This Is Where I Want To Be

183. All The Things You Said

Michael

Juliet was still waiting in the same spot. I felt so stupid that I was ever angry at Chris for swatching her. I could find Juliet with the brandings if I had never focused on fighting my newfound creatures. She wrapped her arms around my waist. “I didn’t know if you would be able to come back. That was risky.”

“No… I’m back, hon. Do you want to go home?”

She tightened her grip even harder and shook her head against my body. My shoulders fell as I enveloped her in my arms. I was so happy to hear it. We weren’t completely dead, and I pressed my lips to the top of her head. “The soldiers, Romero, and his father, have already left. If you travel that way, I’m sure you’ll catch up. They haven’t been gone for long.”

The camp was deserted. Even Imani, the midwife, and the doctor had gone with them. It was only Charlene and Juliet. “Are you sure I can leave you guys here? What was Romero thinking? Not even one servant?”

“Did I not prove to you that I can handle myself… And Charlene.”

I hit my head with my hand. “Argh! How could I forget? Charlene and I are Ittoqure.”

Charlene was watching us and gave me a slight reassuring nod that they would be okay. “Well, if you’re sure… You be careful.” I kissed her quick.

“You too... Come back to me… I would rather hurt… than feel nothing.” I lowered my lips onto hers. She lingered on mine, not wanting to let go.

I pulled out of her grasp. “I have to go….” Juliet pouted her lips. I walked off but didn’t turn away from her. I kept walking backward, dragging out the meaning I wanted to convey. I smiled. “I’ll see you soon.” I gave her rock fingers and a stretched-out flat tongue. Juliet’s face lit up. It was reward enough. I was done not looking back. Done, not hurting her. I teleported out like that. Us saying so many things but not speaking. The anticipation of what would happen when we had a moment.

Again, I only traveled as far as I could see, smelling my way in a direction. I didn’t have the time to focus on Romero to know if I could find him in the cosmos. The party was huddled behind rocks all along a ridge. Romero and everyone were looking down toward something. I crouched next to him and leaned over. The view that awaited me was not what I was expecting. “What’s going on?”

“Quiet.” Romero pushed me down.

The scene was a picture-perfect portrait of different levels of floating islands magically held up in the air, varying in height. There were some solid mountains in the distance. Giant pools of water in between it all. The lakes weren’t consistent and stretched until the horizon met what looked like an ocean on Earth. Some ground landscapes of trees and flourishing greenery rounded off the valley.

I glanced at one of the floating islands. Some had more water on them and were larger in size. The pools of water didn’t seem deep. Relatively shallow, like a rice paddy. I squinted. It was rice paddies and crop rows. On each floating island, a different color of whatever was harvested. To round it all off, soft streams of water flowed down from each floating surface and fell gently into the various lakes on the ground level. It was beautiful. Breathtaking. It was more a holiday destination than… Death. I was expecting darkness and forests or desolated rocks like on Fahan’s planet. The constant red menace of the sour smell on the red around the factories. The air was clean. Fresh. I had no idea what was going on. Then, the soil beneath our knees started shaking. “Oh no.”

“Quiet!”

Was that all Romero was going to say to me? The Dheka started running in different directions. All directed by an officer in command. Yazen and Imani followed his orders, and the group split up and disappeared. The ground continued to rumble, and the thundering noise became louder and louder. WTF. A massive shadow. Black as night against the blue backdrop of day. It fell down into the water of one of the lakes, as solid as any other being. The crash and water splashing resonated. The shadow rolled around in the pool, cooling himself off from the heat of the sun. Tentacles of smoky black clouds drifted off into the air. His feet were white, and his eyes and mouth were yellow in contrast to the darkness. Thin, skimpy legs. No muscles. He looked like a man. Like Romero did when he manifested. Little did I know those tentacles would turn into arms and hands. They all formed out of his body. He had heard the guards. Silvanus was… the most significant of us all. That guy was three times the size. His head had jerked in the direction of the falling rocks. He ran over the water and sand like it was air, hovering, floating, but not. Each step created massive splashes, and when he hit the ground. It echoed into my bones. His gaze drifted up to the ledge of the mountain cliff. Those arms and hands grabbed and climbed, rocks falling down. He was at the top before I could turn to Romero. “Where would this vault be?” Romero shrugged. “How are we going to defeat that?”

“Quiet.”

“Why do you keep shushing me.”

Romero pointed. The shadow was glaring our way, hanging from the ledge in the distance. We slowly crouched down. Nothing happened. We stuck our heads out again. It had left the sounds not finding anyone or hearing anything else. He let go of the ledge and landed as if he had jumped down from a table. It slowly walked towards one of the islands and picked up things out of the fields. It was gardening in miniature form. At first, I didn’t see it, but people were on the floating surfaces. In the plantations, working.

“Get ready.”

“For what? You haven’t even told me what to do.”

“Now!”

The Dheka had surrounded the massive valley and came out of hiding, pointing their swords at the thing, channeling their power out toward it.

“While we dull it. You attack it.”

My jaw fell open. “With what? I’m used to a gun.”

“Gun?” Romero tossed a sword to me. “Stay a Riphath! Do not let him see what you are! Good luck.”

“What?!” Romero pushed me forward, and before I could fall to my death, I teleported down. The thing was going wild. The attacks were coming from every direction, and it didn’t know which way to go first. When it had a subject to focus on, me, the Dheka, could push forward.

***

Lyla

I had chosen Juliet’s room. It was the homiest and closest to the stairs. Inside was everything I needed to not go out into the house. No one came again that night. I suspected that cops would show up at any minute to arrest me or one of those famous vans that picked up criminals. Every noise woke me up. I had locked the doors, but really, would it have helped.

I took a shower in the morning and wanted to borrow some of Juliet’s clothes. Nothing fit me, of course. She was skinny as hell. Almost too thin. Everything was too long. I sat down on the couch. All my clothes were dirty, and there was no time to go find a laundromat in town. I would have to leave, and it felt as soon as I did. I would be missing out on something big. A bucket of black tubes stood on the dresser. It had stared at me the whole night. The fear had crept in. As soon as I experienced anything from their world, I would begin to justify their actions. I might find something to explain it all. Hesitantly, I walked over, grabbing one and slicing it through the air. “How does this even work?” I had to step back. The images were so clear and transparent that I was too close.

There was no system for the tubes or one I could figure out. No labeling or anything. Sure, they had a little robot assistant who knew exactly where everything was. I tried to figure out what was on the screen. It was like a home movie. A whole day of someone’s life. A kid. A small child. I flung the tube again, and it stopped. I took another. It was the same child and home and family. Just older. I grabbed another. Even older. I stared at the bucket. Every bucket was the whole life of one person. I had heard about it from our community. The watchers were once linked to aliens. Saw them grow up and documented how they lived and what they did differently. How their abilities work and checking for weaknesses.

I stood there staring at the small mountain of tubes. If every kid born there had a bucket. I swallowed the lump. Lucy’s murder would be on one of them. Or where she was at that moment. I still hoped she was alive. I screamed. “How the hell am I supposed to find you in that mess.” The anger had just flared up. My stomach made an untimely rumble. I glanced down. I couldn’t remember when I last ate. I looked back at Gigi on the bed, feeling horrible. “S-!” I rushed downstairs with her in tow, straight to the kitchen. I let her out at the back door. As I pushed it open, she bolted. Gigi was an active little thing, always running off and zooming all over the place.

I saw glass shards on the ground. “Weird.” It was as if someone had broken in there. I bobbed my head. “Sita.” That was how she had gotten the ledger in the first place. How could she not leave me a way of knowing how it worked. I left the door open and circled the kitchen, rummaging through the cupboards. It was empty. There was nothing. Why would they have food anyway if they ate people? I opened the last door. Thought I would find a laundry room where I could wash my clothes. It wasn’t. There were dark stairs that ran down into a cellar. I switched on the light. What was wrong with me? Why would I put myself in these situations? I thought about my gun and phone upstairs and then checked if anyone could lock me in there… If no one was waiting in the darkness. Horror movie scenes flashed in my mind. I shook my head with every step I took down, pushing through.

I sighed. “A wine cellar.” Pantry and another door. I groaned, pushing the lever down. The smell was overwhelming, putrid, and stank of pee and s-. I covered my nose with my arm. I pressed another light switch. “Oh, my soul!” I stepped back and closed the door quickly, leaning my back against the door. Someone was kept in there. Chains. Filth. Blood. I was in over my head. “Lucy! I hope it wasn’t you.”

Regardless of the horror scene, my eyes fell on the stocked pantry items. There were glass jars with pickled goods, cans, and rice. Sweets and chips. Everything anyone would have. I checked some of the expiry dates. It was all current. I grabbed a few things. I would have instant noodles without the egg. I didn’t care anymore; I was too hungry.

After the morning settled, I was back in the library, sitting on the loveseat, staring at the shelves. “Okay, Lyla… Think!” Three species. If the man had killed her, his life had to be on there somewhere. I tried for a long time to separate the Vampires and the Werewolves. After I was done, there was a clear line between the two species because the Werewolves were low in number. The whole room was Vampires. I couldn’t understand it. Where were the Riphaths? I sat there staring at it all. One bin caught my eye. It wasn’t different in color but ever so slightly stood aside on its own little shelf.

I took one out and flung it. Different place. An orphanage… A boy’s life. I went through the tubes quickly until I saw a familiar face. “Sita.” The guy was attractive in a homely sort of way. Funny mouth and sensitive eyes. The tube was filled with him seeing her for the first time. I got into the drama that was their life. Sat there eating chips and chocolates. The guy ended up miserable. “Where is the audio? Where is the fast forward button.”

Next tube, I jumped up. Juliet walked straight past him. At the school. “What?” I giggled when she turned into a tomato when they noticed each other. I scolded myself. I flung it in the air. I had to pee. I ran back to her room. “You might have been innocent once. But somewhere, you took a wrong turn and went over to the dark side. I closed the toilet door and switched off the light. The steel table in the bathroom was still a little weird. A baby bassinet. What was this place? A watcher base. Not alien?

My eyes lifted in the mirror. I was washing my hands.

“I was born right here.”

My arms reached out, and I grabbed the sink on either side. It was something I would never get used to. People just appearing out of nowhere. Even when you’re taking a dump. I grabbed the gun and spun around, expecting Michael. That time, I would have shot him.

“Who the hell are you?” I shakily held it out in front of me.

The boy was so young. My eyes opened and closed slowly. I glanced around when his words sunk in. Looked at the bed and back at him. He was gone. My eyes darted everywhere. I rushed out of the bathroom and scanned the sleeping area. He appeared out of thin air, sitting on the couch.

“Caleb! Caleb!” A voice resonated through the house. “She has a gun. Be careful.”

“It still has its safety on.”

I glanced down and felt like a chump.

Another figure appeared at the door. “Holly! What the hell are you doing here?”

I was stunned. Carl scanned the room and walked around, taking in everything. As if I wasn’t even there. Caleb followed him. They were laughing at the pictures. “Come, you got to see this.”

Caleb led him to the bathroom. “Your poor mother, giving birth here all alone. You know… I will never forget how she was before your birth.”

“Bitches be crazy.” Carl hit Caleb behind the head. He rubbed at the spot. Carl pulled him in and hugged him. “You scared me. Next time, don’t race, okay.”

“I have to practice. Everything is a race these days.”

“You know I changed many of your diapers.”

“Urgh! Not this again.” Caleb fell onto the sofa and covered his ears.

“Hello!” I yelled. They both looked at me, still with the gun pointed at them.

“You’re trespassing. I’m calling the cops. And with that unlicensed gun. It’s going to send you to prison. And you know what happens when you go away for anything.”

“Do it! I have so much evidence against you guys.”

“One ledger hardly constitutes as evidence.”

“You killed my sister, and I was there. I saw it all. You should all be executed as well.”

Carl and Caleb glanced at each other. Eyes wide, Caleb shrugged.

“Put the gun down.”

“There is no chance… I want to know what happened to my sister. The truth. Is she still alive? I saw the mess downstairs. Where is she?” The gun went with my hands. Carl ducked behind the couch.

“Holly! Who the hell are you? I looked you up and couldn’t find anything. ”

“My name isn’t Holly, you idiot.”

“It’s Lyla Montgomery.”

Carl’s head came out from behind the couch. His eyes lowered to the ground and then slowly came up to meet mine again. “Your sister is dead. We told your parents that.”

I didn’t want to believe it. “Who killed her and why?”

“Your parents know it was an alien that manifested and killed her. He wasn’t in control of himself.”

“I know all that… I think you’re lying. All I saw was one of them manifesting in front of me, picking her up, and disappearing. He could be keeping her as a slave, or hell knows what else… experiments!” I waved the gun some more.

Caleb stood up and manifested in front of me. He wasn’t a vampire and grew so large that I had to look up. The man that was there the previous day was enormous compared. I was short and stocky. Even Carl was an easy six-foot-three, but Caleb was almost two heads taller than him. He came back to human. I lowered the gun. My hands were shaking. There was nothing I could do to them. We were useless. Nothing to them. My knees buckled, and I fell to the floor. “She’s dead?” I muttered.

Carl walked over and put his arm around me. “We didn’t lie. It really was an accident. An unfortunate one… And I am so sorry for your loss. I would’ve met with you sooner if you had told me who you were.”

I dropped the gun on the floor and pushed him off me. I got up and ran down the stairs. I had to get out of there. Out the front door. Fresh air. The months of hoping washed away. The loss settled fully. My sister was dead, and nothing I did would change that. The tears rolled down my cheeks. I looked up into the sky. “Lyla…” I spun around. Carl was standing in the door.

***

Carl

The tiny brunette was in tatters. I had never been on the other side of what we were doing. It was always survival. Survival of the fittest. Humans… Us… Me… I raked my hands through my hair. It had gotten long, and usually, I tied it at the top of my head. The sides were shaved on a number two. It needed a cut. That was what our lives were like. War, murder. Then, worrying about when you would get your hair done in the midst of it.

“Tell me she wasn’t down there, waiting to die… Tortured.”

I didn’t know what I was supposed to say. Lyla had already opened up a can last night. She was under scrutiny, and we were there to “tech” her. As I sat there, Caleb was installing watcher feed for her. Lyla wouldn’t know, and from that point forward, she would be monitored on a screen by none other than me. The war was going on. Full force all over En-gannim. I was kinda ticked off when the general shunned me to Earth.

Ian and his men were playing the long game. Their attacks were so far from Nahrima. Ian was gaining control of the Islands furthest away from us first. The ones that mattered. It was as if they wanted control over everyone before they came to The Tower or attempted to overthrow any of our other islands. The ones that had allegiances with Marcus were fighting. We could send men out to help and try to keep them back as they came out of the shadows. I shook myself. I was being a bad person. My mind was literally a million miles away… “No… Your sister… died instantly… I saw it… But the man that killed her was down there.”

“Man! They are not people!”

“Maybe not… But if you think that they had it any easier… You’re wrong.”

“You’re just saying that! Juliet is your friend. You’re a watcher and one of them. Covering up all the lies. I’m sick of it!” Lyla yelled.

“If you were down there… You know he had a lot to deal with. That wasn’t even the extent of what he went through. That cellar was only the end!” I was getting a little irritated with her. I sat down on the step, thinking about what I could say and shouldn’t. Michael was the biggest secret. She was like a dog with a bone. “I don’t know what you want to hear from me? How can I make it better for you?”

“I want the truth.”

“Do you know what happens to a watcher who opens his mouth?! We get a bullet to the head. If we’re not sent to prison to wait to die. There is no way I can… Ever! Tell you what is going on!”

Lyla was wiping her nose on her sleeve. She looked a little worse for wear. Her clothes were dirty and wrinkled, and her hair was a mess. “Why do you do it? What could possess you to let yourself be manipulated like this?”

Charlene came to mind. A smile played at the corner of my mouth. “What could be so amusing that you think this is a good time to laugh?”

“I’m not laughing! You have no idea what you’re talking about.” I calmed my tone. “Or what’s going on… All I see is a grieving little girl that is not letting go... Not getting the help she needs.”

I wondered if I should say the man who killed her sister also killed my father. The woman I love decided to become that because she was like Lyla a few months ago. The weaker species. The weakest species. I smiled again, thinking about Charlene naked… Manifesting and showing Juliet all her forms. I had seen Charlene naked a few times. It didn’t bother me when I was younger. At that moment in that hall… Her looking at me and loving me back had become a certainty.

She and Kubra slept together. She had another husband on a planet in another freaking galaxy. All I wanted to do was tell her we were not over. Quiet, that aching hole in my gut. Charlene had changed overnight, just like Michael had. There was nothing Lyla could do about it. Unless she found out. She wouldn’t. His feed wasn’t kept there. Under lock and key in Juliet’s well-guarded tunnels. My mind was drifting to how soon I would get it off the planet. It was the only way I could protect Charlene. I would have to get all their feeds off the Earth. Everyone was there when Charlene changed.

“Carl!”

“What!”

Lyla stared at me dumbfounded with an open mouth. I did feel guilty. “I’m sorry. I’m a little distracted and don’t want to seem defensive. But you’re playing with my family!” I pushed a finger into my chest. “Just like you want justice for yours. I would do anything to protect mine. Juliet is not my friend. I’m not brainwashed by greed and power. She is my sister. She is my Lucy… And I hate saying this… But I love her more than you loved your sister.”

“Tell me why I’m not dead? Tell me why you’re letting me stay here.”

“Because all there is here… Are memories… All the history of children born and raised. It’s nothing more than an old watcher base to keep tabs on everyone. And as you know, they’re not here anymore. It doesn’t matter that you see it. Your little stunt from last night had shown the world why they came to Earth in the first place. And in the end… You did us a favor. It had to come out eventually… And regardless of you wanting to find some conspiracy… You won’t because it doesn’t exist.”

“If you all lied about something so small. What the hell are you hiding? Last night, that woman in that town was up on the news, and I know Juliet had something to do with it.”

I wanted to roll my eyes. If Lyla only knew Caleb had killed the woman under his mother’s orders. Didn’t bat an eye. Caleb had told me that all Juliet had to do was bite the woman, paralyze her, and use one nail to cut into her neck. The blood had sent him into a frenzy. No one would have been able to stop any creature from getting to that smell. And the woman… Juliet… Was pregnant and a psycho-jealous lover.

“Carl… Why are you here? If you’re not going to talk to me. Why are you sitting there?”

I got up. “Come with me.”

I took her to the library, giving Caleb more time to install the tech. “I pulled off the buckets I knew had the core vamps in. I placed them on the table. She might not know how the buckets worked, but I did. I put my hands on the sides, and the names activated on the front. A whole display of who it was for and the species.

Together with Samuel, Michael had made sure to cut everything on Juliet’s feed. There was nothing that Lyla could watch that would bring her any closer to the truth. Kubra had edited Marcus’s. Jack had done Louis. Warden had done Chris’s, and the edited parts were in the tunnels. Frak, I needed to get there. And I needed Lyla busy, trying to find anything. Waste her time. I took out a tube, flung it in the air, and showed her how to activate audio. Zooming and how to fast forward and backward.

“You can watch. But I swear… If you leak anything, you find out… Not even your sister will save you.”

Lyla seemed a weird little person. Dungarees and a strange-looking hat sat on her head, covering almost all of her hair. Light brunette with a nearly red tint in the sunlight. A fringe cut half over her forehead. It suited her oval face. The two pigtails hanging on her collarbones didn’t. It made her look like a child. Caleb came walking in. He scanned the room. “My mom’s feed here?”

“How can you be her child?”

Caleb ignored her. We had given him strict instructions to keep quiet. The boy was a cut-out for his mom.

“That has nothing to do with you,” I said. “Caleb is a special case.” The boy scoffed. “And I tell you if you so much as talk about him. I will kill you. If you think that this is some game. I will kill you. If you’re not taking me seriously, you do not know who you are dealing with. You have stepped into a world where lives might not matter… But… It’s war, Lyla. Collateral damage is inevitable. And people die. Children die… We have for centuries, and you getting it off your chest isn’t worth it.”

I clapped Caleb on the shoulder. He was watching Juliet in the compound. I paused, seeing the feed. She was alone in the car with Marcus. It had to have been that day. “Are you sure you want to see this?”

Caleb glanced over at my tone. “Why?”

I let it play out. I wanted to see Lyla’s reactions. Curious about seeing it for myself. It was awful. My eyes were on Lyla. Her hand jumped to her mouth when Agatha showed Juliet her mouth. When Qadir hit Juliet, Caleb grunted a strange growl in his throat. Kubra told her to take his hand. It was weird seeing it all. The women with veils on. Caleb flung it in the air. “I don’t want to see anymore.” He left the room.

“Go home! Be with your mom and dad before they lose another daughter.”

She spun away from me. I placed the tube on the table and followed Caleb out.