Chapter 35 #2
Wind and rain tunneled in as soon as Sky wrenched open the driver’s side, jerking me from my spiral. I looked up as he leapt inside, and he muttered a curse, slamming the door. Shaking some of the water off, he blew into his cupped hands.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, looking away. My chilled cheeks heated. “I don’t know what happened back there.” The panic attack—if that was what it was—had hit hard. I’d never had one before.
“Don’t be.” Sky glanced my way before adjusting the thermostat. More blissful warmth poured out. “I think you’ve earned a few freak-outs.”
I exhaled a wobbly laugh at his wry tone, tucking my stringy hair behind my ears. He wasn’t wrong. Honestly, I was surprised I’d lasted this long without a full-on meltdown.
Sky lapsed into silence, like he was gathering himself.
I let him, wiping condensation from my window and taking in the view.
My earlier assessment was right. I didn’t recognize this part of the highway at all.
How long had I been out? Long enough, apparently, for Sky to get us out of TWU, slap this fashion accessory on me, and cart us both out of One Willow.
Had he carried me? Something about that thought made me squirm. I did my best to ignore it.
It helped that the heat had finally begun to thaw me out. When I turned back, I found Sky watching me. He’d reclined against the window, one knee bent, forearm resting on it.
“Do you feel better?” he asked.
I nearly snorted. If he meant had I mostly come to terms with him being right, me being in danger, and almost dying—absolutely freaking not.
But instead of saying any of that, I focused on the shiny cuff.
“You said this is…an inhibitor?” At my quizzical look, he nodded, and I twisted my wrist to look at it from all sides.
So strange that it had no seams. How the heck had he gotten it on me?
“If it’s hiding a…my signal from the Enil, why didn’t you give it to me sooner? ”
That would’ve saved us a lot of headaches. Literally. My forehead still smarted from where I’d smashed it on the vending machine.
Sky studied the cuff then me. The dashboard’s display washed everything in an ethereal blue-green glow. His torn, drenched shirt clung to the lines and swells of him as he took a deep breath. For once, I was almost too cold to notice.
Almost.
“Bast just ironed out the design details,” he said, shoving a hand through his dripping hair. I tore my gaze from his upper body. “We’re not even sure how long it’ll hold. Which is why I’m in a hurry. I had to throw it together with what I had on hand, and he’s much better with this type of thing.”
“With what you had on hand,” I repeated, raising a brow. “Which happened to be…what, alien metal?”
A short laugh escaped him, almost reluctantly. “Yeah. It’s Pladian alloy. The last of what I had to work with.”
Pladian alloy. I was wearing Pladian jewelry. I held it away from me, eyeing it. I didn’t exactly have a great track record when it came to touching strange alien artifacts.
But…I blinked, forgetting my worries about radiation and brain melting for a second as I turned slowly to Sky. He’d volunteered that information without a fight.
Maybe he was serious about explaining everything.
Another bubble of anxiety rose, this one laced with anticipation. This, too, felt like a turning point.
Sky held out his hand, and, confused, I glanced from it to him.
“Can I see it?” he asked, nodding toward the cuff.
I shrugged and extended it between us. He wrapped his palms around it, rotating it from side to side, like he was checking for something. He bent close enough that his wet hair dripped onto the center console. A few drops slid over the back of my hand, too.
When his fingertips brushed the inside of my forearm, I nearly shivered.
A semi-truck raced by, and its tailwind rocked the SUV. In the silence that followed, Sky spoke without looking up. “It’s a map.”
He trailed one finger along the curved metal. I could’ve sworn colors shifted beneath the surface, and the band warmed slightly. A subtle pulse of heat. I tilted closer and…nope. Not my imagination. Something was moving in there, and it almost looked like symbols or writing—
Then his words registered, and I straightened, frowning. “Wait, what’s a map?”
With his head tipped toward the cuff, I couldn’t see his expression, only his forehead furrowed beneath that floppy curl.
He gently turned my hand over, exposing my marked palm.
Goosebumps rose as his fingertips traced the shapes and swirls, a featherlight caress.
My pulse skipped, and I bit my inner lip. This time the shiver escaped.
He must’ve felt it because he stilled. When he spoke again, his voice was rough, like the words were being dragged from deep in his chest. “The halix contained a map.”
I waited a beat, mulling it over. A map? He’d said it was an informational cache…
“I thought you said it was a greeting,” I said, my frown deepening.
“This is.” He tapped my palm before easing back. His fingers slipped from my wrist.
I clasped my marked hand in the unmarked one, unable to look away from him. My skin tingled where he’d been touching me. Like the phantom pressure lingered.
When he finally looked up, there was something achingly raw about his expression, the emotion in his dark eyes.
“The halix contained a greeting and sort of a… You could call it a roadmap to Pladia. We wanted humans—or any species we’d left the messages for—to find us.
Pladians have always been obsessed with gaining knowledge, and the chance to learn from another civilization… ”
He leaned back against the door again, gaze skipping toward the watery windshield, where the wipers squeaked over the glass.
“I guess the why isn’t important. Just that the halix contained a map.
And that map is the reason Pairs like Bast and me were sent to all these worlds to find any caches left behind.
It’s why the Enil are hunting the halix, too. ”
“But why?” I swallowed, my stomach twisting. Unfortunately, I had an inkling what he was getting at. Thanks to my handy new palm tattoo, he thought I had this map now. He didn’t need to spell it out. “Why would they need a map to Pladia? Why do you? Isn’t that where you’re from?”
“No.” He turned his head, and his attention slid to my marked hand again. I balled it up into a fist in my lap. “I’m not from Pladia. I was born in the stars, remember? Bast and I both are Starborn. Part of the generations born in space.”
“Yeah, you did tell me that,” I said slowly. Something about the way he was looking at me, somber and weary, made it hard to breathe. “But then why…”
“This is going to be a lot, so…” He sat up and rubbed his hands on the thighs of his soot-stained jeans, flicking a glance at the highway. “Just…bear with me. I’ve never—well, I’ve never done this.”
Told anyone. Trusted anybody enough—or maybe needed their trust enough—to break his code.
I nodded and tried for levity, spreading my hands to encompass the car. “You’ve got a captive audience since I’ve been, you know, abducted by aliens.” His serious expression wavered, and he shot me a dry look. I managed a weak laugh and wrapped my arms around my middle. “Take your time.”
“Thanks.” He squeezed the back of his neck with one hand and sighed.
The car’s interior seemed to shrink. The seat had begun to warm beneath me, but I couldn’t relax into it. It took all I had not to lean toward him.
“The ship I was born on is trapped here in this sector,” he said, lowering his arm.
“It’s a very long story, and I’m going to try to keep it short.
” A pause, during which he pursed his lips.
The rain’s song was nearly as hypnotizing as his gaze.
Dark and unreadable, it searched mine, and then he said, “The Pladians and the Enil have been at war for almost a century.”
I jerked back. “At war?”
“Yeah, at war. The Enil…” He rubbed his knuckles beneath his chin, scrubbing the stubble there. “The Enil are what you’d call a culling race.”
“What’s a culling race?” I was turning into a parrot in my shock, repeating everything he said. At least it wasn’t a chicken this time.
Sky shifted, rolling his shoulders as if he could shake off whatever unpleasant thing he was about to say.
“Basically, their goal is to find planets like their own and evaluate any life found there. If they believe it doesn’t measure up in some way, they wipe it clean and plant something else. Something in their image.”
A block of ice settled in my stomach. “So—wait. You’re saying they’ll wipe out existing species and…”
I couldn’t finish. That made it sound like the Enil had some sort of…some sort of twisted god complex. It was horrifying enough that it didn’t even sound real.
But it was, if the darkness in Sky’s eyes was any indication.
“Yes. That’s what I’m saying.” He settled back in his seat again, balancing his wrist on his bent knee. “They’ve ended entire thriving civilizations because they didn’t fit their mold. Because the Enil believe they’re the highest form of life.”
“Oh my God,” I whispered, clutching at my burning throat. “Is that what they’re trying to do with Earth?” Fear licked down my spine, colder than the rain had been outside, but Sky shook his head.
“No. No, they’re not here for humanity. They’re here for the halix, too.”
That didn’t exactly make me feel better. My palm gave a phantom prickle. “But why?”
He opened his mouth then closed it. Instead of speaking, he blew out a slow breath and tipped his head back until it bumped the window, studying the SUV’s gray fabric ceiling. “This is even harder than I thought it’d be,” he said, after a long moment.
Breaking his oath or telling his story? Either way, I felt for him. I did. But I also wanted these answers. Needed them to help make sense of this new reality.
I edged closer in wordless encouragement.