Evanescent (4 page)

“Will you please let me down?” I crossed my arms over my chest, while suspended mid-air.

“Sure.” He smiled, pulling on the rope as I was slowly lowered into his arms. The electricity in my blood was all I felt while he planted his warm, silky lips against mine. My mouth parted to take all of him in, and then glided over his lower lip, my tongue touching his vibrant skin. I caught my breath as he gently drew moisture from my top lip, the heat slowly fading as we parted. I felt dizzy, drugged even.

“As much as I’d like to kiss you all night, we need to get away from here before the remaining guards find us,” he warned, untying us and folding the black rope over his palm, all the while twisting it over his elbow. In no time, the entire length of the cord was folded and tucked into the harness around his black, gravity suit. He turned taking my hand, and led me around the side of the building. Slowly, his touch brought about physical sensations of the gentle breeze created by our swift movement, his warm hand in mine, and the stupid dress tickling the back of my thighs. I kept my eyes on the curves of his body as we moved. We paused alongside a wall and as I looked up, his eyes still on me, I saw the guards. They were even more automated than Enoch was with golden, metal faces, thick canon-like arms and bionic legs. Their canons were suddenly pointed right at us, their eyes dressed with glass targets that shone a radiant, ugly blue moving over our chests like laser pointers. They were almost upon us. Intoxicated from my brief encounter with Troy, and embarrassed that he had caught me ogling him, I hadn’t heard them approach. But Troy had already let me go by the time I could focus and with the swift swoop of his leg, he pulled the mechanical being from his gigantic feet. Metal and flesh hit the ground, leaving me puffing in the wake of golden dust. Before the creature’s body fully rested on the ground, Troy drew an elongated metal shard from his leather halter, and struck the almost-entirely-metal being in his neck. My eyes lingered on the speared pin sticking out of the bluish glow of its skin. I was still in utter disbelief as to what I was seeing. Troy turned, just in time, to destroy and deal the other robotic guard the same fate. He grinned at his swift abilities. My eyes caught movement as yet another guard was upon Troy, he’d come from nowhere. My senses flashed, and from somewhere deep down inside of me a bolt of lightning escaped, ripping right through me and exiting through the palms of my hands. I was insanely mad as the pain left me, and it was this pain that made me even angrier and fueled the bolt. Something held me back, though. The anger was different, I never shifted. The guard stumbled from the blow and almost fell from the blinding flash. Troy flew at him with an upper cut, finishing off his decent to meet his fellow guards on the ground, going down hard. A pin to the throat ensured his immobility. When Troy turned around he was smiling wickedly, and my smile mirrored his. He was faster than I remembered, and I had a new ability. I should have realized at the swift change that I, too, was altered somehow. I should have known I was not myself, but I didn’t want to because it was all so wild and exciting! I had been ‘changed’ before, and was terrified of the next one.

He shook his head. “No idea where those three came from,” he said grinning.

His eyes shifted to the ground, as if he were all of a sudden shy about his abilities to move so fast and strike with so much accuracy.
But then
he looked very confused, bothered even. Suddenly, all my strength drained from me. That bolt had taken most of my energy. Troy was already holding me before my knees hit the shimmering dirt, his touch a zap of sensation to my skin.

“Hey, what’s going on?” he asked softly, staring into my eyes.

He brought me back with those iridescent eyes. We were both changing rapidly. The prophesy was upon us. I steadied myself, hugging him.

“Where are the other guards, surely this can’t be all of them?” I asked, not really expecting an answer as I gently pulled away to take in some air, my eyes locked on his. I didn’t want to let go. His gentle stare grounded me.

He fumbled at his harness. “Crap, we should have done this sooner.” He pulled out the inhaler, as if he thought my collapse was due to the lack of breathable air. “Quickly.” He pushed it into my mouth.

He held the back of my neck while I sucked in the gas that would make breathing on that moon possible. I coughed a little less than I had the first time I’d inhaled the gas. I was suddenly shy about telling him I could breathe just fine without it.

I looked at him as he drew away.

“So. Three guards? That’s all Enoch’s got?” I quickly said to keep him close to me, to hear his voice so it could drown out the panic I was harboring inside.

“No.” He smiled almost shamelessly.

I stood, hand on hip.

Troy
shrugged and said, “I took care of them.”

“And got hurt!” I was staring at his leg, the one I noticed he’d been limping on all this time but had tried to hide. With a hook of his arm my body met his unexpectedly. My hands came to rest on his strong chest and as I stared deep into his eyes, they shone the greenest I had ever seen. I kept staring into his dilating pupils as the green pulled back and left the brightest hazel. I didn’t back away. This was my chance to let him know exactly how I felt. His fingers trailed my cheek beneath my left eye.

“I see your scar has healed. Does this mean you have moved on?”

I didn’t care to answer, I just wanted him to kiss me. His hand cupped the back of my head. I shuddered with the pleasure in anticipation of what was to come. His arms enveloped me. Bliss enfolded over me in the circle of his arms, leaving me anchored to the floor. Pins and needles zinged through me, fast and furious, heating up all of me as my body came to an inferno of sensations. I took in his scent lingering beneath the dirt and sweat. Our lips fused together, and I felt naked from the inside out.
How could I have ever doubted this?
My mind started to swirl, a cyclone of emotions building up inside me as he held me dangerously close. We kissed deeply, truly and fiercely. The kiss was tender and wild with the relief that we had found each other again, and even more robust and hotter with desire for each other. Desperate for more, my hands pulled his hips to mine. But it was too much too soon because my knees buckled again, but his arms held me – floating in his grasp. I melted, and was at that point putty in his hands.

My heart stopped as our lips slowly parted.

“Breathe,” he whispered, smiling into my face.

I took a breath and continued staring up at Troy. I expected to see something other than confusion and annoyance staring back at me as our eyes focused on each other. His face darkened with bewilderment. Feeling the quickening of his pulsating heartbeat against my chest, I wondered if I had done something wrong to have him stare at me with so much confusion, when he suddenly let me go.

“We need to move, now,” he said gravely.

I nodded, shivering from the absence of his touch. We headed up a steep, golden, sand dune. He held my hand in his, the warmth of his skin had left mine tingling all over – the pins and needles were fading, and I hoped the sensation on my skin was returning permanently. I stared into his back, into the black, gravity suit and for the first time I had become aware of the sensation of sand slipping between my toes. I looked down at my attire, and started to ponder over my change out of the gravity suit, my halter belt which carried my inhaler, my only pair of boots, and my dagger – all gone. All replaced by a white, filthy, cotton dress.
This is messed up, on so many levels,
I thought
.

Pressing my body back into the seat on board the craft, which almost hugged me perfectly, I wished I could feel the fabric on my skin. I stared at Troy, fiddling with scanners and whatnot. Sitting next to Troy was the only place I would ever want to be – if forever allowed it. I drew in a deep breath, trying to slow the pace of my heartbeat. Within my body, I felt flushed and cold at the same time, hoping it was the excitement of finally having Maya safe. Still, I didn’t forget how different my body was now. I stared back at Maya lying motionless in the cargo area tucked in beneath a thin, gray sheet. Troy had found her unconscious, he said, and where he had found her, there appeared to have been a huge struggle. But Arriana’s body was missing. And before Maya had slipped into her silent stupor, she muttered to him that she had lost Arriana, that she had sacrificed herself for Maya’s life. Troy had carried her all the way out of the fortress, up two huge dunes without being seen, and had brought her back to the shielded craft where she would be safe. She had been breathing, and that was all that had mattered to him. When he pulled her eyelids back, the traces of a potent spell had colored her irises yellow. For hours he’d sat in the ship, waiting for a sign of my awakening. My breath, as it drew in and released its tight pull in my chest, was loud and steady, filling in the silence. Rubbing my wrists, I pondered the fact that my body was able to heal itself so quickly, just like the night I had been possessed. Yet somehow, it was different.
I
felt different. I remembered Arriana telling me that my instinct would never heal my body because of my mental state, because I believed I didn’t deserve to heal; I was a killer. So, what was going on? Had I somehow gotten over the fact I had the potential to be a monster? Kronan had tried to nail it into my head that I would not be able to heal, as long as I harbored so much regret. Scars were my way of dealing, pain was my cross to bear. But not now, I guess being safe, having my sister back, and being with Troy was all that mattered. I was finally healing. I kept circling my wrists with my fingers, trying to rub at the memories, trying to conjure up the missing gaps. Like, how had I gotten into Enoch’s clutches? In the ugly, ragged, white dress? How had I lost Troy in the first place? I tried to think back to any other memory. How I knew him, any memories of my sister, when had I met Arriana – but the only memory I held that felt truly to be my own, was waking to Enoch moments ago, the fight, his words, my escape and that Arriana was dead, but still, I could not place her face. I shook my head in my hands. I felt panic stretch its way through my chest.

“What’s taking so long?” I frowned, shutting out my thoughts.

Troy
didn’t answer. He knew I was irritated and snapping because I was scared. I was terrified, I felt broken. I kept my eyes on his hard scowl. He, too, seemed impatient with the situation. The soft, blue glow of the cabin lights flared to a radiant purple as it all began to sink in, like rocks to my stomach, a heavy pain settling back in my chest. I couldn’t get control of my feelings. I wanted to scream. Arriana was dead; my sister was catatonic with devastation, the outcome of the spell not yet known. Troy was injured and although he was good at hiding the pain, for him to be limping told me it was a serious injury. He was not healing, but I was? Something was really wrong with that, things were missing from my mind and other things, things I should not know, things that should not belong, glared back at me from dark crevices in my mind. I stared at the crusted blood on his pants leg. I snorted. I was grateful for my heightened senses, but didn’t want to be grateful to those who’d had a hand in creating me. I glanced back quickly, studied Maya’s face and something stirred within me, the pins and needles sizzling beneath my skin were trying to tell me something and it had to do with Maya, with me, with those things in the tubes. Somehow, Enoch had bound us all to him; how and why? I leaned back, trying to distract myself from the awful ugliness inside. Swallowing against the discomfort, I tried to forget the thing called ‘emotions’, it drags me down. If I had no feeling toward anything, things would have been so much easier. Biting down on the anger that seemed to build with every passing moment, I forced down the sensation that something awful was unfolding. It was a part of my instinct coming through – warning me. Like when a gemstone had taken on a glow in the Minoan village – it was a warning, a sign of things I needed to mentally consider.

“Troy, please, I need to get away from here,” I pleaded again, as things inside me seemed to shift and twist unstably.

“I know,” he said, studying the control panels.

I stretched out my legs, my arms, my spine, trying to ignore the strange tingling erupting throughout my entire body. Leaning forward again, I rubbed my legs, wondering if being chained to a wall had affected my circulation somehow
.
I was fidgeting, uncomfortable in my own skin even. Taking one wrist in my hand, I stared at the absence of any physical sign that I had been captured. I tried to recall something, something Enoch said, and it wasn’t the first time he had said it either.
“We are the same now.”