Chapter 30
Softness all around me. I was buried in a pile of down comforters mom had washed and hung on the line, stacked on my bed so I could burrow into them like a gopher down a hole. The sheets smelled of sunshine and fresh air, newly mown grass and cinnamon apples.
I licked my lips. They were so dry that my mouth stuck to my upper lip. I swallowed. My throat hurt as if I‘d been screaming at the top of my lungs cheering on our team at the game. My chest hurt in a dull way, matching the throbs in my arm and wrist. I must have been dropped kicked in the goal zone or somebody whacked me with their stick.
"Mom? Can I have some Tylenol? Glass of Pepsi?" I called out in a whine and a hand helped me to sit up. Hairy. I tried to open my eyes; they were covered with a film so that all I could see were vague gray shapes. A woman stood near my bedside with several men. Several short men that made my heart race as if there stood deadly enemies.
"Dad?" My voice quivered in total fear and panic.
"Jade?" That was Murphy‘s voice and that helped to calm me.
"Murph? Where‘s Mom, Dad? What happened? Did I get smashed at the game?" Then, "I‘m really thirsty. Can I have a drink? MOM?"
He picked up a cold cup with a straw and guided it to my mouth. I sucked icy water until it was all gone. "What do you remember last, Jade?"
I hesitated. "What? I have a concussion? It must have been some game. Did we win?"
"You didn‘t hit your head as far as we know," he answered carefully. "Tell me, what was the last tithing you remember doing?"
"Taking the bus home from soccer practice on Wednesday. The 13th. Dad was working the Ellis case. You know, you were helping on the phone tips."
"Jade, that was six months ago."
"Six months!" I dropped the cup, lucky that it was nearly empty. "I‘ve lost six months!"
"Jade, do you remember Zyperia? Zip? Captain Kiannyn? The Elders and the Tree?"
I stared at him, my stomach dropping as the memories filtered back. "A tree? A big tree that grows in the lobby of a…hotel? I dreamt of a giant tree. It‘s all running through my head. I remember it kept me from going insane when…those things---tortured me."
"The doctors said you‘d been tortured. Who, the Druz?"
I stared at the ceiling as I realized that both my parents were dead. Killed by the Colonel‘s men and indirectly by the Druz. "No. The NSA Colonel. He‘s part of the Druz now.
He‘s some kind of hybrid alliance between human and…them." I was exhausted, could barely keep my eyes open and found myself mumbling incoherently as my attention wandered off. All I wanted to do was forget again. To sleep. They told me to go to sleep.
"Can‘t," I mumbled. "He can track me. Satellite bug. Come for me."
"You‘re safe here, Jade. You‘re on Celene, not Earth," Murph soothed and that made me even more paranoid. I tried to sit up but just couldn‘t manage as waves of dark fuzziness pulled me under.
*******
Kisses woke me the second time. At first, I thought a fly had landed on my face and swatted at it, yiked as my broken hand protested along with the rest of my abused muscles. I heard a girl‘s laugh and the rough tones of a man‘s voice. I said hello in a strained reply and asked if it was Murphy.
"Wake up, sleepy head," he was amused. "Your girlfriend tried to make you into Sleeping Beauty but I told her you were too ugly."
"Not as ugly as your mug," I snapped and sat up. I moved slowly, found my entire body was one giant bruise especially where the pacemaker had been inserted and removed. Exploring the site, I found fresh 4x4 patches and stitches underneath.
"Do you still remember what happened, Jade?" He asked.
"I do now. Vaguely. They hurt me, both Druz and the Colonel. He‘s some kind of…liaison to the Druz, connected to their leader. He wants the Tree, the Coin and me."
"Does he know how to reach you?" Zip asked holding my fingers. I rubbed hers, noting the softened texture of her skin. No hair. Must have been Murphy‘s hairy hands to which I‘d awakened.
"I think so. He knows what the Druz know. And he knows America n technology."
"We‘re a little beyond that now, Jadewyn. With our new allies," Murphy argued. "How can he access this? "
"He doesn‘t have to. I‘m drawn to Earth as soon as I invoke the coin and if he accesses the Druz knowledge, he knows he can call me back by my blood."
"Can‘t you cut his string or something?"
I shrugged, winced as it pulled on injured muscles. "I tried that with the Druz. I sent them to Hell, wherever that is and some of them wound up in Iraq on the battlefield aligned with human. Some of them merged like Brightarm, he‘s more than human, with Druz memories and knowledge. Once he learns to separate and use them, I‘m in deep shit."
"Well‘ let‘s take him out now," Murphy suggested and the Captain agreed.
"He‘s NSA or something, Murphy. Good luck."
"You‘re not going back, then. You can stay here."
"Murph, you have to go back. You have a wife, a family to fight for and a life," I said.
"You can‘t go back unless I take you."
"Someone else can do it."
"No," I shook my head. "No one else can, now. The Gates are all closed until I open them." He was silent.