by K. Webster
Outraged, my head jerks toward Aria as we pause at another door. “How can you let him treat me like this?”
Aria bites her lip, then says, “We really are just trying to help, Emery. The morts here can be a bit impulsive, especially when it comes to someone they consider a mate.”
I glare at her, then turn to face Avrell, who I remember vaguely from when I was removed from the pod. Unlike Breccan’s wild mane of hair, Avrell’s is carefully shorn, almost preppy. When he smiles, I note his fangs have been filed down. It gives him a kind, approachable appearance. If I weren’t so absolutely steamed, it would have been welcoming. Of all the aliens I’ve met so far aside from Calix, Avrell is the one I’d be most comfortable with.
His face visibly softens in relief when Breccan places me on an examination table in front of him. “I’ve been ever so worried about you,” Avrell says as he begins to hook me up to monitors. I almost expect a sizzle of heat to pass from his fingers to my skin like when Calix did the same thing, but Avrell’s touch is competent and clinical.
“How is she?” Breccan asks and I grit my teeth at being discussed like I’m invisible.
“Her heart rate is high and her lungs are working overtime even though her blood-oxygen level is low.” With a sympathetic glance at me, he adds, “She’s having a very hard time breathing. I’m surprised she hasn’t lost consciousness.”
“Is there anything you can do?” Aria asks. I don’t look at her. She was supposed to be my friend, but her actions leave me feeling betrayed, alone. Without Calix, I’m bereft.
To me, Avrell says, “I’m going to administer a light sedative to help calm your nerves. It will hopefully alleviate the stress on your lungs and allow you to breathe more normally.” He preps my arm and inserts a small needle. I barely even feel the pinch. “It’ll take a few moments to take effect.”
I close my eyes and imagine he’s Calix, which allows me to relax in small increments. If I’m going to die, I don’t want it to be while I’m surrounded by these strangers. I must get well enough to find out where they’re keeping Calix so I can see him again, if only for a short while.
When I wake again, the room is empty. The only sound is the dull, monotonous drone from the computer as it reads my vital signs. The ache in my chest is still there, but much less pronounced.
I push to a sitting position and groan. Now that I’m not panicking and can somewhat breathe, all the other aches and pains my body is experiencing make themselves known. My head hurts, my stomach aches, and I could use a week’s worth of uninterrupted sleep. Despite it all, my first priority is finding Calix.
Swinging my legs over the side of the examination table, I get to my wobbly feet, dragging their monitors behind me. The room is about the size of a regular bedroom, with one door leading into what looks like an office, and another automated door that empties out into the hallway. I can’t access the hall door without one of those bracelets the commander had been wearing around his wrist.
“Good solar, alien Emery,” Uvie chirps in greeting. “How may I assist you?”
Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.
“Silent mode,” I order, remembering how Calix had used the command before. I’m shocked when she goes silent.
My stomach cramps and I double over. Much as I want to plot my escape to find Calix, it won’t do me any good if I don’t have the energy to make it to him. A quick search through the bay of cabinets near the exam table turns up more of the fruit Calix had given me before. I choke down a couple—their taste is no longer sweet on my tongue while I’m flooded with worry—then wash it back with a cup of water I retrieve from the sink.
I leave the empty container and the dripping cup on the counter, my attention turning to the office door. As I pushed through, thankful it’s unlocked and empty, I give a silent apology to Avrell for invading his privacy. Computers and strange medical contraptions buzz and whirl, but what interests me the most is the map on the wall opposite his desk.
Leaning forward to study the layout more closely, I can’t hear anything over the rush of blood in my ears. If I can find out where they’re keeping him, the reform cell Breccan had called it, then I can save him like he’d saved me.
“What are you doing?” comes a voice from behind me.
I screech and whirl around, my hand clutching at my racing heart to find Avrell leaning against the door, his pointed ears flicking. His lips are pulled back in a wan smile that bares his filed down teeth.
“Avrell, I-I’m just—”
“Trying to find a way to escape?” he finishes.
My stomach twists. “No, I was trying to find out where you’re keeping Calix.” Might as well be honest. I’ve already been caught.
Avrell gestures for me. “Let’s get you back to the bed. You need to rest.”
He tries to take my hand, but I pull away from him. “No, I don’t want to rest anymore. I want to know what you’re doing with Calix. He was only trying to help me. I’m not going to comply with any of your tests until you let me see him.” My voice rises with each word until the end when my words echo off the small room.
“What’s going on in here?” Aria says as she comes around the corner to Avrell’s side. Breccan, to my growing disappointment, follows close behind.
“What are you doing out of bed?” Breccan practically growls.
“She wants to see Calix,” Avrell informs them.
Aria is already shaking her head. “No, sweetheart, you need to rest and let Avrell figure out what’s going on. Trust me, he’s a good doctor. He’ll take good care of you.”
“I already had a good doctor. I want him back. Like I told Avrell, I’m not going to follow any of your directions. I’ll fight you every step of the way, unless you let me see Calix.”
Breccan, who’d been uncharacteristically silent, lifts a hand when Avrell and Aria open their mouths to argue. “Listen, little one, I understand you want to see your mate, but Calix has broken the rules.”
My mate?
The thought isn’t a horrible one, but I pack that thought away for another time.
“It’s not safe for any mort to follow their whims as they see fit,” he explains. “Doing so could put our entire population at risk if something were to go amiss. Including yourself and the other aliens.”
I’d barely given any thought to the other women on board, or the other morts for that matter. “Calix only wanted to help me and he has. He’s been trying hard to figure out what’s wrong with me. If you truly value my life, you’ll bring him back.”
The three of them share a look and Breccan says, “We can’t let his transgression go unpunished.”
“So you’re punishing me, too?” I hiss.
“Of course not,” Aria interjects. “You’re free here, you’re safe with us.”
“If I haven’t done anything wrong then there’s no reason for you to keep me locked up here like an animal in a zoo. I’m feeling much better now and we’ll all figure out what’s wrong with me much faster if you take me to Calix, otherwise we can keep going round and round and nothing is going to get accomplished.”
Aria puts a hand on Breccan’s arm and he says, “I do not like being backed into a corner.” His black eyes pin me to the spot, then he says, “But I can’t help but respect you for fighting hard for your mate. I too, have experienced this. I will take you to Calix, but he is not to be released until the following solar, is that understood?”
The bands in my chest loosen, but I keep my spine stiff. I don’t want Breccan to see me as weak. I don’t want any of them to. “Then take me to him.”
6
Calix
Cold.
Every part of me is numb.
Am I in The Eternals?
A thundering inside my nog reminds me I am not dead. That I am as alive as the solar I was born. But I have lost my senses and they are slowly returning back. My heart is erratically beating inside my chest cavity, as though it is trying to escape.
Why
would my heart want to escape?
Blue eyes. Yellow hair. Pale and soft and dying.
“Emery,” I croak, blinking my eyes open against the darkness.
A bulb flickers and hums from the hallway. It takes a moment to realize I am lying on a cot inside a reform cell. Cold and alone.
Rekk.
Whatever Avrell injected me with slows me down. My mind begs for me to rise to my feet and rage. To tear the metal bars from the walls and make my escape. But I am weak and weary. Frustration seeps inside my bones.
I need to get to her.
Before it is too late.
“She’s not there,” Sayer’s voice rumbles from a speaker nearby.
“This really is punishment,” I complain. “Having you follow me everywhere I go, echoing all my thoughts.”
“Just thought you might need a little company,” he says in his jovial way that normally does not bother me, but gets under my skin this solar.
“Silent mode. Ever heard that command?”
He laughs and then it goes silent again.
Thank the rekking orbs. I need to think, and I cannot do that with Sayer invading my mind.
Sitting up, I study the small cell. A urinal sits in the corner beside a sink. The cell is empty. Not often do we have to bring anyone down here. Last mort down here was Draven. When he had been lost to The Rades’ madness. I had watched him from the feed as Breccan cared for him. We were all sure he would have died. Somehow, despite how the disease ravaged him, he lived.
She will live too.
Our people are stubborn and will fight for the ones we care about, even when they are too weak to fight for themselves.
Something clanks nearby and then I hear footsteps. Then, Emery comes into view, wearing a loose-fitting minnasuit and boots. I am so surprised to see her, I almost wonder if I am imagining it. I find a way to get my legs to work and shakily make my way over to the door. She rushes over to me, her chest rattling loudly.
“Calix,” she says, choking on a sob as she reaches through the bars to get to me.
I walk into her embrace and hug her back. My nose finds her hair and I inhale her sweet scent. Now that she is back in my arms, I do not want to let her go.
My eyes lift to find Breccan glowering at me, a folder tucked against his chest in his arm. Aria, also frowning, stands beside him. They both regard me with disappointment.
“I need to get out of here,” I bark at him. “I need to find a way to heal her.”
Breccan shakes his nog. “Not for at least one more solar. You are still burning with rage. You are unpredictable, Calix. I am sorry.”
A growl rumbles from me. “We do not…we do not have time for this.”
“I understand, which is why Avrell will be assisting. I will bring you your tablet and I have brought what you were reading. But for now, she stays out here and you stay in there.”
Emery pulls away from me and storms over to Breccan. She yanks the folder from his grip and hisses at him, “Leave. You both have done nothing but make things worse.”
Aria gapes at her while Breccan’s brows furrow deeper.
“Very well,” Aria says softly. “If you need us, you know where we’ll be.”
As soon as they’re gone, Emery’s teary eyes meet mine as she hands me the folder. “I hate it here.”
I wince at her words. “I am sorry.”
She shakes her nog, sending two tears snaking down her cheeks. “Not you. Them. This place. Our predicament. I wish we had met someplace else. Where I had my medicine and we were free to just be together without anyone bothered by it.”
Reaching through the bars, I swipe away her tears with my thumbs, my claws gently sliding across her pale flesh. “We are alone now. We will figure out a way. Things will get better. I swear this to you, lilapetal.”
She smiles and hands me the folder. “I trust you. Until you’re free, tell me what you need and I’ll fetch it. Firstly, tell me where to find some blankets. It’s cold down here.”
Sayer makes his presence known once more. “Third door on your right, Emery,” he instructs. “I’m here if you need me.”
For once, his voice is welcome.
“Rogshite,” I mutter under my breath.
Emery sits up and leans her nog to peer inside my cell. We are sitting back to back against the bars. I am studying my father’s notes while she taps away on my tablet to pass the time.
“What is it?” she murmurs. “Everything okay?”
“It is just this…” I point at the messy scrawling left by my father. “The surgical bot. After Belin fell ill after being exposed to one of our toxic plants, he used this machine. Using this technology, he was able to cut him open and explore inside his body to remove the tarry substance. They tracked his progress all the way over here at this facility via a comms system. Belin underwent these treatments where a certain medicine was breathed into him.”
She widens her glassy blue eyes. “Do you not have the medicine here?”
“No,” I grunt. “From his notes, he said that microbots were the future. That this technology was outdated. The morts moved here many revolutions ago. But…”
I think about the rough, harsh terrain and climate that stands between us and those machines. The Graveyard. Sabrevipes. Geostorms. Pathogens.
“No,” I growl. “It is rekking impossible.”
“What is?” She reaches through the bars and threads her fingers with mine.
I bring her hand to my nose and inhale her sweet, addictive scent. “If the technology is still there, we could try it. Even without that medicine. I could give the formula for Haxinth to Avrell. He could make some for us to use for the procedure. Then, once inside, I could directly examine the issues and maybe the microbots would do their job if applied straight to the source.”
She grins at me. “Let’s go. Let’s do it. Anything to get out of this place.”
I squeeze her hand. “Emery, it is not that easy. In fact, it is nearly an impossible journey. At least three treacherous solars’ worth of travel through The Graveyard. So many awful things could happen along the way. I do not want to lose you on a chance.”
She leans in, her hot breath close to my face. “This is my only chance. I don’t think you realize that. Nothing here works. If there’s a machine that you think could help, we have to take that chance.”
Pressing my face against the bar, I seek out her sweet lips. She kisses me softly. I want to pull her in here with me and mate with her properly. Show her how much my soul has bound itself to hers. The stars created this union and I will be rekking damned if they try and tear it apart.
“We will have to vanish,” I whisper in case Sayer is listening. “While no one is looking.” I motion for the tablet. “I will make a list and where everything is at that we will need. Just be quiet and nobody will notice. If you need to take breaks, do it. I need you as strong as you can be for this journey.”
Her eyes glitter with excitement. “We’re really going to do this?”
“Together.”
She kisses me again, this time, her tongue eagerly plunging into my mouth to dance with mine. We almost attempted it before, and now we are finally doing it. For a moment, I am dizzied by her immensely sweet taste. Like her tears, but even sweeter if possible. Now I understand why Breccan devours Aria so often. These aliens taste rekking delicious.
“Thank you,” she murmurs when she finally pulls away.
All I can do is grin at her, my forked tongue flicking out on my bottom lip to savor the last of her.
I’m showing Emery what one of our weapons does when we hear footsteps. Quick and fierce.
“Hide this bag,” I growl in warning.
Before she can get it put away, Breccan and Draven round the corner. Emery reaches beyond the bars to grab my hand as though she is afraid of being torn from me again. A growl rumbles from my throat.
Breccan glowers at me. “Your constant disrespect for authority is alarming, Calix.”
“You, of all morts, should understand,” I snarl.
Draven’s brows lift and he smirks at me.
Breccan, thankfully, relents. “I do understand, which is why I have not throttled your brainless rekking nog.” His sharp stare roams over the space and he eyes the bag. “Going somewhere?”
I rise to my feet and point to the lock. “Let me out.”
Breccan’s jaw clenches. His sub-bones pop in his neck, but I ignore the sound that usually intimidates me into submission. Not this solar. This solar, I am filled with the fire to protect my mate. “A geostorm is coming. Big one.”
The fire is snuffed and I deflate.
“Then we must hurry,” Emery whispers, tugging at my minnasuit.
“Hurry for what?” Breccan asks as he edges closer. Draven holds back, near the door. He always has an escape at the ready. “Were you two planning on leaving?” His eyes are wide in astonishment.
“With good reason,” I try to explain. “My father worked over at Sector 1779 on the outdated equipment. I am sure it could be of use to Emery.”
I expect backlash and argument. Not a nod of agreement.
“I will have Draven and Oz prepare one of the terrainsters. You and Emery should get with Aria and Avrell to pack the other necessities for your travels. But you must be swift if you intend on beating the geostorm,” Breccan says as he pulls an old-fashioned metal key from his pocket.
He unlocks the door and I yank it open to get to Emery. The moment she is really in my arms, I can relax. Breccan smiles at me and Draven’s black eyes flare with something akin to disgust, as though touching her is horrible and repulsive. She is anything but. She is perfect, and she is mine.
“Why the sudden change of heart?” I demand.
Breccan scrubs his face with his palm, his claws dangerously close to carving out his eyeball. “We need information.” Then a sigh. “Just like you. Information we did not bring here because it was no longer useful. Our people—the females—were dying out.” His jaw clenches. “Avrell says they used to have a nursery inside Sector 1779. If anything goes wrong with my mortyoung, we need to have every bit of information within our claws. The terrainster is big enough to carry some equipment back.”
