Also, we make good minions. This should make me mad, but the more I think about Alan dragging me into all of this, the more I’m glad I get to take a stand. How long do you think it will take for the truth to get out? That aliens and super powers are real?”
She drew his head in so she could kiss his forehead. “Longer than you might guess. Please, be careful.”
“I will. I am.” With some hesitation, he moved in to hug her. “Thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me, but you’re welcome.” She moved back to gaze at him for a moment. “As for your girl troubles, you need to be yourself again before you can give your heart to anyone else. Whoever you might be.”
He rolled his eyes. “Thanks for the input. Everyone else has an opinion, so I suppose you’re allowed to have one too.”
“I’m not going to tell you what to do because I think you already know and are planning to do it. So much is changing in your life right now,” she said softly. “The one who loves you most will be patient and ready.”
Sighing, he pulled his knees to his chest. “Is it all so obvious?”
“You’re in love. I can feel it. And yet your heart also breaks. Take your time. You’re an adult, but you’re a young one.”
“Okay, I get the picture!” Though he acted annoyed, in truth he held onto those words. They applied to so much more than just love. Having a parent around doesn’t suck as much as I thought after all.
Chapter Fifteen
At first, Cadence liked the idea of having a night off while the others had to go work. Normally, she’d go to the lab inside of The Apartment and try to search for more answers in her quest to unlock The Doctor’s drug. She was so close to a breakthrough. With Jaes’s help, they’d been able to recreate a testable version of the drug and would hopefully find a way to learn how it unlocked abilities so well. The second goal was to figure out why it caused some of the teenage testers to die. According to the autopsy reports, it was almost like their bodies began to deteriorate and shut down for no apparent reason. If she could learn why, then she could also come up with some way to counter these affects. An antidote of sorts.
Jaes…She sighed at the thought of him. Is the only reason he’s so interested in finding a solution because he wants to date me? Does he not care about what’s happening to the kids in my school? To all of these innocent people? If she let herself believe such a thing about him, she’d only find herself disgusted. I have to keep faith that he only has the best intentions. His having a crush on me is just another coincidence in the matter.
She shook her head and turned on the television, determined to have a good night of relaxing at home. I will not think about the war. Nope. Tonight is my night off and I’ve earned it. We all have, especially Alan. I wonder if there’s a way to get him to rest more. I’m worried he’s working himself too hard. It’s only a matter of time before he burns out and gets hurt. The thought of Alan hurting broke her heart. Cadence only wanted to see him smile. Because he has an amazing smile. Wow, how can he not know how gorgeous he is? He could be a model and he acts as though he’s nothing amazing. Altura is so strange.
When it came to Altura, she had a lot of questions. She almost asked Alan about them, but when he mentioned how much he missed home she wasn’t sure if it’d help his homesickness or make it worse to talk about it more. Doesn’t hurt to try. I can ask him. He can always say no if he’d rather not. I should not be thinking about this either. Thinking about him, in general. All it’s going to do is lead me to wondering if maybe… She groaned and flipped through the channels, looking for something to watch and coming up dry. All of the shows she used to love were too far ahead for her to catch up in the storyline, or too stupid for her tastes. Since she gained all of her new intelligence, it was hard for her to find pleasure in the simple entertainment she used to take advantage of.
A text message pulled her out of her funk. She pulled it up, hoping it was from JD telling her everything went fantastically and they were already on their way back. Instead, it was from a new number.
* * *
“Got your number from Orly. Hope you don’t mind. Email your notes on MediCenter to me? Alan said you had some. Thanks! Gideon.”
* * *
She stared at the message, unsure of her feelings. Giddy having her number seemed dangerous. The guy could have been a spy, and handing out personal information was asking for trouble. If he wanted to know how to find me, all he’d have to do is hack my phone. Did he actually ask Orlando for my number or is he just saying that to keep me from getting mad? Why would Alan tell him that she had notes on MediCenter? She didn’t, not really. Alan had mentioned she should research the building, but it was low on her list of priorities for the time being. Perhaps she should rethink that… Especially if Gideon is involved. Someone has to watch him to make sure he’s not up to no good.
Cadence bit her lower lip as she returned a message to him. “Not too many notes. Interested in helping. Want to do it together?”
“Now?” His reply was instant.
“Why not? Got other plans?”
There was some hesitation before he sent his next reply. “Tait is meeting with a friend. Thought about listening in. Don’t be mad at me.”
If Gideon was one thing, it was honest. Mad wasn’t the right word to use to describe her feelings over his admission. Then again, she wasn’t sure what she felt in the first place. Confused? Disturbed? A mix of the two?
“Why do you need to listen in?” she asked.
“I think it’s about the war. They’re going to a park.”
Cadence rolled her eyes. It’s always a park. A wide-open space made sense, she supposed. Then there was less chance of a bug being in place rather than at one of their houses. Maybe they’d get more creative for a meeting place in the future. She could think of a bunch more that would be a whole lot better.
With a sigh, she prepared another text. “I’m going to regret this…”
“I’ll come with you.”
Gideon’s next message took a lot longer to send than she anticipated. He must have been thinking it over rather thoroughly. “Okay. I’ll get you the address.”
“Can you pick me up?” She hated to ask. Having to rely on him for transportation wasn’t ideal. But it would be faster. If things fell south, she had her bus pass on hand. It’d give them more time to talk to each other. And I have to try harder to trust him. He’s not going to hurt me. I have to believe that.
“I’ll be right there,” he said. She imagined a sigh went along with the message.
Cadence wrote out a short note for her mom in case she came home from work early. The chances of that happening were highly unlikely, though. She worked long, hard hours on a regular basis. Cadence didn’t take advantage of that often, but it did come in handy sometimes. I won’t get in trouble anyway. It’s early, not anywhere near curfew. All of my homework is done. This’ll be good. She was going on an adventure. And that’s what I wanted all along, to be included. Why does Jaes have to make everything so complicated?
Things would, no doubt, be complicated for a long time to come.
Chapter Sixteen
JD sat between Orlando and Angela on a bench while they waited for their meeting with the yellow tribe to begin. He felt like a wall, an all-important buffer, keeping peace between two warring nations. Each one of his comrades fumed and refuse
d to look at the other. Why did Cadence have to stay behind? I get why Giddy isn’t here, but her? Not so much. She’d be so much better at playing peacekeeper than me. Cause I want to be mad too. Jerk hurt my sister, made her cry, but no. I have to pretend to be happy. He let out a huff, which briefly got Orlando’s attention.
Then Orlando gazed off at the trees in front of him and drew a circle in the dirt using his psychic abilities, pretending his finger was some kind of a pen. “Any day now, Alan, really…”
“Got another hot date?” Angela sneered.
Rolling his eyes, Orlando finally looked her way. “No, I’m bored, it’s kind of cold, and I’d like to get this over with.”
“You and me both,” JD mumbled. “Not that I don’t love nature and all, but there are a lot more bugs out than I thought there would be.”
“Can’t say I’m all too fond of nature either.”
A park in the middle of nowhere seemed like a great place to do a trade-off of ancient alien technology, though. Not so many eyes to view the transaction. According to Alan, the yellow tribe had a small base of operations out in the woods. A small shed that connected to the tunnels. Too bad this perfect location was over an hour away from home.
JD would have felt a lot more reassured if he was on familiar ground. Before we can get there, we have to teleport too. Which is also easier to do from a place where other people can’t see us. So that was where the teens were waiting for their fearless leader. One of the smaller parks, tucked away, only to be taken to a bigger one that was a lot more remote. It didn’t sit well with JD, at all. Not like anything bad is going to happen. We’ll make the drop off, chat a little, and then head on home.
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