Chrystal Bones (Finding Home Book 1) (15 page)

Note to self, the big guy doesn't like to be called huffy,
she thought with amusement.

"You both need to calm down,” Idris said.

Jayden and Blue turned and said at the same time, "Stay out of it!" Then went back to glaring at each other.

"I didn't know I was going to go visit the friendly, dancing aliens. If I had any warning I would have told you,” then she spoiled it by muttering, "Maybe."

Of course he pounced on that word, "Maybe, maybe you would have told me. Princess I am responsible for the safety of everyone on board this ship and that includes you. You will tell me when you plan on going anywhere with or without your body!"

"You are not the boss of me, you, you dictator!" Blue exclaimed just as furious as Jayden.

"I may not be the boss of you but this is my ship and you will do as I say!"

"Then I'll get my own ship,” she shot back.

Jayden lost what little control he had left. He grabbed her by the arms and pulled her up into his arms. He brought his lips crashing down on hers. His tongue demanded entrance and when she parted her lips he swept in and claimed her mouth for his own. Blue had a moment of shock before she was kissing him back with a hunger that matched his.

They were lost in each other when she heard the muffled laughter. Pushing out of his arms she jumped back, putting several feet between them. She touched her swollen, tingling lips and stared at him dumfounded. What had just happened?

One minute they were arguing like six year olds and the next they were locked in a passionate kiss. She did not do things like this. She had never even kissed a man before. She had never wanted to. Oh boy, she sooo didn't need this right now. With effort she pushed the kiss out of her head. She would think about it later. She replayed the shouting match and and felt like an idiot.

Looking around at the others she saw Sparks was the one who had laughed. When she looked at him he gave up trying to hold it in and burst into loud laughter. His brother Jos joined him. Idris, and Vihan stared at them in shock. Dro was his usual placid self but she saw the twinkle in his eyes. Leo just looked at her. He had heard her and Riley get into a shouting match a time or two but they certainly didn't end up kissing and she was surprised he hadn't attacked Jayden.

Jayden could not believe he had lost control like that. He had kissed her in full view of his men. And one of them was her brother. Idris was going to beat him to a pulp and he might just let him. What had he been thinking? He had not been that is what. At least he had not been thinking with his brain. This woman shredded his careful control.

He had sat and watched as she lay so still on the floor with that damn tiger guarding her. He had wanted to take her in his arms and keep her safe himself. For twelve long hours he had been unable to do anything but sit and watch her. He had hated feeling so helpless.

When she had sat up acting like nothing had happened he had reacted without thinking. Now she was looking everywhere but at him. He remembered her last statement before he kissed her. He gave her a predatory smile. Get her own ship would she? He chuckled and asked her, "How do you plan on getting your own ship?"

She glared at him and didn't answer. Only now noticing that while she and Jayden had argued the anomaly had closed and they were in a space blacker than the darkest night. “Where are we?” she asked changing the subject.

"This is the dead zone,” Sparks told her. “That is all it is known by. Unfortunately it is going to take us about two months to get back to occupied space."

Two months stuck on a ship with Jayden. This was bound to get interesting. Maybe she could avoid him.

Blue spent the next week familiarizing herself with the computers with help from Dro. She managed to avoid Jayden for much of that time. She wasn't ready to face her feelings for him. Especially after the kiss she couldn't stop thinking about. Idris? Well, she still didn't know how she felt about him. They were making the effort to get to know each other. Sometimes it was painful. She could feel and see his frustration. He had told her a lot about Shillidon and the chrystals. Hoping to jog her memories he had also told her about their parents. No matter how hard she tried she could not bring their faces to mind.

Right this minute she was on a mission. For days she had been feeling a slight vibration in the ship and she was beginning to wonder if something was wrong. She spent her days with each of the men learning all she could about every system, and her nights studying tech manuals. Thank goodness she had an excellent memory because the systems were light years ahead of anything on Earth.

Maybe it was because of her early years playing around with the same type of technology, but she was picking up on things much faster than she had expected to. She was going to spend the day in the engine room with Jos. She was really looking forward to getting her hands dirty.

As soon as Blue entered the room she felt the vibration and heard a high pitched scream. She covered her ears with her hands. “What is that noise?" she asked. Jos looked around and heard nothing unusual.

"I do not know what you are talking about. Everything is running normal."

“You really don’t hear that high pitch scream?” she asked walking over to a complicated arrangement of equipment.

Her hand reached out to the chrystal placed in the middle. It was a soft glowing pink and she would swear it was in pain. Before she could touch it Jos grabbed her hand, "Don't touch. The shield around it will send a shock through your system,” he said.

"But it's hurt. You have to let me touch it." She didn't know why she was so certain that she needed to hold it but she was. Jos gave her a long considering look before shutting off the shield. As soon as it was down Blue cupped the chrystal in her hands, "What does it do?"

"It's the chrystal that powers our environmental systems,” he said. She sent a trickle of her energy through her hands to the chrystal and it lit up for a couple of seconds. When it settled down the air smelled crisper and there was a little less noise and vibration. She had the whimsical thought that it was happy now. But that was ridiculous wasn't it?

Jos was busy checking his instruments. He shook his head at what he was seeing. "What did you do?" he asked her.

“I don't know?" she answered truthfully.

"Whatever it was, it is now working two hundred percent better than it was." With a thoughtful glance at her, he walked over to a hidden panel, opened it and removed a dull jagged grey chrystal the size of a basketball. The call from the chrystal was so strong it was all Blue could do not to snatch it out of his hands. Something of what she was feeling must have shown on her face because Jos hurried to her and placed it in her hands.

She almost dropped it. The pain rippling off the chrystal was crippling. She went to her knees under the weight and without thinking she pushed waves of her energy into the chrystal. Before long both she and the chrystal were engulfed in a soft blue light. Jos spoke into his com unit. "Jayden and Idris you need to come to the engine room right away,” Never taking his eyes off of Blue.

Jayden and Idris walked in to see Blue sitting on the floor holding a large ice blue chrystal in her hands. "Where did you get the ice?” Jayden asked. "I thought we didn't have anymore that size."

"We don't. That is the one damaged in the attack. The one we all thought was dead or almost dead,” Jos said.

“How?" Idris asked.

"I don't know. She just held it." Blue showed no signs of knowing that they were there.

Jayden went to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Blue, come on sweetheart answer me."

Blue slowly looked at him through dazed eyes, "What, What happened?"

"I was hoping you could answer that,” he said taking the chrystal from her and handing it to Idris.

"I don't really know what happened. I just needed to hold it. Something was wrong with it. I fixed it. I don't know how but I did." She knew she was rambling but couldn’t stop the words from coming. She tried to stand only to stumble unsteadily. Jayden put a hand under her elbow to help steady her. "I'm tired,” she said. Then she collapsed.

He caught her before she could fall to the floor. Cradling her in his arms he told Idris, "Have Dro meet me in medical. You stay here and find out what happen to that chrystal. I will let you know if it is something serious.”

Dro ran the scanner over Blue and after looking at the readings told Jayden.
"She is in a deep sleep. There is nothing wrong with her but exhaustion. She will be fine when she wakes up
.” Jayden let out a breath of relief. He had only known her for a week and already she was vital to him.

The door slid open and Leo sauntered in. He went to Blue, sniffed her then sat down next to the bed. Jos had fixed it so he could roam the ship at will and he had spent the week exploring every nook and cranny along with Blue.

The big cat had a weird sense of humor and one of his favorite pastimes was what Blue called stalking. He would follow one of them around and sneaking up behind them would let out a loud roar. Startling whoever had been his prey. His favorite target was Sparks.

Sparks was now looking around every corner and under consoles and still the tiger managed to get him every time. Jayden fully expected him to be a nervous wreck by the time the voyage ended.
"What happened?"
Dro asked Jayden.

"That's what I am about to find out,” with one last look at Blue he left the room.

Jayden found Jos and Idris running tests on the big chrystal. Idris said without looking up, "This Ice was severely damaged and was headed for the graveyard. Now it is better than when it had just been cut out of the ground." He looked at Jayden with excitement. "She can really do it. She can bring dead chrystals back to life. Not only that but she can make them more powerful than any chrystal I have worked with in my life."

"So, your legend is true,” Jayden said thoughtfully. "She basically collapsed after fixing one chrystal what is going to happen to her when she tries to fix a planet?"

“It will probably kill her,
” Dro stated from the doorway.

Chrystal Bones Billie Jo Hanlin

Chapter 15

"What do you mean, kill her?" Jayden asked in alarm.

"I ran a few more scans after you left,” Dro told him. "The results were strange. Her statistics do not match that of a Shillidonion. Her brain shows so much activity that the scanners cannot keep up with what is happening. And her blood is like nothing I have ever seen."

"But you think she is dying,” Idris said.

"I do not know Idris. I should not have said that. But I have never in all my five hundred and sixty seven years seen anything like this. It is as if her body is burning itself out."

Idris walked out of the room and straight to medical. He found his sister sleeping peacefully. No sign that anything was wrong. Did he doom her to death if he brought her home? Was he willing to trade her life for his planet’s? He did not know the answers but he was very much afraid that he would do just that. One life, no matter how precious to him, weighed against a whole planet full of lives. He reached out to hold one of her hands in his.

Such small delicate hands to hold the life of so many in them. He knew without asking that she would be willing to sacrifice her life if needed. He had enjoyed getting to know this adult version of his sister. She was a remarkable woman for someone so young. Though she rarely smiled and he had never heard her laugh; she had a wicked sense of humor. He really did believed she was behind Leo's stalking all of them. No matter that she claimed it was just his nature.

One thing that had not changed from child to woman was she was still one of the smartest persons he knew. She had only been onboard for a week and already she was proficient on the computers and had gone beyond basic piloting skills in the simulator. Give her another month and he bet she would be almost as good as Jayden and himself.

The only thing that really bothered him was she never touched anyone and made sure to stay out of anyone’s reach unless it was unavoidable. Even a casual brush of hands was avoided. Except for that kiss she had shared with Jayden. He still was not sure how he felt about that. His best friend and his sister, together. He did not see how that could happen.

As if thinking of him made him appear Idris felt Jayden come to stand next to him. He said nothing and they both just looked down at the sleeping woman. After a few minutes of silence Idris asked, "Am I taking her home to die?”

"We won't let that happen,” Jayden said like that was all that needed to be said to make it so. He probably thought it was. They were all pretty arrogant. They had to be to do what they did. But Jayden did always seem to be right so Idris would cling to that. He placed a soft kiss to her forehead and left the room.

Jayden stayed for another few minutes then he too left, but not before saying to Leo, "You watch out for her."

Blue woke feeling like she had run a marathon with a fifty pound pack on her back. Her head was pounding and her skin felt hot and itchy. What had happened? Looking around she saw she was in the medical room and could not remember how she had gotten here. The almost silent swish of the door opening sounded like a gunshot to her aching head. She looked up to see Dro coming towards her.

"How are you feeling?"

She winced in pain, his voice echoing in her mind. The effort to speak aloud was beyond her at the moment so she answered him mentally.

"I'm fine,”
she said automatically. She had learned early to show no weakness. It didn’t matter if the men on this ship turned out to be friends or not.

"You are not fine young miss. You were asleep for several hours but go ahead and pretend you are if it makes you feel better,”
he said running a scanner over her.
"I can give you something for the headache if you want."

"It will go away on its own in a few minutes."
She was already feeling better and hopped off the table.