By Rebecka Jones, Staff Writer
Amias’ silver eyes were as wide as saucers. His lips parted, eyebrows shooting up behind his hair. Even the silky black locks pooling over his face couldn’t hide his horror from what Nova had told him.
“She knows?” He asked slowly, as if he weren’t sure the words could be true. Nova could hardly believe it herself. She’d been training for several days while keeping Amias safely hidden in her cave…at least, she’d thought he was safely hidden.
After her conversation with the Chieftess, she felt a mix of horror, hopelessness, and relief. She was horrified that the Chieftess found out and could potentially lock her up in those suffocating dungeons or sentence her to an even worse fate. Her heart plummeted at the thought of what her betrayal would mean to the Alaptera, to her dear friend Adira.
She’d thought back to her father. His kind blue eyes and soft smile would only be a faded memory if she were to be imprisoned here.
However, she felt a hint of relief because the Chieftess hadn’t reacted the way she had expected. Instead of looking aggrieved or calling the guards to arrest Nova, she had smiled and walked away as if they had finished a friendly conversation. But that relief was short-lived, as Nova now wondered if her punishment was yet to come.
Suddenly, the memory of digging out of Amias’ prison cell came rolling back to her. There hadn’t been any guards down there, and now it all made sense – the Chieftess must have called them off to give Nova false hope. But why not arrest her on the spot?
She didn’t think her heart could drop any further – it seemed to be all the way in her stomach now. A wave of nausea rolled over her, and she had to swallow to keep her lunch down.
“She does,” Nova finally replied, though her words came out as a whisper.
Amias ran his fingers through his hair and looked up at the cave’s ceiling. “Well, that is certainly a problem.” Nova had to fight the urge to hit him for uttering such an understatement when their very lives could be on the line. But, she remained silent, and Amias eventually continued, “Are you sure she knows? Besides her comment about you letting humans take advantage of you, does she really know anything else? She can’t possibly know our plan to go back to Caligo to see your father, right?”
She thought this over. The Chieftess had only hinted to Nova’s partnership with Amias, but that didn’t mean the creature wasn’t aware of everything else.
“She’d have to be a fool to be ignorant of our plan,” Nova said. “It makes sense that I would break you out to go see my father, especially since your mission was to take me home to him. It’s only a matter of time before she finds where we are and stops us.”
Amias began to pace around the campfire in the center of the cave, his arms crossed. “I don’t want to downplay your worries, because it is very much a possibility she knows everything and will punish us,” he explained. “But what if she isn’t sure you’re the traitor?”
Nova flinched at the word. She really was a traitor now, wasn’t she? She was betraying the belief that Adira had built into her all these years… and betraying her friend. The thought made her eyes sting, but she forced the tears away and looked up at Amias. “What do you mean?”
“I wonder if she saw you in the dungeons herself, or if she’s making assumptions based on probable reasons,” he explained, the light from the fire illuminating his chiseled features and piercing eyes. “It makes sense you would help me so we could escape together, but she never saw you break me out of the dungeons and bring me here. Besides, you told me she doesn’t know this cave exists.”
“Even if that’s true, she will find proof of my betrayal. She rules the forest and the fields, so she will find us too. My friend will also get the truth out of me. I can never hide anything from her,” Nova responded, her voice wavering. She cleared her throat, but that did nothing to stop the guilt and sorrow.
Amias sighed, his arms falling to his sides. “Then we need to leave now.”
Nova stilled. “Now?”
“You’re stronger now…your power has grown, hasn’t it?”
She looked at her trembling hands. “Yes, but…” she trailed off, hating herself for betraying the colony but also for hesitating when she finally had the chance to see her father. She couldn’t even make up her mind. What was wrong with her? “I can’t just leave all of a sudden. I need to see this place one last time and talk to Adira. And I…” she shut her mouth, realizing how pathetic she sounded.
She stared at the ground as silence settled over them, the only sound coming from the crackling fire. Nova prepared for Amias to scoff at her—to tell her the Alaptera weren’t worth it and she should forget them all. She prepared for him to react as all humans would: heartlessly and selfishly, just as Adira taught her and as she experienced for herself five years ago on Caligo.
Suddenly, she felt his presence right in front of her. Her arms grew warm and electrified when his hands made contact with her skin, and she shot her head up to see him staring down at her, a soft grin on his face.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” he said in a voice so low Nova felt the rumble in her bones. “Take your time. I know this place must mean a great deal to you, so I understand if you need a moment to breathe.”
The warmth in her arms slowly crept up her neck and onto her face as she held Amias’ gaze. His hands were touching her arms so gently, but his eyes were looking into hers with such intensity it made her heart stutter. She almost forgot she was inside this cave on the planet Apricus. She almost forgot she was about to say goodbye to her friends and the home she had made these past five years. She almost forgot she was betraying everything they stood for. Almost.
The moment was gone too soon, and they backed away from each other. Nova found herself tucking her long hair behind her ear without realizing, and she looked up ever so slightly to find Amias staring at the cave wall and rubbing the back of his neck as if his mind were elsewhere.
Whatever she felt pass through them, he had felt it too. She didn’t know why that thought brought a small smile onto her face.
What was happening to her?
She shook the smile from her face and finally recovered her voice. “Thank you.”
Amias’ gaze met hers again as he grinned and nodded slowly. “Of course. I’ll be here when you’re ready to leave.” His face suddenly filled with worry. “Although, please do come back soon. I’m not sure how much longer we have until the Chieftess finds out we’re here.”
“I promise I won’t be long. Give me an hour…or two.”
Amias nodded again, and she turned to leave. As she stepped out into the fading sunlight of Apricus, she discovered she couldn’t concentrate on the yellow fields and plains or the golden rivers she had come so familiar with. Instead, she found herself thinking about those poignant silver eyes and playful smile. Above all, she was thinking about the fact that a human had held her so gently, like she was precious, yet looked at her like she was powerful and worthy.
The only human who had ever regarded her so highly was her father, but something about that moment felt different. Her fingers felt tingly, her stomach was fluttering, her heart was pounding. She felt wanted. Powerful. More powerful than when she used her abilities.
She couldn’t begin to comprehend it all, but she thought it was better to set the moment aside and focus on her next task anyways.
Nova thought she would have been lying beside the plumes of the fields and enjoying the refreshing breeze pressing against her face. She thought she would be wandering the forest and taking in the wildlife one last time. She imagined herself hiking in the canyons and standing in awe of its expanse.
She didn’t expect to find herself walking back to the Great Tree, trekking up the spiral staircase, and knocking on Adira’s door.
There was no response, so Nova called out. “Adira, it’s Nova. I want to talk with you.”
After another moment of silence. She noticed there was no light coming from the crack underneath the door, so her friend had to be gone. Alaptera barely slept, so the possibility of Adira being asleep was ruled out.
Nova leaned against the door and sighed, trying to think of where her friend could be at this hour. Eating at the mess hall? Training with other Alaptera in the courtyard? In the Chieftess’ chambers being told Nova was a traitor? She sure hoped not. She was on edge at the possibility the Chieftess knew her plan and would potentially inform the guards.
She looked down the corridor anxiously, hoping all the guards were occupied elsewhere. She only wanted to see Adira one last time before she left, but the silence behind the door seemed to ruin every chance she thought she had.
Suddenly the door creaked open, and Nova stumbled into the empty room. She fell to the ground with an “oof” before standing up quickly and rubbing her bruised knees, taking in the darkened lamp and vacant hammock. There was no sign of Adira, which made Nova’s skin crawl.
A light breeze tugged at Nova’s hair, and she turned her head towards the small, circular window that opened up to a brightly-lit night. She could see stars twinkling and the triplet moons lined up vertically above the forest.
Approaching the window, she felt another gust of chilly air press against her face. She stuck her head out and breathed in the beautiful night of Apricus. Possibly her last night…assuming she’s unwelcome after her departure.
She tried to shake away those thoughts, looking left and right but finding no signs of her friend. Her head jerked upward at the sound of flapping wings in the silent night. She caught a flash of ruby disappearing into the crown of the Great Tree.
Nova was bounding up the spiral staircase in seconds. Her heart was thumping against her ribcage, but she felt a rush of energy rather than exhaustion, and she mentally thanked Adira for all the training she’d given her.
She made it to the top of the staircase, where there was an opening to the crown of the Tree. The slight chill of the night air infested Nova’s skin with goosebumps as she stepped out onto the tree crotch. One of the Great Tree’s large branches extended about a hundred feet in front of her. The branch was about fifty feet in width, but she still felt a rush of nerves in her chest as she made her way across.
From here, Nova could see Adira perched at the end of the gigantic branch, her friend staring up at the night sky. The Alaptera’s wings were tucked at her sides, her ears perked upward. She must have heard Nova approaching because her left ear twitched backward.
“You don’t come up here often,” Nova commented when she’d made it to her friend. Adira rarely flew to high places – Nova recalled her explaining that she preferred the comfort and stability of the surface. “What’s the occasion?”
Adira didn’t break her gaze with the stars. “I thought I’d experience something new,” she said lightly. “The view is quite beautiful up here.”
Nova wanted to move closer to her friend, but the possibility of plummeting to her death kept her away. Instead, she sat a few feet from the edge and laid down on the bark, its coolness making her shudder. She stared up at the canopy of leaves; she could still see the stars twinkling through the small openings in the canopy. The sight was peaceful, paired with the faint rustling of the leaves and light chirps from night bugs.
She heard movement beside her and turned her head to see Adira lying beside her, also staring up at the sky. It was a long moment of silence before the creature spoke. “You don’t normally luxuriate up here, either. What made you come?”
Nova’s chest filled with heaviness and the sting returned to her eyes. In only a couple hours, she would be leaving with Amias to her home planet, and she might not come back after her betrayal. She would be saying goodbye to the place she’d made her home and to the friends she’d made during her time here. She’s saying goodbye to her best friend of all, but she knew that Adria wouldn’t understand why she was working with a human.
Nova swallowed the lump in her throat. “I wanted to see my best friend,” she said. It was the truth.
Adira turned her head and faced Nova, their eyes locking. Nova continued before the tears burst out of her. “With all my training and the soldier landing on our planet, I feel like we haven’t had the chance to talk. About anything…not related to training,” she chuckled lightly. Her friend’s eyes filled with light as a smile spread across her face, and the sight warmed Nova’s chest.
“It would be refreshing to talk about other things,” she agreed. Her chest rose then fell as she took a deep breath. “Training has taken up so much of my time. It’s exhausting. And, believe it or not, I’m tired of critiquing and yelling at people to do things right.” She shut her eyes. “I apologize, that’s related to training. What I’m trying to say is that I’m ready to spend time with you more as a friend than as a trainer.”
Nova smiled widely, but her heart was breaking into a million pieces. Just when they were agreeing to spend more time together as friends, she was leaving…most likely forever.
But, in this moment, Nova didn’t want to think about that. She wanted to enjoy one last moment with her best friend, so that was what she did. They lost track of time as they talked about nothing and everything. Thankfully for Nova, they avoided any conversation about training and Amias.
When the triplet moons were high above the Great Tree, the two started heading towards the staircase. Nova turned to her friend once they reached the room and did something she never thought she’d do: she hugged Adira. Strong-willed, independent, don’t-touch-me Adira.
Her friend was tense for only a moment before she melted into the embrace. That’s when the tears finally pooled out of Nova’s eyes and down her cheeks. She pulled away and looked up at Adira, allowing the tears to fall.
“Thank you for being such a good friend to me,” she sputtered. “You’ve always been so good to me, even when you were yelling at me to fix my form. I love you,” those three words were out of her mouth before she could stop it, and she found she didn’t want to stop it.
Adira’s eyes became glassy, and she brushed her feathers against her eyes. “Don’t make me a mess, Nova,” her voice broke ever so slightly, but she was strong unlike Nova and composed herself quickly. “But I love you, too. You’re such a great friend. I wouldn’t have been so driven to train and help others if I hadn’t met you and your perseverance. You are strong, Nova.”
Nova always felt weak because part of her heart still went out to the humans – to her father and even to Amias – but hearing those words from her best friend made her believe it for a second. She decided to embrace the words for a little while.
When a tear finally rolled out of Adira’s eye, she scoffed and turned her head away. “Great stars! You’re making me lose my dignity. This sounds like we’re never going to see each other again.”
If only Adira knew how true those words were, Nova thought with a broken heart.
Nova portaled back to the cave, her heart pounding against her ribcage as her escape grew closer. The time for her to leave the Alaptera and reunite with her father was finally at hand. She’d thought that she’d be jumping for joy at the thought of seeing her father after so long, but all she felt at the moment was anxiety and sorrow.
She tried throwing the negative thoughts aside because this is what she really wanted; to be with her father again and to go back home, even if it meant persecution. However, Nova wondered if things back on Caligo were different now — if people like her were more accepted by the world.
No, Nova told herself. Don’t let the humans fool you. They will always hate you.
But would they? The angel on her shoulder asked. Maybe it’s time to start trusting them again, just as you trust the human soldier now.
The thoughts wouldn’t go away as she stepped inside the cave.
As promised, Amias was waiting. He had been sitting by the fire but, at the sight of Nova, stood up and grinned warmly.
“You’re back,” he said, relief clear in his voice. “Did everything go well?”
“I said goodbye to Adira,” Nova replied, the lump forming in her throat again. “Of course, I didn’t really say goodbye. I didn’t reveal anything.”
Amias nodded, his shoulders tensing. “I guess it’s time for us to leave, then?”
Nova took a deep breath and nodded. “It’s time.”
She planted her feet and popped her fingers, closing her eyes to concentrate. The power came to her easily now, so she felt the electricity rushing through her veins at once. The sensation covered every inch of her body and reached the tips of her fingers. She stretched her hands out and opened her eyes, coating the cave in purple light.
“Woah,” she heard Amias whisper beside her. It made her heart swell, and she didn’t know the reason why.
Space tore before them, the spinning wormhole growing to cover the lines on the wall of the cave. An image formed: dark blue fields and sky-high mountains coming into focus. She was doing it. She was opening up a portal to Caligo. She was finally strong enough.
But, instead of feeling comfort at seeing the familiar sights of Caligo as she did weeks ago, she felt horror. Her power stuttered in her veins, distorting the portal before her. Sweat dripped from her face as she strained to keep the wormhole alive, and her surroundings began to blur as tears filled her eyes.
Flashes of her and her father in the field returned to her. She saw the soldiers gagging her and taking her away, binding her in chains and discarding her into space like she was nothing.
“I can’t…” she sobbed, her knees buckling. “I can’t go back.”
The portal vanished. Nova plummeted to the ground, but she didn’t make it all the way down. Suddenly, she felt strong arms underneath her, holding her up. Turning her head, she saw a blurry Amias gazing down at her, his eyes alight.
“You’re okay,” he said, his warm, sweet breath on her face. She felt his warmth all over, and suddenly her surroundings became clear. His voice became clearer, too. “Take your time. You can do this, Nova. I know you can.”
“I don’t know,” her voice came out hoarsely. “I don’t think I can go back. What if they all still hate me? What if they hurt me again? They took me away from my father and sent me here because they thought I was a monster, and they were right.” She paused, before adding: “I lost control of my power once when I was younger and sent an innocent child into the void.” She never thought she could say those words out loud to him, but they were finally out.
Amias went silent. He stared at her, taking in every inch of her face. Nova wasn’t sure if she should feel worried, embarrassed, flattered, or all three. She couldn’t read his expression, and she hated it.
He was silent for the longest time, and Nova started to think he’d finally had enough of her. Maybe now he would scoff at her and tell her she was worthless—that she deserved to be exiled for what she did.
However, she was proven wrong once again when Amias gently set her down on the crumpled blanket and poured her water in a mazer. He handed her the wooden bowl then sat across from her, silver eyes never wandering away.
Nova used the remainder of her strength to sip the water, the chill of it making her shudder. She felt cold all over, and it wasn’t only because of the water. The look in Amias’ eyes was intense, but there was something else gleaming in those piercing irises.
Nova released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding when Amias finally spoke. “I was scared to go back home to my family after the war.” He paused as if he were gathering his thoughts, but Nova urged him to continue with a nod. “My brother and I had been serving for seven years. We hadn’t been able to go home to see our parents, and they were devastated. We wrote to them as much as we could, but it was difficult when you were at war with a neighboring planet.”
He looked down, his eyes dark with sorrow as he continued. “My brother, Adriel, suffered the most homesickness out of the two of us. He was always home, taking care of our parents and helping out in the fields. I was always the one who went out and did my own thing, so I was used to being away. I loved my parents, but I wasn’t as close to them as Adriel was. Sometimes it felt like they loved him more anyways,” he said with a weak, sad chuckle.
“Well, you could imagine his joy when we were finally discharged after our victory. I remember him tripping over his own feet as he packed up his stuff to head home.” A small smile filled Amias’ face as he recalled the happy memory. “I was ecstatic to go home, too. But I was mostly happy for my brother to finally rest. If only I knew how literal that statement would come to be.” His words became a whisper as if they were too heavy to speak.
Nova felt bile rising in her throat. “What do you mean?”
“We were on the way to the loading dock for the ship to take us back to Caligo. Everyone was in good spirits and ready to head home, but we were taken by surprise. We were ambushed from all sides by the aliens of the planet we won against. There was no time for us to fight back… it was chaos. I remember taking Adriel’s hand and running with him to the closest fighter jet we could find, but I was so focused on escaping that I hadn’t realized one of them was on our tail. Before I knew it, the alien had taken its sword and pierced it through my brother’s heart. I watched his life leave him… right there on the concrete. I didn’t even get to tell him goodbye.”
Amias sagged his shoulders, and his lips trembled ever so slightly. Nova was holding his hand before she even knew what she was doing. He looked down at their interlocked hands and, instead of pulling away, he pulled her closer.
“I’m deeply sorry for your loss,” she said. “I can’t even begin to imagine what that was like for you.”
Amias took a deep breath. “It was awful. But, honestly, it was worse for my parents. I couldn’t even look them in the eye when I came home and told them what had happened. Adriel’s death broke the family… he was what kept us all together. I barely see them now, ever since that day. We aren’t as close anymore.” He stood more upright and cleared his throat. “I didn’t say all of that to make this about me… my point was that I was horrified of returning home with devastating news, but I couldn’t stop it. I had to go back because my family was important to me, just as your father is important to you now.”
He squeezed her hand, and his gaze focused again. “You deserve to go home and be with your father, even if it’s for one last time. Put aside your past and focus on right now… focus on going home to your father. The world will always be cruel, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still experience love from your family and others who care for you.”
He was right. Even if it meant Nova would endure the consequences of being abnormal, her father was worth it. He was the one who had held her hand when she was afraid and picked her up when she fell. He was everything to her — the only person she could love and be loved by in return.
Although, watching Amias as he held her like she was everything, Nova began to believe maybe there were others out there whom she loved and who loved her back.
“Okay,” she finally said, rising to her feet. “Let’s do this.”
Amias stood up with her, a smile brightening his face. “You’ve got this.”
Nova returned his smile and focused again on her power. Once she finally got ahold of the image, she made it manifest before her. The portal opened. Caligo was right there. She took a step forward and—
“Stop right there!”
Nova and Amias froze, turning their heads towards the squad of Alaptera guards who had entered the cave. They had arrows pointing right at them, their faces devoid of emotion.
The leader of the guards stepped forward, his armor gleaming in the firelight. His wings were tucked, ears twitching as he took in the two culprits. Finally, his beady eyes rested on Nova’s, and he spoke in a voice full of authority. “You are to follow us to the Great Tree. The Chieftess demands your presence.”
