Chapter 2-2
2242 Words
Maybe no one noticed me.
Maybe no one noticed me.Alia stood up, smiling beatifically as she nodded to Anna. “You made it!” she said, flowing around the table like a swan on a lake, taking Anna"s hands and giving them a tight squeeze. “I"m so glad.”
“Happy to be here.”
As the sister of the bride, Anna had an empty plate only two chairs away from Alia; she would have been immediately adjacent but for the fact that she hadn"t been named as Alia"s Lenshar. The Speaker. Those who kept to the old traditions would name a speaker for the bride and another for the groom. Someone who would extol their virtues to their prospective partner.
That honour was reserved for Milli Tanas, a woman with ringlets of long black hair that framed a gorgeous face with tilted eyes and a button nose. Damn, Anna thought. Hot. She knew next to nothing about Milli, only that she and Alia had been friends throughout college. This is not going to go well; Plus-side: I get to stare at adorableness out of the corner of my eye for several hours.
Damn,Hot.This is not going to go well; Plus-side: I get to stare at adorableness out of the corner of my eye for several hours.On the other side of the table, Anna"s mother stood up.
Sierin wore beige pants and a white blouse that was half-hidden under a collection of necklaces with blue and green stones. Her hair was pulled back from a stern face. “As I was saying,” she broke in. “It"s been my honour to know you, Soral.”
That was the groom.
A handsome man with olive skin and curly black hair, he smiled at Sierin. “Well, I can say the feeling is more than mutual,” he replied. “Your family has always made me feel so very welcome.”
“You two make a lovely couple.” That came from one of Soral"s aunts. Anna didn"t know her. Several other people chimed in with agreement. And pretty soon, everybody was laughing, though Anna wasn"t paying attention.
She slipped a spoon into a glass of water, careful to not let the spoon ding against the glass. With the enhanced coordination that came from bonding a symbiont, that was easy. Keli was still on her mind, and she didn"t want to let anger get the better of her.
Anna was fiery, passionate and outspoken, but family gatherings were one of the few occasions where she preferred to remain silent. Seth felt sorry for her. She suspected the Nassai would have a few things to say when they spoke later.
“What about you, Leana?”
She flinched. “I"m sorry?”
Her aunt Mianda was directly across from her with long blonde hair pulled back in a bun, leaning over the table as if she intended to whisper a secret. “I was wondering if you would be getting married anytime soon.”
Anna looked up to blink at the woman. “Well, I…” The words came out in a strained voice. “I mean Justice Keepers don"t usually…It"s hard to meet someone who wants…”
“Leana prefers the single life,” Alia said.
One of Soral"s uncles – a heavyset man with a thick salt-and-pepper mustache and graying hair – glanced in her direction. “But it can"t be that hard,” he said. “A pretty girl like you. Surely you can find a date, at least.”
Plunking her elbow down on the table, Anna put her chin in the palm of her hand. “Well, I don"t know,” she said, her eyebrows climbing upward. “I guess it depends. You doing anything tonight, Milli?”
The raven-haired woman was blushing as she smiled into a glass of water, but she recovered quickly. “I don"t know,” she said. “Did you have something in mind?”
“I might have a few ideas,” Anna teased. “Some might involve ropes.”
“Leana!” her father snapped. “This is not the appropriate place.”
Everyone was silent after that. Well, what were they expecting? If they were going to drag her out here and grill her about her personal life, then they had better be ready for a strong dose of unfiltered Anna. She had no interest in telling these people about Bradley or Jack or anything else that kept her up at night.
Bleakness take her, she had only just gotten to a point where it didn"t feel like her world was falling apart. The only thing she really wanted was some peace and quiet. And maybe a break from nosy relatives.
justThe inability to filter herself was the reason she preferred to remain silent at these family gatherings. She wasn"t entirely sure what her father expected of her – what words would make him happy if they emerged from her mouth – but she knew that her attempts to figure it out had never been successful.
“Well,” her mother said. “Where were we…”
Anna let them talk; there wasn"t much she could contribute to the conversation in any event. Discussions about someone trying to start a war between Leyria and Antaur didn"t exactly make for good dinner conversation. Nor was she willing to talk about what was really on her mind.
Her blood still boiled every time she thought about what Keli had done on that ship. It had gotten to the point where Seth tried to soothe her whenever those thoughts cropped up. Sometimes, she felt sorry for her Nassai.
Maybe ten minutes went by without anyone sparing her a second glance, and she ate a dish of green beans, sauteed mushrooms and noodles. Maximum yumminess – no doubt about that. At least she could have a quiet dinner. In a couple weeks, this wedding business would be over, and she could get back to-
Someone touched her hand.
A glance to her left revealed Milli turned toward her with a great big smile on her face, light sparkling in the woman"s eyes. “So, you"re pretty funny,” she said. “I have to admit, I admire people who can speak their minds.”
Covering her mouth with the tips of her fingers, Anna shut her eyes. Her face was on fire, but she didn"t mind. “It"s something of a necessity around here,” she whispered. “But I hope I didn"t make you uncomfortable.”
“Not at all.”
“Well, that"s a plus.”
Surveying the table, she found that her mother was eagerly engaged in conversation with one of Soral"s older cousins, and someone at the other end of the table was laughing hard enough to drown out most of everything else.
Anna turned to Milli.
“So,” she began. “What are you up to tonight?”
The hallway was very plain: gray walls, dark floor-tiles, lights in the ceiling that had been designed to simulate natural sunlight. A vital component of maintaining health and well-being in those who worked in space. He wasn"t sure what it was that compelled him to visit Station Twelve.
He just knew he had to come.
Jack walked through the hallway in jeans and a brown coat, his face twisting as he drifted through his memories of this place. “I"m an i***t, Summer,” he whispered. “Some things should stay in the past.”
He approached a set of double doors.
Pressing his palm against the hand-scanner, he waited for the machine to verify his identity. A moment later, it beeped a confirmation, and Jack felt a brief moment of panic. Coming to this place had been a bad idea. What was the use in stirring up old feelings? In opening old wounds. Somehow, he couldn"t help himself. He was like some dumb kid in a horror movie. Of course, the monster was right behind you! Turning around would only provoke it! And yet, even knowing that, he had to look anyway.
The doors slid apart, granting him access to a large room with bare gray walls that looked as if they hadn"t seen a flicker of light in over six months. As if no one wanted to set foot in this room.
A desk with a surface of gleaming SmartGlass was also devoid of any sign that it had once belonged to a human being. But that was how Jena would have wanted it. She hadn"t bothered to decorate the office when she was alive; it made no sense to do so now that she was gone.
He stepped inside.
Biting his lip, Jack looked down at the floor. “So, how"s by you?” he asked, deep creases lining his brow. “Not so bad, myself. Been hunting down Keepers who sold their souls to Slade.”
The empty room had nothing to say.
“You"d be proud of me.”
Being in this office reminded him of all the conversations, all the arguments, all the moments of humour or companionship. It was like some angry god was determined to fill his mind with memories, a punishment for his failure to let the dead rest.
That first encounter where Jena had grilled him about his decision to defy Breslan"s orders and arrest Nicolae Petrov. The way it felt to be so impressed with this woman who just didn"t have one f**k to give about the waves she made.
Closing his eyes, Jack felt warm tears on his cheeks. His body began to tremble as he sobbed. “Damn it, Jen, why"d you have to do it? If anybody was going to throw their life away for the cause…”
He sank to his knees, pressing the heels of his hands to his eye-sockets. “It should have been me.” The words came out as a squeak. “God damn it all! It should have been me in that room!”
The rest of the team needed Jena; she"d had a vision, a way of countering whatever brand of depraved bullshit Slade threw at them. But what had Jack Hunter done to live up to her legacy? Arrest a woman who got herself killed in an escape attempt? Not much of a contribution. Harry had been the one to foil that escape attempt, and he paid for it with a bullet to the chest.
Blaming himself was pointless; he knew that. But he missed Jena. She was like the wise old aunt he"d never had.
“Jack?”
Coming to his senses, he noticed a figure behind him, a woman who stood in the doorway with one fist on her hip. Tall and slim, Larani wore a pair of black slacks and a matching t-shirt. “Are you all right?”
“I"m sorry,” he grunted. “I"ll make with the professionalism.”
“That"s not what I mean.”
He got up with some effort and turned around; the last thing he wanted to do was face his boss in this state of mind, but hey! The universe hated him, and it went out of its way to engineer coincidences that made life just a little more difficult. It was all part of the God Almighty Dissatisfaction Guarantee.
Jack looked up at her with tears on his face, trying his best to maintain some level of composure. “I"m all right,” he said, nodding. “Being here just brings back memories; that"s all.”
A frown tightened Larani"s mouth, and she turned her head to look at the wall. “I miss her too,” she said softly. “I"ve come here three times since we arrived, hoping to feel some kind of connection.”
“Were you close?”
“Not as close as I would have liked.”
To his surprise, Larani spread her arms for a hug – Jack had never really thought of her as a hugger – and without even thinking, he stepped into her embrace. Whatever tiny bit of restraint he had managed up to this point shattered, and Jack found himself crying. He missed Jena.
Larani put a hand on the back of his head, pulling him close until he buried his nose in her shoulder. “It"s all right,” she whispered. “We"ll get by. We always do.”
Pulling away from her, Jack grunted.
He winced and then rubbed his nose with the back of his hand. “Thank you.” His voice was hoarse, strained. “I shouldn"t have come here. I just…Like you said; I wanted a connection.”
A blush painted Larani"s face red, and she bowed her head to stare down at her feet. “I know how you feel,” she said. “But I read your report a few hours ago. You and Agent Seyrus are to be commended.”
“Thank you.”
Suddenly, the idea that had compelled him to prematurely end his “date” with Cassi was there in his mind. “But there"s something I want to look into. I think there might be a way to figure out just how much damage Isara has done.”
“Oh?” Larani said. “What did you have in mind?”
“Come with me. I"ll show you.”
- Writer
