arbitrate (daynight) (12 page)

“Sure there is. You love your parents and your brother. And I’ll grow on you eventually.” He had a smirk on his face that needed to be removed.

“Like a fungus. Jax, you’re the most annoying person in the universe. I’m surprised Ethan didn’t knife you to death in your youth.”

“Harsh words, love. You wound me. As punishment, we’re going to discuss Daynighter policy tonight.
All
night. You seem to have forgotten your self-imposed mission—take down the SCI and all that.” Hmmph. I had too many other things on my plate to worry about the SCI. Like sulking.

He scooped me up and draped me over his shoulder—vomit stained daygown and all—and carried me into the small bathroom.

I pounded on his backside. “Put me down, Jax. I want to go back to sleep.” Even if I had gotten a good day’s sleep, I’d have wanted to stay in bed all night. I was struggling with severe depression—enough that Jax forced me to see an onboard therapist nightly. It was tougher to be around my parents in their current state than I ever imagined. I’d started having daymares about their deaths and about the explosion at the Goodington’s. Reliving it all took an extreme toll on me. My therapist insisted I work through the guilt, pain, and grief I felt. But it was too much, and I felt my sanity slipping a little every day.

“I’m not going to let you wallow tonight. We’re going to work, and then you’re going to spend quality time with your therapist.” He turned on the shower and stepped in, drenching us both with cold water—between the cold air and cold water my teeth chattered.
 

“I hate you.” I pushed him back and then cranked up the temperature. “Get out.”

He stood there for a moment as the steam rose, chuckling at my drenched, rat-like appearance. “Wash up well, love. You smell like vomit.”

Jax let me take a short break at 2000 hours to eat breakfast with my parents, Jared, and Leila. I mutilated a muffin, but my stomach churned from the smell of orange juice and bacon, so I couldn’t actually get much food down.

“I’m worried about you, sis.” Jared whispered in my ear.
 

I glanced up briefly from my muffin massacre. “I’ll deal. I always do.”

My mother looked over at me and said, “Kira, dear. Would you like to take a walk around deck? The salt air might do you some good.” I knew, from experience, that an unsteady stroll along the deck involved many stops to puke over the rail.

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m not feeling up to it.” I glared across the table at Jax who was eating a particularly smelly, cow-sized omelet.

Jax stood and walked around the table. He put his hands on my shoulders and started rubbing. I relaxed into him, partially forgiving him for his evening wakeup routine. “I think a walk’s in order. I’ll keep you steady.”

I succumbed to the peer pressure and made it one and a half laps before vomiting up the couple crumbs I’d ingested. Jax held my hair and then took me back to my cabin to brush my teeth.

“You’re going to be the death of me, Jax.”
 

He kissed me on the forehead and pulled me into a warm embrace. “On the contrary, love. I’m going to keep
you
from being the death of you.”

Present

Jax and I are
sprawled out side by side on the floor giving the babies tummy time. Jax is imitating Zander, who looks like a human airplane, and Evvie’s giggling at them.
 

I wonder if Aiden’s getting any tummy time. Does he giggle like Evvie or coo like Zander? What does he look like? Does his caregiver give him love and enough attention?

“Don’t go there, love.”

“I can’t help but wonder, Jax. And besides…I thought you promised not to read my mind.”

Jax rolls over on to his side, presses into me, and whispers in my ear. “I said I’d try. But whenever you go to the dark side, it sets off alarm bells.” His proximity’s setting off alarm bells in me, too, but an altogether different train of thought. His touch usually calms me. Instead it’s charged. Every nerve ending in my body’s on fire. I find my gaze dropping from his dilated eyes to his lips. I am imagining all kinds of things I should not be thinking of doing with my best friend. Jax chuckles and kisses me on the nose, pulling me out of my fantasy. “Much better. I’m all for negative thought replacement therapy.”

Ugh. I roll over and bury my head, completely humiliated. Finally, I peek out and say, “Did you do something to me?” After all, I did see him shock Ethan to the point of causing him physical pain. I wonder just how much Jax is capable of.

He stares straight ahead at the babies instead of looking me in the eye. “You give me too much credit, love. It takes effort, on my part, to calm you. And it takes effort to…disable someone. In this case, I just did…nothing…other than touch you.” What? I’m so confused. How much effort does it take to calm me down? Jax helps me
all the time
. He has been for a year. Does helping me hurt him?

Zander starts to fuss, a clear indicator that he’s done with tummy time, and Jax flips him onto his back under some hanging toys. I do the same for Evvie.

“Don’t you ever worry about me, love. I’m happy to help. You know that I’d do anything for you and the babies.”

I grimace. I don’t mean to, but now I’m wondering if everything with Jax has been contrived…artificially generated.

Jax rolls his eyes at me. “Think of all the non-existent Theran money I saved you on mood stabilizers. As much as I’d love to be subject to your wrath, we have unpleasant company.”

 
Before I can respond, there’s a sharp knock on the door.

Paul, a short, stocky Arbiter guard is on the other side. “Sorry to interrupt. Ms. Donovan has a visitor who would ‘like to see her grandson immediately.’”

Grandparents are supposed to be sweet and to spoil their grandkids. Not be totalitarian dictators. I groan at the thought of Vienna Darcton touching my child. As silly as it is, I wonder if evil is hereditary or can be absorbed through the skin.

“I’m going to get one of the nurses to take Evvie. I don’t trust you alone with Vienna.” Jax scoops up Evvie and disappears. He’s back in less than a minute.

We exit the playroom together and find Vienna in the living room. She’s wearing a dark blue pantsuit with a white blouse—definitely not Garden City wear—and standing next to a blue pram-style stroller with a giant red bow on it.

She snarls at the sight of Jax but holds out her arms for the baby. “I think I’ve been kept from my grandson long enough.”
 

I hesitate in complying, holding Zander firmly against my chest. “You mean
one
of your grandsons. The other was kidnapped, yet the Ten has made no efforts to help rescue him.” I know Blake’s on the trail, but it has been over three months. Jax assures me that Blake is making progress but nothing short of having my son returned will help.

“The Ten has no knowledge or involvement in the matter. Perhaps had you not run away, the incident would have never happened. Did you come to me after to request my help? No, you hid away, letting everyone—including your Cleave—think you were dead.” The forced early birth of her grandson was an “incident”? I despise this woman.

“Ethan is no longer my Cleave, or did you forget?”

Her green eyes flare with anger, and blood rushes to her pale skin. “Oh, Kira. My memory’s as solid as an elephant. I forget nothing. You may think that you are invincible as a ward of the Arbiters, but you’re sadly mistaken. And, surely, I remember nothing about your other children, friends, or family members being covered under that umbrella of protection. Now hand me my grandson before I bring down a storm on you and your loved ones that you’ll never forget.”

Jax steps forward to physically intervene, but I put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay Jax. Vienna, this is Zander.” I place Zander into her arms. He immediately starts wailing. Smart boy. Vienna rocks him and gets him to calm down, but I can tell he’s still wary of this stranger.

She sets him in the stroller and starts pushing. “Come now. Let’s take a walk.”

Jax stops the forward progress of the pram. “I prefer we speak here.”

Vienna shakes her head. “Nonsense. You can’t keep them cooped up in here forever. Fresh air will do us all good. I have a matter that I need to discuss with you both that involves Ethan.”

“What about Ethan?” I ask.
Is he not coming back? Did he decide to stay with Alexa on Earth?

Jax responds. “Fine, we’ll come. But I push the pram. If there is any attempt to harm Kira or Zander, I will not hesitate to subject you to Arbiter punishment.”

We take an elevator up to street level. Our apartment takes up half the bottom level of the office bunker—so no windows. It’s for safety. Jax pushes the pram outside with one hand while holding my hand with his other. Vienna scowls at our intertwined hands. “I guess this explains why the Arbiters want to protect you—given you are involved with one of their Council members.”

I don’t correct her, and neither does Jax, despite the fact that I know Jax is solely trying to keep me close and protected in case we need to make a quick exit. The air’s not fresh but stifling, so I focus on breathing. Military City’s located ten miles inland from the coast on a giant plateau—approximately parallel to where San Francisco would be on Earth and well north of Garden City. The city area, which consumes the entire plateau, is surrounded by a twenty-foot-tall mirrored wall. Beyond the wall are steep cliffs and the Eco barrier. Illegal entry or exit would be near impossible, making it the perfect location to house the SCI military.

We walk down a wide boulevard. To our right, there is a giant mess hall and the SCI Intelligence building. Both buildings are built using mirrored glass like many modern office buildings on Earth. To our left, there are thousands of acres used for new recruit military training exercises. Giant floodlights illuminate the space from the border wall. The last time Jax and I were here, there were small groups training sporadically. Now, the city is jam-packed with tens of thousands of soldiers. The Arbiters weren’t kidding about the SCI upping their numbers. In fact, there are troops everywhere. Military City is huge but feels crowded. Jax maintains his tight grip on me as he scans the area for threats.

“I see you are putting the people you killed at the Clean Slate Complex right to work,” Jax states in a sarcastic tone.

Vienna presses her lips together. “We’ve done them a favor. They were each living well below the poverty line. Now they have food, lodging, and a purpose. But I’m not here to discuss that. Ethan’s in danger and it’s all thanks to the Arbiters.”

“What kind of danger?” I blurt out. I may be mad at him, but I don’t want him hurt.

“He took it upon himself to chastise the Clean Slate Complex heads and has been taken captive.”

Jax laughs, which makes me angry. It’s no laughing matter if Ethan has been kidnapped. Jax says, “His
Uncle
Victor and
Aunt
Violet—
your
sister—took him captive and that is the fault of the Arbiters, how?” What? Why would his Aunt and Uncle kidnap him? That makes zero sense even to my sleep-deprived brain.

“One, he was taken by the Arbiters from the meeting of the Ten. And two, you and Ethan are best friends. They fear he is
involved
with the lot of you.”

Jax squeezes my hand tight. “Ethan threatened my life and thus earned himself a good talking to—by my father. But I can assure you that he and I are not friends right now. Why do you think I’m here playing watchdog?” Jax’s words hurt, and I yank my hand from his. No need to be holding hands with my “watchdog.”

Vienna grabs Jax’s arm and digs her well-manicured nails into his skin. “Regardless of the why, you need to fix it. Even if your friendship was a ruse on your part, it wasn’t on Ethan’s. So, find him and get him back where he belongs.” Her act catches the attention of those around us. Unapproved physical aggression is banned in the city.

I catch sight of several sharpshooters with their machine guns locked on us from atop the “Respond” compound ahead. The mammoth structure contains a mega-portal similar to the one in Garden City. At least a thousand troops are on standby at all times and ready to deploy to any city that needs their help. While the heaviest security surrounds this area, there are also guards stationed along the wall and in every other building in the city. In addition, solar drones circle the city looking for Exiler activity outside the borders or aberrant behavior inside.

“Ethan’s predicament is not my concern,” Jax responds with clenched teeth.
 

While Vienna has Jax occupied, I grab the pram and turn it around, pushing it through the throngs of people and away from Jax and the overhead threat. I’ve got to say that I’m with Vienna on this one. It doesn’t matter how or why Ethan is in this mess. He is Zander’s father and needs help.
 

A large man in military garb with shorn hair and black, beady eyes blocks my progress. I try to go around him, but he steps in front of the pram.

Warning bells are ringing in my head. I need to get away, fast.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the ‘Mother of Thera’ with her little rugrat.”
 

By the way he’s looking at me, I can’t tell if he’s undressing me with his eyes or sizing up the best way to take me out. Either way, I want no part of it. My nerves are already frazzled thanks to Vienna’s visit. Ethan’s in danger. Jax won’t help him. And now, I’ve caught the attention of this creep.

I shuffle, so I’m at the side of the pram and pick up Zander. If this man is a threat, it will be easier to run without the pram.

The guy flashes his teeth at me and then licks his lips. “There’s quite the bounty on your head, you know.”

Bounty?
What for? I need to keep him talking…give Jax time to notice I’m gone and catch up to me. Besides, I want to know the answer. Did the SCI post a reward for my capture and return? Or is the bounty associated with the attempts on my life?
Please don’t let it be the latter.
I shudder and back up a step. “I think you are too late… I was already found…and brought back.”