Opheliac (9 page)

Alona grabbed both of Tait's hands, gently. “I'm glad you made it.”

“Of course,” Tait said.

“Were you followed?”

“No,” Payton said.

Alona shifted her gaze to him. “I hope so.” She exhaled slowly. “Because your position has been compromised.”

Blinking, Tait stepped back, pinning herself against the narrow walls of the hallway. “What do you mean our position has been compromised? We've been careful. No one is watching us or following us, either.”

“Alturans will not watch you the same way a human will,” Alona said, her voice so quiet it was eerie. Despite being only three years older, she had a wisdom that often made her seem older. At that moment in time, Alona appeared her age, and she might have actually been afraid. The way her hands started to shake suggested as much, but when Tait risked looking into the woman's eyes she saw them narrowed and piercing with anger.

“We were careful,” Payton said quickly. “I swear, we didn't do anything—”

Alona let go of Tait and petted Payton's shoulder. “Oh, I know. My rage is not directed toward you. Remember, we're family. I'll be by your side no matter what happens. I'm furious with Alanmendiquixanimackle. He's the one who's ruining everything we're working toward. All because he has a personal vendetta against me. I will not let him get away with this, or what he's doing to you. Believe me, you will be avenged.”

“What do you mean, what he's doing to us? Is he just watching us, or…” Tait frowned, her stomach beginning to knot with fear.

“He is taking away part of who you are, your memories,” Alona said.

Payton shook his head. “What? No way.”

“Yes.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “Drone, you may join us now.”

Tait was about to ask what was going on when a young man stepped out of one of the dressing rooms. The most she could make out of his appearance was that he had dark hair and was tall and lean. He had to be close to her age, but he also could have been a few years older. A black mask rested over his eyes, causing a distortion to the rest of his physical features.

A small growl escaped from her lips. Tait hadn't meant to express her displeasure so obviously, but she couldn't help it. “Who is he, and why is he invading on
our
time?”

“Drone,” the young man said, bowing grandly in front of her. “Let me guess, you're Sprout and this is your charming twin brother, Bean.”

“I see,” Tait said, folding her arms in front of her. She glared at Alona. “You promised everything about us would stay a secret unless
we
told you otherwise.”

Drone laughed. “She didn't tell me anything. All of that information is downloaded onto my handy dandy hard drive.” He tapped the side of his head. “And the reason I got it is because the Rosalotuve have it, along with just about every other detail of your life.”

“H-how…” Payton gasped.

“It's this device called the Ilotus. They retrieved it from a facility up north not too long ago. Chihuahua Man and his comrades found out your real identity, marked you, and then decided you'd make a great guinea pig for figuring out how the technology works.”

Tait pursed her lips. “And you know all of this
how?
”

“Because they're the tribe I'm aligned with.” Drone folded his arms in front of him.

“So we should trust you
why
? What's that phrase? Once a traitor, always a traitor.”

“Then I'm a traitor,” he stated. Then he lifted his mask off his face. All of the blurry details from before were now clean and crisp. She could see that this…Drone…guy was in his later teens and only slightly older than she. His short dark hair was tousled about on his head, as if he had forgotten to brush his hair before he came. True to her first impression, lean muscle gave a strong, sturdy appearance to his otherwise thin frame. Dark eyes gazed back at her.

Unsure of what to make of his bold move, Tait tightened her posture, needing the confidence as well as the control. “I don't get it. Care to elaborate on all of this?”

“Drone holds ideas similar to our desires rather than those of the tribe who tapped him for use. Not to mention the way they sold him off to be experimented on by his own government,” Alona said.

The young man bristled. “Fond memories, let me tell you. The red tribe is hoping to keep everything hush-hush, to get off this planet and basically leave us to clean up the mess. To continue to preserve the norm without actually doing any work to do so. The government has made a deal with them. If the red tribe shares their technology, then the government will conveniently step out of the way to let them accomplish their goals. But meanwhile, they want me to spy and take notes for them so they can more or less plan their own counterattack.”

“Sounds messy,” Payton said. “And confusing.”

“How do you think I feel? I'm the one caught in the middle of the whole thing,” Drone said. “And that's a problem for me. I don't much like to be in the middle. So I've decided to take control of the situation and that's why I'm helping you. Don't get me wrong—we're not on the same side, not entirely. I'm team Earth, and you all seem to be the closest to that for the time being. You're pushing change, but at least you're not ditching us after you do it. All your tribe wants to do is pay its debt and then get out. Am I wrong?”

Alona shook her head. “No, you aren't. You have the basic understanding of our goals. The Rosalotuve does not see our efforts as such, of course. All they see is murder and forcing our ways onto the people of Earth. Those are the goals of the Gelandrosimbol, not us.”

Tait still was unconvinced that this guy deserved her trust. The only reason she wasn't lashing out was because Alona seemed to deem him worthy of their attention. She trusted her leader, her sister. There was a reason she sought his aid.

“So why are you here?” Tait asked. There was no point in hiding her displeasure over the situation. At the most, she could attempt to be civil—keyword being
attempt
. Drone rubbed her the wrong way right off the bat. Probably because he was so arrogant. Taking off his mask as if he didn't care about being known? Did the guy have a death wish? Because exposing himself to everyone he met was a good way to make enemies.

Drone laughed. “I'm here because my real boss failed to obtain the Ilotus. I guess you could say I'm part of the contingency plan. You want your memories back, right? This way, you get them back, I get what I want, and we make a dent in our enemies' plans. Everyone wins, well, everyone we want to, I should say.”

“They seriously have our memories?” Payton asked. “How can we have not noticed this? I've felt fine. Tired, but fine.”

“I've been tired as well, and there have been a few gaps in my memory, but not too many,” Tait added.
At least, I don't think there have been too many gaps.
“I figured it was just because I wasn't sleeping well lately.”

Quietly, Alona walked over to her and wrapped her arms around her. “Believe me, I will not let them get away with this. If Drone hadn't come to me with the information, it would have taken much longer for us to find out.”

Tait nodded, but she made sure to keep her gaze stern and narrowed.
I still don't trust him.
And she hoped Alona got the message. “So what do you propose we do to get them back? It sounds a lot more complicated than it needs to be.”

“Yes and no,” Drone said. “The red tribe is going to come back for you to finish up the job. All they need to do is find the right time. When they take you, I'll be going with you. On their ship, I'll steal the Ilotus and then work on figuring out how it runs so we can give you back all of those things you lost.”

“What do you get in return?” Payton asked.

“The satisfaction of revenge. I've kind of got a list. It'll be nice to cross off a few names from it.” There was a slight glimmer in his dark eyes and the smallest hint of a smile. Right then and there, Tait knew he was dangerous. No one did anything for free. Revenge didn't seem like a strong enough motivator, but if that was his true reason then the guy had a lot of issues.

Swallowing back her discomfort, Tait straightened her posture. “Got it. I'm not quite sure how I feel about all of this, but fine. Anything else we need to discuss? Is this all we're doing tonight?”

“There's more,” Alona said. “I have the suspicion that there is a leak in our group. A number of our missions have been compromised. It seems too many to be a coincidence. Figuring out who it is will be tricky. Along with that, I've learned that some of the experimented teens who used to be under our employment are being used by the Rosalotuve. Back home, we would simply make an example of them and be done with it. Earth is much more complicated.”

“Yeah, killing teenagers is generally frowned upon here,” Drone said. “For now, the law is compliant with things happening in the Alturan war. The experimented teens who aren't surviving the drug injection are already pushing the limits.”

Payton gasped. “They know? I mean, the police and stuff know about what we're doing?”

“To a point,” Drone said, gazing his way. “There are certain heads of departments who know about the Alturans being here. The other tribes have been trying to work cohesively with these people to try and find the best angle to get the war not only
off
Earth, but to leave things as unchanged as possible. I don't think telling the parents of these kids that their loved ones have been murdered by aliens would go over all too well.”

“Nope,” Tait said.

Drone nodded. “So there you go. Right now, there's a good coverup, but only with the promise that the aliens are going to leave, and soon. In a normal war, traitors would be killed or tortured or both. If the kids who are changing sides were to be hurt in any way, alliances on Earth would get broken. Bad idea. We might be inferior humans, but we could still kick some Alturan butt.”

A quiet scoff left Alona's lips and she smirked, clearly not threatened. “The last planet we fought on tried to fight back. It was all but decimated.”

“The last planet you fought on had primitive people,” Drone snapped. “Don't underestimate us. You'll regret it.”

Payton stepped forward. “Don't threaten her, or
you'll
regret it.”

For a moment, Drone glared at him, his fists clenched. Then his expression softened and he laughed. “Wow…things just got interesting.”

Tait moved herself between the two young men, putting a hand on her brother's chest to push him back. “There's no point in fighting right now.”

“She is right,” Alona said. “I apologize for insulting your ego.” Tait knew she was holding back a snide comment about men having too much pride. If she'd been with anyone from their team, Alona wouldn't have bothered to hold back. They must have really needed Drone's help.

Clearing her throat, Alona continued. “We are grateful for you bringing all of these things to our attention. I'm sure you understand why we don't trust you, but at the same time we will take your assistance. The enemy of our enemy is our friend, is that not the saying you have here? As far as I'm concerned, for this particular task, we are allies. We will help you with your mission, but should you try to betray us as well, just know that we have our own contingency plans in place. You will be quite sorry.”

Drone laughed. “I don't have a reason to betray you. The green tribe is another story. Helping you helps me bring them down.”

“Revenge,” Tait murmured.

“I'll be in touch,” he said. “One to three days before they take you back, I will contact you. Until then, try to lay low. Just a suggestion.”

JD dropped Cadence back off at her apartment. She'd said she wanted to talk, yet none of the words she wanted to say would come out. Because talking was her idea, the responsibility of starting the conversation was on her shoulders.
Why am I so afraid to tell him what's on my mind? This is JD. We're supposed to be best friends.

Taking in a deep breath, she kept her gaze locked on her building. “I miss you.” That seemed like the best place to start.

“I miss you too,” he said. He reached his hand out to grab hers, but she pulled away, not ready for that kind of contact. Sighing heavily, he rested his hand on the emergency brake instead.

“Part of why I broke up with you isn't just because you couldn't tell me you loved me,” she whispered. “That was a big part of it. At the same time, I know it's unfair to punish you for my insecurities. A good girlfriend, or whatever I was to you—”

“Girlfriend,” he said stiffly.

Please don't make this so hard on me.
She closed her eyes. “A good girlfriend would have communicated her problems right away. Everything about our relationship was wrong.”

“No it wasn't,” he mumbled. “I love you. How can everything about it be wrong if I feel that way?”

“Because I'm not sure I reciprocate it the same way,” she whispered. She risked glancing his way.

With wide eyes and a slack jaw, he shook his head. “Now you're just saying stuff to keep me away from you.”

“Maybe,” she admitted. “At the time, I thought how much I loved you. You're my best friend, or you were.”

“I am! I am!” he insisted.

She waved her hand in front of her. “The point I'm trying to make is, the feelings I have for you are a lot more complicated than I thought. When we first got together, everything was fine. Outside of us moving so fast, I mean. I was so scared of losing you again. You almost died, and it propelled me forward in a totally different way. The idea of not having you in my life was terrifying.”

“You've told me this before,” he said quietly.

“But not the rest of this. I mistook those feelings of fear, and turned them into something they weren't. In the process, I became one of those horrible, clingy, ditzy girls I hate so much.”

He shrugged. “You were never horrible and clingy. Ditzy wouldn't have been anything new for you either. I mean, that's how you were before all of this Altura stuff happened.”

Cadence glared at him. “You're not helping.”

“I'm just saying, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself for it. Maybe being a ditz, sometimes, is part of your natural, sparkling personality.”

“Kind of like being a jerk is part of yours?”

He shrugged. “Whatever.”

“Ugh, I shouldn't have even bothered.” She moved to get out of the car. JD grabbed hold of her arm, stopping her.

“Wait,” he said. “I'm sorry. I'll listen better. So you were one of those horrible, clingy, ditzy girls you hate.”

With a great deal of hesitance, Cadence sat back in her seat and gazed at him. “Yes, and the more I thought about us, the more insecure I became. I did all of those things I chide you about and was just like all of your other exes and flings. When I realized I wasn't any different, I panicked. I want to be different to you. Not the same.”

“You already are,” he said. “The things I feel for you are a lot stronger than anything I felt for any of them.”

“But your heart changes its mind like the wind changes directions. It's constant.”

“The wind may change which way it blows, but it does always blow,” he said in a soft voice. “Like, you mention degrees of love or whatever. My feelings for you have always been constant. You're the only stable friend I've ever had in my life. That's not going to go away.”

She lowered her gaze. “Even if I said I don't think I love you romantically, right now?”

“You don't love me romantically, or you don't love how being romantic with me makes you vulnerable?” he snapped.

Both
. “Right now, I just want my best friend back. No pressure to repair things on that level again. We can just focus on being friends, so we can get comfortable with one another again. Because right now, all I think about when I think about you is how insecure I am. I told myself I wouldn't be desperate or insecure when I fell in love. To me, those things aren't love. I've doubted myself enough in my life. The last thing I want to do is doubt myself whenever I'm with you. That's all I did. I doubted if you loved me, doubted if I was doing enough to keep you interested in me, doubted if you were going to stay like you promised you would. Then I wondered how many other girls you said that kind of stuff to.”

He took in a deep breath, and she knew she'd upset him. While his face didn't express much, his clenching his fists betrayed his emotions. “This isn't my fault.”

“I didn't say it was.”

“Then stop making it sound like it is. I can't help that you have all of these issues in your head.”

Cadence stiffened. “Don't talk to me like I'm crazy.”

“I said you had issues, not that you were crazy. Overactive imagination, much? Chill out.” He glared at her. “Look, I get that you weren't feeling secure. No, I probably didn't help with it. Don't vilify me. We both messed up. I got so caught up with the fact that you actually wanted to be with me, I thought everything was fine. When it was just us, you acted like everything was fine.”

“When it was just us, everything was,” she mumbled.

“You should have told me it wasn't when we were apart.”

“I should have.” She sighed. “It all went too fast.”

He nodded, which surprised her. She didn't expect him to agree with her. JD closed his eyes for a brief moment. “I'm out of ideas on how to show you I'm sorry and that I still…I still love you…”

“Because I need space.”

“The space makes me feel like I'm suffocating. You being gone is driving me crazy.”

“I know…”

Flashing her a weak smile, JD shrugged. “So I'll try it your way. We'll be…just friends…even if it kills me.”

She mustered up a chuckle. “Hopefully, it doesn't come to that.”

“Nearly dying brought you closer to me once. Maybe it will again.” He winked. “Kidding! In all seriousness, we will be only friends. We'll try to go back to normal. No matter what happens. Just do one thing for me.”

“What's that?”

He chewed on his bottom lip. “Tell me if there's absolutely no chance that you'll ever take me back so I can work on getting over you. Because until you say it, I'm never letting go.”

“So long as you're not just being my friend for an agenda.”

“No, I'm not. Even if you don't take me back, I'll still be here. It's going to take a lot to get rid of me.” He gave her a childish grin.

For the first time since they started dating, things actually resembled something normal between them. Cadence thought about nudging him. Instead she just laughed, albeit quietly, and opened the car door.

“Thank you,” she said. “I'll…see you later.”

“See ya.” He waved.

She got out of the car. Normally, JD would have walked her up to her unit. Tonight, she was glad to have him stay in the car. He must have known that she didn't want the noble gesture. Not like there was much for her to be afraid of anyway. Despite living in the poorer area of town, her neighbors were respectful for the most part. In all of her life, there had only been two incidents dramatic enough to cause concern. If anyone tried to hurt her, she had mace in her purse, and she always walked with her keys spread between her fingers. She was fine. She didn't need his protection. It had just been nice to have, once upon a time. Space from him was still something she relished. A big thing had been accomplished between them. He agreed to back off.

Maybe now we can go back to normal and pretend none of this ever happened.
Easier said than done, of course. At night, when she was home alone, she remembered the times he had stayed with her, letting her curl up in his arms. The pain of their separation hurt the most then. He now knew her in ways no one else did—in some cases, even better than she knew herself. Getting past giving so much to him would take some time to get over. Not only did she feel stupid, but she did miss the bond they shared. In the future, she knew better than to treat it all so lightly. She hadn't expected it to be so strong.

When she unlocked the door, she found her mother in the living room. “I thought you had work,” Cadence said as she hung up her purse and took off her coat.

“I did.”

“I thought you were supposed to be working all night.”

“I got cut early,” her mother said. “They're trying to stop me from getting too much overtime. Now that the staffing situation is getting better, my boss is trying to give me some more normal hours. Are you complaining? Should I have stayed out later? Did I ruin any big plans?”

Cadence shook her head. “No, you didn't ruin anything. I'm glad you're home.” A hug from her mother was exactly what she needed. As soon as she was done putting her things away, she went over to the couch and wrapped her arms around her.

Her mother reciprocated, smiling. “Everything okay, honey?”

“It's getting better,” she said honestly. “Just got done hanging with JD.”

“You two make up?”

“Not exactly. We're civil and he's okay with just being my friend,” she mumbled.

Raising one of her eyebrows, her mother gazed down at her. “You're okay with this, right?”

Cadence nodded. “I'm the one who suggested it.”

“I figured as much, given the love notes he mailed to the house and how often he called. It's just…”

“Hmm?” She was desperate for whatever insight and advice her mother could provide. If anyone knew the answer, it would be her.

Offering a small smile, her mother stroked Cadence's hair. “You just can't go back. That's all. You might need to accept that your relationship is going to be changed forever.”

“We'll be fine. I don't see why we can't be best friends again.”
Once again, Mom has to be a downer.

“I'm sure you will,” her mother said. There was a slight tension in her tone. Whatever it was her mom wanted her to understand, she wasn't picking up on it.

It might be one of those things I need to learn through experience.
Time would only tell how things evolved between her and JD. The transition could be brief, or it could take a long time. Some of his ex-girlfriends got over everything quickly. They didn't so much as bat an eye at him or his quirky humor. If they could do it, so could she.
And I'm not going to let this keep distracting me from my work. Guys just aren't worth all of the stress.