Xander vol.1 Transmutation (10 page)

Nora nodded slowly, taking
in the information. She couldn’t help but be continuously
overwhelmed, as well as curious. At first, she had tried to reason
with herself and convince herself that what she saw with Loni was
an extensive magic trick, and that Xander had been lying about
being an alien.

But hearing more and more
of his culture, there were entirely too many facts to keep track of
for the lie to be so complex. And then there was of course, Loni,
who, while she was learning more and more about her species, seemed
more and more real.

And now Nora was stuck
with the unbelievable fact that the man sitting next to her was a
full-fledged alien. And that he wasn’t at all trying to abduct her,
or conduct tests on her, or do anything of the things Hollywood had
suggested. He was just a guy, studying the planet, and possibly
helping her save it.

“
At any rate,” Xander
exhaled, readjusting himself in the sofa cushion. “We’ve gotten off
subject again.” He raised a brow, catching Nora’s sudden tension in
her body language. “Chimera.” Xander demanded. Nora frowned,
averting her eyes. “I suggest that if you wish to continue having
my protection, that you enlighten me on just what I’m getting
myself into.”

Nora sighed, but knew he
was right. It was only fair to give him a fair warning of what was
about to go on, and what she was planning on doing. She wouldn’t
assume that he would go as far as to tag along on her mission. But
as far as protecting until said mission took off, he was right in
wanting to know just what he would be up against if the time should
arise.

“
You said ‘he’ called you
Chimera. Who is ‘he’, exactly?” Xander asked, starting the first of
many questions.

Nora hesitated, grimacing.
She knew that she was about to give away information she had sworn
not to. And she knew that giving the information would make her
more of a target than she already was. And while she was fearful of
her life, she no longer cared for the oath she took.

That was before the
change. That was before the manipulation and the lies. That was
before she found out what the doctor’s true intentions were. That
was before the danger for the future. And most importantly – it was
before Sarah. She took a deep breath, taking her first
plunge.

There would be no turning
back.

“
He was our therapist. His
name is James Lupin.”

Chapter 9

“
How did he do it?” Xander
asked.

“
He told us it was a new
breakthrough in therapy,” she scoffed. “A new drug designed to cure
you
personally
.
And we believed him.”

“
Was it a
malfunction?”

“
No. He knew it would
mutate us. I don’t think he knew how, though. He was after a
uniform mutation, wanting the same results every time. But that’s
not what he got. He was after an ideal. But ended up with
us.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
He told us it would cure
whatever disorder or problem we were seeing him for. But instead,
the mutation manifested them, and we became their
embodiment.”

“
What was yours?” Xander
asked after some hesitation. “Why were you seeing him?”

“
They called me a hippie.
A tree hugger,” she scoffed, laughing harshly. “I felt a connection
with nature that people called
unnatural
.” She turned her hand
over, looking down at its palm as she allowed the beginnings of
thin vines to merge from her wrist and crawl up into the palm of
her hand. Her eyes were solemn, even as she handled the wines with
care.

“
Now the connection is
more than emotional.”

Xander watched her
movements, unable to help but feel for her. He easily got a sense
of the hope she had for the treatment, in hopes that maybe she
would be more accepted by her peers, only to find herself moving
further and further away.

And now, being as she was,
he could feel her sense of hopelessness, while at the same time,
the determination to do something about it.

“
Why did you leave?”
Xander asked.

“
Because I can’t let him
keep doing this to people. Lying to them, and then making them
pledge their loyalty – their lives to him. And for what? These …
powers? That bring nothing but chaos –“

“
Would it be so bad? If
you could just break their alliance to him, perhaps. But Athena
gets along perfectly well with a fairly large spectrum of power.
Would it be so different here?”

“
No,” Nora sighed. “This
planet – humans aren’t ready for such a change. There are wars and
death for such trivial things
now
. And far lesser forms of power.
I fear to imagine an Earth of
only
this. And what’s more, the death that would
follow when attempting.”

“
Death?” Xander repeated.
Nora had yet to mention Sarah, and the realization made her
sulk.

“
The treatment – serum.
It’s not stable. Not everyone’s body can accept it. And if it
doesn’t …” she trailed off, her eyes lowering.

“
I’m sorry,” Xander spoke
up. Their eyes met in the moment of mourning. He frowned. “You’ve
lost someone to this.” Nora looked away again, though grateful for
the compassion.

“
She was seeing Lupin for
anxiety, among other things.” Nora gave a soft laugh at her
recollection. “We met in the lobby of his office.” She felt her
eyes water and sting at the guilt and rage that welled up within
her. “She was his sister. Richard’s. And he didn’t even bat an
eye,” Nora said, her vocal cords straining. “He said he believed in
Darwinism,” she spat, her eyes glaring at her balled fists, one
reaching up to wipe her eye before the tears could spill over.
Before Xander had a chance to comfort her, she continued with
renewed animation.

“
That’s why I’m going to
stop this. I’m not going to let more people be victims just because
he wants to continue this
experiment
. He wants to infect the
globe,” she said with disgust, looking back up at
Xander.

She could see his
expression of discomfort and worry, and she sighed, forcing what
she thought was a smile to stop the expression of disappointment
from claiming her features.

He looked as though he
regret saving her, hearing exactly what he was to expect from the
other side. And Nora expected as much. Even she thought she was mad
for even trying to escape the base.

“
Well,” he sighed. Nora
lowered her eyes, her hands tightening in their fists. She awaited
the demand for her to leave, and to take her cloud of death with
her. “As far as help goes, I think you’ve found the best you could
possibly get,” he chuckled.

Nora stared at her paling
knuckles, her brain struggling to accept the commentary. But when
her brain finally pushed through the lag of denial, her head
snapped up, and her eyes went wide. And then immediately after,
narrowed.

She paced her thoughts.
She hadn’t dared to assume that Xander would help her on her crazed
mission to save the world. She felt her heart thud against her
chest with hope, despite her better judgment and
caution.

“
What?” she asked before
swallowing, her throat suddenly dry.

“
My help,” Xander
repeated. “As far as help goes, I think I can do a hell of a lot,”
he bragged with a nod, almost optimistically.

“
Helping …” Nora trailed
off, with a slight shake of her head. “Me?”

“
I’m certainly not talking
about helping that
man
,” Xander scoffed. And despite Nora’s increasingly growing
joy, she furrowed her brows, unable to help being skeptical as
well.

“
Why?”

“
Why?” Now it was Xander
whose eyes squinted in wonder. “Why do you question benefits to
you? Because I do not dislike you. And it is not in my nature to
turn away from someone in dire need. You are risking your life for
the greater good of your home – you’re people. And being a prince,
I am bound by the same morality. So,” Xander huffed. “I will help
you, Nora of Earth. To avenge your friend, and save your
planet.”

Nora stared with lazy eyes
and disbelief. Her bottom lip quivered as her heart thudded against
her chest. Almost immediately, she felt the sting of her eyes
watering, and the beginnings of her chest heaving.

She’d been so hopeless.
She’d thought that with the first mentioning of her crisis, that
she’d be cast away. That no one would believe her. Or worse, that
they would, and would refuse to help her instead. That they would
capture her and drag her away. Experiment on her, and selfishly use
her for science instead of heeding her words of the grim
future.

But instead, in the first
run at an explanation, she’d not only found help. But the help of
another power-wielding being, accompanied by another. It was like
God had personally heard her prayers and hopes, and sent Xander in
the form of an answer.

Seeing Xander’s sudden
stiffness in body language, Nora realized that the tears that had
threatened to spill over had actually done so, and were now
dripping down her face and into her hands. Hands that rose to wipe
her eyes apologetically.

“
Sorry,” she wept, leaning
over her lap as she pointlessly wiped away tears that kept
falling.

Xander’s jaw tightened as
he was suddenly faced with a crying woman. He shook his head, not
understanding the sudden overflow of emotion – especially not that
of an apology.

“
Why are you –“

“
Thank you,” she sobbed,
cutting his nervous questioning off. “Thank you,” she repeated,
gripping onto his hands that were slowly reaching towards her in
awkward hesitation. Xander flinched upon the contact, the corners
of his mouth falling downwards as their eyes met.

“
There’s hope,” she
exhaled, letting go of one of his hands in order to wipe her eyes
again. “There’s hope now.”

“I can’t believe Maverick
just quit like that,” came the annoyed pitch of Liz, who was
standing behind the checkout counter of the café with her arms
crossed.

Jared was wiping down said
counter, sighing when she mentioned the disappearance of his good
friend – or so he thought. He’d been thinking the same thing for
the past few weeks. There was no phone call, no passing of messages
to the manager. Maverick had just up and vanished. Quitting without
so much as a goodbye or a two-week notice.

He’d become increasingly
more impatient to hear something from Maverick. A call, a text.
Hell, he’s settle for an email if it explained what had been going
on. Ever since he had started hanging out with Saphora, he’d been
seeing less and less of him. Until finally, they arrived at the
basis of Liz’s conversation of the afternoon.

“
Yeah,” Jared said
nonchalantly.

Or trying to sound as
much, anyway. But Liz wasn’t about to drop the topic any time soon.
She wanted answers, and she was convinced that Jared had them. She
popped her gum, obviously not satisfied with his
response.

“
What happened to him?”
She demanded, more than asked.

“
How should I know?” Jared
grumbled, whipping his rag from the now shining counter and
stuffing it back into his uniform apron, sporting a steaming cup of
what could have been tea or coffee in the center of it. Liz
scoffed.

“
Aren’t you guys
friends?”

“
And?”

“
And
you should know why he quit,” she reasoned.

“
Well, I don’t. Okay? I
don’t have any idea why he quit – or where he is,” Jared admitted,
taking the rag back from his apron and slapping it into the sink
behind the counter against the wall.

Liz popped her gum again,
studying Jared’s body language as he leaned up against the edge of
the sink and crossed his arms. Her brows rose, seeing his apparent
frustration. And her tone quickly went from that of annoyance to
gossip.

“
You mean you really don’t
know where he is?”

“
I haven’t talked to him
in weeks. He won’t answer my calls, or anything,” Jared
confessed.

“
Oh my god …” Liz
breathed, her hand raising to her chest. Jared scoffed, looking
over her dramatized posture.

“
Oh, don’t act like you
actually give a shit,” he jeered.

“
But Jared,” Liz said, her
voice dropping considerably. “What if something happened to
him?”

Jared’s mocking expression
fell through to shocked realization within the instant. He stared
blankly at Liz for a moment too long, before his brows
furrowed.

“
What?” he
scowled.

He’d spent so much time
angry with Maverick for not returning his calls of texts that he
hadn’t stopped to think that maybe he was in some kind of trouble.
That maybe something had happened to physically stop him from
getting back to him. A wave of guilt washed over him, only to be
made worse by Liz and her compassionless curiosity.