A Wider Sky Ch. 15

A Wider Sky: Beyond Eclipse Series

by Talyis Bagley Ellison

Copyright first edition 2013, 2015

Chapter 15

After Windsor's class, I got a private message from Haazic on my social scroll. My arm was suddenly laced with Lance's while we walked back to the dorms together. He held my arm tighter to his and hummed taking advantage of our closeness to glance at my tablet over my shoulder.

"Look who is becoming Miss Popular," Lance chuckles

"I'm just tutoring her and she is going to help me with my thesis."

"I can help you with your paper. Anyways, Haazic isn't the best student. And I must admit Kiowa, I'm a bit hurt. I'm second in class... to you," Lance blushed and I couldn't help but chuckle.

I remembered how much I liked Lance when we first met. He was my best friend and just as I thought about how much I really loved his friendship, I thought of my other "friend." And like a cosmic slap, Gaelen blissfully jogged past me with his seconds in tow behind him - not even looking in my direction. Bane and Taxa were tossing a ball between themselves. It looked like they were coming from a skirmish game of football. Gaelen's usually purple, blue-black hair was not just midnight black and glistening with sweat. The three of them together was a bit intimidating. They all had a presence of royalty but their boyish charm was mixed with dangerous dose of being lethal warriors. Gaelen was walking backwards while laughing with Taxa who wore a scowl on his face, it was difficult to discern that this was Taxa having fun. Gaelen nearly ran us over but he squeezed out of our path and even worse, he didn't say a thing to me.

Once the trio were in the distance also heading back to the dorms, Lance shrugged, "He still wont patch up your relationship with him because you stood him up at the Festivities?"

Lance was right. It seemed like Gaelen was avoiding me with all costs. We no longer sat next to each other in Windsor's class.

"I dunno." I hugged myself. Now I was even more eager to just sulk away to lick my emotional wounds alone. "I got to go. I need to study for tomorrow's lectures. See you later?"

"Sure." Lance sighed and shifted his backpack tighter against his body. "Oh...Kiowa." Lance rocked on his heels looking at the ground. "You deserve someone who is going to be sensitive to your needs and if you don't want to attend Festivities no one should fault you for it. You deserve someone who will love you for you. That's all I am going to say. Ok. Take care. Kiowa. See you in class tomorrow."

Those were wise words that meant more than what he meant. I didn't know how to respond because the moment I touch the handle to the dorm door, my mind narrowed on my massive study obligations. I had about three hours to study on my own before I was to meet Hazzic. I awkwardly hugged Lance goodbye, I couldn't think about relationships right now, with Gaelen or Lance. It only made me loss valuable energy on my true purpose of going to school.

Focusing on school was going to be a godsend because the more I thought about the exchange, the more I felt that I was missing out of important discussions that would make me a better person who could be relatable. The more I felt that my friendship with Gaelen was on ice and what were were was hard to define. And I guess that is what we were aiming for. A relationship that was in secret and that no one else could penetrate our wall of safety even though it felt more out of self-esteem and fear of being left with no one.

In mere seconds after sitting in my room to begin studying, my usual guest intrusively entered my room. I gave him a dose of his own medicine ignoring him. Gaelen sauntered over to my side of the room and got comfortable as he saw fit which was lying across my bed, dominating it more so than politely sitting. I tried my best to not even take him in as I worked on m first year thesis that wasn't about the rebels but on something I hadn't yet figured out yet. At the moment I was just researching and starting mini-thesi and ultimately boring my somewhat friend/boyfriend who should be studying but instead spent the time hassling me to take a break.

Like a panther, he stalked over to my desk and startled me as he lifted my sweater off my body. Without effort, he pulled me out of my chair and towards the bed. I expected him to push me onto the bed and then languishingly drape his body over mind but instead he pushed me against the wall, his hands snaking behind me as he pulled my hips to his. He simply just pressed his forehead to mine and inhaled deeply, his emerald eyes closed as if in prayer. He stood perfectly still, sandwiching me between himself and the wall.

What was he thinking? This was another side of Gaelen who often loved possessing me, pushing my buttons to bring me to the edge. Gaelen was a persistent and skilled lover. What this man could do with his lips was a near losing battle. He was a warrior in trying to get me to pull down my guards and allow him to pluck my virginity. Most of all he was a skilled general in finding tactics that challenged my scarred-fear which paralyze me from accepting that I could possibly be loved.

He pulled away in a startling retreat so unlike Gaelen yet he still moved like a fearsome predator back to my desk. I huffed and tried to gather my wits. My whole entire body was tingling especially in my core and my thighs trembled. That had to be the most sexiest thing I've ever experienced. I plopped on my bed and pulled my tablet out, swiping it so that it projected a geological table onto the wall in front of Gaelen.

Back to studying, I said to myself.

Gaelen kicked his feet up onto my desk and leaned back in my chair, crossing his muscular arms across his chest. This man was handsome without any effort. He fluffed his raven hair and then snuck a peek at me with a wily eyebrow smirking. He knew I loved watching his hair change from midnight black, to steaks of purple and hunter green in the sunlight.

All the tease.

"I am glad I have to meet Haazic in an hour, because then maybe you will actually get some work done," I snipped. Gaelen only gave a Cheshire grin and batted his big green eyes to stir the pot in my loins. "You are terrible," I said as I walked over to kiss him, I was drawn to him like a fly to sweet vinegar and soap. He was going to cause my death that was for sure. "We aren't even really dating or friends or soul-whatever."

"Exactly, we are just Gaelen and Kiowa." He pulled me into his lap and nuzzled my cheek with his nose "Don't talk about Gaelen and Kiowa behind their backs especially not to Haazic. It would totally ruin the Gaelen-and-Kiowa-special-kind-of-magic which makes this somewhat friendship/dating/soul-whatever work." he said so sweetly into my neck before nipping it with his lips.

He was right though. Whatever he was trying to do with me was magic and it was obvious he was also trying to avoid contact with Sebol. He was spending his time with me -in secret- and this was exactly the gossip fodder that Sebol needed to justifying going bats shit crazy on Gaelen or more so, on me.

Oh my god, I had to laugh at myself. Imagine if she knew her sweet king, Gaelen, had fallen in love with a human.

The thought didn't even leave me as I walked to the Harvard building art room. I left Gaelen to his own devises either continue studying or go party like a king. I hummed with smothered chuckles with the thought of me and Galen - together.

"What are you laughing about?" Haazic snapped. She sat on a table, swinging her legs under it and had a pissed off look on her face as if she had been waiting a long time.

"Nothing just something my mom told me. Sorry I was late. I was on a call with my 'rents."

"Sure. Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

We worked in silence for a while, me creating a mini-me-David right beside her. I went through the quadrants for each segment until she had tiny piles of masses that needed to now be chiseled and sculpted. She was on a roll already, working on David's calf. A smile pulled across her chin, she was humming to herself, enjoying "human tricks".

"You're not a bad teacher, Kiowa."

"Thanks, but this assignment is hard. I don't know if I can say it will be perfect."

"Well lets see?" She wiped her clayed hands on a towel hanging across her lap and then grabbed her tablet from her book bag slung over the chair. The tablet lit up and scanned the finished David leg calculating its perfection. "Fuck! It's not perfect." She became disheartened and then threw her head back, sucking her teeth.

It was like being a surgeon and hearing the monitors go crazy- I was losing my patient. "Keep trying, it takes some time to chisel off the right amount of clay. Just keep checking the equation as you go along, if its wrong add a little more clay."

"You know, I highly doubt Michelangelo kept checking a tablet for correct calculations," she again pointed at the handsome David statue standing in the middle of the room with pride in spite of the Y'vori, "I think the Professor is bullshit!" I couldn't help but laugh at her emphasis on bullshit. "I mean if a human can do it so can we. Maybe a human can do what the professor only wishes she could do. Not all of us are geniuses, of course. We are not going to be able to trump everything in the universe what makes humans so-" she stopped and then looked at me with fear in her eyes. "I am not a humanist. Ok. Just to make that clear. Right?!"

I shrugged, I knew what she was afraid of. She was afraid of people thinking she was a rebel and that was exactly what I needed her to open up about. "You know maybe your right. I can't do David either; that's why I creating something of my own."

"I cant believe I didn't think of that?"

"Well, the Professor like my concept and allowed it because its still representational of David. She is going to grade me on if it has the same mass as David and volume as David. But at least I am not trying to recreate something that was already invented."

"Yes exactly! Why aren't we creating our own art, something from our own imagination not something some dumb human stumbled upon centuries ago."

"My point exactly. So do you want to scrap David and try for something else?"

"Hell yes!" Hazzic slammed her mini-David into a pancake with the palm of her hand.

"Cool, just make sure the volume and mass is the same." Suddenly Haazic was fused with energy and happiness like she was in her element, being creative and not scientific.

"I wish my mom could see this pot," I started.

"Yeah my parents would go apeshit if they saw me creating things like this. They liked when we were able to just flow and not worry about perfection."

"We?"

"Yeah me and my brother. You got brothers or sisters?"

"No just me. But I miss my mom so much. She also was like your parents. She was so happy when I showed her a picture I drew or chalk drawing I made with gravel. She was always encouraging me to do something artistic and didn't care if it looked horrible, in which it often did."

Haazic laughed. "My brother and I used to sing a song about perfectmongers."

"Perfectmongers?" I paused and then a smile crept across my face too. "I like it. How did the song go."

"Hell no am I sing that song!" She laughed and then she paid attention to her sculpture and started to hum a song. "Fuck, I miss my brother. He is a good guy."

"It's alright. I understand. It's part of the reason why I study all the time. Because when I'm thinking about school stuff, I don't miss my mom so much."

"You ever heard of drinking?" Haazic snorted a laugh and slapped her knee.

I started to love her abrasiveness, she was unlike any other girl I met. I couldn't help but laugh she had a point.

"I suppose that's an option."

"You should come out to party with us." She immediately saw my wavering and I blushed even harder. "Yeah with Sebol too. She not that bad, you know. You're not that bad too."

"Thanks."

"See I can drink. Even drink more than my brother. I can put him under the table and he is strong and big."

"You know. Lance told me about your brother. But, you know with all these souls opening and stuff I've been thinking. It makes you do crazy things. What if your brother just ran away with his girl."

"We all wondered that at first, but it was clear he didn't just run away. He was not just enlisting; he was leading them. My father had chips full of highly classified information about the colonies and pergatory. My brother could have easily just copied them and left them alone; and no one would suspected. But he took them. All of them.

"Even though our parents were generals, they taught us things about pre-Eclipse. My brother, Samson was around pre-Eclipse. He knew people growing up. He knew that world."

"A lot of people knew that world but they didn't all want to stay in that horrible world," I reasoned. I couldn't believe how well I was starting to sound indoctrinated.

"For some, this world is horrible, especially how we treated the humans. Professor Windor said, we lead a path and teach a path that is a better way. People like my brother don't believe that. They want to make the world better least.."

"History repeats itself," I finished the quote I was taught so well. She was startled. "My mother told me that everyday."

Haazic blanched, "My father as well. It's a good human saying."

I snorted and she only laughed. "Professor Matisse is only a mere Y'vori." Hazzic pointed to David, "And yes, there are things that humans do better," I only smirked on one side unsure I should agree. "Hey what happened to our comradarie on this point. Professor Matisse sucks! Right?!" She was like a cheerleader trying to rouse the crowd.

I slapped my hand onto the table. "You're exactly right!"

"Just don't tell anyone, pinky swear," Hazzic smiled, she was gorgeous when she was herself.

I couldn't help but clutch my stomach I was laughing so hard. What kinda Y'vori swear is a pinky swear. I thought I heard it all.

"What is a pinky swear?" I shook my head my eyes tearing with happiness.

"The ultimate swear, you break it you die."

"Really, how?"

"I don't know? It just happens. It's like the swear on your pinky leads the rest of your fingers to revolt against you and choke you in the middle of the night one day while you are having sweet dreams. Karma."

I felt good, I felt happy talking with Haazic, she made it ok to be human and I felt at ease. "Ok pinky swear," I announced.

"No, we do it the human way. My brother taught me. Here..." She forced my hand out and folded all my fingers but my pinky into my palm and then hooked her pinky with mine and gave a tiny pinky handshake.

Wow, in this moment I was Y'vori and Hazzic was teaching me a human custom long forgotten. I'd found a new friend in that moment.

"What would you do if you could see your brother again?" I asked.

"I see him from time to time?"

"You do?"

"He sneaks into the realm for information scavenging hunts."

"How do you know he is here?"

"Hey!" She snapped, "What's with all the questions? I am not one of them. Are you planning on turning him in? You know what they do to people like him, right?"

"No. It's just that... I am confused about a lot of things. I want to believe what I was taught growing up but I want to know what the rebels are really about. If my father found out, he would disown me but I want to know," I answered.

She bounced her leg nervously, her mouth tightly zip. "If I let you meet him you must promise never to talk about this again. Not to anyone, not even me, got it. This is really dangerous and I don't even know why I am willing to expose him. Maybe I just have the courage to find out the truth myself, like you. Even though I doubt this is the truth, his truth."

She sighed and continued to work on her project.

We talked about Bane because he was safe topic that didn't cause any problems. Just as much as she loved sharing the small details of her brother, Hazzic enjoyed talking about Bane. I wondered if this was how Gaelen would act like when his soul opened. Every time she mentioned Bane's name her whole countenance lit up like a brilliant star and even my face hurt just considering how much her muscles must have felt, she smiled so hard.

I learned more about Bane and their trio of brotherly friendship than I knew I wouldn't have been able to find out on my own.

Bane was always shy, almost like he had an anxiety disorder around groups of people that were not Gaelen or Taxa. That was because before Eclipse, Bane was terribly bullied by his human classmates. Taxa was introduced as his cousin a year before Eclipse and the boys began to learn what they truly were in the months before they were relocated to Siberia to meet Galen. Before Eclipse, Y'vori children didn't learn their true identity until they were 10 years old. It was enough time before puberty to not fall in love with a human; and they had enough sense to not disobey their parents and tell humans of their existence.

Bane and Taxa all came from the royal line and their fathers were generals. Taxa was always the antagonist and was always fighting with Gaelen since they were young and living in Siberia. He didn't like having to be responsible for some pipsqueak kid, who at the time didn't even know that he was Y'vori. Although Bane was so incredibly shy, he wanted to be enrolled in the military program, like his father and Taxa. But Taxa and Bane were not allowed to because Gaelen was not admitted. The trios' relationship has strained a bit since school had begun because general sons should go to Yale but Gaelen held them back. Taxa is Gaelen's first and Bane was his second, they had to enroll in the same program as Gaelen because their primary job since the boys were 6 years old was to protect the next king.

"I am going to hold you to your promise of coming out with us for drinks, Kiowa," Haazic chimed as she put her sculpture in the kiln and I carefully placed my finished pot next to hers.

"Sure," I squeaked.

"Now I know why he calls you a mouse." She was laughing so hard tears started falling from her eyes. "I'll let you know when you can meet my brother. "

*************************

Hello Dear Readers,

I don't know about you, I am loving Gaelen in this chapter and his Gaelen-and-Kiowa-special-kind-of-magic. He is a charmer.

Are you falling for Gaelen too or Lance?

Posting has slowed down due to the end of NaNoWriMo winter camp ending and now that its gearing up again. I am working again on editing. There are 2-3 more chapters left but I am skipping a bit around while editing and trying out different scenarios with the book 2 and the last 2-3 chapters of this book. So stay tuned.

Thank you for your patience, I am not sure what category works best for this story so I am testing different categories. I am curious was other traditional category readers think about the blended themes in this book that may have not otherwise have read a dystopian new adult book about a romance between a human and an alien.

Cheers and Happy Reading,

Talyis