Starcrossed: Perigee - A paranormal romance trilogy (28 page)

"Really? I mean... I do?"

"Oh, yes. Saul and Marcus couldn't stop raving about how you wiped the Innaki out in the gym. Any wonder the Innaki are so interested in you."

"But, what could they do with me anyway? It's not like, I'd work for them or anything."

Ellen threw me a sympathetic glance as she raised her coffee cup to her lips and took a sip. She plonked the cup down in its saucer with a rattle. "I don't like to frighten you, Lucy, but, well, if they got their hands on you, they'd keep you and, possibly want to look into why you're different..."

I finally caught on to what she was saying. "You mean - like, dissect me or something?"

"Possibly. That's why Aric wants you well away from them."

I gaped at her in dismay. "I'd presumed they'd want to keep me for my wyk, kind of like a prized milking cow."

"I guess you could see it that way - they're in the business of developing 'livestock' which will be more productive for them, like farms with their animals. They'd want to find out what makes you tick - what makes you such a great... repository of wyk."

Jomi shivered. "Horrid creatures. Come on, let's talk about something else - we're freaking Lucy out."

"Wait," I said, "If you do end up involving Aric, I want to be involved too." There was no way I was going to sit at home wondering what was happening while Aric was putting himself in danger, particularly if, as they said, I was a better fighter with wyk than any of them.

Ellen and Jomi's protests were simultaneous. "Oh, no, Lucy," said Ellen, "Aric would never agree to that."

I sniffed. Why did she think he'd have the last say? "This is the twenty first century," I reminded her. "Equal rights and all. We may be together but he's not my master."

Even as I said it I doubted Aric was the chauvinist type. His old-fashioned manners and maybe even his protectiveness were remnants of a by-gone era, but he seemed to be a pretty liberal and modern guy.

"She didn't mean it like that," Jomi said. "He's serious about protecting you. He's the one who really holds all the cards, Lucy, so if he wants you out of the loop we'll have to respect that."

"Well, I think you're wrong. He's wrong. You said it's his right to decide whether or not he gets involved in this, shouldn't I have the right to decide for myself?"

They looked at each other uncertainly.

"You said I could fight well... with wyk," I went on, "Wouldn't that come in useful?"

Jomi spoke first. "You may have more wyk than others, Lucy, but you are... unpracticed. One's reserve of wyk isn't limitless. It takes time to... how do I say it? Recharge? You need to know how to conserve it and use it in just the right way. It takes great self control."

"I can learn," I offered. "You could come and visit, and teach me, and I can practice."

She leaned back in her seat. "I can't imagine Aric allowing you to do this."

My jaw clenched. It wasn't up to him. When the time came I'd be fighting alongside him whether he wanted me there or not. "He doesn't have to know just now," I suggested.

Jomi sighed. "All these secrets. I don't like it. Secrets are capricious weights upon one's shoulders."

"Sometimes they are necessary," I replied. Our eyes met, and she understood all I was trying to say.

She sighed again. "Okay, I see there is no changing your mind. We'll talk about how we'll go about this another time."

Ellen ate the last of her pie, and threw her napkin down on the table. "Right," she said, "now that's settled, we have more shopping to do."

* * * * *

It was the morning Aric and I would be leaving, and Jomi's kitchen was a hive of activity, with Phil, Ellen and myself making snacks for the long drive, and Marcus and Olaf hanging around to sample our culinary efforts.

"Well, we have enough sandwiches to last us till doomsday," I said, wrapping the last of the cheese sandwiches in plastic wrap.

"Wait!" Phil grabbed the sandwiches I'd just wrapped. "You forgot something." He broke off a piece of parsley from the big bunch in front of him, unwrapped the sandwiches, and placed the sprig artfully on top.

Marcus grabbed one of the sandwiches and took a bite. "They're going on a road trip," he said between mouthfuls, "not to a five star Michelin restaurant."

Phil shot him a look of disdain, and rearranged the sandwiches again. "The Michelin ranking only goes up to three stars... and if you really think a sprig of parsley on a plastic wrapped parcel of sandwiches is worthy of five stars, then there's no hope for you." he sniffed.

Olaf checked out the tray of cookies Ellen had produced from the oven. Selecting one, he tossed it from hand to hand and eventually managed to get it into his mouth. "Mmmm," he said, "very hot."

Ellen tossed the oven gloves on the bench top. "Who'd have guessed?" she said with a grin.

Jomi arrived carrying a couple of folded blankets, with two pillows placed precariously on top. Saul jumped up from the dining table just in time to save one from toppling to the floor.

"Thanks," she said. "Olaf, are you eating again?"

Her husband swallowed the last of the cookie and wiped the crumbs from his beard. "No, love." he said innocently.

"Lucy, Olaf has a tendency to stop at every truck stop he comes across, and all that greasy food - it's not good for his arteries." She threw him an accusatory look, but he managed to maintain an innocent expression. "Keep him away from it, if you can." She smiled at him affectionately, and placed the blankets on the table.

"It's a long trip - there's a small bed behind the seats in the cab," she said. "Olaf hardly uses it because, well, he doesn't fit in there very well, but you can take these in case you want to sleep on the way."

Aric entered the room. "Lucy, are you busy? I have something to show you." I wiped my hands and followed him down the hallway to the room we'd been using. His notebook computer was open on the bed.

Aric sat down and leaned on the pillows, positioning the computer on his lap. He patted the spot next to him. "Come and look." he said.

I settled down next to him. As usual, with me being around, the screen flickered but cleared instantly.

"You were saying you were worried about your Uncle Tom." He was right, after Smith's threats, I had no clue as to whether my uncle and his family were alive and well.

Aric clicked on an email message, and opened an attachment. It was a candid photograph of Uncle Tom hauling a bale of hay into the back of his pickup.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, tears springing to my eyes. "What's this?"

"I asked a friend to go and check on them. He posed as a photographer doing a story on rural life. They're all okay Lucy."

He clicked through some more photos. There was Luke, looking tiny and self-important as he sat in the tractor, and Michael posing with the farm dogs. I was even glad to see a photograph of Aunt Janet looking snootily at the produce at the local supermarket.

"Isn't it... dangerous - to send these?" After my blundering gaffe in the internet cafe, and my subsequent capture by the Tweedle brothers, I was terrified of using the computer.

"We were very careful."

I clicked back to the photograph of Uncle Tom. His face looked more worn and haggard than I remembered. As far as I knew, he was under the impression I'd just taken off, on a whim, and without saying goodbye, to see the world. I must be an incredible disappointment to him. I wondered if I could ever make it up to him.

"Thank you," I said to Aric. My eyes were blurry with tears, and I blinked them away. "Do you think I'll ever be able to see him again?"

Aric put his arm around me. "Maybe someday."

"Smith knew so much about me, about them. And my mom... Do you think... are they still in danger?"

"Not right now. They won't do anything to them. They're too big of a bargaining chip if ever they managed to get their hands on you again."

I looked uneasily at the screen. Aric rubbed my shoulder. "Don't worry - they won't get you. You're safe."

Leaning back on the pillow, I watched him as he slid the laptop along to the end of the bed.

"Aric," I said. He looked around, and shuffled backwards so he was sitting up against the pillows next to me.

He looked at me questioningly. "What's up?"

"Are you sure you really want to do this? I mean, go all the way to Canada with me?"

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Are you having second thoughts?"

I shook my head. "No... it's just that. Well, what would you be doing right now if you hadn't met me?"

He shrugged. "At the time I met you, I was working as a freelance graphics designer - computer games, that kind of stuff. Maybe I'd still be doing that."

"You're an artist? I didn't know that!" It occurred to me there was plenty I still didn't know about him. The prospect of getting to know him better was appealing.

"It kept me busy," he replied, sliding his arm around my shoulders again. "Anyway, what's all this about?"

"I just don't want you to feel... obliged, to, you know, have to look after me. Living in a cabin in the middle of nowhere - you just don't strike me as someone who would be happy to... end up somewhere like that. Not nowadays anyway."

He grinned at me. "Oh? And just where do you think I would be happy?"

"I don't know - just not in the middle of nowhere."

"I'd be happy living in the middle of..." he waved his hands around as he searched for a word, "... I don't know... a garbage dump? So long as you were there Lucy."

I grinned, pleased with his answer. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

He leaned closer, moving my chin so I faced him. "Honestly, I don't feel 'obliged' to be with you. It's what I want to do."

He kissed me, and I reveled in the feeling of sweet euphoria which flooded through my body like a warm tide. I figured I could kiss him twenty four hours a day if there wasn't the need to come up for air, and sleep, and maybe a bite to eat. I smiled at the thought, and he lifted his lips to look at me. "What is it?" he said, amusement highlighting the blue of his eyes. I grinned and shook my head.

"Nothing. I'm just enjoying myself."

He laughed. "Well, that was the plan. Mission accomplished." He kissed me again, but lifted his head almost immediately. "What is that noise?"

I turned my head to catch a small, repeating beeping coming from the end of the bed. "It's your foot on the laptop!" The computer was protesting as Aric's boot pressed down on the space bar. He shifted and closed down the laptop, moving it out of the way.

"It must have been weird for you," I said thoughtfully.

"Weird?"

"Well, technology. When you think about it - living so long - coming from an era where there's no electricity, no plumbing, no computers, no cars... to, well this!" I waved my hand around, indicating the electric lighting, the power sockets and the computer.

Aric shrugged. "Remember, I've known about the Innaki since I was young. They've had stuff which tops all this for a long time. All this is really archaic compared to their technology."

"So you'd see all this electric lighting in their amazing flying machines and then you'd go back to your... primitive peasant's hovel where you only had candles, and a cooking fire, no running water... and I hate to think what you used to do when you needed the bathroom! Weren't you ever tempted to try to introduce some of that technology to Earth?"

Aric smiled. "They don't use electricity - they're way too advanced for that."

"Okay, but still - it must have been weird to go back to living in 'the olden days' after seeing all that."

He laughed. "Ah... the olden days in my peasant hovel! Fun times. I don't know - I've never thought about it. I was, and still am, happy to live simply." He lay down beside me again and pulled me close, his face barely inches from mine on the pillow. "I do know that a lot of the technology we have which has been introduced in the past century or so has come from outside sources."

"Really? Such as?"

"Well, the internet for one thing. Then there's the transistor, the microchip, fiber optics... the list goes on. It's no accident all this stuff came about fairly recently."

"You mean aliens gave us all that? Why would they do that?"

Aric looked uncomfortable for a moment. "Deals with the government."

I shivered. Smith had talked about making a deal with the Innaki offering me in exchange for some new technology. I wondered what, or who they had exchanged for all these other advances. It didn't bear thinking about.

Aric rubbed my shoulder. "Hey, come on. Let's not talk about that right now. You don't need to worry about any of that, okay? Put it all out of your head." His voice was soothing, mesmerizing.

"You're doing the whisperer thing again."

His answering smile was sheepish. "Sorry." He pulled me even closer. "I don't like to see you frightened. I just want to make you happy."

"I am happy."

His lips pressed against my forehead. "Good," he murmured.

He went to kiss me again, but we were interrupted by a knock on the door. Saul put his head around the corner.

"Are you ready? Olaf is all set to go." He disappeared back out the door, and Aric and I looked at each other.

"Ready?" he asked. I took a deep breath, and nodded. Giving me a reassuring pat on my leg, he got to his feet.

"Let's go then," he said. He grabbed his laptop, and I followed him out the door to say goodbye to our friends.

* * * * *

Chapter Twelve

We'd been on the road for ten hours stopping only briefly at a trucker's cafe, yet Olaf, perched cheerfully behind the steering wheel, seemed as bright as ever.

"I don't know how you manage to stay awake so long. Don't you ever worry you'll fall asleep while driving?"

"Nah, I'm used to it. I only need a couple of hours sleep at a time now. I might have a quick snooze in a few hours." I looked out at the road ahead, but it was night time, and there wasn't much to see other than the never-ending, bland expanse of tarmac which shone in the headlights as the semi ate up the miles. Beside me, Aric had dozed off, his head against the window. I wished I'd brought along an mp3 player. Olaf had been listening to some awful yodeling music on the truck's sound system, and I'd only just convinced him to turn it down 'so that Aric could sleep'.