Cynthia’s continued dialogue mirrored my thoughts. “It’s so weird that Ryder would bring anyone over. He’s as tight about this as anyone. He must have felt strongly compelled. What happened to you?”
As the water streamed over my face, remembered feelings of terror and helplessness whispered through my mind. An image of the scared Vietnamese girl, her eyes looking at me, flashed like an old photograph in my memory. I had to consciously breathe deeply before shutting off the water and wrapping up in Cynthia’s soft robe. As I crossed to the mirror over the basin, she tossed me a towel for my hair, which I made quick work of drying the drippy ends of.
“It was a nightmare,” I offered tremulously, wrapping my hair up turban-style.
She listened intently as I told her what had happened with Paul and how he considered Frank a family friend (which was odd, considering he’d felt innocent to me in all this and not in league with some big evil guy). My description of the contradictory creepiness of Frank’s simultaneous charm and menace had her frowning with distaste.
My near abduction had her properly horrified, enough so that she jumped up to hug me tightly and whisper with heartfelt relief, “Many thanks to Ryder.” Pulling away, she studied my face anxiously, our eyes meeting in the mirror. “Are you all right?”
“Few scrapes, bruises.” I studied my reflection. I wondered if the last few days’ adventures were etched on my face in some way, but they weren’t. It was just me.
As more of an afterthought, I told her that Ryder had confirmed Frank was someone named Ranik, which made Cynthia stare at me in shocked silence for nearly ten seconds.
“Taylor, Taylor.” Cynthia shook her head in disbelief and paced the confined space as though her nervous energy wouldn’t allow her to remain still a moment longer. “I can’t believe you were in the same house with Ranik Grayson. You told me this story the day it happened, but now, knowing it was him...I can’t believe you got out of there alive. You were lucky!”
“Some luck, but I also ran out of there, like, fast. Speedy Gonzalez, you know?”
“Taylor, you don’t understand. He could have had one of the RT lasers and just pulverized your insides with it from a distance!”
“What?”
“Radiation transfer, which means that your soft tissues are zapped with radiation and heat until they basically liquefy. We call them RT lasers for short. Taylor, he didn’t need to be right on you!”
I thought back to my dash out of Reggie’s house and pursed my lips. “I should probably warn Reggie. But what would I say? ‘Hey, Reg, you have a wanted alien criminal living in your house with you.’ He wouldn’t exactly take that well.”
Cynthia stopped her pacing on the next pass and glared at me. “You’re being very lighthearted about him because you don’t know what he’s done or what he’s capable of. You also haven’t seen the damage a digital laser can do.”
“I got a feel for how dangerous he was when I shook his hand. It was in his mind that he was going to kill me, and that’s when I realized that my first instincts about him were right on.”
“That’s right. You touched him.” She grimaced with truly frightened eyes before adding, “You’re also assuming Reggie isn’t part of his scheme. You might have a sense of Grayson, but you don’t truly understand the scope of what a monster he is. See, he’s charming and has many people willing to protect him—even people who you’d think would never do anything wrong. We’ve found factions of rebels sympathetic to him, even amongst our own people, which was absolutely heartbreaking for us.”
“Death sentence for traitors?” I repeated Ryder’s words.
“Yes,” she said softly, an air of sadness to her delicate features. Shaking it off, she asked, “How do you know Reggie’s not one of them?”
“Helping Frank, you mean?” I frowned, tightening the tie on the robe and turning away from the mirror to face Cynthia more fully. “I can’t imagine he would be. Reggie’s his own megalomaniac, but he’s not a criminal. I’d know. I’ve worked with him a long time. I handle all of his business calls, his personal calls, his errands. I could almost guarantee he knows nothing about who Frank is.”
“I need to give you some perspective here.” Cynthia shook her head. “Okay, Ranik? He’s worse than Charles Manson or the Nightstalker. He’s infamous for recruiting followers and causing gruesome deaths. Pure evil. But throw in fearmongering as well, because he’s been linked to at least one horrible act of terrorism.”
“Ryder told me you guys have been after him for a while.”
“We have. He’s ruthless, and...and...brilliant. He somehow knows how to embed himself in any area, anywhere, and not just remain hidden, but fit in.”
I stared at her quietly, processing the new information. I was luckier than I’d realized. How smart of me to have gone with my instincts and run from Reggie’s house when my mind had screamed at me to escape. That was definitely a plus to raising yourself. You learned early on that in order to survive, you had to listen to your instincts.
“Okay, Ranik is Frank. Frank is Reggie’s boyfriend, and he wants to kill you. Something is missing here. And this still doesn’t explain the scene we walked in on, where Ryder, one of our most respected senior officers and a man who is likely to take over the high court from his father in coming years, was pinning you to the floor. Care to share?”
There went my calm. Senior officer. Respected. Even revered. He would soon take over leadership among his people. His family was in a position of power. Boy, was I out of my league. I was just a little nobody in his world. No wonder he thought so little of me.
Tears pricked my eyes as I thought about the way he’d treated me. He saw me as his enemy and that just...hurt.
Cynthia was dismayed, seeing me turn emotional so immediately for the second time ever. “Oh, Taylor, honey. What’s going on?”
“I found mylunate at Reggie’s house. I didn’t know what it was.” I looked down at my toe, sort of lifted it, and showed her the shiny metal that was still there. Cynthia’s eyes widened perceptibly.
“That is mylunate, Tay.” Her voice was a whisper, quietly awed as she tentatively reached out to touch the metal. She drew back just short of grasping it. “It is highly restricted. It would be like...like...I don’t know. It would be like someone flashing crack cocaine or maybe something worse, because mylunate has been the root of our ongoing war with the Brausa. It’s definitely a controlled substance here. It’s hugely powerful. Of course Ryder would be suspicious. Getting your hands on some is next to impossible. Most people who live here don’t have any, have likely never seen any of it in its raw form and would be highly suspicious or disapproving to know an outsider had some.”
Oh. I considered this new information. I tried to imagine how I would feel if someone I knew, Cynthia, for example, had walked into the apartment with a baggie of meth or heroin.
Okay. I was beginning to understand the significance.
“Were you given some?” I asked.
“I’ve been given clearance to have a small amount on Earth. Those of us who are high-court employees are issued a small bit, but we go through training and have to sign our lives away, because there are a number of dangers surrounding the carrying of it, including but not limited to the possibility of discovery by Brausiian soldiers, who would be willing to kill for just that small amount on your toe.”
I hugged my arms in a protective gesture. “Ryder saw it and accused me of working for Frank, or Ranik, whatever his name is. I told him I didn’t know what he was talking about, but he didn’t believe me. I got pissed off because I...we...” What had we done, exactly? It would have been childish to itemize it, and it wouldn’t have sounded like much at the end of it all. How could I describe in words the compulsion I felt to be near him? I felt like we were being pushed together?