Sam knew Alex was in his darn right to be pissed, to feel used, but he didn’t stop holding her. When she wrapped her arms around his torso he didn’t flinch, didn’t move, didn’t let go. Not until she did.
She brushed a tear out of the way and took a deep breath. “Now what?”
“Now I prepare the strawberries and you get the rest.” He smiled and looked nerdily beautiful grabbing that bucket with the same determination as an intersat.
“But you hate cleaning the strawberries.” Who was this tall awkward dude in his place?
“Before I change my mind, Sam.” Although his words were menacing, he was still smiling.
Emma woke up to an empty bed. She’d felt Sam was pretty restless these days, yet avoided burdening Zoey with more worries. Pulling the darkest pair of yoga pants from the closet along with a white t-shirt and black hoodie happened without the slightest cringe. The socks and trainers came on with the same ease. It kind of made her smile to herself.
Mental note: look how far I’ve come. Bun in place, hairspray and eyeliner on, Emma Whitehouse’s wall clock read 7:05 a.m. The early morning shift dictated coffee in the kitchen, so without a second to spare, she headed toward the only thing that had the ability to restore Emma’s power mood: the coffee maker.
She pushed the kitchen door open to reveal Alex in a green apron sliding several items in the dishwasher with a grin and Sam handing him several other bowls and mugs. A weird sort of harmony. The kind which made your hair stand on end and stare back dumbstruck, to say the least.
“Are you just going to stand there? Here.” Sam shoved a coffee mug in Emma’s hands.
“Um, thanks? Now how did you two get from mutual aversion to this swimmingly get-along?” Emma sniffed the coffee suspiciously communicating with Sam through waggling eyebrows and meaningful stares. It wouldn’t have been the first spiked coffee on Sam’s behalf.
“Ice cream.” A broad smile took over Sam’s lips. “If we win today, there’ll be ice cream for everybody! We made Lilou’s favorite.”
Alex arched a brow himself. “You know Lilou’s favorite flavor?”
“I’ll have you know it was my exquisite attention to detail that made me partner at The D.C.” She fanned herself with the oven mitt like a conceited brat. “In fact, only looking at a person I can pretty much guess their favorite ice cream flavor.” Between the way she now spoke and wiggled a pretentious finger in the air, Sam was most likely laying out a trap.
Alex propped himself against the fridge and dared to ask. “Oh yeah? What’s mine?”
“That’s easy.” Sam chuckled, swinging her nose in the air. “Sour grapes!”
Emma facepalmed herself. “And we’re back to normal.” She raised her mug high, making her way to the other side of the island. “Any word from Mezin, Alex?”
“She’ll be here any minute.” He confirmed. “Speaking of—could one of you go check on Mia? We need to have everyone ready in forty max.”
γ
Earpiece in, brand new white glittery tights and an intricate cut long shirt on, Zoey busied herself trying to tame her curls. Jasper’s reflection went back and forth in the bathroom mirror, distracting her every time. She saw him sliding his boots on with the corner of her eye and watched the scales of his uniform enveloping his body whole. The way his blond curls fell against the curve of his jaw, looked like the work of magic.
For as long as she had, she’d at least stare.
“When are they portalling here?” She asked, tucking the last loose strand behind her ear.
“Alex said twenty minutes. Mia’s impatient to see Rufus.” Jasper’s hair went up in a neat bun. When he neared her, the metallic sound of his boots brought back memories of the plasin box. “Whatever the outcome, we’re still in this together, Zoey. Things can go either north or south today and we know that, but whatever happens to me, to Lilou, I want you to keep negotiating on behalf of Earth.”
Alarm rose from her stomach to her cheeks. “I thought we weren’t in any danger at the Chamber.” Her fingers went cold again.
“There are no weapons, but that doesn’t take away imprisonment until they reach a conclusion. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, but if it does, they cannot hold you, you’re not our own. No one here has the authority to lay a finger on you and their image is far too important. Richard was trying to cover his ass. The Alliance is not Richard.”
She nodded in response. He’d taken her through the ropes of every possible outcome the night before, his expression still hitting at mild concern. The Alliance was not Richard, but that didn’t mean they’d be predictable when faced with something they never had to deal with.
“Whatever happens, we have backup,” Zoey added. “Leiki’s not going to allow anything to happen to Mezin either, I’m sure of it.”
The stream of light from the bathroom mirror glinted off Jasper’s eyes as he spun her around, cupping her face one last time. “Why did you fall for me?” He had that desperate quality to his eyes that made breathing difficult. She could feel the slight tremor in his fingers, curling gently behind her ears.
It was hard to articulate when he was looking at her like that—as if it were the first and last time. “Be—cause you’re weird.” Her voice came quick and breathy and words came tumbling without much thought. “Like White Russian weird. It’s a cocktail—milk and vodka. And because you know who you are.” There were a million reasons why she fell for him, all weighing hard on her heart right now. He either played hard to get or hard-to-figure-out-she-wants-me, he was stubborn and good to his core and back, beautiful, respectful, loyal. He had it all and he was staring back just as broken as she felt.
She should’ve bitten her tongue, snapped her mouth shut and swallowed every thought. “Why did you fall for me?” But she couldn’t help it.
His voice came charged as he lowered his hands, caging her between the vanity and his hips. “Because I’ve never met someone like you.” For that split second, she could’ve sworn something foreign glistened in his eyes before his brows drew together. “Someone whose moves I can’t anticipate and I don’t understand. You do things to me on every level and I feel you. I feel you every living second and I’ll never comprehend why you’d break me like this, why you’d break yourself like this.” His shoulders tensed under the weight of her decision. His anger though, was eclipsed by the reality of time running out. “But I’ll do it because it’s what you want.” The luxury of time, the luxury of debating over a rational train of thought was slipping out through every crack. He studied every freckle on her face, wishing to freeze them both right there. “Kiss me.” As if they were speaking the same language for the first time in a long time, Zoey’s arms locked around him, her fingers digging at the cliff of his shoulders. And their lips collided in a cocktail of loss and abandon as he slipped inside her mouth and burned her whole. The way his thumb trailed over her ribcage, desperate to feel her again tore her open, making her body yield to his touch. As if his fingers were magnets, pulling her in, drawing her out like an architect.
Zoey’s eyes fluttered shut in response, pushing everything that was not him out, surrendering to the movement of his lips as he lifted her onto the vanity. Time slowed to a heartbeat.
“Whoa!” Rufus had caught them in full makeout mode. “TMI, man!” He shook his head disapprovingly as he barged in with an impish smile. “Well, at least your face matches your hair now, and speaking of—do we need to hide our hair or anything?” It barely gave Zoey time to untangle herself from Jasper’s arms and look at his face one last time. He looked just as embarrassed as she felt.
Lilou then made her way into Jasper’s bathroom with the same enthusiasm. “Don’t be ridiculous.” She quickly tiptoed behind Rufus. “There are no gingers on Opt, but plenty at the Chamber. Alex is in position, Jasper.”
Jasper got his earpiece in place as he made his way out of the bathroom and into the hallway. “Mia has the exact coordinates, so we’re all set.” Zoey watched him move
in position and soon enough, the pressure shift announced the new arrivals who landed in the middle of the foyer, just like they had, not long ago.
Surprisingly, both Sam and Emma had landed on their feet. Alex and Mezin nodded at each other and proceeded on checking up on everyone else. That didn’t stop Rufus from breaking through and giving Mia the welcome she deserved.
Mezin and Lilou had gotten closer than during their previous encounter, but still, there was no touching involved. As expected, they were soldiers first, sisters second. In the opposite corner, Zoey was already immersed in a group hug and trying to hide the anxiety creeping up her chest. Today was the day she’d give Jasper up and crying only meant she couldn’t own it like she should.
She’d grabbed both Emma’s and Sam’s hands and held on a little too tightly. “How are you feeling?” Emma didn’t have to say the word James out loud for Zoey to pick up on the innuendo.
“Better.” James was neither erased nor forgotten. He was there, as a shadow to every thought she didn’t dare express. “When all this is over and if they grant me permission, I’d like to ask them to let me see his parents. I want to tell them there was good in him too, they need to know.”
“Guys?” Mia joined in. “Zoey, I’m sorry about James. I know he meant a lot to you.” There was no hidden meaning behind Mia’s words and Zoey sensed that once their gaze locked. She wrapped Mia in a tight hug and stopped trying to wonder how she did it—separating the beast she’d known as Etienne from James. No doubt she’d seen it too, she knew he could be two people in one. Instead, she rested her chin on Mia’s shoulder and tried not to think for a change.
“I don’t want to be a stick in the mud,” Sam jumped in “but no one’s said a single word about Beck in a while and he’s still out there. He can do things, kidnap others, alter them. Shouldn’t we get him first?”
Mia shrugged involuntarily. “We don’t have the time to be in two places at once. Let’s tackle the Chamber first and see how we handle Beck afterwards. They’ll probably ask us all to testify.”
“Group up, guys.” Jasper’s tone returned and so did Rufus’s instinct to finally zip up that ugly vest he was wearing. He grabbed Mia and pulled her close enough to slide the ring on her finger without anyone noticing. Her face though, lit up enough to take cover against his shoulder.
“I love you.” She whispered curling her fingers around his hand. “Let’s go get them.”
The Chamber’s coordinates were burned into Jasper’s memory since his first training day as were all key coordinates an ambassador should know. This was the day he’d officially change the course of the political scheme going on right under the Alliance’s nose. He pressed a hand to the ground and clenched his jaw.
A Tidal Disruption Event
“…is an astronomical phenomenon that occurs when a star approaches sufficiently close to a supermassive black hole that it is pulled apart by the black hole's tidal force, experiencing spaghettification.”
What no human or hybrid expected was to land in the middle of nowhere. Lawn. So much lawn, not even tall Emma could see where it began or where it ended.
“This is the Chamber of Interplanetary Affairs?!” Sam was a second away from rubbing her eyes. She’d painted a picture in her head well worth a Men in Black scenario. Tall ceilings, glass, weird weaponry and alien-shaped beings carrying fancy briefcases.
“Wait for it.” Jasper couldn’t say it soon enough. A dome appeared overhead, materializing in translucent shades and geometric shapes from the top down. When Emma tried to get closer to Sam, she couldn’t. They were all frozen in place. Once the dome had finally set, Emma heard voices, but her eyes were fixed at the wrong angle to actually see what was going on. It felt like someone was toying with gravity, destabilizing it until something wrapped around her wrists. When she regained movement, she could appreciate the translucent bands on her wrists.
“We’ve all been scanned.” Lilou chirped, entirely unfazed. “What you see around your wrists is plasin, it neutralizes any enhancements you may want to use against the members of the Chamber. Kalenium enhances, plasin neutralizes.” Rufus of course, kept his mouth shut until the ground beneath them seemed to sink.
“What the—” Before he knew it, they were lowered to the basement level and the dome retracted into nothingness, only to reveal an army of soldiers in brown and navy scaly uniforms standing in position on each side of the narrow passage they’d left for the guests. Jasper silently took the lead as the rest fell in step behind, one after the other under rigid glances.
A door opened to what Emma could only imagine as another set of scanners falling in a steady rhythm over their bodies like bright club lasers. As they were being scanned, another machine produced a thin layer of… plastic? Paper? She couldn’t really tell apart from the ever changing digits on the darn thing.
“Place your hand onto the pink circle as you walk through the last scanner.” Jasper’s words were almost too calm. Just like at your average airport, the last scanner was something that actually looked like one. And the pink circle came with a pinch once their hand was in position.
“They’re testing our blood?” Sam turned to Lilou with a finger in her mouth.
“They’re testing everything.” Lilou’s electric eyes held a different glow in this light. Like the trooper that she was, her gaze kept jumping from human to hybrid, registering their every reaction. “Set your earpieces properly and remember, they will only be able to understand you after Mezin sets up the translator. Since your language is not an official one within the Alliance, we had to get creative.” All eyes switched to Mezin. Wherever she held the evidence she was supposed to bring in, it had to be small enough to fit around her belt. In a navy blue uniform, almost like Lilou’s, Mezin fiddled with her wrists before taking a step through the only available opening. Everyone else followed.
When the giant room came into view, Sam’s initial Men in Black vision wasn’t so far off after all. Enormous kalenium walls surrounded the Chamber, with the ministers elegantly seated in a half moon auditorium in rows and rows of swarming white suits. Everything seemed almost too bright, with the occasional gleam of blue peering through in contrast to the silver floor. Top that with the giant panoramic dome above their heads and Sam’s mouth went agape.
If there ever was a casual hum, all the room fell silent as Mezin walked through, exerting self-control like the soldier she was. Sam registered her foxicity, seeing how she cast glances in precise directions. A few gasps followed. Either there were more guests than anticipated, or some of them had recognized Mezin as risen from the dead.
So many eyes were watching. Zoey tried to keep her mind on autopilot, but it was next to impossible. Her heart pounded in her ears at the enormity of it all. The closest thing to this Chamber was the UN General Assembly she’d watched on TV. A three level stage emerged ahead, and they were now climbing the steps to the second level. The first was too high for them to make out in all its detail, but five officials craned their necks from above. Richard was in the very middle.
Shit! Zoey gasped, her body turning rigid. An avalanche of obscenities came to a halt on her tongue as she closed her mouth shut. They’d stopped for Jasper to exchange a few words with some other official before he climbed up, followed by Alex, Lilou and Mezin.
Rufus, Mia, Emma, Sam and herself stopped each on a step leading to what could only be described as the desk where Jasper was about to give a speech.
“Fellow members of the Chamber, I am the Ambassador of ordinance G||| following the planet bound mission to Earth and the reason behind the emergency meeting called today with all one hundred and fifty seven ministers of the Interplanetary Alliance.” Jasper’s voice resounded. “By direct order of the Chief of Security this meeting will be held doors closed and no present party under oath or not is to leave the premises until the matter today is settled.” Richard bolted up and opened his mouth to speak. Nothing came out, so Zoey switched her glance to Rufus. He was on to Richa
rd like a hound.
“Joining us today are the victims of a fail in our system but also the heroes who have helped us uncover a matter of critical importance to the I.P.A.” Jasper continued as Mezin pulled two seemingly small intersats and started working her fingers on both. “We stand before you, the one hundred and fifty seven representatives of an institution which we swore an oath to and whose principles we’ve all been compatible with until we accidentally scratched the surface.” He nodded toward Mezin who with the touch of a finger began projecting the images of illegal mining on primitive planets. One layer after another, the one hundred and fifty seven officials watched in absolute horror the evidence Etienne, Leiki and Mezin collected, the full confession Richard gave Jasper back on IG-47, when he played on a double front risking it all. Waves of collective gasps filled the auditorium. Mia’s eyes fell on the highest tribune where the officials from Opt, Steb and Zii were now whispering to each other. “This is only a fraction of the evidence we have collected on our mission to reveal to you all that this is not the Alliance we joined. These are not the officials representing the best interests for our kind, and this is not progress. Before we go any further I’d like to inform you that with us today are five Supreme Court Judges and representatives of the law who will remind us of all the laws we abide by and the system we signed up to serve.”
Emma followed the facial expressions in the crowd and, for the first time since she became aware of the existence of other alien species, she peered through the crowd at the ones who were not like Jasper, Alex or Lilou. She swallowed hard and tried to keep her cool. At least they all had two eyes. Unconsciously, her hand wrapped around Sam’s who seemed to be staring at the exact same thing. If Sam’s circumstances proved different, she would’ve muffled a dozen laughs by now. The deer-like individual she was staring at in the front row now leaned over to another official who looked plucked straight of The Shape of Water. To put it mildly. All these beings, human looking or not, were bound to decide their future.
Found in Amber Page 27
