41. A Crushed Meadow
FORTY-ONE
A CRUSHED MEADOW
Elena
I jerk awake to the sound of a spaceship. Opening my eyes and peering at the sky, my gaze takes in the bright blue dome overhead. In the distance, and outside of the veil, a ship approaches from outer orbit.
Lukys rises next to me, his tail slipping out from between my legs as the ship moves closer.
Vaguely familiar in design but too far away to see clearly, it stops before the veil then travels in the same direction Lukys and I will be going later today.
It disappears to my right, around the bend of the mountain and away from the dome.
I listen to it until I can no longer hear it, glancing at Lukys when he tugs open my pack and takes out the firestarter.
I shake my head and stop him. “Don’t bother with a fire.
I have a few rations left I can eat. I’d rather eat those than have…
fish for another meal. I can stomach the fish but I’ve eaten a lot of it recently and it’s not my favorite.
Skipping the fire will also save us some time.
I’m eager for a shower, even a cold one. ”
He places the firestarter back into the pack. “You seem to be in better spirits today. Are you no longer sad?” He scans my face, his stormy gaze squinting.
I grab my shoes from between the ferns and slip them on my feet, dressing before we end up having sex.
I want my shower, and to soap up, before it happens again.
“I’m not not sad but I feel better than I did yesterday.
A lot better. You being here… holding me.
I needed that. I needed that more than anything, I think.
” I stand and face him, my heart warming.
Glancing down at his bulge, I swallow and look back up, uncertain how he can always be so hard.
Last night I picked Lukys. I decided to stay with him. Fully and completely. I’m willing to try this relationship between us. He and it have given me a solid reason to live. Without him, I would be lost.
We will continue searching for Jenna, and we’ll be together. We’ll do it together.
I’m his mate… and he’ll be mine.
He rises on his tail until he’s level with me. “I am glad you are feeling better.”
I lean into him and he embraces me easily. With his affection and nearness, a sense of calmness fills me.
“I didn’t know if I was giving up on Jenna, leaving the encampment behind…
” I admit what I didn’t yesterday. “The farther we got from it, the more guilty I felt despite knowing she wasn’t there.
The feeling of failure brought back the loss of my parents, it’s all still so fresh in my mind, and I…
I didn’t want to feel like a burden to you. ”
He leans back and frowns, cupping my cheeks with his hands.
“You will never be a burden to me. You will banish the lonely days ahead, and the lonelier nights. The most I must do is keep you safe, fed, and even then, I will teach you how to do it yourself. Meat and berries are plentiful, and my nest will be warm and well protected. We are surrounded by allies on every side.”
“Stop. You’re going to make me cry again.”
“Cry all you want, Elena.” He wraps his arms back around me and pulls me into his chest. “I will hold you.”
I push away from him. “No! No. Today is a good day. Today, I get to take a shower and eat bland pasta from the food replicator. I’m not going to cry anymore.
I’m so tired of these woods.” I spin on my feet.
“Maybe it’s the forest and being without electricity for so long that’s making me feel things,” I partially joke.
I really miss electricity, and air conditioning.
A small smirk twitches the corners of his lips, and he tilts his head toward the river. “Well then, if you are ready, we shall continue. I am also eager to get you naked in my nest, mate.”
“After my shower,” I contend.
“After your shower then…” His eyes darken with lust as his tail coils under him.
“Tonight, you will be mine, surrounded by my trophies, claimed as I have wanted to claim you from the beginning.” He scans me from head to toe.
I straighten under his perusal, quivering at what he might be thinking.
But then he picks up my packs and turns for the forest.
It’s not long before we’re at the veil—where the air smells sweeter.
Lukys takes his time inspecting the dusty, mostly transparent wall, especially where it touches the ground.
He swipes his hand through it, and when it does nothing besides create a temporary opening, he straightens. “It does not appear to be dangerous.”
“That’s good.” I eye the wall suspiciously, refraining from putting my hand through it just yet. “It’s clearly a shield of some sort, but what kind, I have no idea…”
Lukys hisses and turns away. I follow him silently into the forest where we use the coverage of the canopy to shield our passage through the veil. We traverse across an opening caused by the trees’ leafy branches.
As we leave the dome behind, I glance over my shoulder for one last look at it.
As we near familiar landscape, he slows, lifting his head and listening to sounds I can barely hear. Eventually, a humming noise, one that reminds me of a spaceship, emanates through the trees.
“Did you leave your ship running?” His ears continue to prick. “I do not think so but now I am uncertain.”
“No.” I shake my head. “Why? Is that what that noise is? A spaceship?”
He nods and I frown, slightly alarmed. The only other ships besides mine are Greg and Levy’s and the third, dead one. Neither of which would be on and running.
My eyes widen as my heart skips a beat, recalling the vaguely familiar ship that woke me this morning.
I freeze, my lips parting. The ship I saw this morning…
It was Mateo’s.
“Stay here and I will check out the noise.” Lukys slips ahead of me, ascending the ledge of the gorge. “I will be back momentarily.”
I lunge forward and grab his arm. “No. No, don’t leave me. I think…”
He hesitates and faces me. “What?”
“I think it’s my sister,” I whisper, the words barely leaving my mouth. Excitement and hope—painful hope—swells in my chest, making it hard to breathe.
Lukys stares at me, his eyes narrowing. He glances in the direction of the noise. “Then come with me and stay close.”
As we leave the river behind, and with my clothes still moist from the crossing, I’m buzzing with excitement. It can’t be… can it?
“If she’s here, they got my broadcast. They got the coordinates.”
Lukys is silent as we climb the final ledges and his tail assists me up the steep slope. The last part is the hardest, with it being entirely uphill after the river.
When I see my ship through the trees, it’s not long before I spot the larger ship past it.
“It is Mateo’s ship!” I shout, my heart nearly bursting out of my chest. “She’s here! I can’t believe she’s really here,” I gasp, pausing to catch my breath. My eyes trail over the gleaming silver curve that’s the top of Mateo’s ship.
“It might not be safe,” Lukys warns with a hiss. “There could be guns.”
“There’s no guns.” I take his hand and pull him after me. “Come. I’ll show you.”
I want to see my sister.
She’s here.
She found me. Me.
More than anything, I want to wrap my arms around her and relish the fact that she’s here and alive.
I sense Lukys’s tension as we round the front of my ship and walk to the other side. I try peering into the window but only see my reflection.
I look past it to Mateo’s vessel. Instead of a meadow spread with flowery bushes, Mateo’s sleek silver spaceship encompasses it in the shape of a large arrowhead. I can’t see Greg and Levy’s ship or to the hills beyond. The ship completely covers the firepit.
Releasing Lukys’s hand, I jog to the closed hatch. Mateo’s vessel is pointed in the same direction as mine, with its front at the edge of the trees leading to Lukys’s mountain.
“Jenna! Jenna! Open up! I’m here.”
Lukys hisses and points.
The hatch to my ship is open.
Lukys joins me as I quickly walk to it and lean in. “Jenna? Jenna!”
There’s a momentary silence.
“Elena!?” Jenna screams.
I hear her footsteps as I glance at Lukys then dash inside my ship, colliding with Jenna at the turn. “Jenna!”
She cries out my name. “Elena! I finally found you! When we first got here, I was so excited seeing our parents’ ship but then when we tried to reach out, you weren’t answering. We came to search but couldn’t find you anywhere,” Jenna blurts. “Oh my God.”
I tighten my grasp on her, succumbing to the comfort holding her brings me. “I tried looking for you, that’s where I was, where I’m returning from. I sent out a broadcast—”
“We got it! We’ve been listening to the radio feeds—”
“Me too!” I pull back to look at her, cupping her face with my hands.
Her dark hair, longer than mine by several inches, frames a tight, pale complexion and warm, dark brown eyes.
Being the same height, the same size, and similar in appearance—even if I got the short straw—it’s always been clear we’re related.
Seeing her now, the strain and emotion in her gaze as her own eyes brim with tears, I see myself.
“Holy crap! What is that!” Mateo shouts from behind Jenna.
I glance back at Lukys at the same moment my sister sees him.
She jerks out of my embrace and backs up against the wall, her expression morphing into fear.
Mateo grabs her arm and yanks her to him.
“Watch out!” He gazes at me like I’m about to be eaten. “It’s one of those nagas!”
“It issss.” Lukys looks at me sourly before looking at Mateo and Jenna.
I face them, shaking my head. “There’s nothing for you to be afraid of. Lukys isn’t going to hurt you.”
“Elena, one of his kind murdered dozens, maybe more, on The Dreadnaut.” Jenna, eyes wide and clutching Mateo, points at Lukys. “Or did you forget?” She points at me then back to him.
“One of his kind. But not him.”
Her throat bobs. “He’ll hurt you.”
Lukys hisses, his lips twisting, making both Jenna and Mateo jump back several feet.
“You clearly have things to catch up on, as do I. I will secure the perimeter and make sure our land is free of trespassers,” he snaps.
“Take your shower, eat your pasta, but be ready for tonight.” He looks from me to Jenna and Mateo.
“If you are Jenna, and he is your mate, you have nothing to fear from me. You both are welcome here. But if you hurt her,” he warns, “I will not be pleased. She has suffered enough. Otherwise, I am glad you have finally been found.”
He pivots on his tail and before I can stop him, leaves through the hatch. I watch him disappear around the corner before turning back to my sister.
Jenna slowly steps forward, pulling Mateo after her. “He’s scary but he’s right.” She scans me from head to toe, wrinkling her nose. “You do need to shower, you smell like dirt, dirt and… sweat, and worse. You look like you’ve been living through hell, Elena, what happened to you?”
I open my mouth when she raises her hand.
“Shower first and then we’ll talk.” She then looks around with lingering sadness.
But that sadness is gone the next moment as tiredness and determination take over.
“Come find us when you’re done but be quick.
We need to leave as soon as possible.” She releases Mateo to brush dirt off of her sleeve.
“We’re going back to Mateo’s ship where it’s safe.
You can take a shower there if you like. How did you and that naga meet?”
My lips part but no words come out. I have no idea where to begin. “It’s complicated.”
“Well, you’re alive, and we’re here now!” She embraces me once more before walking past me with Mateo. “You should just grab your stuff and join us now. Our ship is safer, we’ll catch up there.” With Mateo in tow, she smiles submissively at him.
“I’m glad we found you,” Mateo mutters awkwardly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his tablet.
“I’m fine. Go to your ship… I’ll come over shortly.”
Jenna’s face wrinkles. “If you’re sure…”
Hauling my pack the Lukys left behind into my arms, I turn for the bathroom. “I’m sure. I’m glad to be back here. I feel comfortable here.”
“Fine. We’ll see you soon.”
After they leave, I tell the AI to close my ship. Suddenly finding that I’m alone, I frown at my hands, wondering why the excitement of reuniting with Jenna is already fading into a pit at the bottom of my stomach.
I’d always assumed I would be saving Jenna, but it seems like she’s the one saving me.
Not once did I ever think she would do that.
I turn from the bathroom to face the mountain and take in its beautiful grandeur.
It’s a view worth all the credits in the world.
My gaze flicks around the ship, to my bedroom door, to the front control panel then to the lounge.
I take it all in, including the memories, especially those with my family, and feel at peace by them.
I think my sister’s a little too late…
I’ve already been saved.