Eye on Orion (22 page)

“No!” I cringed inside when I realized that could make him suspicious of me. Thinking fast I said, “You can't hold on to me. We have to keep our matter focused into ourselves. I don't want to risk having you become part of me!” I didn't know if that would be right or not, but I definitely didn't want him holding onto me. I couldn't go back to my house if he did.

“Not if I hold onto your shirt. Our clothing and items we brought with us remained separate when we Traveled here the first time. We'd be close enough I could guide you, but still separate enough to not be joined. There would be no problem keeping track of you then.”

I lay back on the ground, fighting the tears that finally made it through my tight emotions. I covered my eyes with my arms. He kept interfering with my plans. I thought I'd figured a way to get him to go somewhere else. I didn't even know if it would work for him to try to adjust his location by twenty-eight thousand, eight hundred miles. Now if he insisted on taking me with him by holding onto me, then how would I get home? If he ended up somewhere else, then I would share his fate. I might be able to come right back using the second trip on the medallion if I could get it away from Shander. It gave me a glimmer of hope.

Interrupting my thoughts, he asked, “So to which direction do we adjust our location?”

“What?”

“You said we have to adjust our location when we Travel back. Which direction?”

I hadn't even thought of that.

“Uh…” I tried to think. “I can't remember for sure. My head is hurting too much right now.”

“I don't know why you didn't pay better attention.”

“Well, I'm sorry,” I snapped. “I wasn't planning on being forced to return home all drugged up. Besides, Jai knew it all better.”

“Well then, let's figure this out.”

He pulled me into an upright position. As soon as he let go of my arm, I slid a few inches away from him. He shrugged, but other than that didn't seem to be bothered. He grabbed the paper, and drew two small circles he labeled the sun and Earth. Then two other circles he labeled Rommader and Zet.

“Which way does Earth rotate around the sun?” he asked, looking over at me.

“Uh… left to right?”

“That is the same direction Rommader travels.”

He drew arrows in the direction each planet moved in relation to its sun.

“If Earth travels a little faster each day than Rommader, but they travel in the same direction, then we need to go back to the location of Rommader. We would go left if the direction of travel is to the right. Correct?”

“Yeah, that makes sense. I think that's what they told us,” I murmured.

“We have it now. Let's get going.”

He stood up then offered his hand to pull me up.

“I still don't think I'm ready,” I complained.

“Of course you are. Especially since I am. If you don't learn to do as you are told, you will not last long as my queen.”

I refused to take his hand and got up by myself.

“Suit yourself.”

He grabbed his Traveling medallion and indicated for me to do the same.

I gathered the black leather cord and took ahold of the medallion in my right hand. It felt cool to the touch, even after holding it in my hand for a moment. I'd never felt the one Jai or Amira had. Was this normal?

Shander stepped closer to me.

I took a tiny step away from him.

He smiled and showed me his perfectly straight teeth again. “I find it funny you are fighting this.”

I didn't respond to him, just shook my head. I tightened my fist around the medallion.

He looked at me a little confused.

“What?” I asked.

“You are holding it wrong.” He looked suspicious. Maybe he was finally catching on to me.

“What?” I rubbed my temples trying to make him think my headache was to blame for my slip.

“You are holding the medallion wrong. You need to clasp it in your left fist and hold it to your chest.”

“Oh.” I switched the medallion into my other hand. I slowly closed my fist around the still-cool medallion.

“There you go.” He nodded with approval.

He put his left hand to his chest and then with his right hand reached over to grab the back of my shirt. The fabric tightened as the front pulled against my chest. He held a lot of the shirt clenched in his fist.

I brought my hand into position and shut my eyes. A tear escaped and slowly fell from my cheek onto my fist.

As I held the medallion next to my chest, it started to warm up in my hand. I opened my eyes in surprise and pulled my hand away from me. Opening my hand, the medallion cooled again.

“What are you doing?” he asked in frustration.

“I was just surprised for a minute. I didn't know it would do that.”

“Do what?”

“Get warm. It's been cold the whole time I've been holding it.”

“Of course it gets warm. That's how you know it is beginning to work.” He looked at me a little skeptically. “Don't you remember this from last time?”

“No. I don't remember a lot apparently. That stuff must have really messed up my mind.” I looked down at my fist. “Maybe you should remind me what to do.”

He seemed annoyed he had to go through the steps with me. “You hold it in your left hand, up against your chest. It gets warm. It envelops you in a force of matter. Once you begin to Travel, you have to keep your hand tight to your chest or you will lose your matter out amongst the matter of the universe. Focus your attention on your entire body. Notice everything about it. Be completely aware of yourself. After you have gathered your mind to yourself, you visualize where you are going. In this case, you remember where you came from. And apparently we also need to shift our destination twenty-eight thousand, eight hundred miles to the left.”

He raised his eyebrow at me, and I nodded in agreement.

“Then we think of ourselves in the location we want to go, my chamber in the palace, and we Travel there.” He paused. “Correct?”

“I guess.”

“You guess?” He looked at me.

“I told you I can't remember much about it all,” I snapped again. “I still have a headache and I've told you I'm not ready to Travel.”

“But I am. And we are going now without any more delay. Agreed?”

“Whatever.”

He tightened his fist again and held it to his chest. I copied him. When my hand reached my chest, the medallion heated up. Comfortable warmth surrounded me. It reminded me of slipping into a hot bath at home. I focused my attention on myself. My heart beat faster and faster as I thought of what I was doing.

What if I couldn't get to my home? What if he pulled me with him? I hoped I'd given him such wrong directions that he would end up somewhere floating in space and not be able to get home to his planet. I didn't know how far off the twenty-eight thousand, eight hundred miles would put him. It would have been much better if he'd shifted with my earlier calculations.

I felt sick. My stomach clenched at the real possibility I would never see my family again. I hadn't even told them I loved them the last time I saw them. If I made it to Rommader, which I highly doubted I'd be able to do since I didn't know where it was, then I'd never be able to return. I put my right hand on my stomach to try to settle it.

I tried to focus on myself again like I'd been told to do. My headache had lessened as I'd been too busy to search for Jai. I felt for him again where I last found him, but he wasn't there. I tried to find him in the direction he'd been slipping before and finally got ahold on his presence. He felt closer to me, yet he kept slipping out of my reach. For the first time, I wondered if he might be flying back. He was too late. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter to keep any more tears from forming.

At least if I succeeded in making Shander Travel to a different place, then Amira would be safe from him, and she could rule Rommader without fear of him. And Jai would be safe, but alone on a planet far from his home without any way to get back. They would think he was living a happy life with me. Another tear escaped, despite my efforts. I fought to contain the sobs that threatened. I couldn't break apart right now. I needed to be calm and keep my wits about me.

“Are you completely aware of yourself?” he asked.

“Not quite.” His grip on my shirt tightened. “I'm close though,” I added quickly.

“I'll give you one more minute. If you aren't ready to Travel, I'll take you as you are and who knows what will happen to you then. Maybe only part of you will make it back,” he threatened.

I closed my eyes tighter and focused on myself, becoming more and more aware of everything. My hair stirred in the light breeze. I shut my eyes tight, and my face tensed. I tried to relax my facial muscles and felt pleased when they obeyed. My shoulders relaxed. I still felt sick to my stomach but didn't think I could change that by focusing on it and concentrated instead on my arms. My left fist clenched tightly around the medallion. The muscles in my arm were flexed as I held it to my chest. My right hand lay open against my flat stomach.

My sweatpants hung loosely on my legs. I focused on my long legs. The prickly hairs from three days of no shaving rubbed against the fabric. I felt a fleeting sense of embarrassment that I hadn't shaved them in so long. I shook off the distraction and continued with my body inventory. My bare feet tingled with comfortable warmth as I stood on the salt. So much better than when I'd first stepped onto the ground.

I stood there breathing in slowly through my nose and out through my mouth. After a few moments, calmness surrounded me. I would do my best to get home, and if it didn't work, at least I would die knowing it was to help my friends. I would see them on the other side someday. I figured if God made me, and God made them, I would get a chance to see them again. I'd even ask how things worked out. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long.

Shander interrupted my thoughts.

“On the count of three, we will go. Keep your mind on yourself. Then add the thought of where we are going. Do you remember where you came from?” he asked.

I thought of my home and the messed up front room.

“Yes,” I answered truthfully.

“Good. Keep it in your mind. Remember it clearly. Now on the count of three.”

His hold on my shirt tightened again. I clenched my eyes tight and pictured my house.

“One.”

I took a deep breath.

“Two.”

I opened my eyes and looked over at him. His eyes were closed.

“Three.”

I lurched forward as fast and as forcefully as I could. He stumbled forward with me, and at the same time I felt him begin to disappear while holding onto me. It started to pull me with him. “What…” he shouted, but I didn't hear the rest of his words.

I focused my attention on my house. I needed to get there. He continued to disappear, but he still held tight to me. Now he knew I wasn't going easily with him, he pulled me closer.

We fought back and forth with each other. He began to Travel, and I tried to pull away from him. I discovered, to my horror, that I no longer had ahold on the ground with my feet. I could see the ground, but I wasn't actually there. I didn't know where I was. My parent's front room carpet blended in spots with the salt-crusted earth.

Then bits of something unfamiliar to me started to appear on top of the salt and carpet. It looked like a creamy brown marble I'd never seen before. I looked up from the ground and saw a strange sight. The wide expanse of the Salt Flats with the mountains far in the distance, were framed by my mother's front room lace curtains, pulled open to let in the evening air. Outside, red and blue lights flashed. The police must be at my house. Then superimposed on that scene was a vast room with marble pillars, the same color as the marble floor.

It had to be the room Shander wanted at the palace. He could get back to Rommader. Either he ignored the things I told him about shifting his destination, or it wouldn't work anyway and the medallion was going to take him directly to Rommader.

I had to stop him, so I fought. Using my free right hand, I tried to hit him. It wasn't effective at all since he stood to my left and held onto my shirt from the back. I couldn't reach him very well with my right arm. I felt his forearm digging into my back as he gripped the shirt tighter.

I tried wiggling loose, but that didn't work at all. I couldn't get ahold on the ground. I wasn't in any of the places I saw. I tried to keep my focus on my mother's front room or at least the Salt Flats, but the marble kept intruding onto the scenes I wanted to see.

Shander didn't want to let go of me. If he did, then he would Travel without me. If I could just force him to let go, I would be free. I couldn't believe how difficult it was to get away from someone when you couldn't use your legs. I rotated in his grasp and felt him pull me closer. I now faced him with his arm around my back. My left hand and his left hand were crushed between our bodies. I squirmed more and bumped up against his side, then felt something hard hit my leg.

The Tamire in his pocket!

If I could get to it and spray him, then maybe my previous plan would work. I wiggled and shifted as best as I could without having anything to stand on. I fought the vision of his palace view while keeping my front room in my mind. If I let go of that image, then he'd get me where he wanted to be. He still held tightly to my shirt, but the shirt shifted around my body. The collar pulled against my neck. My sleeves moved, and the neck pulled off my shoulder. With my free right hand, I reached toward his pants.

His eyes flew open wide as I reached into his pocket.

When my hand found the bottle, the look in his eyes immediately changed to shock, then anger. I had a good hold on the bottle, but once I grabbed it in my fist, I couldn't pull my hand free of his pocket as easily as I'd slipped it in.

He pulled against my shirt to force me away from him. I heard it tear as he yanked. He swung his hips to the side to try to keep me from getting the bottle out, but my hand gripped the bottle tight enough I didn't lose it.