Survival -Guardians of Vesturon [1] (17 page)

“Tonight. If she chooses me, I will bring her to our home after we return to Earth. Please say nothing of this to the others. I do not want them to have anything to hide from Father and his wrath. I would not be surprised if he were waiting for me upon my return.”

I stood in the darkened corner and watched her sleep, as I had done countless times before. Her luxurious waves of burnished copper fanned out across her pillow, beckoning to me. I drew in a ragged breath, apprehension sinking its cruel claws into me over what I had come to do. She must have heard me for she turned her head in my direction, her amber eyes attempting to pierce the darkness.

“Who’s there?” she wanted to know.

I felt her fear as it pierced my heart.

“It is someone who cares deeply for you. I am here to take you away, if you choose this journey,” I replied as I stepped away from the corner and out of the shadows.

I explained my presence as I approached her, in careful detail, to ensure she had a complete understanding of what I was offering her. And then she did the unthinkable; she refused me!

My grief was so penetrating that I could barely speak. I picked up her hand, kissed it, and teleported out of there. I had to get away from her before I broke into a million pieces.

I went straight to the mountaintop, and when I took form, a cry of anguish tore from my lips. I had been dealt the worst kind of blow imaginable. I never expected her to refuse me and hadn’t realized how much pain it would cause. It was merciless. I dropped to my knees and screamed. I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder, and I instinctively knew it was Therron. I didn’t have to tell him a thing; he knew by my misery.

“I am sorry, Rayn. If there is anything I could do, you know I would. Did she say why?” he asked.

“I made the mistake of telling her the truth about the consequences of taking her to Vesturon. She said she would never allow anyone to take a risk like that on her behalf. I should have lied to her Therron. What am I to do?”

“Huh. The Rayn I know wouldn’t give up so easily.”

“Elaborate.”

“For my entire life I have never seen you take ‘no’ for an answer!”

He was right. I guess I had been overwhelmed by her rejection, as it was the one of the few times in my life I had ever been denied anything of importance. I could feel my eyes begin to blaze with fierce determination. I knew what I needed to do, and I would stop at nothing to gain it.

“I can almost see the wheels in your mind spinning, Rayn,” Therron said with a smile. “That’s more like the brother I know.”

BOOK THREE:

Maddie couldn’t suppress her thrill of seeing him again. He appeared before her, as he had several weeks ago, looking as magnificent as ever. He was definitely real and not imagined. As she was thinking this, she saw the corners of his mouth lift up in slight smile. She knew he could feel her thoughts.

He again offered her the opportunity to join with him. “Maddie, you are always in my thoughts, a part of my heart and soul, my
amashan
. I want to take you to a place where the impossible is possible, to make all of this go away.”

The choices presented to Maddie were extreme. Either give up her life as it was previously or give up her ability to walk again and live forever bound to a chair. She thought about Cat, January and school. She thought about her home.

“I have a question for you. If I choose to go with you, where will I live?” she questioned Rayn.

“I will work something out, but I promise you will be well cared for.”

“Rayn, you know my life story. I remember telling it to you in the caves. I’m a survivor, and I’ll go on no matter what. But, I would be giving up a chance to live again, if I don’t go with you. When I refused to go with you the last time, I felt like a part of me was missing after you left. There is something between us that defies logic, that I don’t have an explanation for.”

He’d raised his brows as she said that.

“If I stay here, I stay alone and without you, and I don’t want to do that. So, my answer is yes; I’ll go with you; not because I’ll be able to walk again, that’ll just be the icing on the cake, but because with you, I have nothing to lose but everything to gain. I need to warn you, though. It seems I bring bad luck to those I care for. I would hate myself if anything bad happened to you. I know I’m rambling, but I have a tendency to do that when I’m nervous,” she said with a shaky laugh.

“Maddie, I don’t believe in bad luck. Bad things just happen sometimes that we have no control over.”

“What if we are not meant to be together? What then?”

“Well, we will never know unless we give it a go, will we?”

“So, when do we leave?”

“Now. Right this minute. And we must not delay. I am taking you to a place that you don’t know exists. It is another world, Maddie. My world is much more advanced than Earth, which is how we can complete your healing. I am taking you to a Healer on my home planet. But do not think about all of this right now. When we return, I will answer any questions you may have. I want you to trust in me.”

“Whoa! What do you mean ‘home planet?’ Are you an alien or something?”

“Yes, something like that.”

“What do you mean ‘something like that?’ Either you are or you aren’t,” she added.

“Well, then, yes. I am an alien from another planet,” Rayn said.

“Shut up!”

“Why do you question me if you want me to shut up?” he wondered aloud.

“No, it’s just slang. I don’t really want you to shut up. Are you serious? You are truly from another planet?” Maddie started to look around her room, her eyes darting everywhere.

“Yes, seriously. What are you looking for?”

“The cameras. Look, I know I can be gullible sometimes, but I am not dumb. I’m looking for the hidden cameras. Did Cat put you up to this?” Maddie wanted to know.

“I do not know Cat, and no one has put me up to anything,” he responded indignantly. “I am taking a huge risk here by telling you these things, and now, you think it is a prank? I can assure you, Maddie, this is no joke or prank. I am one hundred percent serious here. I am truly from another planet, which is why I could not tell you anything while you were in the caves. Our medical advances will allow your injury to your spine to be repaired, and it will be as if this injury never occurred. You must trust me on this, and when we get back, I will explain everything in great detail to you.”

“Okay. And we are getting there, how?” she inquired, her words dripping with skepticism. “Wait, don’t tell me. Your supersonic spaceship is parked outside the window waiting for us to jump aboard!”

“No, we will not be using a Star Transporter today. Instead, we will be using a teleporting device. I must prepare you,” he replied so matter-of-factly.

He held out his hand, and a holographic image of Maddie was projected from his
shadar
—the metallic shield that covered his hand. He waved it back and forth over her body.

Maddie looked up to the ceiling and said, “Dear Lord, I have finally accepted that this man is not a figment of my imagination and that he is actually real. Now, I find out he is an alien from outer space. Are you kidding me?”

Rayn was configuring his device and gave Maddie a puzzled look. “Can you not accept this, Maddie?”

“I’m not sure what I can or cannot accept anymore. Is this some kind of cruel joke?”

“I can assure you this is no joke,” Rayn answered with frustration.

“What are you doing with that…that thing?” she asked curiously.

Rayn replied, “This is a
shadar
. I am configuring your body mass for conversion to energy. It is required for teleporting. I want to warn you though; when your body returns to mass from energy, you will feel odd, maybe some dizziness, some nausea. Sometimes it can make you feel like you are suffering from motion sickness. I want you to be aware of this possibility so that you won’t be frightened.”

“Yeah, right. So you’re telling me this is going to send me to another planet? Like, are you going to ‘Beam me up, Scotty?’” she asked sarcastically.

“I do not know who Scotty is, but in a word, yes. This device will, in a sense, beam you over to my home planet.”

“Okay, the joke’s over. You can stop play-acting, Rayn, if that’s even your name. I’m done. The joke is on me, and you can have the last laugh. But I don’t think this was a very nice thing to do to me.”

“Maddie, this is no joke, and I am not play-acting. I honestly am from Vesturon and this device, my
shadar
, has the capability to send us both there. We keep our existence a secret for obvious reasons and some not so obvious.”

Rayn took Maddie’s hands in his and looked her in the eye and stated, “I am a Guardian, Maddie. It is against everything I have been taught, everything I know, to be dishonest. I would never joke about anything such as this. And as a Guardian, you have my most sacred word on this.”

“But, how do you expect me to believe all of this?”

“Because, as I just told you, it goes against my very being to lie and to be dishonest. I can sense your unease and skepticism, Maddie. Trust me for a little longer, and you will see for yourself.”

Maddie nodded and said, “This is really freaking me out, but what do I have to lose, right?”

“You only have things to gain, as you will soon see. As soon as I adjust the devices, we will be on our way.”

He then moved his fingers over his
shadar
and asked, “Are you ready?”

“Wait! I can’t go wearing my pajamas. Can you help me change?”

She changed into her favorite pair of comfy shorts and a t-shirt.

“Wait! Is this going to hurt or anything?” Maddie asked, still not convinced he wasn’t pulling her leg.

“Not a bit. Except for maybe the motion sickness, you will have no effects at all.”

“I’m not going to turn into a weird scaly animal or anything by accident, will I?”

Rayn just shook his head at her, rolled his eyes, and gave her an impossible look.

“Well, you never know. Of all the things I thought you might be, an alien wasn’t one of them. I mean I must have lost my mind. I barely know you other than your name is Rayn, and I have agreed to fly through the universe as an energy beam to go to a different planet to have my spinal cord repaired. Oh. My. God! I really have lost my mind. What am I saying? I think I’m having a panic attack. Please God, tell me I have not gone insane!”

Rayn placed his hand over his heart and spoke in the language that was strange to Maddie. “
I swear by all that is sacred on Vesturon, you have not lost your mind. You are safe with me, and I will see to it that you are healed
.” Then he translated for her.

He held her in his arms until she was feeling calm again. For whatever reason, she had faith and trust in this man.

“Okay, then, I guess I’m ready,” she said shakily.

Rayn was holding Maddie in his arms when they teleported to the corridor of the medical facility on Vesturon. Her eyes were squeezed shut, a sure sign of how alarmed she was. He laughed to himself because this mode of transportation was something he took for granted as he had been doing it his entire life. How weird this must be for her!

“Maddie, you can open your eyes now. We have arrived,” he told her.

“Holy cow, don’t laugh. That was bizarre! I feel so wonky-headed. Rayn, I think I’m going to be sick.” Had she been standing on her own, she would have been frozen in place, stupefied from the sensation.

“Ah, remember what I told you. That is your body readjusting to everything. It won’t last long. Take slow, deep breaths.”

The transfer process was truly a jumbling of the molecules of the body, changing from mass to energy and back to mass again. When one wasn’t used to the feeling, it could be very disorienting. It quickly passed, but could leave one with a sense of motion sickness.

“I still am in shock over all of this though. This is real. I mean, you weren’t joking, were you? You know it’s not every day I go hurling through the universe as an energy beam or whatever! Are you sure I haven’t been smoking crack or something?” she emphasized.

“No crack, Maddie, I swear,” he said as he laughed at her.

“I hope I don’t give you a hernia or anything; I’m not exactly a lightweight here,” she remarked.

“Not a problem. And you are a lightweight…a very attractive one at that,” he quipped.

When they entered the Healer’s facility, he was there waiting.

“Rayn, my liege, what are you doing here?”

Julian and Rayn began their mind probing discussion. He was surprised by Rayn’s presence. Rayn finally had to order him to heal Maddie, as he was unwilling because she was human. Rayn wasn’t surprised at all by his reaction. It would have surprised him more if he hadn’t reacted this way.

“Everything will be fine soon,” Rayn whispered to her.

After Julian ran the appropriate scans and discovered where the severed cord was located, he began the process of mending it.

“Maddie, now that I know where the injury is, I am going to use a healing device on the area where the injury is. Initially you are going to feel some intense shooting pains that will be quite severe. They will, however, be very brief. You will then begin to feel something like electrical shocks starting in your back and then running down into your legs and feet. This is perfectly normal; it is your spinal cord fusing together and regenerating nerves, which will send electrical impulses that transmit feelings and sensations. It is what will give you your ability to walk again. Are you ready?”

Maddie nodded.

Julian looked at Rayn and suggested, “Rayn, grab her hands as she will need something to squeeze at first. Maddie, remember, this pain will be brief.”

Julian began to wave the mending device over Maddie’s spine until she felt a warmth and then it morphed into a burst of pain that was so gripping she screamed. It felt like she was being dosed with a thousand volts of electricity. However, as quickly as it had erupted and traveled down her legs, it eased up and turned into electrical shocks, like she was getting low grade impulses in every part of her lower extremities. Eventually that diminished, turning into pins and needles and ultimately fading away.