Chapter Five

 

Maxim stood slowly, not fully convinced that the creature beneath him was truly dead even though he had felt the last breath slide out of his body and the heart deep within his chest slow and stop. He wanted to be prepared, just in case he had been fooled and whatever this being was lashed out again. When he stood straight again he stared down at the creature’s body for several long seconds until he felt assured that it was truly dead. The sound of its screaming reverberated in his ears. He would never forget that sound. It was unlike anything that he had ever heard.

Out of the corner of his eye Maxim saw Ivy step back from the body, her hand coming up to cover her mouth. He turned and watched as she stumbled backwards, out of the building and back out into the compound. Maxim hurried after her.

“Ivy!” he whispered loudly. He got outside and reached forward to take her by the arm. “Ivy, you have to be careful. You don’t know what else might be out here.”

Ivy turned around to face him and Maxim saw tears sparkling in her eyes. He knew that what they had just gone through was unnerving, forcing her to face violence in a way that she never had before and likely making her realize just how serious this situation was. The look in her eyes, however, was beyond the fear that he would expect her to have. There was something more in that expression that sent a shiver of concern through him. He took hold of her upper arms and tilted his head down to look more deeply into her eyes.

“Ivy? What’s wrong?”

As if his words had broken through whatever was happening in her mind, Ivy’s eyes widened slightly and she shook her head.

“Nothing,” she said. She stepped out of his hands and wiped a tear that had broken through away from her cheek. “I’m fine. We should keep going.”

She walked around him back into the building. Maxim turned and watched as she leaned down and lifted her blade off of the ground. She paused long enough to wipe the blood off on the creature’s robes before walking back out of the building and crossing the compound in long, determined strides. It was as though she were trying to get away from the building as fast as she was physically possible. Maybe she was trying to get away from him.

Maxim ran after her, using the incredible speed that was characteristic of his kind to catch up with her before she was able to get far. He took hold of her wrist again and pulled gently to stop her. She stopped, but didn’t turn to face him. Her head dropped and Maxim could see her shoulders trembling. He stepped up behind her so that his body enveloped hers and he wrapped his arms around her protectively. Kissing the top of her head, he murmured a soothing, quieting sound into her ear.

“Everything is going to be fine,” he whispered. “We’re going to get through this. I know that none of us expected this to happen, but I know that we can handle it.”

Ivy turned toward him, the tears now dry in her eyes as she seemed to scrutinize his face.

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

Maxim narrowed his eyes at her.

“Being here,” he said. “We thought that we were going to go to Earth and rescue everyone there, but we ended up here. I know that you’re afraid, but we always knew that we were going to fight. Jonah, Azra, and the others will get to them. They will be safe. And we will be victorious here.”

Ivy didn’t speak for a few moments. She shook her head and took a step back away from him.

“Is there something else?” he asked.

“I can’t tell you,” she said, sounding drawn. “Not now.”

“You can tell me anything,” Maxim said. “It doesn’t matter where or when or what you need to tell me. I need to know what’s bothering you so much.”

“Maxim, please. This isn’t something that I can talk to you about right now. Not with everything that’s going on. You have enough on your mind. I can’t put this on you, too. I just can’t. You have to focus on Ryan and the lives of everyone who depend on you.”

“You are the life that matters the most to me, Ivy,” Maxim said. “If there’s something that’s hurting you, there’s nothing else that I’ll be able to think about until I can help you. Please. Tell me.”

Maxim saw Ivy’s hand lift and briefly brush across her belly. It was an absent gesture, one that he didn’t think that she even realized that she was making, but it was significant. He knew instantly what was weighing so heavily on her.

“Ivy,” he said. He reached forward and touched his fingertips to her belly where she had just touched. “Are you…”

His voice trailed off. He couldn’t bring himself to say the words, as if saying them would be too much of an admission to himself. Ivy glanced down at his fingers on her belly and then back into his eyes. She nodded, the tears beginning to sparkle against the green depths of her gaze again. Maxim felt like the breath was taken out of his body. He felt himself shaking, his mind starting to spin as he tried to process what she was telling him. Ivy shook her head and started to take a step back away from him.

“I didn’t want to tell you,” she said. “I don’t want to be something else that you have to worry about.”

“How long have you known?” Maxim asked.

“I’ve thought it for a few weeks,” she said.

“And you didn’t tell me?” he asked.

“Are you angry?” Ivy asked.

“You should have told me,” Maxim said. “You shouldn’t have had to think about it alone.”

“Are you angry?” Ivy asked. “About the baby?”

Maxim couldn’t believe she would ever think that. He shook his head, stepping forward and resting his hand flatter against her belly.

“No,” he said softly. “Of course I’m not angry about the baby.”

He looked down at his hand, seeing his palm tenderly cupping Ivy’s belly. Just saying the word “baby” seemed to have returned all of the breath back to his body. He stroked her with his thumb and then looked back into her face.

“Come on,” he said. “We should get back to the shuttle.”

“We haven’t gone through the entire compound,” Ivy protested.

“It’s fine,” Maxim said. “We’ve seen this much of it. We can tell the others what it looks like and what we encountered here. You need to get back to the shuttle, rest, and eat.”

“Maxim,” Ivy said, “this is our responsibility. We can’t just walk away from this. Everyone is trusting you and looking to you to protect them.”

“This is my responsibility,” Maxim said, pressing lightly on her belly. “I understand what my father was feeling more now than ever before. Protecting my kind, my comrades, and my planet is important to me, it is the goal of my existence, but it is nothing compared to how important it is to me now to take care of my child. When he walked into battle that day, he wasn’t just thinking about the Order or even the kingdom. He was thinking of Kyven and of me and of our mother. That is a motivation unlike any other and it only makes me more determined to finish what we started and go home to Uoria. For now, we need to go back to the shuttle, gather together with the others, and find out whatever they all learned about the planet. It will be night soon and we can’t afford to be out in the dark without any type of preparation.”

Ivy finally nodded and they started walking together back toward the shuttle. Maxim couldn’t stop looking at her as they walked. Even through the fear, her face looked happy and at peace in a way that came from within her, going beyond the thoughts that told her that she should be worried to a place of contentment. It was getting dark by the time that they reached the shuttle again, and Maxim was relieved to see it rising against the horizon, the lights glowing from the windows. He got to the door and positioned Ivy to the side.

“Stay here,” he said. “I’m going to scan the shuttle and make sure that none of the Valdicians or hybrids have gotten inside.”

“They don’t have the codes,” Ivy said, referencing the locking codes that Elise had given Maxim to ensure that he could properly secure and access the shuttle.

Maxim shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter. They have their ways. Remember what Rain told us about the Valdicians compromising their shuttle and sabotaging their navigation system when they were first here.”

“Ships are different now,” Ivy said. “Largely because of that. After the Nyx23 team disappeared, the government commissioned stronger ships with fail safes designed to prevent unauthorized access when the ships are stationed.”

“Yet they were able to take over this shuttle and force us to come here,” Maxim said sharply. He took a breath and got his voice under control. “I know that this is one of the most advanced shuttles created and that it was designed to prevent anyone from getting inside when the ship has been properly secured. That doesn’t mean that I can just pretend it is invincible. The engineers on Earth have never encountered the Valdicians or any of these hybrids. They don’t know what they are capable of doing. No matter what we do, we can’t ever be sure that they haven’t found a way.”

Maxim touched a kiss to Ivy’s lips and headed deeper into the shuttle. He wove through the rooms strategically, wanting to find any creatures that might have boarded while they were all away, but also not wanting to leave Ivy vulnerable and alone down in the main chamber for too long. Finally reassured that the shuttle was empty and secure, he returned to the common room and rested his bag and weapon to one of the chairs lined against the wall. He held his hands out to Ivy and she stepped forward to take them. Maxim guided her into the room and settled her into one of the large lounge chairs so that she could rest. He took her bag from her and placed it with his, and then knelt at her side so that he could rest his head against her belly.

Ivy laughed, the sound causing her body to shake his head. Her hand rested on his head as if to hold it in place as she continued to laugh.

“You’re not going to be able to hear anything, Maxim,” she told him. “It’s still too early.” Suddenly she stopped laughing. “I think. I mean, it’s too early for a human pregnancy for you to be able to hear or feel anything.”

Maxim sat up and looked at her. Ivy’s brow was furrowed with what looked like a blend of thought and concern.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Eden’s pregnancy was different than a human pregnancy when she was carrying Lysander,” she said. “He is half-Denynso and half-human, so her pregnancy had characteristics of both species. He developed more quickly than a normal human baby, but not quite as quickly as a Denynso baby. He was also born differently than a Denynso baby.”

“How are Denynso babies born?” Maxim asked.

Ivy shook her head.

“I don’t know. The midwives only told Eden that they are born differently than human babies are.”

“So Rey had to help Eden deliver,” Maxim said.

The memory had come to him as if through a fog. It felt like that day on top of the ridge as they looked out over the badlands was a lifetime ago. Now, though, he remembered standing with Ivy in his arms as they listened to Eden’s groans, all of them afraid of what might happen to her as she bore the first child of the new generation.

“Yes,” Ivy said. “He said that his family had been the midwife to the human women in the settlement and that they taught him to deliver the Mikana babies.”

Maxim nodded.

“They are very similar,” he said.

“How long is a Mikana pregnancy?” she asked. “I may be further along than I think.”

“Seven months,” Maxim told her.

“Shorter than a human pregnancy,” Ivy said.

She touched her belly again, running her hand across it tenderly. Maxim lifted her shirt carefully, for the first time recognizing the soft slope of a tiny bump there. He smiled and kissed it, then stood.

“That makes it even more important that we defeat Ryan and get off this planet as soon as possible,” he said. “I will not have you go through the end of your pregnancy on this wasteland. You need the midwives to take care of you and watch over the baby.”

Ivy lowered her shirt back over her belly and looked at him with a serious expression on her face.

“I don’t want anyone else to know,” she said.

“Ivy,” he started, but she shook her head, silencing him.

“Maxim, I’m serious. Everyone needs to stay focused now. They can’t know. At least not yet.”

As much as he wanted everyone to know about his precious child cradled within Ivy and ensure that she, and their baby, would be protected, he knew that she was right. They all needed to put everything into the war and knowing about the pregnancy would only distract them. At least for now, they would have to keep the news from them.