daynight (28 page)

“I can’t… I can’t deal with this. Blake’s missing and may be dead. The whole Bri and Tristan thing. You... being here and not at all who I thought you were. I want to go home. Mr. Darcton,” I say, purposefully emphasizing his family name.

“Please call me Ethan. And, that’s just what we’re going to do. I’m going to take you home for a visit,” he says.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Ethan

“Still moping over the pretty redhead?” The voice startles me from my daydream.
I may or may not have been slacking on my job.

“You scared the crap out of me, Jax. Can’t you ever ring the doorbell or something?” I jump out of my desk chair and turn to him. He’s in a white tank and athletic shorts. Hair’s rumpled and in its usual ‘needed a haircut a few weeks ago’ state. Golden eyes are full of mischief.

“And ruin the surprise? Never. Let’s go discuss your woes over some basketball,” he says. “I take it the moratorium’s still on.”

“Yes on the moratorium. No on the basketball. Some of us have to work… harder than others.”

“Ha. As if, Mr. ‘I’m too in love to have picked up my tablet in the last hour.’ Never fear, love-deprived boy. Doubt you’ll be stonewalled much longer now that Blake’s gone missing,” he says.

“What? Missing?”

“Didn’t your
daddy
tell you,” he mocks. “Happened during the flash flood. He floated right on out of Garden City, or so it would seem.”

“I take it you know different?” I ask. With anyone else, I’d worry about having this conversation listened to. But Jax has the ability to block any surveillance within a 50 foot radius. One of his many talents. I keep trying to get him to hook me up, but he tells me that although he can work miracles, he can’t (or won’t) work that one. Selfish bastard.

“When will you get it through your thick skull that I know all,” he says with a jovial shove. “Blake’s not good enough for her. He’s got a thing for that blonde named Bailey. And, he left Kira to die in the middle of the flood. All to meet up with… drumroll please… the Exilers.” He shows me what’s happening in a manner only Jax can. I can’t believe my eyes. “Blake’s daddy is head hauncho of the Militants. And they are plotting against Garden City’s own and quite dear Grand Council. Blake was sent here to play hero.” His tone’s mocking. My parents love Jax and would never guess he isn’t a willing pawn in their Grand Cause. In the same way they don’t realize I’m not quite on their side. Dr. Christo made sure of that.

I let Jax’s words and the images sink in. Blake’s a traitor? A plant from the Exilers? I knew something seemed off with him. Could Kira be in on it?

“No, Kira’s not an Exiler plant,” he says. I hate it when Jax reads my mind. “Only the boy. Though he told her and she hasn’t turned him in. Nor will you. It’s all meant to be played out,” Jax says.

“I don’t want her involved,” I say. “She could get hurt.”

“Relax. I’ll watch out for her,” he says, eyes aglow. “I may even enjoy it.”

“No. I don’t want you around her either,” I huff. The last thing I need is more competition. Between Blake and Tristan, the dead boyfriend, the situation’s already barely manageable. I doubt Kira would be enough for Jax anyway. He’s even pickier than I am about the female race.

“Alas, you’ll be with her soon. Don’t blow it. If you do, a real man may have to step in and take charge,” he says as he straightens his shoulders and puffs out his chest. Did I just see him flex his bicep?

“And who might that real man be, Jax? Surely not you,” I jest.
 

“Indeed, indeed. I’m what they model the real men after,” he says with a smirk. “She’s quite unique, you know. More so than the Ten realizes. My dad’s been overseeing her medical treatment and I’ve been tracking her progress.”

“Why would your dad be involved in her medical care? Does she have a heart issue?” I ask.

“You’re asking the wrong questions, Ethan. As usual,” he says. “You’d be best to ask why my father was involved in
your
treatment. It’s not like there weren’t others
brought
to
Thera to see to your care.” Jax understands that my parents like to take an occasional dip in the Sea of Depravity. But he’s never been one to spout the family secrets.

I’m used to Jax’s lures and refuse to bite. Doesn’t mean I can’t throw out my own barb. “I know plenty about your family’s business, too. Did you so quickly forget we did all our schooling together?” My family may rule the Second Chancers, but his family’s responsible for the Second Chancers being here. On the grand hierarchal pyramid, neither Dr. Christo or Jax ever let me forget that they’ve got the ‘better view,’ a carefully guarded secret that no member of the Ten or Grand Council knows. Which is why I always wondered why Dr. Christo gifted me a ‘partial view’ to his lifestyle. According to Dr. Christo I’m well situated to help with his family business and so, like everyone else around me, he’s appointed me to assist.

“Some things can’t be learned. They must be,” he says, brushing off my dig with ease. “And I think you know better than to threaten me or my father. We’ve always been there for you and you can’t say that about the others in your life.”

“Jax, I wasn’t threatening you. I made a vow I plan to keep. Forgive me for being frustrated. My parents. My Uncle. You and your father. I’m always at someone’s beck and call. I just wanted this one thing
—
one girl—for myself.”

He slaps me on the back. “And so you will. The lovely Miss Kira Donovan fell prey to your spell that night and hasn’t forgotten. So relax and enjoy the ride. I’ve got to be off. Duty calls. Keep me posted.”

He departs in a flash and I return to my desk and work, pondering the gift of hope Jax left me.

The doorbell rings. Well, at least I know it isn’t Jax.
 

I open the door to a giant and rare smile on my father’s face. “Hello, Son. I come bearing excellent news.”

“And what would that be?” I say. I assume he’s finally here to tell me about Blake’s disappearance, nights after Jax filled me in.

“How’d you like a little vacation to San Diego?” he says. Not the news I was looking for. The last thing I want is to be a world away from Kira.

“Uncle Henry needs me to escort some brainless bimbo to a fundraiser?” I thought Uncle Henry planned to be on the road all summer, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t slip back into town for a weekend to make a few bucks.

“No fundraisers. I need you to escort one pretty Light Original back home for a visit. The girl’s distraught. Her boy toy disappeared and she’s not taking it well. And Tristan, the girl’s ex, is trying to dig his claws into her. I want her far away from here for a spell,” he says. I get to take Kira home for an extended vacation? Now that sounds too good to be true.

“Jax filled me in on Blake’s disappearance. His dad’s her doctor?” I say, trying to get a reaction or a rise out of my father. “Since Blake’s out of the picture, does that mean I have the Ten’s approval to move forward? I get a chance with her?”
 

“Jax should spend less time meddling. And yes, our plan can move forward. Though, not without conditions,” he says. Of course. I’d expect nothing less, even if it is
his
plan, not mine.

“Which are?”

“Well, for one, we need Tristan out of the picture permanently. We need you to show her the video you took at the party.”

“No. No way. That’s seriously perverted stuff. She’ll hate me,” I say while vigorously shaking my head. “She’ll know the real reason I was there that night.”

“It’s required. But, here’s the incentive. You’ll need a reasonable excuse to stay with the girl at her home. So, you get to be her boyfriend for the duration of the trip.”

“You think she’d say yes to that after I’ve just shown her a video of her long-time boyfriend cheating on her?” My father is nothing if not delusional.

“She has no choice in the matter.”

“Ugh. I don’t want a
fake
relationship with her. I want a real one. What happens after the trip?” I ask, although I’m not sure I want to know the answer.

“Well, that depends on how the trip goes, whether Blake magically returns, and how she feels about you,” he says with a chuckle. “Keep her in line. No deviations will be tolerated. Her life and your life depend on it. The Ten expects her silence while there and her immediate presence back when required.”

“Yes, sir,” I say. It should floor me that he threatened to kill his own son, but that’s standard issue parenting for him. Who am I kidding? Dr. Christo has been more of a father to me than my dad will ever be.
 

Most pre-teens get ‘the talk’
on the birds and the bees. Instead, Jax and I got the ‘Dark and the Lights’ lecture from Dr. Christo. Over and over again. Dr. Christo drilled the concepts and then tested. Perhaps had Jax let me get a word in, the good doctor would have realized I knew the material. But, Jax felt the need to show his superiority and I let him.

“What is DNT?” Dr. Christo would ask.

Jax immediately would answer, “Markers that determine whether we can pass between worlds.”

Dr. Christo: “People can be DNT(l) or DNT(d) or DNT(ld). What do the sub-markers represent?”

Jax: “Well, duh, that represents the root source of their DNT. Light, Dark, or Both. Light originated on Earth and Dark on Thera.”

Dr. Christo: “Jax, please let Ethan answer. Particularly since you didn’t answer in full.”

Jax: “Only because you interrupted me. Pure Lights or Darks are extremely rare. Almost non-existent. So, the (l) or (d) sub-marker only indicates what the ‘majority’ is in the mix. The (ld) marker is the theoretical sub-marker for the perfect union between a pure Light and pure Dark, which of course only happened at the beginning. No pure Lights have been known to exist since.”

Dr. Christo: “True. But it can and will happen again. In your lifetime in fact. What happens when someone has the (ld) marker?”

Jax: “Magic. Among other things, the ability to freely travel between the worlds without issue.”

Dr. Christo: “Is DNT the only marker of interest?”

Jax: “No. ARB is also of interest, but highly uncommon. Like those with DNT(ld), those with ARB may also freely pass between worlds. Their talents are many and thus, much is required of them. You and I have ARB, Daddy.”

Dr. Christo: “Indeed we do, Son. Can DNT and ARB co-exist?”

Jax: “Yes, in rare circumstances.”

Dr. Christo: “Jax,
please
let Ethan speak. Ethan’s special, too. Ethan, you’re a pure Dark with a ‘little something extra.’ This is why so much is expected of you, even much more than your parents realize.”

I finally get a word in. “I know. Though I’m hardly special. I’m broken.”

Dr. Christo sighed. “No, not broken. Fixed. Whole.” I’d just recently had my last surgery. “Now, why was Light lured to Dark? Why was it crucial in the beginning to have those who could cross over?”

Jax: “To make all things equitable. Things were architected so those who were not afforded ample opportunity to achieve their purpose—through no fault of their own—would be given that opportunity. A Second Chance.”

Dr. Christo: “Isn’t that what the Second Chance Institute does?”

Jax: “No. That’s what we do. We bring them here. The SCI manages them once here. Or mis-manages, I should say. To bring about their own purposes.”

Dr. Christo: “And what purposes would that be?”

Jax: “Research. They test ruling methods here to use back on Earth.”

Dr. Christo: “Is this acceptable?”

Both Jax and I answer this one in unison: “No.”

I hadn’t thought about Dr. Christo and Jax’s differences
in a long time. I’d spent so much time with them that their oddities seemed to be the norm. Not until I’d moved in with my Uncle Henry did I realize Jax and Dr. Christo’s were anything but the norm. Dr. Christo told me that my pure Dark DNT had a ‘little something extra.’ Even when pressed, he’d never told me what that meant. Other than the fact I have ‘an even Grander Destiny to fill.’

After my ‘vacation’ with Kira, I do believe I owe the good doctor a visit. My parents placed me on Earth with my Uncle Henry for a reason. They want me to have political aspirations and use Theran knowledge to ‘better’ a ‘declining’ society on Earth. But, I need to understand how that meshes with Dr. Christo’s plans for me. Since Dr. Christo has the big picture, it’s time he shares it.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Blake

I’m a real jerk. I can’t believe I told Kira I was falling for her and then ditched her in the middle of a flash flood.
Who knows how long I’ll be gone and I wouldn’t want Kira hooking up with anyone while I was gone and ruining our cover. Better to have her pining away while I’m away. Am I really falling for her? After Bailey, I thought I’d never want a relationship again. And now… living with Kira and Bailey tempting me at every turn, it’s making it near impossible. My hormones are raging. From a strategic standpoint, hooking up with Bailey would only hurt my cause. The SCI wants me with Kira. And, that kiss with Kira was hot. I’d like to try it a few more times to see if I can get the kind of volcanic reaction I had in the past with Bailey.
 

All moot if I don’t return. Or if Kira doesn’t get rescued—she could die if another mudslide puts her back in the river. What was I thinking? I saw an opportunity to get word to my dad and took it. Even if the SCI tries to track me they’ll just assume I got swept out to sea by the current. I have a foolproof excuse to be where I shouldn’t and I took it without thinking it through. No turning back now. To prevent being tracked, I rip off my watch so the SCI will think it came off in transit down the river.

I’ve completed four triathlons. That’s child’s play compared to swimming river rapids full of debris. I have zero visibility. No way to gauge how far I am from my target. I’m saddled by my less than swim-friendly party attire. And the canyon lights are covered in mud, so it’s pitch black. I use a breaststroke to push the debris from my path while I think strategy. Worst case I end up in the ocean, swim far enough north to clear the Eco barrier, and then ride the waves into shore. I’d prefer not to go that route since I’m bleeding from at least a dozen spots, which means I’m some pretty attractive shark bait. My standard issue party vest has been ripped to shreds.