232. In Between

Juliet

“Mom! Mom! Mom!” Caleb had my arms in his hands, shaking me. “You said I should get you out after half an hour. If you stayed any longer, it would be bad.” I nodded against his chest. “It’s already been an hour. I’ve been trying to wake you up… I thought you were stuck.” I shook my head, unable to speak. Caleb stabbed me in my neck with a vial… The world blurred and became only tiny slivers.

“Mom! Wake up! What is going on?!” He’s slapping my cheek now. Sheesh. I lay frozen in a drug-induced state—my mind unwilling to cooperate. “We don’t have time for this,” Caleb said panicked.

How long was I asleep? “I made a mistake,” I whispered, my eyes still closed. “It was the city… We were in the Origin City. It adds time… How could I be so stupid?”

Caleb let out a relieved laugh, “You didn’t think it through being on Zoreah.” I groaned, clutching my chest, burning with a stabbing pain. “Did you find out what the stone does?”

“It takes away the creature side of any being.”

Caleb drew in a sharp breath, and his arms tightened around me, “Makes… us… human? The stone is how they split the ittoqure in the first place… Why Iku’s so big… Romero so small.”

“I think so… Help me. Need to puke.” Caleb manifested and turned me around, resting me on my knees. He took my hair out of my face as I emptied only blood into the sand. Convulsion after convulsion until I had nothing left. My stomach complained—twisted and turned on me, begging for food. I fell into the sand, weak, sweaty, and shaking. Caleb scurried around, scooping my sick with something into something else. I closed my eyes. I only heard the ‘Don’t—.’

My mouth was being forced open. I tasted beer. Beer? Warm beer. Even so, I drank the small sips passing my lips. “Please don’t sleep again. You’ve been out for half a day.” My eyes jolted open, and I sat up in a panic. “Mom, it’s morning… Have you decided?”

Twelve hours passed! Hungry! Next morning. Oh, s—!

“It doesn’t matter who I choose.” I slowly stood, trying to walk one step at a time. “I’m happy. They’re happy. None of them goes on with their lives,” I said lazily… “I guess if it goes on for a hundred years, I’d have to let go, and it would be hard if one of them moves on. To them, ten years is nothing… Or maybe it’s the brandings? Our connection.”

“To us, it’s life or death! I don’t want to become human.”

“You won’t, Caleb.” I dug into my bra, took out the Ahmed emblem slash stone, and held it out to him.

His eyes widened, “You had it all this time!?”

“I took back what belonged to me.”

“So, can we go home now, please… Or… Choose all four—this life—accept it and fix it. Marcus has to come later, or he’ll never accept the others. Louis will never care, and Michael will always fall in line after you didn’t kiss Marcus.”

“All I really have to stop is the branding.”

“Yes… It all starts with everyone freaking out.”

“Caleb, we have bigger problems… Jacklin and Lyla pressed another freaking button.”

“No!”

I rub at my foggy head, unable to clear, “Yes, they are why the teleporters are down. Forever! Unless we ask Chris or Michael to go through it again…”

“You mean… We are stuck here unless we can find Michael.”

“Yes, and if the wolves figure this out… Michael will be forced to work for them, or I don’t know? Enslave him to take them all back.”

“He’ll die.”

“Yeah, so I don’t know what to do… I know where your grandmother is. I know where the water-stone is, and we know what this one does.”

“And now we can never teleport again… What are the chances?”

“Lyla! You should’ve let me kill her.”

“This has Jacklin written all over it… Louis should go back in time and fix everything.”

I turn to him, “That’s exactly what I’m beginning to think. Send Marcus or Louis back to fix everything—or even Sam… By the time I come along, everything will be a certain way.”

“They’ll have to test it. We can’t really take the chance. You’re doing all the homework, and then they get the credit—again.”

My nose pulled in disgust; giving the responsibility to Louis or Marcus? Could I? “Well, now I’ve wasted even more of our time…” I lean down and take a few sips of water. “Any news from outside?” Caleb slowly shook his head with a sigh. “You’re probably as hungry as I am.”

“I teleported in one direction to follow the river out… Came to a gate within a large wall separating this place from a desert. It seems no one comes and goes from there… And I don’t know why… kinda too scared to check it out on my own.”

“No, good you didn’t… So, our only way out is the way we came. All the way back to the harbor.”

“I don’t know? Do you plan on trying a life with Louis?” I couldn’t answer him yet. “The other option is… to choose a permanent one while we’re here and finish this.”

“I can’t, Caleb, no, I—.”

“Romero already told you he’s okay with it… We have to believe fate will work it out for everyone involved.”

“I don’t know Caleb… I lied to everyone... Yes, I would’ve made the decision eventually after I thought it through.”

“In every life, when you come clean, what happens?”

I bob my head, agreeing with him, “They accept it, and the truth does make everyone more amenable.”

“Mom, if we can never teleport again. You’ll have to, at some point, do this. Waiting till someone else has the stone might take years?”

“Why?”

“Chris hasn’t come for you…”

“Mmmh. I don’t think he can reach me here… In the city.”

“Well, if that’s why we haven’t seen him… He won’t try again… It will take two weeks to get back to the village to find out what’s going on… We don’t know what will be waiting for us… How the heck do we get down the twenty-story drop anyway… After that, even if we get there, traveling to Charlene would mean you’ll have to give yourself over to the wolves… Do you really want to take the chance? If we get to Michael, will you guys get out of there? What then? You won’t be able to sit the whole family down and have a discussion…”

Caleb was spinning out of control; I understood, although I couldn’t think while he bombarded me with problems. I wanted to make a phone call— talk to someone. How frustrating our lives would be if we couldn’t communicate anymore. I nudged very softly on Michael—desperate for any kind of assurance that he was okay.

My arms wrapped around myself and squeezed. A hug, how sweet. It didn’t last long. Michael forced me to put my hands together and interlace my fingers. I frowned and thought he was showing me what he wanted to do; hold my hand. But no, my palms slammed together—repeatedly. “Smashing.” My fingers unlocked, and I opened an imaginary door. Once I stepped through the door, I walked down a set of stairs, and my fist balled, and my hand zoomed into the air.

I turned to Caleb, and we both laughed, “Okay, I guess we have to do something… You’ll go ahead… Find the smashing room, open a hidden door, and travel down the stairs to tunnels. Get in a ball and zoom.”

“I thought about it already; what about the nets?”

“Hey! There might be someone there! They use the tunnels for communications… We could send something! Go, Caleb! Be back here in ten minutes, and I’ll be done… Send an alarm!” I yelled as Caleb disappeared. Maybe in the last twelve hours, he’d already found the sex dungeon.

***

Louis

No one had contacted me after I sent my message. All the plate showed was the weird communications and answers to my messages. One person could talk to everyone; the others were left to wonder. I had, in the meantime, pulled myself together and cleaned up a little… I couldn’t stay in Juliet’s old house anymore. I had to make another decision.

The distance between the two places was roughly the same—I either traveled all the way North to Canada, which would take forever, or I went to the compound where Jacklin and Lyla were hunkered down. What would be worse? Being off the grid for weeks where no one could find me or the compound with an ex-lover. The compound was a straight nineteen-hour drive from where Juliet used to live… Walking would take me three weeks as the crow flies, and the terrain would be manageable… What did one do in a post-apocalyptic world where your people were scattered all over the galaxies? Where would I get blood? Survival was probably the first priority, and then your wife’s jealousy. How would I survive the latter if I lived there with the two women for however long it took us to reconnect. Canada would have more stragglers who ran for the hills… You have no choice! If I ever wanted to see Juliet again, I had to move. I put on my shoes, gathered what I’d left there in the months I was not on En-gannim, and walked outside.

The sky was still covered in dark clouds; the wind was whipping and punishing me. I deserved everything I’d have to go through. I was going on a very, very long hike.

Hours later, in the dead of night, I walked at a brisk pace. Someone nudged on me; who the heck could it be? Juliet was somewhere traveling back in time, and I was too scared to make her write something again. What if she was busy, or I caused even more harm... I opened my mouth to say something; no words came out. Juliet. Baby. The familiar sensations in my heart coalesced. She was so far away—how could we still connect being so far apart? I nudged once and lifted my hand so Juliet could write something.

Me [ I’m a f—ing idiot! Forgive me ]

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Juliet abruptly let me go, and I could speak again. I upped my pace. My only prize now was to get back to her… And stop her from making the biggest mistake of her life. Our lives.

I checked the plate again; still nothing. What is going on?

***

Juliet

Caleb had left to check if the balls were a viable option to travel with. I had nudged on Louis before I had to spend another ten to fifteen years on his timeline. I forgot to allocate the years I wait to be old enough so they would consider a life with me… I was probably more around sixty now. A terrifying thought. One day, I would stop counting altogether like all the other creatures… Louis forced me to write a message. I stared at the few words—evidence on paper… Especially the ‘forgive me’ part. My letter had made an impression. He probably thought I was making the biggest mistake of my life, going back in time and choosing only one of them… I sigh heavily. Was I?

What if I tried… only for a minute or so various other avenues. We couldn’t talk to one another, we couldn’t teleport anymore… However, I had the next best thing. I could go and chat with whoever I needed to. My body was a little against the exercise after how I felt coming back from Chris.

“Urgh,” I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and thought about the day I went to the market without a veil. Fifteen! Out of everyone, I needed Marcus. I wanted him there so bad to make it all go away… Tears burned my eyes… He was always first and, in a way, who I would always run to… I shook myself to focus. He was the most logical and forward-thinking. It had been months since my birthday after I met Qadir for the first time, and Marcus decided—ignoring me was his only option. I was alone in my room. I waited for my parents to leave for the market and disappeared.

I walked all the way to Marcus’s house, went into his room, and waited. Like clockwork, he came home after his shift at the barracks and headed into the shower. The room was still bare—grey, and I wanted to tell him the same thing he told me, ‘you could make life better for yourself.’ When his back was turned, I closed the door and locked it. I waited on the bed… The shower ended… Marcus came into the room with a towel around his waist, still dripping wet. How handsome. I swallowed my dirty thoughts and appreciated the picture he painted before he saw me.

Marcus jolted and swore, hurriedly walking toward me. I frantically waved my hands in front of me and put one finger on my mouth, “Shhh!! Calm down.”

“Juliet! What the f— are you doing here!” he whispered loudly.

I rubbed my eyes to keep the tears at bay. On the one hand, I was getting sick of going through these emotions every time; it took all of them a few minutes to acclimate.

Marcus pressed his lips together and looked down at his body. I disappeared before he could even turn to put clothes on. Again, he freaked out and called out my name. “Shhh! Calm down… I’ve seen it all before.”

“You! You… I…”

I patted the bed, “I’m so close to crying, and I can’t waste any time… Marcus, will you please sit down.” Hesitantly, he obliged and crossed one leg so he could face me. I reached for a pillow and placed it over the gap the towel created. “I need you—.”

“Juliet, no!”

“No, not that! Seriously…! Although…” He laughed. I took a deep breath, “I… need you to listen to me for ten minutes without interrupting me. After, I need you to disassociate from the situation and look at it the way you analyze everything… from twelve different angles.”

“…Okay…”

“First. I’m sorry I hit you…” I took his hand. “The brandings work. In three days, you will go through with it… We will be connected in life and death… All of it is true… Your mother and my father and Sam and some other key players… planned this… between us… Because with the brandings, I can challenge your grandfather to the throne of our home world…” I pointed to the sky. “The problem comes in… The more men I have behind me… In a harem of my own… the more powerful we are together… I don’t have the time to tell you all the supernatural implications, but it’s huge…” I was nervously clutching his hand, “My problem comes in with everything we, as a four-man harem, did to get where we are today… Your grandfather was furious and cut the teleportation permanently… from the grave…” I was going very fast. He didn’t even know about teleportation. “Our lives, especially yours, have been the one I had the most difficulty getting over… I hurt you so much, and in the process, you get hurt over and over again… I love you for real, or else the branding won’t work…”

I stood and paced in front of the bed, “What I want to know is… If… you could choose… knowing the basic information and running through all the implications… Only for yourself… What do you want? Do you want me to give you the opportunity to go back and fix everything… Like I’m doing now… And I mean two hundred years back—everything… Or do you want me to stay and not change anything? Are you really prepared to give it all up for me? Because I don’t think I can choose this life,” I gestured to the compound, “I’ve tried it… and it does, in the end, suck the life out of me… But I also can’t give you up!” My voice shook, and the tears spilled over. This was getting to me; choosing only one, how did I ever think I could. My clock was running out.

Marcus stood and tossed the pillow on the bed. He walked to his cupboard and ripped a pair of slacks off the hanger, making it hit the wood with a thunder. Marcus shakily got them ready and pulled them up his legs. The towel came off, and he slammed it to the floor. “Am I at least allowed to ask a question?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Who…? Who are these other men.”

I smiled because, obviously, he’d be focused on the other men! Like I would. “Michael… my watcher…” I wave my hand in the air, “It’s a long story… Kubra is yours…. Uhmm… Louis, your uncle…” I bare my teeth at this news, “And Chris, who is a riphath—another race who lives on another planet. He never branded me, but it’s going to happen.”

Marcus gestured with his hand, “Prove something about this to me.”

“Okay,” I delved into my pocket, held up the coordinates for the room next door, and said, “Michael, if you will please come, and Kubra, you’re watching already, so please make an appearance; we’ll give you five minutes.”

Marcus walked toward the bed; I tried to take his hand. He shook me off and sat down with his chin slightly tilted toward the roof, swaying slowly from side to side. He was working his magic.

The knock came, and Marcus jumped up and flung open the door. Michael stood in front of the door. He lifted his hand, and his eyes found mine, “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

I laughed, “This is not real.”

“I called Sam… Are you on Mirach?”

“I am.”

“Freaky!”

Kubra came running up the passage and pushed Michael out of the way. “Okay, so if you guys can just sit down and take it easy.”

Marcus looked at Kubra, “Is it true?”

“All of it.”

Marcus spun around, “I have an answer for you… Don’t know if I want to say it.”

“Please.”

“You have to let me go. If I’m your only problem, you have your solution.”

I threw my hands in the air, “What a waste of thirty seconds! Even I could come up with that idea. I was going to choose one of you and let all the rest go.”

Marcus’s head shook, “Then what else?”

I glanced at Kubra and held his eyes. He shifted, “What?”

“You also brand someone and share her with two other men, and… my parents never get to go home… Marcus’s mother is stuck with Qadir for the rest of her life, and I either save billions of people or keep the people in my life happy…” I turned to Marcus, “Besides one.”

“Juliet, from what I’ve heard, if the teleporters are off… I’m never going to see this woman anyway,” Kubra said.

“You’re with her right now, fighting werewolves on Mirach… She is my best friend… And I can’t make the decision all by myself.”

“F—” Michael said.

“My son… is with me there… We are all alone, and we’re stuck in the city with no food.” I gazed into Marcus’s eyes. “The village is two weeks away, and I don’t even know where you are… Communications are down… But really, the two of us can’t work together, and after the two of us went through something… I don’t know if you’ll ever be the same… I made so many mistakes… I want to fix it… All of it,” I waved my hand through the air as if I could.

All our heads turned to the door; someone was coming. I spun around; before I could get there, my uncle and Ahasuerus came into view. I flung my arms around Marcus’s grandfather’s neck. In Chris’s life, the two of us really bonded, and I felt terrible that he died. I even regretted Qadir’s death, if that was possible.

He patted my back, and I let him go. Ahasuerus took hold of my shoulders, “Juliet, you can not go back. Marcus can definitely not go back. The further you do. The worse the consequences. Why do you think I never did! Literally, anything can happen to anyone, including the situation. The smallest ripple causes the most destruction.” Ahasuerus turned to Sam, “Why did you not warn her,” he turned to me, “Why did Romero not tell you?”

“I lied about the stone,” I gestured to his neck and stared at the thing. “So I have to accept the way things turned out,” I said, barely audible. My nose stung, and a tear rolled over my cheek. “I don’t know if I can… I’m so tired… It’s been nonstop since Marcus branded me… You’re dead. Qadir is dead. Rodrigo is dead… I… we don’t have the teleporters anymore… You gave Jacklin the device, and it’s all too much. We are never together long enough to be a family… It’s one thing after another… Chris already went back, and the consequences were…” I glanced at Marcus and swallowed my tears.

Ahasuerus shook my shoulders to make me look at him, “You only feel this way because you have seen other possibilities… You should never have sat down in that room…” I nodded, sniffling. “There are no consequences now… However, you are not the first person who has done this.”

I turned around and walked into Marcus; he wrapped his arms around me. “I’ll be okay… I’m sure I’ve gotten used to it.”

I wailed in protest.

“Seriously!” “Marcus!” Michael and Kubra chastised. “Shut up, you’re not helping.”

“No, Juliet… I mean… I’m sure—knowing myself—I thought of every possible alternative and decided to stay... Why else would I still be there?”

“You asked Chris to go back… You said you sometimes don’t know why you’re there. You said you’re at forty percent most of the time.”

“Juliet, I’ve been at zero my whole life. Since I met you, my life has only gotten better… Until I took you to dinner, and you didn’t want to marry me… I’ve been a mess for three months without you… A whole lifetime? I won’t make it… Do you think my forty can’t become more? Maybe if you give me a son.”

“I have. Naji. He’s the cutest thing. I’ll give you more.” He nodded, leaned down, and kissed me.

“Hey!” Michael protested.

Marcus smiled, “Maybe you should make it a competition.”

“Juliet, are you doing this because you think Marcus might one day leave?” My uncle asked. I wrapped my arms around Marcus and nodded. “You want to pre-empt getting hurt.”

I nodded against his chest, “I’ve been afraid of it since day one… If any of you left… One already has, and he is now our biggest enemy.”

“Who?” Marcus asked. I shook my head, unwilling to say. “Who, Juliet?”

“Soren,” I hesitated.

Marcus wanted to dislodge himself from my person. I clung to him. “No wonder I’m upset! The two of you would set me over the edge… Urgh, I feel violated… I do have some pride!”

“I can’t go back. Qadir is still looking for Satya, and when he gets the stone—”

Ahasuerus took a step forward, “He can never get the stone!”

I nodded. Realization dawning. “What about you?” I asked. “We can’t teleport.”

Ahasuerus blew out a loud breath, “ I had my chance, Juliet… You have the opportunity to start over. It is probably all I thought about… To make you understand what I was fighting for.”

“I understand now.”

He laughed, “Kidnap someone and steal the power.”

“Sure, I’ll ask Ira to volunteer,” the two older men laughed. I kissed Marcus quickly and closed my eyes to end the timeline.

I didn’t feel sickly at all and emotionally much better about our future. Although the tears didn’t want to stop—aimlessly rolling down my cheek… If I couldn’t go back, it changed everything… I was prepared for the consequences, but now… Head first, I wanted to run into a wall—again.

I wiped a sleeve over my eyes and nudged Marcus to see if he was okay. He wanted me to write; I did, laughing for the first time at how we were contacting each other.

Marcus [ Safe? ]

I fell back into the sand, and my tears dropped down my temple. He only cared about me… He forced me to write again. I sat up, ready.

Marcus [ 1 nudge for yes ] Two for no. What a good idea!

I nudged gently once.

Marcus [ I love you, Julie ] For some reason, with all the time that’s passed for me, the endearment meant more to me now. It was his way to convey so much. We can learn to love again…

Still—accepting reality!? How boring.