Captivate (Alien Cadets Book 2) Page 25

  “I think he’s okay after all,” Sage said.

  Claire turned to him to say...something... but her throat filled. “I’ve never – When he offered – I thought – I thought...”

  Sage pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her and pressing her head to his shoulder. She clung to him, and cried. Cried like she hadn’t the first time. Her hot tears burned her cheeks, frozen from standing in front of the open freezer.

  Claire wiped them, with a slightly hysterical laugh. She pulled back slightly and looked at Sage. “Do you think you could –” she started.

  But then he kissed her, and Claire was so surprised she stood there like an idiot, eyes open.

  He drew back a bit and touched her eyebrow with his fingers. “I’m sorry. It's okay if you don’t want to...” He leaned in to kiss her again, and Claire leaned forward to meet him. She wrapped her arms around him again, and felt his hand cup the back of her neck.

  She closed her eyes and enjoyed her first kiss. She didn’t even shudder at the thought that he was an alien. He’d just proven his loyalty in a way she’d never expected. For the first time with Sage, Claire let herself forget everything except the joy of being touched and wanted.

  CHAPTER 32

  After a several long moments of kissing Sage, however, Claire began to feel a little awkward. How did you end it? His lips were still on hers when she started to feel the end of the kiss and get embarrassed. Because, well, you couldn’t kiss forever (or even very long, if you have no idea what you’re doing) and then you’re just standing near a huge freezer with cold lips and red cheeks.

  Sage carried it off well though. He ran his fingers down her arm and smiled, but then sighed.

  “We can’t stay here.”

  “Um, no.” Claire was still reacting to the kiss, but didn’t want sound like an idiot. “It’s cold.”

  “I mean, we shouldn’t stay at the restaurant.”

  The back door burst open, and Francois slid in quickly. Claire could tell he was upset because he hovered nearly a foot off the ground, rather than his customary half inch.

  “Are you alright?" Francois demanded. "I’ve been healing my neighbor. The wretched Merith concussed him so soundly I had to stop a cranial hemorrhage! I hope you destroyed those thugs.” He was mostly addressing Sage.

  “No, that would have made the feud worse. It was Claire’s former owner and he already holds a grudge.”

  Pots and pans were rattling around Francois, and in his agitation he began turning the hot water in the sink on and off. “Faal? And I did not know. I have failed you. I truly believed I could give you warning if he knew of my location.

  Steam was rising from the hot water in the sink, making the air moist and warm. Claire felt the goose bumps on her arms start to go down. Francois wasn’t exactly wrong; he had assured her that he’d know if Faal found them, but Claire found it easy to forgive him.

  “It’s alright. It worked out after all.”

  “We’ll have to leave, however,” Sage added. The others joined them in the kitchen, as he explained to Francois what had happened and how carefully it had been timed to get Claire alone.

  Claire went to sit at the table with Juliet, as her legs were a little shaky. “You were so fast,” Claire told her. “How did you learn to move like that?”

  “I told you, I was the director’s daughter.”

  Claire looked blank.

  “She doesn’t know what that means,” Sage said to Juliet.

  “Oh," she paused. "The Rik are serious politicians. They live with manipulation, collateral, and blackmail. They take hostages to gain leverage,” she explained.

  “I’m still not getting –”

  “I had extensive physical training, so I could avoid being kidnapped or killed by my mother’s enemies.”

  “Oh. Wow. And that carried through to your human body?”

  “No, I was changed... a long time ago.” Juliet’s eyes shadowed. “I’ve had a lot of practice in this body.”

  “And Athlete, and Sage, too, you all worked so well together." Claire narrowed her eyes. "I feel like you've been holding out on me."

  “We’ve been together for a while,” Juliet said. She smiled at Athlete, who was now holding a large ice pack on his face. The part of his mouth that they could see turned up and he gave her a thumb’s up.

  "Together doing what? Military training?" Claire was half-joking, but the furtive looks they cast at Sage made her raise her eyebrows. "No, really?"

  Sage was busy talking to Francois, so Juliet shrugged uncomfortably. “Anyone who was going to Earth in the next few years had extensive training... We were planning an invasion, you know. Athlete and I had extra training, because of who we were, and Sage is... Sage.”

  Sage was telling Francois, “We can’t stay here anymore, my friend, I'm sorry. Faal was furious with Claire. He kept repeating that she had injured him. I had no idea it had become a personal vendetta or I would have warned you."

  Francois looked sadly at Claire, and she realized how fond she was of the little alien.

  "He’ll be back with more support, and if any of us are still here it’ll be bad. In fact, he might take it out on you, even if we’re not here," Sage said.

  Francois looked deflated. “You’re right. You mustn’t be here. I can protect myself. I have contacts higher than him, and that’ll keep him in check. But I don’t have enough pull to protect all of you.” He looked downright heartbroken.

  Claire rubbed her eyes. “I’m so sorry. I should have told you how angry he was with me. Now you’re on his hate list too.”

  Sage squeezed her shoulder, almost painfully. “No. Don’t waste time being sorry. You should be angry at Faal. How dare he come after you? How dare he treat you like an animal now that humanity is declared sentient? Don’t feel guilty.”

  “Where will you go?” Francois asked him.

  “We don’t all need to go,” Claire said. “I can leave. I bet I can get another job on a ship, particularly if you refer me.” She tried to smile at Francois. “I’ll save money, and try to avoid any Spo...”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Sage said. “They’d catch you right away. I think we should go back to Upper Selta and try to find a ship. We have what we’ve saved these last few weeks. Between all of us, it may be enough to charter a smuggler as far as Earth.”

  Juliet cocked her head. “I don’t think we have enough yet,” she said apologetically. “But I have an idea. What if Diva and Old Twin stay here? That way we don’t leave Francois totally empty handed... And we don’t have to deal with Old Twin's bad attitude for a while," she smiled cheekily and Old Twin rolled her eyes. "No, listen. Faal didn't see either of them. They keep earning money while the four of us," she gestured between her and Athlete, Sage and Claire. "The ones Faal has seen; we go look for a ship.”

  “Split up?” Athlete said dubiously.

  “Only for now. Once we find a ship, or make some other plan, we get back together. Besides, if the Spo are searching for six humans, it might be best to split up.”

  “But if Faal is still hunting me, he’ll keep searching even if I get off Selta.”

  Sage rubbed her neck. “I know. If only there was some way to trade him… something he valued even more…” he trailed off. “We’ll just have to be careful.”

  ***

  Basher just about broke his keyboard watching Faal's attack. Even after watching it three times in a row, he still wasn't entirely sure what had happened because Claire's head kept turning in the wrong direction. What it boiled down to was that the Rik had overpowered Faal's guards and he had temporarily withdrawn.

  Grudgingly, Basher admitted how impressive that was. Those aliens were no slouches. It was even harder for him to admit that Sage, despite the offer of bribery from Faal, had chosen to defend Claire. No doubt Sage would milk that act of decency for all it was worth, getting Claire more securely under his influence than ever, but he truly had risked injury and even death to protect her. />
  Probably that should make Basher feel more tolerant towards him, but (irrationally) it only made him angrier. If Sage hadn't dragged Claire out of the embassy to begin with, she would still be safely protected from Faal and she wouldn't need to be rescued.

  Basher took a deep breath. He still had a job to do. The video was frozen on Claire looking into a large freezer in the kitchen.

  "Okay Akemi. What's next?"

  There was a slight pause.

  Nothing much until Francois returns. Apparently Faal’s men bashed their way into the next door shop and used it to gain entry to the restaurant.

  "If he lodges a claim against Faal, we may be able to get a location out of it," Basher said.

  I’ll keep a look out for that, but now they’re planning to leave.

  The video jumped a few minutes and they watched the discussion of coming to Upper Selta to look for a ship.

  “She doesn’t even think about coming here,” Basher noted.

  Akemi tactfully ignored that. I can watch their entire route through the chunnel and you can pick them up when they get off.

  Basher nodded slowly. "Yes, but I imagine Faal is expecting them to leave, also. He'll try to stop them before they get to Upper Selta."

  This would be an opportune time for me to let Claire in on my presence. I can explain that we know she’s human and that I am too.

  ... In fact, I kinda already broke my cover.

  "You did? When?"

  I tried to warn Claire when I realized Faal was there. I recognized him a split second before she did and I was afraid he would shoot her.

  "But she didn't say anything to the Rik. Are you sure she saw it?"

  I think so. She ran to the kitchen as soon as I told her to.

  Basher nodded slowly. “It might be just as well. But... why did you change your mind? You were the one who resisted telling her the truth.”

  I was hesitant before, but now that Faal found her I think it’s worth a try. Perhaps she’ll be scared enough to leave the Rik and come back.

  ***

  The other reason, the one Akemi did not share with Basher, was the kiss. Akemi had not enjoyed watching Claire kiss Sage. Claire's glasses were right next to Sage's face, so the video got a close up view of the bridge of his nose and the inner part of his eyes. Which had remained open.

  Putting aside that trusting a Rik was usually a horrible idea, the way Sage’s eyes stayed open was very unsettling to Akemi. For one thing, it looked like he was staring right at her, into the tiny camera on Claire's glasses. For another thing, who keeps their eyes open while they're kissing? Somebody not that into a kiss, in her opinion.

  It had been bad enough when Claire let Sage lay with her as she fell asleep. It had been worse when Claire was telling him her story – her secrets and her guilt and her shame. This kiss was the worst, though. Now she knew for sure that Sage was going to capitalize on Claire’s vulnerability, and that was just not right. She couldn’t allow that to happen to her friend.

  Akemi had had very few proper friends in her life, due to her illness and consequent isolation, and she realized that she felt almost as close to Claire as she did to her sister.

  Akemi had grown up in Japan and gone to primary school for a few years, but her cystic fibrosis had eventually made it hard for her to continue. She missed too many days. As a little girl, her only close friend had been her sister.

  Then the Spo came for Akemi. She'd taken several equivalency tests because she'd missed so much school - and apparently her marks were high enough to get her onto their list.

  When the Spo had shown up at the door of their flat in New Tokyo her parents had been very calm. Her father explained that Akemi was too ill to go with them and clearly expected that to be the end of it.

  Akemi never admitted it to anyone, but she'd wanted to go with the Spo that day. She was sick of hospitals and pain and the inside of her home. What if the Spo had a way to make her better? And even if they didn't - she might get to see the universe! They frightened her of course, but not as much as a lingering life of illness.

  Her parents, however, seemed confident that the Spo would just walk away, and Akemi couldn't make up her mind to speak. She wasn't raised to challenge her father, and her natural fear of the Spo weighed her lips.

  Nat sat quietly on the bench next to Akemi and held her hand. As their parents continued to argue with the Spo, Akemi watched her mother's face change. Their mother spoke very little, but her eyes began to get desperate. She kept glancing at Akemi with a sort of wildness that was more frightening than threats and tears.

  Watching her, Akemi's heart sank. If the Spo won and she went with them, it would kill her mother. Her mother had nursed Akemi through illness after illness and night after night in the hospital. Akemi had become her whole life, and losing her to the Spo would break her heart.

  Nat made eye contact then, and without speaking, they'd known that each understood the situation.

  Akemi was still shocked, however, when Nat spoke up. "I could go," she said simply.

  The Spo looked her over. "While the Spo do value the act of volunteering, you must have the necessary intelligence and capabilities to benefit from the cadet program."

  "I have a similar intelligence to my sister, and I'm only a few years older. Also, I am not ill. I think you should consider me as an alternative."

  Their mother gasped, and Akemi had wondered for years if it was a gasp of horror or a gasp of hope. But in that moment, she'd had her own troubles.

  "No! Nat, you can't do that. We'll work something out, or I could go. I could go..."

  Nat looked from Akemi to their mother and back. There was pity and understanding in her eyes. "No, you couldn't," she said gently.

  It had taken Akemi four years to forgive her parents for how quickly they capitulated to Nat's sacrifice. Yes, they'd argued still, but she and Nat could tell right away that they were not as resolute as they'd been about Akemi. It wasn't that they didn't love Nat, but, when it came down to it, they were willing to lose her rather than Akemi.

  That was the first reason Akemi distrusted all aliens; because when people came into contact with them, it tended to bring out their true values. In Akemi's experience, that could be a very ugly thing.

  The second reason she distrusted aliens was more straight-forward. The Rik had killed her and harvested her brain. Enough said, right?

  Even Shara, a Rik whom Akemi genuinely enjoyed and considered a friend, she didn’t trust further than she could throw her. Akemi certainly didn't trust Sage. Even if his affection for Claire happened to be real, he wouldn't be good for her.

  Akemi sighed. If only Claire knew that there was a perfectly good guy here who was falling in love with her. Basher didn't say anything, but she'd been watching him through his computer monitor for weeks now, and the obsessive way he watched Claire's videos told its own tale. Of course, he didn't really know Claire yet, but Akemi was still girly enough to feel the potential there. And Basher was great company, if only Claire knew. But the deeper Claire got with Sage, the more likely that she would reject Basher out of hand when he eventually arrested Sage and the others. Akemi didn't see any sort of happy ending for them, unless Claire realized on her own that Sage wasn't for her. Akemi sighed again. Arranging Basher and Claire wasn’t any of her business, she should probably forget about it.

  Detaching Claire from Sage, on the other hand, was very much her business. As Claire’s friend, she had to step in now. When she was pretending to be a helpful AI in Claire’s glasses, she couldn’t do much, but that was about to change. What was the good of being a computer and seeing everybody's point of view if she wasn’t going to do anything about it?

  Hey Claire? Akemi sent.

  Do you have a minute alone? I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Akemi.

  CHAPTER 33

  “Oh.”Claire said.“Oh, dear.”She was alone in the girls’ room, lying on her bed. The words waited patiently on her glasses, and she look
ed furtively to the door. No one was nearby.

  “Akemi?” she repeated tentatively.

  Yes. It’s a long story, but I am a sixteen year old girl, and also a computer. These glasses are directly linked to my computer, and I’ve been keeping tabs on you since you took them.

  Claire wasn’t sure what explanation she expected, but that wasn’t it. She couldn’t even figure out what to question first.“You’re…You’re a computer? At the embassy?” she said stupidly.

  Yes. These glasses were going to be for Basher, but they hadn’t been calibrated yet. I’m glad you took them instead. I’ve enjoyed keeping you company these last few weeks. :-)

  “Well–uh–I sure appreciate it. I couldn’t’ve made it without all your translations and tips.”

  Claire’s brain was beginning to wake up now. How could she be sure this was the truth? It must be true that these glasses were linked to someone, but perhaps it was only Basher or one of the Spo. But then, what a strange and elaborate story for someone to create!“If you’re at the embassy, why hasn’t someone come and arrested us? Don’t you know where we are?”

  Actually I don’t know. I don’t have a positioning system through the Seltan satellites, so I can’t triangulate your position. I know you’re in Lower Selta, but that’s about it. If you’d ever gone outside that would have simplified things a lot! :-)

  Claire smiled involuntarily. Her reclusiveness had served an extra purpose then.

  But I almost forgot to tell you! Basher knows you’re human, Claire. He’d given you a blood test that he said was a vitamin supplement. That’s why you got so sick that night, and now he knows for sure that you’re human. You can come back to the embassy and be safe now. Basher would never let Faal take a true human, especially you.

  Claire felt no desire to smile now. Was this the truth? Could she believe it? Or was it some kind of ruse to make her come back to the embassy on her own? Or to make her turn on the Rik?