Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy (73 page)

“
What’s happening?” I looked at Kareena again, believing that, somehow,
she knew what the hell was actually happening. She was fuming with anger and trying to fight back fear at the same time.

Then our surroundings blurred and a pale glow engulfed us.

This time, we didn’t fall.

I squinted against the searing light and tried to focus on the approaching shape. My body tensed.

Tall. Grey.
Savior?

I mean, I was pretty damn sure it was a Savior, but its face was partially covered with a silver mask. The metallic
thing covering its nose and mouth was about the size of a compact respirator, with notches on the sides and a row of translucent blue rivets running along the top. The rivets faded in and out as if an energy source were pumping through them. Sensors? LEDs? I couldn’t tell what they were, and the
mask definitely didn’t make the thing any more approachable.

Lucy grabbed on to me and yelped.

“What do you want?” Brian growled. He was the first to confront the Savior.

I looked at the blurry shapes surrounding us. We were inside a cylindrical space, separated from the outside world by a transparent wall of distortions. I wondered if we could somehow step outside the barrier, but with Lucy holding tightly to me, I wasn’t about to take a chance.

“We need the Solus Child back,” the Savior said, his voice
barely altered by the mouthpiece.

I assumed it was the translator, as the others had never spoken to us.

“You’re never getting Solus back,” Brian snapped. “Damn
you for keeping him from us to begin with!”

“You did not want him in the beginning,” the translator said, matter-of-factly.

“Shut up! You’ve got a lot of damn nerve coming down here to face us.”

“The child is a vital part of the future of our species,” the translator added.

“And now he’s a vital part of
ours!
”
Brian looked at Alice and his son, then back at the Savior.

Kareena came up beside him.

“
Leave us alone,” she said, raising a hand to flaunt her Prism bracelet. “You can’t abduct us right now and you know it. Just go away. Go back to wherever the hell you’re from and leave us alone. We’ve got enough on our plates trying to save
our own asses from this shit you did to us.”

Damn, she could be brave when she wanted to be.
Or… maybe it was because Brian was involved.

“You’re not taking the kid,” I said protectively, lifting my chin, inching closer but not letting go of Lucy.

The Saviors were taller than us all, but that didn’t intimidate me. Height didn’t equal power, and if they had the power to take Solus from us with force, they’d have done so already.

The translator stared at me and I glared back, unable to keep my eyes from wandering toward the bottom half of his
face. The constantly twinkling blue beads of light on his mask
distracted me.

“I see,” he replied flatly. “You are willing to sacrifice an entire world to protect a single child?”

“Don’t play mind games with me,” Brian said. “Our own world is in trouble now, too. You went behind our backs and
kept our child a secret from us this entire time. You can suffer
the consequences of your own actions.”

“The Solus Child is a danger to your race. His genetic material will be a threat to others—started or not.”

“You’re lying,” Alice said. “You’re lying because you’re scared.”

“He is ours.” The Savior took a step closer and reached toward Solus.

“No!” Alice lunged at the translator and shoved his arm to the side, then she gasped, frightened by her own actions.

The Savior tipped his head and stared down at her. Brian
immediately rushed to her aid. Kareena backed off a little after that, but I took it as my cue to step in.

Golden light warmed my chest and a subtle yellow glow crept down through the veins in my arms.

“
Leave the kid alone,” I said, squeezing my fists as
amber energy pulsed beneath my skin.

The Savior backed away.

I’d heard that Brian had tried to stand up to them at one time, too, but that he was injured in the process. This time, the Savior didn’t resist our revolt. Maybe they were getting weaker. Maybe it was because he was alone. Either way, we had the upper hand. Clearly.

“You will regret this act of defiance,” he said, narrowing his eyes.

A cloud of white blinded me and everything around us came back into focus. I blinked a few times to adjust my blurred vision.

Damn. That face it made at us.

The translator almost never emoted, but even a forced sneer of anger from the creature made my heart jump into my throat. The words he said were flat and monotone, but… those grey eyes and the frail white brow line leering at me from just above the flashing lights on his silver facemask... That made me feel sick. Lightheaded, almost. And that’s not something that’s
ever
happened to me before.

“So that was creepy as hell,” Kareena said. “Well, I guess these work.” She lifted her wrist.

I looked down at the white band of smoke swirling around
my own. “Yeah.”

“What was that thing on his face?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” Brian shrugged. “But it’s always hard for
us to breathe up there, so maybe it’s hard for them to breathe
down here.”

“Solus seems to be doing okay,” Alice added, ruffling his hair. He peered up at her.

“He is. But he’s human, too,” Brian added with a subdued
grin.

“You know, the low oxygen up there probably made him a little stronger,” I said.

Brian’s brow wrinkled. “Why do you say that?”

“There’s a type of mask that simulates high altitudes. Some guys train with them to hold up better in MMA fights.
It constricts airflow so your lungs work harder, and you have to train your body and mind to function better under those
stressors.”

Brian cocked an eyebrow.

“It’s crazy, I’ll give you that,” I continued, “but I’ve seen guys win fights even after having an opponent block their breathing. Scary shit, but some guys swear by it.”

He stared at me and grimaced. “That’s messed up.”

“Whatever works, right?” I wasn’t about to delve into the
reason I knew so much about them. “We should get moving. Lucy?” I turned. She was standing beside Solus with an arm draped across his bony shoulders. Lucy’s protective nature—probably inherited from me—really shined around him. It was
heartwarming, while worrying. How long would Solus be with us? Could he really survive here on Earth? What would Lucy do if he was suddenly ripped away from us?

But all of that wasn’t what I needed to focus on right then and there.

“What’s the plan?” I asked Brian.

I liked being in charge, but so did he. We agreed to split decisions between us in order to keep things quiet. If Alice and Kareena had something to suggest, we listened. If Brian had a better idea, I listened.

The kid was smart, even though I hated to admit it. There
were moments he made me feel like an idiot. If only I’d had my own head screwed on as tightly when I was his age—things might be—

“Whoa!” My wrist felt hot. I looked down. The band of smoky essence radiated with brightly colored light.

I heard a voice.

“There are things we need to show you.”

The words echoed not through my ears but through my head. Somehow. It wasn’t sound I could hear coming from
anywhere around me. The words resonated from a strange place inside my head—my skull. It was only inside me. Inside
my brain.

Kareena heard something, too. Her fingertips were pressed to her temples, but I couldn’t tell why. She shut her eyes.

Alice and Brian froze in place.

Solus was looking up, unmoved and unafraid, listening intently to a ghost I could not see. Lucy didn’t appear to be fazed at all.

“Who?” I opened my mouth to say the word, but before it left my lips, I got a reply.

“
The
Prism.”

The fluttery, subtle voice seethed through my brain and I sucked a breath in through my teeth from the eerie, sickening sensation. Hearing something without my ears.

I looked back at Kareena, who was clenching her jaw and groaning in pain. “Y-you said we were safe!” she bellowed, doubling
over to clutch her head in her hands.

Was she getting a migraine from the voice?

“
You are,”
it replied. “
The Saviors are hiding information
from you. We want to show you the truth, but we must ask for your permission. We must bring you here and, therefore
, require your consent.”

“What about Lucy? And Solus?” The question drifted through my mind.

“They will accompany you to the neutral atmosphere we have prepared. We will protect them as we have already.”

They were right. They rescued Solus from the Saviors and they gave Lucy a bracelet as I slept.

“And, if I agree, will you bring us back here after?” Again,
I didn’t have time to speak the words before I got my reply.

“Yes.”

I couldn’t tell if the others were hearing the same thing I was or not. I couldn’t tell if they were hearing my voice—thoughts—whatever they were, or if they were having their own private conversation with the Prism.

“I don’t know what it means to you in your language,” I started, still only thinking the words I wanted to say, “but promise me you will protect my daughter from harm if we go with you. Please.”

“
We will. She is important to you and you are important
to your people and your world. We promise sanctuary while you are with us.”

Before I could verbally agree, a large plume of sparkling silver burst before me. The portal of glistening light spun like a vortex, beams of white intersecting and then splitting through each other to spin around the circumference again.

I took a deep breath and looked at Lucy. She stared up at me with beautiful, trusting brown eyes. I took her hand, stepped into the doorway of endless white, and pulled her through.

The familiar rush of cool air hit me, my surroundings blurred, and my body was propelled into nothingness. We
were transported to a vast white room not unlike the glossy interrogation chamber the Saviors brought us to when they wanted to talk. But the air here was different
and the temperature mild.

I took in a breath. The air felt no different in my lungs than
what I was used to on Earth. The room was tepid
. Comfortable.

“Where are we?” Lucy asked, tugging my arm.

Then a
flare of white light sparkled beside me and
I stepped back. Brian, Alice, and Solus instantly appeared, their gazes quickly taking in the surroundings.

For a split second, I thought Kareena had said no—that she’d had enough.

But then a final blast of white proved me wrong and she arrived, agitated, with a look of immense pain twisting her expression.

“Are you alright?” I turned to her, still clinging to Lucy’s hand. “Kareena?”

“No,” she muttered, and cupped her forehead with her hand.

“Can I do something?” Brian’s arm sparkled with a hint of blue.

“No,” she grumbled, turning from him. “It will go away soon. Probably.”

“Do the Prism make the headaches worse?” Alice asked.

“Kind of,” Kareena replied, shaking her head. “But, whatever. Just don’t worry about it.” She cringed.

I reached out for her hand.

“Kareena,” I whispered, trying to get her to look me in the eye. “Kareena, it’s okay to ask for help.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Her face shot up and her narrowed eyes met mine. “Just leave me the hell alone right now. I don’t want your help.”

“Okay. Okay.” I backed off. “I’m sorry.”

I caught her glare at Lucy just before wincing and rubbing
her temples again.

Lucy’s fingers squeezed mine.

“
I don’t know where we are, but Solus is here.” I motioned
toward him. “And he’s being good. I don’t think you need to be scared.”

Solus stood between Alice and Brian, looking off into the
empty white distance in anticipation.

“What is it?” Alice set a hand on his shoulder. He turned toward her and then lifted up his arm and pointed forward. “I don’t see anything.”

We all
looked off in the direction he was pointing and waited. The room was completely silent. So quiet, I could hear everyone breathing, including myself. I swear my heartbeat was louder than anything though, and I felt it throbbing in
my chest.

Then Solus’ eyes grew wide and he marched off after something.

Without a sound, a massive hole opened in front of us, as
if a curtain was being drawn to reveal a movie-theater-sized window so tall and wide, it nearly devoured us.

I cleared my throat and gawked at the monstrous opening. It encompassed almost half of the room
, surrounding us in a semi-circle of glass—like a snow globe. But we weren’t looking into a ball of plastic glitter. We were looking out… at the Earth.

A ball of greens and blues, browns and whites, hanging before a backdrop of star-studded black. Tiny white lights flickered subtly in the ocean of space.

“Is… that…” Brian cautiously walked a few steps closer so
he could reach his son. Solus took a seat very close to the window and stared out. He turned his head and gestured with his hand
for Lucy to come join him. She let go of me and darted off.

“L-Lucy!” I called out, but she ignored me and plopped down beside Solus, cross-legged. Together, they peered intently out at the stars.

Somehow, I think she trusted Solus more than she trusted
me. Then again, I was starting to wonder if he knew things we didn’t.

I approached the window slowly, half of me wondering if we might fall right out of the place if we got too close. We knew nothing about their technological limits.