Sovereign Hope (12 page)

“
I’m fine.”

“
I know, I’m just saying.” She smiled and turned back to her
computer screen, so when Daniel entered the hangar two seconds
later I was the only person staring at the entrance.

He paused and caught me in the flash of his eyes. The
term
green with envy
sprung to mind for some reason, though that wasn’t the
particular sin that burned through me when he locked me to the
spot.
Nope. That would be
lust
, my conscience whispered. I scowled.
Was it possible for your own body to turn traitor on you? If it
was, then mine most certainly had.

Daniel wore
his battered leather jacket over a white v-neck shirt and fresh
jeans. Still the same green Converse, though. Had he bought new
clothes while he was gone just to avoid coming home? I couldn’t
remember much, but he had definitely been drenched head to toe in
blood when he stormed out.

Daniel’s jaw
tightened. I was doing a pretty convincing impression of a rabbit
trapped in headlights as he made his way into the room, his keys
clutched tightly in his fist, whitening his knuckles.

Agatha
continued her work, seemingly unfazed by his return. He stopped at
his desk, picking up a pile of papers to flick through before
dropping them back down again. My mouth was so dry it was hard to
swallow. I studied his face for any signs of emotion.

He looked
tired more than anything. There were dark circles under his eyes,
and he bore a vaguely haunted look as he slowly removed his jacket
and slung it over the back of the chair. I dragged my gaze back to
my hands, trying to look casual as Agatha began to hum under her
breath. The softness of her voice eased some of the tension that
sparked in the air.

“
How’s the old man?” he asked gruffly, his voice flat. He
looked up at Agatha. She didn’t return his gaze.

“
Don’t know. You tell me,” she replied, her words clipped and
a little too loud.

He stared at
her a moment longer before sighing, placing both hands on the edge
of the desk. He leaned forward to stare down at his feet.
Uncertainty wasn’t something I associated with Daniel; he always
seemed so self-assured, but right then he was anything but. A long
time passed before he stood straight and picked up his jacket. I
pulled in a deep breath and held it in my chest, anticipating
fireworks. Instead, a cold steel flashed in his eyes when he looked
at me.

“
Are
you
okay?” He said each word carefully, his eyes searching my
face. I opened my mouth to speak but my vocal chords seemed to have
been cut. I nodded instead. He accepted my overzealous head
movements without another word and turned, exiting the room more
hurriedly than he came in.

“
See,” Agatha said, once he was gone. “That wasn’t so
bad.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Space Cadet

Agatha forgot
about the whole ‘accident.’ She went about her work and cooked when
the mood took her. She hummed as usual when she moved from room to
room. Sometimes she even came to sit on the sofa with me when I
watched a movie. She laughed loudly and told me more stories about
her childhood growing up in the First Quarter.

Daniel, on the
other hand, had not forgotten. He was giving me the silent
treatment. It was kind of peaceful, really. I almost relaxed in his
presence, enjoying the way he stalked from room to room without
even acknowledging my existence. It was far better than being
pinned under his fierce glare. The silence that penetrated the room
whenever we were alone was almost tangible, though. My skin
blistered every time he walked past.

I was so
accustomed to his disregard that I almost had a heart attack when
he finally did talk to me, breaking my concentration as I surveyed
some of the terrible pictures of me they still had tacked up on the
wall.

“
He wants to see you.”

“
P… Pardon?” I spun around. He stood two feet away, smelling
of the engine grease that oiled his hands. He was wearing my
favorite color—a bright green t-shirt that matched his eyes
exactly. The effect was overwhelming. The whole world fell away;
there was nothing but Daniel. Nothing but the way he was staring at
me, like he could see right inside me. Could read me like an open
book.

“
Who? Who wants to see me?”

He sighed, apparently impatient that I was lagging behind in
the conversation.
“Aldan
wants to see you.” He scrubbed his hands on his
filthy jeans. Up this close, his wavy mess of hair looked
unbearably soft. I had a perverse desire to run my fingers through
the thickness of it.

Freak
.
Who
goes around touching people’s hair?
I
pulled him into focus, ignoring the strange urge. “What? He’s
awake?”

“
No.”

I stared at him. He stared back. Why did he never make sense?
I narrowed my eyes. “What do you mean, then,
he wants to see me
?”

“
Just come with me. And
don’t
touch him until I tell you to,” he replied,
apparently losing patience with me altogether. He turned to walk
out of the hangar but paused when he realized I wasn’t following
him.

“
What?”

“
There’s no way I’m going back in there,” I said. The mere
thought of going back into that room set my heart thumping in my
chest. Daniel rolled his eyes.

“
There’s no point getting angry with me, either,” I told him,
surprised I sounded so firm considering how terrified I was. “You
told me he was
different
, that he didn’t want to
hurt me, but look how that turned out.” I waved my arm in the air,
bound up in a fresh sling.

“
That’s because you don’t listen!” The exasperation in his
voice cut a little, and I bristled. He took a few steps back toward
me. “You’re right. I’m not going to get mad at you. I know that
won’t help, because you’re incredibly hard-headed. If you do what I
say, then you’ll be fine. Now please…will you just come with
me?”

Hard-headed?
Did he just call me
hard-headed?
I
crossed my good arm across my chest, ready to dig my heels
in. He gritted his teeth.

“
Please!” His raised voice echoed around the hangar and
bounced off the walls, repeating his exasperated plea.

I hardened my
jaw and looked him square in the eye.

“
No.”

******

Daniel entered
Aldan’s room and dumped me unceremoniously onto the floor. My
cheeks were a hot red, the color of humiliation. A sack of potatoes
would have been treated with more care. Probably would have landed
with more grace, too. I’d given up trying to struggle out of his
grip after the first few seconds of our journey down the corridor;
he was far too strong, and it just seemed to entertain him,
anyway.

Agatha offered
me her hand, staring at him in disbelief.

“
I thought I said to
ask
her to come?!”

“
I did,” he said. “She declined.”

I refused her
offer of help, my pride still mortally wounded. I staggered to my
feet with what little dignity I could muster. “You’re really
something, you know that?” I hissed.

Agatha placed
her hand on the small of my back and led me away from Daniel, who
was smirking remorselessly. “It’s okay, Farley,” she said. “I
should have known better than to think he could act like a
civilized human being.”

Daniel
shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the bed where Aldan lay.
He looked exactly as he had done before, except this time he was
sporting a vintage Motorhead t-shirt. I froze as Agatha attempted
to pull me up to the bedside.

“
Don’t worry, kiddo. Nothing’s gonna happen.”

Yeah, right
, I thought. Sure, he
looked harmless enough, but I knew better.

“
Just
don’t
touch him,” Daniel said, as if warning a naughty toddler that
kept trying to stick its finger in an electrical outlet. I pulled a
face and made a show of shoving my good hand deep into my
pocket.

“
This is your opportunity to find out everything you wanted to
know.” Agatha said. “Aldan thought it was time and Daniel agreed to
let him talk to you.”

I looked at
Daniel but he was staring at his hands as they gripped the metal
frame of the bed. I kept quiet and observed as he reached out and
touched the old man on the heel of his palm, just below his
thumb.

It wasn’t as
though I really wanted him to get thrown across the room, but it
was slightly disappointing when all Daniel did was clear his
throat. Maybe just a little shock would have been nice. A glazed
look washed over his face, and his eyes took on a foggy, distant
appearance, as though he were no longer focusing on the room. I
looked to Agatha for an explanation.

“
It’s normal, don’t worry,” she said.

Daniel’s
eyelids fluttered and a gentle frown flashed across his face.
Agatha took my hand and led me around the bed next to him. I
watched the whole time, waiting to see if it looked like he was
about to drop down dead.

“
All you have to do is hold Daniel’s hand. Don’t worry. It’ll
feel strange for a few seconds, but that’s perfectly normal. Don’t
fight it, and don’t panic. I’m right here, okay?”

“
You can’t be serious?” There was no way I was willingly going
to turn myself into a space cadet.

“
I thought you wanted answers?”

“
I do, but I’m sure you could just tell me what the hell’s
going on instead!”

“
Not part of the deal, unfortunately.” Agatha gave me a
tight-lipped grimace, shaking her head. “This is all interlinked
with Daniel. He doesn’t want to tell you anything. You should
consider yourself lucky that Aldan’s a stand-up guy and Daniel
can’t say no to him the way he does to me.” She shrugged her
shoulders. It was a take-it-or-leave-it gesture. This wasn’t what
I’d had in mind when I’d asked for answers.

“
Okay. But you have to swear that if I look like I’m suffering
in any way, you’ll stop whatever this is. Deal?”

“
Deal.”

Agatha took
hold of my hand and dragged me closer to Daniel. My heart pumped a
little bit faster as I considered what his hand would feel like in
mine. The reactions I kept experiencing whenever he was around were
really starting to become a problem.

“
Now remember, don’t fight it,” Agatha warned, before guiding
my cold, shaking hand into Daniel’s warm, capable one.

It seemed
prudent to ask what exactly I wasn’t supposed to be fighting, but
before I could draw breath my vision started to blur. A moment
later a sickening sensation flooded through my body, like I was
being hurtled forwards at Mach ten.

It was
happening all over again. I was going to get thrown across the
room. My legs started to shake, and then…

…
nothing happened. I was still standing next to the bed.
Daniel’s hand was still around mine, tightening its grip. Bright,
flashing lights danced in my vision, twisting everything around and
around like a washing machine. It made me feel unbalanced and
motion-sick. Focusing on anything in the room wasn’t an option. The
more I tried, the more blurred and distant everything appeared. My
stomach heaved. I was going to throw up if this didn’t stop
soon.
Really
soon.

After thirty
seconds, I’d had enough. Pulling my hand out of Daniel’s was
impossible, though. The harder I pulled, the tighter he held on,
until it felt like the blood supply to my fingers was being cut off
altogether. Somehow, through all the confusion and nausea, I knew
he would be enjoying this.

The thought
echoed through me until all I could think about was how much
pleasure he was probably taking from my discomfort. That was all it
took. My mind, free from trying to rationalize what was happening,
relaxed, and suddenly there was no more spinning, no more
nausea.

“
Thank you!” I snapped, imagining Daniel had let go. But when
I gathered myself and looked around, I saw that wasn’t the
case.

Daniel stood,
holding my hand in both of his, watching me intently. I returned
his gaze, my eyes wide, slightly out of breath. Once he saw I was
with him, he dropped my hand and staggered back. His over-eagerness
to put some space between us might have hurt, but before the
emotion could form I realized we were outside. And the sun was
shining.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Paraphrase

Colors. There
were so many colors. My hand flew to my mouth in amazement as I
spun around, taking in the lush greens of the soft grass under my
newly bare feet, and the fragile blue of the duck-egg sky
overhead.

There was the
faint smell of cut grass on the breeze as it tugged lightly at my
loose hair, and I knew I was actually breathing in fresh air. It
tasted crisp, like biting into a green apple.

This whole
world was cast in a variety of greens: lime, jade, emerald, olive…
Each individual leaf or blade of grass seemed to be shaded in a
color entirely its own.

I looked at
Daniel, shocked that he could just stand there with a regretful
look on his face and not be completely overwhelmed by the
experience. A hundred yards behind him, a vast line of evergreen
trees stretched from left to right for a mile before the land
retracted on both sides, sweeping out of view. It gave way to the
fast-running river that babbled beyond, streaming out like a
shining satin ribbon in blue and grey and silver, with the
occasional kiss of gold where the sunlight caught the surface and
burned. There wasn’t a building or car in sight, let alone another
person.