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We appeared in a luxurious bedroom that had a king-size bed, a dresser, nightstand, and a closet. There were four black boxes mounted on the ceiling, one in each corner of the room.
“Welcome to Winston’s ship. Amber, I can take you to your room,” Angelo offered.
“Nope. I’ll stay here with Sheena,” Amber insisted.
“Want a tour?” Angelo wondered.
“I need to see every inch of this vessel,” Amber said, her eyes losing their playful light. I wasn’t sure if Amber was taking this mission seriously because she was trying to block out the pain of losing her dad, or because she wanted to protect me. In any case, she placed her backpack on top of the dresser and strolled to the door. I dropped my pack beside hers and followed.
“Deric, Winston, Mira, and I are going on this trip with you. But I will teleport out of here if Ciara needs me,” Angelo warned as we stepped into the hallway that had five doors on each side.
“Each bedroom has an attached bathroom,” Angelo said as he gestured to the stairs that led to the next level. We climbed up and the open area graced my eyes. There was a section that held two rows of recliners, each row holding six recliners. Winston sat in the pilot’s chair, with Deric sitting beside him. Alongside the seated area was a kitchen complete with a kitchen table, a clear fridge, and a stove and a sink.
“Hungry?” Angelo asked, excitement in his eyes.
“I am,” Amber said with enthusiasm. The promise of food momentarily brought out her personality. I needed to talk to her about the second thing revealed in the vision. She seemed too nonchalant about a creep wanting her for his harem. I couldn’t shake that it may have been a bad idea to involve her. But what could I do? Celest had been the one who assigned Amber to the mission.
“Okay then,” Angelo said. “It will take us a month to arrive on Neretha. If we need to, I can always teleport back to Earth to grab more supplies. But we would have to dock on a space port for me to do that,” Angelo warned.
“So let me get this straight. If you wanted, you could teleport to Neretha?” Amber asked, shock and awe competing for projection in her voice. Angelo nodded.
“All Najorians have that ability. But most of our kind can’t take others with us.” Amber appeared disappointed.
“Of course you can’t. That would just make things too easy,” Amber complained. “So, do any of you know about a Lord Peirc?” And here it was. Amber would avenge Max, and I wanted to as well. But we needed to find Jade first. If killing Lord Peirc would risk my best friend’s life, I wouldn’t go for it. Before I could express my worries, I was shoved into another vision of the past.
~~~
An eight-foot-tall man with waist-length long, light brown hair stood in a throne room. The imposing throne appeared as if it were braided together with iron-gray metal. Though the seat was cushioned, it was doubtful that it was comfortable. The giant frowned as a tall, slender woman who was a foot shorter than the man rushed into the room, garbed in armor that was complete with a breastplate. The man tilted his head, exposing his neck, and the woman smiled broadly, as if the gesture of respect thrilled her. Her hair was red, and it hung to her waist in a French braid.
“Do you think that the king will actually send his firstborn to marry me?” the woman asked, her green eyes twinkling. The man with the light brown hair glared at the woman.
“King? Shala, I told you that he was dethroned, and had seven years to hand the kingdom over to me,” the man protested, which made the woman roll her eyes.
“And tell me, Great Emperor Tulda, what makes you believe that the proud king will comply in seven years?” Shala demanded.
“You know the rules, Shala. It’s either obey or be destroyed,” he warned. “My ancestors have sent the mighty asteroid into a planet before.” Shala frowned down at her scarred hands, not looking pleased by the prospect of destroying a planet.
“Just hope that the foolish king obeys and sends Zamire here,” she said.
“Sister, you’re a princess of the Janton empire. Stop being so weak. We are a warrior—” Shala launched herself at her brother, and had him flat on his back. She swiftly held her blade to his throat.
“Watch it, Brother. I could decapitate you and become empress,” she threatened. The emperor tried to move, but he only succeeded in nicking his skin on Shala’s blade.
“Let me up,” he ordered, his eyes growing dark with hatred.
“Promise that you won’t be foolish enough in following in Edgar the Psycho’s footsteps,” she fired back.
“The Najorians were stupid not to yield. They were teleporting cockroaches. They deserved what they got,” Tulda sneered.
“Really? And our race has benefited from destroying that world? There were riches, healing waters, food sources that we could have benefited from,” Shala shouted. “You will not bring shame on our dynasty, Brother. You can destroy a section of the planet as a warning, but not the whole thing.”
“Shala, you don’t give me orders,” the emperor screamed. “If that king doesn’t yield, Neretha will be destroyed.”
~~~
“Holy crap!” I cried, disbelieving of what I witnessed. Deric stood in front of me, his green eyes meeting mine. His lips twisted in a frown as he continued staring. It took a minute for me to realize that the guy was reading my mind. He stepped back and shook his head, some of the dark strands falling on his forehead. I instinctively brushed his hair away from his face, then felt stupid for doing so.
“Did you see Lord Peirc’s death?” Amber asked hopefully. Deric shook his head, which confused me. I was one to always spout out my visions. But then his eyes fell on Winston, who was still in his seat. Oh, so he didn’t want the pilot knowing of how his home planet was destroyed. I eyed Amber and he nodded.
“Deric, come tour my room, it’s brilliant,” I said, a wide grin on my face.
“Why? Angelo is going to make food,” Amber complained. “And besides, Deric has seen it before.” Amber apparently didn’t know how to take a hint.
“Go with them, Amber. Deric doesn’t want me knowing what your oracle saw,” Winston said. “Despite the fact that I’m doing him a favor, I’m still not trustworthy, and neither is paint boy over there.”
“His name is Angelo,” I defended, which made Angelo shake his head.
“Winston has a reason to be pissed. We are all risking our lives to go on this mission. I think that everyone needs to be included,” Amber chimed in. I had a feeling that Deric had his reasons for not saying a word.
“If this gets out, we could find ourselves in a war,” Deric warned.
“Does it have anything to do with rescuing Jade?” Amber demanded.
“Sort of,” Mira said as she sauntered into the room. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a tank top, and her feet were clad in high-heeled sandals that had straps that wrapped around her ankles.
“Then, tell us,” Amber insisted. “Because a time limit is just what we needed.”
“Mira,” Deric pleaded. “This is classified information. We need to stop at a space port so I can teleport back to Earth to tell the king.”
“That serious?” Amber asked.
“Very,” Mira agreed.
“There is a space port a week away,” Winston offered. “But it isn’t my favorite to go to. They sell unusual creatures there.”
“If any humans are sold there, we’re buying them,” Amber said. “I read enough books to understand what unusual creatures are.”
“Will do,” Winston replied. Deric frowned.
“Don’t make any moves until I speak to King Rayon,” Deric said as he eyed me. “You have my mate with you.”
“Good enough to transport and protect your mate, but not good enough to hear about a vision,” was Winston’s sharp reply. Judging by the worry flickering in Deric’s eyes, I sensed that this discovery was bigger than what I thought it was. So what, the Janton crushed a planet with an asteroid in the past? It sounded like some terrible emperor was to blame and he was long dead. Deric shook his head. I was obviously missing something big. But what in the hell was it?
“Since we’re stopping at a port in a week, can I check on Ciara?” Angelo asked, his eyes lighting up.
“What is your obsession with her?” Winston laughed. “You do know that guarding the half-breed was a joke of an assignment. No sense in taking it seriously.” Angelo teleported to the front and hit a button, which made a beep sound in the air. He then dragged Winston out of the pilot’s chair and tossed him on the ground.
“You can call me whatever you want. That’s fine. But you will never call Ciara a half-breed. Got it?” he snarled. Winston sat up and slowly got to his feet.
“Whatever, man,” he said. I wasn’t surprised when Angelo teleported away.