Soul-Bonded to the Alien (9 page)

“I don’t hear you, Paige.”

“It burns.”

“I’m sorry, Paige, but this is the only way I can do it here.” Paige’s voice sounded weak to his ears making him want to work faster. He couldn’t go any faster, if he missed one small particle it would replicate and kill her.

“I hear voices.”

“Victor and Selma are talking to you. We have songs and words of healing, I’m sure they are covering you with them.”

“Am I going to live?”

Her voice sounded defeated to him. This was the first time he heard her sound this way; she was always so strong even as she talked about her struggles.

“Definitely. You don’t think I just found you to lose you?”

He pushed the poison closer to the opening, he began to tire; his destination began to seem like it was moving away from him.

“When I was younger I always wanted to be beautiful, not pretty, but beautiful like a Princess. I even wanted a princess dress, but I never got one. When I grew up and moved out I had a few boyfriends who said I was pretty, but they never said I was a beautiful.”

“Be happy they never said that, Paige. I might have felt the need to track them down and relieve them of their heads.” Jealousy he never expected to feel reared its ugly head. He wanted to be the one who called her Beautiful. Already he didn’t want to share.

“Cal!”

“Yes, Beautiful?”

“Say it again.”

“Paige, you’re absolutely beautiful.” It was a wonder to him that she couldn’t see herself. She was the sunlight glinting off the snow in the morning. Her eyes were the refreshing grey of a cloudy sky, a sky that promised surprises. Her sweet face with her never ending smile. Along with that a body that would make any man drop to his knees. He would have followed her anywhere. She was beautiful.

“Cal, I think I like you!”

He gave a weak chuckle, “It’s a start, but I think there’s more to it than that.

“Are you alright?”

“Just fine, tell me something else.” Tiredness beat at him like a drum. Halving his essence, then thinning it, was taking a toll on him.

“I love your arms.”

“Oh?”

“They’re strong and thick. I love when you flex them.”

“Just my arms, Paige?”

“Look who’s fishing for complements. You know you’re hot.”

“The only compliments I want are from you, Sunshine.” His voice became weaker until it trailed off.

“Cal?”

“Almost there, Paige. I just need to hold on a little longer.”

“I’m coming to help you.”

“You can’t, besides you’d have to become pure light.” She would have to separate her essence and make one part pure light to travel within her temporary body.

She appeared at his side. “Too late, here I am. What do we do? Cal, your light is dimming.”

Her shock at his weakened conditioned rippled over him. She cared, he could feel it in the concern she felt for him.

“I’m becoming weak, but I’m strong enough to finish.”

“I’m not even going to ask what happens if you’re light goes out.”

“Paige.”

“No! When I was in school we had to pick topics one year to talk about something personal. There was one girl who stood up and talked about family. She said family was about being one, they would live for each other or die for each other. I never forgot those words. We’re family now. We live or we die together.”

She joined her essence with him. There was an explosion in her body; it felt like mini fireworks going off as her essence combine with his. For one clear moment she saw her past and her future merge together. A link was created between them, who he was and possibly who he would become ran through her mind. She saw him and his Matra and the struggle they endured to live on an alien planet. The shield around her heart cracked just a little as he penetrated it creating the final link that would join them together. For better or worse they were one.

Together the brightness they created drove the poison out of the wound. They sealed the wound creating a barrier that would keep any lingering poison on her skin from finding a way in.

“We did it, Cal.”

“I know, beautiful. We won. Let’s get some sleep, we deserve it.”

*~*~*~*

Voyager looked at the sleeping couple, before shifting his form, he grew taller, taking the form of a human male. With a thought he brought out a red hot fire that targeted the poison seeking a new entrance into their bodies. Destroying it gave him pleasure.

The Sudir they were fighting was strong; he was able to turn what should have been a test into this struggle for life or death. One of them was important to him.

With a wave of Voyager’s hand, the bleak landscape disappeared to be filled with rolling hills and a meandering lake. He commanded a meal to be set before them as he shifted forms again.

“Wake up, Girly, this isn’t the time for sleeping. I said wake up.” He released a stream of energy at her making her jump.

“What happened?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “You passed the test set before you by managing to get out of that nest alive. The ingenuity of the male you refuse to claim, as well as your own, healed you” Voyager turned his head to look at the meal he prepared for them before turning back to look at Paige. “There’s a repast set off to the side for all you’ve accomplished. Don’t wait too long. Nothing stays the same here.”

“Cal, wake up.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, we made it. We even have some food to eat. Do you thinks it’s a trap? More poison?”

He sat up looking over to where she was pointing. The spread was beautiful. The food was nothing either of them recognized but the look on Voyager’s face said it was all edible.

“It looks like a picnic,” Paige said, eyeing the food while her stomach cramped in hunger.

“Would you eat with me, Paige?”

Nodding her head she got up walking over to the food.

“You sure it’s ok?”

“Yeah, I think its fine.”

Paige made them both plates of the strange food. “This is good.”

“I think it might be the best I’ve ever tasted.” Cal laughed, “if only I knew what to call it.”

She agreed as she ate. “What do we do now?”

“We look for the exit.”

“What about the test and the becoming one?”

“You did it, Paige. When you merged with me, we became one. Look at me closely.”

She studied him until she finally saw a faint band that circled around him like a wedding band. When she looked down at herself she saw the same faint band, as if it was connected. It pulsed at the same time, sending out small sparks that jumped from him to her and then back again. She ran her hands over it only to see them pass through harmlessly. It wasn’t something she was seeing with her eyes, she was seeing it with the talents Cal told her about.

“We did it.”

“No, Paige you did it. You initiated it, there was no resistance on my part and we became one.”

“How do we get out?” She turned to look at Voyager. “I did it.”

“Your still here, so you’re not finished. You can still fail, Girly.”

She frowned before brushing off his words. “Are you ready?”

Cal nodded, they walked down the hill together looking for a way out. The lush green grass at their feet made Paige feel more confident. The soft breeze felt refreshing after all she’d been through. All they needed now was the door.

“What do you think he meant?”

“I don’t know, nothing was like I thought it would be in here.”

The sound of a baby crying stopped her dead in her tracks, “Do you hear that?”

“Sounds like an infant.”

They turned towards the crying; it was coming from a section where the grass was taller obscuring any view they would have of an infant. They waded in looking for the baby. Cal stomped down the grass making a path for Paige. Finally after walking for some time they came upon a basket that was hidden in the tall grass. A blanket covered the basket and a crying sound emerged from it.

“We can’t leave a baby here, Cal. Where are the parents?” Her voice was distressed as she looked at the basket. It took everything within her not to rush to pick it up and comfort the child inside.

“I don’t know.”

“I have to pick it up.”

“Alright, but do you think that’s wise?”

She took a step towards the basket and stopped.

“Paige, what’s wrong?” Cal looked from her to the basket.

“It doesn’t feel right. Who leaves a baby in the middle of nowhere? I still want to pick it up, comfort it, but every time I try to move towards it I get a warning to stop. How can I leave a child to suffer?” She walked closer to the basket, her hands itching to pick it up. Her heart cried out for a child left alone.

“What if it’s a trap?” He reached out a hand to halt her progress.

“How can I turn my back on it, Cal?”

She took another step towards the basket. The need to protect overwhelmed her. No one protected her when she needed it, how could she turn her back on this little one?

“I suffered because no one was there for me, Cal.” A tear slid down her face. “A poor helpless baby.”

She took another step closer before she broke down and cried for all the times she wanted someone to hold her. Cal slipped his arms around her and pulled her close.

“We’ll do whatever you think is right, Paige.”

“I want to comfort the crying child but I know that to pick it up is to condemn you to death. I won’t, I can’t do that.”

Voyager came forward clapping his hands. “Very good, Girly. If you picked up this bundle certain death would have followed.”

He waved his hand and the exit appeared.

“Paige.” Voyager called her making her stop in her tracks with shock.

She turned back to look at Voyager.

“I knew you could do it.”

Chapter Eleven

Paige opened her eyes to find herself lying next to Cal.

“Cal?”

“We made it, Paige.”

She looked around to find Victor and Selma smiling at them.

“Congratulations, we were getting a little worried about you two. You’ve been out for a while.” Victor stretched his hand to his brother.

“My leg.” Paige sat up and looked at her skin. It was smooth. “I thought…I got bit wherever we went and I thought I would see it on my leg when I woke up.”

“It was a nasty bite,” Selma said.

“Your smooth skin was a gift from Voyager. You must have impressed him.”

“He grows on you after a while. I wonder who he is.”

Victor and Selma laughed not responding to her.

“He definitely grows on you,” Selma said. “We will leave you two, it’s about time for Vick to come home.”

Paige turned to face Cal after Victor and Selma walked out closing the door behind them.

“So that’s it, we’re married?”

“In my world yes, married and more than married. Together forever.”

“So what happens next? I move in with you, wash your clothes, and make you dinner?”

“Back up, Sunshine. Clothes washing is a serious commitment. I know you’re anxious to see what’s under these pants, but you’re going to have to wait. I’m not that easy.”

Her laugh flowed easily as her lips twitched and her eyes crinkled. Genuine mirth filled the room, she couldn’t remember the last time, if ever, and she felt so free.

“There’s no need to rush, I’ve waited a long time, we have more time than you can imagine.”

“That sounds wonderful.”

“All that time I told you about depends on whether we are able to stop that venom snake.”

“How do we do that?”

“Simple. You learn to use the talent to freeze.”

“As in make things cold?”

“As in stop things in their tracks, like this.” He threw a pillow up in the air, it hung over their heads while he got up and walked around the room.

“Now the trick is not freezing it, but keeping it frozen no matter where you go.”

He went over to the passage in the wall and left the room. She sat watching the pillow, eventually there was a knock on the door. She answered to find Cal standing there. She let him in and followed him back to the bedroom where the pillow was still floating in the air.

“When you freeze the snake in your heart you will have to keep it frozen even while you’re sleeping.”

“How am I supposed to learn that in two days?”

“You will. You also have to learn to teleport with your eyes open.”

“I have to concentrate in order to teleport.”

“Paige, you have to learn to do it like breathing, something you don’t think about. This talent is inside of you. You were born with it, but it’s locked up. Much like learning to walk, you take one step at a time. The more you do it the more natural it will become until you’re running.

She nodded her head humming the tune to put one foot in front of the other. She made the choice to live and now Cal’s life was joined with hers. The more she watched him, the clearer the black strands flowing from her to him became. They scared her more than anything she’d ever experienced. She would trade her life to the Sudir to keep him safe and that scared her the most. That she could care about someone this much in a day, but she did.

“Cal, how long were we out? Is it the same day?”

“No, we were out for almost twenty four hours. You still have enough time to learn what is needed.”

“Exactly how do you expect to teach me all of this in a day?”

“You’ll see. Get your cold weather gear on and meet me at the front door.”

Men, human, alien or Voyager. It didn’t matter who they were, they never made any sense. She grabbed her coat, lamenting on the male species as she got dressed and trudged down the stairs.

Paige, it’s alright. You can do it. Who saved him from the blades? She did, that’s who. Who saved him from the huge bird with the poison? Yep, she saved him again. Why must she trudge in the snow? She liked trudging in the snow, but not while she had some hideous snake wrapped around her heart. Paige, you have to go outside to learn how to stay alive. Why couldn’t he simply say here’s the formula, do this?