Savior (The Savior Series Book 1) (22 page)

46. LEXINGTON

♫
http://youtu.be/sPHxLFJyPwk

BESIDES HOWIE AND HIS FAMILY BEING PLACED IN PROTECTIVE custody, things were surprisingly normal for the next two weeks. Each day I expected The Strangers to barge into our school with guns blazing, but they never came. Jason and I brought our combat gear to school every day just in case they did, but it was starting to look like Wells was right about them being too weak to attack again after we captured so many of their men.

I finally decided to take advantage of that sliver of normalcy and spend some quality time with Monica before things got crazy again. As far as she knew, I was still working on renovating 3D with Jason and Howie, which was taking up most of my time. She was surprisingly cool about not seeing or hearing from me as much, so naturally I felt even guiltier about misleading her. I offered to make up for my absence with a trip to Lake Victoria, which she gladly accepted.

When we arrived that evening, the lake was crowded, but as the sun set and the moon climbed higher into sky, the crowd dissipated and only the two of us remained.

We lay beside each other on beach towels, staring up into the night sky as the darkness changed Lake Victoria. The river of fog that drifted above her blackened waters gave way to an elegant yet much more ominous version of her.

It was hard not to think about PJ. The flickering stars that littered the inky-black sky above reminded me of him. He and I used to stargaze all the time when we were young. But that was before his rebellious phase. That was before The Strangers took him away from me.

“What’s on your mind?” Monica suddenly asked.

“Nothing, I’m just taking in the scenery,” I lied.

“You looked like you were deep in thought to me,” she replied. She didn’t come right out and accuse me of lying, but I could tell that she knew that I was holding back. It amazed me how well she knew me despite having not really known me for that long.

“You’re right,” I responded, “I was thinking about my brother. I’m sorry.”

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry about. I understand if it still hurts. I still think about my father all the time.” Her voice cracked as she mentioned her father.

My stomach turned as the guilt I felt for not saving him surfaced. I didn’t respond. I knew that if I did, I would either continue to lie to her about his death or confess the truth and risk losing her forever and I wasn’t prepared to do either at the time.

Instead of the stars, she was looking at me when I glanced at her. The cool breeze that enveloped us gently blew her raven hair out of her face as she lay still in the glistening sand. Even the stars above paled in comparison to the beauty that lay before me in that moment.

“What made you think about your brother?” she asked.

“The stars. We used to stargaze together all the time. PJ would often slip away at night and lie on top of the old broken down van in our backyard and stare at the sky. After a while, I decided to join him. We never really spoke to each other while we did it. We’d just lie there in silence listening to the crickets and looking at the stars overhead. I did it mainly because I enjoyed spending the time with my big brother. But for him, I could tell that it was more than just that. I could tell he did it because he wanted to leave.” I looked to the sky once more as a cool breeze swept over us.

“He wanted to leave home?” Monica asked.

“We both wanted that, but that wasn’t it for PJ. He wanted to leave Earth altogether. He had that look in his eyes, you know? I could tell that when he looked out there, it wasn’t simply because he enjoyed the view. It was because he wanted to actually go there.”

“Why do you think he wanted to leave?”

“Why wouldn’t he want to leave? We were miserable in that house. ”

“What about you? Did you ever think about leaving us troublesome earthlings behind?”

“I definitely thought about leaving Lexington, Florida behind,” I said as I gazed in her eyes. “But I wasn’t as imaginative as PJ. I never really thought about leaving Earth.”

“Do you think there’s anything out there?”

“Anything’s possible, I guess. It’s a big universe. What about you? Do you think anything’s out there?” I asked.

She was silent for a few moments before replying.

“I’m not telling,” she finally said.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because you’ll think I’m crazy. That’s why,” she playfully shot back. She refused to make eye contact as I sat up and looked down at her.

“I just told you that I think there may be something out there. What makes you think I’ll call you crazy for thinking the same thing?” I questioned.

“You wouldn’t understand,” she muttered.

“Try me,” I coaxed, curious as to what was on her mind.

“Well, like I said, you’re gonna think I’m crazy, but the reason I believe that there are other planets with life is because I’ve seen one.”

I was tempted to laugh at her remarks, but I held it in when I realized that she didn’t appear to be joking.

“I had these dreams…when I was much younger, about a planet called Eden. There was this song that was always playing. It was such a beautiful song…played by instruments the likes of which I’ve never seen or heard of here on Earth. Each night I’d fall asleep here, but I’d awaken worlds away as the sound of that melody would pull me out of my sleep. I was always standing in the center of this sort of palace surround by thousands of strangely dressed people. I remember the massive marble walls that surrounded us seeming to glow in the brilliant silvery light of the moons that shined through the crystal ceiling above. The people that surrounded me were all looking to the sky, but they weren’t staring at the enormous full moons that hung high overhead. They were focused on a massive starship that was descending upon us.” She finally trailed off into silence while she continued to stare at the stars.

I didn’t know what to say or think. Hearing her talk about that dream as though it was real was honestly a little weird to me, but I kept reminding myself of how vivid my own recurring nightmare was. As I stared at her in silence, I could tell that there was probably much more to the dream than she was telling me.

“What happened next?” I finally asked.

“Then I’d wake up,” she whispered. “But I knew it was more than just a dream. It was far too vivid. It just felt entirely too real. And even though I had never been there before outside of my dream, it all somehow seemed familiar.”

“That’s interesting,” I said as laid down beside her and pulled her into my arms. “If it is real, maybe we’ll go there someday.”

I felt her body grow tense for a fraction of a second before she relaxed. It was odd that instead of replying, she just laid there in my arms with her eyes closed. I wanted to ask her more about her dream, but I could tell that something about it was bothering her. Instead, I continued to hold her and marvel at the ocean of stars above as they glimmered and winked down at me like the scatted embers of a dying fire.

As their beauty seemingly called out to me, I suddenly realized that leaving Lexington and Earth behind didn’t seem like such a bad idea. I had never truly found happiness in that city and I didn’t think much would change anywhere else in the world. As I lay there, stroking Monica’s hair and listening to the sound of her breathing, I knew that the only thing anchoring me to that place was the goddess that I held within my arms.

47. PRIORITY

AS THE PASSING WEEKS TURNED INTO MONTHS, MY LIFE became a blur, and I became consumed by the frustration brought on by the constant anticipation of the impending Stranger attack on our school that never came.

Howie was still in protective custody, so I couldn’t rely on him for any leads as to The Suspect’s whereabouts, and when it came to the investigative side of our operation, Jason and I were virtually useless. With Howie out of the picture, our quest to bring down The Suspect and The Strangers had become nothing more than an afterthought.

To make matters worse, I couldn’t shake the feeling that things were going exactly as Agent Wells had planned. After all, he wanted me to give up my pursuit of The Suspect and focus on his mission. By putting Howie in protective custody, he had effectively taken away the brains of our operation and left Ace and me practically shooting in the dark.

As Jason and I sat in 3D, it had been almost sixty days since we last saw or spoke with Howie. We had abandoned our extracurricular vigilante crime fighting because neither of us wanted to take the chance of hitting the streets without Echo monitoring the nearby police activity. Our days mostly consisted of going to school, then meeting at 3D afterward in order to attempt to monitor Stranger activity online. There was a lot of talk and rumors, but there hadn’t been another Stranger attack or a threat from The Suspect since we rescued Howie. Things were quiet but I was smart enough to know that that didn’t necessarily mean that they were finished. Something told me that they were rebuilding their forces and waiting for the right time to strike. I knew that we needed Howie back in order to find them and hit them before they got the chance.

“Have you tried calling him?” Jason asked. I stared blankly at him from across the conference table at which we sat.

“I’ve called Agent Wells a thousand times. He almost never answers, and when he does, he just says that 'for Howard’s protection, it’s best to keep his whereabouts a secret.' It’s like they’ve taken him prisoner,” I said angrily.

“I don’t think they would do that,” Jason replied.

“Why wouldn’t they? What would stop them?” I asked. “We sure couldn’t do anything about it. We can’t exactly call the police and tell them that our best friend has been kidnapped by the government.”

“He wasn’t kidnapped, Reaper. They’re protecting him.”

“Whose side are you on, Ace?” I demanded.

“Look, I care about getting Howie back just as much as you do! Of course I’m on your side and it sucks that you even have to ask,” Jason snapped.

I took a deep breath in order to calm down. Jason was right and I knew it was wrong for me to take my frustration out on him.

“I’m sorry, bro. It’s just frustrating not having him around. We can’t do this without him, Ace. We just can’t,” I finally said.

“We’ll get him back. We just have to be patient. As far as The Strangers are concerned, we’ll just need to keep packing our gear just in case they decide to attack. When they do, we’ll be ready.”

“So, we basically have to wait for more people to die before we can do anything about it,” I groaned.

“What else can we do? We can’t go on the offensive without any intelligence. And whether we like it or not, we don’t have Howie here to get any. Even when he was here, going on the offensive almost got us killed. We have to be smarter this time. The Suspect was foolish enough to reveal his next target to us which gives us an advantage. We may not know when he plans to attack, but we certainly know where. All we have to do is wait him out.”

“But what is he waiting for? It’s been two months, Ace. Why hasn’t he attacked yet?” I grumbled. Jason bit his lip and didn’t respond.

“What are you thinking?” I asked.

“I think he might be waiting for Howie to resurface before he hits the school. Howie is the reason he targeted our school to begin with. The Suspect probably wants to make sure that Howie's there before he follows through with his threat.”

“That makes a lot of sense,” I said as I rubbed my chin, “I wonder if Wells would be willing to allow Howie to come back to school for a couple of weeks in order to draw them out.”

“You want to use Howie as bait?” Jason asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.

“I want to catch The Suspect. Besides, you know I won’t let anything happen to Howie.”

“Neither will I, but that doesn’t mean we should use him as bait. What if we’re not fast enough when they hit? What if they kill him?”

“I won’t let them get to him,” I said firmly.

“And what if you can’t do both?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if you can’t kill The Suspect and save Howie? What if you had to choose?”

“I don’t understand what you’re asking me,” I replied.

“I’m just asking if you want to keep Howie alive more than you want The Suspect to die. If that’s the case, then I’m okay with your plan. I just need to know that Howie’s safety is your top priority.”

“Of course it is,” I lied. “Howie’s like a brother to me. You both are.”

Jason nodded, completely unaware of my dishonesty. It was true that I loved them both as if they were my brothers, but I didn’t really know if my love for them was stronger than my hatred of The Suspect. Still, I told Jason what he wanted to hear in order to get him on board with my plan. It bothered me that I had developed such a capacity for deception, but at the time, it seemed necessary.

His question about Howie and the Suspect also bothered me because somehow, it almost seemed like his question implied that the two of them may somehow be connected.

“So, what’s the plan for your birthday?” Jason asked, obviously trying to change the subject. My birthday was on the upcoming Saturday of that week, but I had actually not even thought about it until Jason mentioned it. For some reason, it always seemed like my mother was unusually sad on my birthday. For most of the day, she would just sit there staring into space, seldom moving or even bothering to speak. She would often disappear for hours at a time with no explanation as to where she had been when she returned. Due to her bizarre behavior and a lack of presents, I never really made a big deal about my birthday.

“Nothing spectacular, really. Monica convinced me to spend some time with my mom. We fought a few months back and I haven’t seen her since. Monica thinks it would be a good idea if I buried the hatchet.”

“What do you think?” Jason asked.

“I guess it’s okay. I’m sure you’ve figured out that I’ve been crashing here for a while, now. I haven’t seen her in several months, so I suppose that I kind of miss her.”

“Buddy, you can crash here for as long as you’d like, but I do think it’s a good idea to check on your mom,” Jason said.

I nodded without replying. Maybe it was a good idea, but I wasn’t too fond of the idea of visiting her during the week of my birthday. It always felt weird to even be around her when she fell into the zombie-like state, but Monica thought it was a good idea so I had promised her I would stop by.

“Your girlfriend seems like she has her head on straight,” Jason remarked.

“I suppose she does,” I said flatly.

“Are you guys going to prom this Saturday?”

“Absolutely not,” I said quickly.

“Reaper, it’s prom! And it’s on your birthday!” Jason replied.

“I’m aware.”

“You’ve got to be kidding!” Jason exclaimed.

“No, I’m not kidding. It’s just not my thing. You know I don’t really like crowds.”

“Reaper, you’re an idiot. You’re an absolute idiot. You’re dating the hottest girl in school and you’re not taking her to the prom, which happens to fall on your birthday? Those two factors combined pretty much guarantee your chances of getting a certain birthday gift, if you get my drift.”

“I can’t afford to focus on having fun right now, Ace. Finding The Suspect is my number one priority. Monica doesn’t know everything, but she knows I’m doing something that is a lot more important than prom. Besides, there’s always next year. We still have time.”

At least I thought we did. There was no way that I could have known just how wrong I was.