Trapped (Here Trilogy) (11 page)

“What?” She blew a puff of smoke our way, and I cracked my window. “You wanted me to experience being human, right?”

“Put it out,” Nick said.

“Is this what you like about them,
Nick
? The hedonism? Everything that pleases them hurts them.”

“At least we don’t advocate mass genocide!” I snapped.

She raised an eyebrow, and I amended: “Not intelligent life. We don’t invade other planets.”

“Yet,” she said, smug as she blew a huge cloud of smoke in my face. “You only murder your own kind.”

I coughed, and Nick said, “Put it out, Vera, or I'm coming back there.”

She inhaled again, then rolled the window down and threw it out, still burning.

“You could start a forest fire.”

“In a few days there won’t be any forests anyway,” she muttered, blowing the last of her smoke at me. I coughed, and Vera rolled her eyes. “Isn't this what life as a singular being is all about?
My
choices?”

I glanced behind me, arching my brows. “We're not hedonists, at least not all of us.” My life, at least for the past few years, had felt more about pain than pleasure. Thinking of that got me feeling kind of dark, so when she shot her signature sour look at me, I was pissed. “I didn't pick this situation either, you know. For someone who exists as part of a large group, you have a surprising lack of empathy.”

She snorted. “Emotions are for animals.”

“I am
not
an animal!”

“I’m sure pigs tell themselves the same thing.”

Nick put a hand on my shoulder, which was good, because I was about to drive off the road.

“Vera, tell me how you’re acting any better?” Nick asked.

I…wasn’t too happy with that reply—hardly an exoneration of humanity—but at least it shut Vera up for a second. She sank back in her seat, arms folded under her chest, and I turned around in mine. She was quiet a moment before asking, “What is it about this species that you find so redeemable?”

As I seethed, Nick took my hand. “They aren’t in need of redeeming. At least not by us. What I appreciate about humanity, what I think about humanity… I think they’re what We were, before We became what We are.”

Vera snorted. “They wish.”

“They don’t,” I said.

“So you speak for all humanity?”

“On this, I’m pretty sure most.”

“Fine,” Vera said smoothly. “Since you’re here, and you represent the average human—”

“I didn’t say that.”

Vera sighed. “What I mean to say,” she said, “is that you don’t seem particularly intelligent.”

I was sixth in my class, but I felt sure that wouldn’t impress her. “I’m not the smartest person in the world, no.”

“So, tell me about yourself.”

“Vera, what is the point of this?” Nick asked.

“I want to get to know more about you,” she said, ignoring Nick. “You're a VIP, you know. Nick’s human.”

I didn’t glance at Nick, because I didn’t want to give Vera any hint of…well, anything. “I’m someone who thinks there’s gold elsewhere. Why don’t you go there?”

She leaned over the long front seat, looking first at Nick and then at me. The skin of her porcelain face was tight, her features hard. “We don’t have anywhere else to go,” she said, “or didn't 'Nick' tell you that?”

She glared at our hands, clasped in my lap, before sinking into the back of the cab.

“Milo, don't listen to—”

“It's true. There are other places in this corner of the galaxy to get gold. A little bit here. A little bit there. But none with so much as your Earth—and we’re not there now. We’re here. If we give Earth a pass, we fragment,” she said. “And despite what your suicidal lover boy here thinks, that’s a bad outcome. One that leads to our complete extinction.”

I gaped at Nick. “Is that true?”

“Of course not,” he said. “Although I will admit that it all depends on how you do the math.”

“No it doesn't,” Vera said. “It depends on whether you're sane or whether you're doing Nick's magic math, where numbers are hearts and outcomes sail away on wings of turtledoves.”

I blinked at Nick. Was that true? He was putting human survival before his own? My survival before his?

“Don't let it go to your head,” Vera said, seeming to read my mind. “It's not about you. I'd guess lover boy here likes and values your primitive way of life. He thinks it's worth preserving. And he’s tired of living a lonely, cold existence,” she said spitefully.

The road smeared as Nick dropped my hand. I couldn’t breathe, my chest felt so sore. Tears snaked down my cheeks as I imagined my Nick—my sweet Nick—so desperate.

“So it's us or you?” I turned wide eyes on him, finding his face tense and unhappy. “I don't get it! Why can't you take our gold with us still
here
?”

“Two reasons,” Vera said. “First, as a matter of policy, we sterilize every planet we exploit to avoid contamination.”

My ears buzzed at the images her words conjured. “How?”

“That’s not important—” Nick began, but Vera said, “We vaporize everything.”

Bile burned the back of my throat, but Vera went on, her voice laced with heavy sarcasm. “Even if we didn’t, most of your planet’s gold is located near its core, which means when we extract it, there will be lots of earthquakes, volcanoes, and other events that tend to kill more advanced life. Of course, you’ll be dead anyway. And when you think about the alternative, it’s actually quite
humane
.”

“Damn it Vera!” Nick snapped.

She snatched him by the throat, one slender, alien-strong hand around his neck, and I screamed, “Stop it! What are you doing!”

I slammed on the breaks, which did nothing to dislodge Vera’ grip. She searched his pockets as he tried to wrestle free from her. “Vera—” he gasped.

We were on the side of the road now, and having no idea what else to do, I reached back and slapped Vera’s face as hard as I could.

Or I tried to. The hand that was exploring Nick’s pockets appeared in a flash to catch mine in a crushing grip. I let out a yelp, and that seemed to do it for Nick. He bashed his head into Vera’s, and she fell back with a cry.

She was clutching her nose, but she was clutching something else, too. The whistle! I searched my pockets frantically and pulled all the way off the road when I came up empty.

“She has the whistle!” I screeched.

“Oh please,” Vera rolled her eyes. “The only thing I can do with it now is send the boys back home.”

She held the whistle to her mouth as my heart pounded.

“Girl talk,” she said.

I gaped at her, then glanced at Nick.

“Vera, what are you—”

“I said girl talk.” She pinched him somewhere between his shoulder and his neck, and Nick went rigid. Like a mannequin.

“What did you—”

“He’s fine. Gah. If you haven’t noticed by now, I don’t
want
to hurt him.”

“Then put him back to normal.”

She wagged her finger. “Not until we have our conversation. Now look.” She held up the whistle and got my full attention. “I’m willing to blow this whistle for no other reason than to avoid the headache The Rest will bring. Also, I value Nick’s life. Make no mistake, if they show up, he’d dead.”

“Then blow it.”

“Not so fast. If I blow the whistle, I guarantee I’ll give your planet a fair shake. For twenty-four hours. I’ll even help get these government people off your back.”

I felt a “but” coming. “What’s the catch?”

“The catch,” Vera said, seeming to enjoy the phrase, “is that after twenty-four hours, Nick leaves with me. No if ands or buts. And he agrees with me. No dissenting.” Vera smiled. “Do you trust your charm and charisma, Milo Mitchell? Can you make me love you, too?”

Vera was obviously not human, because she didn’t seem to mind waiting the several minutes it took me to compose myself. Eventually, in my most even voice, I said, “It’s not my choice. I can’t decide for Nick.”

“But you can,” she smiled. “Nick knows this is the best deal either of you are going to get. He’d tell you to take it if he could.”

I shook my head. “But what if you decide to vaporize the planet?”

“Let me repeat: This the best shot you have. I promise to keep my end of the deal.”

“So I'm gambling with the life of everyone alive here that if you end your SOS or whatever it is and give earth a shot, you'll decide not to vaporize us all, even though you vehemently wanted to just minutes ago. That's crazy.”

“Not if you trust Nick. He thinks my mind is already changing. What do you think?”

I looked at Nick. He had seemed confident; but maybe that was all for my benefit.

“Let me make it easier for you.” Vera pointed to the sky. “In six hours, they’ll be here. Nick and I will be ‘beamed’ up. If he survives in this worthless body of his, he’ll be quarantined immediately, and the only opinion that matters will be mine.”

“He didn’t tell me that.”

“What would be the point, Milo? You think he enjoys your little tears?”

“I want to tell him 'bye',” I whispered. “Either way.”

She shrugged. “Either way.”

I nodded. “Okay then.”

She pinched Nick again, then leaned back into her seat and blew the whistle. It was amazing how ordinary it sounded: exactly the same as when my gym coach blew hers.

“They're not coming now?” I asked.

“They're not.”

Nick sat up, glaring at Vera. “You don’t get to just decide how things go.”

“Milo and I decided how things go,” Vera said. “Two against one. It’s democratic.”

“I wasn’t given a voice!” Nick snapped. “You literally took it from me.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, suddenly worried that I had done something wrong.

“Don’t be,” Nick said evenly. “Twenty-four hours is more than enough time.”

Half a mile later, I was still wondering, when we rounded a corner and I saw a 'Welcome to Sheridan, Wyoming' sign. And then the police cars, lining each side of the interstate.

“OH MY GOD.”

Traffic was backed up at least a mile, but I could see the lights: hundreds of red, blue, white lights, flashing at the end of the line. What had to be every state trooper in Wyoming, and I knew what they were doing. Looking for kidnapped me.

It didn’t take a long time for us to notice the black SUVs sprinkled among the cop cruisers.

Nick and Vera were having a heated conversation, but I was a prisoner of my racing thoughts, playing out scenarios in which I made a U-turn and we outran the police—or, worse, we didn't.

This many cops meant the line moved fast—faster than I would have liked. We inched forward, never actually stopping, as some cars were waved through and others waved onto the snowy shoulder—the drivers and passengers roughly pulled from their cars and searched.

“What do we do?” I cried.

Nick leaned on the dash, staring ahead. “They have technology I've never seen,” he said, sounding almost breathless.

“Whoop whoop,” Vera muttered, but Nick's eyebrows shot up. “They're using some kind of molecular detection device I haven’t—”

“Seen before,” Vera finished for him, unimpressed. “I assume you mean method, which I suppose
is
somewhat—”

“WHAT DO I DO?!” I grabbed Nick's arm, and his eyes blinked wide with surprise before he grabbed my hand. “Do what you're doing, Milo.”

“But how are we—”

Nick turned to Vera. “Could you get us moving,” he snapped, clearly frustrated.

She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. “If you're being generous with the term 'molecular detection',” she told Nick. She turned to me. “Generous or not, this is a point for your team, Milo,” she said, making a check-mark in the air. Her face was stuck in its typical disdainful expression, so I couldn't tell if she was serious or sarcastic.

“I'll create disturbances elsewhere to throw them off,” Nick told Vera. “You get us moving.”

We were maybe a dozen cars behind the barricade, and I watched a dark figure walk down the road, toward us, holding out a long, black wand.

“Um, Nick...”

“Get us moving,” he ordered Vera.

She tilted her head. “Or what, lover boy?”

“You don't want to try me right now.”

“I might.” She smiled, but she had already started her strange magic; I could see the shadow-bubble forming around our car, breaking us off into what Nick had called another universe—but the phenomenon didn't captivate me.

Nick did. I didn’t know how we were going to rescue mom, or clear my name, but I was sure we would. Just as I was sure that, when we did, he would leave.

He returned my stare for a moment before squeezing my shoulder. “Press the pedal, Milo.”

With one last look at Vera, he sank into his seat, tipping his head back against the head rest. He shut his eyes, and I felt so sickly nervous over whatever he was about to do that I couldn't get my feet to move.

Eyes still shut, Nick closed his hand around mine. “We’re about to get through this. You believe me, right?”

I nodded, then, realizing he couldn’t see me, said, “Yes.”

“Good. Now press the pedal.”

Vera made a gagging sound, ruining the moment, and with one last look at Nick, I gently pressed the pedal.

Nick's body slumped, his hand, in mine, curled, and his brows notched as slowly—oh so very slowly and smoothly—the truck and its bubble started drifting up, toward the vast, pale sky.