Behind the Stars (32 page)

“Wait,” I reached forward, but Soso-Cleve blocked me from approaching her.

She stood and took my hand. “Thank you for protecting my brother. We owe you a debt of gratitude that soon you won’t remember, but I always will.”

Ovett and another male alien quickly lifted Gallatin between them and started walking sideways through the beds toward the door.

“Hurry,” Cato spoke into the inside of her wrist. “We need something to help him regain consciousness. Once he wipes the remaining minds, we’ll finish treating him on the ship.”

“Please!” I cried, trying to get around Soso. “I have to go with him!”

The men carrying Gallatin didn’t stop, but Cato turned back to me. Her eyes were kind, but her face was serious.

“I know why my brother came back here,” she said. “It’s very sweet, but it’s impossible. You understand.”

“It’s not! We were talking... We were trying to figure out a way when—”

“Right now it seems very hard, but in a few moments it will all be easy. You won’t remember a thing.”

“
NO
!” I shrieked, fighting my way past Soso, gripping the bed frames to help me walk faster on my injured hip.

The alien leader turned and quickly went to the door, pushing through the squeaky metal barrier without hesitation. I hobbled after her, but the distance between us grew rapidly wider.

Once through the exit, I looked around at the now-empty yard. The bonfire was still lit, but the boys were gone. Russell was nowhere to be seen, and I assumed the rest had taken off running at the sight of the uniform-clad invaders. The only place I saw lights was in the dining hall, where the circle of lanterns was still going.

I set off in that direction, tears stinging the cut on my cheek as I went. Everything on me hurt, but I couldn’t let them take Gallatin without at least having the chance to speak to him one last time, at least to say goodbye.

Pushing through the screen doors into the dining hall, I saw his body stretched out on the metal counter in the same way Flora’s had been the night they tried to save her. Shubuta had the same serious expression, and I thought of Dr. Green. I needed to find him and our parents—if that was even still necessary.

Leaning on the first long tabletop, I stood and caught my breath. I reached for the second, slowly making my way to the front of the room when I saw the alien doctor take a thin glass cylinder containing a yellowish liquid from her pocket. She held it up toward the lantern-light and studied it with a frown. Then she shook it and removed the cap as my hand reached the last row of tables. From where I stood, I could see it had a bright silver roller-ball on one end, and she rubbed it against the bend in Gallatin’s elbow, back and forth several times.

Soso-Cleve stepped in front of me and caught my shoulders. “That’s as far as you go.”

My eyes traveled up to his, which were now eerie black. “You were wearing contacts,” I said. “How did you get them so fast?”

He smiled. “I’ve always had them. We’ve been here many years, little one.”

Just then, Gallatin coughed and rolled onto his side. “My stomach,” he moaned, and tears flooded my eyes at the sound of his voice. He was going to be okay!

I twisted, but Soso held me fast. “It’ll be much harder for him, you know,” he said, glancing back at the waking boy I was desperately trying to reach. “He’ll remember everything.”

“Please let me go,” I cried, panicking. In that instant, Gallatin’s eyes found me.

“Prentiss!” He tried to sit up, but his face contorted in pain. “What happened?”

“Gallatin!” I twisted around in Soso’s arms.

My struggles had gotten me far enough that I was standing, facing him with my back pressed against the alien soldier’s chest. Soso’s arm was across the front of my shoulders, and like a light switching on in my head, I saw what I had to do. I dropped my chin and bit as hard as I could into his firm alien flesh.

He shrieked, and released me. I almost fell forward, but quickly I caught myself and in two steps, I was at the metal counter where Gallatin was recovering quickly. I noticed the swelling had left his eye and the ugly maroon bruise on his chin faded.

“Little rat!” Soso muttered, but I didn’t care.

Gallatin sat up now, and he smiled as his hands smoothed back my wild hairs. “I said you were an amazing person.”

I leaned forward and kissed his lips, but Cato interrupted us. “Gallatin. We don’t have time—”

“I’m not leaving.” He looked up at her. “You can take the ship and the rest of the crew to Quadrex, but I’m staying here. With Prentiss.”

Cato’s mouth dropped open, and she looked around the room in astonishment. “You cannot do that! Gallatin! This is madness. Don’t you understand?”

“I can, and I will. Now go to the ship. I’ll count to ten and erase the final humans.”

“But...” I started.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll protect your memories.”

“I order you to return to the ship.” Cato’s hands were on her hips and the way her floor-length robe fell behind her reminded me of the shell on a great white beetle.

Gallatin turned now and lowered his legs to the floor, standing before her and clutching me to his side.

“I’m not under your command, Sister.”

“Gallatin. Why are you doing this? I know your feelings are strong, but you must be reasonable. Think of Acona—”

“As a member of the Guard, I’m no longer a threat to my uncle’s sovereignty. If he tries to move on me, he’ll bring down the wrath of the eight remaining Guardsmen.”

“That didn’t stop him from killing your grandfather.”

I looked around them and noticed Ovett watching this discussion with curious interest. Suddenly he stepped forward and touched Cato’s arm.

“Your grace,” his voice lowered. “He’s right. Acona would not dare attack your brother so soon. He still denies any involvement in Bude’s death, and that would expose him to the entire Guard.”

“This goes beyond the Guard,” she countered. “Your pledge of celibacy protected you, but when word of this gets out... Any of your offspring are a threat to him.”

She spoke so low and so fast, I didn’t have time to be embarrassed that she was discussing my possible future sex life in front of the entire group. In one pivot, Gallatin faced me. He dropped his cheek to my temple as if to create our own personal space.

“She’s right,” he whispered directly into my ear as my eyes traveled over his shoulder from one serious face to the next. Then his voice became tender. “Will you go with me, Prentiss?”

“I—” Fear choked my voice.

It was all happening so fast, and I was terrified—of space, of his uncle, of what it all meant. I wasn’t even sure what it all meant. Tears blurred my eyes, but my grip on his shirt tightened. One thing I did know for sure, I wasn’t letting him leave me again.

He lifted his head and glanced at my face. Then he smiled. “It’s okay.”

He turned back to Cato. “What you’re saying is right, but I can’t expect Prentiss to accept all of this so fast. We’ll stay back while she adjusts to the idea.”

Cato flashed a look at me, and I shrunk back against Gallatin. “How long,” she said. It wasn’t a question.

He matched her tone. “As long as she needs.” Then he softened. “We’ll catch up with you, sister. I promise.”

“And how will you do that?”

“I’ll be in contact. We’ll figure it out.”

Cato’s clear blue eyes sparkled as she stepped toward her brother. “Very well. We’ll leave you here for now, but I’ll be back to get you before this is over.”

“We’ll discuss it at a calmer time.” Gallatin stood straighter.

“Yes, calmer. Keep your thoughts relaxed as I will mine. We’ll be in communication.”

Gallatin seemed completely recovered now. He nodded and grasped his sister’s arm. “Please, you must go.”

She sighed and turned her back, but Shubuta stepped forward.

“For you, Sir.” She handed him the vial of medicine I’d watched her rub across his arm and a clear pouch of black liquid with a thin tube running from one end. I assumed it was blood. “It’s very likely your body will restore itself without this. You are very young still, and it seems you respond quickly to treatment.”

“Thank you.” He smiled and gave her a slight bow. “I will always remember your loyalty.”

She smiled and appeared a little flustered. Then she bowed, turning before she’d finished. I remembered Cato’s words about Shubuta’s feelings for him, but I didn’t feel threatened. It was appropriately sweet.

The few remaining aliens quickly slipped out the back, but Ovett waited for Cato. She still stood with her back to us looking down, her arms crossed over her waist and her thumb and forefinger pinched her lips.

Gallatin’s arm loosened on my waist, and he stepped forward, touching her arm. “Please, sister. I can take care of myself now. You must go while the humans are all contained and my uncle is distracted.”

She took a quick breath and straightened, lowering her arms. “Very well,” she said. “The last humans to be wiped are in the barn. The soldiers will release them, but you should have time to do what you need to do.”

He nodded, and they clasped hands one last time.

“I’ll be in contact,” she said, and then she looked at me, giving me a tight smile like I were an annoying itch she couldn’t scratch.

“Goodbye,” he said.

Almost faster than my brain could comprehend, we were completely alone. My ears roared with the sounds of all that had happened, and I felt like I needed a week-long sleep.

“Now for the last thing,” he said, facing me and taking both my hands in his. “You must close your eyes and press your face into my chest. I’ll cover your ears, and I have to use my touch if you’re going to keep your memories.”

I nodded, eyes wide. “I trust you. But... will it hurt?”

He smiled. “No. It takes less than a second. It’s like a flash of light that radiates out a distance.”

I stepped forward and pressed my nose into his sternum then he reached up and slipped both his palms flat over my ears. My heartbeat picked up as I waited, but no sooner had my eyes closed than he stepped back again, smiling.

“You did it?” I asked, blinking.

“It’s finished.”

––––––––

A
lmost a year had passed since those twenty-one days that began one hot afternoon in May. Jackson and I officially broke up, and I went to work full-time with Dr. Green, preparing to take over his practice when he retired. I took courses at the college, and he gave me the hands-on experience I needed for my degree. I was going to be a veterinarian. It was only an animal doctor, but still, it was a doctor.

Russell and Yolanda moved to Gainesville for school, and Roxie opened a hair salon in town. Then in July, Jackson announced he was moving to Starkville, and Mr. Edwards divided up the farm and sold off parcels. D’Lo bought one, as did the town’s newest resident Gallatin Sentinel.

As “a Native American from Arizona,” who’d been studying farming out west, he claimed he’d always dreamed of living in the piney woods of southern Mississippi. Only I remembered the truth.

That was the hard part, being the only one to remember what really happened those weeks we’d all shared. It was hard when Yolanda and Roxie didn’t remember us being friends, and it was hard when Braxton and D’Lo didn’t remember how much we’d depended on each other. But burying Flora again was the hardest part.

Gallatin suggested the easiest way would be for him to give everyone the same memory of her funeral as if they were there. A headstone was placed on her grave just past the old, abandoned church camp, and her mother complimented me on singing Flora’s favorite hymn at the service. On a grey afternoon in August, Gallatin and I went back alone to visit the site. I let him hold me as I wept, and we made peace with that bitter part of our past.

Now spring had returned, and I followed Dr. Green out to the paddock behind his office. The sun was strong in a clear blue sky, but the punishing heat was still a month away. It made me feel restless, excited, like something new was beginning.

“Fanny Magee brought her mare over to put with Clyde,” Doc said, pulling out a long metal pole with a loop on the end. He paused for a split second, surveying my height. “You might be too small for this, Prentiss.”

“I thought you said now that I was training—”

“There’s not really a lot we can do in the way of helping things.” He cut me off.

I frowned as I watched him. After nearly two years working with the old vet, I’d learned by the way he talked that he was uneasy about my response to our job today. It seemed the more we worked together, the more protective he became.

“The drive to procreate is one of the strongest in nature.” He lectured as he snapped on his gloves.

I nodded as I watched a carpenter bee drill a hole for laying eggs in one of the wooden beams above us. From there, my gaze wandered out to the field where some wildflowers grew. I picked up a set of gloves and inspected the thin gold band with a tiny diamond, an engagement ring that circled the third finger of my left hand. My mind skipped across the pasture, down to the bottom where a guy ran a tractor, getting the ground ready for spring planting.

“It’s not much different with humans,” the old vet continued, and I smiled with affection. I’d learned that whenever he felt uncomfortable, he filled the space with reassuring, scientific logic.

“Animals, like people, are driven by the need to continue the species, produce more life. We humans have just learned to control it. Somewhat.”

Somewhat
. I’d seen how quickly humans could turn into animals. Dexter and the other boys started high school last fall, and they were always very polite with their “yes, ma’am” and “no, ma’am.” If I thought too much about how they’d danced around the fire, Dexter’s threats, their vicious eyes, it made me sick.

But I didn’t want to think about that today. I listened to Dr. Green’s reassuring voice, and I watched the hum of spring afternoon busyness. My mind drifted back to the fields, to our farm, and warmth tightened low in my stomach.

“You’re going to need to stay back, now.” Dr. Green stopped me before opening the gate to the pen where the horses waited. Clyde was already nosing around the hind end of Ms. Fanny’s mare.