Chapter Twenty-one

“Thrice talk to me.” They were sitting in the Jeep. His hands were wrapped around the wheel as he shook.

“I saw her. She was staring through the glass of the coffee shop.”

Piper didn’t have to ask who ‘her’ was.

“She’ll never hurt you again. I won’t let her.”

His head turned to look at me. “You believe me?”

“I do. Bitches be turning up at the most inopportune time. They be like, look at me. No one wants to see them. They think they’re going to ruin your life, steal your man, make your babies hate you. It’s not going to happen. I don’t know how. I can’t see a way around it, but it’s not going to happen.”

He looked at her. His hands were still trembling, but that smile, the one that made her heart ache for a miracle was on his lips.

“Let’s go home love.” He nodded and started the Jeep. They hadn’t gotten far before his phone rang. He gave it to Piper to answer.

“Hello? I’m putting you on speaker.”

“Thrice, Piper someone has Lisa, and they are insisting if we want her back Piper will have to come with us.” Jabari’s voice was calm, but a not so calm Brandi could be heard in the background.

“Where do you want us to meet you?” Thrice asked. Jabari gave him the address, and the phone went dead.

“Who do you think it is?” Her voice shook just a little. It was too much after Thrice saw Kymel spying on them.

“Either the robots or your animal people.”

“Why don’t you think it’s Kymel?”

“Even if she knew your name, she wouldn't grant you the dignity of using it.”

Her shoulders slowly relaxed. He was right. That bitch wouldn’t do something like that. Not that she blamed her because in her mind Kymel’s name was bitch.

They drove for roughly twenty minutes. The pretty parts of the city gave way to the parts no one wanted to talk about. This was where people struggled and suffered to live. She knew this part of the city. This was where she lost herself in the underbelly of a city more than once.

The house they pulled in front of was abandoned like the houses on either side of it.

“No one lives here. Some petty gangs might hang out around here, but that’s it.” I sat still and got silent. Thrice was looking around the area. I saw his eyes change, and I knew he was going into warrior mode. I could have called it anything. But it made sure I understood he wasn’t some knight in shining armor. I believed him when he said he wasn't some mystical knight. He didn’t understand he was my knight, and I didn’t care if his armor was a little tarnished.

“Stay in the Jeep.” He got out as she nodded in understanding.

Akron quickly took his spot. “I’m the relief. When Thrice says it’s safe, I’ll bring you in.”

“There has been so much going on I haven’t really gotten to know you as well as I would like.” She told Akron as her gaze lingered on the door Thrice walked through.

“You make Thrice smile. Keep doing that, and we’ll be the tightest brother and sister around.” She smiled at him. How could she not? They accepted her every step of the way.

“Why didn’t he kill her when he got free?”

“He couldn’t.” Akron didn’t pretend ignorance with her. “She left a few commands around. It was acceptable to guard her life. It was not acceptable to leave one that would ultimately end his life.”

It was too tiring at that point to even spend her time thinking about Kymel. She would show herself soon enough, and then the end would come. One way or the other, this would be over.

“It’s time. They’re on the second floor. The animal people,” he stopped to flash her a grin. “They have Lisa in front of them. She is being used as a shield.”

“Nothing I love more than a big strong male that can fight for himself. Oops sorry, those are few and far in between. Created males excluded of course.”

“Of course.” He went to open her door and took her hand to help her out the jeep. They picked their way up the front steps since half the wood was rotted. The door was already half open. Akron took it off the hinges before he helped her step over a hole in the floor.

The stairs didn’t look much better, and she wondered how they would get up them. Akron led her up making sure she didn’t take any unplanned trips. He stopped her at the top of the stairs.

“I can’t go any further.”

My head nodded. He placed a hand on my back to stop me. Thrice came out a room up ahead. When he reached me, he took my hand and led me down the hallway.

It was a standoff. On one side of the room were the animal people. They had Lisa in front of them. It wasn’t so much they were using her as a shield, they were, but it was the weapon at her head that made everyone stand still.

On the other side of the room was my family. Quinn and Brandi were there dressed in outfits that made me want one. Jabari and Mekhi were standing in front of them. They wouldn’t leave them at home alone. It strangely made sense. They were safer with them than without them. Phoenix was standing in front of them grinning like he may be crazy. Her dad was standing on one side of them and her uncle on the other.

They were both winning her over without even trying.

The main animal person started talking. Too bad she had no idea what he was saying.

“Use your translator.” Thrice snapped. “If you have the balls to come after my mate, then give her the respect of speaking to her.”

Maybe they needed not to watch as much Television.

“We want the formula.” The animal person with the horns said. It was the same one she had been watching earlier in the street.

“What formula?”

“The one we showed you.” He snapped. His patience was wearing thin.

“The computer code you showed me when I was in that jail cell?”

“Whatever you call it. We want it.”

Her eyes went to Lisa. She had to figure a way to get her out of here.

“What is it to you?”

“Don’t play ignorant with us.”

She wished she was playing. “You’re still going to have to humor me if you want the code.”

“It’s the code you used to make them free.”

She saved a race of people. How the hell did that happen? Was she a superhero in the future? Did they have statues that honored her? Lisa’s cry of pain brought her back.

“You came back in time too far. I don’t have the code.”

Its mouth opened, and it gave a nasty screech that she was sure didn’t bode well for her.

“Come here, I’ll trade you for this.” He shook Lisa like she was a rag doll.

Her head turned to look at Thrice. She thought he would stop her, but his head nodded a yes. Well, her life was a lot better in the end than in the beginning. She started walking towards them. When she reached a certain point, Jabari demanded they release Lisa. Piper stopped and waited for her to pass before she kept walking.

Thrice called out now. Then a body hit her taking her to the floor. It was thrice. His big body covered her keeping her safe. The roof opened, Slade and Akron jumped down. When she looked up, there were animal people pieces on the floor.

She looked over to see some sort of field surrounding Lisa.

“Take her to the house before you let her out.” Slade said.

Jabari nodded. “Clean-up.”

“You need to take your mate and daughter home,” Slade told him. “Mekhi.”

“Quinn and I will go with them. They’ll make it home safely.”

No one moved until they were gone.

Slade turned to appraise Thrice. “What now?”

“I want them all dead.”

“They’ll still have the coordinates.”

“Not if we do it right.”

“Find their craft. Wait for us, we’ll meet you at our rendezvous spot.” Slade said.

Thrice took Piper's hand and led her out of there.

“Their craft?”

“The hover they used to come to earth without being noticed.”

“What about our Jeep?” She wasn’t a wuss, seriously. However, stepping through a portal when you thought you were walking into a closet was different from sitting down in a craft that would take us way outside of the breathable airspace.

They found the hover two houses over on a darkened lot. Not the cleverest hiding spot. Then again, they were the only ones who spotted it. Thrice strapped her in but didn’t close the hatch.

“What are you doing?”

“Making sure you can breathe the air when the hatch is closed.”

How could she have already forgotten what they breathed could kill her in ten seconds? Once he was sure the air was breathable, he closed the hatch and started to prep for takeoff.

“I was never one of those kids into science fiction. Never watched Star Trek or Star Wars. I always felt like I had too much reality going on in my life to get wrapped up in fantasy. If I had known it was real, I would have watched.” She knew she was rambling. It was something she hadn’t done since the first day they met. Now she felt the need to rely on old habits. Her foot was tapping, and her hand grabbed hold of her knee. Then the craft started lifting.

Deep breaths, her stomach was trying to clinch. The coffee she drank earlier with all the cream was trying to make a repeat appearance. Don’t throw up in space. It was all she could think about as they broke through the cloud cover. Being above the clouds always awed her when she was flying. This place made her feel free. Like she could do or be anything in the world all she had to do was reach out. It was all in front of her. Then they were going higher.

“Thrice?”

“It’s going to be fine, my little fighter.”

His belief in her calmed her. They were in this together, and that’s what mattered. She stared out the window as space became a living entity right before her eyes.

“I’m here. I made it.” The awesome thing was she never knew she wanted to make it. Going to space had never been anything she dreamed about or even thought about.

“What’s that?” Piper asked as she looked at the spot on the view screen that Thrice was staring at.

“It’s our hover. They are going to follow us onto the ship. First, we need to connect.”

“Why?”

“I need animal people on board to get the ship to open up. Stay here.”

He left her in the cockpit while she worked his statement over in her head. She wanted to refuse to believe it. But she knew better. They were transferring the dead bodies to the ship. How was that supposed to help? She shrugged; he knew what he was doing.

“It’s time. I need to put this on your wrist. When their ship scans us, don’t move. If you hear them speaking, don’t respond.”

“I understand.”

He placed what looked like a plastic band they gave you for a hospital admission around her wrist. Then he began to maneuver the hover, taking it closer to the ship. A beam of silvery blue light went through the craft before a voice speaking a language she couldn’t understand came from the equipment up front. Thrice answered in the same language. Part of the huge ship in front of us opened. Out of the pan an into the fire.