C.L. Walters's Blog, page 16

The Letters She Left Behind: Character Interview

The sun is shining on a December day in Hawaiʻi. Palm trees sway in a trade wind breeze and it’s balmy but cool, enough so that a light sweater is comfortable. Adam Kāne and Alexandra James agreed to take some time out of their busy schedules to speak with me about their starring roles in an upcoming novel, The Letters She Left Behind. This isn’t the first time I’ve met them. We met for the first time about sixteen years ago, then again just shy of a calendar year during the most recent revision of the story.

Having lived in Hawaiʻi most of their lives, both of them embody the lifestyle. Adam arrives first. He’s a Hawaiian local, born and raised on Oʻahu. He arrives like the gentle trade winds, calm and cool, as much a part of the landscape as the ocean shoreline he surfs, or the razor-sharp mountains that cut the sky. Dressed casually in black chinos and a white v-neck tee, people stop and greet him at our table. He seems to know everyone and people are drawn to him, but it isn’t just his manner of dress or his handsome demeanor. His smile is bright infectious, reaches his brown eyes drawing in those he talks to and makes it easy to spill secrets. In fact, he is more apt to listen rather than talk though he has so many things about which he can discuss.

Alex - arriving from her job as a gender studies professor at Hawaiʻi State University - wasn’t born in Hawaiʻi. Actually, she admits to being born on the East coast of the US, then moved across country with her family when she was around five to California. That’s where she met Megan (Adam’s late wife), who she refers to as her sister. Like Adam, she embodies island living. Her sleeveless coral linen dress translates not only to local but equally to those students she might be teaching who aren’t from Hawaiʻi. While I observed her and her conversation with Adam, I had the feeling I was the one being observed. Perhaps a bit of a chameleon, Alex is able to fit right into the moment of the interview, but it’s easy to imagine how she might command an auditorium full of students. She is independent, passionate and intelligent.

I was taken with their story. It stuck with me for sixteen years, so it made sense why I’d want to take some time to connect with them in the aftermath.

Thank you, Adam and Alex, for agreeing to talk with me about The Letters She Left Behind. I know that living in my head has probably been a bit stifling. Was it worth the wait?

Adam: Definitely. I’m a patient guy.

Alex: Sure, though it’s difficult sitting around and waiting for you to get your act together.

Hahaha! Wow. Okay. Why do I feel like there’s more in those answers than meets the eye.

Alex: I’m not one for being passive aggressive, CL, but you did write the story. You know.

Adam: (chuckles and shakes his head): Patience is a virtue. So is biting one’s tongue when necessary.

Moving on then. Without giving any spoilers, what do you like best about your story?

Alex:  Megan. While she doesn’t make a huge appearance in the story, her part in the journey is equally important to the entire narrative on so many levels. I love that about her starring role. The way it all comes together.

Adam: Me too. I also like how there is the sense of time. The way life works sometimes to bend and twist in order to get you where you need to go when the timing is just right. It’s like as much as you might want something right now, it isn’t the right time for it.

Kind of like this story. Sixteen years ago, when I wrote it, I was in my early thirties and here I was writing about grief and second chances. Perhaps I needed additional time and world view to draw the story together. On another note, there’s this point in the narrative when both of you see yourself - or the truth of who you are - outside of the fear. Can you comment on how that moment or moments like that are impactful.

Adam: I know exactly the moment you’re referencing, though I would say I had more than one of these sort of ah ha moments. It’s like that one step forward, two steps back paradigm. A person discovers a truth about themselves. Moves forward and then regresses until another discovery occurs. I think most times, for me anyway, those self-discoveries or facing those honest truths can be painful, which is why we regress.

Alex: I think so too, which is why sometimes we don’t face them. It’s easier just to stay in one place because the threat of change might be more than we can accept.  I know that for my part in the story, this fear of things being different was paralyzing.

I love that scene - when you walk into the ocean, Alex. It was pivotal for your character.

Alex: Yes. Truly makes the difference in the overall movement of my journey.

What about you, Adam? Is there a pivotal scene for your character?

Adam: There are a few, but I don’t want to give anything away by sharing them. I can say at the beginning of the story, I’ve been in a tailspin of grief for nearly a year. I’m raw at the opening, at the precipice of either burying myself in it completely, or doing something different. Megan’s journals were pivotal for me. Without them - well, there wouldn’t be a story.

Let’s talk a little bit about place and culture. As a Hawaiian, Adam, do you think your ethnicity is relevant to the story?

Adam: Not so much. I think I represent a Hawaiian male, but I don’t necessarily embody the cultural values of being Hawaiian, if that makes sense. In all fairness, I would add that who I am is on the edge of understanding my own Hawaiian identity. With the loss of language and culture, how does one rediscover those losses when you’re disconnected from them?

Alex: Do you think that lack of culture then misrepresents you in the story?

Adam: No. I feel like it accurately represents that it is a missing piece in my life, but more could be done to explore that. Maybe not in this story, but perhaps in others. But I think place is explored and the usage of  ʻOlelo Hawaiʻi vocabulary which add depth to an understanding that Hawaiʻi is more than a tourist destination.

Funny you mention stories to explore that. I’m working on a story for Trey. I don’t know if it will be a short story or longer - beginning stages - but that idea of cultural rediscovery is a theme I’m noticing as I work on it. Speaking of secondary characters, who do you think will be a fan favorite?

Adam: The kids.

Alex: The kids.

Neither of you are partial… Why the kids?

Alex: Each of them are unique and bring a whole different dimension to the story. Without them, I think the story wouldn’t be as layered.

Adam: I agree. I’d like to see them all with their own stories.

What are you hoping happens with your story?

Alex: I hope that a reader can close the book and feel like “Wow, I don’t need to worry about that thing anymore.” I think it’s easy to get caught up in the minutia of our lives and forget the big picture, the what’s really important.

Adam: That! Yes. And to remember that life is a journey. It doesn’t stop. It moves forward and we move along the timeline with it. Sometimes we’re blindsided, sometimes we’re broken, but always the timeline continues. Something else I hope people remember - we can’t live it alone. Along the way, we need those special people to share it with in some capacity.

Thank you for hanging out in my head for a bit.

Look for The Letters She Left Behind on sale 1/14/20

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The Letters She Left Behind: Annotated Playlist

RE-RELEASE JANUARY 14, 2019

The Letters She Left Behind is the story of second chances, about friendship, and what we’ll do to protect those we love.

This is an annotated music playlist of music I listened to while writing THE LETTERS SHE LEFT BEHIND. This constant soundtrack while writing Adam’s and Alex’s story provided gorgeous inspiration for my process; this playlist can be found on Spotify called “Letters She Left”.

“Motion”

KHALID

The opening scene of Letters is very sexual. These lyrics say, “I’m in love with the moment// to me fallin’// to me goin’” The lyrics, the beat, the smooth way the notes spin the story of the song speaks so well to the prologue and how that scene unfolds.

“Bed”

SYML

This song was a late addition but when I heard it, it made me think about Alex’s experience and how memories might wrap us up and perhaps lock us in. “My skin hurts without your touch// I didn’t want to think or ask too much, but I didn’t know better// Kids in the dark// In the still of the night.” Hits me in the feels.

“Naive”

RKCB

In the story, we discover that Alex has written a letter to Megan (Adam’s late wife). We don’t find out what’s in it until later in the story (major plot point) because Megan has left this letter for Adam to find. That is exactly what Alex is terrified of happening. The lyrics in this song reminds me of Alex. “I’ll write you every letter// I know you’ll never read//To know there’s someone out there dreaming of you in their sleep.”

“Gravity”

SARA BAREILLES

Another Alex song along with the first appearance of Sara Bareilles. This song (released in 2007) wasn’t even around when I wrote the story, but it sure seems like it could have been written for Alex.  “Something always brings me back to you// it never takes too long//...//You hold me without touch// You keep me without chains// I’ve never wanted anything so much as to drown in your love// And not feel your reign.” Perfect, right?

“Forgiven”

VANCOUVER SLEEP CLINIC

This song isn’t ripe with words other than the repeated word combination, “Don’t Forgiven.” The haunting melody just worked, especially as I was writing Adam.

“1000 Times”

SARA BAREILLES

Second appearance by Sara Bareilles, and again we return to how I imagined Alex’s one-sided love she has for Adam that she’s spent a lifetime hiding. “Eyes on the ground//Don’t want to give it away//My secret.” 

“Josephine”

RITUAL w/ LISA HANNIGAN

I have loved this song so much for a very long time, but as I started rewriting Adam’s and Alex’s story, it happened to come on and I stopped. Had to close my eyes and listen. “I knew I had tasted love…”

“Under You”

Nick Jonas

This song (which is eerily similar to Taylor Swift’s “Style” btw - seriously, have you listened to them one after the other?) is just for the pop-music fun of it. The beat, the lyrics are all just so great adding to the “sexy” vibe I wanted as I wrote.

“Hurt Somebody”

NOAH KAHAN w/ JULIA MICHAELS

I think both Adam and Alex as characters are flawed, and like all humans they’ve hurt one another with secrets. This song reminded me of that and how even in the black and white of actions, the gray area is where life happens. “It’s harder than I thought to tell the truth//It’s gonna leave you in pieces.”

“Fuel on the Fire”

Bear’s Den

This song is interesting in style but for some reason when I heard it the first time, I couldn’t let it go. It’s the “remembering how to love” lyrics that repeat. And then, “Always hoped you’d come back here someday//Things change.” I couldn’t get the song out of my head because it aligned so nicely with the narrative.

“Hurt Nobody”

Andrew Belle

This song reminded me of Adam. There’s a moment in the story when he is finally able to see things clearly, and he realizes the mistakes he’s made despite his best intentions. He never wanted to hurt anyone. This song spoke to me. “I don’t want to hurt nobody//Could I do right by you//I don’t want to waste your time but//I will if you want me to.”

“Closure” (Acoustic)

VANCOUVER SLEEP CLINIC

This song has Adam all over it. “I don’t wanna be over you//If I can make you mine//I don’t want to take closure now//If I can fix tonight//I don’t know if we can work this out, but I’ve got to try//I don’t want to be over you//If I can make it right.”

“Far Out Dust”

TALOS

TBH this song’s lyrics don’t have a lot to do with the way I used the song as I was writing (I used it to write a love scene). My inspiration was about the movement of the notes, the tones and the melody; it spoke to me. When I finally looked at the lyrics, I realized it seemed more like a “break up” song, but it didn’t matter - the tension of the music worked so well. 

“Can’t Help Falling In Love”

KINA GRANNIS

Obvious and cliche, I know. But my goodness, how does this song not fit any love story? Besides the fact, Kina Grannis’s vocal are amazing.

“Crystalline”

JOME

Ever think about how timing is everything in life (and in love)? That’s what this song makes me thinking about. “Love, stay patient//Baby, everything takes time//The ending will be worth the waiting//Soon it will be crystalline.” Adam’s and Alex’s love story is so connected to the idea of everything in the right time.

“I Choose You”

SARA BAREILLES

One of the reasons I love romance books is because of the happy ending. There’s so much uncertainty and difficulty in the world, I like the beautifully wrapped up package of a heartfelt story to escape it. “Tell the world that we finally got it all right.” This song is like that, and I think it works perfectly with Adam’s and Alex’s story.

“As Long as I Have You I’m Home”

IMAGINARY FUTURE

Another one of those feel good songs to go with this story. “I don't care where the hours go//I can live in the great unknown//As long as I have you//As long as I have you, I'm home.” And isn’t that all any of us want?

“Hoe, Hoe, Nā Waʻa” 

KEAUHOU

The translation of “Hoe, Hoe, Nā Waʻa” means to “row, row your boat” (canoe). The song travels around the islands. I love this amazing Hawaiian trio (I teach with two of them and they are such talented men), and since the story is set in Hawaiʻi I needed some local island music add to the story’s vibe. Keauhou is my favorite. 

“Nani Koolau”

KEAUHOU

Another song by Keauhou. This one is about the “beautiful Koolau” mountains that run from Town to the North Shore on the island of Oʻahu (and where most of this story takes place).

BOOK BLURB: THE LETTERS SHE LEFT BEHIND

A year beyond Megan’s death, Adam Kāne emerges from his cocoon of grief to finally read letters she’s left behind reminding him of the truth of the life they’d built: the children, the hardship, the missteps and the love. When he notices strange notations in the pages, Adam knows the notes are deliberate, but he doesn’t know how to decipher them. He turns to the one person who knew Megan as well - if not better than he did - her best friend, Alexandra.

After Megan’s death, Alex steeped in grief and guilt alone. On the day of Megan’s funeral, Adam accused Alex of trying to ruin his marriage. The awful truth is he’d been right. And nothing has changed. Alex knows she is as in love with Adam now as she has always been, so when he walks back into her life to ask for her help, she thinks life must be playing a twisted joke on her. Her sensibilities tell her to turn and run, but Adam is asking for Megan. Alex can set aside her fear and guilt for loving Adam to be there for Megan one more time.

As they dive into the strangeness of Megan’s letters to decipher her notations, Adam and Alex stumble into a dangerous conspiracy that ties together some very powerful threads and reawakens a killer who thought discovery had died with Megan. The closer Adam and Alex get to uncovering the truth in Megan’s letters, the closer they get to losing everything they hold dear.

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Deadlines, December, New Stories Oh My!

We’ll return to Imogene’s story after the New Year!

I wrote a new excerpt for The Ring Academy: The Disappearance, but the more I tinkered with it, the more it didn’t sit right as ready to share. Then I realized, it was because my creative energy had been split up. With 50,000 words for NANOWRIMO this last month, my current work in progress, and this short story, I realized I’m in the creative doldrums and need a bit of a breather to make sure the quality is there. THE RING ACADEMY: The Disappearance will be on hiatus for the time being as I face a firm deadline this month. I don’t want to publish a subpar excerpt that leaves me feeling discouraged and readers unsatisfied, so I’ll take a bit more time to work through the second half of this story to get it right. Look for its return in 2020.

So in the meantime: Here’s a short excerpt of my current work in progress tentatively titled: The Stories Stars Tell. This is a new adult romance that jumps into the fire of what it means to make choices as adults. Emma and Tanner, in the summer between graduation from high school and their next chapters, both face the choices they’ve made in their pasts that aren’t in line with the adults they are becoming. Together they begin to learn how making new choices to recalibrate one’s identity sometimes strips away the parts of us that don’t fit anymore.

An early aesthetic of the current Work in Progress

This is an early part of Tanner’s story (those who are signed up for my newsletter received an excerpt of Emma’s as well. Interested? Sign up for my newsletter on the “contact” page). Heads up for strong language:

Tanner

(Two weeks before graduation)

We walk into Atticus Baker’s party like kings, Griff, Dan, Josh and me. Senior year, three years of running the party game like professionals, and stories to never tell our kids (I’m not convinced I’m ever having any). The news of our arrival moves through the house like a sound wave. This scene used to be fun. It used to make me feel like I was relevant. We pose for someone’s IG story, throwing deuces. Always the same story. Now,  I’m bored as fuck, trailing behind the crew but smiling at the greetings because I’m supposed to be the man. 

“Tanner.” Baker slaps a hand on my shoulder. 

I look up at him. Basketball god at school, he’s taller than me by at least four inches, and I’m six-one. “Hey, Baker.” We shake hands with a half hug, and then he greets the rest of my crew while I glance around the room. It’s an ultra-modern place with a retro-feel. The sunken living room is littered with bodies talking, laughing, drinking. Lights are low, with a moody lo-fi glow, and the air is heavy with smoke. Bass pulses through the house speakers and people dance. I hear someone scream which draws my gaze beyond the sliding glass doors and I watch as a girl gets thrown into the pool outside. It’s late May, and still chilly at night; I wonder how any one is enjoying the pool? Then again, it’s a party. Is anything rational?

“This is lit, Baker,” Griff says also scanning the scene. 

I don’t know why I suppress the urge to roll my eyes. This feels like I’m in a play reciting the lines and making my set marks on the stage. The next scene has us getting drunk - not sloppy drunk - but just enough to take the edge off. Then we’ll hook up with whatever conquest for the night. Dan and Josh, might, or they’ll find stoner haven, and spend the night smoking out and talking philosophy. I’ll have sex with someone because that’s the role I play; it’s what I usually do because by the time I’m drunk, I’m blocking loneliness. Griff will find a willing body too for whatever his reasons are; our friendship isn’t deep enough to have real conversations about it, so his motivation is a mystery to me. It’s become a boring, predictable production.

“Glad you guys showed,” Atticus says and directs us to the booze. 

Glad you guys showed. The statement hangs like a wet towel on a line in my mind. Because we’re the party,  I suppose, bringing the clout with us. It’s the story we’ve written. I’m not feeling it, and glance around the room at all the faces. Most of them I know. There are a few I don’t. Eyes follow me; I notice mouths move and then eyes slide back with knowing, curious and inviting smiles. It makes me feel bored, tired, and wish I was at home. I turn my back to the invitations and follow Atticus into the kitchen. He hands me a beer.

“Thanks.” I take a sip and feel the bitterness like acid in my gut. I shouldn’t have come. It isn’t that I don’t like Atticus. I do. He’s a solid guy and we’ve always gotten a long. Hell, I get along with almost anyone. I hadn’t wanted to come out is all, but Griff whined me into it like he always does lately. I wanted to stay home and read. After three years of the party life and not a whole lot worthwhile to show for it, I’m weary.  I take another sip wondering when that began. I picture Emma Matthews in my mind a few months ago, outside the club, breath coming from her pretty smiling mouth like puffs of magic. She’d waved at me, well, back at me. I’d inexplicably waved first, raised my hand without thinking about it the moment I saw her. Junior year and that kiss moving through my body like muscle memory as if it had just happened. And when she’d raised her hand, a tentative wave and a smile as if she doubted I was waving at her, my lungs tightened. I overheated with unspent energy despite the January cold. Now, I shake my head as the golden liquid in the cup comes back into focus, and take another sip. I don’t like this doubt working through me. It’s uncomfortable.

Griff bumps my arm and nods toward something behind me. “Look.”

I turn my head.

“Laura Hoff.” Griff sips his drink. “She’s effin’ hot. You could hit that.”

I turn away and lean against the gigantic kitchen island. I’m not interested in Laura Hoff.  There was a time several years ago, I would have been. Meaningless sex. No complications. I’ve grown weary of that too. “Why does it always feel like you’re pimping me out?”

“What the ever-loving ef, T? You’re being a bitch tonight. Did you lose your balls and grow a vagina? ”

“I told you I didn’t want to go out.”

“My point exactly.”

I don’t tell him to fuck off. It would be a waste of my breath. 

“It’s senior year.” Dan joins us leaning against the island next to me. “Kind of like the last hurrah before we go our separate ways.”  Always so positive. Dan’s joining the military. He swears in after graduation.

“I don’t want to invoke it, but I might have to remind you of bro code, T.” Griff says which sort of feels like a threat and climbs onto my back like added weight.  

Bro code is a bullshit agreement we made when we were fifteen after I lost my virginity to my mom’s friend Pam (no, my mom doesn’t know). I’d filled in the boys on the facts of life as I saw them, and the pact to support the sexual conquests of one another was born. The bro code: Always have one another’s back for the effort of a lay. The thing was, most of the time, for whatever reason, the bro code always came down to me leading the way.  I’m a better talker than Griff whose idea of flirting is throwing around disjointed one liners that resemble insults. I’m funnier than all of them. Josh is nicer than me. Dan too, but he’s shy. Josh is so laid back that he’s content to do whatever anyone else tells him and would hang out playing video games without complaint if that’s what the group decided. I’m the de facto lead - the first of us to pop his cherry - though Griff is our social director. In considering the bro code agreement, Griff has probably gained the most. I’ve never needed it.

At one time, the bro code made me feel connected to them. All for one, one for all sorta thing. They were my family, my missing brother turned into three. With the wreckage of my family -  my parents’ ugly and volatile divorce - being important and necessary to my boys, being wanted by women, both made me feel something. Fulfilled, I guess. Now, it feels like a trap because I can see the chains, and the bars attached, as if it ever had anything to do with actual friendship.

I sigh and stare into the cup.

“Bro Code?” Josh says stuffing his face with chips and salsa. “Why would you throw that out there, Griff? Tanner’s always game.”

Except I’m not. Not anymore, and this is a new awareness. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to get drunk or stoned. I don’t want to have sex with someone random. I want something else, even if I can’t name it. I set down my drink and walk away.

“Yo!” Griff yells at me. “Tanner!”

I ignore him and slide past gyrating bodies out through the glass door into the night. I shove my hands into my pockets; the chill clings to my skin. There aren’t too many people poolside - a few - which makes it easy to find a spot to be by myself, to take a moment to figure my shit out, though I have a feeling this has only just begun, whatever that means. I’m off balance.

“Hey Tanner,” a voice draws me away from the darkened landscape beyond the house.

I turn my head and find Laura Hoff, no doubt sent over by Griff who’s interested in smashing with one of her friends. I lift my eyebrows in a greeting. “Hey, Laura.” She is pretty: short blond hair, pretty brown eyes and pouty mouth. I glance behind me and see Griff in the window. He’s talking to one of her friends. I look away and resume my moody contemplation of what’s beyond the light of the pool deck where we’re standing. I’m not interested in playing this game anymore.

“Everyone wondered when you guys would get here.” She mimics my stance, turning so we’re shoulder-to-shoulder looking out into the darkness. I see her cross her arms over her chest to keep out the chill, or from insecurity, and I wonder why she’s out here. What does she have to gain from talking the notorious f-boy Tanner James? I’m shit and have nothing really going for me except a job in my dad’s construction company after graduation. Whoop-de-doo. No one really sees me. They see the persona: the party boy, the f-boy, the life of the party. 

“Why?” I ask. 

“You guys make it fun.”

I hum a response. “What? People can’t make their own fun?” It feels as acidic as it sounds.

She isn’t sure what to say to that, maybe a bit surprised by my vibe. “You okay?”

“No. I’m not.”

Her face relaxes, sort of slides toward added insecurity and doubt. I see her glance back at the house and then back at me. “Griff thought you might like some company.”

I sigh and shake my head though I doubt she’d catch it. Predictable. “I’m good,” I tell her in an effort to channel Dan’s kindness or Josh’s laissez faire approach to life, but Josh would tell her more than he needed and Dan would feel like he needed to make her feel better. I don’t need to do either. I don’t really know her that well.

“You want company?” 

“Not really,” I say and push my hands deeper into my pockets.

An awkward silence settles around us until she mutters, “Okay,” turns and walks away.

I take a deep breath. I should leave before I hurt anyone else’s feelings, but I pinch the bridge of my nose and sit on one of the sun chairs instead to hide. I’m not ready to face the inevitable conflict that will occur with Griff. Instead, I lay back and stare up at the sky. It’s a clear night and Atticus lives a little out of town, so there are lots of stars. 

After my brother Rory died, I’d sneak into his bedroom during my parents’ fights. I’d duck through the window, scramble across the shingles of the roof like Rory and I used to do on our spy adventures before he got sick. I’d tuck myself into a spot near a dormer - the farthest we could venture onto the steeply pitched roof. If the sun was still up, I’d watch the neighborhood, the cars move past on the street, walkers  on the sidewalk, the yelling of my parents blocked by all the walls between us. They never looked for me. Never knew where I was. If it were dark, I’d look up at the sky and wish for Rory. I’d tell him about Mom and Dad. I’d cry staring up at the vibrant sky feeling alone and invisible. I don’t remember the last time I climbed out onto the roof.

I hear approaching footsteps and brace myself for it to be Griff pissed that I sent Laura away. I prep to tell him to sleep with her himself if he thinks she’s so hot, but it isn’t Griff who draws up a chair next to me and sits down. It’s Atticus.

“Yo.”

I give him a head nod.

“Can I join you?”

“Your house, dude.”

He smiles and hands me a red cup. “Thought you might need a refresher.”

“Thanks.” Silence walks around us for a bit. “What you doing out here?” I finally ask.

“Didn’t really feel like a party.”

I look over at him. “It’s your house, Baker.”

He shrugs and takes a sip of his drink. “Teammates wanted a spot tonight and my parents were out of town.”

“Could have said ‘no.’” And I realize I could have too and didn’t. 

“What’s one party? I figure everything’s about to change.” There’s something in the way he says this that it’s heavy with what has remained inside of him.

“You good?”

He doesn’t answer right away. Waits and then says, “Everything good with you? Isn’t like you to be at a party, turn down the prettiest girl and then sulk in the dark.”

I chuckled. He’s right. “I’m just over it.”

“I feel you.”

“Really? How’s that?”

“Probably most of us are carting around shit inside that won’t make it out into the light until we start over in the next book of the series.”

I nod though I realize my next act is here. I won’t be leaving, still stuck between my parents and their perpetual war. He’s got a scholarship to play basketball at the collegiate level and the grades to keep it. “You feel like talking about it?”

“Do you?”

It’s my turn to be quiet but eventually I say, “Party shit is old, and Griff doesn’t get it. He wants everything to stay the same.”

“And he’s your boy.”

“Yeah.”

Atticus takes another sip and then stares intently at the cup. “I don’t think my boys would get who I really am.”

“If they’re your real boys, then they will,” I say and hear the wisdom in my words. If they are my real friends - Griff, Dan, Josh - would respect any changes I want to make - the truth I want to live, right?

“Sounds easier than it is, though.”

I nod. “Yeah. Who knew shit would feel so complicated.”

We sit for a while in companionable silence listening to the party happen behind us lost in our own thoughts. 

“Maybe living the truth is all we got though,” Atticus says. “Like anything less, is frontin’.”

“And anyone who matters is going to understand.”

Atticus nods. 

There’s a loud crash from somewhere in the house.

“Shit,” he says and stands up. “Good talk, T.” We slide palms and finish with a fist bump. 

I stay a while longer in the darkness pondering his claim: anything less than living our truth is a front. I suppose he’s right as long as one knows what their truth is. I’m untethered from whatever it is and instead chained to an expectation. 

THE RING ACADEMY: The Disappearance, Part 6

VI. It All Goes AwryMalcolm

The kiss. Oh, damn. That kiss and the promise of what could go with it leached into Malcolm’s blood like fire. If he’d known - had imagined - he would have insisted on kissing Imogene way before this.

But he was the first to draw away because there were things Imogene didn’t know.  He took a deep breath to clear his conscience, but it didn’t. And worse, he didn’t want to end that kiss just yet. He mapped her face, the pretty golden eyes with flecks of green he’d spent four years studying. The even olive skin with a tiny beauty mark above her lip, just to the right. Her heart shaped mouth which he knew had a smile that melted his heart when she did (though it wasn’t often). Her dark brows shifted over her eyes marking her confusion. He wanted to lean in and kiss her again, but she’d hate him for his lies of omission. He knew enough about her to know she would feel betrayed by his secret.  

Malcolm stepped back, shoved his hands into his hair and turned away with another heavy sigh. “Stars,” he swore more to himself than aloud. “I’m sorry,” he said. “This is just too complicated.”

“Wait. What?” The sound of her voice now a part of the confusion.

He shouldn’t have kissed her. Shit. He shouldn’t have. It’s just he’d wanted to for so long. When she was mad at him and competing with him it was easier, but now that they’d found a place of peace, fighting his attraction for her was so much harder. He turned back toward her with the intent to plead with her and make her understand without revealing the truth. Not yet anyway.  “I shouldn’t have. I mean - I’m not saying this right.” But Malcolm couldn’t get the words past the lump in his throat. She looked so shocked.

And embarrassed. He watched as her cheeks turned a becoming shade of pink. She crossed her arms as though reinforcing herself, as if she needed to protect her heart from him, and then turned away. “Oh. I see.”

“No. No, Ima,” he reached out for her. He urged her to turn and look at him, to see the truth about how he felt on his face, willed her to understand all the longing in his heart but didn’t have the ability to tell her yet, and hoped beyond all hope that when she did she wouldn’t hate him. 

She jerked away from his touch. “Don’t.” Her eyes filled with tears and those, he knew, were enough to send her over the edge into not only loathing him but herself. If he knew anything about Imogene Sol, it was that she wasn’t weak, and tears to her were the ultimately display of weakness.  Imogene hated to cry. She turned away.

“Ima, please,” Malcom pleaded to her back. “It isn’t what you think.”

Though as he tried to move her with his words, a shadow at the entry point of the covered mall drew his attention. A Federation officer - a high ranking Sirkuhl - walked toward them.

Both he and Imogene saluted the Sirkuhl. 

Malcolm searched for his name. Lazzer. Lazzer. It rang a bell. A pretty loud one, in fact. What had his father told him on his last visit? Malcolm searched his memory. Something about old connections.

“At ease,” Sirkuhl Lazzer said. He moved to the seat across from where Malcolm and Imogene stood and sat down.  Casually, he crossed his hands and his hands over his lap. It seemed strange to Malcolm - condescending and arrogant. The commander’s eyes moved from Imogene to Malcolm and then back to Imogene, his blue-eyed gaze intense. “I was under the impression that you didn’t get along.

“We don’t,” Imogene answered.

Malcolm refrained from any remark or facial expression. If he’d learned anything from his parents it was to know when to keep it neutral. Everything in his gut told him that right now with this commander, neutrality meant everything, though he couldn’t find the why in his memory.

“The group,” his father had told him, “needs your eyes on this Malcolm.” Group was code for the independent intelligence agency which his father and mother both secretly served on behalf of the people. Whereas the Federation - despite their claims - wasn’t always in line with the will of the star alliance, the IIA provided checks and balances, or hoped to in order to avoid another Dark War. 

“She hates me,” he’d told his father. 

“That’s beside the point. The mission is to secure her as an asset. The intelligence is that Sol is a target for something.”

“What?” Malcolm had asked him

“We don’t know, yet. Still trying to decipher and unravel the threads. Can you do it?”

Malcolm had agreed despite the conflict. He’d had a crush on her for years and didn’t reveal that to his father. It was stupid. All agents knew not to mix the job with what’s personal, and he’d done it on the first go. 

Sirkuhl Lazzer scoffed at Imogene’s claim. “I’m sufficiently fooled then, Sol.” He stared at her and it unnerved Malcolm. It wasn’t the look of someone neutral but rather the look of someone one who knew something no one else did.

“I’m Sirkuhl Lazzer of the Fourth Order,” he told her announcing his name, rank and position.

The Fourth Order was the highest Law enforcement group in the Federation. And Lazzer the highest commanding officer in the order. While many officials watched the trials, this was the first to approach them. Was he recruiting them?

“I knew your father, Sol.”

Malcolm worked to keep his face impassive and focused on the greenery over the Sirkuhl’s shoulder. He knew Ima’s father? How? When?

“Forgive my impertinence, Sirkuhl,” Imogene stated her voice even and calm. “My father was a traitor.” 

The man - narrow and wispy as a being, Malcolm thought - made a humming noise and nodded. “A shame really. I knew him from the Earth Omega Project before the Dark War.”

Old connections? Like his father mentioned. 

“Look,” the Sirkuhl said and stood like a shot. “I’m not here for personal business or to catch up.” The sound of boots clomping against the pathway in the mall echoed through the tunnel. 

Malcolm used his eyes to look past Imogene next to him at four Federation Police marching through the tunnel.

 “This is a shame as well, but Imogene Sol, you are under arrest for the murders of Private third class Jorgie Mignon and Private second class Gayleen Fiord.”

That’s a pile of steaming bandon shit, Malcolm thought. Something was definitely wrong with this entire picture.

“What?” Imogene’s voice sounded shocked. “There must be a mistake. I don’t understand.”

Afraid she’d say something in her shock, Malcolm warned her. “Ima. Don’t say anything. Just Don’t.”

Sirkuhl Lazzer’s eyes beaded on him, as if to warn him into silence.

Malcolm couldn’t only wonder: Why was the highest ranking officer of the fourth order her, making an arrest of a first class cadet? This made no sense.

Sirkuhl stared at Imogene. “Both Mignon’s and Fiord’s remains were discovered outside of the Academy campus, along with evidence to link you, Sol, to the crime. You are being detained and tried by the Federation Tribunal in two weeks time. Anything you say can be used against you.”

An officer grabbed her arm roughly.

“Hey!” Malcolm wanted to jump in and fight, break the restraints, but he couldn’t help her if he was locked up. Now there was more to this puzzle except there were more moving pieces.

Lazzer’s eyes narrowed on him. “I suggest, Kade, that you stand down.” He turned back to Imogene. “You may contact representation for your hearing and if you can’t, then the Federation will provide you with one.”

She hung her head. Broken. It was the an Imogene that Malcolm hadn’t ever seen and his heart tore down the middle. 

“Ima. I’m going to help,” he told her before they led her way from him.

Her eyes snapped open and she looked at him. She was still angry, or perhaps it was just hurt.  “Don’t do me any favors,” she told him.

Lazzer chuckled.  “Take her away,” he said.

Malcolm watched Imogene led away in restraints. The only way to help her was to prove her innocence. 

Sirkuhl Lazzer studied him. “You are an up and comer, Kade. Glynn says you’d make an incredible addition to the Fourth Order.” He paused, and leaned back, his hands behind him. “But I know your family, Kade.”

“Sir?” he asked.

“You think your power and influence will be able to stop the Federation?”

“Sir? My family is proud supporters of the Federation. Both of my parents serve proudly in the Senate.”

Lazzer leaned forward right into Malcolm’s sphere of space. Malcolm didn’t move a muscle. “Yes.” He waited extra breaths just to remind Malcolm who was in charge, then said, “As you were,” turned on his toe and walked away.

Malcolm waited, paced in the mall for a good sixty seconds before he took off at a sprint. He need to find Tsua.

Imogene

The kiss. Oh, the kiss was like a storm in the desert - a flash flood. Lightning flashing illuminating shadows and sizzling the world around them. Imogene hadn’t known, and if she had she would have insisted on kissing Malcolm way before this.

Malcolm drew away first, took a deep breath but didn't say anything. His dark eyes mapped her face and stopped at her lips. Imogene was sure he would kiss her again, wanted him to, but he stepped away, shoved both hands through his hair with a heavy sigh and turned away from her. “Stars,” he swore more on a breath than with the deep tone of conviction.

Confusion slapped Imogene. She touched her lips with her fingertips.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “This is just too complicated.”

“Wait. What?” His words weren’t connecting with the pace of her mind which was knee deep in the quicksand of the kiss. The residual electricity of the lightning strike still burning through her.

“I shouldn’t have. I mean - I’m not saying this right.”

This left Imogene with an assumption: he hadn’t been as affected by the kiss as she had been. This embarrassed her. She crossed her arms over her chest, stepped back and turned away from him. She faced the milsk blossoms and wished for a moment she could go back in time to when they looked prettier. Her face was hot with mortification. “Oh. I see.”

“No. No, Ima,” he grasped her elbow and tried to turn her to face him, but she jerked out of his hand.

“Don’t,” She said. Her eyes blurred with embarrassment and self recrimination. She knew better. She’d always known better. She had no wish to add to her shame. Malcolm represented everything in her world that wouldn’t work. He was male, first. Then he was from a powerful family. He had a name. Everything would come easy to him because of who he was. And everything in her life was like climbing uphill without reprieve. She’d known better than to nurture any feelings and she’d done it anyway.

“Ima, please,” Malcom pleaded from behind her. “It isn’t what you think.”

Movement drew her gaze. Standing at the entry point to the covered mall was a stranger walking toward them. His steps were slow and deliberate as if waiting, observing, spying (Imogene couldn’t be sure which) on what was happening between them. She wondered how much this figure - dressed in Federation Finery - had witnessed. He cleared his throat when he was a bit closer as if to warn them he was there, but it was a little too late.

She snapped to attention based on this stranger’s rank. “Sir.”

“Sir,” Malcolm echoed.

“At ease,” the older officer said and went to the bench where he sat. He crossed one leg over the other and set his hands in his lap as if out for a leisurely afternoon in the mall. Except he wasn’t because his human eyes danced between them assessing, curious, and something else Imogene attempted to identify. Contempt? “I was under the impression that you didn’t get along.”

“We don’t,” Imogene answered.

The commanding officer smirked. “I’m sufficiently fooled then, Sol.” He leaned forward just a touch and tilted his head.

She didn’t respond.

Neither did Malcolm.

“I’m Sirkuhl Lazzer of the Fourth Order.”

Imogene forced herself to remain still though every part of her wanted to collapse into a heap. The Fourth Order was the highest investigative group in the Federation. And this man was the highest ranking officer. Shit. Shit. Shit.

“I knew your father, Sol.”

Her eyes skipped to his face. He was about her father’s age, tall and lean. Narrow face though sort of handsome. His eyes were a piercing blue. She tried to adjust to the fact that this man was a high ranking officer in the Federation with her father, the rebel against the Federation. How would he know her father?  “Forgive my impertinence, Sirkuhl, my father was a traitor.” It hurt to say it but was also necessary. She didn’t need anyone in the Federation questioning where her loyalties were.

The man made a humming noise and nodded. “A shame really. I knew him from the Earth Omega Project before the Dark War.”

She held her tongue. Before? Before her mother? Before she was born? How did two paths diverge?

“Look,” he said and stood so suddenly Imogene fought the urge to back up. “I’m not here for personal business or to catch up.” The sound of boots clomping against the pathway in the mall echoed through the tunnel. Imogene didn’t turn to look, remained still. “This is a shame as well, but Imogene Sol, you are under arrest for the murders of Private third class Jorgie Mignon and Private second class Gayleen Fiord.”

“What?” She stammered for the first time her body breaking its stance. “There must be a mistake.” She glanced at who was in the boots coming up the walkway, Federation Police with wrist cuffs and collar. “I don’t understand.”

“Ima. Don’t say anything,” Malcolm said. “Don’t.”

“Both Mignon’s and Fiord’s remains were discovered outside of the Academy campus, along with evidence to link you, Sol, to the crime. You are being detained and tried by the Federation Tribunal in two weeks time. Anything you say can be used against you.”

An officer grabbed her arm roughly.

“Hey,” Malcolm snapped.

Lazzer’s eyes stopped on him. “I suggest, Kade, that you stand down.” Then to Imogene. “You may contact representation for your hearing and if you can’t, then the Federation will provide you with one.”

Her wrists were bound.

Tears burned her eyes and as she closed them, tears she didn’t want started. Be stronger she coaxed herself. Be stronger, but she was so tired of being strong. Her life had been mapped out the moment her father and mother had turned traitor. It was a miracle she’d even made it to The Ring Academy. A nobody with a horrible past.  She couldn’t afford the clothes on her back, how could she afford representation? It was a lost cause. The Federation would provide her representation on their dime. That meant one thing: Carnos. Glynn had made due on his threat, but she’d won. She and Malcolm had won the first trial. There were still two more. How would she ever prove her innocence?

The cuff was wrapped around her throat and the retraining cord attached between her wrists and neck.

“Ima. I’m going to help.”

Her eyes snapped open. “Don’t do me any favors,” she told Malcolm.

Lazzer chuckled.  “Take her away,” he said.

She allowed the police to lead her away, her eyes on the ground in front of her feet. As much as she wanted to fight, she didn’t have anymore left in her.

To Be Continued . . .Next Monday: Part 7

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THE RING ACADEMY: The Disappearance, Part 5

V. The First Trial

Imogene’s nerves were fraught with tension, her shoulders so tight she could feel it in her jaw. Malcolm’s advice hadn’t stopped moving through her mind: You have to win. When she stopped in at the check to register, she couldn’t do much more than grimace and answer with one word responses. 

“Here’s your number.” Nine. “Hold out your arm,” the feminine Gillick told Imogene, her mottled purple skin smooth despite the multi-shaded spots. Imogene did, and the Gillick attached the black cuff to her wrist. “This is so your location is registered during the trial at all times.”

“My partner?”

“Meet at the course.” She looked down at her AI. “Number 10. The cuff should vibrate to make the connection.”

“Who is it?”

The Gillick ran her webbed hand down the list. “Hasn’t checked in yet. I only have a number until the registrant provides AI information.”

Imogene nodded. “Okay, thanks.” She turned and moved through the crowd and into the throng to find her place and her partner. She was hopeful she’d have a good partner; it could be the difference between finishing or forfeiting, and the latter she couldn’t afford to do. With all of the talk last night about someone having it out for her - possibly someone in the Federation, and with Sirkuhl Glyn’s threat, she couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps maybe someone might fix the race, handicap her with a partner, change the obstacles. If she thought about it too much, it made her feel like her lungs would come out through her mouth. She took a deep breath and weaved her way through the crowd at the edge of the far edge of the Grove. 

“Imogene!”

Jenna waved.

Imogene took a deeper breath with relief at seeing her friend. Then noticed Vempur stood next to Jenna. Their cuffs were tethered. 

“How did that happen?” Imogene asked nodding at their wrists.

“No idea,” Vempur said drawing up his arm. Jenna’s followed. 

“Whoa. Remember we’re connected,” she reminded him. “Who’s your partner?”

Imogene shrugged. “I don’t know yet. Think it’s Tsua?”

Vempur shook his head and pointed. “Nope. He’s tethered to Ripley.” 

Imogene followed his pointing hand and found Tsua connected to Ripley. Tsua waved. Ripley looked pissed. Tsua might have been off the charts with his mental and cognitive performances, but his physical abilities left a lot to be desired. “Ripley might kill him.”

Vempur laughed. “Naw. She’ll carry him to finish if she has to.”

Imogene was able to laugh at the mental image. “I’m going to go look for my partner. I have to go toward the front with the first group.” She looked at Jenna’s number, 22. “Have you seen Kade yet?”

Jenna shook her head. “Not yet, but he’s probably in the top ten like you. Good luck kicking his ass.”

Imogene smiled. “Yeah. I’ll need it.” 

She continued on through the group until she heard her name and turned back thinking Vempur was calling her back. It wasn’t; it was Malcolm jogging across the field toward her. And could he look more handsome? His athletic physique was showcased with clean lines in their matching black uniforms that hugged every curve and line of his body. She didn’t have a single question about his form since his wide shoulders and chest, his tapered waist, his muscular arms and legs were contoured in the slick fabric. She groaned deep in her chest, but wouldn’t allow the sound out to indicate her struggle with this attraction.

 “Kade,” she greeted him. 

“Malcolm,” he corrected and then assessed her with his gaze as he walked the last few steps to her. “You look -” but he didn’t finish. He just smiled.

His perusal  made her feel warm, and she knew he’d be able to see her blush so she turned her head away to pretend to look for her partner. 

“Where were you at Morning Protocol?” He asked. “I looked for you.”

He looked for me? She thought and glanced back at him. “I checked in my cadets and then returned to my quarters for some visualization exercises.”

“Needed some time to think about me, then, Ima.” Malcolm stopped in front of her.

“About beating you.” She offered him a flirty smile and then scolded herself for flirting. Focus, Imogene, she snapped internally. 

Her wrist buzzed.

She looked down and watched the tether cord leave her cuff, snap and connect to the matching cord of Malcolm’s cuff. 

Her eyes flashed from her cuff to his, her mouth opened in surprise. “What?”

His eyes were just as wide. “Didn’t see that coming.”

“Did you do this?” She asked for some reason angry about it though she wasn’t sure why. His partnership was the best possibility.

He shook his head. “How? You seem to think I have these magical powers with the administration, and a snitchy relationship with those officials. What the Carnos, Ima?”

“Why would we be paired?” Her heart was beating frantically, pounding against the inside of her chest. 

He tested the tether and yanked her toward him. She jerked forward but caught herself. “Not bad.” He looked around. “I don’t know, but it’s smart.”

“Because we’re top in our class?”

“Exactly. Come on. Let’s see who’s the competition is. I’m guessing Dylman is one.” Kade started moving through the crowd dragging Imogene but then stalled for her to catch up.

“If we’re partnered, he might be with Sollen.” Imogene fell into step with him. 

“Or Kitta.” 

Side by side they closed the distance between where they were and the section they were assigned discussing the pairing possibilities with those in the top ten. Their predictions were almost perfect. 

Malcolm turned to Imogene. “This is the best case scenario.”

“Why?”

“Imogene - because we can win. You and me, together.”

“Why pair us? One and two? Doesn’t it ruin the competition?” She asked.

“It could - if we were working together.” He smiled and wiggled his dark eyebrows. “But everyone thinks we hate one another.”

“For the record, until about twenty-four hours ago, I did hate you.”

He crossed his arms drawing her arm up as he did so. 

“This isn’t very comfortable.” Her arm hung in the space between them tethered to his.

“Hate is a very strong word, Ima.”

“Why pair us?”

He uncrossed his arms. “The trial is about siphoning leadership.”

“The other partners don’t hate one another,” she said looking around at the other pairs. Though her disdain for Kade had always been loud and public. He was right. Everyone knew.

“Let’s think it through.” He spoke aloud his eyes moving about the other partners. “Put your strongest two candidates together to see if they can work together. If they can’t, they might need solitary positions, or positions that don’t require teamwork. Perhaps they fail, unable to work together and then fall in the ranks eliminating them from prime positions. Or, they win, and are one step closer to the top placement.”

“Or partner the two you think hate one another and guarantee they fail.”

“Guess we’ll have to prove them wrong.” His smile worked magic casting a spell on her insides which seemed to turn inside out.

“I guess so,” she said and looked away.

“Ima?”

Her eyes met his brown ones. They were standing so close out of necessity with the tether that Imogene noticed his eyes had traces of bright copper in them. 

He leaned toward her.

Imogene’s heart palpitated in her chest, and she tried to keep breathing normally he was so close. She could turn her face, and touch her lips to his skin if she were so inclined. She remained still.

“I’m glad you don’t hate me anymore,” he said.

She cleared her throat. “I’m sure that could be remedied.”

He chuckled.

The first signal rang about the perimeter of the Grove indicating it was time to take their marks.

***

Six hours later, after the climb of the Mountain, the gorilla warfare maze of the Villa, the swim through the Swamp and the obstacle minefield in the Grove, Imogene and Malcolm crossed the finish line first. Their tethers disconnected the moment they crossed, returning them to their independence. Exhausted and ecstatic, Imogene threw her arms around Malcolm. “We did it. Oh my stars, we did it.” She was smiling and pressed a cheek to his shoulder amazed at how well they’d worked together.

Malcolm wrapped his arms around her. She could feel his strength wrapped around her ribs, his hands pressed against the small of her back.

Then she realized what she’d done and stepped back as if she’d been burned. “Good job, partner.”

Malcolm offered her a tentative smile, one that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Yeah,” he said. “Partner.” Then he seemed to remember himself and his smile strengthened. “We should go celebrate.”

“Well done, cadets,” a voice interrupted.

“Sirkuhl,” Kade saluted.

Imogene acknowledged her superior as well.

“Impressive,” he said. “Officials took note.” He nodded and his eyes attached themselves to Imogene’s face. “Excellent showing, Sol.” His smile was feral. “Keep up the good work.”

Imogene suppressed a shudder. 

“You too, Kade, though your performance doesn’t surprise me as much. I must say, when I saw you two were paired, I did pause with concern.”

“Sir?” Malcolm asked.

“Just a surprise, Kade. I thought you might drown one another when you got to the Swamp.”

The tiny hairs on Imogene’s neck prickled.

“Well sir, I did contemplate shoving Sol in front of ammunition in the Villa, but then realized I’d have to either drag or carry her back.”

“Same here, sir,” Imogene said, though hearing Malcolm say it hurt more than it should have. 

He chuckled. “Carry on.” The Sirkuhl walked away.

Imogene started away from Malcolm, but he grabbed her arm before she was out of his range. He turned her back to face him. “So? Celebrate?”

She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. “With someone who just expressed the idea of killing me crossed his mind but he didn’t want to have to cart me back?” She pressed a finger to her cheek bone and looked up at the sky as though thinking. Then she leveled her gaze on Malcolm, even and serious. “No thanks, Kade.”

She turned away but he didn’t let go of her arm. 

Instead, he started walking and pulled her along with him.

“Let me go, Kade.”

“I would, Ima, but I can’t trust you to come with me, and I need to talk to you. Privately.”

“Kade.” She knew she could have yanked her hand away and he would have let her go, but she was curious. 

“Stars, Ima.” He swore. “It’s Malcolm.”

They walked past the Pillars, down the walkway past the complex bathing rooms, down the steps toward the center of campus where the Baskin Monolith stood surrounded by rolling hills and trees. Malcolm led her into a mall covered with greenery and milsk blossoms where there were benches and privacy and when they got there, he dropped her arm. 

Now, if she wanted to leave him, she could, but she didn’t want to. Instead, she watched him. He sighed, ran a hand through his dark hair and turned on her. “I didn’t mean it and you know it.” He was obviously frustrated with her. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him so upset even with a loss to her at some competition - not since they were younger anyway. Usually he took it in stride. “You agreed - said the same. Playing it up for the Sirkuhl.” He paced back and forth and then stopped to look at her. “I didn’t want him to think anything was different.” His arms flew out to his sides.

“I know,” she said and looked down. She’d overreacted, hurt, but irrationally so. “I know.”

“I don’t-” He clamped his mouth shut cutting off his thoughts, and huffed his frustration before turning away from her. He put his hands on his hips, and his head dropped forward. It didn’t make sense to her, but his countenance appeared rejected. 

She resisted the urge to go to him and lay her hands against his wide back. After a time of silence, she said, “I don’t always trust the people in my life. It’s easier to just assume the worst.”

He didn’t move.

She moved forward so they were shoulder to shoulder facing the thick vines of the milsk. She reached out and touched one of the wide white blossoms. “I’m trying here. I’m just not very good at it.” She leaned forward so she could see his eyes.

He glanced at her, seriousness riding his brow and making it heavy.

She smiled though it was small and slight. “Vempur, Jenna and Tsua had to work pretty hard to get me to open up because of my weird trust issues. Adding someone new to the mix isn’t easy.”

He took another deep breath then said, “that isn’t surprising, Ima, with everything you’ve gone through. I’m sorry for what I said to Sirkuhl. I didn’t mean it.” He turned to face her. “I said it so the Sirkuhl wouldn’t suspect we were -” he paused on whatever word he’d initially thought and finished with, “allies. I didn’t meant to hurt you.”

“Thanks for that.” She studied her hands. “Me too, if it matters. I didn’t mean it either.” She turned to face him and looked up from her hands to his handsome face. “I think we worked pretty well together. I mean, we beat the trial and came in first.”

He stepped closer and Imogene’s breath caught in her chest. “It matters,” he said, his eyes moving over her features; she could almost feel it like a caress. “It matters because you matter.”

Imogene’s insides melted. Poured right from her shoulders and pooled into her feet. She thought about all the feelings swirling through her. Feelings she’d had about Malcolm for a long time and stamped down into a hiding place she carried around inside of her. Feelings she hid in anger and bluster. The hiding place suddenly opened up, however. She could blame its revelation on their victory, the heightened emotions about what had just happened, and maybe under different circumstances, she wouldn’t have been so bold about revealing her vulnerabilities to him, but she didn’t think for once in her life; she just moved. 

She stepped forward and laid a hand on his chest; she slid it up until she wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and drew him closer. “Kiss me, Kade,” she said.

“Malcolm,” he growled his name and then the palms of his hands were warm against her face. When his lips touched hers, Imogene didn’t think at all.

To Be Continued…Next Monday: Part 6



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THE RING ACADEMY: The Disappearance, Part 4

IV. The Team

Imogene stopped at the edge of the Game Fields. With a hand against a shiny dark Mycyte Pillar around the perimeter of the Grove, she scanned the crowd of first ranks for her friends, but also for Kade. Each cadet dressed in their black and white workout uniforms made it difficult to discern one from another; they contrasted with the vibrant green of the grass stretched like a carpet until it met the far boundary of the opposite side of the Mycyte pillar perimeter. The Game Fields, made up of several spaces for competition, the Grove, the Arena, the Winnow, and the Basin, were where the trials would take place.

“Imogene!”

She turned to look. 

Jenna waved. She was stretching out with Tsua, and Vempur. 

Imogene  jogged over to them, squelched the disappointment that tapped against her insides when she couldn’t locate Kade, and dropped to the soft grass. “Hi,” she said and  focused on stretching for the long distance run.

“Are you in great trouble?” Tsua asked. He leaned forward.

Imogene shook her head. “Clean up in the stables again.”

“Was it worth it?” Jenna asked. “Missing protocol?” Her question was layered. Imogene knew Jenna wasn’t interested in whether Imogene regretted missing protocol; Jenna wanted to know if she’d been successful.

“Yes.”

They all knew better than to talk openly about their exploits, there were ears listening, waiting for the chance to undercut them with their commanding officers. Ring Academy was cut throat, and it was set up that way for a reason. The Federation needed the best recruits for deep space exploration, colonization and management, all perilous missions that risked life.  Up until today, she’d always thought Malcolm was one of those threats, but now, realizing perhaps he wasn’t, hadn’t ever been, she couldn’t be sure about threats. They needed to be even more cautious.

“I wonder who snitched?” Vempur asked.

“Kade?” Jenna reached forward dropping her face to her knee. She looked up. “Rumor was he was called in too. Was he your accuser?”

Imogene shook her head. “He was there, but he wasn’t the accuser. Someone accused us both.” 

“What?” The shock on Tsua’s face, already pale, thinned out further with his shift in thought and the green veining of his blood routed to his brain. Imogene knew he was moving chess pieces in his Mnemon mind. “Curious.” 

“So your accuser wasn’t present?” Vempur’s human-like Astra brows drew together communicating his confusion. 

“Nope.”

“That’s sobering,” Jenna - a human just like Imogene - sat up. “If Glyn is willing to call you in without presenting the accuser. Isn’t that against protocol?”

“Glyn threatened me.”

Her three friends froze in their various stretching positions. Their faces announced their shock.

Vempur was the first to speak and his anger made his usually vibrant and deep voice thin.“What?”

“He all but said that if I don’t win the trials, I’m being sent to Carnos.”

“He can’t do that.” Jenna’s muscular arms flew out to her sides.

“I’m afraid he’s got enough power to do whatever he wants. Imagine me there as a guard - the rest of my days.” It was an awful thought. Carnos, the prison planet, was at the edge of the solar system. While civilization existed in pockets of the livable places on the planet, all of it existed to support the inmate population. It was a dead end for anyone who lived there. 

“Stars,” Jenna swore.

“Stretch,” Imogene said and then whispered, “Tonight?”

All three nodded resuming their warm-up routine before the run.

She needed to tell them about Kade, but it stuck in her throat. For years she’d held her animosity open like a book for anyone to read. Of course, she’d vented to her friends more often than not about the competition between her and Malcolm, so they were going to be shocked. “I’m going to invite Kade.”

“What?” Vembur shook his dark head. His red Felleen skin was lighter than most of his full blooded counterparts but his human characteristics afforded him the ability to mask some Felleen traits. The one he couldn’t mask was the click in the back of his throat which sounded off. He was angry about Carnos and now about Kade. Annoyed with his tell, he shook his head and started his words again. “He’s your number one enemy, Imogene., and probably the snitch.”

“Yeah. For school and competition, but he was named too. Why? That’s important, somehow, I think.”

“Can we trust him?” Jenna’s gray eyes drooped with concern at the edges. 

Imogene shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m willing to give it a try.”

“I think it’s a good idea.” Tsua not really looking at anyone nodded. His eyes were a swirling green when he looked at them.

“You can’t be serious.” Vempur’s tone was incredulous. Protective of Imogene, he was her oldest friend at Ring. Two outcasts drawn together by common struggles. Hers because of her traitor parents. His because he was an Astra - mixed species - so he’d been ostracized by full blood of both.  She could always count on him to worry about her.

“I am.” Tsua’s eyes shifted toward blue, indicating his thinking was evening out from active thinking toward understanding. “Hear me out. Kade’s smart. He’s physically strong. He’s nearly even with Imogene in all rankings. What is it a differential of five overall points? Suddenly an unknown accuser has named him too?  If he’s out to get Imogene, wouldn’t it be better to keep an eye on him? And if he isn’t, he’d be a good ally against whoever is.”

Imogene liked that Tsua echoed her thoughts. After a few moments to consider it,  both Jenna and Vempur nodded. 

“I’ll invite him tonight,” Imogene said.

“No.” Tsua held up his claw, the four digits curved with sharp points. “Let Vempur. Better to maintain the norm with you and Kade. Whoever is watching will notice.”

They nodded.

At the sound of the buzzer, they all assembled with the rest of their graduating class for the training run.

Later, situated in Imogene’s room, Jenna and Tsua were arguing about the merits of electronic readers over physical books. A knock interrupted them, and Vempur stepped through the door. Malcolm followed behind him. The door slid shut once he was inside. Imogene noticed he looked around, cataloguing her space. It made her feel over warm.

“Kade,” Tsua greeted him.

“We’ve only got sixty snaps,” he said, “before Baleen looks for me for lights out.”

“Imogene told us you were called into the Sirkhul’s office?”

He nodded and his eyes met hers. “Someone named me. Since I was at Protocol, someone put themselves on the line. You guys set the fireworks didn’t you?”

“No comment, but I’m sure you can deduce. You’re smart,” Tsua said. “Look, we’re not sure if we trust you.”

Malcolm’s eyes narrowed. “Likewise.”

“Perfect. Imogene, what did you get?”

Malcolm’s eyebrows drew together. “Get?”

Imogene stood from her cot and drew the AI from a pocket of her shirt hanging in the closet. She tapped it, opened the reader, and pressed project. It illuminated a 3 dimensional screen amidst them. “I was able to get their records including contact information, commendations, recommendations, class records. Everything.”

“You broke into the Sirkhul’s office?”

Imogene looked at Malcolm through the projection. “As you put earlier, it looks like I’m the prime suspect, Kade. Are you surprised?”

“Kind of.”

“What’s the that ancient earth saying: the best defense is a good offense?”

“Did you go through it?”

“Haven’t had time yet.”

“Let’s get started, then,” Tsua said. “We’re down to forty-five snaps.”

Thirty snaps later, and no closer to anything, Vempur sighed and stood. “I think this is useless. There’s nothing here.”

“I agree with Vempur,” Malcolm said. “Different species, different genders, different abilities, different weaknesses. The only thing they had in common was their unit and you as their ranking officer, Imogene. I don’t think this is about them. I think it’s about you.”

“But why?”

“Can you think of nothing?”

Imogene ran through all the reasons someone would have it out for her. Who was she after all? No one. An orphan on the goodwill of Sponsorship. Her performance was nearly perfect aside from her caught mischiefs that got her into Sirkhul Glyn’s office. There was only one real outlier. “My parents?”

The team exchanged glances.

“But why?” Imogene asked. “Because they were traitors? I barely remember them. I was five when it happened.”

“You don’t know?” Malcolm asked.

“What am I supposed to know, Kade?”

“Do any of you?” He looked around. “Stars, Imogene. Your parents weren’t just traitors, they were the leaders of the rebellion during the Dark War. That makes you a very interesting person to the Federation. Why would Carnos be a place to send you? Think about it - Prime Placement with the Federation where you can be watched, or a placement at Carnos where you can be controlled. Mess up your trials and they insure it.”

“Or better yet, frame her for crimes against fellow students and guarantee her admittance to Carnos as an inmate.”

“We don’t know that.” Imogene stood and paced biting at her thumbnail. “Jorgie and Gayleen are just missing, right? They could come back? We don’t know where they are.”

“Could,” Jenna offered her a rope with her word, “but what if they don’t?”

Silence flowed around each of them, their thoughts caught in their own minds. 

“Ten snaps,” Vempur said. “I’ll go first.” He stopped at the door, nearly as tall and wide as the entry. He paused and turned to look at Imogene. “Don’t lose tomorrow, Imogene.” He glanced at Kade, and then disappeared through the doorway.

“I know it doesn’t need to be said,” Jenna grabbed her electronic reader and slipped it into her bag since they were technically studying, “but we have your back.” She left the room.

“Give me the AI,” Tsua said holding out his four digit hand. 

Imogene placed it in his palm.

“I’m going to study this a bit more and see if I can find anything else.”

“If anyone can do it, you can,” she said.

Tsua nodded, slipped his bag onto his shoulders, and disappeared through the doorway.

Only she and Malcolm remained. 

Imogene’s heart had picked up speed. “Well. Thanks for joining us.”

“Thanks for trusting me,” he said.

She nodded and then turned away to busy herself with something inane and unnecessary. 

“Ima?”

She tensed at the nickname and glanced at him. He seemed to want to say something, his dark eyes observing her. His gaze was unnerving, and welcome, and… Imogene shook her head to clear it of her idiocy. Allies. A team for a common reason. That was it. “You’re down to about five snaps to get back to your wing.”

He nodded but didn’t move and glanced down at the floor. His hands were shoved into his pockets. 

“Was there something you wanted to say?”

He looked up at her again. “Yeah. There was, but it doesn’t matter.” He backed away. “I like your room.” Then he smiled lightening the mood around them. “Tells me a lot about you.”

“Like what?” She asked and found it infuriating because smiling flirty Kade was even more enticing that the moody Malcolm she didn’t understand. “Just a place to sleep.”

“Hmm. Sleeping.” He nodded with that infuriating smile. At the doorway he paused a moment. “Win tomorrow,” he said. “It might be a matter of life and death.”

“No pressure then,” she said.

“That’s how you work best, Ima,” he said and then disappeared through the door. It slid shut behind him.

TO BE CONTINUED. . .Next Monday: The First Trial

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THE RING ACADEMY: The Disappearance, Part 3

iii. Allies

“What can I do to help?” Malcolm’s voice startled her.

Imogene whirled around with the shovel.

Malcolm ducked.

“Stars, Kade,” she swore and the spade’s head hit the ground with a jarring clank. “You know better than sneaking up on a soldier with a weapon.”

“I didn’t know you’d swing the shovel.” He hesitated a moment before entering into the stall. He drew off his uniform shirt, a white undershirt underneath and hung it on the stall door.

Imogene noted the sinew of muscle on his brown arms, the veining on his hands and looked away to concentrate the bandon muck in the stall. She didn’t want to notice him, but of late, it seemed to be the only thing she did notice. “You just surprised me.” She pushed the shovel through the soiled bedding, the sound of the shovel against the ground loud and intrusive as it scraped across the ground. It wasn’t her first punishment in the sables. “And two students have gone missing”

“I think surprising you might be a first,” he said.

Imogene smiled, scooped, and then carried the heaping pile to the receptacle.  A male bandon snuffed from the opposite side of the stall and then walked toward her with heavy-footed wide steps. The large, stout creature, covered with a thick, light brown hide pushed against her hip with his wide, flat nose. He made a low purr in the back of its throat wanting her attention. “Stop,” she said, but pet the top of his head between his small ears.

Malcolm reached out and placed a hand on the animal. 

Imogene watched his hand move across the bandon’s ridged back, the animal’s skin twitched under his touch. Her cheeks heated thinking about Malcolm touch. “Here,” she said handing him the shovel. “You want to help. Make yourself useful.”

He took it. “So?” He pushed the shovel through the stall. The muscles in his arms flexed.

Imogene crossed to the other side of the stall. “So what?”

“We’re alone.”

She froze, bent to cut the twine on the new bale of bedding. Alone. With Malcolm Kade. Her breath caught in her chest and she choked out a reply, “Excuse me?”

He laughed. “You should see your face.” He pushed and scooped while chuckling.

This made her angry and she snipped the twine with more force than necessary. “I’m glad I amuse you.”

“You do more than amuse me, Sol,” he said. His voice wasn’t filled with humor this time.

She glanced at him, but he wasn’t looking at her. Instead, he was dumping muck into the container and her body tightened with awareness of him. The way this shirt stretched over his wide shoulders and strained when he reached. The taper of his waist, the shirt tucked and belted. His thighs filled out his dark pants. She wondered and when he turned, she was caught staring. She couldn’t look away when his eyes locked with hers. Even the clank of the shovel head hitting the hard ground didn’t break what was arcing between them. He stared back. His gaze filled with more meaning than what she could interpret; a language she didn’t understand and had never spoken. What did he mean?  

“What? Infuriate you?” She asked and hated that her voice sounded threaded with air.

“Among other things.” He looked away.

What other things? She didn’t ask it, however. Afraid. She also knew she couldn’t afford to wonder. She couldn’t lose the trials especially not with Sirkuhl Glyn’s threat. “So. What did you want to talk to me about?”

“Jorgie and Gayleen.” Malcolm followed her into the next bandon stall and retained control of the shovel despite her request for it by holding out her hand. He waved her hand away and began mucking it out.

She gave the bandon some attention. “What do you want to know?”

“Well, the word around school is that you were the last one to see both of them.”

“It seems that way.”  The bandon purred under her ministrations. She scratched behind the animal’s ears.

“When did you last see them?”

“It was just before lights out for both. You know - section leader duties.”

Malcolm nodded since he was a section leader as well. He stopped and rested an elbow on the shovel handle, his hand relaxed. And waited.

“On the night before Jorgie disappeared, we talked about the project he was working on in Halo Butresh’s class. Since I’m older and had already gone through it, you know.” Imogene stopped petting the bandon who then pushed against her to remind her he was there. “Jorgie was stressed about whether his work was good enough, but I remember telling him not to worry because Butresh worried more about the protocol than the actual outcome. It seemed to make him feel a little better. Then he went to bed.” She stopped, recalling Jorgie’s cute lopsided grin and floppy hair he’d needed to cut. “His last words to me were, ‘See you at Morning Protocol.’”

“And Gayleen?” Malcolm asked.

Imogene, struggling to look at him because she couldn’t stop the burgeoning attraction she felt, turned away to collect clean bedding. “Gayleen was similar. Asking advice from an older cadet.”

“What was it about?”

“Does it matter?” She cut the twine and scooped up an armful of heavy, thick reeds to spread out.

“Maybe?”

She didn’t want to tell him. “I don’t think so. Besides I already told the Federation Agents.”

“Tell me anyway.”

She dropped the fodder to the ground. “I’d rather not.”

“But everything is important, Sol.”

She sighed. It was embarrassing, but she knew he was right even if she didn’t trust him completely. “She had a crush and wanted to ask me about it.”

He made a face, his mouth mimicking the arch of his eyebrows. “And?”

She sighed and left the stall for the next one. “And, I offered her my two cents and she went to bed.”

Imogene heard him latch the bandon stall and then enter the next one behind her. She held out her hand for the shovel. He waved her hand away. 

“What were your two cents?”

“It isn’t relevant,” she said as they followed the previous routine.

“I think it could be,” he said.

“Look, Kade, why do you care?”

He stopped and stood up. He was taller than she was by a good six inches. She’d never noticed that before. 

The truth was, she’d confided in Gayleen about her attraction to him. The one and only time she’d allowed herself the reprieve of dropping her guard. It had been to help the other cadet out, to offer perspective, but venting her feelings had been freeing, at least for the moment. The next morning, Gayleen had been gone. No trace.

“I care because one, two cadets are missing, and that could mean other cadets are in danger; and two, your name is associated with it. Don’t you get it, Sol? You’re a person of interest.”

She reached for the shovel. “Let me.”

He released it, but not before their hands collided. 

Imogene’s heart sped up in her chest at the same time she felt like she might scream. Turning away, she shoved the head of the implement through the muck needing to take her frustration out on something. How hard she’d worked! The sleepless nights studying. The endless hours training. Using her wiles to get ahead of everyone else just so she could be seen. See Imogene Sol the amazing Ring cadet not the kid of the traitors. Tears pierced her eyes and the ground blurred.

“Sol?” 

She didn’t want his pity. 

“Ima?” 

She froze mid scoop, her father’s nickname for her having come from Malcolm. Her back to him, the tears started. She used her arm to wipe them off her cheeks.

“I’m here to help.” His voice was quiet and filled with sympathy.

She whirled on him. “Why? It doesn’t make any sense. None at all.” Her voice was loud and the bandon started, bumping against the stall wall. She lowered her voice as to not spook the animal further. “Why Kade? We’re competitors. I’m your competition. I win the trials, I get the better placement. You win the trials, I get sent to Carnos.” She wiped her cheeks with her shoulder.

He stepped closer. “What?”

She turned away and continued mucking out the animal refuse. “Yeah. That’s pretty much what Glyn told me earlier. Can’t recommend me if I don’t win. He’s pretty happy about it too.”

Malcolm’s hand on her arm stilled her; he took the shovel from her and leaned it against the wall. He turned her to face him. “Stop with the trials.” His eyes searched her face, warming her from the inside. “If you’re blamed for these disappearances and the Federation comes after you, Sol, the trials won’t matter.”

“Why do you care?”

He swallowed, the masculine bump under the skin of his neck bobbing as he did, and his look roved over her face stopping for a split second on her mouth. He let go of her arms and stepped back. “I just want to find out who’s guilty.”

Her gut tightened with what he hadn’t said. “Even if it’s me.”

He grabbed the shovel and started scooping the manure, not looking at her. “I just think that if we put our two capable heads together, we might be able to solve it.”

There was something he wasn’t saying, but she couldn’t fault him for it. There was a lot she wasn’t saying either still not sure if she could trust him, still not sure what to think about all the mixed up feelings inside of her. When she was small, before her mother had died, before her father had been captured, he’d told her to listen to the voices in her gut, the tiny flutters telling her to trust herself. She hadn’t understood then, but his words had stuck with her all these years. Now, she closed her eyes and listened, but what they told her didn’t reconcile with her brain. She opened her eyes and watched Malcolm before moving across the space for clean bedding. 

Malcolm helped her finish the rest of the stalls, both of them working side-by-side. He didn’t have to, but he did. 

“Thank you for the help,” she said when they were done.

“I told you I’m here to help.” He shrugged into his shirt but left it unbuttoned. “You might just have to trust me.” He smiled a brilliant smile that reached his eyes and dared her not to.

She didn’t reply but replaced the tools they’d used and then turned to face him. “Ready for tomorrow’s trial?” She asked.

He tilted his head and studied her, but he didn’t answer right away. Instead, she felt as though he were taking measure of all the things she wasn’t saying. Then he nodded. “It will be what it will be,” he said. “See you for training.”

He walked past her and out of the stables. After he was gone she stood there staring at the cleaned out stalls. The bandon had their necks arched over the half doors snuffing and purring, wanting a treat. “What?” she asked them but she knew they couldn’t tell her. The only one that could tell her what she needed to hear was herself because those tiny voices in her gut that were telling her to trust Malcolm Kade, and stars help her, she was going to.

To Be Continued… Next Monday: The Team

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THE RING ACADEMY: The Disappearance, Part 2

The saga continues . . .

II. Crumbling Walls

“What are you doing?” Imogene asked him, and noted her acerbic tone.  She turned, rolled her eyes and started down the hallway; she didn’t want Malcolm to think he had any effect on her.

“Waiting. Obviously.” Malcolm’s boots against the shiny black floors stamped behind her. 

“Why? To gloat?” 

“Actually, no. Why would you think that?”

Imogene stopped and Malcolm walked into her back. 

He stepped away. 

“Are you kidding me? You’ve been pissed about my lead on the board for the last three years, Kade.”

“Not angry, Sol. Just driven.”

“Are you saying it wasn’t you who said something to the Sirkuhl?”

His dark eyebrows bunched together. “And add my name to his suspect list at the same time? Have I done something to make you think I’m stupid? No.”

She crossed her arms.

He moved closer and she held her ground even if her first impulse was to step back. The instinct wasn’t because she was intimidated but instead because she saw weakness in her attraction to him. “But, now that we’re discussing it; why did you miss Morning Protocol?”

Imogene resumed walking down the hall away from him. “Not that it’s any of your business. I already told Glyn. You were there.”

He fell into step next to her. “You weren’t feeling well.”

“Why are you following me?”

“I’m beside you.”

Sol rolled her eyes.

“The truth?” He asked.

“No, dip shit. I want your lies.”

He smiled and glanced down. “Can we go somewhere? To talk?”

The way he said it, as if to clarify his intentions, heated her skin and rushed from the back of her neck down her spine. Imogene chastised herself, keeping her game face steady. “Are you for real? The first trial is tomorrow, and you think I want to fraternize with the enemy.”

He took hold of her arm to stop her and forced her to face him. “I’m not your enemy, Imogene.”

She struggled to look at his handsome face and remained gazing down the hall jaw clenched. “You’re just trying to throw me off. So you can win.” Then she looked at him with a challenge to deny it.

His jaw tensed, the muscles working under his skin highlighting his masculinity. “Actually, this has nothing to do with the trials, because beyond your ken, not everyone worries only about winning.” His honey eyes searched her face, and she noticed the streaks of copper and green in the irises. She had to look away because she liked his eyes moving over her face and thought about his hands. He added. “This is about two missing students - both in your section. Both of which you were the last person to see.”

The cold truth of his statement pressed down on her shoulders until she couldn’t hold herself up anymore. She took several steps back until she was able to lean against the wall. Unable to look at Malcolm, the bluster and insulation of the competition crumbled along with the wall it created and then crushed her with the truth of her two missing cadets. First Jorgie and now Gayleen only a few days later. Both last seen after evening scrub when they stepped into their respective dorm rooms. Then gone. Both junior cadets under her charge, she’d been the last person seen with both before lights out.  She swallowed to fight the tears. She wouldn’t cry. Not in front of Malcolm Kade.

 “I want to help.” The tone of his voice drew her eyes back to his. The depth of his look mixed with the calm tone of his voice coaxed her to drop her guard. He matched her stance, leaning against the opposite wall of the hallway.

Could she trust him?

She didn’t. Not really. But then ran through the memories in her mind for the reason that was so and couldn’t find any specific reasons. Reality was, both of them were competitors. Perhaps he was a bit arrogant but he had reason. He was smart, physical and capable. Was her aversion only because they were competing for the top spot, prime placement in the Federation with the honors of top of the class? With the shadow of her traitorous parents and now Glyn’s threat, she couldn’t lose the trials. She needed to keep sharp.

“This isn’t about the trials,” he said as if reading her mind. He watched her, measured her and Imogene was unnerved by it. He added, “You’ve always been an open book, Sol.”

“Kade-” she started.

“Call me Malcolm,” he interrupted.

“Kade,” she repeated for spite and he shook his head with a smile that communicated he knew what she was all about. She didn’t like that. She didn’t want anyone to know her. To be seen that clearly was to be weak and vulnerable. “Forgive me for trying to keep my place. It’s harder for me.”

“Because of your parents?”

“How did you-”

“I know a lot about you,” he said.

Her heart froze up in her chest and then melted into her stomach. She had to look away from his knowing gaze so aware of him as a man instead of as her competition. Was she so predictable?  Maybe that’s what he wanted since all of the other ways to best her hadn’t worked. But that physical trial was looming and that could be a big problem. Malcolm was stronger.

“Look.” He glanced to his left and right. “I just didn’t want to talk out in the open. I’m not sure it’s safe. You have my word this isn’t about the trials.”

Doubt nagged her mind about trusting him, but there was also the wisdom of keeping one’s enemies closer working its way through her thoughts. “I’ve got stable clean up duty this week - today - after noon courses. Before training. You can meet me there.” 

Malcolm pushed away from the wall and nodded. Then without another word, he walked away.

Imogene watched him go admiring his form is his dark gray uniform. She shook her head of the errant thoughts and looked down at her own boots. While Malcolm was a formidable adversary, she couldn’t remember a time he’d ever done something to prove he wasn’t trustworthy. Competing with Malcolm was all she knew, all she allowed. There was too much at stake. When your father was a traitor of the Federation sentenced to death and that sentence meted out compounded by your mother being killed in a rebellion battle on Space Station 452 during the Dark War, you had a lot to prove. Reflecting on it, she’d been the one to build the wall, with Malcolm, with everyone. Now, though, with two missing cadets and her the last to see them, she could probably use all the allies she could get.

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THE RING ACADEMY: The Disappearance, Part 1

The Threat

Imogene Sol figured there were five reasons to keep her mouth shut. First, there was Sirkuhl Glyn, the most powerful officer at The Ring Academy,  who could make her life hell. While he respected her rank, both as First-Class Cadet in her final year and her first place ranking on the leaderboard, he didn’t like her. Second, there was the matter of the missing students disappearance which was far more problematic to Imogene than she wanted to acknowledge. Third, there was the fact she was aging out soon and needed to keep her head down for placement. Fourth, there was her team to consider, though, maybe, they should have been the first reason. Finally, there was First-Class cadet Malcolm Kade standing next to her, at attention, her greatest competition; she just wanted to punch his gorgeous face.

“Cadet Sol? Why am I still waiting for your answer?” Sirkuhl Glyn turned away from the wide window overlooking the campus and returned to his desk. He stood in front of the oversized chair but didn’t sit. Instead, the tall thin Felleen dressed in gray and decorated with silver shoulder knots leaned his wide hands on top of the desk and leveled the sights of his large black eyes on her. His ample mouth was thin with annoyance and his red tinted skin darker than usual. Usually unnerving, Imogene was accustomed to annoying and facing him across this desk during her tenure at The Academy. Her appearances were because she often circumvented the usual protocols to maintain her edge, but never in a way that broke the rules. She knew Glyn disliked her all the more because she was a female head-of-the-class. 

“Sir. I wasn’t aware you wanted an answer.”

“I ask questions for my health?”

“I thought it was rhetorical.”

He made a noise that snuffed through his flat nose, his nostrils flaring and sat. “It isn’t.”

Kade hid his face by ducking his chin to his chest, but not before Imogene saw his gleaming white smile. 

She gritted her teeth.  

“Can you repeat the question, sir?”

“I’ll rephrase. Care to enlighten me on your role in the fiasco during Morning Protocol? It has been intimated you were responsible.”

“I wasn’t there, sir,” she answered. It wasn’t a lie, exactly. While she hadn’t been at protocol, she might have helped plan the pyrotechnic distraction during the morning announcements. Technically, however, that wasn’t his question. Missing Morning Protocol was less of an issue than what she had been doing: breaking into his office AI. She glanced at the shiny steel mechanism and suppressed a smile having gotten what she needed. “What happened?”

“You missed Protocol?”

Kade’s head snapped up, his light brown eyes expanded and his black brows arched over them with surprise. 

Imogene pressed her teeth together tighter, irritated because he was probably faking his shock. Her fellow cadet knew that a student didn’t miss Protocol. It was a punishable offense, but considering there was a second missing student and Imogene was the last to see her, missing protocol had been the only way to access Glyn’s files for information that might help her find clues.

She worked at keeping her face impassive. “Yes, sir. I wasn’t feeling well this morning, and I overslept.” She glanced at Kade whose eyebrows shifted over his eyes. He didn’t believe her which was wise of him, though she guessed he already knew. It was surprising that Sirkuhl Glyn believed her, but then what evidence did he have that she caused the ruckus? Kade must have suspected it, maybe overheard their plans, and then ran to their commanding officer. It had to be the only reason he was standing in the office with her now. 

“And you, Kade?” Glyn turned on Malcolm. “Your name came up with hers.”

Imogene glanced at Kade again sure her surprise was written on her own features. He was standing stone still and straight like the Baskin Monolith at the center of campus. His face was unreadable. Her stomach tightened around her confusion and she looked away, stared out the window behind Sirkuhl Glyn. The beauty of the day was golden in the light of the twin suns: Makesh and Argos. Their light a strange contrast to the dangerous darkness that infiltrated the school in the last several weeks.

Her gaze slid to Malcolm again. A part of it? That didn’t make any sense. He was staring straight ahead, stoic and steady. His perfect face carved like artwork. With a broad forehead, under short black hair cut just right for a cadet, and proportional round eyes, translucent brown, framed by thick black brows, now impassive, he answered the Sirkuhl’s questions. His smooth, brown skin stretched over full but sharp cheekbones that tapered to a masculine jaw shaved clean, but hinted at new growth. His nose was full from the bridge to the ala drew her eyes to a generous mouth - a kissable mouth.

Imogene snapped her gaze away, annoyed for the direction of her thoughts. No. No. No. She wanted to shake her head. Focus, Imogene.    

“I am unclear about your meaning, Sir.” Malcolm’s voice was deep, rich and it irritated her that she noticed.

“Don’t be coy with me,” Glyn snapped accompanied by a click in the back of his throat which was normal for his species when they became riled. The Felleen were notorious for their mood swings but the involuntary vocal tell made combat so much easier, not that she was about to fight her commanding officer. 

“Sir? I was at Morning Protocol with my section as per usual.”

Glyn took a deep breath and with his elbows on the desktop, he leaned forward and placed his face into his steepled hands followed by the whoosh of his sigh. “Kade, do you have any information regarding this morning’s activities?”

“No, sir. I prepared and moved my section following proper procedure. Halo Baleen provided check off, sir.”

“I will check with Baleen. Kade, you are dismissed. Sol, you aren’t.”

Kade stamped his right heel against the floor before turning and exiting the office.

Imogene remained still, her hands folded one over the other behind her back.

“You will face consequences for missing Protocol.”

“Yes, sir.”

He held up his three-fingered hand. “And, my investigation of this morning’s incident is far from complete. If I find you had something to do with it, Sol, the consequences will be a dishonorable discharge and imprisonment in the mines of Carnos. And do I have to remind you, that is where everyone thinks you’re going to end up anyway as the progeny of your wayward parents? I’ve gone to bat for you keeping you here under sponsorship. Do you understand?” He laced his fingers together in front of his expansive mouth.

Imogene suppressed her anger. His threat would violate her rights as a citizen of the solar system, but she didn’t contradict him. His influence in the Federation was enough not to test him, and his recommendation was critical for a good placement after graduation. However, throwing her dead parents at her like that, reminding her she relied on the goodwill of strangers was low. She clenched her jaw and answered him. “Yes, sir.” 

“And with the trials impending, it could make or break your career. Is my meaning clear?”

“Sir?” 

“You have a lot more to lose now, don’t you? A stellar performance in the graduation trials all but secures you a prime placement. Lose the trials, and who takes a risk on a pair of traitors’ child?” She heard the Felleen hiss in his words, a speech pattern of his species it appeared he worked to sever. For the moment, however, he relished the opportunity to break her, the sliding ‘s’ sound slithering its way into his words.

Imogene bit her cheek to keep from lashing out. Instead, she focused on the pinch of the skin between her teeth and maintained her focus on the view outside the window over his shoulder.

Sirkuhl Glyn smiled a knowing condescending smile, his sharp teeth suddenly more sinister. “Afternoon stable clean up duty for the next week. Report today. You’re dismissed.”

Imogene stomped her right foot, turned and exited the office door. She paused a moment after closing the door, eyes closed and took a deep breath. She moved to leave and looked up. Standing with his back against the wall across the hall, his hands shoved into his pockets and his booted feet crossed at the ankle, Malcolm Kade waited.

To Be Continued . . . (Next Monday, 10/28/19)

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THE RING ACADEMY: The Disappearance, Part

The Threat

Imogene Sol figured there were five reasons to keep her mouth shut. First, there was Sirkuhl Glyn, the most powerful officer at The Ring Academy,  who could make her life hell. While he respected her rank, both as First-Class Cadet in her final year and her first place ranking on the leaderboard, he didn’t like her. Second, there was the matter of the missing students disappearance which was far more problematic to Imogene than she wanted to acknowledge. Third, there was the fact she was aging out soon and needed to keep her head down for placement. Fourth, there was her team to consider, though, maybe, they should have been the first reason. Finally, there was First-Class cadet Malcolm Kade standing next to her, at attention, her greatest competition; she just wanted to punch his gorgeous face.

“Cadet Sol? Why am I still waiting for your answer?” Sirkuhl Glyn turned away from the wide window overlooking the campus and returned to his desk. He stood in front of the oversized chair but didn’t sit. Instead, the tall thin Felleen dressed in gray and decorated with silver shoulder knots leaned his wide hands on top of the desk and leveled the sights of his large black eyes on her. His ample mouth was thin with annoyance and his red tinted skin darker than usual. Usually unnerving, Imogene was accustomed to annoying and facing him across this desk during her tenure at The Academy. Her appearances were because she often circumvented the usual protocols to maintain her edge, but never in a way that broke the rules. She knew Glyn disliked her all the more because she was a female head-of-the-class. 

“Sir. I wasn’t aware you wanted an answer.”

“I ask questions for my health?”

“I thought it was rhetorical.”

He made a noise that snuffed through his flat nose, his nostrils flaring and sat. “It isn’t.”

Kade hid his face by ducking his chin to his chest, but not before Imogene saw his gleaming white smile. 

She gritted her teeth.  

“Can you repeat the question, sir?”

“I’ll rephrase. Care to enlighten me on your role in the fiasco during Morning Protocol? It has been intimated you were responsible.”

“I wasn’t there, sir,” she answered. It wasn’t a lie, exactly. While she hadn’t been at protocol, she might have helped plan the pyrotechnic distraction during the morning announcements. Technically, however, that wasn’t his question. Missing Morning Protocol was less of an issue than what she had been doing: breaking into his office AI. She glanced at the shiny steel mechanism and suppressed a smile having gotten what she needed. “What happened?”

“You missed Protocol?”

Kade’s head snapped up, his light brown eyes expanded and his black brows arched over them with surprise. 

Imogene pressed her teeth together tighter, irritated because he was probably faking his shock. Her fellow cadet knew that a student didn’t miss Protocol. It was a punishable offense, but considering there was a second missing student and Imogene was the last to see her, missing protocol had been the only way to access Glyn’s files for information that might help her find clues.

She worked at keeping her face impassive. “Yes, sir. I wasn’t feeling well this morning, and I overslept.” She glanced at Kade whose eyebrows shifted over his eyes. He didn’t believe her which was wise of him, though she guessed he already knew. It was surprising that Sirkuhl Glyn believed her, but then what evidence did he have that she caused the ruckus? Kade must have suspected it, maybe overheard their plans, and then ran to their commanding officer. It had to be the only reason he was standing in the office with her now. 

“And you, Kade?” Glyn turned on Malcolm. “Your name came up with hers.”

Imogene glanced at Kade again sure her surprise was written on her own features. He was standing stone still and straight like the Baskin Monolith at the center of campus. His face was unreadable. Her stomach tightened around her confusion and she looked away, stared out the window behind Sirkuhl Glyn. The beauty of the day was golden in the light of the twin suns: Makesh and Argos. Their light a strange contrast to the dangerous darkness that infiltrated the school in the last several weeks.

Her gaze slid to Malcolm again. A part of it? That didn’t make any sense. He was staring straight ahead, stoic and steady. His perfect face carved like artwork. With a broad forehead, under short black hair cut just right for a cadet, and proportional round eyes, translucent brown, framed by thick black brows, now impassive, he answered the Sirkuhl’s questions. His smooth, brown skin stretched over full but sharp cheekbones that tapered to a masculine jaw shaved clean, but hinted at new growth. His nose was full from the bridge to the ala drew her eyes to a generous mouth - a kissable mouth.

Imogene snapped her gaze away, annoyed for the direction of her thoughts. No. No. No. She wanted to shake her head. Focus, Imogene.    

“I am unclear about your meaning, Sir.” Malcolm’s voice was deep, rich and it irritated her that she noticed.

“Don’t be coy with me,” Glyn snapped accompanied by a click in the back of his throat which was normal for his species when they became riled. The Felleen were notorious for their mood swings but the involuntary vocal tell made combat so much easier, not that she was about to fight her commanding officer. 

“Sir? I was at Morning Protocol with my section as per usual.”

Glyn took a deep breath and with his elbows on the desktop, he leaned forward and placed his face into his steepled hands followed by the whoosh of his sigh. “Kade, do you have any information regarding this morning’s activities?”

“No, sir. I prepared and moved my section following proper procedure. Halo Baleen provided check off, sir.”

“I will check with Baleen. Kade, you are dismissed. Sol, you aren’t.”

Kade stamped his right heel against the floor before turning and exiting the office.

Imogene remained still, her hands folded one over the other behind her back.

“You will face consequences for missing Protocol.”

“Yes, sir.”

He held up his three-fingered hand. “And, my investigation of this morning’s incident is far from complete. If I find you had something to do with it, Sol, the consequences will be a dishonorable discharge and imprisonment in the mines of Carnos. And do I have to remind you, that is where everyone thinks you’re going to end up anyway as the progeny of your wayward parents? I’ve gone to bat for you keeping you here under sponsorship. Do you understand?” He laced his fingers together in front of his expansive mouth.

Imogene suppressed her anger. His threat would violate her rights as a citizen of the solar system, but she didn’t contradict him. His influence in the Federation was enough not to test him, and his recommendation was critical for a good placement after graduation. However, throwing her dead parents at her like that, reminding her she relied on the goodwill of strangers was low. She clenched her jaw and answered him. “Yes, sir.” 

“And with the trials impending, it could make or break your career. Is my meaning clear?”

“Sir?” 

“You have a lot more to lose now, don’t you? A stellar performance in the graduation trials all but secures you a prime placement. Lose the trials, and who takes a risk on a pair of traitors’ child?” She heard the Felleen hiss in his words, a speech pattern of his species it appeared he worked to sever. For the moment, however, he relished the opportunity to break her, the sliding ‘s’ sound slithering its way into his words.

Imogene bit her cheek to keep from lashing out. Instead, she focused on the pinch of the skin between her teeth and maintained her focus on the view outside the window over his shoulder.

Sirkuhl Glyn smiled a knowing condescending smile, his sharp teeth suddenly more sinister. “Afternoon stable clean up duty for the next week. Report today. You’re dismissed.”

Imogene stomped her right foot, turned and exited the office door. She paused a moment after closing the door, eyes closed and took a deep breath. She moved to leave and looked up. Standing with his back against the wall across the hall, his hands shoved into his pockets and his booted feet crossed at the ankle, Malcolm Kade waited.

To Be Continued . . . (Next Monday, 10/28/19)

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