Chapter 6
SIX
Madison came awake suddenly. It was still night, but hands grabbed her shoulders. Someone pulled off the blanket. An urgent voice said things in a language she didn’t understand.
A Virilian male loomed over her. She scrambled out of bed, fists up, with a scream coiled in her throat. She didn’t know the male, but he wore the palace emblem on his chest straps. He stepped back, hands up. His eyes were urgent as he looked to the door and back to her.
Something was wrong. Just then, an ominous rumble racked the chamber. The walls and floor vibrated as though something deep within was shaking the rock. Madison had never experienced an earthquake, but she knew this probably wasn’t one. The worm, or Urtass, was closer.
The male shoved a large bundle at her. Madison took it, unfolded it and found it to be a full bodysuit made of a thick, shiny material. A clunky helmet dropped to the floor. The male made a frustrated face and gestured to Madison’s ear.
Right! The translator device. She scooped it off the table next to her bed and inserted it into her ear. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“The city is being evacuated,” he told her. “Put on the suit and rendezvous with the king in hangar four.”
The male made a hasty retreat. Madison yanked off her loose nightgown and hastily donned the suit.
It fit her snugly. She slid the helmet over her head and snapped it onto the hard ring on the suit’s neck.
Fear slithered through her, but Drex had made this seem like a common enough occurrence.
Nothing too out of the ordinary. With a racing heart, she bolted from her quarters. Now, she had to find the hangars.
It wasn’t a place she regularly went, but she knew the general direction. Others were heading there, so she followed along. Soon, Madison found herself in a massive chamber containing hundreds of transport vehicles. They looked like tanks, but with massive wheels and thick armored sides.
A guard stood there directing people.
“Excuse me,” she said. “Where is hangar number four?”
He raised a brow and pointed to a door on the other end of the hangar.
Madison moved through the crowds who, honestly, didn’t look panicked.
There was an urgency, but no disorganization or chaos.
They had done this before. At the other door, she had to take her glove off to activate the touch lock. It opened, revealing a private hangar.
In the center sat a massive beast of a transport. The wheels were made of some semitransparent blue substance and they were as tall as she was. The last guard was climbing into the transport and pulling up the ladder behind him. Once the ladder was in, the door slid shut.
Another great rumble moved through the rock. This time, it was accompanied by a strange scraping noise.
Panic slid through Madison. This was the transport she was supposed to be on, but it looked like it was locking up and about to leave.
“Hey!” She ran up to it. The large, sliding door remained shut. The powerful engine turned on. Madison reached up on tiptoes and banged a fist on the side of it. It was so high off the ground, it was all she could do to reach. “Stop! I’m supposed to be in there!”
The door rolled open. A dark-haired male stuck his head out. Drex gazed down at her in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“I was told to come to hangar four,” she said breathlessly.
His eyes widened momentarily. He turned and snapped something out to a guard inside, and then the ladder flipped out. With a breath of immense relief, Madison climbed it.
Strong hands grasped her by the upper arms and lifted her inside. For one shattering moment, she was pressed against his body. Her gaze clashed against his in a shock of awareness. His lips parted and his gaze dropped to her mouth.
The transport’s engines revved. He abruptly released her arms. His hand curled around hers, however, and he led her to an empty seat at the back of the vehicle.
Madison worked to catch her breath. Disorientation twisted her thoughts. She dropped into the seat he led her to and took a look around.
A dozen or so Virilian males sat in two long rows of seats, facing each other like the inside of a military truck. The males stared at her, but Madison had grown used to being noticed. With so few females, and even fewer young ones, it was natural she would stick out.
Drex sat across from her. His eyes still flashed with hunger as he pointed to the straps on either side of her seat. “Secure yourself. These rides can be rough.”
Madison fumbled with the straps as the transport began to move. There were so many buckles and they didn’t clip together like the ones on Earth. Each side of these appeared to be flat metal pieces. Her hands inside the gloves began to sweat.
Drex leaned over. Steady hands took the two buckle ends lying next to her thighs and secured them over her lap.
“Like that.” His hands rested on her legs, just below her hips.
So close to the juncture of her thighs, which was tingling, warming, growing moist. She did not want to be aroused by this male who would clearly never have her.
“Place them together.” He demonstrated, pressing the ends together.
“They’ll fuse together until the vehicle comes to a stop.
” Except he didn’t immediately remove his hands and lean back.
Those wide, strong hands splayed on her legs, each spanning from her inner thigh to the crease of her hip.
Madison’s breath stopped in her lungs and would not release.
He looked into her eyes. His gaze was piercing and serious. “I reacted badly yesterday,” he said. “Seeing you in that space—I hadn’t expected…” he trailed off, eyes closing for a moment. “How I spoke to you was inexcusable. You did not deserve it, and I apologize.”
Was she hearing this correctly? Was the king of Exir City saying he’d done something wrong and was sorry? Those weren’t sentiments she was used to hearing from men. “If you didn’t want me to go in there, you shouldn’t have granted me access.”
Through the clear panes of their helmets, she saw the slightest smile curve his lips. “That was my great-aunt’s doing.”
And would likely be rectified. The next time she went to the garden room—if she dared—it would be locked.
With shaking hands, she clipped the rest of the buckles in place, securing them over her shoulders and waist. A curved, padded headrest snugly fit her helmet when she pressed back into it and locked it in place.
Madison didn’t like being completely immobilized, but as the vehicle built up speed, it became clear why it was necessary. The ground was bumpy, rocky, and extremely uneven. They bounced violently along as the transport groaned and labored over the terrain.
The roof of the vehicle was the same transparent glass as used in the city, but this glass wasn’t scratched or cloudy like in the ceilings of the city and palace.
Madison could only turn her eyes, but she had a clear view of the sky, which was a swirl of peach and yellow.
That explained why the natural light filtering into the city corridors was always orange.
What looked like purple clouds streaked over the vivid colors.
It was beautiful and strange. She didn’t even realize she was doing it until she turned her incredulous gaze to Drex.
He had been watching her. A bemused expression softened his harsh face. “They say the sky used to be blue. The meteor crash filled the atmosphere with dust and gas, and changed the environment.”
“Is that why so many of you took to space?”
He raised an eyebrow. “My aunt has been educating you.”
“She’s been very kind to do so.” She hadn’t intended it as a dig at him, but he nodded with a rueful twist of the lips.
“You have been a wonderful companion to her,” he said. “She enjoys your company.”
“And I hers.” Madison looked up at the sky again as they bounced along.
The male soldier next to her shifted in his seat, bumping the sheath of a massive knife against her knee. He grunted an apology. Madison smiled and shook her head as a way to say it was no big deal. She noticed Drex looking at the male strangely, but paid it no mind.
Moments later the transport gave a great lurch to one side.
Madison felt the huge vehicle shift over to one set of wheels as it threatened to tip over.
There was a great screeching sound and they slammed back to four wheels.
The vehicle made a sharp turn and picked up speed—by a lot.
Outside, Madison heard an eerie roar. It sounded like it was made by something large.
This time, the Virilian males made sounds of alarm. Drex cocked his head.
He touched something on his helmet and the translator in her ear switched off.
Whatever he was going to say, he didn’t want her hearing it, which meant something not great was happening.
Drex began speaking rapidly in Virilian, presumably, to whoever was on the other side of the communicator in his helmet.
He gestured to the guards at the front of the transport, who shouted an order.
All readied their weapons. Guns, she guessed, even though they looked like metal tubes with buttons on them.
She turned alarmed eyes to Drex. “What is happening?” she asked, unsure if he could still understand her.
He gave her a penetrating look. It was full of complication and evaluation and appraisal.
He took a deep breath. Madison thought he looked as though he was readying himself for something.
Then, all of a sudden, the transport flew into the air.
Madison screamed into her helmet as weightlessness took hold.
She squeezed her eyes shut as the transport flipped over and over. And over.
They landed hard on one side. Now, she was glad she’d been completely immobilized. This would have hurt if she hadn’t been restrained.