Renata
She looked down at Keone, who was cleaned off completely. He slept on still, mumbling about water, mumbling about the waves, mentioning two different names, both said with tenderness and yearning. Mar. Kamea.
She watched his tan eyelids twitch, eyes whipping from side to side.
"I wonder," she whispered as she continued to study him.
Tahoma, behind her, who'd remained near silent the last hour. "What is it?"
She turned to look at him. His red eyes veered more toward purple in this gloomy lighting. Despite his alien environment, he was stunning. From all the action, his usually straight hair had slight waves framing his sharp-angled face. His black eyebrows furrowed. His lush, brownish pink lips were just slightly pursed in a frown. Considering the situation, his expressions of stress and alarm were pretty mild, which she appreciated more than he would ever know. "Can you sleeptravel?"
He shook his head. "Noâwell, not very well. It comes to some undying more naturally than others. I've only done it once or twice." His gaze shot toward Keone. "You're not going to ask me to pierce his dreams, are you?"
"No," she paused in thought again, "I wonder if I can."
"What would make you think that?"
She hesitated. "Keone mentioned that Angel can do it...if I really am absorbing his powerâ"
He mirrored her wavering demeanor. "You should be able to."
"Exactly."
"I don't know, priya. This seems riskyâ"
"Well, nothing about this situation screams 'safety', now does it?"
"Fair enough. I just don't understand why you'd want to get in his head, I'd rather rip it off."
She scooted closer to his sitting form until she was at his side. He slung an arm around her and pulled her closer. She embraced him back. "I don't really know what I'm doing. But he used to be his right-hand man. He could be useful."
He rubbed her shoulder in a back-and-forth motion. "Then, we should try. I'll try to direct you." He moved away and toward Keone. "Lay down next to him...get as close as you can. Make contact wherever you feel comfortable."
She did just that. She took his hand in hers, and it hit her that she was willingly holding the hand of the person who murdered her for the first time in cold-blood. "I must be out of my fucking mind," she muttered to herself.
Tahoma chuckled quietly to himself. "Now close your eyes and focus." She jolted when his hands touched her hair. She became confused but trusted him as he gently pushed his fingers through her curls and began to massage her scalp. "Deep breaths. Picture him in his deep rest. Imagine you seeking him out. Imagine yourself sinking into his dream land. You must speak with him. You are in control. This is not forceful, this is as easy as dipping your foot in the spring over there." She quieted and listened as he repeated himself for the next couple of minutes.
She zeroed in on the phrases and tried her best to follow his guidance. She felt safe enough in Tahoma's embrace, strong enough to face Keone, that she drifted off to sleep quicker than she anticipated.
Her head sagged backward, but instead of hitting the stone, it hit a much softer surface.
Rushing water. Bright sky. Cawing birds.
She sat up in the sand and looked around. "It worked," she breathed. "It actually fucking worked." She came to a stand and saw ahead where Keone stood, water rushing over his bare feet. In this dream, he only wore a pair of cream cotton pants. His hair was longer, waves brushing against his thick shoulders.
He turned his greenish hazel gaze on her. His eyes were soft and unassuming. "Hello."
She paused, startled by his demeanor. "Uh, hi?"
"Isn't it beautiful here?" For the first time, she saw him smile as he surveyed the beach.
"I don't know this beach. But everytime, you take me here. Even alone, you're here."
Keone nodded and fully turned toward her. She'd never seen his posture so relaxed. She felt like she was talking to a completely different person. "I like to come here whenever. It's been too long for this to be the real place, but this is what I remember. This is where I belong."
She studied her environment again, but this time saw more land opposite to the water. The palm trees soared high. There were tanned houses off to the distance. "This was your home."
He followed her gaze. "It will always be in my heart...I should have never leftâ" his dry chuckle ensued briefly. "Not that I had much of a choice."
This dreamy place pushed down her more hostile feelings. Instead, she was sympathetic toward him, wanting to know more when she shouldn't have cared at allâwhich, she didn't. "How were you turned?"
He returned his eyes to the ocean. "A pair of undying decided they wanted to explore my island. One of them turned straggler. They attacked my village. My mother. My wife. All gone."
She thought of the two names 'Mar' and 'Kamea'.
"That's when the other undying turned you?"
His face contorted with confusion. His body language pulled tighter and tighter, making her more comfortable, which sounded twistedâbut, at least this way, she knew what to expect. "No." He shook his head. "Someone else did...but the first person I woke up toâ" His eyes widened. "Angel!"
Renata blinked rapidly. "You've lost me."
He nodded along to whatever conclusions his brain came to. "Yes, it's all making sense now. After this long, how could I have not seen it?"
"Mind sharing with the class?"
He finally brought his attention to the present. His hazel eyes turned earnest and slightly disturbed. "Somehow, some way, I'm convincedâI'm convinced Angel made us."
Renata wasn't buying it. "Why the hellâ"
"Think about it. How could something which can cheat death create itself right under his nose without his knowledge? If this is true, it explains his desperation, it explains so many aspects of the undying world. It all comes back to Angel."
Renata was reeling. "That's insane. Even if it was true, it only causes more questions. Why create them at all then? What's the end goal?"
"I overheard Nirvi say something like, 'occupying human flesh has always been Angel's greatest sin'."
"You mean spying?" She couldn't help but accuse.
Keone grunted out a frustrated sigh. "Focus. Think about it. She was right."
"That's not a good enough answer. It doesn't give any more context, any more clue as to why any of this happened."
Keone's expression turned sad. "Even God gets lonely, doesn't He?"
Renata closed her eyes as his thoughts were finally laying themselves out before her, creating a picture of a very scary and alarming start to all of this mess. "He's not God. He's the grim reaper who went batshit crazy. Lonely or not, he needs to be put down."
His eyes hardened. "Yes, he does." She could tell this was still hard for him to accept, as he had clearly spent his entire existence living by Angel's word.
She swallowed back the rising fear and panic as reality continued to settle deep within the pit of her stomach, twisting it into steel knots. Her heart wasn't faring well either. "And I have to do it."
He nodded. "No one else can."
"You just had to say that, didn't you?"
"It's going to be okay."
"Easy for you to say. You're just laying back and waiting for the world to be saved."
He looked ready to argue but said nothing.
Realizing what an ass she was being, she bit back her pride and said, "thanks for what you did back there. You didn't have to. I'm pretty sure we would have been in big trouble if you hadn't."
He dipped his chin, but the shame in his gaze was not so well hidden. "It's the least I could do after what I did."
She crossed her arms. "Trust me, I know." She paused, hesitating to say more. "I don't forgive you."
"I know."
"No, you don't. You never will."
"I'm sorry, Renata."
"Clearly. I can't fucking get rid of you."
He looked away from her, infuriating her. "I have an obligation to you. I must make things right."
"Who is that for? Because it's not for meâthat's what I've been trying to tell you. All of this shit will not change a fucking thing. You're doing this for you, to make yourself better. How do you think that makes me feel?"
Keon'e voice turned heavy with regret. "You're right. You're absolutely right."
"Look at me!" His head snapped in her direction. "What you did to me, it changed me. It changed everything. I was diagnosed with PTSD, clinical depression and anxiety. I had to be hospitalized for two months just to stop my acts of suicideâsomething I didn't even share with my best friend. But I'm sure you know all of this, as you've been my personal stalker ever since, haven't you?"
His voice cracked. "Yes."
She marched up to him and jabbed a finger into his chest. "You did it. It may have been a lapse of judgement, but it was you. So, you'll live with it, just like I have toâfor as long as we'll be here, anyway." She took a deep breath. "You are better than what you did to me, but that changes nothing for me. And it kills me that I'm starting to see you that way. It's worse that way, because a part of me will always hate you, and I don't want to hate anyone I care for. That's a terrible way to be. Am I making any sense?"
He wiped at his reddened eyes. "Yes."
"It feels a bit useless giving this speech," she chuckled, "considering we're literally going to die any second now."
He surprised her by joining in on the laughing. "No, you needed to say it, I needed to hear itâand we're not dying, especially not you, not again. Not ever again."
She smiled. "Well, how about one more time? Just to stay on the safe side. Leave room for margin of error."