Flight (5 page)

There is only one door on this level. And I begin pounding on it until I hear the locks disengage and Tier is staring at me.

"Junco, what the hell are ya–"

I push past him. "I realize I'm not allowed to see you, so where the fuck is Tessen? Tessen?" I scream it.

"Calm down, Juncs. What's the problem?"

I shake my head as I try to catch my breath. "Lucan and Sera are fighting at the house, and he left me alone in this white room where a mutant was going to attack me and–"

Lucan appears in the living room with us. "That's enough, Junco."

I stare at Lucan open-mouthed and look around. Braun, Annun, Merkar, Pike, three other guys whose names I still don't know, and Tessen are all staring at me.

"You're not authorized to talk about that here. Only Tier and Braun have clearance for this information."

I take a deep breath and swallow, looking up to Tier. "Do something."

Tier just scratches his neck and looks from his team to Lucan. "Junco, you can't be here. We're under orders."

"Orders? Fuck the orders! I said he took me to a place with–"

"–mutants!" I'm back in the Presidential house and Sera has me by the arm. She leads me over to the couch and sits me down, cradling me in her arms like a mother. Then she leans down into my ear and whispers. "I'm not your mother, Junco. But I will be nice to you right now because Lucan is being so mean."

I push her off. "Fuck you, Sera. I don't need your pity."

Lucan is not with us, so I can only assume he's busy threatening Tier's team about repeating what I just said in front of them. I get up and walk over to a window and wait for him to reappear. It takes a while, but he finally shows up looking normal and acting calm. Sera has disappeared.

Standing at the window, waiting, I watch him as he takes a seat on the couch once again. We stare at each other for a few seconds, his eyes narrowing a bit, before he finally speaks. "You are finished now?"

I sit down on the nearest chair, then pull my knees up to my chest.

He lets out a deep breath. "There was no reason to go to Tier, Junco. I'm still the same person now as I was yesterday. You have him very upset and we don't need this drama right before a critical mission."

I shake my head at him, but I hold my tongue. The words I want to say right now would probably get me in more trouble.

"You can call me whatever you want, demon, Lucan, Archer, angel, devil, whatever. It's all the same. It's not my fault your father gave you a God and that religion calls me evil."

"Why do you hide it then? Is this what I look like in real life? I don't understand."

"I don't hide it, Junco. And you and I are not the same beings, you don't have an angry form. That demon is my angry form. I was furious with the Archer of Clutch, he
pissed me off
with those children he keeps producing. That thing you saw, Junco? That was an avian child using the genetics we have left. It was not a mutant, that is what we have become."

I pull my hands up to either side of my head to block the words and then I wait.

"They are not even sentient. They are not anything but animal. This is the state of our gene pool. And I apologize for scaring you, it was wrong. But now you understand what it is you are doing when you go back to Earth and get the rest of the Seven."

I wait it out as my mind races. That's their gene pool. That creature. I shudder with revulsion and try to get the image of it hurtling through the air from my memory. Of course, that's pointless. I have perfect recall and that fucking thing will be with me for the rest of my life.

"Junco?"

I snap back to him. "Yeah."

"Your feelings about this would be appreciated."

I sit and think for a minute. I don't really care what he looks like, that's not important. And as far as what he is, well, I don't even know what I am, so who am I to judge what he might be. I can't process it right now.

I get up and go sit next to him on the couch. "I don't miss the obvious, ya know. I'm just not interested in knowing certain things. Once it gets in here," I tap my head, "it never leaves, Lucan. It's there for good. So, if it makes my life more complicated and I don't need it to survive at the moment, then I ignore it and let the answers come to me in their own time. I'm extraordinarily patient in that respect."

I look up at him to see his expression. It's thoughtful. "I don't know what to think about all this, Lucan. I only wanted some freaking orange juice. I don't want to know all this stuff about you guys and I don't want to talk about it, or ask questions, or think about what it means." I exhale and shake my head. "I really don't."

"Well, you're a major player in the future of the Avian race, so it's your duty to know all this stuff, Junco. The time for running away is past now. You must stand up, accept what is true, and move forward."

I stay silent. I don't want to see the truth, I just don't.

"Did you hear my words, Junco?"

"Yes."

"And your response is?"

Just when he's getting impatient and about to say something I answer. "It never ends well, Lucan. Never." I search out his eyes and suddenly all the pushed-down pain just under the surface is desperately trying to come back up. "I'm tired."

He puts his arm around me and laughs. "Me too, Junco. But if we rest now, we lose. I've come too far to lose. And so have you." He tips my chin up so I am forced to see him as he speaks. "You've come too far. Either you take your stand or it all becomes meaningless."

I shake my head so his fingers lose their grip on my chin. "Yeah, I get it."

"Maybe you should spend the evening with Esta?"

I don't answer, but he pauses to think it through. "Yes, I'll have Ryse take you over to her when he has time. She's calm and rational," he looks down at me, "and can explain things better."

I don't mind seeing Esta, I think we have a lot more in common than I thought at first, but I hesitate. "I want to see Tier."

"I told him he could walk you to the training room tomorrow," he checks his vision screen, "today. He'll be here soon and you've gotten him all riled up, Junco. Be calm when you see him. And let's get rid of the girls today, we're out of time. Threaten to stun them with pulse rifles and then run fifty laps in the training room. That should put an end to it."

"What if they all agree to be stunned?"

He smiles. "They won't. Keep the ones who agree." He looks down at me and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Don't really shoot them, Junco. We're not going to do that anymore."

I let out a huff. "Sure, now you change the policy. It's a good thing you warned me," I say, looking at him as I get up, "because I totally would've shot them."

He shakes his head at me as I go back upstairs to get ready for the day.

I can hear them yelling as soon as I leave my room. And I'm a half-hour early. I jog down the hallway to the stairs and hop down, not taking care this time, and the steps sway wildly as I descend. They are in the living room and I burst in on them mid-argument.

Tier is poking Lucan's chest with a finger and I raise my eyebrows at this. "– that was not what we discussed. This is over now, Lucan."

Lucan nods to me and Tier turns. "Let's go, Junco, yer coming home with me." He takes my hand but my feet are planted to the floor.

"Wait, what's going on?"

Tier's eyes glow bright green and Lucan just stands there. "He was angry in this house with ya here, that is inexcusable, Junco. Yer not staying."

I resist again and take Tier's other hand. "He didn't do anything to me, Tier."

Tier shakes his head. "Ya have no idea, Junco. None. That being is forbidden." He looks over to Lucan now. "How many other times has it happened? Do you guys flip into it all the time, whenever ya get a little pissed off?"

He's right. I have no idea what they're talking about.

"Ya took her to the cages, ya left her there, and she felt so threatened that she had her weapon out and sliced through the couch as ya brought her back?"

He's enraged and there is no way I'll be able to defuse that anger.

Lucan exhales and smiles. "Tier, I assure you, she's far more dangerous to me than I am to her. I would never–"

"You'd never turn in front of her, that's what ya told me! But it happened!"

"She stays, Tier."

"No, she doesn't!"

Lucan shakes his head. "It's only for a few days, you have my word, Tier. It will not–"

Tier growls at him. "It will not, yer right. It will not, Lucan."

"I give you my word, Tier. It will not happen again. She had to see the children sooner or later, so it is done now. One less thing to do."

Tier pulls on my hand again and I follow him towards the elevator.

He punches the call button and the doors open.

"Wait, Junco." Lucan walks up next to me. "I have something for you."

I turn and he hands me a drink canister and then Tier pulls me into the elevator and the doors close. He exhales and raises his eyebrows at me. "Sorry."

"Are you allowed to talk to him that way?"

Tier huffs. "What's he gonna do? Kill me?"

"That's not funny."

He shrugs and gives me half a smile. "What's in the cup?"

I take a sip and laugh. "Orange juice."

"You can stay, he won't do it again."

"They why all the posturing?"

"Ya give him a little, Junco – he'll take it all from ya. Ya can't do that with him. He'll just keep asking and asking. Believe me, I know how it goes. That being is forbidden. They are not allowed to show us their rage. It's bad enough what he did ta ya, taking ya to the clutch like that. But ta do it out of anger makes it so much worse."

"OK, whatever. I don't want to talk about it anymore."

Tier calms himself with a deep breath. "Ready to go shoot the girls?"

"Lucan says I can't really shoot them."

"Well, maybe they'll get lippy and ya can justify one or two?"

"Nah, besides, I want Tessen to make it, let's not scare her."

He bumps up against my shoulder. "Tessen better make it, she's on my team. Ya can't cut her."

"I thought playing favorites was forbidden?"

He laughs loudly at this, a guffaw almost. "Junco – where the fuck do ya live?" He shakes his head at me. "The President is falling all over himself to make you happy, and yer telling me there's no favorites? He's gifted me so much shit I've got more power than most of the Archers under him. Favoritism is alive and well in the Avian world. And we like Tessen, right?"

I nod as I think about what he just admitted to me. "Yes, I like her."

"It's settled. Go in there and threaten the shit out of them, wink at the ones ya like and let the others walk out."

"Fuck, Tier. Life would've been so much easier with you in charge during Fledge. Ashur was so–"

"Ashur is a straight-backed piker, Junco. He's Mr. Follow-the-rules. Always has been. Don't get me wrong, when ya got me as yer captain, the XO had better be as rigid as he is, otherwise it'll never work."

"So what's that say about Braun?"

He shrugs. "Well, ya can't have it perfect all the time. Braun is very good at what he does. Munitions, strategy, fighting – that sort of thing. But we're too much alike to be one and two. Besides, we'll be back together next week. All nine of us. I'll be captain, Ashur will be XO, Ryse will be up and you'll be nine. And that will be perfection."

The doors open and we exit onto the training floor. "What about when we come back, what happens to your other team?"

He pushes me up against the wall and his hands slip to my waist. "We'll worry about that when it happens, Junco. Don't get ahead of yerself, it never works out the way you plan, so learn to let it go."

I look up at him and smile. "God, I love you. You say all the right things."

He leans down and kisses me, his hands sliding behind to my back, and I tilt my head at his touch. "I love ya too, Junco. Don't ya ever forget that."

He squeezes my hand and walks off to the stairs to find his own training room. People say hi to him and I watch how attitudes change as he passes. How some avoid him, some look for his attention, and some bask in his glow. I stand there for a minute, just soaking up what's left of his presence. Basking in his glow.

Chapter Four

Ashur enters the training room just as I am about to address the shitty line-up of girls against the wall. He's got the whole team with him and each of them has a plasma rifle.

He waves me over and I glare at the girls from across the room as Ashur and I talk. "So, where do you want to eat lunch, Junco?"

I lean in conspiratorially and whisper. "I'm supposed to hang out with Esta and Ryse today, I think. Lucan wants Esta to teach me something about the myths."

Ash looks over at the girls and shakes his head. I see a few of them actually step back in fear and turn so they can't see me smile.