Saven Deception (37 page)

In the Midi Circle, the streets are eerily
quiet, as people stay safe in their homes. A few houses in the residential
suburbs exhibit hastily constructed homemade signs with various anti-alien
statements. “E.T. Go. Home.” is a popular one.  Along with, “Let’s kick some
alien butt.”

In the Core Circle, rioters and protestors
line the pavements outside the main government buildings in their thousands.
The commentator describes the influx of lower-class protestors to the streets
of the precious inner city as a stage-managed class invasion, and an affront to
society and mankind. I laugh mirthlessly. Hands grip hostile banners, and I
spot the telltale star tattoos on many wrists, as well as several silver coins.

I’ve never known the middle classes to
throw their lot in with us in the Outer Circle. And while the scenes are
disturbing, they are also hopeful. We’re on the brink of historic change, and
this could be the moment when our world alters irrevocably.

“Switch if off,” Logan snaps.

Jarod’s eyes narrow to slits but he cuts
the feed. Logan rubs his temples repeatedly before flopping down on the couch
with an exaggerated sigh. “I saw more of the same earlier. The government is
announcing disbandment of ‘The Experimento’ in the morning. Everyone is being
moved above ground in the coming days.”

Reaching out, he snags me into his lap.
“The majority are being deposited back home for now, but the government is
offering them monetary incentives to help plead their case in their local
Sectors. Others, like you and Jarod, will be assigned to government roles to
help create strategies to restore peace.”

Jarod harrumphs and Logan stares
quizzically at him.

“What about you? What’ll you be doing?” I
twist in his lap.

He grits his teeth. “It appears I’ll be on
the road. The president wants to organize pro-government pro-alien rallies in
key cities around the country, and he plans on assisting my father in
negotiating similar alliances with your neighboring countries.” He huffs in
disgust and I wonder what details he’s left out of that little speech. It
sounds like a long road trip, and I’m not liking the idea of that.

Jarod looks puzzled. I wish I could
communicate telepathically with him so I could throw an “I told you so” into
the mix.

“How long will you be away?” I’m already
devastated at the likelihood of imminent separation. We’ve only properly united
and now he’s being snatched out of my arms?

He presses his forehead to mine. “I don’t
know. Hopefully, not too long.”

“
There’s more to it than that, isn’t
there
?” He gives an imperceptible nod.

Jarod asks me to walk him back to his
apartment, but quickly changes his mind once Logan moves to go with me. They
get into it pretty much straightaway. Logan explains the necessity for my
security detail, but Jarod still flounces out of the apartment in a sour mood.

I don’t mind though. I’m certain he wants
to grill me on what else I know and I’m all kinds of keen to avoid that conversation.

Having been cooped up in the apartment all
afternoon, I beg Logan to come to the diner for dinner. A few kisses later and
he’s putty in my hands. I try to smother my smug grin but fail miserably.

“I think this is what the humans mean when
they say ‘under the thumb,’” Haydn says.

I roar laughing and it feels so damned
good. Logan shrugs good-naturedly. “If that’s the case, sign me up for a
lifetime.”

How he always knows the singular most
perfect thing to say is astounding. It’s more than a talent. He gets me. Every
single time.

Stretching up on my tippy toes, I kiss him
languidly, pouring everything of myself into that one soul-searing kiss.

A light rap on the door interrupts the
moment.

“Thank the stars,” Haydn says, opening the
door to Neve. “I think I’ll hurl if I have to be around these lovesick fools
for much longer.”

“Hey! Don’t hate!” I mock pout.

“Jealousy doesn’t suit you,” Logan teases.

Neve yanks me out of Logan’s arms into
hers. The scent of lavender and apple blossom wafts around me. “You doing
okay?”

“I’m hanging in there.” I give her a tight
smile.

Logan threads his fingers in mine and
squeezes. “We have a date,” he tells Neve, pulling me out the door. “We’ll
catch you guys later.”

***

Logan is taking in every minute detail of the diner as we
wait for the waitress to deliver our food. His head turns this way and that as
he drinks it all in. I slurp noisily as I suck up Coke through a straw. Logan
tickles my side.

“Do you have diners on Saven?” I ask him
on a whim. I know next to nothing about his home planet.

“We do. But we call them ‘kezo’ and they
are all self-serve. No one waits on anyone on Saven.”

I stop slurping long enough to probe him
further. “So there’s no class divide?”

“Nope. We are all created equal and deemed
equal in the eyes of the law. Apart from royalty, of course. We’re all kinds of
special.” He doesn’t attempt to hide his sarcasm.

I stare off into the distance. “That must
be nice.”

“Not with everyone killing each other.”
His tone is terse.

I flinch. “That was insensitive of me. I’m
sorry.”

“It’s okay. It has to be seen to be
believed. Do you do this when you’re at home?” He works hard to sound breezy
and I appreciate the effort.

“Only once. My dad had this commemoration
ceremony at work, and we went to a local restaurant to celebrate. Actually,
there wasn’t much to celebrate for him or me.” I go quiet as the memory
resurfaces in vivid detail. I drop my eyes to the table.

“Why not?” Logan reaches for my hand.

“Dad was melancholy all day. Looking back
on it now, I think it highlighted all the things he
hadn’t
achieved more
so than the things he had. My mom spent the whole time complaining about the
expense, and she freaked out when I spilled a drink on my new dress. I think
she added a few new insults to her usual catalog that day.”

Distancing myself from the memory, I
squeeze his hand and smile. Caging the nasty thought in the furthest part of my
mind, I deploy my other regular strategy. Deflect and distract. “What about
your family? Do you do this sort of thing?”

He laughs as if the idea is absurd.
“Dinners are usually a stiff formal affair with members of the Royal Advisory
Council and some of the Elders in attendance.” He sighs and I wish I hadn’t
deflected. Now he looks as miserable as I feel.

“I did sneak out a few times with Evana
though.” A nostalgic smile lights up his whole face.

“Evana?” I inquire, as the waitress
nervously places hot plates in front of us. Where once she may have ogled Logan
for his stunning good looks, now she shies away in fear. He thanks her with a
wide smile, and she cowers as if he’s about to devour her for dessert. I roll
my eyes. Honestly.

“Evana?” I prompt.

“You met her,” he says in between
mouthfuls.

I hold my fork mid-air and rack my mind.

“At the gala event. You remember?”

Now I place her. She was the red-haired
lady Logan was escorting when he saw through my disguise. “Yes. You two are
close.” I say it as a statement of fact because I remember how attentive he was
and the tender look in his eyes when he introduced us. “Who is she?”

“She was a leading psychologist in your
country before my father abducted her.”

My fork drops to the table with a noisy
prang. “She’s human?” I lower my voice. “And she was taken against her will?”

“Yes. My father targeted her specifically
based on expert research she was undertaking on human cognitive behavior. She
had a son around the same age, and I think that’s why she took special interest
in me. We grew much closer after my mom died. She’s … very important to me.”
His eyes well up.

“I didn’t know you’d lost your mom. I’m so
sorry.”

“Thanks. It was a long time ago. I
would’ve been lost without Evana.”

“You love her.” Again, not a question I
need to ask.

He smiles as he nods.

“What exactly did your father need her
for?”

“She was charged with training us how to
think, act, speak, and look as human as possible. She’d spent years studying
human behavior so she was best placed to help us emulate humans. I think she
did a stellar job, don’t you?”

There’s an acidic edge to his tone I can’t
quite decipher. A cold chill creeps over me. “Are you saying you’re … acting?”
I hold my breath as I wait for his reply.

“Essentially, yes. We’re accomplished
actors. Excepting times of extreme emotion where it’s hard to contain our true
natures, we are all skilled at feigning how to act in certain situations.
Otherwise, there’d be no way we could have integrated into your society. The
difference would have been far too pronounced. As you’ve seen with Dante.”

Parking that for the moment, I ask the
burning question. “Do you … act around me?”

He winces. “Not anymore.”

I look away, not trusting myself to keep
the tears at bay. Brutal pain splinters my heart.

“Sadie, look at me.”

I shake my head and stare at the wall.

“Please.”

I slowly face him, keeping my eyes
downcast.

He tips my chin up until our eyes are
level. “I’ve been the most truthful to myself in your company because I wanted
you to see the real me. But there were occasions where I deliberately had to
shield my true nature, either to protect my identity or to keep you safe. Since
we properly got together I’ve been totally honest with you.” His fingers brush
my cheek. “I’ve never wanted to hide from you, but it was necessary at first. I
have no reason to hide anymore. Please say you believe me.”

The look of vulnerability on his face
helps dispel the ache in my heart. The logic makes sense but it still hurts. As
I look into his eyes, I know he’s telling the truth. “I believe you.” And I do,
but no matter how much we’ve moved on, it’s still difficult to eradicate all doubt.

He pulls me into his arms and his warmth
soothes me. I’m keen to understand more. “Did the others train with Evana too?”

“Yes. We all trained under her guidance;
however, I was the closest to her.”

The seeds on an idea form in my mind.
“What about Dante?” My stomach churns acridly at the mere mention of his name.
He nods, and my fledgling theory crumples, yet I don’t think it’s a coincidence
Logan appears the most humane of all of them. I decide to share that thought.
“I think you’re the most compassionate because you spent additional time with
Evana, and because you love her.”

He pushes his half-eaten plate away. His
eyes burn with excitement. “That’s exactly what Evana and I think! I’m proof
that there is another way.”

“She knows about the conscience transfer
and what’s planned?”

“She’s completely opposed to it, but
father won’t listen. And I don’t want her to labor the point in case he reneges
on his deal.” I question him with my eyes. “He promised her that once she led
us to this point, he’d return her home to her family. It’s the only thing she’s
been clinging to all these years. I don’t want her to risk that.”

“Will that be possible? I mean, how many
years has it been?” A loud rumble emits from my stomach and Logan eyeballs my
plate in an unspoken command. I scoop up a forkful of rice and stuff it in my
mouth.

“It’s been a while,” he admits somberly,
“but there are other races who know how to manipulate time. Provided my father
can strike a deal, he can arrange to send her back to the night she was
abducted. At least I hope he can. It’ll destroy her otherwise.”

Food churns unpleasantly in my gut. “To be
ripped from your life like that is awful.”

“I know.” Guilt seeps out of his pores.

“It wasn’t your decision to do that, and
it sounds like you were of great comfort to her. She was lucky to have you.”

“Are you?”

I don’t need to think about it. “Yes. In
more ways than one.” I mean every word.

Moisture glistens in his eyes, and I’m
awash with powerful emotion. We stare at each other, so much unspoken in our
gaze. Words are redundant because every caress of his eyes tells me all I need
to know.
Tell him. Say it. You know you want to
. But the words
stubbornly refuse to leave my mouth.

The moment passes and we finish eating in
companionable silence.

I want to say something as he steers me up
the road, but I’m afraid of making it worse. I don’t know if my aversion to
saying those three words is all tied up with my dysfunctional upbringing or
something more deep-rooted.

Suddenly, every hair on my body stands to
attention as uninhibited panic threatens to suffocate me. I stop abruptly,
tugging on his hand. Pivoting around, I scream. A thin red line is slicing
through the air, weaving a path toward us. No! Not toward
us
, toward
Logan! It advances so fast Logan barely has time to acknowledge it. As it draws
closer, it looks like a red streak of flaming fire. Whatever it is, I know
instantly that it has the power to destroy him.