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“They’re going to have questions,” Reef points out.
“I’m well aware.”
He sighs at my shortness. “You’ve come clean with Malia. Maybe it’s time you came clean with the rest of us.”
“You were there. You heard everything. You all did.”
“I don’t mean that. I mean about the water and the memory loss. We deserve those memories back. It doesn’t impede our ability to do our job here.”
‘It’s not my decision to make.”
“But Reef and Bhodi have already been experiencing dreams, possibly flashbacks. They’ve stopped drinking the water, and so will I. Things will start coming back to us. We deserve to understand what those visions are.”
“Like I said, it’s not my choice to make. Just drop it.”
We fall back into silence as I sip my drink and contemplate his points. He’s right, of course, but it’s more than I can take on right now. The punishment for disobeying a direct order from the elders is more than I can afford to pay right now. They need me here, on their team, protecting Malia. I’ll have to find a way around the order, but there’s more important things to focus on at this moment in time.
Reef breaks the silence after a few uncomfortable minutes. “So, what now?”
“Now, we wait,” I reply, taking another sip of my coffee. “Until the time comes to make our move.”
“And if it doesn’t work?”
I clench my jaw, feeling a surge of anger and frustration. It has to work. If Malia isn’t the star…if her sacrifice is all for nothing…it doesn’t bear thinking about. “Then we’re doomed. But we have to try. We can’t just sit back and let our world be destroyed.”
Reef nods in agreement, his eyes filled with determination. “We’re sworn to do whatever it takes to save our world.”
In his words I hear nothing but unwavering loyalty, but in his eyes, I see the unspokenbut. But he doesn’t want to kill Malia.
None of us do.
Unfortunately, I learned a long time ago that our desires and our duty often don’t align.
I’m awoken from a fitful sleep in the night by someone thrashing in the bed with me. My heart leaps into my throat before I remember that Cove is with me. It’s him beside me.
Rolling over, I take in his sleeping form. His usually relaxed, smiling, carefree face is troubled, a frown creasing his brow.
I watch him for a moment as he jerks and twitches, before deciding it’s best to wake him and hopefully end whatever nightmare seems to be plaguing him.
I reach out and gently shake his shoulder, calling his name softly. He wakes with a start, gasping for air and looking around the room wildly. For a moment, he doesn’t seem to recognise me, but then his eyes focus and he relaxes.
“Sorry,” he says, rubbing his face with his hands. “I was having a nightmare…I think.”
I nod, relieved that he’s okay. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Cove hesitates, biting his lip. “It was about...us. About losing you.”
I feel a pang of fear in my chest. “What happened?”
“We were in a car accident,” Cove says, his voice hoarse. “And you...you didn’t make it.”
That sounds so mundane. I take his hand and squeeze it tightly. “I’m here, Cove. I’m not going anywhere.”
He looks at me with such intensity that my heart skips a beat, but neither of us say anything. It’s no surprise given yesterday’s events that neither of us is sleeping well.
We lie there in silence for a while, simply holding onto each other, seeking solace in the comfort of our closeness. But I can’t ignore the way my heart is pounding, the way my skin feels hot and alive with the desire that’s always simmering just beneath the surface between us.
Finally, Cove speaks again, his voice low and rough with emotion. “I can’t lose you, you know? I don’t think I could survive it.”
