With a turbulent jolt, the plane dipped and the seatbelt bell dinged loudly, the combination of which shook me out of my uneasy repose. I felt staring eyes and turned instinctively, expecting to see my swarthy seatmate. His chair was empty.
The eyes that were on me now belonged to the girl. Jade green, flecked with gold. Beautiful. And staring straight at me, smiling slightly with that enchanting mouth.
Oh please, let me not have been snoring…
“I was hoping you were all right. Our friend got sick a few minutes ago and almost took your legs with him when he left. I got worried when you didn’t wake up,” she said. I just stared at the empty seat between us.
“Savannah,” she said, extending her hand toward me.
I hadn’t prepared for this. Not even a little bit.
Either say something witty or write her a note on your napkin that says you’re a deaf-mute! my brain finally commanded.
“Ryen,” I answered.
Well, that wasn’t witty, but it’s a start.
I shook her hand and held it for a moment longer than I should have, memorizing the feel of it. She looked expectantly at me, waiting for me to continue talking.
Decision time.
I could drop her hand and look away, effectively ending communication.
Or we could have one conversation.
One short, meaningless conversation.
It couldn’t do any harm. It would probably show just how mundane she was. Nothing special, just a pretty face and a smart tongue.
“So, where are you from, Savannah?” I asked nonchalantly, wondering, as always, what her real name actually was.
“I’m from … uh … Southern Idaho. Twin Falls,” she said, pausing strangely, stumbling over the words. Usually she supplied a faux hometown seamlessly.
From my study of the United States, I remembered only one thing about that area. Such a beautiful woman probably wouldn’t come from a place made famous for only one very boring thing—they could grow a good potato. Obviously she was lying to me, like every other man she met.
“And what are you doing so far from home?” This, of course, was the question I had asked her in my head most often.
She paused for a second, furrowing her brow like she was thinking hard. “I honestly don’t know,” she finally said with something between a sigh and self-deprecating laugh.
“Does your family know you are wandering through very dangerous corners of the world?” I’d pondered this often while looking for her through the crowded streets, always relieved when I saw her still in one piece. Had she had noticed? Claire certainly had.
“I’m an orphan … of sorts …” I sensed hesitation in her words again and watched carefully as a deep, genuine sadness flooded her clear green eyes. I listened more intently, leaning over the empty seat, but she didn’t elaborate.
“So why are you traveling through such dangerous corners of the world?” the girl asked.
“I’m a … tourist … of sorts.”
She grinned at my hedging. I had told her a half truth, which, conversely, made it half a lie. I knew what her definition of tourist was, and she most certainly didn’t count interstellar travelers into that mental construct.
“I am a researcher,” I said to put a little more roundabout truth in my words. “My research assistant and I work for a group of private collectors of religious artifacts. They fund our travels as we find pieces they may want to acquire.” I delivered our cover story easily. Claire and I had fought endlessly as to who would be the head researcher and who would be the assistant. She had awarded me the title when I had heroically gone out one night at three a.m. to fetch her some thick, viscous pink liquid that supposedly calmed her irritated stomach.
“Is your research assistant the woman that is sometimes with you?” the girl asked as she took a rubber band from off of her wrist. I already knew what she was going to do with it. She absentmindedly swept her hair up into a messy knot and secured it in place as she did in Jerusalem when the afternoons got hot.
“Yes … Claire. She is my assistant.” The girl’s eyes brightened dramatically at my explanation.
“Oh! You two seemed close, I just didn’t figure it was a working relationship.”
She must have been paying some kind of attention if she had picked up on the deep tie between Claire and me. We loved each other, but like family. The thought of her in any romantic role involving myself made my stomach contort.
“We have known each other for a long time. She is an excellent assistant.” Claire hated the word assistant, which is why I used it as often as possible.
“Have you found anything the collectors want to acquire yet?” she asked.
“Not yet, but they are patient.” Or they used to be. “We are on our way to start on another project.” To leave empty-handed. I was almost sure of that.
“Where are you going now?” she asked in such an urgent tone, I leaned back in my seat. “Sorry, I don’t mean to pry. I forget we’re strangers,” she said, her cheeks flushing.
Had the girl not completely stolen away my every thought, had I not been completely caught up wondering whether the words she spoke to me now were truth or yet another fabrication she was so good at weaving, I would have remembered to lie to her. Protocol forbade sharing any type of plans we had with humans. But more than that, my own well-documented weakness for her should have been enough for me to shut up. But of course, in the moment I should have held my tongue, the word came gushing off of it like water from a bursting dam.
“Mexico,” I blurted out.
“Mexico …” she said as a calculating look crept into her eye. “I hadn’t considered Mexico …”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“I was going to get off the plane in Atlanta and see what the next flight available was, you know, like they do in the movies. But I’ve never been to Mexico before!”
“Wait a minute. You are just wandering around with no plan, no escort?” I asked. I looked hard at the girl, more carefully than I ever had. Those eyes looking back at me were fearless and determined, more so than was good for her. “It’s your life, but that doesn’t seem very safe,” I said, shaking off the moment, trying to sound detached.
“You’re right. It’s not safe,” she agreed quickly. “But I really don’t know what else to do other than wander right now.”
“You could go back home.” I offered the safest option I could think of as an alternative to traipsing around the globe with no rhyme or reason.
“No. I can’t,” she said, biting hard into her bottom lip. The sudden heartbreak in her tone disarmed me. I was about to try to talk some sense into her, but her gaze shifted over my shoulder. I turned slowly, unwilling to let our neighbor have his seat back. I still had too many questions to ask her. Maybe we could continue our conversation by throwing notes over his head.
I was stunned into silence, my mouth dropping open like a dead fish, when the addition to our party turned out to be my very own research assistant. There Claire stood nonchalantly in the aisle, holding three very large cookies.
“I thought you could use some company, Ryen,” she said lightly as she swung into the middle seat. She folded down the tray table and placed the confiscated goods on top. “The food back here must be awful! I could smell what was passing for dinner all the way up in first class.”
“I’m surprised they allow the upper crust to mingle with the commoners back here in steerage,” I smiled.
“Oh, we are allowed back here. You just aren’t allowed up there.” She then turned her attention toward the girl. “You look very familiar,” she said, her voice full of innocent surprise. I started to wonder whether Claire could have possibly hacked the airline system and placed her here next to me on purpose. Just then, Claire turned toward me and winked unrepentantly.
I knew it. I’d probably get in trouble if I threw her out of the plane without a parachute…
“Yes! I’m Savannah. It is nice to finally meet you.”
“That’s a big name for such a small thing,” Claire said, who was half a foot taller than the girl. “I think I’ll call you … Savy.”
“That’s not her name, Claire. Don’t be rude,” I said, though what I meant was, don’t get attached, like a child who names a stray puppy they can’t keep.
This one conversation was just that—one conversation. It would end. We would part. Life would go on as it always had.
“Nope, I like Savy. I’m going with it,” she said, handing the girl a cookie.
“I like it too,” Savannah decided after a moment of consideration.
Claire shifted back to me just a bit, though not excluding the girl from the conversation. “Ryen, I come bearing bad news,” she said dramatically. “Christine isn’t going to be able to make it to Mexico in time to help us with our next research assignment.”
“Christine who?” I asked, puzzled. Claire faced me fully, widening her eyes and giving me her patented “you are a total moron” look I knew so well.
“Christine Miller, from the university, remember? She was going to help us with our research.” Her eyes got even wider as she tried to communicate something to me I still wasn’t getting.
“What are you talking about?”
“And now we are one man, well, one woman down!” she wailed, ignoring my question. “Maybe we should just reschedule this whole thing. We really need one more helper …” she trailed off, cocking her head to the side.
Then it clicked.
Oh no, this couldn’t happen. Involving a human in our search? This human? I took a breath to calm myself, to stop from following through on my burning desire to chuck Claire from the airplane’s exit.
“Claire,” I said with a hint of panic, “we have more than enough people to continue. If you disagree, then go ahead and reschedule the trip.”
“No, I don’t want to reschedule. There must be some other way.” Her face turned calculating. I should have dragged her into the aisle and dropkicked her back to first class right then.
She didn’t understand the damage she was doing.
I had physically ached to talk to the girl so many times. But I had kept my distance. Instinctively, I knew she wasn’t like other women—human or Zhimeyan. She was like nothing I had ever encountered before. She had a magnetic pull that got harder to deny every time she walked past me. The harder her gravity pulled, the farther away I stayed, because honestly, her power over me scared me.
Women had always let me get away with way too much. There was always a never-ending line of them at my door. I was an expert at flirting, wooing, and then walking away. But the way this one held herself, the way she looked straight through me even from one hundred yards away, I knew she wasn’t one to be played with.
She was all or nothing.
And since there was no possible way I could give her my all, I had settled for nothing. It was one of the most unselfish things I’d done in my selfish life, but I had done it. I had kept quiet, permitting myself only to listen uninvited on the edge of her beautiful conversations with others.
But it seemed my self-denial was going to be for naught all because Claire felt like meddling. I could have killed her.
“Claire, why don’t we discuss this later?” I murmured through clenched teeth.
“Maybe we can recruit someone from the local school … though that could take some time. Or we could go into Cancún and see if anyone is up for the task.” I put my hand on her elbow and tugged lightly, trying to dislodge her from the seat. She knew she was out of time; she felt the dropkick coming on.
“I don’t know exactly what you are looking for. I have zero qualifications, but if you just need an extra someone to help carry bags, take notes, do chores, whatever, I could help …” Savannah said the words so quietly, I had to strain to hear them. She watched me tentatively.
This wasn’t safe.
This was wrong.
Prolonged familiarity with humans was expressly forbidden. It was only a matter of time before secrets started slipping out.
So why was my heart flying?
But she’ll be in much less danger if she stays with me, even if it is for just a few days, my selfishness chimed. Letting her tag along is a kindness. It was a good story; I almost believed it myself.
“What an excellent idea!” Claire practically shouted. “You would be perfect!” She turned back toward me. “Is this what they call serendipity?” she asked quizzically. I refused to even look at her.
Claire was delighted, but the girl looked me over nervously, watching my expression darken as I fought with myself.
The pair went to talking about specifics as I laid my head back and tried to think my way through the situation. Minutes later, our seatmate returned. Claire bounced out of his chair and smiled victoriously at me before strutting back to first class.
“I understand if you don’t want me to come along,” the girl said as we walked off the Jetway to meet Claire. She stared at the bland beige-and-blue-striped carpet instead of looking at me as we filed out of the Jetway to the gate. These were the first words she’d had a chance to say since Claire left us. “I assume the final say is yours, not your assistant’s.”
What could I say? I didn’t even know what I wanted. No, that wasn’t true. I knew exactly what I wanted. I was torn into two perfect halves—duty versus desire.
But I had a few weeks left here at best. Why put myself through the torture of spending any time with her when I would leave? Of course, others had chosen to stay on Earth instead of going back to Zhimeya in the past …
No! No. What was I thinking? How had things gotten so completely upside down so quickly? And why couldn’t I find the resolve to stick to protocol? Protocol had always made my choices for me, and here I was, discarding it like a pair of old socks.
“I don’t mind you coming.” Understatement of the century. “But … I cannot guarantee that you will be safe. I would hate to put you in any kind of danger.”
“I don’t mind the danger,” she said, and I could tell she meant it. She wore a brave expression that I knew had been earned.
We caught up to Claire then. The girl excused herself to the restrooms lined up outside the gate. What I really should have discussed with Claire was the communication we had both received about the Tribunal dissolving, but there was something much more urgent on my mind.
“What in the name of Zhimeya’s moons were you thinking? You just invited a human to help us with our research. Do you know how many rules we have just broken? I’ll give you a hint. All of them!” I fumed.
“Now you listen to me, Ryen,” she scolded. “I’m not blind, though even a blind man could have seen your infatuation with Savy.”
“That’s not her name!” I snapped. Claire rolled her eyes dramatically.
“She would have gone to some other remote region of the world if she didn’t come with us. She was thinking about trying to sneak into Cuba. North Korea was next on her list.”
“How do you know that?” I reined in my temper to hear more information about the mysterious girl.
“I followed her to an Internet café and set up a trace from my computer. I recorded everything she did on the Internet. I figured she would send emails, tell people where she was, maybe blog a bit, but she only did research on a few international cities, like Havana and Pyongyang. She never made a phone call, sent an email, zero. What she needs right now is friends, and what you want right now is her. I was trying to help you both,” she said with a self-satisfied smile. “Plus, you only live once.”
“And what about protocol regarding humans?”
“Ryen, take a chill pill!” She laughed, probably because she had gotten to use the funny expression I had taught her on the way to the airport. I tried hard not to smile but failed.
“By the way,” Claire said, seeing that she was out of trouble, “I tried to sit her right next to you on the plane, but she changed to a window seat when she got to the airport. Sorry about that.”
“This is a very bad idea, Claire.”
“Those are usually the most fun,” she smirked.
The girl joined us again. Her hair had been brushed and her face washed. It made me anxious to clean myself up. I hadn’t cared what I looked like in a very long time—since leaving Italy for sure. I wondered if my face showed the weeks of neglect.
We walked slowly to the departure gate for Cancún, taking advantage of the time to stretch our legs. The girl excused herself to the counter to purchase a ticket to Mexico. I tried to tell her that we had allotted money to buy her ticket since “Christine Miller” wasn’t coming along. She wouldn’t hear of it and walked away before I could say another word.
“I could get into the system again and change her seat next to yours,” Claire added helpfully.
“You have truly done enough damage for today. Please, please, just leave this one up to fate.”
The girl came back, standing close to Claire, farther away from me. She could feel my hesitation, though she had no idea as to the real reason for it. I glanced at her ticket, both pleased and utterly disappointed that her seat was far, far away from mine.
Maybe there was time for Claire to switch her—no, don’t be an idiot, I told myself. With the girl around, I’d probably be telling myself that a lot for the foreseeable future.
We landed in Cancún a handful of hours later. I almost ran off the plane to the baggage claim, getting more eager with every step, trying to find the two very familiar faces I couldn’t wait to see.
I heard them before I saw them. Mateo and Chase were just a little bit louder than they were large. Both had dark, curly hair, light brown skin that matched their eyes, and huge jovial grins, like overgrown puppy dogs. The brothers were identical, though there was a two-year age difference between them.
“What’s up, brotha?” Mateo said, excitement ringing in his voice.
“Malo e lelei!” Chase added. I knew enough Tongan to know that was hello.
“Fefe hake?” I asked in Tongan. They both laughed, probably at my accent.
“We are great! Better now that we have someone to get into trouble with. We always get more girls when you’re around!” Mateo said, clapping me on the shoulder.
“He’s not going to be much help anymore, Mateo. Man, what happened to you? Hit by a bus?” Chase accused, appraising my disheveled appearance.
“At least I can clean myself up. No amount of cleaning is going to straighten out that mess,” I said, pointing at his face. He punched me in the ribs for that.
I leaned in closer, making sure no one was within hearing range.
“So, what did you guys think about the last communication? The Tribunal splitting, refusing to reconvene? What do you make of it?” I whispered urgently.
“Not now. We’ll talk later,” Mateo said, inclining his head toward Claire and the girl turning the corner.
“Claire!” they both yelled.
Claire ran forward, jumping into their waiting arms.
“You know, I am surprised that you two are in one piece and the Tongan islands are still standing. I figured Tonga would have been damaged beyond repair from your visit.”
“Oh, baby girl, Tonga will never be the same! But I have to admit, we liked it so much, we tried not to do too much damage. All we left behind were some broken hearts …” Mateo trailed off in mock sadness. Claire giggled, taking each by the hand. She led them toward the hallway we had just come through. The girl, who was usually never at a loss for words, just stared, trying to take in the brothers, both almost seven feet tall. I always forgot that to a stranger they probably looked a little intimidating.
“Boys, this is Savannah. She will be taking over for Christine, who cancelled at the last minute.” Obviously, Claire had already sent a communication to them explaining the situation because they just grinned stupidly—first at the girl, then at me, then back at her again. I nudged Chase in the shoulder so he would say something intelligible.
“Well, you have won the lottery, tiny one. You are about to go on the adventure of your life. I’m Chase, and this is Mateo.”
“‘Sup?” Mateo said with a quick head nod. I rolled my eyes.
“Claire’s told me a little about you,” the girl said.
“If any of it was good, she was lying,” Mateo said, winking at her. Was he flirting? I needed to put a stop to that immediately. The words I saw her first sprang to mind.
We collected our luggage, one suitcase for me, four for Claire, and one duffel bag for the girl. When it came around on the carousel, she strode forward to catch it by the canvas handles. I was there just in time to clap my hand next to hers and take it off the belt.
“Thanks,” she said, pulling the bag toward her.
“I’ve got it, Savannah Mason,” I said, reading the luggage tag out loud.
Her name really was Savannah. She’d told me the truth.
She again tried to take her bag back since I was holding it suspended in the air, still completely stunned by the fact that she had told me something real about herself.
“I’ve been your employee for less than a few hours, and already you have more work to do because of me. I’d feel better if you let me pull my own weight.”
“Here, Savannah,” I said, handing her my laptop case.
“Yeah, because that’s an even trade,” she grinned as she put the strap over her neck and across her chest.
“Well done, my friend! She is hot! It will be nice to have something to look at that isn’t Claire,” Mateo said appreciatively as the boys and I went to pick up the Jeep from the car rental kiosk. I knew it wasn’t going to be a quiet walk.
“How did you get her? I don’t understand what females see in you,” Chase said, stymied.
“First of all, I didn’t get her. We’ve spoken for a grand total of half an hour. She isn’t mine.” I heard the letdown in my voice, and I hoped they were too thick to catch it. “And, by the way, I was under the impression that you two had girls at home waiting for you.”
Mateo donned a wily smile. “I think both Chase and I decided we were adopting the ‘what happens on Earth, stays on Earth’ mantra with regard to our girlfriends.”
“Do Neema and Joliet know about this?”
“Last I heard from very reliable sources, Joliet’s been out with plenty of men and never communicates. Fair is fair,” Chase said, always the diplomat.
“If I go back and Neema is there, then it was meant to be. And if not, plenty of fish in the sea, eh? In the immortal words of the Police, ‘If you love someone, set them free,’” Mateo quoted. Both brothers broke out into a rowdy chorus of the song.
Earth music, especially rock and roll, had become extremely popular as researchers brought it back with them to Zhimeya. And right now, glam rock was in vogue back home. I hoped that nauseating fad would end by the time I got back.
“Seriously, Ryen, what’s the plan? Mateo and I messed around with plenty of girls, but we’ve never involved them with our research,” Chase said.
“This wasn’t my idea. You both know this has Claire written all over it.”
“Right, but this is really against protocol. You can love ‘em, but then you are supposed to leave ‘em. We told all kinds of stories to all kinds of girls to get out of situations exactly like this,” Mateo said.
How could I try to describe this girl’s inexplicable hold on me? How it drove me mad that she sketched for hours each day but I’d never been able to steal a glance at the work her hands created? How inappropriately triumphant I felt every time she told a potential suitor to get lost? How could I attempt to put into words how enchanting it was to listen to her explain to a fellow artist how she captures the color of the sky right before the sun comes up in the morning?
All of these musings would be totally lost on the pair, so I settled for hedging.
“Claire thinks she is safer coming with us than being on her own. I’m sticking to our cover story. I’ll talk her into going back to the U.S. and it will be over. No harm done, okay?” I was looking for some reassurance on this point. I wasn’t fully convinced of it.
“Whatever. You know we are always up for some rule bending. I would bend quite a few rules for a girl with a body like that …” Mateo trailed off, and I knew exactly where his mind was going. Not that it should matter to me. She wasn’t mine.