“I’m almost at the ship,” Tinara says. “You’ll see once you’re here.”

Tinara has me slumped over her shoulder as she hovers over the Atlantic Ocean. I can barely wiggle. My stomach still hurts from her gut punch minutes ago. I can’t even hold my head up to see where we’re going.

“What are you going to do to me?” I say.

“I’ll tell you later.” She says. “For now, shut up.”

“You fucking bitch.” I try to wiggle to free myself. “Let me go!”

She does what I ask and drops me before beating the ever-loving shit out of me. Each kick and punch has enough force to keep me from falling. All I do is twirl, depending on the direction she’s coming from. The last hit is a kick to my stomach. I vomit air before nearly blacking out. She slings me on her shoulder and resumes flying. At least her grip isn’t as tight as before.

“Status,” she says. “I’m approaching our ship.”

Everything vanishes like someone turning off the lights in a room. It takes a second for my eyes to adjust. I’m in a narrow room with intricate triangular floor panels. Some of the triangles are shaped into an octagon.

“You’ll wait in here,” she says, turning into a room off the left. This place has the same floor designs but the triangles are larger. “Sit,” she says, slamming me into a padded chair.

“Ugh!” I grunt and moan as I try to force myself upright. She claps her hands once. All of the lights on the ceiling and walls kick on.

“Stay right there,” she says, pointing at me. “I’ll be right back.” She presses a button on her forearm. It lights blue, and then she steps back. A duplication of herself stays put while she walks out of the room.

“No fucking way this is real,” I say, mumbling to myself.

“Oh, I’m real,” the duplicate says. “I’m a security hologram.” She further explains that she’s programmed to alert Tinara the second I stand up. “Best sit and behave.”

“Unbelievable!” Despite having a slight edge to test that theory, I’m forced to stay put. I hold the side of my head by holding it under my left hand while I picture every outcome. The palm of my hand accidentally pushes Christabell’s earpiece into my ear. “I hope they can hear me,” I say in my head. “Hey, hologram,” I say out loud, sitting upright.

“Yes?”

“What if I gotta pee?”

“Pee in the seat.”

“What if I got to shit? I can’t do that when I’m sitting flat.” The hologram doesn’t answer. All it does is stare with an uncanny lifeless smirk. “Hello?” I wave my hand all over to see if the system is broken. The eyes track it everywhere it goes. “Did you hear me?”

“Enough of that,” Tinra says as she steps into the room. She’s in a different suit. It’s mostly all white and less conforming to her body, unlike the first suit. One more extra bit that has me surprised is that she’s wearing black glasses. She hits the button on her arm to shut off the hologram. “Put these on.” She tosses silver cuffs on my lap. I’m getting a sense of feeling that whoever she is, she can’t possibly be an Ovesse. The spacesuit, the glasses, and the police cuffs look far from alien.

“What if I refused to cuff myself?”

“Then I will,” she says, tipping her glasses down to the bridge of her nose. The brightness in her eyes turns up. Her green iris nearly shines over her pupils. It lasts for three seconds before they dim back. She clears her throat, puts her glasses back on, then momentarily shuts her eyes. “Nevermind. Do as I say!” I cuff myself out of annoyance and the fear of harm. My body can’t take another beating. My voice and neck are okay but the last ass whopping still aches.

“Why am I here? Why not just kill me?”

“Good question,” Shendour says before coming inside. He looks fucked up. His hair is messy. Some of the strans looked ripped. His entire upper body, arms, and face have serious bruises. “Why was she spared?”

“You look terrible,” she says.

“I overestimated them. I didn’t know there was a third among them.”

“The boy?”

“Yes,” he says, growling. “Did you handle him?”

“Couldn’t,” she says when she looks at me. She points at the bruise between her eyes for him to focus on. “She got me good. Nearly blacked out from one punch.”

“Why was she spared? I told you to—”

“Eliminate her?” She says, finishing off his sentence. “Do you even know why she has the power?” He shakes his head, no. “You’re an idiot. You’re rage nearly killed an asset.”

“What do you mean? She’s with her.”

“According to her,” she says, glancing at me with her finger pressing down on the middle of her lips as she smiles. “She’s not.” He puts his eyes on me and squints. I can’t look at them directly, not after feeling the bones in my neck pull apart from being squeezed. He’s like the monster under my childhood bed. If I don’t piss him off, I might get out of here intact.

“How did you get Sourmeda?”

“Shar’I threw it at me from fucking space,” I say, without looking at him. “It blew a hole in my chest and closed it.”

“That confirms my theory on regenerative tissue,” she says, mumbling in his ear.

“Show us.” Despite how much I don’t want to show them, I have to play along. I lift my hands to her so she can take the cuffs off. They uncuff once she pinches the middle bar holding my wrists together. I remove my hoodie and shirt together so I can put them back on in one go.

“Whoa,” she says. She touches the scarred skin above the bra and follows the rest of it to my back. “Through and through.”

“If that rock was a normal meteorite,” I say after exposing my tits. “I would be dead.”

“This is fascinating. It’s scarred yet your figure remains unchanged.” She pokes where my nipple should be and asks if I feel her finger.

“Yes,” I say, resisting the urge to slap her finger. “The nerves didn’t go numb.”

“Put your clothes back on and cuff yourself,” she says, walking over to him. “Explain to us why Sourmeda has been a burden to you.” I place the cuffs partially closed. I use the folds of my hoodie to prevent them from seeing it.

“It’s a lot to tell.”

“Tell us everything that happened to you since that day,” he says.

I keep everyone I know and the ones close to me out of the picture as I try to sprinkle a bit of lies. I don’t mention the observatory, Eddie’s tailors, Mr. Cox, or any of the abilities I have.

“I’m not your enemy,” I say. “I didn’t realize who Shar’I was until a few days ago.”

“Ha!” Shendour scoffs. “She was known to be deceptive. No one could trust her.”

“Yeah?” I scoff. “I can’t wait to get away from her. I’m on this island because of peer pressure.” Tinra smirks and glances at him for a second. Whatever she’s thinking, I need to somehow appease it. “You said I could be an asset. What did you mean by that?” That damn cheeky smirk comes back. She bites the corner of her lip and looks towards him as she slowly walks towards me.

“Shendour seeks to fix a broken system of ours,” she says after taking a seat on the left armrest. “It’s more like a restoration. The problem we face is that he needs Shar’I out of the picture.”

“Why?” I say, looking between the two of them. “She’s here and far away from where y’all live. How is she a problem?”

“Her so-called good intentions will be a problem,” he says, coming my way. I begin to get claustrophobic. I feel like they’re pressing against my arms even though they’re not touching me. “I seek her throne.”

“What?”

“Her power has extended her life indefinitely.” He further explains that her greed and ignorance are damaging their worlds. She rules with an iron fist. Everything I know about her reason here is a complete lie. “All she wants to do is create another ally to secure her position.”

I’m not buying it. If he’s seeking to do the right thing for his people, why is he hurting innocent civilians when Shar’I is his main focus? He’s an absolute psychopath.

“If you want her, why hurt and kill people?” I say.

“It’s simple tactics,” Tinara says. “Your world has a lot of deranged and desperate individuals that will do anything for power.” Suddenly, a revelation starts to open in my head like an old projector beginning to turn.

“Tinara,” I say, staring at her. “You used to go by Flora, right? Goddess of vegetation?”

“Goddess of flowers,” she says in a condescending voice.

“Are those big ugly plant things yours?” She doesn’t answer but I do notice the slightest pull of her left cheek muscle. “What about those Cada monsters?” Her cheek pulls back more. It’s almost turning into a smirk. “Is Rayan one of you?”

“No,” she says with a quick snicker-like scoff. “That deranged eco-terrorist is of your people’s creation. I’m shocked his crimes haven’t gotten him executed.”

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“What about,” I say and pause to think about the woman with the mask that hides in the shadows. “What about Shadow Ghost? I never heard of her until Rayan unleashed his freakish monsters.”

“She’s been around. A very common thief for hire if you know where to look.”

“I see.” All of this information is beyond shocking. It is enough to tell me she is mostly the mastermind behind all of those monstrosities. “You almost killed my girlfriend,” I say before ramming the top of my head into her jaw. We collide into the metal ceiling. I knock her out before she falls to the ground. Shendour reaches for my right leg. I cuff his hands together the second he grabs my leg and throws me hard to the ground. My body flops like a fish. He tries his hardest to break the cuffs. The muscles in his arms, shoulder, and body bulge tenfold. The cuffs start stretching the more he struggles.

I fly out of the ship and radio for help, begging Christabell to send someone to help me.

“I read you!” Christabell says. “I’m sending everyone your way!” One miraculous second later, the beautiful crack of thunder erupts. Eddie appears in from a lighting strike shirtless and bruised.

“Eddie!” I say, hiding behind him with my arms around his stomach. “He’s right behind me!”

“Where?” He says with his fist up. “I don’t see him!” There’s nothing in front of us. I look around the sky and check in front of us again. There’s something black far away.

“There!” I point my arm over his left shoulder. He leans his head over it to look down at my finger. “Do you see it?”

“I do, but what am I looking at?”

“I don’t know,” I say, speaking fast. “I think I was in some spaceship and they were interrogating me.”

“I know. We heard everything on the radio.”

“Oh, thank god. Are they coming our way?”

“Yes.”

“Good! Shendour and Flora are in that ship.”

“Hold on, Nikki,” he says in a whisper. “Whatever you pointed at is gone.” I can hear a faint rumble of what sounds like a rocket engine. It jets off, fading away in an instant. “What was that?”

“Keep your guard up. I’ll listen.” I keep close to him, never letting my hand leave him. As I’m watching the skies and every little thing that moves, I notice root-like scars all over Eddie’s body. Some of it goes down to his waist where his butt is.

“Do hear anything?”

“N... no. Nothing.” I listen again. There’s nothing out there.

“Nikki?”

“I hear—”

“Hey, you guys!” Christabell says, riding on Nemetoria’s back. “Sorry it took us a minute to get here.”

“Nikki,” Shar’I says. “Are you all right?” She swoops to me with her hands out like she’s about to hold me.

“Don’t touch me. Did you hear what they said to me?”

“I,” she says, pausing. “Let’s stay focused. Where are they?”

“Did you hear them?!”

“I did,” she says twice.

“Is it true?” Nemetoria says. Shar’I glances at her and then looks at me for the longest. I shake my head, refusing to believe Shendour is right about her wanting to keep her throne. “Who... Who are you? Are you the exuberant goddess I revered?”

“I’m still that woman, Nemi,” she says, soothing Nemetoria’s shoulder. Nemetoria closes herself off by turning her back to Shar’I. Shar’I pulls her hand away. It seems like she doesn’t know what to do with it. She keeps it close to Nemetoria.

“Enough with the bullshit!” I say. “Is Shendour right about you wanting an ally?”

“No,” Shar’I says in a shakey weak voice. “I don’t know why he said that.” Her words don’t fool me. I go on an unfiltered rant about how she’s the reason for the mess everyone standing here is going through and the deaths of countless civilians.

“She needs to go back to whatever planet she came from!” Everyone except Nemetoria and Eddie looks at me as if I’m stupid for suggesting it. Nemetoria is furrowing her brows. She’s frowning. Eddie’s face is relaxed. His arms are down by his side.

“I don’t think that’s the right thing to do,” Christabell says. “We gotta help and figure out a solution.”

“I’m done with this shit,” I say, floating to what I think is west. “Stay away from me,” I say to Shar’I, shaking my finger at her. I hand Eddie my earpiece and take off. My ears pick up Shar’I saying that she needs me. Eddie says he’ll try to get me back.

Come on Eddie. Don’t you dare.

I do not want to hear what he has to say. I fly away far enough I can’t hear their voices. The rumbles of his thunder follow after me like an annoying fly.

“Go away! I’m not going to listen! I said I was done!” I say. His thunder booms suddenly stop. I check behind me to see if he’s floating somewhere. The thunder cracks ahead of the direction I’m flying. “Jesus Christ,” I say, hitting the break. My face nearly crashes into his chest. “Come on, Eddie! Don’t try to persuade me!”

“Relax,” he says, waving his hands. “I didn’t plan on doing that.” He shows me his ears are empty.

“Then why are you here?” I say and resume my flight. He speeds ahead of me and turns around. I close the gap between us without speeding up. We stop once we are a few feet from each other.

“Because I kind of agree with you.”

“Don’t mess with me. I’m having a real bad day.”

“So am I! Look at me!” I check him out. Despite the crazy-looking scars, he’s not looking great with all the amount of bruising on his body. “I got the shit kicked out of me by two aliens!”

“Well, we have that in common.” My remark seems to make him chuckle. He grabs his stomach and braces his face. “So, why do you kinda agree with me?”

“If she was gone, I can see why that could work. But, will it solve their issue?”

“I don’t care if it does or not,” I say and chuckle out of frustration. “It’s just too much for me. I just wanna go home now.”

“All right.” He says after sighing. “Texas is that way by the way,” he says, pointing to my left.

“Thanks.” I almost head there when I realize I can’t make it over there. “Eddie,” I say, catching him before he flies away.

“Yeah?”

“I can’t make it home on my own. Flying gets tiring.”

“Okay,” he says, squinting his eyes and stretching out the word.

“Is there a way you could... y’know.”

“I can.”

I’m glad I don’t have to ask Eddie if I can ride his back. It’s awkward enough that I’ll have to hold him from behind. And he’s hurt. I hope he can make it the rest of the way without extra help. That’s a lot of water and land to cover.

I fly over the entire Atlantic Ocean. When I reach Florida, I feel like I’m going to suddenly pass out. Eddie puts me on his back the second I say his name. He tells me to wrap my arms around his neck as if him going to choke him. His reasoning for the hold is that my arms will lock themselves once he accelerates. I won’t have to be conscious to focus on how tight I need to be.

“Sounds like a lot of people ride you,” I say as I’m getting into position.

“Comes with the job.” His honest answer makes me laugh. “If my hands are full, they got to ride me.” I’m happy he takes his job seriously. I can’t imagine the stress he has to deal with saving people, especially ones getting attacked by the flower monsters.

“Man,” I mumble to myself. “Hey, Eddie. Thanks for saving my life. I would have been a corpse with a mangled neck.”

“Thank you for punching that lady,” he says and gradually speeds up enough that my arms lock themselves around his neck. “I don’t know what I would have been.”

“Dead but more intact than me.” We chuckle together. “Sorry,” I say, laughing a bit harder than him. “That was too dark.”

“It’s cool,” he says and adjusts my arm away from his chin. “Dark humor doesn’t bother me.”

“Ah, my kind of guy.”

He scoffs yet continues to smile afterward. We don’t talk for several minutes. I take that time to get some shut-eye until something happens. When I open my eyes, we’re flying over a highway. To my left is a long beach with white sand.

“Where are we?” I say.

“Louisiana,” he says. “We’re almost home.”

“Can you make it? Do we need to switch?”

“I’m good,” he says, soothing my forearm. “I got enough tank in me to keep us going.” I trust him. So far, he’s a man of his word. I’m beginning to really like him. He’s reliable, discreet, and genuinely cares for my safety.

“Okay. I’m going back to sleep.”

“Sleep well.”

I close my eyes and nap in what seems like seconds past. Someone slamming their door shut jumps me awake. The first thing I see is one of the skyscrapers on Redemsia. It’s dark outside. The sky is covered with thick grey storm clouds speeding high above me.

“Good evening,” Eddie says with a slight pant. “Are you good enough to make it home?” I levitate to be in front of him. He’s sweating and breathing harder than usual.

“Are you good?” I remain close with my right hand somewhat reaching out just in case I need to grab him if he passes out.

“I think that was the longest I have ever flown without riding the lightning,” he says as he watches the storm. “I need to lay down.” He looks down at the roofs of buildings below us. The sound of rain roars above our heads. “Damn. I really don’t want to lay under the rain.”

“Come with me,” I say, pulling him by his hand. “You can crash at my place.”

“Oh? Will Sam mind if I’m there?”

“She won’t mind.”

I take Eddie to the front porch and then use my speed to zip past people without them seeing me. A woman coming out of her apartment nearly spots me. Her eyes close before she can see me. I walk in with my head down to avoid her seeing my eyes and let him into the room.

“Did anyone see you?” I say.

“I hope not,” he says with a light chuckle. “I don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea.”

“What do you mean by that?” I say after checking if anyone is loitering below.

“Shirtless muscular man walks in from the porch.”

“Don’t worry about that,” I say as take notice of his lean muscular body. He has his back to me. His shoulders are wide and his waist is small. He points to the couch and says something, but I don’t hear a word. I can’t stop checking out each bulging muscular section of his backside.

“Yo, Nikki!”

“Sorry! I was... Did you say something?”

“Do mind if I rest here?” I offer one of my pillows and a blanket to be comfortable. It takes him a minute to fall asleep.

“Thanks again,” I say, keeping my voice soft so as to not disturb his sleep. I check my phone to see what time it is in correlation to Sam’s time zone. It’s too early. I’ll have to wait until late at night to call. “What am I going to do now?”

“Beer!” My inner self says the second I glance at the fridge.

“Is there any left?” Luckily, there are two inside. And I have leftover pasta.

I take the last two bottles inside the bathroom to drink as I lay inside a hot soapy tub. My Bluetooth speaker is playing random electro-pop songs, and I have one rose-scented candle burning. It is not much but it’s enough for me to forget the shit I went through. I imagine Sam’s massaging my neck to kill the memory of Shendour squeezing it. Flora’s rock-hard gut-punching blows are replaced with Sam’s ticklish jabs to every inch of my stomach.

“Oh, Sam,” I say. “I wish you were here right now.”

“Just tell her to come back,” my inner self says. “You need her after all the stuff you went through.”

“I do,” I say with a whimper. “But I don’t want to force her to leave.”

“Then how will you deal with your trauma?” The smell of my breath gives me an idea but I shut the suggestion at the door. Being drunk will make me feel like shit once the high is over.

“Eddie?” We say together.

“He’s been a good friend to you,” my inner mind says.

“Yeah,” I say after taking the last swig of beer in the first bottle. “He has.” I pop open the second bottle and take one gulp before addressing my concerns with opening up to Eddie about how I feel. “I’ll need to sleep on that. I wanna relax for the time being.”

Several hours later, I check up on Eddie after waking up from a nap due to hunger grumbles. I set out a plate and try my best to not wake him while I heat the pasta in the microwave. Once the timer reaches zero and beeps loudly five freaking times, he sits up.

“Uh, hi,” I say. He slowly stands to his feet. His breathing is a bit labored but enough to make me concerned. “Are you hungry? I got some pasta left if you want?”

“Please and thank you,” he says taking a seat behind the countertop.

“You got good manners,” I say while heading up his plate.

“I was raised well.” That statement makes me chuckle. I’m beginning to find him more likable.

“Here you go.” I hand him his bowl and a glass of raspberry lemonade.

“Thanks.”

“If you don’t mind, I would like to get some stuff off of my chest.”

For a good hour, I don’t hold back speaking my mind on everything that has happened to me. I show him what Shar’I’s issues are doing to my mental state. He sits and listens without questioning why I feel about certain things. The most he does is acknowledge he’s actively listening with his perfect eye contact. I don’t feel like I’m being judged. But that might change once he gets his turn to speak.

“Am I in the wrong with anything?” I say. “And don’t sugarcoat your words.”

“Well,” he says, scratching his tempol with his finger. “You don’t have a responsibility to do anything. Shar’I put you in this mess. She put us all in this mess.”

“Mhmm,” I nod.

“I’m not going to tell you to suck it up and help.”

“Please don’t,” I say before we laugh at my comment.

“But...

“Are you serious, Eddie?” I say in a deep voice. “You’re going to hit me with a but after all I said to you?”

“Listen for a second.” He puts his hands together like he’s praying. “Don’t ignore that you are capable of saving the needy.” Something about that statement hits me in the heart. I feel angry yet happy and optimistic about the usability of my powers. They’ll stay with me till the end of my days. Shar’I doesn’t want me to use them for ill-willed purposes. I don’t want to do anything bad, but I don’t want to actively use them for good like Eddie does.

“All of this stuff is making me regret asking your tailors to make an outfit for me,” I say. “I should give it back to them.”

“They made it for you. Keep it. You never know when you might need it.” The optimism he has for me dawning the suit is a bit annoying to imagine, yet I can almost see that one day I will. If things with Shar’I and the mess surrounding her don’t come to a peaceful conclusion, I might have to force myself into giving more than a damn.