After Impact: After Impact Trilogy, Book 1 (11 page)

The entire audience gasped in unison. Avalon’s mouth hung open. She glanced back towards Ilium who stood paralyzed in his spot with his jaw tight. Avalon turned to face Raleigh who wore a grin and gave her hand a squeeze of reassurance. All eyes were on her. Avalon’s lips began to move and she said “Yes.” Kael smiled and the crowd erupted with cheer. Avalon’s eyes glanced towards the President’s unreadable face.

Then Avalon’s gaze fell towards Ilium. The only person who did not clap. As the cheers slowed down, the President called for their attention.

“Now it is time for Ilium to make his choice,” the President said. Even though everyone knew only one choice was left.

Ilium stepped towards Raleigh and asked her to be his match. Of course, she answered yes. The audience cheered, but it was much softer and more obligatory than when Kael made his choice.

The President announced with a royal air, “Today is a day of celebration. Thank you for your cooperation and good luck.”

Avalon and Ilium were supposed to be happy.
But why did my stomach sink when he held hands with Raleigh?

Avalon stood, frozen in a moment in time. Kael still stood smiling in front of her, an Accipio
. Isn’t this what I wanted? To belong?
An Accipio pairing would make her an Accipio. It would mean she would no longer have to physically work with the others in her computer lab and reduced working hours overall. Instead, she would be a manager, eating synthetic meat behind closed doors, simply reading over reports every so often.

However, something burned within her at the thought of Ilium being with another girl. True enough, she had no reason to dislike her, but she was still upset.

A hand rested on her shoulder. As she turned around she was face to face with Elena who was grinning, but not friendly. No, this smile was sinister. Elena’s grip tightened around Avalon’s shoulder as she shouted, “Congratulations!” to her and then leaned in to embrace her in a hug.

As Elena hugged her, she whispered, “You think you have won by taking Kael, but this has just begun.”

When Elena stepped back from the embrace, she once again smiled like they were the best of friends as she walked away with Lananias.

Avalon took two steps towards Elena when Kael grabbed her arm.

Turning her head, she saw him offering a glass.

“Toast?” Kael asked with a smile.

To celebrate the night, a distilled substance made from a certain fungus was served in tall glasses. It bubbled in her glass as it turned different colors— first purple and then red.

Avalon nodded her head, and took the glass. They sipped in unison.

Avalon coughed a bit.

“First time?” Kael asked with a wink.

Avalon’s cheeks burned as she nodded her head.

“You’ll get used to it,” he assured her with a smirk.

Avalon caught sight of a few Accipio girls who stole glances her way. Avalon deliberately avoided Skylar’s gaze.

“Kael…I must ask you something. I know it is not the best time, but Elena seems
very
interested in you. Did you two have a fling?”

Kael took another sip of his drink as he stared directly ahead.

“Does it matter? I chose you,” he said.

Yes it matters. Just like who Ilium chose tonight mattered. Is Ilium happy with Raleigh? Does he really like her?

Why couldn’t the computer find an adequate mate for me?
If anyone found out at this stage of the game, she would really be in trouble. That is probably why the computer had difficulty placing her.

Music began to play, piped through the speakers, and the lights were dimmed. People danced. Kael grabbed Avalon by the waist.

Kael kept in perfect tune to the music. Avalon was also graceful from her many years of classical dance training. Yet, she kept turning her head desperately searching for Ilium.

“Am I boring you?” Kael asked.

“No, not at all,” Avalon answered.

“Well, you keep turning your head like you want to dance with someone else.”

“I am sorry, I am sure I am being clumsy.”

“No, you are actually quite good,” he answered.

And then she caught a glimpse of him in the corner. Both he and Raleigh were sipping on tonic. However, Raleigh’s glass was still nearly full, while Ilium had emptied his.
What could that mean? Does that mean he is unhappy? Or could it also mean he is very happy?

Someone else tapped on her shoulder. Turning around, she was face to face with the President.

“Hello my dear,” he said, extending a hand.

She shook it.

The President placed his hand on Kael’s shoulder. “I am so glad that my son chose you. Out of everyone here, I always said you had the most potential.”

“Why, thank you,” Avalon said.
Wait,
isn’t that something a Southern Belle would say?

“You two carry on. I just wanted you to know that if you ever need anything, you can call on me,” he said before walking away.

After a few more rounds of dancing, the speaker came on and said, “That is all for tonight. Lights out in fifteen minutes.”

“Aw, man,” people said.

“Till next time,” Kael said.

Avalon proffered a weak smile and walked away back towards her dorm.

She couldn’t stand the thought of Ilium being with another girl anymore. She had to speak to him. So she videomessaged him.

“Hey!” he said, his voice a bit slurry.

“Hey. I need to speak with you.”

“OK. I will be over in ten minutes.” He said.

Avalon breathed a sigh of relief. Ten minutes passed. Fifteen minutes. Then thirty minutes passed. Avalon buzzed his smartwatch. It rung and rung.
Where is he? Why isn’t he picking up?

“Hi, it’s Ilium. Leave a message at the beep,” his voicemail said.

Frustrated, Avalon decided to just hop into bed and try to sleep. Maybe she could talk to him in the morning.

That’s when someone knocked at the door.

Swinging her legs out of her bed capsule, she hopped down and ran to the door. “Ilium!”

“Yep,” he said nonchalantly.

“Ilium, did you get my messages? I tried reaching you. Why are you so late?”

“Well…” he said sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders. A red hickey on his neck caught Avalon’s attention.

“Ilium!” Avalon shouted angrily.

Ilium perked up “What?”

“Did you….?” Avalon asked, too afraid to finish the sentence.

“O, No…no we didn’t,” he answered.

Avalon breathed a sigh of relief.
Wait why should I care what he does now? He is matched to someone else. And so am I.
“Well listen. I have a theory.”

“You and your theories,” Ilium said, rolling his eyes.

Avalon squinted at him. “Should we have this talk in the morning?”

Ilium ran his hands through his hair. “Probably. If you want me to remember it.”

“Fine,” Avalon said, crossing her arms across her chest.

Ilium’s smartwatch buzzed and Avalon’s attention moved towards it.

“Who is it?” Avalon asked, curiosity piqued and with a slight irritation to her voice.

“Raleigh,” Ilium said with a coy smile.

Avalon’s eyes burned with anger.

“Why want you admit it?” Ilium asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Admit what?”

With his eyes locked on hers, Ilium moved closer. “That you fancy me. That you were sad tonight with the matches.”

Avalon’s heart began to pound. They had been matched. She could not defy match orders, so there was no point in admitting anything.

“I will admit no such thing. You and I are strictly frie—”

Ilium’s lips locked on to hers, cutting off her sentence. She melted under his embrace, his tender and yet urgent kisses. He grabbed her waist firmly and she gasped under the strength she didn’t know he possessed. A dam burst inside of her and she searched for his tongue and desperately kissed back. So many emotions flooded her body as her skin came alive and she tangled her fingers around his dark hair. He pressed his body tighter against her and his hands traced up and down her back before they grabbed the bottom of her shirt.

That’s when she backed away with slow reluctant steps.

“What happened? Was I too much?” Ilium asked, his face full of concern.

Avalon shook her head. “It’s not that. It’s that you have Raleigh now. Remember?”

Ilium nodded his head slowly. “You’re right. We shouldn’t do this,” he said. But his eyes betray his emotions.

Avalon bit the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from rushing right back up to him and resuming their passionate embrace.

“It’s okay. I am sure it is just the excitement of everything. Rest up, and we will talk in the morning.”

After Ilium left the room, Avalon slid down the back of the door and sat on the floor. Undeniable electricity passed between them, and with his absence the air around her grew colder. His touch made her feel safe and warm. But she didn’t want to have half of Ilium ,which is all she would ever have, since he was matched to Raleigh. Though she wished Ilium had reached her first for Match Day, he didn’t. Now she was assigned to Kael, and he was assigned to Raleigh. She might not like it, but she would have to accept it. Besides being a playboy, Kael wasn’t the worst choice the AI could have made.

This time, sleep came easily to Avalon as she dreamt of Ilium’s lips and body pressed up against hers.

When Avalon woke up the next morning, a hurricane of emotions flooded her body as she remembered Ilium’s touch, the way it made her heart race, and his wonderful eyes which were at once sad and yet warm. Involuntarily, she ran the tips of her fingers across her lips as she recalled how wonderful his lips were.
I told him I would call him in the morning!

Quickly, she got ready and told Ilium to meet her in the storage room before work via videomessage.

“Hey!” Avalon said as he entered the storage room.

“Hi,” Ilium said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “I think I embarrassed myself last night.”

“No, it is alright.”

“Well, still. I apologize.”

“It’s accepted,” Avalon said.

“So, why do you need to talk to me?”

“Well, you know how you said you ran analysis over a lot of people’s blood when they woke up?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you run an analysis on mine?”

Ilium shook his head. “Now that you mention it, I didn’t. Since your pod opened up so unexpectedly, I forgot to. I barely remembered to give you the universal shot.”

“Exactly.” Avalon took a deep breath and said, “I want you to analyze my blood.”

“You? The one deathly afraid of needles?” Ilium chuckled.

“Yes.”

“Alright. Come over to the infirmary after work and we will do that.”

At work, everyone talked about Match Day and who they matched up with. Xin kept silent on the issue, but Skylar did not.

“Well…well.” Skylar said. “Should I curtsy or bow to you now?”

Avalon turned towards Skylar and narrowed her eyes. “Look Skylar. I don’t want an argument over some silly nonsense like who we are matched with. I am thinking about more important things. I suggest you remember what you first told me when I woke up. That Match Day is not based on a capricious feeling like love and that this is all about the survival of the species. So get back to work. You have already made two mistakes today.”

Skylar’s mouth hung open before she gradually shut it. A muscle twitched in Skylar’s jaw like she wanted to say something back, but she turned away and didn’t say anything more on the topic.

“Besides, I am concerned about Brody right now,” Avalon said to the air.

After a moment of silence, Skylar asked into the air, “How is he?”

Doesn’t she know already?
“Haven’t you visited him?”

Skylar grimaced, revealing the answer to be no.

Avalon shook her head.
What is wrong with these people? We work together every day. You would think they would have the decency to check on him. No wonder people are able to go missing and all that happens are a few rumors, and then back to business as usual. I wonder if in our psych evals they also checked for people who had an usually high level of submissiveness and social apathy.

Avalon looked Skylar in the eyes and said, “He still isn’t doing well.”

Ilium removed a blood sample from Avalon later that day. As he procured it, she gazed into his bright whirlpool eyes which threatened to pull her in with no return. Taking a big breath, Avalon asked, “So, do you really like Raleigh?”

“She’s a nice enough girl,” he said with a shrug.

“Nice enough. What does that mean?” Avalon asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

“It means she is a nice person. Considering the situation we all found ourselves in. We have always been friends so we share similar interests.”

Avalon could sense the word but. So she asked it. “But?”

“But what?”

“It seems you have more to say,” she said.

“What do you want me to say?” Ilium asked, turning his gaze back on her. Her stomach did multiple flips. “What about you and Kael? Bet you guys get along really well,” Ilium said.

Fishing.
“Yeah we get along.”
We did get along—but he was no Ilium. I did not get that strange surge of comfort from him.

“Good,” he answered.
This is awkward.

“
What if the AI isn’t perfect? What if it makes mistakes?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes. Yes it does matter.”

“Avalon, your train of thought can only lead to heartache for us both.”

“So you know what I am about to say?” Avalon asked.

“Yes,” Ilium answered.

“Well, I am going to say it anyways. The computer may not be matching us up. I suspect it has help. Help in the form of a human.”

“Like the President?”

“Precisely.”

“Even if that were true, there isn’t really anything we can do about it,” Ilium said.

“There is always something we can do. You know that better than anyone,” Avalon answered.

“Why would the President match people up?” Ilium asked.

“Why does he do anything? Additional control. I am not saying he interfered with everyone’s results… Just maybe ours.”

“What does he stand to gain by orchestrating a match between you and Kael?”

“Maybe some political clout? I mean as a lower class Fulcio matching up with an upper class Accipio I would imagine it brings some hope to the habitat.”

“Does anyone here look like they need hope?”

“Everyone here looks like they need hope. Are you kidding me?” Avalon asked.

“But no one is really making complaints. So I don’t understand where you are going with this.”

“I don’t either. But it doesn’t feel right. My being matched with Kael. Does it feel right that you were matched with Raleigh?”

Ilium turned his gaze away and said, “Again, at this point it doesn’t matter what either of us feels like. In the end we are all pawns in this game of his.”

“Yes…but what I am trying to figure out is what game is he playing?”