Eye on Orion (20 page)

Taken

I floated near the surface of consciousness for a while, but wasn't able to pull myself up and out of the dark and dreamless sleep. Cold air blew on my face, almost too cold. I tried to reach up to cover my face and block the air, but my hand wouldn't move.

I couldn't even make my eyelids obey my command to open. They felt too heavy to lift. How odd. I'd never thought of eyelids as being something that could be heavy. I was awake and aware, but couldn't do anything about my situation. I listened carefully to find out everything I could while waiting for my eyes to finally decide to let my mind have control over them.

Slow deep breaths came from somewhere in front of me. The rustle of paper reminded me of the turning of a magazine. Who was it? I couldn't think of anyone. My parents? No. It didn't seem to fit.

Where was I? It smelled funny to me. Like stale cigarette smoke and some kind of too-sweet berry smell. I couldn't place that either. I couldn't remember much of anything. I was uncomfortable, but couldn't move. I focused my attention on my body, still unable to open my eyes. My hands and every other part of my body were useless as well. I was aware of physical sensations. I lay on my side on something soft, but it wasn't completely flat. There was some kind of ridge to it in the center where my hips lay. Something hard dug into my back. I tried to move away from it, but could still get no response from my limbs.

Continuing with an inventory of my sensations indicated I didn't have a pillow under my head, but it still felt soft like a mattress or a cushion. I didn't have enough room to stretch out straight. My knees were folded, and one foot rested on top of the other. My head was bent forward, my chin touching my chest. My hair hung across my forehead and eyes. One strand moved in the cold air that continued to blow on my face. It tickled my nose. I desperately wanted to move it, but I couldn't even purse my lips to blow it away.

Focusing my attention elsewhere, I listened to my breathing and my heartbeat. Everything there seemed normal. So why couldn't I move? I felt a little stiff and sore in my arms, but nothing was missing. The arm pinned under my body felt numb. My shoeless feet were cold.

I wanted to look around me but still couldn't do anything.
“Grrrr.”
The more I became aware of myself, the more uncomfortable I felt, yet I was trapped. I could do nothing but wait and hope my body would respond.

I focused on my eyes again. Still heavy, but as I struggled to open them by force of will, I felt a tiny twitch of movement. That cheered me a bit. They almost felt sticky as if held together with glue. I rolled my eyes in frustration at their trap. At least the eyeballs themselves could move. I rolled them again, and the lids lifted a fraction, showing a sliver of light.

“Yay!” I
thought to myself. When my eyes opened enough to look around, it all came back to me in a rush. Shander sat in the front seat of a car, flipping through a state atlas.

My mind raced. I couldn't talk my way out of this like I had with Ryad. I couldn't get away from him in my present condition. I probably couldn't even with all of my strength. He'd proven that when he took me in the first place.

I still couldn't move my body at all, not even to turn my head, but I could see a little out the back seat window. I only saw the sky from where I lay, clear and dusty blue. It had to be late afternoon, early evening, judging from the color of the sky. I'd been unconscious for a while.

I focused my attention on trying to get the movement back into my limbs. Slowly my fingers and toes began to respond. I closed my eyes again and tried to keep my movements still as I thought of what to do next.

He obviously thought I was Amira. He'd admitted he planned to take her, I mean me, back to Rommader and marry me, I mean her. Even I was confused. But I couldn't Travel with him. I didn't have a Traveling medallion and had no idea the exact location of their planet.

I'd gone online to the NASA website and researched anything I could about space or space travel during the few times I wasn't with Jai or Amira. I'd looked at the pictures from the Hubble Telescope, and things about the stars, but had never asked Jai or Amira about the location of Rommader and how to find it. I only knew it was about nine-billion light years in the direction of Orion. They'd explained they knew where it was because they had left it to Travel here. They'd researched the precise location of Earth and, in order to return home, they'd only needed to Travel backward to where they came from.

“Kind of like retracing your steps or the roads you took on a trip somewhere,” Jai had explained to me.

If I kept pretending to be Amira and let him try to force me to Travel back, what would happen? I wouldn't go anywhere, but then he would return to Rommader and find the real Amira there and cause all kinds of problems for her.

I needed a way to stop him, or send him somewhere else, or kill him. I didn't think I could bring myself to do that unless he tried to kill me first. I had no idea how I would even attempt it. Was there any way to stop him? I doubted it. No way to talk him out of his desire to rule his planet. I would have to try to trick him into Traveling to the wrong place.

Where could I send him? What did he know about Traveling? Probably more than I did since he'd made it here in the first place, but did he know how to get back home? I'd have to ask some questions and see what I could learn.

My body finally agreed with my mind to do what it was asked. I reached up and brushed my hair out of my face, then moved my arm out from under me.

Shander noticed my movements and turned around.

“Glad you finally decided to join me,” he said smoothly in Rommaderian.

“Didn't think I had much choice,” I admitted.

“No, you don't.” He flashed his smile at me. “Of course you could become happy with the option and choose to enjoy the prospect of ruling Rommader with me.”

“Not likely.” I sat up slowly, dizzy from the movement. Looking out the window didn't brighten my mood or hopes. I didn't know for sure, but I would say we were at the Salt Flats.

“What are you doing now?” I asked.

“Waiting for you to wake up. Unfortunately, I can't Travel with an unconscious companion.”

“You tried?”

“Yes. There was no way for you to hold the medallion the proper way. You have been out so long I was afraid you reacted too strongly to the Tamire. I never thought it would knock you out completely.”

“What was that?” I still felt groggy.

“Tamire? It's a fabulous little plant extract that makes someone a little disoriented at first, but then very susceptible to suggestion. I merely wanted to suggest you come with me without argument. Instead you passed out.”

He looked at me with disappointment on his face.

I shrugged. I wasn't going to apologize.

“Of course, I've never tried it on anyone full force in the face like that. I usually spray it on their food or in a drink, but I didn't have time to wait. You caused me great difficulty, trying to get you to my car while carrying you unconscious,” he said with a pout.

The clock on the dash showed seven forty-nine. My parents should be home from work. What did they think when they didn't find me there? The appearance of the house would throw my mother into a panic. Hopefully they'd called the police.

But then what? They wouldn't know where to find me. They didn't know of Shander or anything out of the ordinary about Jai or Amira. I hadn't even told them Amira and her parents were gone.

Shander closed the atlas and tossed it on the passenger seat. “The medallion is buzzing right now. This is the best spot to Travel without problems from Earth's magnetic field.” He turned to look at me, draping his arm over the back of his seat.

“Are you ready to return home?”

“I'm not going with you. I don't have my medallion.”

“I am already aware of that. I took the liberty of searching you for it.”

I cringed at the idea he'd mauled me while I was unconscious.

“So you have to take me back to get it if you want me to come with you.”

I ran through my options. If he took me back home, I could make a huge scene and get someone to call the police. Hopefully, Curtis would be home buffing his car and would help me.

“No need, Princess.” He reached into his shirtfront, pulled out a black leather chord, and held up a second medallion. “I have a spare.” He flashed his perfect smile again.

I couldn't take my eyes off the black circle.

“I knew it was a good idea to take them both.” He smiled as he rubbed the circle between his thumb and forefinger. “I initially took it to prevent anyone from attempting to stop me, but look at this fortunate coincidence we have here.”

I shuddered at the thought of going anywhere with him. Closing my eyes, I brought my knees up, rested my head on them, and crossed my arms around my legs.

I had no idea how to get out of this. I raised my head again and looked out the window. There was a road twenty yards away. We weren't on it. Even if I felt up to running, I doubted I could get far before he caught me. There was no way to stop him from taking me to Rommader.

If I could even get there.

Maybe when he Traveled, I could return to my house. I knew how to get there. I should be able to find it easily. He would leave without me.

But then what would he do to Amira when he got there?

“Come.” He opened the door and stepped out, then opened mine and beckoned me to join him.

I moved slowly, feeling nauseated. “I can't. I'm gonna puke.”

Shander looked at me with a strange expression on his face. “Nonsense. Come now.” He reached in and grabbed me by the arm then pulled me out. I staggered to my feet, and the motion hit my stomach.

I hunched over and vomited, missing his shoes by less than an inch. Shander jumped back and cursed.

“Watch it.”

“I told you. I don't feel good.” I sat back down on the seat in the car with my feet out on the hot ground. I placed my head in my hands. If I moved too quickly, dizziness overcame me.

“Perhaps we should wait until it passes.”

“Ya think?”

“Get in,” he said. I slowly pulled my feet in the car and leaned my head against the back of the seat. He closed the door and returned to the front seat then turned the air conditioning on full blast. He pulled forward a few yards as if wanting to get away from my vomit.

To calm myself, I focused my attention on trying to find Jai. I relaxed and searched where I remembered feeling him before, but I couldn't quite pinpoint him. I kept slipping right past his presence. The drug Shander made me breathe probably interfered with my connection.

A headache returned as I kept searching for him. I couldn't keep ahold of him for longer than a second at a time. Panic overwhelmed me every time I slipped past him.

I was too angry at the whole situation to cry: angry at Amira for coming here in the first place, at Jai for leaving me and going to Scotland, at myself for answering the door. But most of all, I was angry at the man sitting quietly, if a little impatiently, in the front seat.

“I hate you,” I muttered, surprised I'd actually said it loud enough to hear.

“Oh, I assumed as much,” he answered with little concern. “It is too bad you have to be the daughter of the king, isn't it.”

“I'm not the princess,” I said again. “I'm from here. My name is Holly, not Amira.”

“I can always call you that as a pet name once we are married, if you prefer.”

I shook my head in disgust and he chuckled. “Ah, my dear, the whole issue of replacing a sitting king is too complicated. It is much easier to just marry you. And then if you get in my way, or irritate me too much, it will be easy to dispose of you.”

He was so matter-of-fact about it that my newly empty stomach clenched in fear. He was ruthless. He knew what he wanted and wasn't afraid to do what he must to get it.

I couldn't let him take me with him, and I was desperate to find a way to stop him from returning to Rommader. He shouldn't be allowed anywhere near power. I began talking to distract him while working on a plan.

“I have a headache. That stuff you gave me made me sick. I don't think I'll be fit to Travel for some time.”

“What?” He sounded irritated.

“You wouldn't want me to be confused when it comes time to Travel. Like you said, who knows where I might end up?”

“I can't believe you reacted this way to it.” He pulled a small, purple, glass spray bottle out of his pants pocket. “It always worked at home. While trying to find where you took off to, I did everything to convince the scientists to give me information. They didn't like me much, so I couldn't get far.” He frowned as if remembering something unpleasant. “I'm not used to being denied what I want. They are too loyal to your worthless father.”

“How did you get them to help you?”

He looked down at the bottle in his hands. “My usual methods weren't enough. It did, however, lead me to this beautiful stuff.”

He held it up to the light. The bottle wasn't purple, but clear. The liquid inside it was deep lavender with an interesting consistency. Not quite watery, but not thick either. It shimmered in the evening sunlight.

“Using this on the scientists, they gave the information I wanted to an assistant of mine. He made a Traveling medallion. I used the Tamire to persuade him to come retrieve you.”

So that's what happened with Ryad. Perhaps his change of loyalty was genuine and not a trick to take her back to Shander. Amira would be relieved to know he hadn't done it of his own free will.

“After more than a week with no return of that useless assistant, I decided to take matters into my own hands and come after you myself. I hope he got lost somewhere in space, because if I ever find him again, he will be killed.”

“I hope you never find him,” I whispered sincerely.