Chapter 20.5

Space still never seems real. Isn’t it supposed to be vast nothingness? The stars, glimmering in several shades of blue and red. Clouds of gas, larger than some of the planets we passed, were all spontaneously setting off explosions in them.

“Pretty, isn’t it?”

The pink star in the distance was surrounded by hundreds of hurtling rocks. Each giving off green and blue trails.

“Yeah…” I didn’t know what to say.

“Have you traveled through space much?”

“Just a little, not enough to see stuff like this though.”

Caprice was sitting across from me. The large cushioned chairs gave us an impeccable view. The large portrait window was nearly the length of the room, the stars the dotted the sky stretched on even farther than I thought possible.

“You almost get used to it. We haven’t traveled outside the starway in awhile. It’s nice to see the galaxy at a slower pace sometimes though.”

She was staring right into my eyes as she said that. I could see her iris’ dilate, it seemed to spark some memory in me, then I thought of how much my life had changed. From the caged life of school and foster home, to the chains that J put me in. The bustling craziness of the space needle where I met Caprice. Then now, our narrow escape, this peaceful moment in the afterward.

With her staring into my eyes I felt like I knew what I wanted finally. This, this moment right here, I want to live like this forever.

Floating freely through the beautiful void, together with my chosen family. My blood meant nothing to me. My father was a monstrosity, my mother was an unknown. The people here with me now were important.

I tried to find something to say, this girl was still technically a stranger to me. Yet, it felt like we had connected and had known each other forever. This feeling of peace, the knowing it was behind us for now, and that we were heading into a future together, made me feel strong.

Not a muscle headed strong, but a strength that came with knowing I had finally found something worth protecting. That feeling of being a false hope, it was still there, but it was fading. I still didn’t know if I was actually capable of what needed to be done.

Sitting here, quiet and at peace, I almost wished it would last forever. I knew better, I would never be that lucky.

“He’ll find me again.”

“Who?”

“The man who attacked the space needle. He was after me.”

Charlotte probably wouldn’t want me to say anything about this. I needed to talk about it to someone though. Caprice had been nothing but amazing when it came to listening and understanding so far. It felt right to talk to her about it.

Caprice just had an incredulous look that made me feel like she didn’t believe me. She hadn’t really been aware of what was happening, and in the time since, neither of us had brought it up. We had simply been resting and watching the stars go by for… well, for enough time that I lost track of it.

“Why would a terrorist organization be after you?”

“I really don’t know, but they were what forced us to run in the first place.”

I could tell her that much, I wasn’t sure why they wanted me so it was true enough. The reports on the attack had blamed an entire organization that was apparently responsible for numerous attacks across several star systems. The sounded exactly like what J and his pack were doing.

“I’ve heard of groups of wolf shifters. There’s several small groups, they have a hand in child trafficking or something. There’s some that make deals for some of the drug runners to keep certain star ways open and their cargo unchecked. Not the kind of people you wanna get on the bad side of.”

“I’d also rather not be on his good side, I’d like to be able to walk over his dead body.”

Caprice raised her eyebrows, then laughed a little before she spoke.

“You sound like you spent some time with him, I thought you didn’t know why he wanted you?”

“Well…”

“You don’t have to say it, but if it’s true, then that’s awful.”

I just nodded. I felt that if I told her what J had said he wanted me for, that I would get laughed at even more. Her laughter didn’t hurt though, she had a much more gentle and friendly way of it.

“No one has ever been so understanding of me before. Charlotte a little, Mathis, well that’s different. But I grew up never knowing any true family, or friends for that matter. Some people came and went. I moved home to home, until one day, just as I was getting ready to be a free person for the first time, that was when they showed up.”

There was several minutes of silence, the hum of air vents and the vibrations from the engines the only thing disturbing the somber moment.

“You’re a lot more than I first thought, Fen.”

I smirked, not able to help myself.

“A lot more crazy?”

“A lot more violent!” Caprice burst out laughing, then imitated my voice “I’d rather not be on his good side either, I’d rather walk over his corpse.”

I slugged her shoulder, playfully of course, but with enough oomph to get her to nearly fall out of her chair. Though it might have been her sudden fit of laughter.