Eyes Ever to the Sky (A Sci Fi Romance) (The Sky Trilogy) (27 page)

The boy's face was turning blue, the veins on his neck pulsing as he took small gasping breaths. His scared, watering eyes found Hugh's. “Please,” he croaked.

Gods, what was he doing? Hugh shook his head, releasing Travis, who slumped down the wall into a pile on the floor. Hugh stepped back, his hands trembling. He hadn't wanted violence. Why had he attacked this boy? What was happening to him? He backed away as Travis sat up, gasping. When he looked up at Hugh, the terror was still there.

“
Sorry,” Hugh mumbled, staggering out of the apartment. He turned and strode back down the stairs.

“
You…better not hurt her!” Travis rasped as Hugh pushed out the door.

Hugh didn't answer. Cece, that is what he came for. His eyes searched the parking lot, the shrubs, any place she could hide. He sniffed again. There, faintly, was the ribbon of scent, and something else too. Something…charred? He followed it around the building and down the alley. It didn't take him long to find the singed brick. He blinked at the two blackened triangles for a moment, a sense of dread stealing over him.

The drawing looked like someone had taken a blow torch to the wall. Hugh's whole body went numb. He walked over and placed his hand on a seared drawing of the Mackinaw Island Bridge. Still hot.

Nomad had kidnapped Cece and taken her back to the bridge. She was bait. And what did Nomad care if the bait didn't survive?

CHAPTER F
ORTY— CECE

Friday 7:50 a.m.

Cece clung to the metal girding and prayed.
Holy Mary, Mother of God…
She tried not to look down. The metal railing was ice cold and her good hand felt numb, but she clutched the railing for dear life.  The wind gusted again, splaying her hair back. The twenty-foot long walkway shimmied with the wind, making it feel even more unstable. She tucked her head to her chest, gripped the railing and prayed.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

When Nomad had deposited her nearly fifty stories up at the top of the tower, Cece had felt relief. Anything not to be in the air, pressed against Nomad's sweat-pocked body, his arms wrapped just below her breasts, his chin brushing against the back of her head. She'd felt violated the whole time and spent most of the ride convinced that at any moment he would drop her just to watch her splat. But now, with the wind buffeting her like a steady slap and the tower jittering like a tree branch in a tornado, she knew this was worse.

She looked down at her broken wrist, clutched to her chest like a wounded animal. The pain blared like a fog horn, nearly blocking out rational thought, but somehow the sharp wind (that, and the eminent fear of death) cleared her head. Pain was temporary. Death, well, that wasn't something you could just grin and bear.

“
Let me down!” she yelled at Nomad, who stood on the other side of the twenty foot walkway, his clothes fluttering in the wind. Since he'd dropped her on the support tower, he'd pretty much ignored her completely, spending his time watching the horizon and staring down at the little cars trundling along. She steeled her nerve enough to let go of the railing and waved her good arm at him. “Let. Me. Down!”

His head snapped up at her, annoyance creeping onto his face. He didn't bother answering, just went back to scanning the horizon.

She wrapped her good arm around the metal railing and accidentally looked through the metal grate below. Her head swam at the height. So high. If she fell... She closed her eyes and pressed out the thought. Why was she so afraid? She hadn't had this fear when Hugh had lifted her into the sky. Then again, his strong arms had held her. She'd known she'd be safe. And it didn't help that her captor had snapped her wrist like a twig. She swallowed and forced her eyes open. Maybe if she looked again, the fear would subside.

She let her eyes stray out over the water. The blue lake was beautiful this time of morning. She'd seen it once before on a church trip with a friend's youth group in eighth grade. In the morning light, the lake was almost purple, capped with frothy flecks of white. The cars were insects from this high. At first she'd hoped someone would see them and call the police, but now she knew better. Even if someone managed to look up, she and Nomad would be little black specks. Indecipherable from the metal tower.

No human was going to save her, anyway.

She let her eyes follow Nomad's out to where the earth curved. Hugh had to come. That was why Nomad brought her here. She was the worm dangling on a flashy hook, the peanut butter in the mouse trap. She imagined herself as a clump of peanut butter and almost laughed. God, this all was so ridiculous. Then she looked down at the cars fifty stories below and lost her humor.

Would Hugh care enough to come? To battle this insane superhuman for her? Cece pressed her forehead to the railing, an unease falling over her. She wasn't prize enough to warrant a duel to the death. She tried not to imagine what it would feel like to plummet from this height into the waves below. Didn't they say hitting water from this high up was like hitting concrete?

Nomad floated by again, an evil Peter Pan. The wind swirled his shoulder-length hair around his face, tugged his clothes back from the pudge around his belly. She yelled at him again as he passed. “He's not coming! Just let me go!”

Nomad's face darkened as he floated over nearer to Cece. “He's coming.” He flashed an evil smile. “He'll be here in a few minutes. And then you and I will help him see reason.”

Cece scoffed. “You're going to help him see reason?
You
? You're the craziest person I know.”

Nomad grabbed her uninjured forearm and tugged her off the walkway into open air, nearly dislocating her shoulder. Cece screamed, bicycling her feet through nothingness. Her eyes flashed to the churning water below, the frothy white caps large and hungry. She pictured drowning, how it would burn, the terror of sinking down into the dark depths before sucking in lungfuls of icy water. They'd find her bloated body in the cattails. 

She clutched at his body as they hovered, clawing his clothes with her injured hand. “Put me down!”  Her eyes searched his face for mercy.

“
Then stop talking. You're annoying me.” He sailed back over and dumped her on the metal walkway. Glass shards of pain arrowed from her wrist. She clutched it, moaning. The cool metal beneath her body was the only comfort she could find. She pressed her head to the floor, a rivet the size of a half dollar digging into her forehead. She would not cry. Not here. Not in front of the psychopath.

Tears streaked down her cheeks and were sucked up by the wind. There was no fighting Nomad. Her thoughts turned to Mama. Where was she now, in a jail cell? Did she wonder where her daughter was? She probably didn't picture Cece held captive at the top of a bridge by an alien mental case.

She flicked her eyes up, wanting to take in all the beauty before it was snatched away. Something was streaking through the sky. She pushed up on her knees, hope blossoming in her chest.

CHAPTER FO
RTY-ONE — HUGH

Friday 7:55 a.m.

Hugh soared in, his eyes finding Cece. Tears were streaking down her cheeks and she cradled her wrist to her chest as if it pained her. What had Nomad done? Anger exploded through his body as Hugh drove straight into Nomad like a wrecking ball.

They sailed end over end, spiraling in the air. As they flipped, Hugh's fingers fumbled onto Nomad's shirt and locked on. Their bodies slammed into the metal tower with a
clang.
Hovering in the air, Hugh pinned Nomad to the bridge with one hand. He reached back for a punch with the other. Nomad's eyes darted to Hugh's fist. He slipped downward, out of the t-shirt Hugh was clutching. Hugh, tossing the empty shirt aside, whirled around just in time to catch a kick in the ribs. Hugh buckled, sailing back through space in a ball, pain exploding through his ribs.

“
Why are you making this so damn
hard
!” Nomad shouted, pulling at his hair. “Just come back and let me show you. If you just remembered, all this agony could be over.”

Hugh's eyes drew back to Cece. This could be over? Nomad meant over between him and Cece. He'd forget her and become... well, whatever Nomad and his superiors wanted him to be. He shook his head. “I'm not going to let you change me.”

“Then I'll take you in myself.” Nomad sailed forward and swung at Hugh.

Nomad's knuckles smashed into his jaw like a sledgehammer. Hugh's head snapped back, his vision blurring, his mind ringing like a gong. He spun in the air, arms wheeling to right himself. Finally he stopped spinning, placing both hands to his head. When his vision cleared, he saw Nomad holding Cece above the churning water below. His arms were locked around her chest, her feet dangling in open space.

Hugh skidded to a stop, fists lowering. Cece's face was a war of relief and terror as she looked at him. Hugh could see the trails of tears now dried on her red cheeks. The puffy wrist hung uselessly at her waist.
Hugh,
she mouthed, a fresh tear pooling in one eye.

“
Please,” Hugh said, terror now beating out the anger, “don't.” He held his hands out in a pleading gesture.

“
Gods, listen to you,” Nomad said, flashing his teeth. “Love sick Romeo. This isn't you, Jopari. You would've never dated a human. They're a sub-species. It'd be like her dating a spider monkey.” He squeezed Cece a little and her eyes flashed open, her mouth forming into an O.

“
Don't hurt her!” Hugh hovered closer, gasping, feeling the dread of losing her like a ton of bricks on his chest.              

Nomad gave a shrug. “I think I already broke her.” He nodded to Cece's limp wrist, twice as big as normal. “Can't blame me. They're just so damn breakable. And that's the thing Hugh, if you're with her long enough, you'll break her, too. I'm just saving you all that awful guilt.”

Hugh thought of Cece going limp in his arms as he'd sailed through the clouds. He grimaced. “Just put her down, Nomad. I'll listen to anything you have to say.”

“
You're lying.” Nomad loosened his grip. Cece slipped down a few inches and gasped, her hands clawing for Nomad's shirt. Below, the water churned angrily. “It doesn't matter,” he said, bobbing as the wind buffeted them. “They're coming. And once they're here, all this nonsense won't matter. You won't get a choice in whether you remember or not.”

“
Who's coming?”

Nomad grinned. “Our people. Come on. I'll show you.”

Hugh looked at Cece. She was watching him desperately. He needed her in his arms now. “I'll come. Just let her go.”

Nomad smiled wryly. “Sure thing.”

He opened his arms.

Hugh watched it in slow motion: the shock on her face as Nomad's arms left her, the pull of gravity, her hair, her clothes angling upward as she went down, slipping past Nomad into space. The shock turning into fear, into terror.

Oh God. No!

Hugh dropped after her.

He plummeted down. The wind pushed at his eyes, making him squint, but he kept his sights locked on Cece as she fell.
He pushed with all his will downward, down toward the waves, down toward the cars that grew rapidly bigger. His heart would burst, but he pushed down, down, down.

Cece fell like a broken-winged bird, her arms wheeling, her clothes fluttering around her like limp feathers. Her dark brown hair lashed up over her face, but no sound escaped her. Right now she'd be thinking of death, thinking she'd smack into the cold water before he'd reach her.
No,
he thought, gritting his teeth.
I'll save her. I'll—

He snatched at her arm, but his fingers sliced through empty air. He pushed down, his body groaning, every atom vibrating as he plummeted. Thirty feet from the waves. Twenty. He could almost taste the lake they were so close. He reached for her hand as the water rose up to meet them. She looked up. Between the long ribbons of hair, her face was locked with terror, but a sliver of relief too, as if she believed in him. He pulled her body to his, folding himself around her and used his body to cushion her fall.

They hit the water like a sack of rocks.

His back slammed into the waves, pain jolting into every part of him. The cold was shocking. Then water was everywhere, a world of swirling blue and froth and arms and legs. His brain chugged slowly. He fumbled, his hands slicing through the water uselessly. What direction was up? Where was Cece? His lungs burning, pure panic gripped him. Where was she? His fingers brushed something solid. An arm. He drew her to him, limp, heavy and lifeless. Was she dead? He wrapped his arms around her chest and pulled them upward.

He broke the surface, gasping. In the churning waves, her head bobbed lifelessly. He lifted her higher, his legs stirring beneath the water in a frantic tread.

“
Cece!” he gasped, blowing water out of his mouth as a wave threatened to drown him. He had to get her out, but already a few people had stopped their cars and were peering down from the railing, gawkers with hands shielding eyes for a better look. Was that a camera flash? He gripped Cece's limp body with one arm and side-stroked like the devil was chasing him.