Saphora: vol.1 Retention (The Athena Universe) (34 page)

“Do you expect to make a difference on our planet like this?” Hydra jabbed. Saphora’s eyes narrowed as they found Hydra’s.
Taking a jab at losing her home was a bit of a push, but one that was needed to get Saphora motivated in putting forth some effort in combat practice. She stood straight again, shaking her head.

“Don’t,” Saphora warned.

“Then show me you can handle going home. Again!” she said, going at Saphora again. Saphora countered most all of Hydra’s moves, taking some hits and giving some in return. What fire she did manage to spawn from her hands was small, but Hydra was happy to take the progress.

Saphora continuously shocked herself during the spar. Never in her life had she so much as taken a self-defense class, and yet she was able to see and manage some way of blocking or avoiding most of the attacks. She didn’t know if was because she had been taught early on in her childhood, or if she was just getting lucky.

About 15 minute into their sparing, the door to Maverick's apartment
was unlocked, followed by his entrance. But his appearance caught Saphora off guard, having interrupted her concentration. Her hand shot towards Maverick before either of them could realize, and unleashed a fireball. Maverick dropped his keys as Saphora’s eyes widened. A gasp left her lips as the glow in her eyes immediately dissipated, and the fireball stopped in midair. Saphora’s palm had widened, as if to stop the ball. And as it turned out, she had. Hydra had spun around, ready to put out the fire, but stumbled to a halt upon seeing the fire floating in the middle of the room, closer to Maverick. Maverick looked on with wide eyes and a held breath, as the fire hovered just over a foot away from him. He swallowed, looking up at Saphora.

“Did … Did I do something wrong?”
Saphora was speechless as she strained to keep the ball where it was, worried about it hitting Maverick. Hydra slowly walked up to the ball, circling it as she observed the consistency. Finally, she smiled, looking back to Saphora.

“Now we’re getting somewhere.”

Chapter 12

              “You’ll be fine,” Maverick cooed, resting his hand on Saphora’s back. She shook her head warily as she stared at the book in Hydra’s hand. They were trying to coax her into doing another memory session – this time with the aid of the book. But she was still a bit shaken up from the previous session. Not being able to stop the flow of memories, though she would want them in due time, was drifting her away from the idea. It was overwhelming for her, to have everything flood back to her memory. And although there was not much left to remember, aside from Arol, she was still wary about going back under.

“What if she can’t stop them?” Saphora asked, her eyes focused on the turning pages of the book.

“Then I will,” reassured Maverick, leaning forward until Saphora moved her gaze to his eyes. Immediately, she felt some level of reassurance. But she wondered if it was enough. If Maverick could be lucky enough to be able to do it again. “Come on. You’ve gotten way too far to deny yourself your memory.” Saphora grit her teeth, nodding slightly and exhaling through her nose. He was right. She nodded more firmly, looking at him.

“Don’t go anywhere, okay?” she pleaded to him in a soft voice, almost with embarrassment. Maverick nodded, grinning.

“I’ll be sitting right here.”

“Hello?” Fran answered on the second ring of her cellphone.

“Hi, Fran. It’s Dr. Lupin. How are you?”

“Oh, doctor. I’m fine, thank you. Just preparing for this exhibit, haha. How are you?”

“Well, I’m a little concerned, to be honest, Fran,” he answered, looking up at Officer Johnson, who was in front of him, leaning back on the desk in her office. They had been speaking about Saphora. Fran grew silent, for a moment.

“About what, doctor?”

“About Saphora.”

“Saphora? Didn’t she come to your session this morning?” Fran asked with concern.

“Yes … But she cut it short. I had left the office to handle a visitor that had shown up in the lobby, and when I returned she was gone.”

“Gone? Gone where?”

“Well I don’t know. But there’s something more discerning than the fact that she left.”

“Like?”

“Well … Although I don’t have any proof to hold her to it, I believe she burned all of her notes. There’s nothing left of her files but ashes, I’m afraid.”

“What? Saphora would never-“

“Well, Fran. She had the motive. You were with us the other day during our conversation. She wanted her files. Who’s to say that she wasn’t willing to destroy them if she couldn’t have them?” Lupin proposed. Fran shook her head in silence.

“N-No, doctor. She wouldn’t do that,” Fran argued, tired of just throwing Saphora’s morals to the wayside. Lupin sighed, pushing up his glasses.

“But what if she did, Fran? She was the only one that was in my office from the time I left, to the time I returned. The security cameras can vouch for that.”

“Can they vouch for her setting the files on fire?” Lupin hesitated.

“Fran, I know you’re concerned for Saphora. And another situation like this does not put her in favor of the law. But I need you to listen to me.” Lupin paused, looking up at Johnson. She nodded. “You may want to consider sending Saphora to a mental institution for evaluation.”

Fran’s mouth dropped at the suggestion. She even moved away from her phone so she could look at it in disbelief. A
mental institution
? Surely he had to be exaggerating. Saphora could not be that far over the psychiatric edge.

“
Institution
?” Fran choked, bringing the phone back to her ear. “Doctor, surely you must be
joking
.”

“I’m not, Fran. I need you to consider this carefully and-“

“No, doctor. I’m not sending my child to a mental institution when there’s nothing wrong with her. And if you didn’t treat her like you have been, maybe she wouldn’t be so hostile towards you,” Fran spat. Lupin paused on the other end of the phone for a moment before speaking again.

“Well, Fran. If you feel the need to change your mind before the state does, give me a call,” he offered. “Enjoy the rest of your day.”

             
Lupin hung up the phone with a sigh, placing the phone back into his pocket as he looked up at Johnson, who had her arms crossed.

“Well?” she asked. Lupin shook his head.

“She doesn’t want to put her in an institution,” Lupin said, resting his elbows on his knees and folding his hands.

“I thought she
would listen to you,” Johnson argued. Lupin shrugged.

“I suppose there is only so much one will go through before a motherly defense kicks in,” he said with a chuckle. Johnson grumbled.

“We need that time to stall, Lupin,” Johnson reminded him. Lupin nodded, dismissing the concern.

“Oh, I’m sure that Saphora will convince Fran on her own that she needs to be admitted. It’s only a matter of time,” Lupin reassured.

“How much time?”

“I give it a few days. If anything, if it takes too long, we can take it upon ourselves to declare her unsuitable for society. Whether Fran likes it or not.”

“If it’s true … If it’s not just some mutation in her genes. Do you think she’ll come quietly when we go to take her?” Johnson asked.

“
Drug her before taking her.”

Johnson sighed, looking off to the side, shaking her head.

“I can’t believe this is happening under my watch. An alien?
Aliens
? This has got to be some sort of joke. Maybe the results came back wrong. Maybe Glover is just in trauma,” Johnson said, trying to reason with herself. Lupin shook her head.

“Science doesn’t lie, Officer.
We have to turn it in.”

“But what about Fran? I mean, just ripping her away from her like that? She raised that girl. How is she going to react when
we take her?” Lupin shrugged.

“She may not be as surprised as you thin
k.” Johnson’s brows furrowed as she studied the knowing look on Lupin’s face.

“What, you think she knows?”

“I mean, let’s be realistic. Raising her from however young she was. Surely she had to know something was different about her. Her features for one thing.”

“But why wouldn’t she tell anyone?”

“Well, I don’t think she knows she may be an alien, per say. But even giving up small information about Saphora. She was, and is, for all intents and purposes, her mother. No mother is going to risk losing her child,” Lupin explained. Johnson sighed, crossing her arms again.

“And what about the second set of prints we found? They’re wacky too. Is there really a Tebias?” Lupin nodded.

“Why did you tell us her story was false? That she was mentally unstable?” Lupin pushed up his glasses.

“I was protecting my client.
And I didn’t know at the time if my assumptions were correct. I had wanted to get skin test done of her back, but wasn’t able to. But now that you have gotten results, I don’t need to. I know I’m right.”

“So what now?”

“The government takes her, interrogates her. Find out if she’s a threat to the planet. They may even attempt to visit hers.”

“And what happens if they do?” Lupin smiled.

“Then we could be the first to visit another planet with life,” he said, standing up from his seat. “This could be the single greatest accomplishment of our time.”

“She seems to be doing well this time,” Hydra noted, looking at Saphora from the kitchen. Maverick nodded, still seated on the sofa. He had been watching her the entire time, making sure that she was okay. She had fallen back against the sofa, eyes half shut and body limp, breathing slowly.

“So what happens
when she remembers everything? You take her home?” Hydra paused, giving a nod after a moment.

“Ideally …” she answered. “She has to return at some point. And it has to be soon,” she answered truthfully.

Maverick nodded, gripping his knees a little tighter. He knew there was something between them. Something that he believed would turn into something amazing. But leaving Earth … To live the rest of his life on a planet unknown to him. His mind was being fickle. One moment he was determined to go, the next he was wondering if he would even be able to breathe on the planet.

Maverick’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Saphora’s phone ringing. Hydra flinched slightly at the sudden
melody and turned to face it on the kitchen’s island counter.

“Someone’s communicator,” she pointed out, watching the screen light up and listening to the sounds of electric guitar. Her brows furrowed. “What an odd sound.” Maverick tilted his head upwards, standing up.

“What does it say?” Hydra scoffed, picking up the phone.

“I cannot
read
this, mortal,” she said, tossing it to him. Maverick fumbled to catch the phone, not wanting it to land on Saphora and disturb her. Looking down at the phone’s screen, he saw that is was Fran, and an instant wave of nerves washed over him.

“Oh god, it’s her mom,” he breathed.

“Impossible,” exclaimed Hydra, standing up from the stool and looking in his direction. Maverick quickly shook his head, going to clarify.

“No, not … her
mother
. The woman that raised her here. Fran.”

“Oh. Why do you not answer it?”

“Well … She doesn’t exactly know who I am.”

“And what if she is delivering important information?” Hydra asked, extending her open palm. “Give it here. I will answer it.” Maverick looked up at her, deciding that that would have been worse, and answered the phone.

“… Hello?”

Immediately recognizing a significantly deeper voice, Fran went into questioning.

“Who is this?”

“Uh, this is a friend of Saphora’s.”

“Friend? Are you that boy that drove her home?”

“Yeah
…”

“Who are you?” she asked with a more motherly tone.

“Err, my name is Maverick, ma’am.”

“Where’s Saphora?”

“She’s uh, she’s sleeping right now,” he answered, looking back at her limp body. Fran’s voice went up an octave.

“Sleeping? Why is she sleeping there with you? Were you two sleeping together?” she asked, almost short of breath. “Put Saphora on the phone!”

“Oh! No, no ma’am we weren’t sleeping together! I … She was just tired, ma’am. I don’t want to wake her up … Can I give her a message?”

“You tell that girl to get hom
e as soon as she opens her eyes!” she snapped, hanging up the phone. Maverick cringed at the tone of her voice, inching away from the phone. He sighed, lowering the phone from his face, and looking up at Hydra with a grimace.