Chapter Eleven
“Okay, this lesson will be less demanding,” Keil said as I walked into his office.
We were at Shad’s company’s building. I still didn’t know what went on there.
There was a large conference room with wood paneling on the walls and small gray cubicles throughout the main space with about ten people busy typing or talking on the phone.
When we entered the long, carpeted hallway, everyone looked up from their desks and watched us.
Keil held up a hand to wave, and then we were alone.
Keil was worried about my protection when I practiced without the crystal.
He wanted me to change locations every once in a while, so that if I was being tracked, it would be more difficult to target where I was.
“You did well with being present.”
“I lasted like five seconds, Keil,” I said, slouching in his armchair beside a bookshelf.
“I am proud of you. But we need you to focus on other things. Shad left a note inside of you, and I have no doubt that we can access it soon if you can learn more of the skills needed to protect yourself.”
“I had a weird dream last night, possibly a memory. I don’t know.”
“Tell me everything,” Keil said, moving from behind his desk to sit on top of it. There was a knock at the door, and a lady walked in.
“Hello. Sorry sir, but we have news of movement.” She did a curtsy and handed Keil a piece of paper.
“Thank you, Courtney.”
She nodded, then left, shutting the door behind her.
“Are all these people Terran?” I asked in disbelief.
Keil had mentioned during the drive over to his office that Shad’s company employed only Terrans.
It was insane to see the couple dozen workers in cubicles as if they were working in some investigative company.
It had that appearance, and it even stated such on the doors as well as in the directory downstairs, and I could see why they named it that.
After all, they were investigating Terrans.
“Do not worry, Emma. They are all sworn protectors of Terra—and its heirs.” He waved a hand while reading his note. His brows rose, and then he folded the paper and placed it on his desk. “So, tell me—this dream?”
“Yes, so, I had a dream of when Shad moved in across the street. He was talking with you in the moving van, and he was worried that I wouldn’t like him.”
“Yes, that was not just a dream. It happened like that. That must have been one of the memories from his soul’s note. I wonder why he left you that memory?” Keil asked, rubbing his chin.
“Me, too” I said, although I had a feeling that Shad had left it with me so that I would remember that he loved me, or well, I assumed. “So, what are we doing today?”
That evening, after training with Keil, he drove me home.
I didn’t feel as tired as I had felt the two other times I had trained with him.
He said the training had been less demanding, and although I would feel tired, I would still be able to move and function, and I was incredibly grateful for that.
Mary made dinner, and we all ate together.
It was strange to see Ryker, Keil, Shad, and Mary all sitting around the table, eating my mom’s homemade chicken casserole dinner recipe.
It was as if we were all earthlings and had nothing more important to do on a weeknight than to eat and enjoy each other’s company.
Terran issues weren't even brought up in our conversations, and I couldn’t help sporting a smile that danced across my lips.
It was the most normal I had felt in a long while.
Sure, life was still mega screwed up for me, and yeah, I had a hundred things to learn and figure out, but at that moment, it was nice.
I hadn’t talked to Shad since that shared kiss in the back of Keil’s car.
I wanted to pull him aside and kiss him again, over and over, but if I did, that might have terrified him.
I mean, I didn’t want to assault him. I couldn’t help the constant pull I had to watch Shad all through dinner.
He looked so handsome there, sitting under the light at our dining room table.
I memorized his face, and the smiles he gave to Mary as she served him his portion.
I even memorized the strange looks he gave me as he ate and when he caught me staring.
Ryker, who sat beside me, nudged my foot under the table.
“You will freak him out,” he whispered, and I glared at Ryker while picking up my cup to take a sip of water.
He didn’t understand what I was dealing with.
None of them did. What I had lost when Shad’s melody was taken was something precious, something I could not really describe because I didn’t have the words to describe it.
How could someone meet someone else and immediately change them?
It took weeks, of course, to get to know Shad, but the connection had been instant.
I remembered when he pulled up in his van on moving day.
And now, because of his memory, I knew that he had felt the same way, too.
There was always something special about him.
There would always be something special about him.
Dinner, in my opinion, ended far too soon. I suggested dessert and pulled out two cartons of ice cream. I helped Mary serve the iced treat. I watched again, yes, like a creeper, as Shad ate it. It was as if he had never had ice cream before. Ryker pinched my side, and I looked away.
“Leave the poor, unknowing prince alone, Em,” he laughed.
“Ry, stop. I just want to look at him.”
“Yes, and you have been doing so all night. He’s not a pet at the store that you can stare at and then buy and take home with you.”
“Now, that sounds tempting,” I laughed, looking at Ryker. His eyes were dark with worry.
“I am sorry, but he isn’t the same Shad, and you should tone it down a bit.”
“I want to tell him we were together, that we loved each other,” I said with a triumphant smile.
“I wouldn’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Didn’t he think that you and Mary kidnapped him and murdered Keil when you were in the forest?”
“Yes, but of course, he doesn’t think that now.” I rolled my eyes at Ryker.
“Are you sure?” He motioned to Shad, who, I had to admit, looked a little nervous, over in the corner, talking to Mary.
“Ry, I don’t want to lie to him. He deserves to know.”
“Em, I am sorry, but he may never be the same. He probably won't ever get his soul back.”
I looked at him and shoved his shoulder, the beast inside of me waking up. “Don’t you dare say that.” I was sure not saving him would kill me.
“Okay, calm it down there. The corrupt will get you, Emma.”
“I don’t care about that. I will save Shad; I have to.”
“Emma, it has never, and I mean never, been done before.”
“Just because it has never been done before doesn’t mean it can’t be done now,” I shouted, and I realized that all eyes were on us. I felt my cheeks get warm, and I tucked some hair behind my ear in my nervousness.
“Sorry, all. Em and I were just having a discussion,” Ryker said with a laugh as he took a bite of his ice cream.
I shook my head, tossed my bowl of uneaten ice cream into the sink and walked down the hallway. Tears burned down my cheeks, and I leaned against the wall with my face in my hands. I heard movements down the hall.
“Leave me alone, Ry. Seriously, I don’t want to hear anymore,” I softly whimpered. The movements didn’t stop. I looked up, and standing in front of me was Shad.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his eyes questioning.
“Oh, yeah. I am fine,” I answered with a hiccup and tried not to snort as I laughed. He handed me a napkin, and I dabbed at my eyes.
“Dinner was splendid,” he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. I took another moment to take note that he still wore his slacks and a button-down dress shirt. There was no tie, but it was still him.
“Yeah, that was my mom’s recipe. She liked casseroles.”
“I bet she was a magnificent cook,” he said with a smile.
“She was.”
“I wanted to talk to you about the other day in the car,” he said, walking to the wall opposite of me and leaning against it.
“What about it?” I asked, playing with the napkin in my hand that he had given to me.
“That kiss,” he said.
“Yes?” I asked
“That was nice,” he smiled at me, and I felt like I was on fire.
“Yeah, it was.”
“Do you—I mean—can we do it again?” He looked nervous, and I wanted to laugh because he looked so normal like a normal teenage boy, and I imagined that I was a normal teenage girl, sitting in a hallway, both wanting to kiss.
Only, I knew the entire truth. I knew that he was a prince from a faraway world.
I was a princess. His brother also had horrible plans for both of our kingdoms on the planet Terra, where we eventually must travel back to in order to save our people from becoming soulless—among other things.
But at that moment, I let all those things slide away. We were just a boy and just a girl in a hallway.
“Yes,” I finally answered, and I didn’t overlook the smile on his face and the way he held my gaze. He moved closer to me. My breath caught in my throat when his fingers pressed into my waist, and his large hands pulled me into his arms.
“I feel like I know you, or I want to—now that I know you didn’t murder my friend and didn’t kidnap me,” he said with a smirk, and I could almost imagine that it was really Shad, that he was really himself—that he was back.
“Well, I am glad that you know that.”
He lifted one hand from my waist and moved my face to look at him.