CHAPTER 1
In his embrace, leave this life, leave this place
Waking to the feel of sweat upon my brow, I was overly warm from the blanket I was cocooned in. I caught the sight of hazel eyes staring back, and the body that lay beside me. Although my mind was a still a little groggy, I could make out a simple smile spread across Will's face, and so I smiled back. He wiped the beads of sweat from my brow and then held my cheek. His musky scent so close filled my lungs with every breath I took, bringing me back to better days between us. My mind began to clear of its haze as I pulled myself upright, slowly unwrapping myself from the damp blanket and sheets.
"Morning, gorgeous," he greeted, languidly sitting up with me. He was still in his white button-up shirt. His black tie loosened since I last saw it. His hazel eyes held its beguiled expression. They were filled with relief and excitement. His black wavy hair was bunched to one side, and if I had to guess, was due to sleeping on only one side. Without thinking, I reached out and tried to comb it down with my fingers, but they would not behave and so I decided to leave them for now.
"Good morning," I replied. I was certain that my own appearance left something to be desired. Fully aware of morning obligations that needed attention, I excused myself, "Pardon me."
He reached for me, grasping my hand in his when I slid my legs off the side of the bed, and pulled me back to him. I wrestled off his grip and shook my head disapprovingly. He shied back, lying atop the bed, resting on one elbow. I steadied myself as I stood and walked away somewhat disoriented. My whole body felt different. I couldn't place it but it was as though I felt renewed and trying out legs for the first time.
The bathroom to my quarters was a bit cramped even for me but it provided everything I needed. I began by washing my face, and then moved on to brushing my teeth, all the while staring at myself in the mirror. I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for in my reflection other than to say it was me staring back. As I brushed my hair, I noticed how smooth my hands and forearms were. They were a fleshy pink and smooth. No signs of injury or scarring. I then brought them up to my eyes for a closer inspection. The mirror had not deceived me. Pulling down the neckline of my shirt to inspect my chest confirmed, that indeed, I was healed. No more scars. No more reminders of the dark days!
Warm tears welled up then ?owed down my cheeks. Finally being released, they became a steady stream, originating from a dark valley within, spilling onto my shirt and hands. After collapsing onto the floor of the bathroom when my legs gave out, I began laughing to myself hysterically.
A knock came from the bathroom door.
"Maddy, are you okay? Can I get you anything? Tell me you're okay, gorgeous." Will's voice was anxious. He was worried about me but it didn't detract from the overall euphoria I was feeling.
"No, thank you, Will. I'm fine. More than fine. Just give me a minute please," I cried out. My voice was erratic from laughing and crying through the words. I wasn't sure if I was even coherent. At any rate, I was elated as I sat, thinking about everything that had happened to get me here.
* * *
Yesterday, Nicholas and I ?ed from a raid of two dozen heavily armed agents. Nicholas and I were on the run. Nicholas Mardan was the love of my life, my rock through the entire calamity that was my existence. With the dawn came a renewed sense of hope. It coursed through me and my outlook on our situation was not so grave, better than what it was yesterday. I pulled away from his embrace upon waking, arching my neck back in order to see his face. It was relaxed. I couldn't help running my fingers along his face as he lay beside me, serene and content to see me wake. I hadn't expected him to still be beside me in bed. This was something unexpected, something we were both determined to avoid. There were boundaries that we set for ourselves, and separate beds were one of them. I suppose with my breakdown last night, the need to comfort me overruled propriety; his sense of chivalry allowed it.
I looked into his deep blue eyes as though I was seeing them for the first time. "Nicholas?"
His eyes ?lled with tears as he kissed my head, tightening his arms around me. His expression was one of relief, of joy, of love.
"Maddy." His smile fixed in place as he continued to stare down at me. He sensed in me an awakening of my former self, because I sensed the same. The dream lingered because it was no ordinary dream, it was a memory, the memory of our last day together before I became lost. The little girl he first loved didn't come back to him right away. He had to come get me, and now we were reunited.
"I remember our last day together," I whispered softly, confessing the obvious truth to him.
Reflecting on that memory brought me a moment of sorrow. I was a bright shiny penny once, so naive to the world and its machinations, but somehow along the way that penny acquired a suit of grime and grease, and became stuck to gum on the bottom of someone's shoe.
Able to read my mind, Nicholas said, "Underneath it all, you still shine for me." He always knew the words that helped put things in perspective. I thought about that too, he was able to read me and so everything else, the clothes, the frame, the face, came secondary to what he saw first in me. He was able to see beneath it all, to the real me, the girl he first fell in love with.
I took a deep breath, and then considered what our next course of action should be. We were on the run, hunted by a secret government agency that saw me as a threat to national security. They've managed to coordinate their objective with their allies in the US, so there was probably an arrangement in place with my capture.
I now understood. The building I tore down, with no casualties to my knowledge, labeled me a threat. And yet the incident never made the news. It never made it to any newspaper or news broadcast. Now there was the cover-up of all cover-ups. Newsworthy or not, it was poetic justice for trapping, drugging, and experimenting on me. So now, I was scarred for life. The physical scars were everywhere. The incisions wrapped around my chest and torso. My hands and forearms were riddled with cuts where they cut me open, and third-degree burns. They pushed past the limits of my ability to heal myself. They were a constant reminder of the hospital that did all but heal.
"What should we do?" I whispered timidly.
We were a team now, and we were going to have to continue as a team. It was a fleeting thought but I had entertained the idea of splitting up and escaping separately but he wouldn't hear of it. It would have increased our chances of getting away, or at least ensuring the freedom of one of us, and preferably him. I don't think anything could hold back my rage if anything happened to him. I wanted to protect him from all the forces that would do us harm, the very forces that had hurt me. He had the same intention for me. I suppose we would do well to look after each other.
"Are you ready to return home now or are you still debating between China and Canada?" He spoke, slowly emphasizing the locations. His voice was solemn. His smile has all but faded away. The affection shown earlier disappeared, and in this instance there was no room for humor. Time had run out. It boiled down to whether I was ready to leave this world. If I stayed, I would remain on the run, just in a new location and a new time zone. I would always be on the move if I stayed. After the past year, the truth of the matter was I'd grown weary of this life, of all of it. I have been away from Thylea for too long. I was ready to go back, although uncertain if I would still ?t in. I should at least try to adjust. It would mean no more worrying about scary men with guns aimed at me, no more doctors and hospitals, and no more constantly moving to stay ahead of them all.
Resolutely, I breathed, "Nicholas, take me home."
I was resigned to this decision. This had always been the hardest part, deciding where my destination lay. At least now, we could at least plan for the future.
Nicholas was pleased, relieved too, that I was no longer placing myself in constant danger. The words spoken changed Nicholas' mood and his smile reemerged. "One month, huh? Well, no more vacations for you, Ms. Knoll. I don't think I could bear it," he chuckled.
"Gilligan went on a three-hour tour," I pointed out.
He laughed. "You're fortunate I'm a Reader."
"I told you I was bad at directions."
Arching his left brow, he said, "No, you're bad at following directions." With that the conversation was over and we were left to sit in thoughtful silence.
So a vacation that was supposed to be one month long turned out to be fourteen years of living on the streets, running, tracking, and oh, more running. Who knew? At least Nicholas found me and saved me. Again and again he's saved me, the gallant hero to the reluctant damsel in distress.
I pulled my gaze from the window, from the natural light being born, its infantile glow filling the room. The pale warm tones pushed back the aged night.
"Never let me go," I whispered.
He was probably expecting a witty retort but I couldn't think in clever terms. This was real. This was the truth. The one thing I knew to be true in my existence was that I needed him. I loved him. Always. He continued to hold me and caressed my cheek while I lay still.
"I love you, Madison. Always."
As much as I hated changing the subject away from intimate time with Nicholas, more pressing matters needed to be addressed, the to-do list. "Would you mind if we dropped by the Caribbean first before we go home? There's someone I would like to say goodbye to," I said as I thought about Tresa, the only other person I had formed an attachment to. She was a second mother to me, the one person I needed to say goodbye to, if no one else. It was only right. I pictured her on one of the Caribbean islands, living carefree as any retired Tracker should. The islands were as far as I was able to track her in my spare time. With Nicholas, it should be a piece of cake finding her.
Given my request, Nicholas came up with a plan of action. His eyes were a telltale to the wheels and gears that grinded. His eyes shifted from one corner to the next, weighed obstacles unknown, and when it was decided, he spoke. "We would have to charter a cruise that will go through the Panama Canal and then up to the islands. It will take some time but it is necessary. We should do this right."
"Why not just ride all the way to Florida or Texas on land? We may have to get another mode of transportation. I don't think I can do the entire trip on your motorcycle. Then we could take a ship from there. It would be faster than starting from northern California," I argued.
I saw the aha moment coming the second the words passed my lips, my error. "It's your bike for one, love. Two, we would run into less obstacles if we were safely aboard a ship. I actually hope to enjoy this cruise," he said as if it was already set in stone. His eyes quickly averted before he rolled away, leaving a question in the air.
"What do you mean?" What was the reference? Thylean-born and raised, when did he have time to take a cruise before now?
He got up. I could see that his shirt was wrinkled from being slept in. His hair was in its usual disarray. So I decided to stand and stretch myself.
I waited for an explanation, he knew it, and relented. "The last cruise," he paused, took a breath and continued, "there was a young woman. She was suffering in the cabin next to mine, but I couldn't help her. She had recently suffered trauma. She needed space."
"Did you ask someone to check on her? Was she okay? Was she hurt? Did she make a lot of noise?" I felt awful for the poor creature and wondered what could have been wrong with her. Then again, he could read minds and so she wouldn't need to make any noise for him to see how much pain she was in. "Didn't anyone help her? What do you mean she needed space?"
"My love, it was you."
That was when it hit me. And that was all he needed to say. As if hit with a cold slab of ice, my mind was knocked back to a time my heart wished to forget. "Oh, I had forgotten." I paused, looking back into that sorrow-filled moment of my life. "I thought I sensed a pair of eyes on me, but it was background to what I was going through," I said as I unzipped my backpack, pulling out a set of clean clothes. Back then, I could not be helped. If I could have cocooned myself from the world, I would have. I didn't want to look at him when I thought about the dark days, the days before he came and put me back together. I was uncomfortable with the memory, and now all the more so because I had put him through weeks of agonizing torture and him helpless to affect anything. He was so much stronger than I imagined, enduring my pain as well as his own. If he didn't have his abilities, he would not have had to shoulder such a heavy load. I felt like a burden to him sometimes, knowing his life would have been so much easier if he didn't have the flawed sense of bonding with me.
"We have to keep moving." And just like that, he took charge, pulling me back to the present.
We freshened up and were back on the road, leaving the motel behind.
CHAPTER 2
When it was dark, you came along, enlightened me, became my sun
After refueling, we headed south to San Diego. Once there, charter a cruise. Until then, long stretches of roads lay before us. The sense of urgency never left us but my anxiety was manageable. The ride itself was therapeutic when I saw mile after mile pass us by. My arms were wrapped around Nicholas. The roar of the bike faded quickly and the sun to our left told me that the day was still young. The day just may be incident free so I allowed myself a measure of relief.
Maddy, there is a roadblock ahead. Don't panic.
'A roadblock?'
Yes, they are looking for a couple in their twenties traveling together. They have your description.
'Nicholas, turn around. We'll ?nd another way.'
No, I will handle this.
'But, Nicholas ...'
He continued despite my protest. Trust me, Maddy, trust that I can protect you. If I need help, I will let you know, okay?
'Okay.'
And so we took our turn in line behind all the other vehicles headed south in our direction. And as we did, lines of cars took their place behind us. The wait wasn't long as the lanes moved steadily across the blockade. There were a few couples our age traveling together in nearby cars, a few families, and even a car filled with teenage boys chanting, "Road trip! Road trip!"
It was our turn to be inspected. I decided to trust him and relax my grip on him. A part of me was curious about how this would play out. How would he use his powers? With all these people, he would be the better person to deal with the situation. He would be able to read their minds and control them without anyone being the wiser. It would be less of a scene than having me deal with the situation. I was the muscles and usually leave a trail of ruin behind me.
I left my helmet on as the o?cer spoke into his radio and only took it o? when he instructed me to do so. Staying calm was key. My heart raced through me but I couldn't show it. Years of training came through as I gave a friendly smile and guiltless facade.
"Yeah, we have another one fitting the description," said the officer into his radio. His aviator sunglasses didn't give away much. His shiny badge adorned his beige uniform. What appeared to be brown caterpillars passing for a mustache stayed in place over his pursed lips while he waited for a response. His irritation rolled o? of him and he eyed us with a steely gaze. His partner with a shotgun ready waited beside the car.
A voice replied from the other end. It was muffed, but I was able to make out, "And the gentleman?"
"Sandy blond, twenty-five to thirty," replied the officer. "Deep blue eyes."
"Height?" asked the mystery voice.
Pursing his lips, he nodded. "Sir, would you mind standing?" the officer asked Nicholas. Nicholas complied and I stood by the bike behind him. "About five-eleven, maybe six feet tall," he answered back into the radio.
