The surroundings around Aragon caused a tightness in his chest. A place full of memories from bringing Cassie and the kids up here over the years. It had been a welcomed hideout away from the bustle of the city for their family since just before Emmaline was born. A purchase that he and Cassie decided was justified after a major expansion of New Horizons that had netted the company its first billion dollar sale.
The Farm as they all so lovingly called it wasn’t really much of a farm at all. There were no animals to speak of, no real crops, nothing on the ten acres that might help it produce any sort of livelihood, not that they needed the revenue. But Michael had dubbed to so, the first moment he laid eyes on it, because of the white clapboard house, the bright red barn, and the rolling hills spattered with the lavishly green deciduous trees.
This was the place the Layton’s retreated to get away from it all and spent many weekends enjoying time away from the daily rigors of city life and running a multi-billion dollar company. And it nearly broke his heart to be doing this here, but he was out of time, this was the best he could do on sort notice. At least this place would be out of the way of the major populated city and away from his family. That was the important thing.
Aragon leaned against the front bumper of the BMW that he had parked on the over-grown lane leading up to the clearing on the highest hill on the farm. He could just glimpse the white of the farm house through the trees.
He glanced again at his watch. They’d be here soon. Minutes at most. He let that thought go. It was best not to dwell. Not to think too much on what was coming next. That didn’t matter. What mattered was that he had succeeded in his mission. That Michael was safe. His family would be safe after he did this. That was what mattered.
He knew it would be difficult for them to adjust without him at first, and after all this, it would be next to impossible for their secret to stay secret. This planet would find out the truth one way or another. The worldwide broadcasting of the Ethian battle cruiser would ensure that. The company would probably take a big hit over this too. But he and Cassie had prepared for that eventuality. They’d prepared for many eventualities. It was just a truth of their lives and had been the moment they decided to take Michael from his father.
Aragon let out a long breath as he became swept away by all the memories of his previous life in Ethia. He had done a good job of shoving those memories aside. In fact, there were many times over the last twenty years where his life in Ethia seemed like a dream, like it had happened to someone else entirely. But he supposed he couldn’t run from the truth of what they had done forever. Deep down Aragon knew that eventually he’d have to face the consequences, and it seemed today would be that day.
He did not regret taking Michael away from the Empire. It had to be done, and he was glad he had been the one to do it. He had stepped into a terrifying unknown as he and Cassie fled beyond the borders of Ethia––a place only talked about in stories told to children as a myth or legend.
Only it wasn’t a myth or legend, there really was existence beyond the borders of the Empire, and he had gotten to travel there, live there, and raise a family there. The sheer possibility seemed incredible, too incredible to believe. He never would have believed such a thing possible when he had been a child, hearing those fantastic tales of the universe beyond. And yet, here he was.
So no, he had no regrets. He had done the impossible many times over. First in taking Michael right from under the nose of the Emperor, then fleeing beyond the borders of the Ethia, and then finding and living in one of those worlds other Ethians had only ever dreamed about as children. But he supposed the best thing of all was what he had built here on this planet. A loving family, a network of amazing friends, and a solid business that would sustain his family for many years to come.
Life was good, and no matter what happened next, his grand accomplishments could not be taken away. They were his and they would be what he held onto until the very last. So as he stood there waiting for the fate he’d been running from for years, Aragon let a satisfied smile cross his face. He would die a happy man.
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The sound of an approaching helicopter brought Aragon out of his thoughts. He looked back toward the tree line. There was another “farm” about a mile down the road. It wasn’t out of the normal to have helicopters out here, but it certainly wasn’t an everyday occurrence. He hoped they’d be out of sight before the ship got here. Another glance at his watch told him there might be time.
Aragon could only image the fallout from this world learning the truth of their family’s origins. Mostly, he didn’t care, but he did care about the people that he had lied to––the children, his friends. They wouldn’t take this well. Michael had certainly been struggling with it, and Aragon hadn’t even told him everything. He felt a little bad for that, but it was for the best. Michael might not understand right away, but maybe with time he would.
He ran through what he would tell Vang when he got up to the Ethian ship. His contact on the ship had told Aragon that bit of unsettling news. Aragon supposed he shouldn’t be surprised that the Emperor had sent his most ruthless to retrieve Michael. He just wondered how their location had become known after so many years.
In the end, he supposed it didn’t matter. Michael would be safe. Aragon made sure of it. He already lied to his contact about the little prince’s unfortunate death shortly after they crash-landed, which wasn’t far from the truth. Adar Zahn had “died”, when Aragon had taken those memories from the distraught little boy.
Normally, he’d have felt guilty for blocking so much memory that it created a blank slate, but not in Michael’s case. He had been so traumatized from the beating he’d received from his brothers that Aragon very much doubted that without the extensive blocks he put in, the little boy would ever have been able to live a normal life.
It took a few tries to make the locks stick. What he had done had been beyond his current Mind Bender abilities at the time, but given a little trial and error, the troubled Adar Zahn was wiped away, and the sweet and curious Michael Layton was born.
Aragon’s heart squeezed tight at the next step of his plan. He’d almost endure all the torture and humiliation the Emperor could hand out over what he was about to do next. But it had to be done, if he was going to protect his family.
He knew all the torture techniques they’d use against him. Even though he had been trained to endure most of them, Aragon knew that given enough time, they would learn the truth he would attempt to hide from them. There was only one real way to make sure that happened––to do what he had done to Michael to himself. He supposed it was poetic justice after all.
Aragon closed his eyes as he prepared the mental space in which to lock his memories away. He’d use a closed lock, the kind that couldn’t be removed, even by another Mind Bender. Once done. It couldn’t be undone. The memories of the past twenty years would be locked away with no way for him, or anyone else to access them. Arnold Layton the billionaire CEO of New Horizons, friend, husband, father, would be gone forever.
It didn’t take long to create the void that would hold the locked memories. He hesitated a moment before doing the next step. Once it was completed there was no going back. He took a shuttering breath. This was much harder than he thought it would be, but he mustered the courage to go on.
Next, he threw out a mental net to gather all the memories of his time on Earth. In capturing the memories, a rush like he had never experienced before coursed through him, and then in a moment, he seemed to live twenty years all at once. He shivered at the intensity of it. In that moment, he felt all the hurts, the sorrows, the frustrations, but also the excitements, joys, and love. It was enough to make him feel as if he going to explode from the inside out.
Aragon took a moment to steady his breathing and to find a calm center in the midst of the storm of memories and emotions. Once he felt he had a good handle on the onslaught, he continued to the next step. Aragon brought the net tight across the memories and began to drag them toward the void that awaited to swallow them and make them disappear forever.
As he pulled on the memories, a mental alarm sounded, causing Aragon to pause in his task. There was something going on that needed his attention, but with him so engrossed in what he was doing, he couldn’t decipher it. So he split his awareness so he could still hold on to the net of memories, but also bring his attention to what was going on outside of him.
First, he picked up the sound of the helicopter. It sounded more distant this time, so it was leaving. Good. But that wasn’t what had shaken him from his task. It was something else. Another sound. And something else, he’d been ignoring. Aragon could feel him. The blood connection between them declaring loudly that Michael was closer to Aragon than he should be. That was the alarm that had alerted him to something being off.