In The Deepest Space
Chapter 7: Is This Upstate New York?
Chapter 7: Is This Upstate New York?
Glossary:
“Neeetroghen issss of the nenty-sssseeeexth and a furrth proghenta” - Nitrogen is of the ninety-sixth and a fourth percentile (normal air for Earth is 78.08% Nitrogen)
“There issss both ohgohn and cahrdoxxeeen in tracccce amountsss. Ox-sigeeen isss of the twainten-sech and a sssseeeexth proghenta” - There is both argon and carbon dioxide in trace amounts. Oxygen is of the twenty-second and a sixth percentile. (normal air for Earth is .93% argon, .038% carbon dioxide and 20.95% oxygen.{according to a few different sources, these numbers vary slightly depending on what source you look at.})
“Neeetroghen issss of the nenty-sssseeeexth and a furrth proghenta” - Nitrogen is of the ninety-sixth and a fourth percentile (normal air for Earth is 78.08% Nitrogen)
“There issss both ohgohn and cahrdoxxeeen in tracccce amountsss. Ox-sigeeen isss of the twainten-sech and a sssseeeexth proghenta” - There is both argon and carbon dioxide in trace amounts. Oxygen is of the twenty-second and a sixth percentile. (normal air for Earth is .93% argon, .038% carbon dioxide and 20.95% oxygen.{according to a few different sources, these numbers vary slightly depending on what source you look at.})
Ssssoooolpicccia – (Sool-piece-eee-ah) The queen of Sssisla
Bella’s POV~
This house doesn’t seem like it belongs here, and yet, it totally fits. It’s the kind of house you would think you’d see in some upstateNew York
Okay, that’s not entirely true. I do know what I’d been expecting, and my mind’s eye pictured it looking something like oh, I don’t know, kidney bean buildings? This house is three stories of some kind of large stone, but everywhere I look, the stones are covered by some type of climbing plant life. The house is absolutely amazing, and if I let myself admit it, maybe slightly creepy.
“Where are we?” I ask Edwaird, leaning in closer to his side.
“Thissss isssss our layover domiccccile. Our other domiccccile issss in the cccity, but we are not yet ready to take you into the cccity. We musssst make preparationsssss.” During the last part he seems to grit his teeth a little which, to be honest, worries me.
Before I can panic about it too much, Edwaird pulls me forward toward the entrance of their home. As we step into the entryway, I gasp, twirling around and taking everything in. The house is simply exquisite, with all types of artifacts that decorate the home. There is an amazing spiral staircase that demands your attention. Call me ridiculous, but I can’t wait for the opportunity to climb it.
Essssme enters the room and comes over toward Edwaird and me. She and Edwaird seem to communicate something silently, then Edwaird groans and grabs onto my hand. Essssme turns toward me.
“Bell
“Edwaird, you musssst ssssshow Bell-a the resssst,” she informs him, gives me a quick smile, then turns to go back toward where she entered just a few minutes prior.
“Come,” Edwaird says as he pulls me toward the spiral staircase and the little girl in me internally squees a little. I’ve always loved these things for some reason.
We begin to crawl upward, and I pull on Edwaird’s hand a little to keep him from moving too quickly up the stairs. I run my fingers over the beautiful workings of the strange metal, reveling in it’s beauty. When I’d seen these kinds of staircases in magazines as a child, I’d always loved them, always daydreamed that someday, I’d have several of them in my home.
I sigh, and it must be out loud because Edwaird squeezes my hand. I look up at him and give him a nostalgic smile, then begin to climb the stairs again. When we are almost to the top, I begin to feel slightly woozy. I’ve never been afraid of heights, so I’m not sure why I’m feeling so out of it from the staircase. My legs quickly begin to go out from under me, but Edwaird slips his arm around my waist, catching me before I hit the floor.
“Bell
I shake my head, no. “No. I feel fine. I just got lightheaded for some reason.”
This makes me think about the air here. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it a long time ago, like before we even got off the ship, but the thought never even occurred. I never even bothered asking if I would be able to breathe on their planet, never worried that there would be no oxygen. I just put it completely out of my mind, which, as an astronaut, never happens. I decide that his must have something to do with it, because other than feeling a little hungry, I feel fine.
“Edwaird? What is the composition of your air here?” I ask, already trying to formulate the amount of oxygen I may or may not be taking in.
Without answering my question, Edwaird pulls us down a long hall and into a room that seems to be a library. Books line the walls from floor up to a very high ceiling around the entire room. The bookworm in me internally squees as Edwaird pulls me over to a wall next to a tall window with a bench. He scans several titles for a minute, pulls out a couple of books, then sits down on the padded bench. I sit down next to him as he hands me a book. It has a seaweed green cloth cover with little characters on the front, but I don’t know what they say.
Edwaird pulls the book over to rest half on his leg and half on mine, then flips it open until we are about halfway through the book. There is a chart and several formulas, but again, I cannot read it. Edwaird points to a character and says, “Neeetroghen issss of the nenty-sssseeeexth and a furrth proghenta.” He points to another character. “There issss both ohgohn and cahrdoxxeeen in tracccce amountsss. Ox-sigeeen isss of the twainten-sech and a sssseeeexth proghenta,” he finishes, then looks over at me.
I point to the first symbol. “Nitrogen.” I point to the other symbols and say, “Argon, Carbon Dioxide, and Oxygen.” Edwaird smiles at me, happy that I understand what he has told me. I move my finger back over toward the oxygen symbol. “Your oxygen level is higher here than what I am used to. That is why I got lightheaded and almost fell.”
Edwaird nods his head at me in understanding and closes the book, setting it aside. He turns us so that he cradles me between his legs. My back is against his chest and my head tucked into the side of his neck. We face the window, looking at the never-ending expanse of green that is the forest beyond there home. I revel in the peacefulness of it, trying to remain calm as I think about all that has happened to me so far and what more there is to come.
Edwaird moves my hair away from my neck and begins to finger the flainless area behind my ear. I don’t know how he does it, but he still manages to make it feel so completely sensual, almost erotic. He traces the shell of my hear and hums in a very low tenor, sending shivers over my skin and creating heat in my tummy once again. I want him. I want my mate desperately.
Edwaird begins to lick and nibble at my ear, and he holds me in place so that I can’t turn toward him to taste him. He tortures me with pleasure to my body, and I wriggle to get closer to him, to create the friction I need between our bodies. I whimper at the sensation of his fingers grazing the skin of my abdomen, and just as I turn to get out of his grip so I can straddle him, his name is called.
“Edwaird!”
Fuck!
It is Esssme calling for us from the floor below, and Edwaird and I simultaneously groan at the interruption of our fun. I stand up and grab his hand, pulling him up toward me, and we reluctantly walk from the room and back down to the lower floor. Hey, at least I get to use the kickass staircase again.
Esssme stands at the front door holding a piece paper with what I can only describe as a foreboding look on her face. She looks up as she hears us descending then walks to the foot of the staircase. “The declaration hasssss arrived from our Queen,” she says, watching me the whole time. She offers Edwaird the piece of paper and walks off, leaving us alone once again.
I don’t even bother looking at the paper. I know I won’t be able to read what it says, so instead, I watch Edwaird’s face, waiting for him to give something away in his expression. He doesn’t; he remains stoic and neatly folds the letter back up after he has read it thoroughly.
Carlissss enters the room then, and he walks over to us. Edwaird hands him the letter, and Carlisss opens and reads it. “The nexxxxt?” he asks.
Edwaird nods his head, and Carlisss continues to read it. After a few moments, he folds the paper back up and returns it to Edwaird. They stand there, looking at each other, seeming to have a silent conversation. Edwaird reaches to scratch the back of his head and Carlisss sighs. He looks over at me and gives me a small smile, then walks from the room.
“What was that all about, and what does that say?” I ask Edwaird and he turns and walks back over to me. I don’t like the look on his face, a look that conveys worry, yet resolve.
“Our Queen hassss been notified of your arrival to our planet,Bell
“Your Queen wants me to come to her music concert? That doesn’t seem so bad.” At least there will be other people there, so I don’t have to worry about being maimed in public. Then again, maybe I do. My stomach twists at the thought.
“When is this concert?” I ask him, raising my hand up to touch his cheek and the lobe of his ear.
He groans slightly, burrowing his face closer to my hand, and replies, “The twilight of the nexxxxt.” His eyes slide shut as I trace his ear.
“The next? Are you referring to tomorrow? As in not today, but the next day?” I ask, hoping I get this right. The communication barrier is a bit annoying.
Edwaird opens his eyes and nods his head at me. I see desire in his eyes, and my stomach tightens a little. Just then we hear Esssme and Carlisss talking in the other room, and Edward and I groan simultaneously.
“Would you like to ssssee the rest of our home,Bell
I follow him back into his room, and he grabs a woolen textured wrap, slipping it over my shoulders. I wrap it tightly around my body, and the material sticks to itself, needing no clasp or pins. We quickly wander the rest of the house and come in contact with Emmeet momentarily, but Edwaird seems hurried, so we don’t linger.
Within five minutes time, we are exiting the house through a rear door and head off toward a line of trees with a hillside hidden behind them. Edwaird walks quickly. My legs begin to grow tired, but I push on, keeping with his pace. Before long we break into the tree line, and he steers us to the right for a little while before we turn again. It doesn’t take me long to lose track of which direction is which anymore. I begin to worry that Edwaird has gotten lost himself until we come to the base of a hill.
The hill looks like any ordinary hill, similar to hills you see on Earth, at least, until he waves his hand over an invisible sensor and a door panel slides open. Edwaird grabs my hand and quickly pulls us through; the door quickly slides shut behind us.
I gasp because there are simply no words. They have burrowed out the inside of a hill to leave a cavernous room, housing all different types of equipment. “What is this, Edwaird?”
“Thissss mussst not ever be known to a sssoul outssside of our clan,Bell
“I am able to feel you, without touch,Bell Bell
Edwaird pushes the chair that I’m sitting in over to another wall, and I sit in front of more screens. Also in front of me is what looks like some kind of a musician’s sound board. He flicks on several switches, and I look up at the screens, watching them flicker on. Several star maps pop up on the screen, and I stand up to get a closer look at them. I stare at them, not really recognizing any of them, but needing a moment to think. Edwaird is right. I’m feeling incredibly sad right now, and more than being afraid for my life, I’m missing Charlie. I’m also worrying that he may be dead, since I have no idea as to how much time has passed.
Edwaird grabs my hand and pulls me down to his lap, the tears stream down my cheeks as he rubs soothing circles on my back. “I miss Charlie, my dad. I’m worried about how old he is now or that he might be dead. I don’t know how long it took for me to get here. Your time is different than mine, Edwaird,” I explain as the tears come out faster.
Edwaird pulls my head down to his chest, cradling me and I can feel my sadness slowly dissipate. In my head, I can hear Edwaird telling me that he will always take care of me, that he loves me, that his forever is my forever and he will do anything to make sure I am happy. I believe him.
“How do you do that? I can hear you in my head. I know I can.”
“You were able to hear my mind mussssingsss?” He quickly questions, pulling my face up so he can see my eyes. I nod my head yes, and he smiles largely at me. “Bell
His face has gone totally serious, and I replay the words in my head, exactly as he has spoken them over and over again. I am his mate, declare it before his family. He wants me to formally announce that I will forever be his, and it almost sounds like an engagement announcement.
I will never return home. I will be here on this planet for the rest of my life...however long that may be. Nothing could make me happier than to spend it with him and his family. The mere thought of being away from Edwaird makes my chest hurt, and I know that nothing would make me happier than to spend the rest of my life with him.
I nod my head, and the tears begin to fall again. “Yes. We will announce it to your family.” Edwaird quickly stands us up and lifts me with him, twirling me around. I feel like I’m in a storybook or a cheesy romance flick, but I couldn’t be happier. I think about Charlie and feel sad that he is not here for this, but I have to accept that he cannot be.
We both end up laughing, and the baritone of Edwaird’s laugh makes me tingle inside a little bit. I reach up on my tiptoes and kiss him on his sexy, luscious lips. He opens his mouth to me. Our tongues touch, dance, and I devour the taste of him. He slips his tongue inside of my mouth, making me his, and I push my mouth against his even harder. We kiss like it is our last moment until we are both breathless. I reluctantly pull away and he growls a little, making me grow wet. I huff in annoyance that we can’t go further right now, making Edwaird chuckle at me as he pulls me over to one of the walls.
There are thin paper maps that line the walls, and I look over all of them to see if there is anything that I can recognize. I am both amazed and a little frustrated. Amazed at how much of space they have mapped out, realizing how immense it really is. I mean, I thought I had some idea of how big it is, but now that I see these maps, I realize that NASA has no clue. What I’m frustrated about is that as I reach each different map, I see nothing that I recognize. That is, at least until I come to the second to last map, where I finally see several planets that I recognize.
The second to last map has three planets. The names are different, but there are satellite images of them, and I recognize them as Neptune, then Uranus, then Saturn. I quickly move to the last map which is unfinished. There is an image of Jupiter, but it ends there. I point to the map and ask, “You haven’t finished this one yet. You don’t have Mars up yet, which is the next planet and the planet on which you found and saved me.”
Edwaird quickly runs to the switchboard looking desk and brings up an image of Mars. The image is immediately transposed to the map that I’m looking at and I begin to get excited. Edwaird walks back over to me, holding a pen of some sort. He writes something under the planet that I cannot read, then hands the pen over to me. “Marrrrssss,” he says, then nods at the map. I lift my hand up and write ‘Mars’ under his script, then hand the pen back to him.
“My planet is the next one, Edwaird. Earth. Show me where we are now?” I look at him and see his eyes darken a little. He walks away from me and over toward the beginning of the map wall, stopping at the third map. He points to his home planet, and says, “Ssssisla.”
I count the maps in between. There are seven maps between the one that has Ssssila on it and there are between three and five planets on each map. I try to swallow down the lump in my throat and fathom what this means. We could literally be hundreds of light years away from Earth. I mean, it is possible, but that still doesn’t mean that it took us very long to get here. There ship traveled very fast, and like Esssme said, we used black holes.
My mind reels for a few moments, and I suddenly think about the advanced technology that sits in this room. It is way more advanced than the technology on Earth is, and I wonder if he can zoom in on places he has never seen, especially since I know the coordinates of Mars...and Earth. I quickly run over to the desk we had just been sitting at and look for a piece of paper or something to write on. Edwaird anticipates my needs, running over to grab a sheet of brownish looking paper and sets in front of me. My hand begins to fly across the paper as I write down the numbers Edwaird can use to search for Earth. As he sees all of the numbers I’m writing, he stops me, taking the pen and paper from my hand.
Edwaird quickly sits down in the chair beside me and flips on several more switches on the panel. He moves bars and pushes buttons, turns knobs, then pushes more buttons. I watch the screen as he pulls up the images for Jupiter. “Keep going,” I whisper, afraid that if I speak too loudly this won’t work.
Edwaird keeps working, concentrating as he watches the screen while at the same time he moves all of the switches around. He does this for a bit and begins to grow frustrated. We are both ready to give up when I see something in the very corner of the screen. “Wait!” I shout, my arms waving over toward the left of the screen. “Go back! There was something there!”
Edwaird slowly pulls us back to the left and after a little bit of coercing on the board, Edward settles on Mars. I jump up and down, exclaiming, “Yes! That’s Mars! That’s where you found me! Earth! Earth is not far, only about 55 million miles.”
Edward looks at me quizzically and I realize he won’t understand my numbers, but I don’t care. We have to keep looking, we are so close. As I do my happy dance, Edwaird continues to search. But this time, he doesn’t have to search as long. Within only a few minutes, the image of Earth pops up on the screen, and the sight is enough to bring tears to my eyes. I’ve always thought of my planet as beautiful, but nothing can really describe its beauty to me right now.
I sit down in the chair once more, staring at the screen and feeling a rollercoaster of emotions within me. Edwaird grabs onto my hand and rubs circles by my thumb. “Can you look at the planet from different angles? Like circle it?” I make a circling motion in the air with my finger.
Edwaird pulls his hand from mine and slowly moves a lever on the panel. “Stop!” I shout once again, and he immediately pulls his hand away. There, we sit staring at Earth and the beautiful image ofNorth America , as it looks like from outer space. I stare in wonder at the screen, knowing now that I have never in my career appreciated the beauty of my planet as much as I do now.
I feel a solitary tear slide down my cheek, yet I can’t exactly say that I feel sad. Besides the fact that I miss Charlie, I can’t really say that I will miss Earth. Yes, it is my home...of course, but this is my new home. If none of this had never happened, I never would have found Edwaird, and I know deep within me, that I can never again live without Edwaird. To say that I love him has become a pitiful understatement, but really, to put words to how I feel about him would do it no justice. No justice at all.
I look over at Edwaird who is staring intently at me, giving him a soft smile...with teeth, and he smiles back at me. He reaches over to me with one of his hands, and as he does so, he bumps a button. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the screen change and look up, gasping loudly at what I see. I look down at his hand and see where he placed it, then to his face and see him looking at me in question.
“You’ve zoomed in on actual coordinates of my home country. I point to the screen. That’sFlorida
Before he touches the board again, he takes a deep breath, then moves his hand back over to the button he had grazed only moments before. He moves it a fraction of a hair and it zooms in toFlorida
He moves to push it further at my excitement, but I stop him. “Wait. I need you to go in a different direction. You need to go far northwest.”
“Deeerection? Norrthwessssst?” he questions, looking thoroughly confused. We are going to have to figure out how to move side to side and up and down.
“Okay. When you are searching for planets or anything else, how do you go from side to side? Or up and down?” As I ask my questions, I motion with my hand from side to side and up and down to help explain myself.
Edwaird nods and points at a small joystick on the panel. He moves it slightly to the left and the screen pans to the east a little, landing onLouisiana Southern California . From there, I begin to move North until I come to rest over Washington State
I stop our hands and point up at the screen. “There. That is where I come from. Can we look in any further? Closer?”
Edwaird nods his head and quickly moves over to what I’ve dubbed as the “zoom” button. He pushes it a couple of times, and as he does, I move the joystick to the northwest, getting closer to my hometown. I recognizePort Angeles
Edwaird moves back over to me, and I slowly move us closer to Forks,Washington
“Can we get closer?” It comes out as a whisper, but Edwaird hears me. He moves down to the far end of the board this time, but instead of looking to see what he is doing, I keep my eyes on the screen. I can’t look away.
Then I am closer.
Then closer.
And there I am, looking down at the Forks Library. “Move this way,” I tell Edwaird, motioning with my finger in the northwest direction. He says nothing, only moves me ever so slowly, toward the direction of my childhood home.
And I can see the tree outside of my old bedroom window. I know that the frame of the satellite rests on the entire house and driveway, but I pay attention to only my bedroom because if I’m honest, I’m deathly afraid to look at the driveway, afraid of what I will or will not see there.
I look toward the sky and notice that it must be moving on toward evening and find peace in the red and orange colors of the sky. On the horizon, I can see that a storm front is on its way in, and I almost laugh out loud at that. I take a deep breath, swallow several times, and finally, finally, look toward the driveway.
And there it is, the police cruiser; sitting beside it is my old red pickup truck that quit running my first year of grad school. I can’t believe he still has that piece of shit.
A light flips on inside the house, on the kitchen side. “Edwaird, can we get over to there?” I ask, pointing to where the light is coming from. He swivels our viewing position and within seconds, there he is. Charlie. Dad. The best person I’ve ever known, who would cut off his left arm (not his right, because that’s his shooting arm) for anyone who needed it.
A sob comes out of me unexpectedly, and Edwaird is at my side in an instant, stroking my neck and behind my ear. I touch the screen in front of me, touch my father’s face as he stands at the kitchen sink washing off his dinner plate. I can’t get that great of a view of him to see if he looks a great deal older, but he is still policing, so that has to mean something. Relief floods through me, and my tears finally overpower the dam of my lower eyelids. I turn my head to Edwaird’s chest, crying my sorrow and my happiness into his chest.
I cry for a while, I don’t know how long, but long enough that I run out of tears. When I look up at the screen again, my old home has gone dark. I look up at Edwaird then, and he is staring at me with an intensity that is completely new. My chest feels as though it could burst from the intensity of the love that I feel emanating from him, and I reach up on my tiptoes and brush my lips against his.
Edwaird kisses me softly, slowly, knowing exactly what I need. He pulls me closer to him, and after several minutes, our kisses get harder, more heated. My eyes begin to go a little fuzzy, so I close them, thinking that it is just from the intensity of his kiss, it wouldn’t be the weirdest thing that has happened.
Edwaird pulls away, panting, and I open my eyes to look in his, but I can’t see.
I see black, then there is nothing.
Bella’s POV~
This house doesn’t seem like it belongs here, and yet, it totally fits. It’s the kind of house you would think you’d see in some upstate
Okay, that’s not entirely true. I do know what I’d been expecting, and my mind’s eye pictured it looking something like oh, I don’t know, kidney bean buildings? This house is three stories of some kind of large stone, but everywhere I look, the stones are covered by some type of climbing plant life. The house is absolutely amazing, and if I let myself admit it, maybe slightly creepy.
“Where are we?” I ask Edwaird, leaning in closer to his side.
“Thissss isssss our layover domiccccile. Our other domiccccile issss in the cccity, but we are not yet ready to take you into the cccity. We musssst make preparationsssss.” During the last part he seems to grit his teeth a little which, to be honest, worries me.
Before I can panic about it too much, Edwaird pulls me forward toward the entrance of their home. As we step into the entryway, I gasp, twirling around and taking everything in. The house is simply exquisite, with all types of artifacts that decorate the home. There is an amazing spiral staircase that demands your attention. Call me ridiculous, but I can’t wait for the opportunity to climb it.
Essssme enters the room and comes over toward Edwaird and me. She and Edwaird seem to communicate something silently, then Edwaird groans and grabs onto my hand. Essssme turns toward me.
“
“Edwaird, you musssst ssssshow Bell-a the resssst,” she informs him, gives me a quick smile, then turns to go back toward where she entered just a few minutes prior.
“Come,” Edwaird says as he pulls me toward the spiral staircase and the little girl in me internally squees a little. I’ve always loved these things for some reason.
We begin to crawl upward, and I pull on Edwaird’s hand a little to keep him from moving too quickly up the stairs. I run my fingers over the beautiful workings of the strange metal, reveling in it’s beauty. When I’d seen these kinds of staircases in magazines as a child, I’d always loved them, always daydreamed that someday, I’d have several of them in my home.
I sigh, and it must be out loud because Edwaird squeezes my hand. I look up at him and give him a nostalgic smile, then begin to climb the stairs again. When we are almost to the top, I begin to feel slightly woozy. I’ve never been afraid of heights, so I’m not sure why I’m feeling so out of it from the staircase. My legs quickly begin to go out from under me, but Edwaird slips his arm around my waist, catching me before I hit the floor.
“
I shake my head, no. “No. I feel fine. I just got lightheaded for some reason.”
This makes me think about the air here. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it a long time ago, like before we even got off the ship, but the thought never even occurred. I never even bothered asking if I would be able to breathe on their planet, never worried that there would be no oxygen. I just put it completely out of my mind, which, as an astronaut, never happens. I decide that his must have something to do with it, because other than feeling a little hungry, I feel fine.
“Edwaird? What is the composition of your air here?” I ask, already trying to formulate the amount of oxygen I may or may not be taking in.
Without answering my question, Edwaird pulls us down a long hall and into a room that seems to be a library. Books line the walls from floor up to a very high ceiling around the entire room. The bookworm in me internally squees as Edwaird pulls me over to a wall next to a tall window with a bench. He scans several titles for a minute, pulls out a couple of books, then sits down on the padded bench. I sit down next to him as he hands me a book. It has a seaweed green cloth cover with little characters on the front, but I don’t know what they say.
Edwaird pulls the book over to rest half on his leg and half on mine, then flips it open until we are about halfway through the book. There is a chart and several formulas, but again, I cannot read it. Edwaird points to a character and says, “Neeetroghen issss of the nenty-sssseeeexth and a furrth proghenta.” He points to another character. “There issss both ohgohn and cahrdoxxeeen in tracccce amountsss. Ox-sigeeen isss of the twainten-sech and a sssseeeexth proghenta,” he finishes, then looks over at me.
I point to the first symbol. “Nitrogen.” I point to the other symbols and say, “Argon, Carbon Dioxide, and Oxygen.” Edwaird smiles at me, happy that I understand what he has told me. I move my finger back over toward the oxygen symbol. “Your oxygen level is higher here than what I am used to. That is why I got lightheaded and almost fell.”
Edwaird nods his head at me in understanding and closes the book, setting it aside. He turns us so that he cradles me between his legs. My back is against his chest and my head tucked into the side of his neck. We face the window, looking at the never-ending expanse of green that is the forest beyond there home. I revel in the peacefulness of it, trying to remain calm as I think about all that has happened to me so far and what more there is to come.
Edwaird moves my hair away from my neck and begins to finger the flainless area behind my ear. I don’t know how he does it, but he still manages to make it feel so completely sensual, almost erotic. He traces the shell of my hear and hums in a very low tenor, sending shivers over my skin and creating heat in my tummy once again. I want him. I want my mate desperately.
Edwaird begins to lick and nibble at my ear, and he holds me in place so that I can’t turn toward him to taste him. He tortures me with pleasure to my body, and I wriggle to get closer to him, to create the friction I need between our bodies. I whimper at the sensation of his fingers grazing the skin of my abdomen, and just as I turn to get out of his grip so I can straddle him, his name is called.
“Edwaird!”
Fuck!
It is Esssme calling for us from the floor below, and Edwaird and I simultaneously groan at the interruption of our fun. I stand up and grab his hand, pulling him up toward me, and we reluctantly walk from the room and back down to the lower floor. Hey, at least I get to use the kickass staircase again.
Esssme stands at the front door holding a piece paper with what I can only describe as a foreboding look on her face. She looks up as she hears us descending then walks to the foot of the staircase. “The declaration hasssss arrived from our Queen,” she says, watching me the whole time. She offers Edwaird the piece of paper and walks off, leaving us alone once again.
I don’t even bother looking at the paper. I know I won’t be able to read what it says, so instead, I watch Edwaird’s face, waiting for him to give something away in his expression. He doesn’t; he remains stoic and neatly folds the letter back up after he has read it thoroughly.
Carlissss enters the room then, and he walks over to us. Edwaird hands him the letter, and Carlisss opens and reads it. “The nexxxxt?” he asks.
Edwaird nods his head, and Carlisss continues to read it. After a few moments, he folds the paper back up and returns it to Edwaird. They stand there, looking at each other, seeming to have a silent conversation. Edwaird reaches to scratch the back of his head and Carlisss sighs. He looks over at me and gives me a small smile, then walks from the room.
“What was that all about, and what does that say?” I ask Edwaird and he turns and walks back over to me. I don’t like the look on his face, a look that conveys worry, yet resolve.
“Our Queen hassss been notified of your arrival to our planet,
“Your Queen wants me to come to her music concert? That doesn’t seem so bad.” At least there will be other people there, so I don’t have to worry about being maimed in public. Then again, maybe I do. My stomach twists at the thought.
“When is this concert?” I ask him, raising my hand up to touch his cheek and the lobe of his ear.
He groans slightly, burrowing his face closer to my hand, and replies, “The twilight of the nexxxxt.” His eyes slide shut as I trace his ear.
“The next? Are you referring to tomorrow? As in not today, but the next day?” I ask, hoping I get this right. The communication barrier is a bit annoying.
Edwaird opens his eyes and nods his head at me. I see desire in his eyes, and my stomach tightens a little. Just then we hear Esssme and Carlisss talking in the other room, and Edward and I groan simultaneously.
“Would you like to ssssee the rest of our home,
I follow him back into his room, and he grabs a woolen textured wrap, slipping it over my shoulders. I wrap it tightly around my body, and the material sticks to itself, needing no clasp or pins. We quickly wander the rest of the house and come in contact with Emmeet momentarily, but Edwaird seems hurried, so we don’t linger.
Within five minutes time, we are exiting the house through a rear door and head off toward a line of trees with a hillside hidden behind them. Edwaird walks quickly. My legs begin to grow tired, but I push on, keeping with his pace. Before long we break into the tree line, and he steers us to the right for a little while before we turn again. It doesn’t take me long to lose track of which direction is which anymore. I begin to worry that Edwaird has gotten lost himself until we come to the base of a hill.
The hill looks like any ordinary hill, similar to hills you see on Earth, at least, until he waves his hand over an invisible sensor and a door panel slides open. Edwaird grabs my hand and quickly pulls us through; the door quickly slides shut behind us.
I gasp because there are simply no words. They have burrowed out the inside of a hill to leave a cavernous room, housing all different types of equipment. “What is this, Edwaird?”
“Thissss mussst not ever be known to a sssoul outssside of our clan,
“I am able to feel you, without touch,
Edwaird pushes the chair that I’m sitting in over to another wall, and I sit in front of more screens. Also in front of me is what looks like some kind of a musician’s sound board. He flicks on several switches, and I look up at the screens, watching them flicker on. Several star maps pop up on the screen, and I stand up to get a closer look at them. I stare at them, not really recognizing any of them, but needing a moment to think. Edwaird is right. I’m feeling incredibly sad right now, and more than being afraid for my life, I’m missing Charlie. I’m also worrying that he may be dead, since I have no idea as to how much time has passed.
Edwaird grabs my hand and pulls me down to his lap, the tears stream down my cheeks as he rubs soothing circles on my back. “I miss Charlie, my dad. I’m worried about how old he is now or that he might be dead. I don’t know how long it took for me to get here. Your time is different than mine, Edwaird,” I explain as the tears come out faster.
Edwaird pulls my head down to his chest, cradling me and I can feel my sadness slowly dissipate. In my head, I can hear Edwaird telling me that he will always take care of me, that he loves me, that his forever is my forever and he will do anything to make sure I am happy. I believe him.
“How do you do that? I can hear you in my head. I know I can.”
“You were able to hear my mind mussssingsss?” He quickly questions, pulling my face up so he can see my eyes. I nod my head yes, and he smiles largely at me. “
His face has gone totally serious, and I replay the words in my head, exactly as he has spoken them over and over again. I am his mate, declare it before his family. He wants me to formally announce that I will forever be his, and it almost sounds like an engagement announcement.
I will never return home. I will be here on this planet for the rest of my life...however long that may be. Nothing could make me happier than to spend it with him and his family. The mere thought of being away from Edwaird makes my chest hurt, and I know that nothing would make me happier than to spend the rest of my life with him.
I nod my head, and the tears begin to fall again. “Yes. We will announce it to your family.” Edwaird quickly stands us up and lifts me with him, twirling me around. I feel like I’m in a storybook or a cheesy romance flick, but I couldn’t be happier. I think about Charlie and feel sad that he is not here for this, but I have to accept that he cannot be.
We both end up laughing, and the baritone of Edwaird’s laugh makes me tingle inside a little bit. I reach up on my tiptoes and kiss him on his sexy, luscious lips. He opens his mouth to me. Our tongues touch, dance, and I devour the taste of him. He slips his tongue inside of my mouth, making me his, and I push my mouth against his even harder. We kiss like it is our last moment until we are both breathless. I reluctantly pull away and he growls a little, making me grow wet. I huff in annoyance that we can’t go further right now, making Edwaird chuckle at me as he pulls me over to one of the walls.
There are thin paper maps that line the walls, and I look over all of them to see if there is anything that I can recognize. I am both amazed and a little frustrated. Amazed at how much of space they have mapped out, realizing how immense it really is. I mean, I thought I had some idea of how big it is, but now that I see these maps, I realize that NASA has no clue. What I’m frustrated about is that as I reach each different map, I see nothing that I recognize. That is, at least until I come to the second to last map, where I finally see several planets that I recognize.
The second to last map has three planets. The names are different, but there are satellite images of them, and I recognize them as Neptune, then Uranus, then Saturn. I quickly move to the last map which is unfinished. There is an image of Jupiter, but it ends there. I point to the map and ask, “You haven’t finished this one yet. You don’t have Mars up yet, which is the next planet and the planet on which you found and saved me.”
Edwaird quickly runs to the switchboard looking desk and brings up an image of Mars. The image is immediately transposed to the map that I’m looking at and I begin to get excited. Edwaird walks back over to me, holding a pen of some sort. He writes something under the planet that I cannot read, then hands the pen over to me. “Marrrrssss,” he says, then nods at the map. I lift my hand up and write ‘Mars’ under his script, then hand the pen back to him.
“My planet is the next one, Edwaird. Earth. Show me where we are now?” I look at him and see his eyes darken a little. He walks away from me and over toward the beginning of the map wall, stopping at the third map. He points to his home planet, and says, “Ssssisla.”
I count the maps in between. There are seven maps between the one that has Ssssila on it and there are between three and five planets on each map. I try to swallow down the lump in my throat and fathom what this means. We could literally be hundreds of light years away from Earth. I mean, it is possible, but that still doesn’t mean that it took us very long to get here. There ship traveled very fast, and like Esssme said, we used black holes.
My mind reels for a few moments, and I suddenly think about the advanced technology that sits in this room. It is way more advanced than the technology on Earth is, and I wonder if he can zoom in on places he has never seen, especially since I know the coordinates of Mars...and Earth. I quickly run over to the desk we had just been sitting at and look for a piece of paper or something to write on. Edwaird anticipates my needs, running over to grab a sheet of brownish looking paper and sets in front of me. My hand begins to fly across the paper as I write down the numbers Edwaird can use to search for Earth. As he sees all of the numbers I’m writing, he stops me, taking the pen and paper from my hand.
Edwaird quickly sits down in the chair beside me and flips on several more switches on the panel. He moves bars and pushes buttons, turns knobs, then pushes more buttons. I watch the screen as he pulls up the images for Jupiter. “Keep going,” I whisper, afraid that if I speak too loudly this won’t work.
Edwaird keeps working, concentrating as he watches the screen while at the same time he moves all of the switches around. He does this for a bit and begins to grow frustrated. We are both ready to give up when I see something in the very corner of the screen. “Wait!” I shout, my arms waving over toward the left of the screen. “Go back! There was something there!”
Edwaird slowly pulls us back to the left and after a little bit of coercing on the board, Edward settles on Mars. I jump up and down, exclaiming, “Yes! That’s Mars! That’s where you found me! Earth! Earth is not far, only about 55 million miles.”
Edward looks at me quizzically and I realize he won’t understand my numbers, but I don’t care. We have to keep looking, we are so close. As I do my happy dance, Edwaird continues to search. But this time, he doesn’t have to search as long. Within only a few minutes, the image of Earth pops up on the screen, and the sight is enough to bring tears to my eyes. I’ve always thought of my planet as beautiful, but nothing can really describe its beauty to me right now.
I sit down in the chair once more, staring at the screen and feeling a rollercoaster of emotions within me. Edwaird grabs onto my hand and rubs circles by my thumb. “Can you look at the planet from different angles? Like circle it?” I make a circling motion in the air with my finger.
Edwaird pulls his hand from mine and slowly moves a lever on the panel. “Stop!” I shout once again, and he immediately pulls his hand away. There, we sit staring at Earth and the beautiful image of
I feel a solitary tear slide down my cheek, yet I can’t exactly say that I feel sad. Besides the fact that I miss Charlie, I can’t really say that I will miss Earth. Yes, it is my home...of course, but this is my new home. If none of this had never happened, I never would have found Edwaird, and I know deep within me, that I can never again live without Edwaird. To say that I love him has become a pitiful understatement, but really, to put words to how I feel about him would do it no justice. No justice at all.
I look over at Edwaird who is staring intently at me, giving him a soft smile...with teeth, and he smiles back at me. He reaches over to me with one of his hands, and as he does so, he bumps a button. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the screen change and look up, gasping loudly at what I see. I look down at his hand and see where he placed it, then to his face and see him looking at me in question.
“You’ve zoomed in on actual coordinates of my home country. I point to the screen. That’s
Before he touches the board again, he takes a deep breath, then moves his hand back over to the button he had grazed only moments before. He moves it a fraction of a hair and it zooms in to
He moves to push it further at my excitement, but I stop him. “Wait. I need you to go in a different direction. You need to go far northwest.”
“Deeerection? Norrthwessssst?” he questions, looking thoroughly confused. We are going to have to figure out how to move side to side and up and down.
“Okay. When you are searching for planets or anything else, how do you go from side to side? Or up and down?” As I ask my questions, I motion with my hand from side to side and up and down to help explain myself.
Edwaird nods and points at a small joystick on the panel. He moves it slightly to the left and the screen pans to the east a little, landing on
I stop our hands and point up at the screen. “There. That is where I come from. Can we look in any further? Closer?”
Edwaird nods his head and quickly moves over to what I’ve dubbed as the “zoom” button. He pushes it a couple of times, and as he does, I move the joystick to the northwest, getting closer to my hometown. I recognize
Edwaird moves back over to me, and I slowly move us closer to Forks,
“Can we get closer?” It comes out as a whisper, but Edwaird hears me. He moves down to the far end of the board this time, but instead of looking to see what he is doing, I keep my eyes on the screen. I can’t look away.
Then I am closer.
Then closer.
And there I am, looking down at the Forks Library. “Move this way,” I tell Edwaird, motioning with my finger in the northwest direction. He says nothing, only moves me ever so slowly, toward the direction of my childhood home.
And I can see the tree outside of my old bedroom window. I know that the frame of the satellite rests on the entire house and driveway, but I pay attention to only my bedroom because if I’m honest, I’m deathly afraid to look at the driveway, afraid of what I will or will not see there.
I look toward the sky and notice that it must be moving on toward evening and find peace in the red and orange colors of the sky. On the horizon, I can see that a storm front is on its way in, and I almost laugh out loud at that. I take a deep breath, swallow several times, and finally, finally, look toward the driveway.
And there it is, the police cruiser; sitting beside it is my old red pickup truck that quit running my first year of grad school. I can’t believe he still has that piece of shit.
A light flips on inside the house, on the kitchen side. “Edwaird, can we get over to there?” I ask, pointing to where the light is coming from. He swivels our viewing position and within seconds, there he is. Charlie. Dad. The best person I’ve ever known, who would cut off his left arm (not his right, because that’s his shooting arm) for anyone who needed it.
A sob comes out of me unexpectedly, and Edwaird is at my side in an instant, stroking my neck and behind my ear. I touch the screen in front of me, touch my father’s face as he stands at the kitchen sink washing off his dinner plate. I can’t get that great of a view of him to see if he looks a great deal older, but he is still policing, so that has to mean something. Relief floods through me, and my tears finally overpower the dam of my lower eyelids. I turn my head to Edwaird’s chest, crying my sorrow and my happiness into his chest.
I cry for a while, I don’t know how long, but long enough that I run out of tears. When I look up at the screen again, my old home has gone dark. I look up at Edwaird then, and he is staring at me with an intensity that is completely new. My chest feels as though it could burst from the intensity of the love that I feel emanating from him, and I reach up on my tiptoes and brush my lips against his.
Edwaird kisses me softly, slowly, knowing exactly what I need. He pulls me closer to him, and after several minutes, our kisses get harder, more heated. My eyes begin to go a little fuzzy, so I close them, thinking that it is just from the intensity of his kiss, it wouldn’t be the weirdest thing that has happened.
Edwaird pulls away, panting, and I open my eyes to look in his, but I can’t see.
I see black, then there is nothing.
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