Thank you to everyone reading, and thanks for the feedback!
And shirtless Max!
That is indeed a purely visual feast.
CHAPTER TWENTY
September 8, 2000, 11:30 p.m.
Evans residence
"Speak of the devil," Michael muttered in disgust as Diane Evans hovered quizzically on the porch. "Like I said...soccer moms."
"We don't play soccer," Isabel said acidly, "not that I wouldn't mind using your head for a ball. And don't you dare blame my mother—you just made enough noise to wake the entire neighborhood!"
"We don't have time for this," Tess protested.
"You think?" Michael demanded. "Maybe you should have thought of that before you grabbed the wheel and—"
"Max!" Isabel said. "What are you doing? Where are you going?"
Max climbed out of the jeep and leaned against it, his legs burning, the ragged pain in his chest only just beginning to subside. He felt sluggish, like he was moving through water, like life was pushing back. He'd sat in the back seat in a daze on the way over, rejoining the world only briefly when he'd heard Michael's voice rising, although he still wasn't sure why. But seeing his house, seeing his mother watching with concern only yards from the window Nasedo had fallen through on his way to his death, had the effect of being splashed in the face with cold water. She mustn't go in there. He could tell from her demeanor that she had no idea what lay on the floor of her son's bedroom, and he was determined to keep it that way, which is why he'd ignored the current argument and climbed out...only to find he had no idea what to say.
"Hey, Mom," Isabel said awkwardly, having appeared on the other side of the jeep. "Did we wake you?"
"Izzie?" Diane said, the concern in her voice floating across the yard. "Uh...no, I was awake, but...what's wrong? Max, I thought you'd gone to bed. Why did you go out again?"
Why, indeed? Max thought as four pairs of eyes stared at him, one puzzled, the other three in shock. He'd just jumped out with no idea how he was going to explain the fact that he was standing in the driveway after he'd said good night to her, and Isabel appeared similarly tongue-tied. Thank goodness he'd had a shirt in the jeep or he'd be tongue-tied in his skivvies with a lot more to explain.
A door opened behind him. "Mrs. Evans, I'm
so sorry," Tess said. "I called Max because I was...I was having a bit of a problem, and he was kind enough to come right over."
Diane pondered that for a moment. "A problem so bad that you couldn't talk on the phone?"
"I know," Tess said, not missing a beat, just the right note of contrition in her voice. "I just...it's just easier to say some things face to face, and...well...it's hard being new," she went on, a catch in her voice. "I told you we always moved around a lot, but this time...for some reason, it's harder this time. I know I shouldn't have dragged him out of bed, and I'm really sorry, but…"
Tess paused, her voice faltering...and Diane melted. "Oh, sweetheart!" she said soothingly, coming down off the porch, "it's
me who's sorry! Come in and tell me all about it. Would you like some tea? Or hot chocolate, maybe?"
"That would be great, thanks," Tess said, adding a quick swipe at her eyes to great effect as Diane threw an arm around her, guiding her toward the front door and virtually ignoring the rest of them.
"She's good," Isabel allowed.
"Speak for yourself," Michael muttered from the driver's seat.
"Michael, get out of the car," Max said. "We're going in."
"How do you think we're—"
"I said get
out."
Fully awake now, and more than fully aware of their peril, Max fixed his eyes on Michael, who looked at Isabel, who raised her eyebrows. Max headed for the house with Isabel following and Michael spitting things under his breath it would probably be better he didn't hear. "Max, Izzie, I'm going to throw some hot water on," Diane said when she saw them. "Want something?"
"Goodness, what's this?" another voice said. "It looks like Grand Central in here."
"Grandma?" Isabel said. "Grandpa? What are you doing here?"
"She had to pee," Grandpa Anthony said helpfully, "and it was a long way home. And your mother was up."
"But I didn't see your car," Isabel said.
"We parked on the street," Grandpa explained. "We didn't want to wake your mother if she was already asleep."
"No shit," Michael said under his breath as Isabel glared at him.
"I'm so glad I was up," Diane said. "Tess, here, is new in town and having some difficulties," she explained to Grandma Dee. "I was just going to make some tea or hot chocolate so she could tell us all about it."
" 'Us'?" Grandma Dee said. "Why would she want to tell 'us'? I imagine she wants to talk to the rest of them."
"She said that would be great," Diane protested.
"Well, of course she did," Grandma said. "What else do you say when a friend's mother makes an offer like that? I'm sure they'd all much rather chat in private."
Diane looked at Tess. "Is that true?"
"Gracious, Diane, don't put her on the spot like that," Grandma scolded as Tess stared at her curiously. "You were her age once and so was I, hard as that may be to believe; I'm betting both of us preferred talking to our friends, not our parents, or our friends' parents. You and I and Anthony can chat in the kitchen, and if the youngsters want to consult the oldsters, we'll be here. Go on, now," she concluded briskly, gesturing down the hall. "We're here if you need us, but we won't barge in."
"Thank you," Max said, seizing the opportunity even as his mother appeared uncertain.
"I'd love to take you up on the hot chocolate some other time," Tess said to Diane. "It was really nice of you to offer."
"That's okay, dear," Diane said, apparently accepting Grandma Dee's interpretation of events. "The door is always open."
Max was already halfway down the hall, and he waited beside his bedroom door until the rest joined him. "Ready?"
"No, but let's get in there," Isabel whispered, "before Mom whips up a batch of cookies."
They slipped inside, Max locking the door behind them. He'd been hoping Nasedo wouldn't be there, that by some miracle he'd recovered and left, but no such luck; the body was right where he'd left it, a dark shape on the floor beneath the window. They all kept their distance as Isabel snapped on a light, the soft glow of his bedside lamp appearing harsh given what it was illuminating. No one spoke for a long time.
"Snap out of it, everybody," Michael ordered. "We've done this before."
"It looks...bad," Tess said in a faltering voice.
"The gunshot looked bad too," Michael said.
"Not as bad as this," Tess said as Isabel put an arm around her. "This looks worse."
"We brought him back before, and we'll do it again," Michael said firmly. "We need to get the body to the pod chamber. I'll go get the jeep ready."
"I'll go with you," Isabel said, edging around the body like she was afraid it would move. "We'll need to wrap him up."
"I'll take care of that," Max said. "Go."
Michael and Isabel climbed out the window as Max pulled the blanket off his bed and Tess knelt beside Nasedo. "I was going to talk to your Mom," she said in a small voice, "so the rest of you could do this."
"It's better this way," Max said. "I know she means well, but ditching her could have taken awhile." He knelt beside her with the blanket. "Thanks for filling in the blanks out there. I just couldn't think of anything to tell her. You think fast."
"He taught me that," Tess said in a brittle voice. "And I hated him for it. Most of the time." She paused. "Max, what are we going to do if...if…"
"Let's not 'what if'," Max said gently. "That's a really long list. Let's just get him to the pod chamber and bring him back so you can hate him some more. And he can get all peeved because it took us so long."
It took a moment, but she nodded. "Yeah. He'll be furious. But this time...I don't think I'll mind."
*****************************************************
Pod Chamber
"Okay, someone's not trying hard enough. Who is it?"
The glow from the healing stones abruptly ceased as three heads rose to stare at him. "Michael, what are you talking about?" Isabel said.
"I'm talking about the fact that we've been at this for at least twenty minutes and nothing's happening," Michael snapped.
More like ten, Tess thought, her stone cupped in hands which felt like stone. She could certainly see why his perception of time was warped; she would have sworn she'd been standing here forever despite the time it had taken to maneuver Nasedo's body out Max's window and drive to the pod chamber, which had also seemed like forever.
"No, you were accusing us of not trying," Isabel said. "Care to elaborate?"
"I'm throwing everything I've got at this, but the rest of you haven't even broken a sweat," Michael complained.
"So you've decided we're not trying because we're not perspiring?" Isabel demanded. "Maybe my deodorant works better than yours. Or maybe you're just not wearing any."
"Or maybe you don't want him to wake up," Michael muttered.
"Ex
cuse me?" Isabel demanded.
"Michael," Tess said slowly, "did you really mean to imply that
I don't want Nasedo to wake up? Because if you did, you and I can step outside and settle this like aliens."
Silence. Michael looked nonplussed, Isabel was fuming, and Max was watching, his eyes moving from one to the other, registering reactions but staying out of it. Wise choice, that; it was always better to stay out of things unless and until you needed to wade in. Many never learned that, but Max already had.
"Well?" Tess prodded as Michael turned a gratifying shade of pink. He knew better than any of them that she had better control of her powers than any of them and would flatten him like a pancake if they went head to head. "Is that what you meant?"
"Of course not," Michael said, abashed. "Not you, anyway."
"Who, then?" Isabel demanded. "Me? You mean me, don't you? Michael, Nasedo told Max he was killed by an alien, but you think I don't want him to wake up? You think I don't want our best hope of surviving that murderous alien to wake up? Seriously?"
Michael glared at her a moment, looking ready to mount a challenge until he caught Max's expression and dropped his eyes. "I...I don't know what I meant. I'm just…"
Scared, Tess finished silently. If she'd thought no one could be more frightened than she was by the prospect of Nasedo dying, she was wrong. Watching Michael now, she was reminded once again that being raised with constant access to someone from their world, albeit a surly and uncommunicative someone, was still something The Others could only dream of. And Michael was wrong; no one was holding back. She could feel the energy everyone was throwing at him, and it should be enough to turn him into a solar flare. Why wasn't it working?
"Maybe we just need to hang in there," Max suggested, finally joining the fray. "Maybe it's just going to take longer this time. I say we keep going."
"I'll stay here all night if I have to," Tess said.
"And I'll stay with you," Isabel said. "We all will."
Mollified, Michael bent over his stone again; it glowed fiercely, as did everyone's, with a brighter light which seemed tinged with desperation. Tess's stone was practically on fire, but there was a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach which had appeared when she'd first laid eyes on Nasedo's body and refused to budge. She had a bad feeling about this, and it wasn't just because the gunshot wound had been so clean, so bloodless compared to his now obviously battered body. It was almost like something inside her knew it wasn't going to work this time…
Stop it! she told herself harshly. He'd been dead before, and they'd revived him. It didn't matter what he looked like; what mattered was that they could undo it. Maybe they just needed a little faith, or like Max said, more patience. Maybe their near instant success last time had made them soft. She'd been absolutely serious when she'd said she would sit here all night if she had to, and she settled more firmly into her stance, ready for the long haul…
...when all of the stones abruptly faded. Everyone looked at everyone else.
"I didn't do that," Isabel said quickly.
"Neither did I," Max said. "They just...stopped."
"Shit," Michael muttered.
"Let's try again," Tess said firmly.
They did...and once again, the stones died, lighting obediently but fading spontaneously despite their best efforts to keep them going. "It's not working," Tess said desperately. "Why isn't it working?"
Max knelt beside Nasedo. "I think whatever happened to him is...something we can't reverse."
"He can't die," Tess insisted. "We
need him."
A hand landed gently on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Tess," Isabel whispered.
"You said he mentioned another alien," Michael said to Max. "What exactly did he say?"
"He said that we were all in danger," Max answered. "That the 'skins' were 'among us'."
Michael's eyes drifted away. "The 'skins'…"
"What?" Max said.
"I found this thing out by Pierce's grave site," Michael said. "It looked like a snake skin. When I tried picking it up, it disintegrated."
Tess felt Isabel's hand tighten on her shoulder. "Look!"
For one heart-stopping moment, Tess thought they'd done it; Nasedo's body was moving, changing. Maybe it was just a delayed reaction? Maybe the stones had stopped glowing because their work was done? But as she watched in horror, his body began to crumble, dissolve, collapsing in on itself until nothing but a pile of dusty looking dirt remained which no one would have guessed had been a body unless they'd seen it happen. Stunned, Tess looked at the stone in her hand. No wonder it had stopped glowing; there was nothing to glow for. The stones knew more than they did.
"What do we do now, Max?" she said faintly.
Max looked at the pile of dust on the floor which had once been Nasedo. "We go home," he answered. "We live our lives."
"Go home?" Isabel said in disbelief. "With a murderer out there?"
"What do you suggest, Iz?" Max said. "That we hole up in here? Order pizza, and have Mom and Dad come visit?"
"Be serious!" Isabel ordered.
"I
am serious," Max insisted. "We don't know what happened, and the only way to find out is to go out there and live."
"Assuming someone doesn't make sure we
don't live," Isabel muttered.
"Max is right," Michael said. "We need to find out who did this."
"Oh, now Max is right?" Isabel said scornfully. "A minute ago, you thought we were all slackers."
"I just thought that maybe we weren't trying hard enough," Michael said. "It didn't come out right."
"Got that right," Isabel muttered.
Tess knelt beside Nasedo's body, or what was left of it. "But we
were trying; I could feel it. We were throwing so much at him, he should have been glowing like the sun. Something was missing, something that was there last time we did this. Last time, it was like...it was like he answered us, like he joined us. And this time…"
"There was nothing," Max finished. "It was like throwing power at nothing."
"Well, there's definitely nothing to throw power at now," Michael said.
There was a long, awkward silence. "Tess, why don't you spend the night with us?" Isabel said. "You could sleep in my room."
Tess shook her head. "Thanks, but...well...your mom will want to talk, and...and I don't think I'm very good at lying right now."
"Then I'll sleep at your house," Isabel said. "If that's okay."
"Yeah...that would be nice," Tess said.
Max stood up. "We should go."
"Give me a minute," Tess said. "Please?"
"Sure," Max said gently. "We'll wait outside."
They left, the door rumbling closed behind them. She was alone with the remains of the only protector she'd ever known and entirely dependent on the three who'd just left.
You're not my family. You never will be. Max, Michael, and Isabel are.
"Guess we'll see if that's true," Tess whispered.
******************************************************
"Do you see them?" Anthony asked.
Her binoculars firmly planted on the rock formation in the distance, Dee frowned. "Nope."
"They've been in there a long time," Anthony noted. "Maybe they left?"
"We haven't seen them come out," Dee reminded him. "They're in there."
"Still can't believe we pulled that off," Anthony remarked. "Diane must think we're nuts, dropping in, then running off like that."
"Diane thinks I'm an old lady who drinks too much tea," Dee said. "Besides, I don't care what she thinks. I know she's in the dark, and I'm sorry about that, but this is hardly the time to bring her up to speed."
Anthony fell silent as Dee kept the binoculars glued to her eyes. They had only been chatting with Diane for ten minutes or so when Max had appeared in the kitchen and said they were taking Tess home. After confirming that Jaddo's body was indeed gone from the bedroom, Dee had waited an excruciating five minutes before begging off, leaving Diane with barely-touched cups of tea they hadn't wanted anyway and high-tailing it for the desert, arriving just in time to see dark shapes climbing the rocks which housed the pod chamber. Nearly 45 minutes had passed since then with no sign of the kids or Jaddo. This didn't look good.
"Should we get closer?" Anthony suggested.
"No. Any closer, and they'll see us."
"But if we're not close enough to get any answers—"
"
Shhhh! I see something!"
Dee's heart began to pound as shapes appeared on the rock face, upright, dark, definitely moving.
One...two...three…
Four.
"Well?" Anthony demanded. "Is he with them?"
The binoculars dipped, landed in her lap. "No," Dee said heavily. "I only see four."
Anthony took the binoculars out of her hands, and she didn't resist, watching for a long time before lowering them wordlessly. "Maybe he needs to recover?" he ventured. "It wasn't always instantaneous, was it?"
The tiniest glimmer of hope flared. "No," Dee admitted. "No, it wasn't. Sometimes they were flat out bedridden for days."
"Then he could still be in there," Anthony said. "He would have told them to leave him there."
Dee snatched the binoculars back; the jeep had left. "Drive up there," she said urgently. "Maybe I can talk to him."
A minute later they arrived at the base of the rocks, jutting into the sky like a launchpad. Dee climbed out and started across the sand with difficulty, her knees complaining, only to come to a halt at the base. What was she thinking? She wasn't 8 years old any more. Time was when she would have skipped up this thing without a second thought, then a time when it would have been a bit of a hike. These days it was doable, if a lot more difficult, but tonight it was downright impossible; she was already out of breath just from crossing the sand. There would be no leaning on the pod chamber door for her tonight.
"Try it from here," Anthony suggested, puffing up behind her. "It might work."
*Jaddo?* Dee called. *Can you hear me? Are you okay?*
No answer. She tried again and again, leaning against the rock face as she sent call after call into the void.
"Maybe he's asleep," Anthony said.
"Maybe he's dead," Dee said dully.
"We don't know that," Anthony said firmly. "And I, for one, will not assume that until I know for sure. Given how injured he was, it could very well be a while before he's recovered. I'm sticking with that unless and until informed otherwise."
They rode in silence back to Corona, Dee dredging up every memory she could find about the multiple times they'd used the healing stones on the Warders after the Crash. They
had been laid up for days sometimes, the stones having mended broken bones or whatever, but the Warders still weak from the exertion of aiding in their own healing. That must be it; Jaddo had been so badly injured that even a flock of hybrids may not have been enough on their own, or so she told herself as she tried to stem the rising tide of despair. She'd never been very good at lying to herself; others, yes, but not herself. Unfortunate, that, because she could use a little dissembling now, and her heart was especially heavy when they reached their house, went inside, snapped on the light...and gasped.
"God, you scared us!" Anthony exclaimed as Courtney materialized from the living room. "How did you get in here?"
"Seriously?" Courtney said. "Like you didn't know I can pick locks. Where have you been? I've been calling and calling, and you haven't picked up."
Dee, who for just a moment had thought it was Jaddo, rapidly deflated. "I...I had my phone off," she said, pulling it out of her purse, the message icon blinking gaily. "Sorry."
"What the hell is going on?" Courtney demanded. "Brivari called asking if I'd seen Jaddo, and he seemed to think Jaddo had been up at Las Cruces taking care of the bones thing—"
"What, you mean he wasn't?" Dee interrupted.
"Not according to the Royals," Courtney answered. "Sounds like they took care of things themselves. I told him that, and he just hung up on me. And then he wasn't answering, and Jaddo wasn't answering, and you weren't answering, and I was beginning to wonder if I had to present myself to the king just to find out what was up. So—what's up?"
"Courtney," Dee said slowly, "there's a chance that Jaddo is…"
"Injured," Anthony finished. "We don't really know what happened, but the short story is that he collapsed in Max's bedroom."
"Wait," Courtney said. "Royal Warders don't just 'collapse'."
"They do if they're attacked," Dee said.
"Attacked?" Courtney said sharply. "By whom?"
"We don't know," Anthony admitted. "All we know is that Brivari told us to go to Philip's house, and when we did, we found Jaddo...unconscious...on Max's bedroom floor. The kids took him to the pod chamber, but they came out without him. That could mean he's recovering; he was pretty banged up, and Dee said it took them several days to recover when she was a kid, so he could be—"
"Dead," Courtney broke in, staring at the floor.
"We don't know that for sure," Anthony protested. "Let's not jump to conclusions."
"I'm not. Look at your shoes," Courtney said. "Both of you."
Dee looked down. Something glinted in the dim hallway light on both pairs of shoes, faint, but all too familiar. "What is that?" Anthony said.
Dee sank down on the bottom step of the stairway. "It's dust," she said heavily. "And I don't mean the kind you need a Swiffer for."
Everyone grew very quiet, very still. "Maybe it was left over from...someone else," Anthony ventured after a moment.
"Like who?" Courtney said. "Malik died forty years ago."
"And not in the pod chamber," Dee said. "No, Anthony, there's nothing for it," she went on when he began to protest. "It's dust, and it must be Jaddo's dust. The kids must have tracked it out when they left."
Anthony sank down beside her on the stairs. "So he's dead," he said faintly.
"Shit," Courtney muttered, pacing in front of them. "Shit, shit,
shit!
Damn it!"
Anthony stared at her. "You hated him," he reminded her.
"Of course I hated him!" Courtney exclaimed. "The freaking universe hated him, and the feeling was mutual, but that doesn't mean I wanted him dead! He was a blunt instrument, but they needed him. Brivari is the negotiator, and Jaddo is the hammer. They need both."
"That explains a lot," Anthony remarked. "When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail."
"But if you have a nail, you need a hammer," Courtney countered, "and when the Royal Four go back, they're going to find themselves knee deep in nails."
"I thought people wanted them back," Anthony said, "or at least enough people that they'll be able to find plenty of hammers on their own."
"Oh, sure," Courtney said disdainfully. "There won't be any shortage of hammers on offer the next time the king sets foot on Antar. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry from the five planets will come ass-kissing, and then they'll all argue with each other, the king won't know who to trust, and it'll wind up a giant clusterfuck. Jaddo was
his hammer, a known quantity. He was an asshole, but he was
their asshole."
"You have a point, but we both know he was dangerously unstable sometimes," Dee said. "And if it's 'hammers' you're looking for, you wouldn't have wanted either Valeris or Urza. Valeris was a scientist, and Urza...Urza was just a sweetheart."
Courtney leaned wearily against the wall. "I keep forgetting you knew all of them. Jesus. No one 'knows' Royal Warders back home, or calls them 'sweethearts', or…" She paused, her eyes widening. "Wait—where's Brivari?"
"Out chasing whoever killed Jaddo, from what I gathered," Dee said.
"
SHIT!" Courtney exploded angrily. "Great! Just great! There goes the last one!"
"What do you mean?" Dee said. "Brivari's not dead."
"Yet," Courtney corrected. "Do you know how hard it is to kill a Warder? Bloody hard, and even then they can be revived as long as there isn't massive brain damage. I'll bet he was really messed up around the head, wasn't he?" Dee and Anthony exchanged glances. "Of course he was," Courtney went on, answering her own question. "Whoever did this knew right where to hit him. And now Brivari's out there chasing someone who knows right where to hit
him."
"Could this have something to do with Vanessa?" Anthony asked.
Courtney snorted loudly. "You think? Of course it has something to do with her. I'm sure it has everything to do with her."
"I'll kill her," Dee muttered.
"Sure you will," Courtney deadpanned. "Just march into her office and say, 'I know you're an alien, you killed Rath's Warder, and I'm here to make you pay for it. Maybe you can nail her while she's doubled over laughing." She slid to the floor, her hands around her knees. "We could be all that's left: You, me, and Larak. What the hell am I going to tell Larak? If we really are all that's left, he'll have to show up a lot more than he has been."
Anthony blinked. "Who?"
Courtney looked startled, as though she'd said something she hadn't meant to. "I know that name," Dee said, frowning. "He was a friend of Brivari's, wasn't he? They've talked to him since they came here, but you make it sound like he's
here."
"If he's here, he must have turned off the engines and coasted in on fumes," Anthony said. "There haven't been any sightings recently."
"Well?" Dee demanded when Courtney didn't say anything. "What aren't you telling us?"
Courtney sighed heavily and shook her head. "Larak's gonna kill me."
"I'll kill you first if you don't spill," Dee said severely. "I'm not in the best of moods at the moment. Tell him I threatened you. It's only the truth."
"Okay, okay," Courtney said crossly. "Enough with the fist shaking. Larak was...Zan's friend. And he's here...sort of."
" 'Sort of'?" Anthony said. "How can you be 'sort of' here?"
"Never mind," Dee said. "Introduce me."
"What? No!" Courtney exclaimed. "I can't just walk a human in there!"
"If you're so worried we're 'all that's left', you most certainly can," Dee argued. "I'm nowhere near ready to count Brivari out, but even if he lives, he's the only Warder left. Doesn't it make sense for the rest of us to plan—"
"Okay," Courtney broke in peevishly. "I get it. I'll think about it. About how to go about it," she amended hastily when Dee's eyes narrowed. "I can't just plop you down in front of him." She pushed herself to her feet. "Let me know if you hear from Brivari. I'm going to find out what happened."
"How?" Anthony asked.
"By going straight to the source," Courtney said. "Vanessa."
"So you're going to march into her office and say, 'I know you're an alien, you killed Rath's Warder, and I'm here to make you pay for it'?" Dee said dryly. "Well, maybe not the 'I know you're an alien' part. Bit redundant."
"I thought you didn't want Vanessa to know you're here?" Anthony said.
"That's just the point," Courtney said. "If she's figured out Jaddo, she's figured out me. The game's over."
*****************************************************
Holiday Inn,
Roswell
Vanessa shut off the vacuum cleaner with a sigh and flopped on the bed. This was her fourth pass with the pilfered cleaner and she was still finding skin flakes; a few billowed up from the bedspread as she landed even though she'd already shaken it out twice, laid it on the floor, and vacuumed it. Christ, what a mess. She should have made Jaddo clean it up given that he'd caused it, but she couldn't afford to wait until he'd recovered enough to wield cleaning equipment. If Nicholas sent anyone out here and found skin flakes, all bets were off. She'd need to change rooms, change hotels, even, maybe forge some dates so it looked like she wasn't here when it happened. Sweaty, tired, and grumpy, she'd resolved to take a shower when her foot brushed against something on the floor.
It was the manilla envelope Nathan had been carrying when he'd barged in; opening it, she found several photographs. It took her a moment to realize who she was looking at, but when she did, a slow smile spread across her face.
Courtney. So the Resistance had arrived; well, of course they had. Everyone and their mother had picked up that signal and were now converging on its origin.
All present and accounted for, Vanessa thought, tossing the pictures on the bed. Hybrids, Warders, Argilians, Rebels...the gang was all here.
It was the perfect time to make a deal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'll post Chapter 21 on
Sunday, December 21.
BRIVARI: "In our language, the root of the word 'Covari' means 'hidden'. I'm always there, Your Highness, even if you don't see me."
Nothing I can write will ever improve upon that image, so I will leave that lovely moment to the show and confine myself to what happened before and after.
, and I'll be back after the holiday on Sunday, December 7.
, and I'll be back with Chapter 22 on Sunday, January 11.