Extinction (12 page)

“She must’ve had her reasons.” I wished we could
have five more minutes with her, to get the answers to the questions we carried
with us. I wanted to ask her why she abandoned me. Bill nodded silently and
turned to me.

“I found this in her things.” He handed me a white
envelope. My name was written on it in my mother’s neat handwriting. It was a
letter for me from my mother and my heart skipped a beat. I held on to the
envelope if it was the most precious thing on earth.

      It’s been three days
since Chai left. Only three days. It didn’t seem like a long time, but a
nervous restlessness brewed inside me. Arianna and Gaios were unusually absent
today from breakfast in the mess hall and I found little things to do to keep
me busy. I twisted Bill’s arm in getting me a job on the ship. I couldn’t sit
around all day and do nothing. I was assigned to the kitchen. It wasn’t much, cleaning
up after meals and washing dishes, but it filled the hours, distracting my
thoughts.  

Today it wasn’t enough to curb the restlessness in
me and I ended up back in my room. I borrowed an old paperback novel from
Arianna yesterday. I had no idea where she found it, but I learnt that Arianna
was able to get anything if she set her mind to it. It was an old historical
romance full of sighing and huge dresses. After a while I gave up trying to
concentrate on the weathered pages. It couldn’t keep my attention and I flung
it on the bed. I ended up pacing the short length of my room. I kept having the
feeling that something was going to happen, a twisting and knotting in the pit
of my stomach, a nervousness for which there was no explanation. 

Finally when I was sure the shiny floor would need a
new wax job, I heard a noise coming through the thin wall separating my room
from Chai’s. He was back. Excitement coursed through my body. Vanity took over
and I decided that I need to change into something else. I slammed my hand on
the wall nearest to me and a drawer silently slid open. Hastily I rummaged
through the pile of clothes Arianna had brought me wear. There wasn’t a lot of
variety to choose from, mostly jeans and t-shirts. I finally decided on a blue
shirt the same color as my eyes and hastily got dressed. I headed for Chai’s
room and anxiously smoothed my hair before knocking. I had been waiting for
three days to see him again and now I was so nervous I wanted to run away.

After a couple of seconds the door glided open and
Chai stood before me. He was even more gorgeous than I remembered, dressed in a
casual white shirt and jeans instead of the usual black uniform. Damp hair hung
carelessly across his forehead and he smelled of soap, like he just taken a
shower. I inhaled deeply, resisting the overwhelming urge to fling myself into
his arms. For a moment he looked at me with his warm brown eyes, his lips
tilting into a smile and then it was as if a switch flipped inside him. His
face turned to stone. It was like a mask slid across his face and he folded his
arms across his chest as he leant against the door frame. 

“Hi,” I said hesitantly. He didn’t look happy at all
to see me and I shifted uncomfortably on the balls of my feet. This was not how
I imagined it would be when I saw him again. I wanted to touch him, hold him,
and not feel like I was staring at a stone wall.

“What are you doing here?” he asked bluntly and it
felt as if he slapped me. I didn’t understand this coldness emanating from him.

“You’re back,” I said awkwardly. He didn’t show any
emotion as he watched me. It was like he turned into a freaking statue.

“Yeah, I came back this morning.” Something was
seriously wrong with him. Three days ago he held me in his arms and now it was
as if a stranger stood before me. He’s been back for hours and he didn’t come
looking for me. Maybe he was tired. I bit my lower lip nervously.

“I missed you.” I cringed. I sounded so pathetic. For
a split second something flashed in his eyes and then it was gone.

“Can we talk later?” he asked coolly. I wanted to
shake him. Where was the Chai I knew? Why wasn’t he happy to see me?

“I thought that maybe you’re hungry or we can go for
a walk.” Talking to him was getting more painful by the minute.

“It’s not a good time, Lexie,” he answered cold and
unyielding.

“I don’t understand. What’s going on?” My voice
pleaded with him. What happened to him? The Chai I knew would never be so
cold. 

“Nothing. This is a bad time. You have to go.” A
muscle popped in his jaw, his eyes as hard and barren as the desert. A lump
formed in my throat and I swallowed hard.

 “Why’s she here?” a shrill voice interrupted him. Emily
appeared behind him and draped herself on Chai’s arm and eyed me with such open
hatred that I gasped. She was barefoot and wore the shortest pair of shorts I
had ever seen and a tiny tank top left her midriff bare. I watched the intimate
way her hand strolled over his chest.

“She’s leaving,” Chai said and avoided my eyes. His
hand moved around her waist and rested on her hip. Nasty reality dawned on me. He
had been back a whole day and he didn’t come looking for me - instead he made
plans with Emily; the same Emily that was my best friend, the same girl that
hated me and tried to make my life a living hell since I got here. I was the
biggest fool on the face of the earth.

“Why don’t you go and play with the other kids and
leave us grown-ups alone,” she said, her voice dripping with venom.

“Lexie, please go,” Chai added.

My eyes blurred with unshed tears and I couldn’t
look at them anymore. I left them standing there. Emily’s laughter followed me
down the corridor, while tears streamed down my face. 

      I groaned as I
looked at my reflection in the mirror. I hadn’t slept at all last night and
dark bruises were beneath my eyes. I could hear Emily’s high pitched laugh till
the early morning hours. The wall between our rooms was too thin to mask the
noises from next door. He treated me like I was nothing to him. He kissed me
and held me. Apparently it meant nothing to him. It was all a lie. How could I
have been so stupid? I thought he cared about me and now it was obvious he
didn’t. And Emily – she was my best friend. Was she so angry at me that she
used the one thing that could hurt me the most and shoved it into my face?  

Sometime during the night I became angry. No, I was
furious with myself and him. I was angry at the Vandelrizi and my father. I was
angry at all the times I had felt helpless and weak. The Vandelrizi had taken
away all control we had over our lives and I was tired of living like this. I
was tired of being pushed around. I determinedly pressed my lips together. I
would never allow anyone to hurt me again.

I stormed to Arianna’s room and knocked on the door.
She opened the door and her eyes narrowed when she saw me.

“You look like hell,” she said and ushered me
inside. She looked disapprovingly at my uncombed hair that I had shoved
absentmindedly into a messy ponytail on my head.

She pulled the elastic band from my hair and made me
sit on a chair. She produced a brush and started untangling my long hair. I
winced as she pulled the knots from the strands.

“Did Chai keep you up all night?” she asked with a
chuckle and I cringed. 

“No, he had other plans.” Her hands stilled in my
hair and she frowned at me in the mirror on the table in front of us. She
started to braid my hair. “I didn’t come here to talk about Chai. I wanted to
ask you a favor.” 

“What can I do for you?”

 “Can you train me?” Arianna wrinkled her nose as
she pinned the intricate braid to my head.

“You want to break someone’s legs?” she asked and I
couldn’t help but laugh. 

“No! I don’t want to break anyone’s legs. I want to
learn how to defend myself.”  She eyed me suspiciously as if she didn’t believe
me. 

“You want to learn how to fight?”

“Yes. I think it’s time I learned how to fight,” I
explained. “And you’re training the rebels for battle. I’m one of them now. I
should train too.”

She was quiet for a few moments considering my
request. “I can understand how you feel. If I had a father like you…let’s just
say it makes being an orphan doesn’t sound that bad.”

“You’re an orphan?” I asked surprised. I thought she
had a family waiting for her at home.

“My family’s here with me.” It was strange seeing
her so serious for a change. “Gaios, Chai and me were recruited as soldiers from
an orphanage on our planet. We’ve always been together. They’re my family.” Chai
had said the same to me before he left. Gaios and Arianna was his family. Now
it made sense. They were all orphans. They didn’t have a family, only each
other.  Even though I was furious with Chai, I still felt sorry for him. It
must have been hard growing up without parents. At least I had my mother for a
while.

“I didn’t know.” Apparently there was a lot I didn’t
know about them.

“It’s not a big deal,” she said and flipped her hair
over her shoulder. “I understand why you want to train and of course I’ll help
you.” Impulsively I jumped up and hugged her. She was stunned for a moment, and
then she laughed and hugged me back.

     
I
was relieved THAT Chai
and Emily weren’t at the mess hall. I wasn’t
in the mood to face either of them after yesterday. I was too angry and
humiliated. After the late night they had, they were probably sleeping in. It
killed me to think of them together in Chai’s bed. Gaios joined us and instead
of gulping down his food like usual, he watched me intently.

“Are you okay?” he finally asked. I reigned in my
anger and nodded. He obviously knew about Chai and Emily.

“Okay, what’s going on that I don’t know about?”
Arianna asked and eyed us suspiciously, dropping her fork on the table. 

“Chai’s…” Gaios hesitated as if searching for the
right words.

“Chai’s with Emily,” I finished his sentence for him.
The sooner everybody knew the better and I could put it behind me.

“What do you mean Chai is with Emily?” Her brow
furrowed and then it dawned on her. “You don’t mean…what the hell is wrong with
him? It’s impossible for him to be with her.  You’re his
prijatelj.
Did the little tramp bewitch him?”

Gaios gave Arianna a long hard look and I wondered
if they were communicating with each other in their minds like Chai had done
with me. Arianna turned away and pressed her lips together. She attacked the
piece of bread on her plate with her knife and fork as if it was still alive.

“Lexie, I’m sorry,” Gaios said. I hated the pity I
saw in his eyes.

“Chai can be with whoever he wants to be. I don’t
care.” The look Gaios gave me told me that he didn’t believe me, but he let it
go and focused on the lump of baked liver on his plate. I lost my appetite and
shoved my plate towards him.

      Training with two
aliens
with superpowers was much harder than I had anticipated. Gaios agreed to help
train me without as much as a second thought. They both were very patient with
me even if I had to be the slowest and most uncoordinated student they ever had
to train. Arianna showed me how to move and block attacks using every part of
my body. Gaios played the role of an attacker and I was more than once in awe
of how gracefully he could move his big frame. He held back and tried to move
slower for my benefit, but I was totally hopeless and ended up on my back on
the training mats more times than I could count. 

It was after lunch that Chai strolled into the gym. A
group of rebels were already waiting for him and he dived right into a sparring
session with them. Not once did he look at me or acknowledge me in any way. It
was as if I didn’t exist. It hurt. 

Gaios tried to demonstrate a round house kick to me,
but I was too distracted to pay attention.  The mere presence of Chai in the
same room as me made me even clumsier and I lost my footing more than once. I
kept glancing at him and I was so preoccupied that a kick from Gaios, even a
tortoise could have dodged, slammed straight into my stomach and I lurched forward,
wheezing and coughing.

In a blink of an eye Chai was next to me.

“Can’t you be more careful?” he snapped at Gaios.

“Shit, Lexie. Are you okay?” Gaios asked concerned,
squatting on his haunches beside me.

“It’s not his fault.” I wheezed and pressed a hand
on my stomach. “I’m fine. I just need a sec to catch my breath.” I was lucky
Gaios was holding back, otherwise I would have been minus a few vital organs. I
pushed myself upright.

“I’m really sorry,” Gaios said and I felt bad for
him. It wasn’t his fault. I was the one not paying attention. He and Chai
exchanged a few heated glances and then he stalked off to where Arianna stood
watching us with wide eyes.

“Not everyone’s cut out for this, Lexie,” Chai said
and anger rolled through me in huge waves.

“Are you saying I’m too weak to do this?” I
stretched myself to my full length in front of him, lifting my chin.    

“It’s not what I meant.” He gave an exasperated sigh.
“You’re different than everyone else.  You’re …” He hesitated, searching for
the right word.

“I’m special?” I immediately regretted saying it,
but I was so angry and hurt that I couldn’t stop myself.

“Yes. You’re special,” he said softly and my head
reeled. Yesterday afternoon I was so special that he chased me from his room to
be with Emily.

“Why don’t you tell it to her and leave me alone.” I
jerked my head toward Emily. She stood at the door of the gym and her annoyance
at seeing Chai with me, was very obvious. She impatiently tapped a shoe on the floor.
She pouted and her arms were crossed over her chest. Immediately a frosty mask
shifted over Chai’s face. I couldn’t understand it. Every time Emily was near
he turned to stone.