Marco placed a comm on Carmelo’s and waited for the click.

“Yes?”

“Mr. Carmelo? It’s nice of you to invite me over.”

“I’ll send some cars.”

Click

Marco turned to Isaias and nodded. “Assuming he got the message….”

“He did,” said Isaias.

“Then we can expect a car in about thirty minutes taking into account that his compound is on the other side of Arco Iris.”

“I’m assuming he’s sending more than one since he has no idea which visitor space we are in?” asked Isaias crossing his arms.

“If he’s as smart as you say he is then yes,” said Marco wanting to brush against the agitated male in comfort. All he could do was brush his fingers along Isaias’s arm to calm him. Isaias did calm, taking his gesture for what it was. He brushed his fingers across Marco’s fingers in thanks and uncrossed his arms before walking to the med room where Zen had awoken in a daze.

“Have we landed?” she groaned as Kiera helped her sit up on the med bed.

“Yeah, Marco called Carmelo and he’s sent some cars but he had to be vague so it'll take a while,” said Isaias as Kiera applied a patch on the wound and nodded.

“The stitches will have to be taken off by some personnel. They aren’t biodegradable but the staples are. You should be fine as long as you don’t overexert yourself. Infections are still a possibility so get plenty of rest,” she said, piercing Zen and Isaias with her stare.

“I’ll make sure of it,” said Isaias gulping and Kiera nodded.

“I have some painkillers but they are very addictive. Take one only if absolutely necessary,” she said brandishing the bottle of pills and handing them to Zen who stored them in her dimensional pocket.

“Don’t worry Kiera I won’t abuse them. I can take a bit of pain,” she said as she slowly edged off the med bed with Isaias’s help. Marco watched the twins turn from the room, to find his sister sketching on a sofa. Smiling he walked to her and peeked at what she was drawing. A battlefield. A very realistic rendition with two sides clashing and men dying on either side. Lots of dead bodies and a shiny figure covered in water in the center, hand outstretched. He frowned. She was too young to have seen a battlefield unless…

“I haven’t seen one thanks to Stephan but he’s seen loads. He doesn’t sleep,” she said.

“He looks fine?” said Marco.

Edline looked him dead in the eye. “You shouldn’t have run Marco not without us. You should apologize at least.”

“Edline…”

“You don’t understand! Who do you think got that An Shrank mission you left behind?”

Marco’s eyes widened and his arms wrapped around Edline’s shoulders. Of course, she saw the battlefield through her thoughts. “Edline I’m so sorry!”

Edline shrugged him off. “I’m not the one you should be begging forgiveness to. I didn’t take the mission, Marco. Stephan did and he hurt afterward right here and here,” she said pointing to her head and heart.

“But he can’t read thoughts...how…” Then horror widened his eyes and he gazed at Edline. “You say his head hurt?”

Edline nodded. “The worst headache. Momma was afraid he’d die before she got the information from him and sent the healers to him for once.”

“He did something dangerous,” he said.

“Yup, to save me. You need to apologize to him, not me.”

Marco wasn’t sure if Stephan would want his apologies. After the brain hemorrhage, he surely must have given himself, he also had to live with the execution of thousands of lives maybe more if his mother used him as she used Marco. It could have been prevented if I had taken them with me but I panicked and this is the result.

He sighed and kneeled to Edline’s height with a beautiful necklace of a butterfly in flight, swinging off a gold chain. It was his reason for coming to see his sister. He showed her the piece and she gasped.

“It’s beautiful,” she squealed, touching a golden wing and tracing the swirling intricacies of the pattern on its wings.

“It’s yours. I don’t have any birthday presents but I have this. Let me put it on you?”

“Sure!” Edline sparked excitedly and while not as affected as Stephan, Marco still winced as he placed the butterfly necklace over Edline’s neck. Sweeping back her frizzy hair, Edline smiled and nodded.

“Where did you get it?”

“It was a present from long ago. A friend gave it to me in battle and I kept it.” Needless to say, the friend never came back. As soon as Marco had gained a friend in the ranks, they’d disappeared. Soon he was known as that guy. The aloof one. The one who looked down upon everyone else. He had to and no one had understood why not even his siblings. He’d lied for them, killed for them, been tortured for them until he’d cracked then...then I thought of no one but myself and look at what happened. My siblings hate me now.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Edline sighed. “I don’t hate you but I owe it to Stephan to stay with him, Marco. I left too you know. I should have trusted him and instead, I left him alone with no escape from her. I kinda did the same thing,” she said, lowering her head.

“Hey! No, Eddie, you are only ten and you had enough. You couldn’t”

“So did you. You ran away because you had enough too! I saw it!”

“It’s not the same. I was being obligated to.”

“So was I!”

“Not like me. Never like me.”

“Doesn’t matter. We ran and when I did everything went on lockdown making his escape impossible. We ran and left him. We both have to apologize. I’m staying with him for now as I should have two years ago. Will you come to see me?”

Marco nodded and hugged Edline tightly. “Alright, then this is goodbye for now baby sister. Behave and try not to shock too many people with your powers, ok?”

“Hey, I’m working on it,” she said smiling as Marco gave her a big kiss on the cheek and stood. He faced the cockpit where Stephan had been chatting with Marek.

“You know, you’re right. I don’t want your apologies, Marco.”

Marco spun around to face his younger brother.

“You heard?”

“Kind of hard not to on this ship,” said Stephan crossing his arms.

“Stephan…”

“You know I don’t think either of you truly gets...what I went through. Edline I can understand but you? You knew how mom was. You knew that as soon as you left we’d be defenseless...that Edline would be defenseless. That’s what I don’t forgive Marco. Not me but her. If she had decided to stay with you I’d have dragged her back. You can’t be trusted with her and you sure as hell don’t deserve our forgiveness but…”

Marco gulped as Stephan grasped his shirt collar and dragged him down, bringing them nose to nose.

“I heard what you promised Edline back there. If you don’t show up at least once a month I’m coming after you got that?”

“Y-yes can you let me up now?”

Stephan scoffed and let him go before thrusting two pale ovals in his hands. Marco glanced down his eyes widening. “How?”

“Three were on me when I made my break from BEI. Just add water. They should work.”

“What should work? Asked Isaias as he made his way to their side. He had been chatting with Marek and Val about weapons and was now realizing he should have kept an eye on Marco, taking in his abnormal pallor.

“Water mirrors. An archaic form of communication on Gaia,” muttered Marco as he pocketed the mirrors.

“But effective,” said Stephan. “Otherwise BEI wouldn’t keep using them.”

“Can’t BEI find you on these,” asked Marco raising his eyebrow at Stephan who smirked.

“Not for those who know how to hide and the mechanics of them,” he said shrugging.

Zen came over to them. “Has Edline ever seen a battlefield? She’s drawing a pretty realistic picture of one using light and shadow,” she said gaining a strange look from Marco.

“Once,” was all Stephan said grinning. It was all she was going to get out of the siblings.

A car honked its horn outside and Marco turned to the hatch that had been opened earlier.

Edline squealed as she was picked up by Isaias. “Put me down!”

“Gonna miss ya squirt!”

Zen approached Isaias and Edline who was laughing at something Isaias said. “You take care now. When I return, I expect to see that sketch pad used, little missy.”

“Zen! I promise to draw in it every day!”

“Not every day but three times out of a week is great for beginners. You don’t want to wear yourself out too soon alright?”

“Ok!”

“And down you go munchkin. You need some height.”

“Hey! Not all of us are giants!”

Everyone laughed as Isaias made a show of being wounded and fell to the ground. Marco smiled and walked over and kicked his boot “Up Isaias, we have to leave.”

Isaias shot up a little too fast and brushed Marco’s arm with his hand. Marco froze for a second before continuing to walk back to the gangplank. Isaias followed not commenting. Zen sighed but hugged Edline. Then Kiera, then Val and Marek. She even petted Skin before glancing at Stephan who was smirking.

“Where’s my hug?”

Zen smiled and rushed him. “This isn’t goodbye,” she said.

“No,” he whispered. “It’s a see you later right?” He said hugging her tightly and closing his eyes letting her scent cover him. She smelt of danger. What was it? He’d never smelled anything like it. As much as he would have loved to take apart every note in her scent, she was ending their hug. He felt something warm on his cheek and opened his eyes to see her parting from him a smile on her face.

‘I owed you,” she whispered, her hand running up to his cheekbone. He caught it and gave it a kiss making her blush. The horn sounded again.

“You better go Zen.” Or you won’t be getting off this ship.

She nodded and waved to everyone else before walking down the gangplank and to a black SUV. She opened the door and found Isaias arguing with the driver a pretty redhead dressed in a vermillion vest and cream undershirt.

“It was a horn honk not like I shot anyone,” he muttered.

“This is my car. I don’t like others honking the horn and you’ve likely attracted unwanted attention to us!” she said rearranging her hair in the cream cap it was tucked in.

“She’s right Isaias. The point is subtlety. I would have come down eventually,” said Zen smiling. Isaias didn’t like that smile. It was dreamy and nostalgic. What the hell went up there while I was in the car?

“Let’s go already!”

“Hold your horses, Guerrero. I have to check if my sisters weren’t tailed,” said the redhead. After a few minutes, she pulled away and they began their drive to Carmelo’s. Zen glanced backward and caught her breath as crystal blue eyes stared back at her. They winked and then they were gone as Stephan walked back up the ramp and got ready to take off. He’d miss her but he’d see her again too.

Zen started to drift off when the car took a steep turn and then another.

“What’s going on,” she grumbled.

“Unwanted attention. Pray I lose them,” said the redhead as she jerked the wheel and Marco and Zen banged heads.

“Ouch!”

“Oww!’

“Oi, that wasn’t necessary. We could have followed that street til the end then lost them in downtown traffic,” Isaias snapped.

The redhead turned to him. “Who’s driving? I know these streets well. That’s why I’m a driver.”

“And I recognize my gang’s moves a mile away. They are going to cut us off at the next street and box us in.”

“No, they’re not, this street is virtually unknown.”

“Except for street rats which I was one. Here they come, get ready.”

Two SUVs rushed from up ahead as behind came a Lamborghini and a brown sedan. From the side, streets appeared two other brown sedans.

“Shit! They boxed us in!” yelled the redhead.

“Told you. I know my gang,” said Isaias as he grasped the dashboard and his gun. Marco copied the gun holding and Zen took out her knives.

The Lamborghini opened its doors and out stepped Luis in his Armani suit and particular hairstyle.

“Alright hand over dad’s merchandise or whatever he wants,” said Luis.